Community News
Potts Camp News
Dale Hollingsworth Wilsons return home after travelling for two weeks; grandchildren – Syndey and Symon return with them When
Kathryn and Terry Scarbrough of Houston, Tx., returned from their trip
to visit relatives in Starkville, they visited others in Potts Camp;
they were Annie Ruth Stone and family and Mary Minor. We were all happy
to see them. Visitors of Mary Minor on Monday were Wanda Holbrook and Katherine Sundstrom of Holly Springs. Bro.
Steve and Pat Wilson have just returned home from a 12-day trip to Ohio
where Steve ministered in Newark and Zandsville at camp meetings. From
Ohio they flew to Bakersville, CA; where he was in camp meetings for
two nights and then on to Eureka, CA, to visit a week with their
children, Stephanie and Jon McDonald and children. They bought the
grandchildren, Syndey and Symon home with them for a two-week stay in
Potts Camp. I received a letter from Mary Frances
Fitts of Dallas, Tx. She sent me an old letter she had found in her
sister Betty Rose Jones’s old records. It was written by my late
brother, Rev. Charles L. Potts, during the Korean War when he was in
service. I loved my brother very much. He was much younger than I.
Thanks to Frances. I was surprised last week when
a cousin out of the past came to see me. He was William B. Cole of
Chattanooga, Tenn., a retired FBI agent. He came here as a child and
played with my brother, Lindy. He is 80. We called him Bill Cole as a
child. His grandparents were my favorite great-aunts and -uncles from
here, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Mayer, and his mother, Faye Cole, was
special. I really enjoyed his visit. A special
all-day meeting with dinner and singing was held on Sunday at Winburn
Open Door Baptist Church with a large crowd attending. Thoughts 1.
The greatest gift cannot be bought in a store or ordered from a
catalog, all wrapped in pretty paper. It can be seen in the eyes of a
child; heard in the words of kindness and felt in the embrace of a
friend; it is the precious gift of love. 2. Some
of the ways to make your light shine are: pray with love, work with
joy, share what you have, live simply, love deeply, dream from your
heart and thank God always. 3. Try to make each day better than the day before, as we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! Thoughts 1. Faith makes all things possible. Hope makes all things bright. Love makes all things easy. 2. Wherever we are today, let God use us as peacemakers. 3. Let Jesus be first in our thoughts in the morning, and the last in our thoughts at night. 4. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” I John 4:8. Poem I
want my life to shine for Jesus so that everywhere I go, the watching
world will see He loves them and His saving grace they’ll know. Prayer: Dear God, fill our lives with love for others, and help us to have peace on earth. For Christ’s sake, amen. Thoughts I.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Matthew 25:35. Prayer:
O, God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry; when I have a
warm home, help me to remember the homeless; when I am happy, help me
to remember the sad and hopeless; and remembering, help me to show
compassion and love enough to help by word or deed those things we take
for granted. II. “The key to sacrifice is love. We will always give our time, our money and our life for what we love!” Happy birthday to Don Randolph on Aug. 26; Hanna Goolsby on Aug. 27, Betty Fincher and Tom Dicky on Aug. 30. Prayer
list: Pray for those who have lost loved ones. Mary Jarrett, Charles
Henderson, Henry Tutor, Diane Clayton, Connie Work, Betty Fincher,
Doris Goode of Hickory Flat, Betty Rose Jones of Memphis, Sank Owen of
Amory. Gussie Davis of Hickory Flat is home from the hospital, Memories and History During
World War II, an old warehouse of Greer and Greer Store became a sewing
room for Army clothes. The Greers had purchased the two-story store
from Doug Laws and wife Birdie. About 1950, the old warehouse became a
theater, known as the “Dixie Theater.” The newest shows were brought
out from Memphis every weekend, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Willa
Floyd sold the tickets and Charles Burris, a teenage boy, ran the
projector. People came from nearby towns and rural areas to see the
wonderful pictures. One Sunday afternoon, L.D.
kept the younger children so I could see “Gone With the Wind.” I was
late getting there and the show had started. They called out my name. I
had won the door prize, $10. What a surprise! Charles
purchased a motorcycle with some of his money. He passed our house
really fast one Sunday afternoon. My husband remarked, “That boy is
going to get killed!” He ran into a car and was killed that day. The
funeral was held at Potts Camp United Methodist Church. It was really
sad; he was the age of my younger brother and sister, Ann and Lindey
(both deceased now). The Dixie Theater changed hands later!
Did you know?
Richard Simmons Heroes of Dorchester Heights The
plan to take Dorchester Heights was to give the Americans some
advantage over the British who were holding the Boston Harbor and the
town of Boston. This would put the British fleet in range of the cannon
to be placed at Dorchester. However, the British would have great
difficulty trying to use artillery because they would not be able to
elevate their cannon enough to reach the American positions at
Dorchester. The task was to get all the
equipment and fortifications to the Heights and do it in one night.
Three thousand men under General Thomas were assigned to take part in
fortifying the Heights. Another 4,000 were to stand by at Cambridge
for an amphibious attack on Boston, if the Americans were discovered
and the British launched an attack on the Heights. The amphibious
attack was planned due to the mild weather and the bay was largely open
water. General Putman had command of the Boston
attack. Generals Greene and Sullivan would lead the crossing. Sixty
flatboats stood ready on the banks of the Charles River. To increase
the strength of the American Army, 2000 Massachusetts militia were
called out. Work details were dispatched to round up wagons, carts, and
800 oxen. There was a great deal of excitement among the locals. It is
said bets were being placed on what would happen and when. “The
preparations increase and something is daily expected, something
terrible it will be,” wrote Abigail Adams to her “Dearest friend and
husband.” The date had been chosen. The move on
Dorchester would begin after dark on March 4, and be completed by first
light the morning of March 5, the anniversary of the Boston Massacre.
Washington ordered all communications with Boston be stopped. If the
enemy got wind of what was happening and moved first to occupy the
Heights, regiments were ready to move at a moment’s notice. It is said
that no one knew of the activities, that the secrecy was a complete
success. However, according to the diary of a British officer, the
British knew as early as February 29 of the plan. The British had
captured some deserters and a spy known as “Junius” revealed that the
Americans intended to “bombard the town from Dorchester.” The new
information, however was not taken seriously. On
Saturday evening, March 2, Washington wrote to Artemus Ward that
everything must be set and ready to go as planned on Monday night,
March 4. After sealing the note he wrote on the back, “Remember
barrels.” The bombardment of Boston began at
midnight Saturday, March 2, and continued at intervals until morning.
The British responded with heavier and louder cannonade. “The house
shakes…with the roar of the cannon,” wrote Abigail Adams at her home
ten miles away. “No sleep for me tonight.” On Sunday night the firing
resumed and again the British responded with full crescendo. Henry Knox
and his artillery company were making good use of those guns from Ft.
Ticonderoga. On the third and crucial night of Monday, March 4, the
roar of the guns from both sides became more furious by far. At the
first crash of cannon, General Thomas and 2,000 men started across the
Dorchester causeway, moving rapidly and silently, shielded from view by
the long barrier of hay bales. An advanced guard of 800 riflemen went
first to fan out along the Dorchester shores in case the British made
any attempt to investigate during the night. The main work party of
some 1,200 men followed, then came hundreds of carts and heavy wagons
loaded with chandeliers, fascines, hay bales, barrels, and most
important of all, the guns from Ticonderoga. The whole procession moved
on in solemn silence, and with perfect order and regularity. Progress
up the steep, smooth slopes was extremely difficult, yet numbers of ox
teams and wagons made three and four trips. The
night was unseasonably mild – with a full moon – ideal conditions for
the work, as if the hand of the Almighty were directing things, which
the Rev. William Gordon, like many others, felt certain it was. “A
finer [night] for working could not have been taken out of the whole
365,” he wrote. “It was hazy below [the Heights] so that our people
could not be seen, though it was a bright moonlit night above on the
hills.” At Cambridge, Generals Greene and
Sullivan and the 4,000 troops were ready to move to the river and the
flat boats in the event a signal from Roxbury church steeple was given.
About 10 p.m. a British lieutenant colonel, Sir John Campbell, reported
to Brigadier General Francis Smith that the “rebels were at work on
Dorchester Heights.” General Smith chose to ignore it. From that point
on, the work continued to go unnoticed by the enemy. On
the Heights the men toiled steadily with picks and shovels, breaking
the frozen ground for earth and stone to fill the chandeliers and
barrels. At 3 in the morning a relief force of 3,000 men and an
additional five regiments of riflemen took up positions near the shore.
At the first faint light before dawn, everything was ready, with at
least 20 cannon in place. It was utterly a phenomenal achievement. At
daybreak, the British commanders looking up at the Heights could
scarcely believe their eyes. It is said, General Howe exclaimed, “My
God, these fellows have done more work in one night than my troops
could do in three months.” I have tried to
center on Washington and his faithful Colonel Henry Knox, both heroes
in my opinion. I also have to say that each and every one of those men
and women involved at Dorchester Heights were true heroes. They gave so
much for us, and we daily, willingly give it up. Next
week we will look at the British response to close out this episode. I
am leaving out the “Did You Know” and quiz for this week due to space. Ref: 1776 by David McCollough, The Real George Washington by Perry Allison Skouson.
|
