The bicentennial observance of the birth of Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis will take place throughout this year, with the highlight being the reopening of Beauvoir, his final home, in Gulfport, Miss., on June 3.

The magnificent Southern shrine, which survived a pre-emptive strike by Hurricane Camille in 1969, was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The cost of the restoration is expected to exceed $4.1 million for the house alone; the total restoration will run about $20 million, and donations are still being accepted.

The reopening ceremonies will feature a keynote address by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. more...

Check out what Rep. Ron Paul had to say on Bill Mahr's program about the so-called "Civil War."

Now well past 90, Judith MacKnight Jones is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, the illness that robbed her of all of her memory, her most precious asset.

She has been lying here for the past 11 years, covered by a patchwork blanket, made from pieces her great-grandmother brought from the United States between 1865 and 1885, after the Confederacy lost the Civil War.

Unable to speak or remember now, her book "Soldado Descanso" ("Rest Soldier") is written in Portuguese, but soon will be translated into English, as the publisher thinks Americans should know about the proud history of Confederate immigrants settling in Brazil, finding a new home here but maintaining many of the traditions they brought from Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, the Carolinas and Georgia.

Her daughter-in-law, Heloisa Jones, said patchwork is only one of the values the Americans have brought. This blanket is not just any patchwork, she said, "these pieces are very old and reflect a valuable tradition," she said.more...

After being held as a prisoner of war for a little more than a year, Seth Gregory was released.

But that happened to be the same day his older brother Stephen Gregory was captured.

The Gregory brothers were Confederate soldiers in the Civil War. They are now buried in Murray County cemeteries — Seth in the Harrison Chapel Cemetery on Hyden Tyler Road and Stephen in the Sumach Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Highway 225 North.

Members of the Lt. Col. William Luffman chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans held memorial ceremonies and placed Southern Crosses of Honor on their graves last week, said the chapter’s commander, Steve Hall. more...

Our national icons are often held in such high esteem as to eclipse the fact they were fallible -- as all men are. For this reason, it is important that we occasionally take a look with a critical eye upon these larger-than-life figures. Cultural myth, after all, can cloud historical truth.

In keeping with our motto, Veritas Vos Liberabit ("the truth shall set you free"), and our mission, to remain true to the word of our nation's principal legal compact, our Constitution, The Patriot has challenged the actions of political icons where their popular persona does not reconcile with the historical record.

It is in this spirit that we revisit Abraham Lincoln's statesmanship status, not just the man credited with preserving the Union, 'emancipating slaves', and founding the Republican Party, but the man who presided over the most grievous Constitutional contravention in American history.

Needless to say, when one dares tread upon the record of such an iconic figure as Lincoln, one risks all manner of ridicule from devoted loyalists. That notwithstanding, Patriots should be willing to look at Lincoln's whole record, though it may not please our sentiments, or comport with the common folklore of most history books. more...