We Are The Legion!
Commander's Report From General Foxwell
Commander’s Report – 2023
State of the Organization
1st Legion P.A.C.S.
From the very beginning of this organization our purpose has been stated in our
By-Laws as;
Article III: Purpose
Section I: The Legion is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and
scientific purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to
organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Sections 501 (c) (3) of
the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding sections of any future tax code.
Charitable--The act of giving money to others in need
Educational--1) Of or relating to education, 2) Serving to educate; instructive
Scientific—Of, relating to, or employing the methodology of science
Every year since Greg Bair organized the 1 st Legion PACS, a donation has been
made to at least one organization. Through those years many different
organizations have benefited from your efforts. In turn, many thousands of
visitors to some of the sites preserved with the help of your donations have
benefited by seeing history in its true form instead of from a digital screen. Many
of you have participated in educational displays, talks and demonstrations to
school classes as well as adults at events. Every site you have helped preserve has
given the scientist and archeologist an opportunity to research the area in as
close to pristine condition as possible. Many of the finds at these sites have
helped to confirm, expand, and sometimes change the previously known history
of the action at the site. The excavation of the Arabia and Cairo steamboats with
their contents, the recovery of the Monitor gun turret and CSS Hunley are a few
of the phenomenal discoveries and ongoing work that come to mind benefiting
from public donations.
In the past four years we have seen the outside forces who want to banish our
hobby and erase our heritage and history grow even stronger. Monuments
serving as memorials for loved ones who died on the battlefield and left nothing
behind but a memory for their loved ones and descendants to visit and honor
their valor, have been removed or destroyed. Grave markers, some of which have
been huge, ornate works of art in themselves, monuments erected by loving and
appreciative communities, have been destroyed or relocated and the sacred
bones beneath them exhumed to be reinterred at new locations with the honors
they deserve. All done in the hope if Christ waits another 150 years for His return
our descendants will not have to experience this all over again.
Three years ago, just as our hobby was regaining momentum after “The Incident”
at Cedar Creek, a biological bug was unleashed on the world that prompted our
government to put our nation under house arrest. We lost our freedom to move
about. We lost the opportunity to participate in events for more than just one
season. We lost the connection of community that God created in us to survive.
We lost our impetus to get out and join in public activities, and yes, most
importantly, we lost friends and family members, some of whom were PACS
members, to death from the disease unleashed on the world.
In the past two years we have seen a drastic decline in participation at events
from our own troops. If we continue this trend, this organization will fold and
become nonexistent. We cannot let that happen as no man is an island. None of
us can create any action that does not have some effect on someone else. If we
fold as an organization, the charity to other organizations stops, the education of
school classes and public comes to an end, the scientific research we depend on
to validate our own ancestors’ actions never happens because once the ground is
disturbed and paved over the history is lost.
Whoever is chosen at the end of today to lead this organization into the future, I
ask of you to give them your utmost to preserve this organization and raise it back
up to the family and camaraderie we have known in the past. We need everyone
of you to participate in the events if possible in order to accomplish this. Just as
the South rose out of the ashes of war and survived the reconstruction years, 1st
Legion PACS can rise once again to be a force to be noticed on the field.
General J. Dale Foxwell, Commanding, 1st Legion PACS
Nous Sommes La Legion