Help us Honor Our Deceased Veterans And Ancestors This Christmas Season By Supporting Our Wreaths Across America Fundraiser
On December 14, 2024 at 11:30 am, GA0470P - Lt. James T. Woodward Camp 1399 SCV will be helping Rose Hill Cemetery to Remember and Honor our veterans by laying Remembrance wreaths on the graves of our country's fallen heroes. Please help us honor and remember as many fallen heroes as possible by sponsoring remembrance wreaths, volunteering on Wreaths Day, or inviting your family and friends to attend with you. Thank you so much for supporting the GA0470P - Lt. James T. Woodward Camp 1399 SCV and Wreaths Across America!
click here to Purchase A Wreath
Sons of Confederate Veterans
2nd Lieutenant James T. Woodward
Camp #1399 
Warner Robins, Georgia
Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans
scvcamp1399@hotmail.com
Membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans is open to all male descendants of any veteran who served honorably in the Confederate armed forces.
Eligibility can be obtained through either direct or collateral family lines and kinship to a veteran must be documented genealogically. The minimum age for membership is 12.
Help us Honor Our Deceased Veterans And Ancestors This Christmas Season By Supporting Our Wreaths Across America Fundraiser
On December 14, 2024 at 11:30 am, GA0470P - Lt. James T. Woodward Camp 1399 SCV will be helping Rose Hill Cemetery to Remember and Honor our veterans by laying Remembrance wreaths on the graves of our country's fallen heroes.
Please help us honor and remember as many fallen heroes as possible by sponsoring remembrance wreaths, volunteering on Wreaths Day, or inviting your family and friends to attend with you.
Thank you so much for supporting the GA0470P - Lt. James T. Woodward Camp 1399 SCV and Wreaths Across America!
click here to Purchase A Wreath
MONTHLY MEETINGS
Camp 1399 meets at 7pm the second Thursday of each month at The American Legion Post 172, 1345 Radio Loop Rd. in Warner Robins, GA.
Visitors welcome! Eat @ 6pm; Meet @ 7pm. Drinks available for cash purchase. Please bring your own food.
FORMATION & ORGANIZATION
The Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp No. 1399 was formed in 1981 as part of the North Central Georgia Brigade, Army of Tennessee. As of July 2003, Camp 1399 is part of the 4th Georgia Brigade. The Georgia Division is comprised of thirteen brigades and the entire Georgia Division is a part of the Army of Tennessee (AOT). The Sons of Confederate Veterans are divided into three major units called armies, the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of Trans-Mississippi, and the AOT.
Mr. Edward Hatmaker, who became the first Camp Commander, moved to central Georgia where he found tremendous interest in Southern history and in the War Between the States. At that time, Mr. Hatmaker was still an active member of the James Longstreet Camp, No. 1289, in East Point, Georgia.
After discussing the possibilities of a new Camp with members of the Longstreet Camp, Mr. Hatmaker sought help from the editor of a local newspaper who agreed to print an article on the subject. There was enough response to the article to encourage the formation of a SCV Camp in the central Georgia area. Mr. Hatmaker applied to SCV Headquarters and after approximately two months Camp 1399 was officially established. Members from the sponsoring Longstreet Camp traveled to Warner Robins to officially install the officers and dedicate the new Camp.
OUR NAMESAKE
Camp 1399 is honored to carry the name of Lt. James Thomas Woodward. Lt. Woodward was one of the first Confederate officers killed in action during the War for Southern Independence. He was born in Macon, Georgia and when war broke out in 1861 he joined Company D, 12th Georgia Infantry Regiment, Confederate States of America, which was assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia. He died in the Battle of McDowell, Virginia on May 8, 1862.
His entire regiment was honored and highly praised by General Stonewall Jackson for refusing to leave the field of battle while facing the enemy. Lt. Woodward's body was carried back home to Macon and buried in the family cemetery. [MORE ABOUT Lt. J.T. Woodward ]
CAMP HISTORY
The first major event in which the Woodward Camp participated was the restoration of the Woodward family cemetery in nearby Bibb County. Each year since its formation, Camp 1399 has faithfully conducted a memorial service at Lt. Woodward's gravesite . Mr. Henry Woodward, a descendant of James' elder brother, John Hartwell Woodward, has been presented a medal and given an Honorary Life Membership in the Camp in honor of his Confederate ancestor.
The second significant event was when members of the Camp collaborated with members of the Historical Society of Old Clinton, Georgia. The ante-bellum town of Clinton was the site of one of the few battles that occurred in the central Georgia area. The meeting resulted in plans for the "Old Clinton War Days " featuring the Battle of Sunshine Church & Griswoldville Battle Reenactments. 13WMAZ-TV in Macon promotes the event which is now held annually in Old Clinton near Gray, Georgia.
Each year the reenactment expands and improves; the number of spectators and participants consistently grows[see center photo below]. There is always a lot of interest especially in the genealogical research tent set up and conducted by members of Camp 1399. Other Camps in the area share in the benefits of increasing membership through a recruiting service provided for them at the event by Camp 1399. Camp 2218, the Camp of the Unknown Soldier, was chartered in 2012 in Jones County (Clinton), and now serves as the primary host for the Old Clinton War Days.
Monuments & Cemeteries - Camp members are care-takers for Several Central Georgia cemeteries that are the final resting place for several Confederate Soldiers. Camp members were responsible for placing and dedicating a monument at the Stevens Street Bason Cemetery in Warner Robins. Following months of planning and fund-raising, Camp 1399 dedicated a new monument to Confederate Soldiers on February 23, 2002. Later being Re-located to a prominent cemetery and Re-dedicated in 2006. Members of camp 1399 remain active in preserving and maintaining historic cemeteries throughout the Central Georgia area including:
Historic Shiloh Methodist Cemetery in Byron, Georgia was established with the church in 1831.
The church itself served the Houston and Peach County communities for over 100 years and was the place of worship for the area’s earliest inhabitants. Although the church was dismantled in the 1960’s, the history of the people resting within the cemetery boundaries is timeless. Over 7 acres in size, had it not been for the limitless service of Shiloh church member Mr. Reggie Holleman and a former police officer Ron Bohnstedt, Shiloh May have been completely forgotten and lost to time.
The Lt. James T. Woodward, Camp #1399 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans became intimately involved in the fight to protect and preserve Shiloh in 2015. Through contacts with the Warner Robins Police Department and Georgia Military College, the Camp was made aware of the largely forgotten history of the site, including the now 9 known Confederate veterans buried in the original church yard.
Since taking the cemetery on as a Camp project, members of Camp #1399 have dedicated countless hours and dollars cleaning, repairing, and maintaining the grounds. Members have been responsible for identifying servicemen from the War of Northern Aggression, the Spanish-American War, WWI and WWII. ALL SERVICEMEN are honored and respected by the Camp, and their graves are well maintained.
Since taking the Historic Shiloh Methodist Cemetery in Byron, Georgia on as a Camp project, members of The Lt. James T. Woodward, Camp #1399 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have dedicated countless hours and dollars cleaning, repairing, and maintaining the grounds.
Also, Camp #1399 has been joined in their efforts by members of the Pine Barrens, Camp #2039, Col. Charles T. Zachary, Camp #108, ladies from the Order of the Confederate Rose, Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Boy Scouts of America, active members of the United States Air Force and multiple other organizations in their push to preserve the site. Three current members of Camp #1399 sit on the Board of Trustees for the Shiloh Cemetery Restoration Corporation, which now owns the entire cemetery grounds.
Shiloh continues to be a cause worthy of such love and dedicated volunteers. Research uncovers new history each day, and there are as many as three additional, and previously unknown Confederate soldiers being confirmed as resting in the churchyard. The project has also led to the discovery and protection of forgotten Hancock Cemetery, the marking and headstone placement of two unknown soldiers, and the honoring of two additional. Each day, modern encroachment creeps closer and closer to the cemetery grounds, but with the selfless example given to our volunteers by the servicemen and citizens at Shiloh, the leadership of Mr. Holleman and Mr. Bohnstedt who have gone on before us, and the service of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the history of Shiloh Methodist Cemetery will continue inspire and live on for as long as the Southern sun sets over the cemetery.
Service to Veterans - In 2004, Camp 1399, with assistance from other Camps and other volunteers, organized the first annual SCV Salutes American Veterans at the Carl Vincent VA Medical Center in Dublin, GA. The event was a grand success and has grown more popular and well-received each year since. Russ Huffman, later Commander of Clinch's Cavalry Camp 2084 in Jeffersonville (associate member of 1399), was the first event Chairman. The Pine Barrens Camp in Eastman, the Hardy Smith Camp in Dublin and several other Camps across the Georgia Division have actively supported the event along with Camp 1399. We provide great food, musical entertainment, prizes and a general day of fun. Held the third Saturday in September, the SCV shows its patriotic colors with this event. The 16th Annual event was held September 2019.
Genealogical Research & Documentation - The Lt. James Thomas Woodward Camp 1399 burial registration file is a major accomplishment of the camp. The file contains over 150,000 burial records of most (including out-of-state) Confederate soldiers buried in Georgia. The file represents hundreds of hours of volunteer work (Ricky Smith was the major contributor) . Copies of it were donated to the respective State Archives, the Washington Memorial Regional Library in Macon, the National Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans. Information from the file has been used in at least two commercially published books on the War. Camp 1399 is dedicated to the memory of our Confederate ancestors and to understanding and preserving respect for Southern heritage of which all Americans can be proud.