START OF PART 2
The following is an excerpt from the television news program, News Vision, which originally aired at 8 pm on Sunday July 10, 1984, on the National Broadcast System television network.
(The dayroom is an open-air atrium more than four stories tall, approximately sixty-five meters in length by roughly fifteen meters wide. One entire long wall is taken up by an enclosure made of tinted glass, allowing filtered sun light into the huge open space. A series of contoured steel ribs running floor to ceiling support the countless large framed panels of glass comprising the tinted enclosure. - The opposite long wall of the dayroom is made up of four levels of prison cells. A quick scan of the cells reveals that all of the solid metal doors are slid into the open position. A US MP whistles a tune as he strolls along the catwalk in front of the open doors on the second level. The MP, a young man in his early twenties, casually twirls a wooden baton behind his back as he peeks into each open door. The floor space of the dayroom is liberally sprinkled with an assortment of couches, card tables, a pool table, two large screen color televisions, and a large magazine - book rack against the very far wall. A sign on a nearby wall reads “No Smoking”. A pair of exercise-bicycles, and a folding ping-pong table sit unused near the door which Mudd and Beynon have just arrived through.)
(The camera pans around to reveal perhaps two dozen men in their late middle-aged years who are all dressed in identical orange and white striped uniforms. A large group of perhaps ten or so detainees is gathered in front of one of the large televisions as they intently focus their attention on a daytime gameshow. The detainees regard the new comers with wary apprehension as they pass by. A pair of MPs, with large wooden batons swinging from their hips, can be seen in the background milling about on the floor of the dayroom.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Off Camera as above and below images play on screen.) I must admit to feeling a bit of a thrill at seeing living breathing people, who are considered by the government, to be the last living Confederate citizens anywhere on the planet. However, as we make our way across the dayroom, it becomes clear that the detainees are feeling somewhat apprehensive about our intrusion into their environment, and that they have not been told of our arrival.
(The camera angle suddenly changes to a side view of the two men making their way across the floor of the dayroom. Mudd is in full profile with Beynon partially eclipsed behind him as they walk. Two detainees engaged in an intense game of chess pass in and out of view as Mudd and Beynon pass by. The men sit like a pair of frozen statues as they contemplate the plastic pieces on the board. Another detainee sits alone at a table working on a large puzzle of the George Washington equestrian statue, which, since the end of the Second Great War, has been relocated from its original position in Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia, to its current location in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Off Camera as above and below images play on screen.) Lieutenant Colonel Beynon informs me that Barracks J, the building which we are now through, was built back in the mid-1970s, back when many government officials thought that open spaces, natural lighting, and pastel colors would help to calm the nerves of inmates, and would thus make them more manageable. However, as Lieutenant Colonel Beynon explains it, the visionary aesthetics of the 1970s had little positive affect on the men being held at Fort Leavenworth, and the US Army quickly abandoned the project. Due to the aging population here at Barracks J, the government has no plans to build a new more purposeful barracks to house them, or to move them anywhere else.
(Beynon points to an area in the middle of the floor as the two men pass by. The incoming sunlight streaming in through the large wall of glass to the other side of Beynon nearly whites out the scene before the camera automatically adjusts and returns the image to normal.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Off Camera as above and below images play on screen.) An area of the tiled floor that has been filled in and patched with ordinary concrete is pointed out to me. Apparently trees once grew in the dayroom, but they had to be removed due to the fact that they obstructed the view of the security cameras, and their fallen leaves created a fire-hazard, which the base fire-marshal did not approve of.
(Brief color footage of Mudd and Beynon entering the already open door of an office just off the dayroom. Two or three army personnel are seen sitting in swivel chairs observing security monitors as they talk into headsets. One or two other people seem to be engaged in miscellaneous tasks in the background. It is difficult to get an approximate size of the room, due to the tight angle of the camera.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Colonel Beynon introduces me to the duty officer in charge of Barracks J for the day, twenty-six-year-old Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores, of Chandler, New Mexico, and then Lieutenant Colonel Beynon departs to return to his own office.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores: (While standing in front of a bank of monitors displaying live security footage from in and around Barracks J. The indistinct sound of two-way radio chatter can occasionally be heard in the background as Flores is speaking.) The detainees here in Barracks J are woken up every morning at 0530, and are made to stand next to their cell-doors as morning rollcall is carried out. Following rollcall, they are taken to the showers, and then they are marched over to the mess hall in groups of twenty for breakfast. (It is clear that the normal duties of Lieutenant Flores do not include speaking to the media, but in spite of his obvious nervousness, the young man does an acceptable job of answering questions from a nationally famous television journalist.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And how do the detainees spend the rest of their day? (The camera quickly pans over to Mudd who is still standing in the open door leading into the security room. The dayroom can be partially viewed behind him.)
Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores: After they return from their morning meal, the eleven or twelve detainees who have volunteered to participate in our work program are taken over to the Industrial Building next door, while the rest of them are free to engage in leisure activities here in the dayroom, or they may have up to three hours, outside, in the exercise yard if they so wish.
(The scene quickly changes to Mudd and Flores climbing a metal staircase.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores to show me the cells where the detainees are housed, and he agrees by taking me for a walk along the catwalk fronting the cells. We stop in front of a cell on the first level. Currently it is occupied, but its resident detainee is somewhere else at the moment.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores: (While standing in front of an open sliding cell door) Each cell has approximately 37.5 square meters of living space, and since Barracks J was originally built with a total of eighty cells, and since we now have only forty-seven detainees, each detainee gets their own living quarters.
(The camera focuses on the interior of the cell. There is a single bed affixed to one of the long walls inside the cell. The bed is well made with hospital corners. Across from the bed and slightly offset from it on the opposite wall is a desk adjoined to an upright locker. A small brittle looking Confederate flag with sixteen stars in its canton protrudes from an ancient cup marked with the letters, CSMC. There are numerous books neatly arraigned atop the desk, but their titles are unreadable due to the distance between the desk and the cell door. A calendar for the year 1984, featuring a scantily clad woman, hangs on the wall to one side of the desk, to the other side of the desk hangs several ancient black and white photographs. A digital clock radio sitting on the desk blinks 11:38 am.)
(The scene abruptly changes to Mudd and Flores again walking along the catwalk. As they make their way past the open sliding doors, one or two inmates can be briefly glimpsed reading books alone in their cells, another inmate appears to be working on some sort of an art project at his desk.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores about the CS flag and the clock radio I noticed in the cell. He explained to me that although it is technically illegal for the detainees to have such paraphernalia, the psychiatrist who over sees the mental health of the detainees says that they should be allowed some leeway in this area, as a means of preventing excessive suicide attempts. - As for the clock radio, detainees who participate in the work program are able to buy personal electronics in the commissary.
(The scene changes to Mudd and Flores once again climbing the metal staircase.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores if there are many suicide attempts in Barracks J. He tells me that information is classified, but that the US Army does everything in its power to provide for the physical and mental wellbeing of the detainees being held here. I’m also told that both Catholic and Protestant religious services are held each Sunday, for those wishing to attend.
(The scene changes to Mudd and Flores entering an empty cell on the fourth level. The room is approximately nine or ten feet wide by roughly thirty-five feet front to back. Mudd grins widely as he stands in the middle of the room and stretches his arms out to demonstrate that his fingertips cannot reach either wall. Flores guides Mudd to the rear of the room, and shows Mudd a toilet and a washbasin that are hidden behind a half-wall, separating them from the rest of the cell. Flores turns on the hot water spigot in the washbasin to demonstrate that it works.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Flores explains to me that when Barracks J was designed, it was thought that each cell might have to hold up to three or more detainees, thus their somewhat surprisingly large size. I must confess, that I shared dorm rooms that were slightly smaller than this while I attended the University of Berkeley during the late 60s.
(Footage of Flores opening the upright storage locker and showing Mudd its empty interior, Flores opening the empty desk drawers, and Flores pointing out the view from the window above the toilet, as if Flores is working as a real estate agent in an underperforming property market.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores if I can see the Industrial Building where the detainees participating in the work program work, and he agrees to take me there.
(As Mudd exists the cell door, the camera catches a glimpse of the sunlight filled open area beyond the railing of the fourth level catwalk. A plastic streamer hanging from a large circular ceiling vent is seen snapping stiffly in the breeze, as the powerful centralized air-conditioning system unceasingly dumps hundreds of square meters of chilled air into the dayroom, in order to counteract the solar heat radiating in through the glass comprising nearly half the building’s exterior surface. - The elevated height of the fourth level provides an excellent panorama of the surrounding countryside as glimpsed through the immense glass wall on the other side of the dayroom. - Immediately in front of Barracks J is a large exercise yard, though at the moment, the only detainees in the yard are two men sitting on a shaded bench as they smoke cigarettes. The exercise yard is surrounded by a high chain-link fence topped with razor wire. Beyond the razor wire is a parking lot filled with an assortment of civilian vehicles. A late model Jaguar XJ8 can be seen parked in the first row near a pedestrian gate. Beyond the parking lot is a brief expanse of rolling lawn dotted with modern cube like buildings interconnected by a network of two-lane blacktop roads. Beyond the modern buildings is Moss Army Airfield, where, at the moment, a huge silvery grey zeppelin, perhaps three hundred meters or more in length, can be observed as it languidly approaches a tall mooring tower. The registration number on the side of the zeppelin is NCC-1701. The initials USN can be seen on one of the tailfins. Beyond Moss Army Airfield is the Missouri River. - The camera catches sunlight flashing off of the windshields of vehicles traveling along US Route 59 over in Missouri. – Mudd briefly stops on the catwalk to take in the view, before then continuing on.)
(The scene changes to Mudd and Flores exiting through a drab metal door and walking out into bright sunshine. The door quickly swings closed behind them. Mudd and Flores walk along a concrete sidewalk surrounded with trimmed trees and manicured lawns to either side. Mudd and Flores are seen waiting to cross a somewhat busy intersection. Mudd looks up and notices that the name on the main street they are waiting to cross is Richard M. Nixon Avenue. The smaller street leading back in the general direction of Barracks J is Riley Street. A mild breeze tussles Mudd’s hair as he squints upward in the bright sunshine.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Flores explains to me that this particular street was named in honor of President Nixon, after Nixon visited in 1962, and ordered the expansion of Fort Leavenworth into a main operating base in support of nearby Hoffman Air Force Base.
A White garbage truck roars past, followed by a sporty orange and black Mercury Typhoon, and then a leather clad rider on an ear-splitting café style BMW M1 motorcycle. The counterflowing traffic on the other side of the roadway is a similar mishmash of miscellaneous vehicles. A break in the traffic occurs, and the two men quickly cross to the other side of the street.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Flores informs me that the army leases out the so-called Industrial Building here at Fort Leavenworth to private companies. The company leasing the building also pays the US government for the privilege of using Disarmed Confederate Combatants as laborers. The US government, in turn, pays the detainees who agree to participate in the work program, a flat rate of ten dollars a day, for a nine-hour day, five days a week. Currently the business leasing the Industrial Building is a manufacturer of electrical devices, switches, and circuit units.
(Mudd and Flores are seen walking through an open drive through gate in a rusty chain-link fence surrounding a large Quonset hut building, of the type used by the US military during the Second Great War. The Quonset hut and its surrounding storage yard have an overall unkempt dingy appearance, and are in stark contrast with the modern buildings and parklike landscaping found throughout the rest of Fort Leavenworth. The peak of the Quonset hut is roughly the same height as a two or three-story building. A sign affixed to the chain-link fence near the gate reads, “LEAVENWORTH ELECTRICAL SUPPLY INC. - BUILDING M”.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) As we enter the storage yard in front of the Industrial Building, my senses are instantly assaulted by a smell similar to burning plastic, and I’m gripped by a sense that we have traveled back in time to a period when manufacturing sweatshops were commonplace across the American landscape. As we approach the front of the building the air becomes filled with the deep sound of stamping machines and other industrial noises.)
(Mudd and Flores walk past several rows of stacked pallets before then entering an open roll up door at the front of the building. The interior of the building is illuminated by old-fashioned high-intensity discharge light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. About half of the light fixtures are not working, leaving large pools of shadow stretching here and there across the interior of the building. The ceiling and distant walls are more or less hidden in darkness. - The camera adjusts to reveal rows of sealed boxes staged just to the left inside the rollup door. A dilapidated sign hanging from the metal framework supporting the high-up arched ceiling reads “OUT GOING ORDERS”. - Just to the right inside the rollup door sits an old two axle trailer of the type typically used for camping. Someone has stenciled the word “OFFICE” onto the door of the trailer. A row of grey metal lockers surrounded by wooden benches can be seen against the far wall, on the other side of the trailer. A tall thin man with bushy eyebrows, a bald head, and a mountain of a nose scowls out the window of the trailer at the new arrivals who have just walked in through the open roll up door. Within a matter of a few seconds, the bald-headed man is out of his trailer and is approaching Mudd and Flores on unsteady feet as he holds a hand straight out in a stopping gesture. The bald-headed man’s hand covers the lens of the camera, and the scene goes black.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) The business owner is under the mistaken impression that our camera crew was sent by the American Federation of Labor Unions, and that we are visiting his factory in order to uncover some sort of evidence of wrongdoing on his part, but a quick telephone call to someone in Lieutenant Colonel Wright Beynon’s office paves the way for us, and we are allowed in. The owner of Leavenworth Electrical Supply Incorporated did not wish to speak to us in front of the camera, but he was adamant that he treats his workers well, that he is running a legitimate business, and that his business provides a way for the detainees to do an honest day’s work, and to save up a nice nest-egg for their future.
(The scene changes to a detainee standing on a makeshift platform attached to the side of a large production machine. The platform is approximately three meters off the floor, and is not surrounded by a railing. A large roll of sheet steel, approximately two meters in diameter, and a meter wide, is mounted on a roller mechanism on one side of the machine. As the worker on the platform operates the controls in front of him, the sheet steel is unwrapped from the top of the roll and is drawn into the machine. The worker on the platform presses another set of controls, and a hydraulic guillotine comes down to slice the steel at about one meter in length. The worker pushes the sliced sheet steel down a set of rollers to another workstation.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) The working conditions inside the Industrial Building at Fort Leavenworth are extremely primitive, when compared to modern standards, but we see no evidence that the detainees working here are being mistreated. In fact, it is almost hypnotic to watch these men work in such synchronized rhythm with their production machines, and doubtless many of these men must have been working here for many years in order to gain such finely meshed coordination in their jobs.
(The camera follows the sliced sheet of steel as it slides off the end of the conveyor, and is deposited onto a stack of already sliced sheets. The worker at the next station, now at about one meter above floor level, picks up the sheet, which appears to be about two or three millimeters in thickness, and feeds it into the front of his machine in roughly the same manner that a seamstress might feed a sheet of cloth into a sewing machine. The worker steps on a floor pedal and a hydraulic ram with a cutting die on its end immediately slams down slicing a square hole roughly the size of a book out of the sheet. The worker manipulates the sheet under the cutting head to gain the maximum number of square holes from its surface. The worker then throws the flimsy remains of the sheet into a large hopper located behind his machine, and picks up a new sheet from the stack beside him.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) I’m told that the detainees here start their workday at 7:30 am sharp, they receive a ten-minute morning break at 9:45 am, that they have an hour lunch from noon until 1:00 pm, and that they receive another ten-minute break at 2:45 pm. Quitting time is at 4:30 pm. Additionally, the owner of Leavenworth Electrical Supply frequently supplies lunch out of his own pocket, so that the detainees don’t have to spend part of their valuable lunch hour being marched to and from the mess-hall.
(The camera follows one of the cut-out square pieces of metal as it falls from the cutting machine and is funneled into a gravity fed chute system which deposits it into a large plastic tub at the next work-station. Lieutenant Flores removes one of the cut-out pieces of metal from the tub, and shows it to the camera. The metal square Flores is holding appears to be about seventeen centimeters on a side. There are several incomplete perforations about the size of a US Quarter held in place by a narrow fragment of metal still connecting the coin sized perforation to the rest of the flat square object.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) Lieutenant Flores informs me that the object he is holding is called a “blank” and that it will be used to create an electrical junction box.
(Without looking, a worker at the next station reaches into the plastic tub, and retrieves one of the blanks which has just slid into it. - The worker is standing in front of a production machine that is about the size of a large kitchen refrigerator. The worker uses the tips of his fingers to precisely balance the blank on top of a forming block inside the machine. While still holding the metal blank with his fingertips, the worker then uses his elbows to depress two actuator buttons located on the front of his machine. A slow-moving hydraulic ram descends, and the worker moves his fingers out of the way just as the forming die begins to smoosh the blank over and around the forming block. The worker waits two or three seconds before then releasing his elbows from the control buttons. As the hydraulic ram retracts upward, a perfectly formed metal box falls from the forming die and clatters about in the machine. The worker quickly retrieves the box before it has bounced more than twice inside the machine. The worker runs his fingertips around the inside surface and also gives the small metal box a quick visual inspection. The worker holds the new metal box up in the palm of his hand and shows its interior to the camera while displaying a proud smile. The worker retrieves another blank from the plastic tub, and resumes the stamping process all over again.
(The scene abruptly changes; the worker who had been forming metal boxes now stands in front of his forming machine facing the camera. All of the other detainees are gone from their workstations, and all of the nearby production machines appear to be switched off. An astute observer might notice the open can of Pabst Blue Ribbon hiding inside the box forming machine, and or, they might also notice what appears to be the corner of a folded US One Hundred Dollar bill protruding slightly from the worker’s shirt pocket.)
(The worker standing in front of the camera is of slightly below average height, he is of slim build, he has a full head of greyish-red hair, and his elongated elfin face is of the type often associated with Welsh, Scottish, Irish, or possibly English ancestry. He wears a friendly lopsided grin as he speaks into the camera, and he appears to be in relatively good health.
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: My name is, Paul Tilton, I’m fifty-eight years old, and I’m originally from St. Augustine, Florida. (Tilton pauses as if he is unsure what he should say next.)
(The scene glitches slightly, and when it resumes Tilton is standing in a slightly different spot, as if the camera were momentarily stopped for a few seconds. Tilton resumes speaking.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I was an eighteen-year-old corporal in the CS Army when I was taken prisoner by US forces following Patton’s surrender at Birmingham. I spent the next four months as a POW at a makeshift prison camp outside of Chattanooga. The guards were pretty mean to us, they’d pretty much beat us whenever and wherever they felt like it, and of course there wasn’t much food to go around. (Tilton absently scratches his elbows as he talks about the makeshift POW camp outside of Chattanooga.) So, when the US offered me an early release on humanitarian grounds, I took their oath to never again fight against US forces, and I was released, just like that.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And where did you go following your release from the POW camp? (Mudd holds a microphone in his hand in true gumshoe reporter fashion.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I tried to make my way home to my parent’s house in St. Augustine, but the US Military Governor overseeing Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida had declared emergency martial law, and he wasn’t allowing any refugees into his district. I had heard rumors from others on the road that things were a lot better out in the Republic of Texas. With no better options available to me, I decided to make my way westward along the mostly abandoned railroad lines in an effort to reach Texas. It was tough going, and once or twice I almost got myself killed by black guerrillas who were still crawling all over the countryside, in those days. (Tilton shakes his head as if remembering something unpleasant.) Anyway, by the time I reached the Texas – Louisiana border, in January of 1945, I found out that the Texas Rangers had the border locked down tighter than a drum, and that they were shooting absolutely anyone and everyone who tried to make an illegal crossing into Texas. (Tilton stops speaking as if he considers his foray to the Texas border to be the end of his story.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what did you do then, after finding yourself stranded on the border with Texas?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: (Tilton’s southern accent seems to become a bit more pronounced as he remembers his experiences on the Texas border.) Well, at that time, there must have been close to ten or twenty thousand CS military veterans camped outside of Shreveport, Louisiana, with no place else to go. (Tilton sweeps both of his hands through the air in order to emphasize no place else to go.) The US occupation troops kept giving us a hard time by constantly going through our camp everyday turning everything upside down searching for weapons, and whatnot. Eventually the refugees outside of Shreveport united around two rival leaders. One fellow, I can’t remember his name, was a former member of the Freedom Party Guard, and he wanted to lead everyone to Sequoyah to join the Cherokee Homeland out there. And then there was George Mahon, who had been a high muckety-muck in the Freedom Party, he wanted everyone to follow him to Jackson, Mississippi.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Was there any fighting between the two groups?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: A fair amount yes, but most of the fighting at Shreveport took place using iron pipes, knives, wooden clubs, and a whole lot of knuckle dusting, let me tell you.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And I take it that you followed Mahon to Jackson?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: That’s right I did, as did about three quarters of the men camped outside of Shreveport. I believe that the rest of them set off for Sequoyah on foot, but I’m not absolutely sure about that.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what did your group hope to accomplish once they arrived in Jackson, Mississippi?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Well, that’s difficult to say exactly, and Mahon wasn’t really clear about that as well. I guess that we hoped that we’d be getting three square meals a day, and maybe a little bit of our dignity back as well.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I see, and did you take up arms against the United States once the fighting in Jackson broke out?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Yes, I did. There is no use trying to lie about that now. (Tilton reaches out and places a hand on his production machine, as if for support.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Did you kill anyone?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Ahh…I cannot really talk about that. (Tilton pauses to look at his own feet for a moment, before then returning his gaze towards Mudd.) All I can tell you is that a battle broke out with us followers of Mahon on one side, and the Jackson Police Department and the US military on the other side. And yes, a lot of people got killed all around me.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, what were the circumstances of your capture by US forces, a second time, at Jackson?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I was captured when US paratroopers staged a predawn mission to rescue the Mayor of Jackson from us. (Tilton briefly smiles to himself, before then returning to his explanation of his capture by US forces.) About two or three hundred of us had setup a perimeter around city hall, and we were attempting to force the city government of Jackson into recognizing our rebellion. But the mayor, and the chief of police, wanted no part of us, and before we knew it, an entire battalion of US paratroopers came out of nowhere and totally rolled us up within less than twenty minutes of actual fighting. (Tilton gives a matter of fact shrug of the shoulders and then falls into silence.)
(The owner of Leavenworth Electrical Supply can be seen in the background as he makes his way along the now uninhabited production lines, switching off the industrial sized pedestal fans which are normally used to keep the workers cool. Based upon his body language, it appears that the business owner is attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation between Mudd and Tilton.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I’m sorry, Mr. Russell, I meant to get those fans, but I got tied up here.)
(The business owner makes an angry shushing motion with his hand towards Tilton, but doesn’t say anything. The business owner, who is apparently named Mr. Russell, wears an unhappy look upon his face as he pretends to inspect an electrical cord attached to one of the nearby pedestal fans.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: How well were you treated following your capture, and how soon before you were put in front of a military tribunal?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Those of us who were taken prisoner were held inside railroad cars a few miles outside of Jackson for about ten days or so. If we were caught talking to one another we were beaten, we ate and drank from a communal bucket, and we relieved ourselves in a hole that had been cut in the floor. So, it was about as rough as it can get. (Tilton then adds the following almost seemingly as an afterthought to himself.) The US soldiers guarding us told us that the railroad cars which we were being held in, were the same ones used by the Confederate government to ship blacks to the population reduction camps. When some of us complained that they couldn’t keep us in those railcars, on account we was white, the US soldiers just laughed at us, and told us that arrangements were being made to ship us directly to Camp Dependable for disposal.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And did you believe them?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Yes, I did! I was absolutely terrified at the prospect of being sent to Camp Dependable, and there were a few men in my railcar who couldn’t take the pressure, and they committed suicide, by one means, or another.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what happened after that?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: After about ten days the railroad cars began to move, and we were taken to Camp Stonewall outside of Biloxi, Mississippi. A year and a half earlier I had attended six weeks of CS Army basic training at Camp Stonewall, but following the end of the war, the US had taken it over and turned it into one of their main POW camps on Confederate soil. Anyway, after being at Camp Stonewall for about a month, they hauled me Infront of a military tribunal consisting of three senior US Army officers, one of them being General Ironhewer himself. To make a long story short, my trial lasted about two minutes, if that. I was convicted of being a war-criminal, and I was given a twenty-five-year sentence for taking up arms against the US government.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, your sentence must have expired back in 1970! Why then haven’t you taken the Oath of Loyalty to the United States, so that you can be released from here?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: My home state of Florida considers me to be a war-criminal, and because of my status as a war-criminal, I’m unable to receive a pension from the Florida Bureau of Confederate Affairs for my time served in the CS Army. Other CS veterans are able to collect between two-hundred and four-hundred US dollars a month, about half what a US Army veteran gets, but convicted war-criminals like me get nothing! (Tilton makes a “zero” symbol with his thumb and forefinger to emphasize nothing.) Also, from what I’ve heard, the US government’s identity reassignment program isn’t all it is cracked up to be.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, basically, you’re concerned that you’ll experience financial hardship if you were to leave this place?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I’ve been doing his job since 1969, and I’ve managed to save up nearly twenty-five thousand since then. Will that be enough to support me for the rest of my life? Maybe if I live like a rat in a trailer out in the middle of New Mexico, somewhere, and eat canned beans for the rest of my life. But what is the use in doing that? I’m better off staying here if that is the case. (Tilton pauses for a brief moment as if reflecting on something.) You know, if the good people in Tallahassee decide to overturn my war-crimes conviction, then I’ll probably take the oath when I turn sixty.
(Just then the sound of a loud car horn fills the air. The camera quickly pans in the direction of the open rollup door to find an enormous Ford Centurion station wagon which has pulled into the Quonset hut, and has parked next to the office trailer. Two women get out of the station-wagon and begin to place bags of fast-food onto the hood of the car. The owner, Mr. Russel, retrieves more bags of food from the backseat of the car.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Excuse me, it was nice talking to ya, but my lunch is here. (Tilton shakes Mudd’s hand and quickly exits the frame.)
(The scene changes to the detainees wolfing down gigantic hamburgers and handfuls of fries, as they sip soft drinks from oversized wax paper cups. Some of the detainees sit upon spools of wire placed around the front of the station wagon, as they use the long hood of the car as an impromptu picnic table. Other detainees sit on the wooden benches in front of their lockers as they eat. Mr. Russel sits on the wooden stoop in front of his trailer as he munches a burger.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) I feel as though we’ve intruded upon the detainees working in the Industrial Building long enough, so I ask Lieutenant Flores to take me to the mess-hall, where the rest of the detainees are eating, so that I can talk with a few more of them before we depart.
(A brief montage of the following images, a still image of the mess hall building taken from about fifty meters away along the driveway connecting the mess hall to Richard M. Nixon Avenue. The one-story mess hall building appears to have been designed by the same 1970s era architect who designed Barracks J, and with a large glass enclosure comprising roughly the entire front third of the building, the mess hall looks more like a hot house used to grow flowers, than a place where maximum security detainees would eat their meals . The otherwise pristine lawn in front of the mess hall is dotted with prairie-dog holes. A Doctor Hopper soft drink delivery truck can be seen parked near a delivery door along the side of the building. - A close up image of a brass plaque located near the main entrance which reads, “Sergeant Armstrong Grimes Memorial Mess Hall – Dedicated – May 1, 1974”. - A framed notice hanging on one of the walls inside the mess hall which reads “Kaku Catering Services Inc, Building N, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 60027. - Proprietor: Masuyo Kaku. - A still image of detainees dressed in orange and white striped suits standing in front of a food counter, as woman of East Asian descent (presumably Japanese boat-people) dressed in white aprons and matching white hats, dollop food onto their held out trays.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) We arrive at the mess hall just as the detainees are sitting down to eat their lunches, so I ask Lieutenant Flores to help me locate a detainee who might be willing to speak with me as they are eating.
(The scene changes to a side view of Mudd and Flores making their way across the mess hall dining area. Mudd is closer to the camera with Flores walking to his other side. Detainees can be seen in the background sitting in groups of three or four to a table as they eat their food. The mess hall appears large enough to seat two or three hundred people, and the relatively small number of detainees seem to prefer to sit in isolated groups, with one or two empty tables between them and the next group. Two bored looking MPs wander between the tables as the detainees enjoy their food. The mostly female kitchen staff of Kaku Catering Services can be seen in the distant background as they remove steam trays and begin to wipe down the stainless-steel counter tops in preparation of the next meal.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) Unfortunately, many of the detainees are unwilling to talk with me in front of the camera, and, once again, I get the same nervous stares here in the mess hall, which we encountered earlier in the dayroom.
(Lieutenant Flores leads Mudd to a detainee who is sitting alone by himself away from the others. - Although the detainee appears to be roughly sixty years old, he is also a large powerful looking man with a square jaw, broad shoulders, and although his hair is silvery grey, it is slicked back in a hairdo of the type commonly associated with motorcycle gangs and 50s pop stars. Flores appears to say a few words to the detainee sitting by himself, but the microphone is not active, and their brief conversation cannot be heard. The Detainee nods “Yes” and then shakes hands with Mudd, as Mudd sits down in a chair opposite of him.)
(The scene changes to a head and neck shot of the detainee sitting across from Mudd. The detainee talks around mouthfuls of food as he speaks into the camera.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: My name is Carl Hibbets, I’m sixty-one years old, I grew up on a small farm in the Ozark Mountains outside of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and I was a sergeant, serving as an advanced scout, in the CS Army at the time I was taken prisoner during the initial assault against Pittsburgh back in 42.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: How did you spend the next two years following your capture?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: I was sent to Camp Liberty just outside of Indianapolis, where I sat for the next two years. The winters there were brutal, like nothing we’ve got around here. (Hibbets takes a bite from a slice of apple pie on his tray, chews a bit, and then continues speaking.) Do you know who Jerry Dover is? Dover and I were bunkmates in Barracks Twelve during the last few months of the war.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I think that everyone knows who Jerry Dover is. You can’t hardly turn on your television set without seeing one of his old shows in syndication. I mean there is Ma’s Coffee, Assignment Undercover, and Star Patrol. He was the executive producer of so many hit tv shows of the 1950s and 60s, that his name has become a household word.
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Hibbets keeps going along his own train of thought, as though he hasn’t heard Mudd’s answer to his question.) There were a lot of goofballs being held at Camp Liberty, Dover was kind of a small guy, he was good at making people laugh, but not so good at sticking up for himself, sometimes. Anyhow, I watched his back in there, and in exchange he made me laugh. (Hibbets momentarily pauses as he shovels another load of apple pie into his mouth.) As it turns out, the Yankees really had a thing for old Dover, and they gave him an early release just as soon as the fighting ended. It was the dammedest thing, and no one could figure out why the Yankees would release Dover ahead of so many other people who’d been in that (bleep) hole of a place so much longer than him.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Have you been able to keep in contact with Jerry Dover over the years?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Once again Hibbets seems not to hear Mudd’s words as he continues on his own tangent.) As Dover was leaving Camp Liberty, he spoke to someone regarding my situation. (Hibbets takes another mouthful of pie and continues to talk as he chews.) Apparently, he told them that I was worried about my parents being all alone on their farm out in Arkansas, so about three weeks later I get a humanitarian release, and I was told to go straight home to my family.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And did you return to your parent’s farm after being released from Camp Liberty?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Hibbets sets his plastic fork down.) When I got home, I found that everything on our farm had been burned to the ground, everything. Do you know what that means? (As Hibbets voice seems to take on an unhinged somewhat menacing quality.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I would take it to mean that your parents were, unfortunately, killed in the war, as were a lot of other people on both sides. Why, I have an uncle who was stationed aboard the USS Josephus Daniels when it was attacked by a dive-bomber off the coast of…..
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Hibbets slams his fist down upon the table causing everything on it to jump.) No! According to what I was told by the sheriff, the attack upon my parent’s farm occurred two weeks after Partridge signed the damned surrender agreement, making the Red (bleep) who murdered my parents, war-criminals! So, do you wanna know what I did after that?
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I imagine that you probably hatched a plan to seek revenge upon those who had killed your parents?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Well what do you know, winner – winner, chicken dinner. Except that the Red (bleep)who killed my parents were long gone, so instead of trying to hunt them down, I spent the next few weeks killing any nig (bleep) I happen to set my eyes upon. The farm was gone, I didn’t have any money to rebuild it, and I had heard that there were a lot more (bleep) in Louisiana that needed killing, than there was in Arkansas, so I set off that way.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And did you end up in Shreveport?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Indeed, I did. (Hibbets picks up an amber colored plastic drinking glass, from the table, and takes a deep gulp from it.) From there I hooked up with George Mahon and his followers. We left Shreveport in small groups, and made our way towards Jackson, Mississippi in small dribs and drabs, so that the Yankees would have a harder time noticing us. There were a lot of refugees on the road back then, so we blended right in.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what were the conditions like when you arrived in Jackson, Mississippi?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Well, for some reason, the US government had thought that it would be a good idea to relocate some of the nig (bleep) they had liberated from Camp Dependable, and to place them into Jackson, Mississippi. This was part of the reason why George Mahon had decided to declare his reconstituted Confederate government in Jackson. And, boy howdy, as soon as the real fighting started, those damned Yankee soldiers skedaddled in a blink of an eye, and they completely abandoned all of their precious blacks to us, to do with them as we please.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what did you do once the fighting started?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Those (bleep) thought that they were safe, because the war was over, but we taught them differently. I must have shot one hundred of them on the first day alone, and if I had the chance, I’d do it all over again.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, you were part of a (Mudd seemingly stumbles at a momentary loss for words), part of a death squad, as you went around indiscriminately targeting random black people for killing?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: That’s right, I was with a group of about eight other men as we went around taking care of business in Jackson. (Hibbets then takes a bite from a dinner roll which he has just finished buttering.) However, after about two or three days of that, the word went out that Mahon had been inaugurated President of the Reconstituted Confederate States of America, and that he needed every able-bodied man to help defend the Governor’s Mansion, which he had declared to be the new Grey House.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Were you retaken by the US military following the Battle of the Governor’s Mansion?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Indeed, I was. They pulled us out of the basement, and made us watch as some US Army Sergeant shot Mahon, execution style in the back of the head.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: What sort of a sentence did you receive following your recapture?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Twenty-five years. (Hibbets shrugs his shoulders in a matter of fact manner, and then takes another bite from his roll.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: That seems like an awfully light sentence for someone who has admitted to committing mass-murder?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: That’s because I wasn’t charged with committing mass-murder! The military tribunal I faced convicted me of taking up arms against the US occupation, and they branded me a war-criminal, simply because I was brave enough to stand up and fight for freedom!
(At this point the face of Hibbets freezes in a snarl on the television screen as Mudd narrates off camera.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Our producer spoke with the official US Army historian at Fort Leavenworth, and she told our producer that she has never seen, nor heard of any evidence to suggest that roving death squads hunted down black death camp refugees during the Jackson Uprising. We also spoke with the curator of the Black Memorial Museum, located on the former grounds of Camp Dependable, and they likewise have never heard of the claim that blacks were hunted and killed during the Jackson Uprising. What is clear, however, is that the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi had in fact invited black refugees to settle in his city, perhaps in an attempt to ingratiate himself upon US occupation authorities, and perhaps also to protect his city from reprisal hostage taken and killings carried out by the US Army. Our best information seems to indicate that the majority of black refugees living in Jackson during the uprising came through the event relatively unscathed. But we are unable to totally disprove the narrative accounts provided to us by Hibbets, and perhaps there may be a ring of truth to some of his story.
(The face of Hibbets unfreezes on the screen, and the camera pans over to Mudd whose face seems to have become an unreadable mask.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Okay, then why don’t you simply take the Oath of Loyalty to the government of the United States of America, so that you can get out of here, and have your freedom back?
(The camera switches to a wide-angle side view shot depicting both Mudd and Hibbets sitting at the table from the knees up. Hibbets sets his amber colored plastic drinking-glass down after taking a gulp from it.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Now, why should I take an oath to the goddamned nig (bleep) loving government of the United States of America? (Hibbets asks in a tone of voice suggesting that he is asking the most reasonable question in the entire world.) They kept us in shackles until 1950, and the only reason they stopped performing medical experiments on us in 1981, was because our bodies were getting too old to provide the goddamned US Army scientists with reliable results! Nobody has ever been released from this place, there is no goddamned identity reassignment program, and the only reason our numbers here went down, is because so goddamned many of us were taken over to the United States Army Research Laboratory, on the other side of this base, and were killed during medical experiments! Look, it almost happened to me!
(The camera switches back to a frontal view of Hibbets, and freezes the frame as Hibbets lifts up his prison tee-shirt to reveal a faded scar which runs across the lower portion of his abdomen, up one side of his torso, and then back across his abdomen, in the opposite direction, just below his ribs. Mudd narrates off camera as the frozen image of Hibbets holding up his shirt remains on the screen.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: We spoke with the person in charge of detainee medical records at Fort Leavenworth, and we were told that Hibbets had to undergo emergency medical surgery back in 1972, after drinking methyl alcohol, which he and other detainees had accidentally created in a misguided attempt to ferment rotting scraps of fruit into prison wine. The army psychiatrist who oversees the mental well-being of the detainees in Barracks J states that some of the detainees often make bizarre claims of being visited by aliens, of being removed from Fort Leavenworth in the middle of the night by flying saucers, and even more outlandish claims of having their organs removed from their bodies. Such delusions are most likely due to the prolonged isolation the detainees experience, and the US Army is working to modify the psychotropic drugs which the detainees are given in their food in order to minimize such behavior.
(The image on the television screen unfreezes and returns to a wide-angle side view shot depicting both Mudd and Hibbets in profile.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Former President Carter believes that everyone being held here in Barracks J should be regarded as a US citizen. Do you feel that you should be treated as a US citizen?
(With startling swiftness Hibbets picks up his plastic drinking glass and shatters its brim against the edge of the table, sending a shower of sticky Doctor Hopper in all directions. Hibbets grips the shattered remains of the plastic glass as he announces the following…)
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Carter is a traitor to his own people, and he is also a worthless little mealy-mouthed billy-boy just like you!
(Hibbets then lashes out with the remains of his shattered plastic drinking glass catching Mudd square in the temple with its jagged edge. The force of the blow knocks Mudd to the floor, sending his metal framed chair skidding in the opposite direction. A rivulet of blood forms in Mudd’s temple as he pulls himself into a fetal position and closes his eyes. Hibbets stands up from his chair and roars “FREEDOM!” The other detainees immediately overturn their dining tables sending food and drink in all directions. The mess-hall is filled with the sound of an ear-splitting klaxon as the first chairs begin flying through the air. – Hibbets faces the camera as he pulls up the sleeve of his tee-shirt to reveal a Freedom Party flag tattooed onto his slightly age deflated bicep. Hibbets winks at the camera before then spitting a sticky mass of phlegm directly onto the lens. The scene goes black.)
(The scene changes to Mudd standing outside the main entrance of Fort Leavenworth. Judging by the long shadows on the ground, it appears to be at least 5 pm in the evening. Mudd is standing on the lawn beside the righthand side of a busy four lane thoroughfare. There are two lanes of traffic entering Fort Leavenworth, and two lanes exiting, although, at the moment, there is far more traffic leaving Fort Leavenworth than is entering it. Military police officers can be seen in the near background leaning out from their booths as they busily check in the incoming traffic. - Partially to the side of Mudd is a low brick structure containing the roundel insignia representing the numerous units stationed at Fort Leavenworth. Behind the brick structure is a large sign reading, “WELCOME TO FORT LEAVENWORTH”. Behind the sign is a double layer chain-link fence at least three meters tall, topped with razor wire. - An incoming diesel big rig pulling a flatbed loaded with portable generators uses its jake-brake in order to slow down. Mudd waits until the noisy truck passes, and then he lifts the microphone to his mouth.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I was taken to the infirmary and given stitches for the wound I received during the riot. Additionally, the army doctors here at Fort Leavenworth observed me for several hours, and they assure me that I do not seem to be showing any signs of having suffered a concussion, even though I was clearly knocked unconscious by the unexpected blow I received from DCC-Detainee, Carl Hibbets.
(Mudd reaches up and uses the fingertips of his free hand to gently touch the square bandage that has been affixed to his temple.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I’m told that the detainees who participated in the riot will spend the next sixty days in solitary confinement, and that many of them will be ineligible for release from this facility anytime within the next ten years.
(Mudd displays an irritated look as he swats away a white butterfly which has chosen this precise moment to buzz his face.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Today, the vast majority of people living throughout the New South consider the Confederate States of America to be a mistake in American history, and to be something that should have never happened. But here at Fort Leavenworth, there is a group of men who remain fanatically committed to the cause of resurrecting, not only the Confederate States of America, but also the murderous Freedom Party as well. (Mudd clinches his fist to his side and noticeably grimaces as he says the words, “murderous Freedom Party”)
(Mudd briefly pauses to let his dramatic performance sink in.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Sadly, former President Carter’s altruistic nature has misled him into seeing the Disarmed Confederate Combatant Detainees being confined here at Fort Leavenworth as poor misunderstood characters, who are unfairly being denied their rights as Americans.
(Mudd again pauses for dramatic effect.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: However, the men being locked up here are not your simple run of the mill garden variety criminals which one might find locked up in their local state penitentiary. Make no mistake about it, the detainees being held here in Barracks J, behind me, are hardened war-criminals, they are the sworn enemies of the people of the United States of America, and most of them are resolutely evil to the core. Furthermore, it is this reporter’s opinion that most of these men should never again see the light of day, and the world will be better off the longer they are kept behind bars!
(Mudd takes a break as an unseen vehicle with extremely loud exhaust temporarily overwhelms the audio. Mudd resumes speaking once the loud vehicle is out of earshot.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Moreover, we must make certain that our young people understand that the Freedom Party was not comprised of mere comic book villains, and that the Freedom Party literally has the blood of millions on its hands.
(Mudd fixes the camera with an all-knowing stare before then adding.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Stay tuned as our correspondent Barbara Wasserman travels to Vancouver, Canada, to look into the preparations that are being made for the 84 Summer Olympics. (Mudd then lowers his microphone to his side as if he has just had a very bad day.)
END OF PART 2
The following is an excerpt from the television news program, News Vision, which originally aired at 8 pm on Sunday July 10, 1984, on the National Broadcast System television network.
(The dayroom is an open-air atrium more than four stories tall, approximately sixty-five meters in length by roughly fifteen meters wide. One entire long wall is taken up by an enclosure made of tinted glass, allowing filtered sun light into the huge open space. A series of contoured steel ribs running floor to ceiling support the countless large framed panels of glass comprising the tinted enclosure. - The opposite long wall of the dayroom is made up of four levels of prison cells. A quick scan of the cells reveals that all of the solid metal doors are slid into the open position. A US MP whistles a tune as he strolls along the catwalk in front of the open doors on the second level. The MP, a young man in his early twenties, casually twirls a wooden baton behind his back as he peeks into each open door. The floor space of the dayroom is liberally sprinkled with an assortment of couches, card tables, a pool table, two large screen color televisions, and a large magazine - book rack against the very far wall. A sign on a nearby wall reads “No Smoking”. A pair of exercise-bicycles, and a folding ping-pong table sit unused near the door which Mudd and Beynon have just arrived through.)
(The camera pans around to reveal perhaps two dozen men in their late middle-aged years who are all dressed in identical orange and white striped uniforms. A large group of perhaps ten or so detainees is gathered in front of one of the large televisions as they intently focus their attention on a daytime gameshow. The detainees regard the new comers with wary apprehension as they pass by. A pair of MPs, with large wooden batons swinging from their hips, can be seen in the background milling about on the floor of the dayroom.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Off Camera as above and below images play on screen.) I must admit to feeling a bit of a thrill at seeing living breathing people, who are considered by the government, to be the last living Confederate citizens anywhere on the planet. However, as we make our way across the dayroom, it becomes clear that the detainees are feeling somewhat apprehensive about our intrusion into their environment, and that they have not been told of our arrival.
(The camera angle suddenly changes to a side view of the two men making their way across the floor of the dayroom. Mudd is in full profile with Beynon partially eclipsed behind him as they walk. Two detainees engaged in an intense game of chess pass in and out of view as Mudd and Beynon pass by. The men sit like a pair of frozen statues as they contemplate the plastic pieces on the board. Another detainee sits alone at a table working on a large puzzle of the George Washington equestrian statue, which, since the end of the Second Great War, has been relocated from its original position in Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia, to its current location in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Off Camera as above and below images play on screen.) Lieutenant Colonel Beynon informs me that Barracks J, the building which we are now through, was built back in the mid-1970s, back when many government officials thought that open spaces, natural lighting, and pastel colors would help to calm the nerves of inmates, and would thus make them more manageable. However, as Lieutenant Colonel Beynon explains it, the visionary aesthetics of the 1970s had little positive affect on the men being held at Fort Leavenworth, and the US Army quickly abandoned the project. Due to the aging population here at Barracks J, the government has no plans to build a new more purposeful barracks to house them, or to move them anywhere else.
(Beynon points to an area in the middle of the floor as the two men pass by. The incoming sunlight streaming in through the large wall of glass to the other side of Beynon nearly whites out the scene before the camera automatically adjusts and returns the image to normal.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Off Camera as above and below images play on screen.) An area of the tiled floor that has been filled in and patched with ordinary concrete is pointed out to me. Apparently trees once grew in the dayroom, but they had to be removed due to the fact that they obstructed the view of the security cameras, and their fallen leaves created a fire-hazard, which the base fire-marshal did not approve of.
(Brief color footage of Mudd and Beynon entering the already open door of an office just off the dayroom. Two or three army personnel are seen sitting in swivel chairs observing security monitors as they talk into headsets. One or two other people seem to be engaged in miscellaneous tasks in the background. It is difficult to get an approximate size of the room, due to the tight angle of the camera.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Colonel Beynon introduces me to the duty officer in charge of Barracks J for the day, twenty-six-year-old Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores, of Chandler, New Mexico, and then Lieutenant Colonel Beynon departs to return to his own office.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores: (While standing in front of a bank of monitors displaying live security footage from in and around Barracks J. The indistinct sound of two-way radio chatter can occasionally be heard in the background as Flores is speaking.) The detainees here in Barracks J are woken up every morning at 0530, and are made to stand next to their cell-doors as morning rollcall is carried out. Following rollcall, they are taken to the showers, and then they are marched over to the mess hall in groups of twenty for breakfast. (It is clear that the normal duties of Lieutenant Flores do not include speaking to the media, but in spite of his obvious nervousness, the young man does an acceptable job of answering questions from a nationally famous television journalist.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And how do the detainees spend the rest of their day? (The camera quickly pans over to Mudd who is still standing in the open door leading into the security room. The dayroom can be partially viewed behind him.)
Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores: After they return from their morning meal, the eleven or twelve detainees who have volunteered to participate in our work program are taken over to the Industrial Building next door, while the rest of them are free to engage in leisure activities here in the dayroom, or they may have up to three hours, outside, in the exercise yard if they so wish.
(The scene quickly changes to Mudd and Flores climbing a metal staircase.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores to show me the cells where the detainees are housed, and he agrees by taking me for a walk along the catwalk fronting the cells. We stop in front of a cell on the first level. Currently it is occupied, but its resident detainee is somewhere else at the moment.
Second Lieutenant Joseph Flores: (While standing in front of an open sliding cell door) Each cell has approximately 37.5 square meters of living space, and since Barracks J was originally built with a total of eighty cells, and since we now have only forty-seven detainees, each detainee gets their own living quarters.
(The camera focuses on the interior of the cell. There is a single bed affixed to one of the long walls inside the cell. The bed is well made with hospital corners. Across from the bed and slightly offset from it on the opposite wall is a desk adjoined to an upright locker. A small brittle looking Confederate flag with sixteen stars in its canton protrudes from an ancient cup marked with the letters, CSMC. There are numerous books neatly arraigned atop the desk, but their titles are unreadable due to the distance between the desk and the cell door. A calendar for the year 1984, featuring a scantily clad woman, hangs on the wall to one side of the desk, to the other side of the desk hangs several ancient black and white photographs. A digital clock radio sitting on the desk blinks 11:38 am.)
(The scene abruptly changes to Mudd and Flores again walking along the catwalk. As they make their way past the open sliding doors, one or two inmates can be briefly glimpsed reading books alone in their cells, another inmate appears to be working on some sort of an art project at his desk.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores about the CS flag and the clock radio I noticed in the cell. He explained to me that although it is technically illegal for the detainees to have such paraphernalia, the psychiatrist who over sees the mental health of the detainees says that they should be allowed some leeway in this area, as a means of preventing excessive suicide attempts. - As for the clock radio, detainees who participate in the work program are able to buy personal electronics in the commissary.
(The scene changes to Mudd and Flores once again climbing the metal staircase.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores if there are many suicide attempts in Barracks J. He tells me that information is classified, but that the US Army does everything in its power to provide for the physical and mental wellbeing of the detainees being held here. I’m also told that both Catholic and Protestant religious services are held each Sunday, for those wishing to attend.
(The scene changes to Mudd and Flores entering an empty cell on the fourth level. The room is approximately nine or ten feet wide by roughly thirty-five feet front to back. Mudd grins widely as he stands in the middle of the room and stretches his arms out to demonstrate that his fingertips cannot reach either wall. Flores guides Mudd to the rear of the room, and shows Mudd a toilet and a washbasin that are hidden behind a half-wall, separating them from the rest of the cell. Flores turns on the hot water spigot in the washbasin to demonstrate that it works.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Flores explains to me that when Barracks J was designed, it was thought that each cell might have to hold up to three or more detainees, thus their somewhat surprisingly large size. I must confess, that I shared dorm rooms that were slightly smaller than this while I attended the University of Berkeley during the late 60s.
(Footage of Flores opening the upright storage locker and showing Mudd its empty interior, Flores opening the empty desk drawers, and Flores pointing out the view from the window above the toilet, as if Flores is working as a real estate agent in an underperforming property market.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) I ask Lieutenant Flores if I can see the Industrial Building where the detainees participating in the work program work, and he agrees to take me there.
(As Mudd exists the cell door, the camera catches a glimpse of the sunlight filled open area beyond the railing of the fourth level catwalk. A plastic streamer hanging from a large circular ceiling vent is seen snapping stiffly in the breeze, as the powerful centralized air-conditioning system unceasingly dumps hundreds of square meters of chilled air into the dayroom, in order to counteract the solar heat radiating in through the glass comprising nearly half the building’s exterior surface. - The elevated height of the fourth level provides an excellent panorama of the surrounding countryside as glimpsed through the immense glass wall on the other side of the dayroom. - Immediately in front of Barracks J is a large exercise yard, though at the moment, the only detainees in the yard are two men sitting on a shaded bench as they smoke cigarettes. The exercise yard is surrounded by a high chain-link fence topped with razor wire. Beyond the razor wire is a parking lot filled with an assortment of civilian vehicles. A late model Jaguar XJ8 can be seen parked in the first row near a pedestrian gate. Beyond the parking lot is a brief expanse of rolling lawn dotted with modern cube like buildings interconnected by a network of two-lane blacktop roads. Beyond the modern buildings is Moss Army Airfield, where, at the moment, a huge silvery grey zeppelin, perhaps three hundred meters or more in length, can be observed as it languidly approaches a tall mooring tower. The registration number on the side of the zeppelin is NCC-1701. The initials USN can be seen on one of the tailfins. Beyond Moss Army Airfield is the Missouri River. - The camera catches sunlight flashing off of the windshields of vehicles traveling along US Route 59 over in Missouri. – Mudd briefly stops on the catwalk to take in the view, before then continuing on.)
(The scene changes to Mudd and Flores exiting through a drab metal door and walking out into bright sunshine. The door quickly swings closed behind them. Mudd and Flores walk along a concrete sidewalk surrounded with trimmed trees and manicured lawns to either side. Mudd and Flores are seen waiting to cross a somewhat busy intersection. Mudd looks up and notices that the name on the main street they are waiting to cross is Richard M. Nixon Avenue. The smaller street leading back in the general direction of Barracks J is Riley Street. A mild breeze tussles Mudd’s hair as he squints upward in the bright sunshine.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Flores explains to me that this particular street was named in honor of President Nixon, after Nixon visited in 1962, and ordered the expansion of Fort Leavenworth into a main operating base in support of nearby Hoffman Air Force Base.
A White garbage truck roars past, followed by a sporty orange and black Mercury Typhoon, and then a leather clad rider on an ear-splitting café style BMW M1 motorcycle. The counterflowing traffic on the other side of the roadway is a similar mishmash of miscellaneous vehicles. A break in the traffic occurs, and the two men quickly cross to the other side of the street.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) Lieutenant Flores informs me that the army leases out the so-called Industrial Building here at Fort Leavenworth to private companies. The company leasing the building also pays the US government for the privilege of using Disarmed Confederate Combatants as laborers. The US government, in turn, pays the detainees who agree to participate in the work program, a flat rate of ten dollars a day, for a nine-hour day, five days a week. Currently the business leasing the Industrial Building is a manufacturer of electrical devices, switches, and circuit units.
(Mudd and Flores are seen walking through an open drive through gate in a rusty chain-link fence surrounding a large Quonset hut building, of the type used by the US military during the Second Great War. The Quonset hut and its surrounding storage yard have an overall unkempt dingy appearance, and are in stark contrast with the modern buildings and parklike landscaping found throughout the rest of Fort Leavenworth. The peak of the Quonset hut is roughly the same height as a two or three-story building. A sign affixed to the chain-link fence near the gate reads, “LEAVENWORTH ELECTRICAL SUPPLY INC. - BUILDING M”.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera) As we enter the storage yard in front of the Industrial Building, my senses are instantly assaulted by a smell similar to burning plastic, and I’m gripped by a sense that we have traveled back in time to a period when manufacturing sweatshops were commonplace across the American landscape. As we approach the front of the building the air becomes filled with the deep sound of stamping machines and other industrial noises.)
(Mudd and Flores walk past several rows of stacked pallets before then entering an open roll up door at the front of the building. The interior of the building is illuminated by old-fashioned high-intensity discharge light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. About half of the light fixtures are not working, leaving large pools of shadow stretching here and there across the interior of the building. The ceiling and distant walls are more or less hidden in darkness. - The camera adjusts to reveal rows of sealed boxes staged just to the left inside the rollup door. A dilapidated sign hanging from the metal framework supporting the high-up arched ceiling reads “OUT GOING ORDERS”. - Just to the right inside the rollup door sits an old two axle trailer of the type typically used for camping. Someone has stenciled the word “OFFICE” onto the door of the trailer. A row of grey metal lockers surrounded by wooden benches can be seen against the far wall, on the other side of the trailer. A tall thin man with bushy eyebrows, a bald head, and a mountain of a nose scowls out the window of the trailer at the new arrivals who have just walked in through the open roll up door. Within a matter of a few seconds, the bald-headed man is out of his trailer and is approaching Mudd and Flores on unsteady feet as he holds a hand straight out in a stopping gesture. The bald-headed man’s hand covers the lens of the camera, and the scene goes black.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) The business owner is under the mistaken impression that our camera crew was sent by the American Federation of Labor Unions, and that we are visiting his factory in order to uncover some sort of evidence of wrongdoing on his part, but a quick telephone call to someone in Lieutenant Colonel Wright Beynon’s office paves the way for us, and we are allowed in. The owner of Leavenworth Electrical Supply Incorporated did not wish to speak to us in front of the camera, but he was adamant that he treats his workers well, that he is running a legitimate business, and that his business provides a way for the detainees to do an honest day’s work, and to save up a nice nest-egg for their future.
(The scene changes to a detainee standing on a makeshift platform attached to the side of a large production machine. The platform is approximately three meters off the floor, and is not surrounded by a railing. A large roll of sheet steel, approximately two meters in diameter, and a meter wide, is mounted on a roller mechanism on one side of the machine. As the worker on the platform operates the controls in front of him, the sheet steel is unwrapped from the top of the roll and is drawn into the machine. The worker on the platform presses another set of controls, and a hydraulic guillotine comes down to slice the steel at about one meter in length. The worker pushes the sliced sheet steel down a set of rollers to another workstation.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) The working conditions inside the Industrial Building at Fort Leavenworth are extremely primitive, when compared to modern standards, but we see no evidence that the detainees working here are being mistreated. In fact, it is almost hypnotic to watch these men work in such synchronized rhythm with their production machines, and doubtless many of these men must have been working here for many years in order to gain such finely meshed coordination in their jobs.
(The camera follows the sliced sheet of steel as it slides off the end of the conveyor, and is deposited onto a stack of already sliced sheets. The worker at the next station, now at about one meter above floor level, picks up the sheet, which appears to be about two or three millimeters in thickness, and feeds it into the front of his machine in roughly the same manner that a seamstress might feed a sheet of cloth into a sewing machine. The worker steps on a floor pedal and a hydraulic ram with a cutting die on its end immediately slams down slicing a square hole roughly the size of a book out of the sheet. The worker manipulates the sheet under the cutting head to gain the maximum number of square holes from its surface. The worker then throws the flimsy remains of the sheet into a large hopper located behind his machine, and picks up a new sheet from the stack beside him.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) I’m told that the detainees here start their workday at 7:30 am sharp, they receive a ten-minute morning break at 9:45 am, that they have an hour lunch from noon until 1:00 pm, and that they receive another ten-minute break at 2:45 pm. Quitting time is at 4:30 pm. Additionally, the owner of Leavenworth Electrical Supply frequently supplies lunch out of his own pocket, so that the detainees don’t have to spend part of their valuable lunch hour being marched to and from the mess-hall.
(The camera follows one of the cut-out square pieces of metal as it falls from the cutting machine and is funneled into a gravity fed chute system which deposits it into a large plastic tub at the next work-station. Lieutenant Flores removes one of the cut-out pieces of metal from the tub, and shows it to the camera. The metal square Flores is holding appears to be about seventeen centimeters on a side. There are several incomplete perforations about the size of a US Quarter held in place by a narrow fragment of metal still connecting the coin sized perforation to the rest of the flat square object.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) Lieutenant Flores informs me that the object he is holding is called a “blank” and that it will be used to create an electrical junction box.
(Without looking, a worker at the next station reaches into the plastic tub, and retrieves one of the blanks which has just slid into it. - The worker is standing in front of a production machine that is about the size of a large kitchen refrigerator. The worker uses the tips of his fingers to precisely balance the blank on top of a forming block inside the machine. While still holding the metal blank with his fingertips, the worker then uses his elbows to depress two actuator buttons located on the front of his machine. A slow-moving hydraulic ram descends, and the worker moves his fingers out of the way just as the forming die begins to smoosh the blank over and around the forming block. The worker waits two or three seconds before then releasing his elbows from the control buttons. As the hydraulic ram retracts upward, a perfectly formed metal box falls from the forming die and clatters about in the machine. The worker quickly retrieves the box before it has bounced more than twice inside the machine. The worker runs his fingertips around the inside surface and also gives the small metal box a quick visual inspection. The worker holds the new metal box up in the palm of his hand and shows its interior to the camera while displaying a proud smile. The worker retrieves another blank from the plastic tub, and resumes the stamping process all over again.
(The scene abruptly changes; the worker who had been forming metal boxes now stands in front of his forming machine facing the camera. All of the other detainees are gone from their workstations, and all of the nearby production machines appear to be switched off. An astute observer might notice the open can of Pabst Blue Ribbon hiding inside the box forming machine, and or, they might also notice what appears to be the corner of a folded US One Hundred Dollar bill protruding slightly from the worker’s shirt pocket.)
(The worker standing in front of the camera is of slightly below average height, he is of slim build, he has a full head of greyish-red hair, and his elongated elfin face is of the type often associated with Welsh, Scottish, Irish, or possibly English ancestry. He wears a friendly lopsided grin as he speaks into the camera, and he appears to be in relatively good health.
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: My name is, Paul Tilton, I’m fifty-eight years old, and I’m originally from St. Augustine, Florida. (Tilton pauses as if he is unsure what he should say next.)
(The scene glitches slightly, and when it resumes Tilton is standing in a slightly different spot, as if the camera were momentarily stopped for a few seconds. Tilton resumes speaking.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I was an eighteen-year-old corporal in the CS Army when I was taken prisoner by US forces following Patton’s surrender at Birmingham. I spent the next four months as a POW at a makeshift prison camp outside of Chattanooga. The guards were pretty mean to us, they’d pretty much beat us whenever and wherever they felt like it, and of course there wasn’t much food to go around. (Tilton absently scratches his elbows as he talks about the makeshift POW camp outside of Chattanooga.) So, when the US offered me an early release on humanitarian grounds, I took their oath to never again fight against US forces, and I was released, just like that.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And where did you go following your release from the POW camp? (Mudd holds a microphone in his hand in true gumshoe reporter fashion.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I tried to make my way home to my parent’s house in St. Augustine, but the US Military Governor overseeing Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida had declared emergency martial law, and he wasn’t allowing any refugees into his district. I had heard rumors from others on the road that things were a lot better out in the Republic of Texas. With no better options available to me, I decided to make my way westward along the mostly abandoned railroad lines in an effort to reach Texas. It was tough going, and once or twice I almost got myself killed by black guerrillas who were still crawling all over the countryside, in those days. (Tilton shakes his head as if remembering something unpleasant.) Anyway, by the time I reached the Texas – Louisiana border, in January of 1945, I found out that the Texas Rangers had the border locked down tighter than a drum, and that they were shooting absolutely anyone and everyone who tried to make an illegal crossing into Texas. (Tilton stops speaking as if he considers his foray to the Texas border to be the end of his story.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what did you do then, after finding yourself stranded on the border with Texas?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: (Tilton’s southern accent seems to become a bit more pronounced as he remembers his experiences on the Texas border.) Well, at that time, there must have been close to ten or twenty thousand CS military veterans camped outside of Shreveport, Louisiana, with no place else to go. (Tilton sweeps both of his hands through the air in order to emphasize no place else to go.) The US occupation troops kept giving us a hard time by constantly going through our camp everyday turning everything upside down searching for weapons, and whatnot. Eventually the refugees outside of Shreveport united around two rival leaders. One fellow, I can’t remember his name, was a former member of the Freedom Party Guard, and he wanted to lead everyone to Sequoyah to join the Cherokee Homeland out there. And then there was George Mahon, who had been a high muckety-muck in the Freedom Party, he wanted everyone to follow him to Jackson, Mississippi.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Was there any fighting between the two groups?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: A fair amount yes, but most of the fighting at Shreveport took place using iron pipes, knives, wooden clubs, and a whole lot of knuckle dusting, let me tell you.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And I take it that you followed Mahon to Jackson?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: That’s right I did, as did about three quarters of the men camped outside of Shreveport. I believe that the rest of them set off for Sequoyah on foot, but I’m not absolutely sure about that.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what did your group hope to accomplish once they arrived in Jackson, Mississippi?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Well, that’s difficult to say exactly, and Mahon wasn’t really clear about that as well. I guess that we hoped that we’d be getting three square meals a day, and maybe a little bit of our dignity back as well.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I see, and did you take up arms against the United States once the fighting in Jackson broke out?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Yes, I did. There is no use trying to lie about that now. (Tilton reaches out and places a hand on his production machine, as if for support.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Did you kill anyone?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Ahh…I cannot really talk about that. (Tilton pauses to look at his own feet for a moment, before then returning his gaze towards Mudd.) All I can tell you is that a battle broke out with us followers of Mahon on one side, and the Jackson Police Department and the US military on the other side. And yes, a lot of people got killed all around me.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, what were the circumstances of your capture by US forces, a second time, at Jackson?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I was captured when US paratroopers staged a predawn mission to rescue the Mayor of Jackson from us. (Tilton briefly smiles to himself, before then returning to his explanation of his capture by US forces.) About two or three hundred of us had setup a perimeter around city hall, and we were attempting to force the city government of Jackson into recognizing our rebellion. But the mayor, and the chief of police, wanted no part of us, and before we knew it, an entire battalion of US paratroopers came out of nowhere and totally rolled us up within less than twenty minutes of actual fighting. (Tilton gives a matter of fact shrug of the shoulders and then falls into silence.)
(The owner of Leavenworth Electrical Supply can be seen in the background as he makes his way along the now uninhabited production lines, switching off the industrial sized pedestal fans which are normally used to keep the workers cool. Based upon his body language, it appears that the business owner is attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation between Mudd and Tilton.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I’m sorry, Mr. Russell, I meant to get those fans, but I got tied up here.)
(The business owner makes an angry shushing motion with his hand towards Tilton, but doesn’t say anything. The business owner, who is apparently named Mr. Russell, wears an unhappy look upon his face as he pretends to inspect an electrical cord attached to one of the nearby pedestal fans.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: How well were you treated following your capture, and how soon before you were put in front of a military tribunal?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Those of us who were taken prisoner were held inside railroad cars a few miles outside of Jackson for about ten days or so. If we were caught talking to one another we were beaten, we ate and drank from a communal bucket, and we relieved ourselves in a hole that had been cut in the floor. So, it was about as rough as it can get. (Tilton then adds the following almost seemingly as an afterthought to himself.) The US soldiers guarding us told us that the railroad cars which we were being held in, were the same ones used by the Confederate government to ship blacks to the population reduction camps. When some of us complained that they couldn’t keep us in those railcars, on account we was white, the US soldiers just laughed at us, and told us that arrangements were being made to ship us directly to Camp Dependable for disposal.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And did you believe them?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Yes, I did! I was absolutely terrified at the prospect of being sent to Camp Dependable, and there were a few men in my railcar who couldn’t take the pressure, and they committed suicide, by one means, or another.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what happened after that?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: After about ten days the railroad cars began to move, and we were taken to Camp Stonewall outside of Biloxi, Mississippi. A year and a half earlier I had attended six weeks of CS Army basic training at Camp Stonewall, but following the end of the war, the US had taken it over and turned it into one of their main POW camps on Confederate soil. Anyway, after being at Camp Stonewall for about a month, they hauled me Infront of a military tribunal consisting of three senior US Army officers, one of them being General Ironhewer himself. To make a long story short, my trial lasted about two minutes, if that. I was convicted of being a war-criminal, and I was given a twenty-five-year sentence for taking up arms against the US government.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, your sentence must have expired back in 1970! Why then haven’t you taken the Oath of Loyalty to the United States, so that you can be released from here?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: My home state of Florida considers me to be a war-criminal, and because of my status as a war-criminal, I’m unable to receive a pension from the Florida Bureau of Confederate Affairs for my time served in the CS Army. Other CS veterans are able to collect between two-hundred and four-hundred US dollars a month, about half what a US Army veteran gets, but convicted war-criminals like me get nothing! (Tilton makes a “zero” symbol with his thumb and forefinger to emphasize nothing.) Also, from what I’ve heard, the US government’s identity reassignment program isn’t all it is cracked up to be.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, basically, you’re concerned that you’ll experience financial hardship if you were to leave this place?
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: I’ve been doing his job since 1969, and I’ve managed to save up nearly twenty-five thousand since then. Will that be enough to support me for the rest of my life? Maybe if I live like a rat in a trailer out in the middle of New Mexico, somewhere, and eat canned beans for the rest of my life. But what is the use in doing that? I’m better off staying here if that is the case. (Tilton pauses for a brief moment as if reflecting on something.) You know, if the good people in Tallahassee decide to overturn my war-crimes conviction, then I’ll probably take the oath when I turn sixty.
(Just then the sound of a loud car horn fills the air. The camera quickly pans in the direction of the open rollup door to find an enormous Ford Centurion station wagon which has pulled into the Quonset hut, and has parked next to the office trailer. Two women get out of the station-wagon and begin to place bags of fast-food onto the hood of the car. The owner, Mr. Russel, retrieves more bags of food from the backseat of the car.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Paul Tilton: Excuse me, it was nice talking to ya, but my lunch is here. (Tilton shakes Mudd’s hand and quickly exits the frame.)
(The scene changes to the detainees wolfing down gigantic hamburgers and handfuls of fries, as they sip soft drinks from oversized wax paper cups. Some of the detainees sit upon spools of wire placed around the front of the station wagon, as they use the long hood of the car as an impromptu picnic table. Other detainees sit on the wooden benches in front of their lockers as they eat. Mr. Russel sits on the wooden stoop in front of his trailer as he munches a burger.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) I feel as though we’ve intruded upon the detainees working in the Industrial Building long enough, so I ask Lieutenant Flores to take me to the mess-hall, where the rest of the detainees are eating, so that I can talk with a few more of them before we depart.
(A brief montage of the following images, a still image of the mess hall building taken from about fifty meters away along the driveway connecting the mess hall to Richard M. Nixon Avenue. The one-story mess hall building appears to have been designed by the same 1970s era architect who designed Barracks J, and with a large glass enclosure comprising roughly the entire front third of the building, the mess hall looks more like a hot house used to grow flowers, than a place where maximum security detainees would eat their meals . The otherwise pristine lawn in front of the mess hall is dotted with prairie-dog holes. A Doctor Hopper soft drink delivery truck can be seen parked near a delivery door along the side of the building. - A close up image of a brass plaque located near the main entrance which reads, “Sergeant Armstrong Grimes Memorial Mess Hall – Dedicated – May 1, 1974”. - A framed notice hanging on one of the walls inside the mess hall which reads “Kaku Catering Services Inc, Building N, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 60027. - Proprietor: Masuyo Kaku. - A still image of detainees dressed in orange and white striped suits standing in front of a food counter, as woman of East Asian descent (presumably Japanese boat-people) dressed in white aprons and matching white hats, dollop food onto their held out trays.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) We arrive at the mess hall just as the detainees are sitting down to eat their lunches, so I ask Lieutenant Flores to help me locate a detainee who might be willing to speak with me as they are eating.
(The scene changes to a side view of Mudd and Flores making their way across the mess hall dining area. Mudd is closer to the camera with Flores walking to his other side. Detainees can be seen in the background sitting in groups of three or four to a table as they eat their food. The mess hall appears large enough to seat two or three hundred people, and the relatively small number of detainees seem to prefer to sit in isolated groups, with one or two empty tables between them and the next group. Two bored looking MPs wander between the tables as the detainees enjoy their food. The mostly female kitchen staff of Kaku Catering Services can be seen in the distant background as they remove steam trays and begin to wipe down the stainless-steel counter tops in preparation of the next meal.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: (Mudd narrates off camera.) Unfortunately, many of the detainees are unwilling to talk with me in front of the camera, and, once again, I get the same nervous stares here in the mess hall, which we encountered earlier in the dayroom.
(Lieutenant Flores leads Mudd to a detainee who is sitting alone by himself away from the others. - Although the detainee appears to be roughly sixty years old, he is also a large powerful looking man with a square jaw, broad shoulders, and although his hair is silvery grey, it is slicked back in a hairdo of the type commonly associated with motorcycle gangs and 50s pop stars. Flores appears to say a few words to the detainee sitting by himself, but the microphone is not active, and their brief conversation cannot be heard. The Detainee nods “Yes” and then shakes hands with Mudd, as Mudd sits down in a chair opposite of him.)
(The scene changes to a head and neck shot of the detainee sitting across from Mudd. The detainee talks around mouthfuls of food as he speaks into the camera.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: My name is Carl Hibbets, I’m sixty-one years old, I grew up on a small farm in the Ozark Mountains outside of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and I was a sergeant, serving as an advanced scout, in the CS Army at the time I was taken prisoner during the initial assault against Pittsburgh back in 42.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: How did you spend the next two years following your capture?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: I was sent to Camp Liberty just outside of Indianapolis, where I sat for the next two years. The winters there were brutal, like nothing we’ve got around here. (Hibbets takes a bite from a slice of apple pie on his tray, chews a bit, and then continues speaking.) Do you know who Jerry Dover is? Dover and I were bunkmates in Barracks Twelve during the last few months of the war.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I think that everyone knows who Jerry Dover is. You can’t hardly turn on your television set without seeing one of his old shows in syndication. I mean there is Ma’s Coffee, Assignment Undercover, and Star Patrol. He was the executive producer of so many hit tv shows of the 1950s and 60s, that his name has become a household word.
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Hibbets keeps going along his own train of thought, as though he hasn’t heard Mudd’s answer to his question.) There were a lot of goofballs being held at Camp Liberty, Dover was kind of a small guy, he was good at making people laugh, but not so good at sticking up for himself, sometimes. Anyhow, I watched his back in there, and in exchange he made me laugh. (Hibbets momentarily pauses as he shovels another load of apple pie into his mouth.) As it turns out, the Yankees really had a thing for old Dover, and they gave him an early release just as soon as the fighting ended. It was the dammedest thing, and no one could figure out why the Yankees would release Dover ahead of so many other people who’d been in that (bleep) hole of a place so much longer than him.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Have you been able to keep in contact with Jerry Dover over the years?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Once again Hibbets seems not to hear Mudd’s words as he continues on his own tangent.) As Dover was leaving Camp Liberty, he spoke to someone regarding my situation. (Hibbets takes another mouthful of pie and continues to talk as he chews.) Apparently, he told them that I was worried about my parents being all alone on their farm out in Arkansas, so about three weeks later I get a humanitarian release, and I was told to go straight home to my family.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And did you return to your parent’s farm after being released from Camp Liberty?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Hibbets sets his plastic fork down.) When I got home, I found that everything on our farm had been burned to the ground, everything. Do you know what that means? (As Hibbets voice seems to take on an unhinged somewhat menacing quality.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I would take it to mean that your parents were, unfortunately, killed in the war, as were a lot of other people on both sides. Why, I have an uncle who was stationed aboard the USS Josephus Daniels when it was attacked by a dive-bomber off the coast of…..
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: (Hibbets slams his fist down upon the table causing everything on it to jump.) No! According to what I was told by the sheriff, the attack upon my parent’s farm occurred two weeks after Partridge signed the damned surrender agreement, making the Red (bleep) who murdered my parents, war-criminals! So, do you wanna know what I did after that?
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I imagine that you probably hatched a plan to seek revenge upon those who had killed your parents?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Well what do you know, winner – winner, chicken dinner. Except that the Red (bleep)who killed my parents were long gone, so instead of trying to hunt them down, I spent the next few weeks killing any nig (bleep) I happen to set my eyes upon. The farm was gone, I didn’t have any money to rebuild it, and I had heard that there were a lot more (bleep) in Louisiana that needed killing, than there was in Arkansas, so I set off that way.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And did you end up in Shreveport?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Indeed, I did. (Hibbets picks up an amber colored plastic drinking glass, from the table, and takes a deep gulp from it.) From there I hooked up with George Mahon and his followers. We left Shreveport in small groups, and made our way towards Jackson, Mississippi in small dribs and drabs, so that the Yankees would have a harder time noticing us. There were a lot of refugees on the road back then, so we blended right in.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what were the conditions like when you arrived in Jackson, Mississippi?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Well, for some reason, the US government had thought that it would be a good idea to relocate some of the nig (bleep) they had liberated from Camp Dependable, and to place them into Jackson, Mississippi. This was part of the reason why George Mahon had decided to declare his reconstituted Confederate government in Jackson. And, boy howdy, as soon as the real fighting started, those damned Yankee soldiers skedaddled in a blink of an eye, and they completely abandoned all of their precious blacks to us, to do with them as we please.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: And what did you do once the fighting started?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Those (bleep) thought that they were safe, because the war was over, but we taught them differently. I must have shot one hundred of them on the first day alone, and if I had the chance, I’d do it all over again.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: So, you were part of a (Mudd seemingly stumbles at a momentary loss for words), part of a death squad, as you went around indiscriminately targeting random black people for killing?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: That’s right, I was with a group of about eight other men as we went around taking care of business in Jackson. (Hibbets then takes a bite from a dinner roll which he has just finished buttering.) However, after about two or three days of that, the word went out that Mahon had been inaugurated President of the Reconstituted Confederate States of America, and that he needed every able-bodied man to help defend the Governor’s Mansion, which he had declared to be the new Grey House.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Were you retaken by the US military following the Battle of the Governor’s Mansion?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Indeed, I was. They pulled us out of the basement, and made us watch as some US Army Sergeant shot Mahon, execution style in the back of the head.
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: What sort of a sentence did you receive following your recapture?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Twenty-five years. (Hibbets shrugs his shoulders in a matter of fact manner, and then takes another bite from his roll.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: That seems like an awfully light sentence for someone who has admitted to committing mass-murder?
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: That’s because I wasn’t charged with committing mass-murder! The military tribunal I faced convicted me of taking up arms against the US occupation, and they branded me a war-criminal, simply because I was brave enough to stand up and fight for freedom!
(At this point the face of Hibbets freezes in a snarl on the television screen as Mudd narrates off camera.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Our producer spoke with the official US Army historian at Fort Leavenworth, and she told our producer that she has never seen, nor heard of any evidence to suggest that roving death squads hunted down black death camp refugees during the Jackson Uprising. We also spoke with the curator of the Black Memorial Museum, located on the former grounds of Camp Dependable, and they likewise have never heard of the claim that blacks were hunted and killed during the Jackson Uprising. What is clear, however, is that the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi had in fact invited black refugees to settle in his city, perhaps in an attempt to ingratiate himself upon US occupation authorities, and perhaps also to protect his city from reprisal hostage taken and killings carried out by the US Army. Our best information seems to indicate that the majority of black refugees living in Jackson during the uprising came through the event relatively unscathed. But we are unable to totally disprove the narrative accounts provided to us by Hibbets, and perhaps there may be a ring of truth to some of his story.
(The face of Hibbets unfreezes on the screen, and the camera pans over to Mudd whose face seems to have become an unreadable mask.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Okay, then why don’t you simply take the Oath of Loyalty to the government of the United States of America, so that you can get out of here, and have your freedom back?
(The camera switches to a wide-angle side view shot depicting both Mudd and Hibbets sitting at the table from the knees up. Hibbets sets his amber colored plastic drinking-glass down after taking a gulp from it.)
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Now, why should I take an oath to the goddamned nig (bleep) loving government of the United States of America? (Hibbets asks in a tone of voice suggesting that he is asking the most reasonable question in the entire world.) They kept us in shackles until 1950, and the only reason they stopped performing medical experiments on us in 1981, was because our bodies were getting too old to provide the goddamned US Army scientists with reliable results! Nobody has ever been released from this place, there is no goddamned identity reassignment program, and the only reason our numbers here went down, is because so goddamned many of us were taken over to the United States Army Research Laboratory, on the other side of this base, and were killed during medical experiments! Look, it almost happened to me!
(The camera switches back to a frontal view of Hibbets, and freezes the frame as Hibbets lifts up his prison tee-shirt to reveal a faded scar which runs across the lower portion of his abdomen, up one side of his torso, and then back across his abdomen, in the opposite direction, just below his ribs. Mudd narrates off camera as the frozen image of Hibbets holding up his shirt remains on the screen.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: We spoke with the person in charge of detainee medical records at Fort Leavenworth, and we were told that Hibbets had to undergo emergency medical surgery back in 1972, after drinking methyl alcohol, which he and other detainees had accidentally created in a misguided attempt to ferment rotting scraps of fruit into prison wine. The army psychiatrist who oversees the mental well-being of the detainees in Barracks J states that some of the detainees often make bizarre claims of being visited by aliens, of being removed from Fort Leavenworth in the middle of the night by flying saucers, and even more outlandish claims of having their organs removed from their bodies. Such delusions are most likely due to the prolonged isolation the detainees experience, and the US Army is working to modify the psychotropic drugs which the detainees are given in their food in order to minimize such behavior.
(The image on the television screen unfreezes and returns to a wide-angle side view shot depicting both Mudd and Hibbets in profile.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Former President Carter believes that everyone being held here in Barracks J should be regarded as a US citizen. Do you feel that you should be treated as a US citizen?
(With startling swiftness Hibbets picks up his plastic drinking glass and shatters its brim against the edge of the table, sending a shower of sticky Doctor Hopper in all directions. Hibbets grips the shattered remains of the plastic glass as he announces the following…)
Disarmed CS Detainee Carl Hibbets: Carter is a traitor to his own people, and he is also a worthless little mealy-mouthed billy-boy just like you!
(Hibbets then lashes out with the remains of his shattered plastic drinking glass catching Mudd square in the temple with its jagged edge. The force of the blow knocks Mudd to the floor, sending his metal framed chair skidding in the opposite direction. A rivulet of blood forms in Mudd’s temple as he pulls himself into a fetal position and closes his eyes. Hibbets stands up from his chair and roars “FREEDOM!” The other detainees immediately overturn their dining tables sending food and drink in all directions. The mess-hall is filled with the sound of an ear-splitting klaxon as the first chairs begin flying through the air. – Hibbets faces the camera as he pulls up the sleeve of his tee-shirt to reveal a Freedom Party flag tattooed onto his slightly age deflated bicep. Hibbets winks at the camera before then spitting a sticky mass of phlegm directly onto the lens. The scene goes black.)
(The scene changes to Mudd standing outside the main entrance of Fort Leavenworth. Judging by the long shadows on the ground, it appears to be at least 5 pm in the evening. Mudd is standing on the lawn beside the righthand side of a busy four lane thoroughfare. There are two lanes of traffic entering Fort Leavenworth, and two lanes exiting, although, at the moment, there is far more traffic leaving Fort Leavenworth than is entering it. Military police officers can be seen in the near background leaning out from their booths as they busily check in the incoming traffic. - Partially to the side of Mudd is a low brick structure containing the roundel insignia representing the numerous units stationed at Fort Leavenworth. Behind the brick structure is a large sign reading, “WELCOME TO FORT LEAVENWORTH”. Behind the sign is a double layer chain-link fence at least three meters tall, topped with razor wire. - An incoming diesel big rig pulling a flatbed loaded with portable generators uses its jake-brake in order to slow down. Mudd waits until the noisy truck passes, and then he lifts the microphone to his mouth.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I was taken to the infirmary and given stitches for the wound I received during the riot. Additionally, the army doctors here at Fort Leavenworth observed me for several hours, and they assure me that I do not seem to be showing any signs of having suffered a concussion, even though I was clearly knocked unconscious by the unexpected blow I received from DCC-Detainee, Carl Hibbets.
(Mudd reaches up and uses the fingertips of his free hand to gently touch the square bandage that has been affixed to his temple.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: I’m told that the detainees who participated in the riot will spend the next sixty days in solitary confinement, and that many of them will be ineligible for release from this facility anytime within the next ten years.
(Mudd displays an irritated look as he swats away a white butterfly which has chosen this precise moment to buzz his face.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Today, the vast majority of people living throughout the New South consider the Confederate States of America to be a mistake in American history, and to be something that should have never happened. But here at Fort Leavenworth, there is a group of men who remain fanatically committed to the cause of resurrecting, not only the Confederate States of America, but also the murderous Freedom Party as well. (Mudd clinches his fist to his side and noticeably grimaces as he says the words, “murderous Freedom Party”)
(Mudd briefly pauses to let his dramatic performance sink in.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Sadly, former President Carter’s altruistic nature has misled him into seeing the Disarmed Confederate Combatant Detainees being confined here at Fort Leavenworth as poor misunderstood characters, who are unfairly being denied their rights as Americans.
(Mudd again pauses for dramatic effect.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: However, the men being locked up here are not your simple run of the mill garden variety criminals which one might find locked up in their local state penitentiary. Make no mistake about it, the detainees being held here in Barracks J, behind me, are hardened war-criminals, they are the sworn enemies of the people of the United States of America, and most of them are resolutely evil to the core. Furthermore, it is this reporter’s opinion that most of these men should never again see the light of day, and the world will be better off the longer they are kept behind bars!
(Mudd takes a break as an unseen vehicle with extremely loud exhaust temporarily overwhelms the audio. Mudd resumes speaking once the loud vehicle is out of earshot.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Moreover, we must make certain that our young people understand that the Freedom Party was not comprised of mere comic book villains, and that the Freedom Party literally has the blood of millions on its hands.
(Mudd fixes the camera with an all-knowing stare before then adding.)
Television Reporter Robert Mudd: Stay tuned as our correspondent Barbara Wasserman travels to Vancouver, Canada, to look into the preparations that are being made for the 84 Summer Olympics. (Mudd then lowers his microphone to his side as if he has just had a very bad day.)
END OF PART 2
