Department of Ohio

SONS OF UNION VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR

Raymond C. Nagel

Ohio Department Commander 2005-2006

6600 Betts Avenue

Cincinnati, Ohio  45239

(513) 478-8228

orion@fuse.net

                                                                                                                 August 24, 2005

Department Order No. 1

Series 2005-2006

Brothers of the Department of Ohio;

       I would like to extend a thank you to all the brothers who attended the 123^rd Department Encampment at Mount Union College. It was a very high honor to be elected as Department Commander for 2005-2006. I am fully aware of the outstanding service of those Department Commanders who were before me and with your help we can continue in that tradition and have another great year. Department Headquarters is hereby located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

       As usual I would like to thank PCinC Dick Greenwalt and his wife Bea for making this years encampment as successful as always. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated couple take on the sometimes thankless task of so large an undertaking.

      This year we were also honored for the first time in many years to have the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War meet with us. All five Allied Orders together for the first time in recent memory. Hopefully this will foster a continued working relationship.

1.     Special Meeting

In accordance with Department By Laws Article 2, Section 5, Special Order 01-2005 is attached concerning the information below.

      There will be a special meeting at the Red Brick Tavern in Lafayette, Ohio on October 1, 2005 at 12PM. The purpose of this meeting is to amend the by-laws of the Department. No other business will be conducted. We will have lunch between 11:30- 1:00 PM everyone will be responsible for their own meal. After lunch the meeting for the changes in the by-laws will commence at 1:00 PM. Please see the attached,  Special Order 01-2005. Everyone is encouraged to attend and bring your paid up dues card as this is a meeting where voting will take place. Following the special meeting a Department Council meeting will take place.

2.Organization/Communication

A list of officers has been posted on the Department website. All Camp Commanders are requested to make sure their contact information, officers and any other information is up to date. With the internet growing rapidly we are missing opportunities for people interested in joining to contact the appropriate camp. It is very frustrating to send an e mail to a camp and have it bounce back. It reflects badly on an organization if they leave contacts that are no longer valid or out of date on a website.

If your camp has a newsletter please submit it to Jr Vice Commander/Signals Officer Ken Freshley for inclusion on the website. It will communicate to other Brothers in the Department the activities and events of your camp.

Another area being planned for the website is a page for descriptions of monuments and historical sites in Ohio. Each camp Memorials officer is asked to download a survey form from the Department website, fill it out and take a picture (digital or regular print) and submit them to the Department Memorials Officer Don Grant. There are plans in the future to set this up so they may be recorded online. We intend to survey historical sites as well as memorials. Ohio has a very rich history involving the Civil War and I feel it is only fitting that we, as heirs of the GAR, record it in a central location.

2.     New Department Appointments

A) This year we have a new Buffington Island Representative, PCC Scot Britton of the Fearing Camp in Marietta. The duties of this position are:

1)     To keep abreast of the developments in the Buffington Island area

In regards to anything affecting the future of Ohio’s only battlefield

2)     Attend any meetings that may have anything to do with the above.

3)     Report back to the Department Commander any information on the above. Anyone who has any information regarding Buffington Island give it to Brother Britton and he will pass it on.

B)     A new position has been created for a GAR Records Officer which is Brother Chuck Reeves of the Lytle Camp #10 in Cincinnati. This will require the co-operation of the camps located throughout the state.

 The purpose of this position is:

1)     Identify all GAR Posts that existed in the State of Ohio with rosters and locations if possible and periodically update it through the contact on the National website.

2)     Also keep all records found so they can be placed on the Ohio Department website.

3.     Camp Historians

               All camps within the Department are hereby directed to appoint a Camp Historian to record the history of each camp going back as far as possible. This should include the names of all those on each charter as well as the date thereof, activities and rosters of each year of the camps existence. All of this information should be forwarded to the Department Historian, PDC Robert Wolz and Department Secretary PDC David Medert.  This will be required by the National Organization in a very short time.          

 I think keeping the history of the Order alive for future generations is very important. We have to remember that those things we do today become the history of tomorrow. In as little as five or ten years accomplishments, events and people are too oftentimes forgotten.

4.     Buffington Island Ceremony

                  In the future starting in 2006 the Ohio Department will SANCTION not sponsor only one Buffington Island ceremony involving two or more camps that are from the Ohio Department. This is being done in order to clear up the confusion and embarrassment resulting from the Ohio Department being involved in two separate ceremonies on the same date. The camps involved in any joint ceremony at Buffington Island will be authorized to place upon any flyers or any material involved in that years event the following: 

“Sanctioned by the Department of Ohio Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.”

If there is just a single camp involved there will be no sanction. The Buffington Island Representative is to report at the Mid-Winter Meeting on the camps involved in working together on this ceremony.