December 2023 Newsletter
CLICK HERE to catch up on all the latest in the December 2023 issue of our award-winning newsletter, The Harriet Lane.
2024 Battle of Galveston Commemoration Ceremony
For the 30th consecutive year LCDR Edward Lea USN, Camp 2, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, will be conducting its signature event, the Battle of Galveston Commemoration Ceremony, at 10:00 AM on Saturday, January 6, 2024 at the historic Trinity Episcopal Cemetery in Galveston, Texas.
The event is open to the public and will include a musket firing Honor Guard who will render a salute to the fallen.
First Annual Camp 2 Christmas Party
On December 9, 2023 Camp 2 held its First Annual Christmas Party. We were joined by members of the Ladies Auxiliary and the DUVCW, along with many spouses and guests. The festivities kicked off with morning refreshments followed by a short meeting, then on to a potluck feast, door prizes and the traditional Ace of Diamonds drawing. The grand finale was a Clara Barton Ladies Appreciation pin raffle, which was won by Joyce Brock. We also helped the Auxiliary celebrate their 27th Anniversary. Good times were had by one and all!
The main order of business at the meeting was election of 2024 officers. Brother Vincent Trovato was elected Junior Vice Commander. Other officers are the same as in 2023, including Commander Vander Meulen, SVC Pourreau, Secretary/Treasurer Schulze (PDC) and Camp Council members Thomas Coughlin (PDC), Stevenson Holmes (PDC) and Ben Bonnet (PCC). Thanks to outgoing JVC Hoffman and all the 2024 officers for their dedication and service to our order.
Interview with Past Commander-In-Chief Michael Paquette
Headstone Cleaning – November 8, 2023
Living descendants of Union Civil War veterans clean the headstones of those buried in the Grand Army of the Republic plot at Washington Cemetery in Houston, Texas.
The Harriet Lane for September, 2023
The September 2023 issue of The Harriet Lane has been published. Camp 2 received the Marshall Hope Award for best newsletter at the National Encampment in Nashua, NH this year. Congratulations and thanks to our newletter editor, Brother Michael Lance, DC, and all the contributors for giving us such an outstanding publication!
Click here to read the latest issue.
Wreaths Across America 2024
You can help us honor our fallen heroes by sponsoring remembrance wreaths, volunteering or by joining us in person at Houston National Cemetery on December 14, 2024. (Check out the video below!) A portion of your donation will help support Camp 2.
Click on the SERVE & SUCCEED logo to purchase wreaths through our Camp Sponsorship group, and please share the link with friends and family!
A person dies twice: once when they take their final breath, and later, the last time their name is spoken.
Remember our fallen heroes this December at Houston National Cemetery.
The boys in blue thank you!
June 2023 Newsletter
It was a busy Spring for Camp 2 in Houston. Read all about it in the latest issue of our award-winning newsletter, The Harriet Lane.
Memorial Day 2023 at Washington Cemetery
Juneteenth National Independence Day
Today, we celebrate Juneteenth, a celebration of the Emancipation Declaration that started in Galveston Texas, June 19th, 1865, the historic day slavery was abolished in Texas.
Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops under the command of General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas.
Today, several uniformed members of the Houston-based LCDR Edward Lea Camp 2 of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will gather at historic Ashton Villa in Galveston and Brother Duncan will recreate the reading of the Proclamation.
Texas was the first state to recognize the date by enacted law, in 1980, and it became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021 when the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into law.
Happy Juneteenth to One and All !!