War Dreams
After years of escalating rhetoric, the neo-Confederate League of the South moves to form secret paramilitary unit.
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Change was in the air. At the League of the South鈥檚 (LOS) annual conference in Abbeville, S.C., three years ago, Michael Hill, the towering and gray patriarch of the neo-Confederate movement, addressed the gathering as if war loomed large and the battle lines were forming.听
It was an odd moment for Hill, a former Stillman College professor who founded the LOS in 1994 with other, relatively genteel academics who were interested in Civil War history. But even before he started the group that now seeks a second Southern secession, Hill seemed to fancy himself a wartime general, often wearing a Confederate battle flag pin to his classes.
At that moment in South Carolina, he had become one.听
鈥淭he mantra [that] violence, or the serious threat thereof, never settles anything is patently false,鈥� Hill said in a speech there later posted on the group鈥檚 website. 鈥淗istory shows that it indeed does settle many things. Please don鈥檛 forget this 鈥� your enemy hasn鈥檛.鈥�
The moment was a kind of milestone for Hill, who since founding the LOS had grown increasingly radical in his activism on behalf of Southern cultural and geographic independence. In retrospect, what seemed to be happening at the time, as the LOS welcomed younger, more radical members to its ranks, was a sea change the scope of which only recently has become clear.听
This September, the 澳彩开奖 revealed on its Hatewatch blog that, under Hill鈥檚 leadership, the LOS had quietly begun building what LOS insiders described as a paramilitary unit called 鈥淭he Indomitables,鈥� which appears to include white supremacists, former Klan members and neo-Nazis. In a leaked Facebook message, Hill said reasons for the unit were clear. 鈥淲e desire that our women and children be warm and snug while the world outside rages. And as our due for that we must face the world.鈥澨�
According to sources who requested confidentiality because they were not authorized to speak about the LOS and feared retribution, the unit was conceptualized at an LOS meeting in early 2014.
Floyd Eric Meadows, 43, of Rome, Ga., who also goes by 鈥淓ric Thorvaldsson鈥� online, is in charge of 鈥渢raining.鈥� In that role, Meadows represents the pugnacious essence of what the LOS now appears to seek in its leaders.
A veteran of both the U.S. Army and Navy, with 12 years of service, Meadows has been an active LOS member for years. His personal Facebook account is filled with neo-pagan iconography and photos of his weapons. He posts often about 鈥渆arning鈥� his red bootlaces 鈥� typically awarded in racist skinhead culture for drawing blood on behalf of 鈥渢he movement鈥濃�� and his ongoing desire to throw 鈥渂oot parties鈥� for enemies of the LOS. Meadows also has posted pictures of himself standing with assault rifles in front of a Confederate battle flag, and has frequently quoted Robert Barnwell Rhett, a South Carolina statesman who was dubbed the 鈥淔ather of Secession鈥� for his efforts leading up to the Civil War.
While definitely a surprise to outsiders, the formation of The Indomitables may have been only the obvious next step for the LOS, which has seen a dramatic escalation of violent rhetoric from its members, as well as an embrace of more ideologically extreme white nationalists. This pattern seems to date back to 2007, when the LOS鈥� national conference theme was 鈥淪outhern Secession: Antidote to Empire and Tyranny.鈥澨�
But there have been hints of true hardliners in the LOS for longer than that.
The best example may be Michael Tubbs, who joined the LOS around 2004 and has been close to Hill ever since. The former Green Beret demolitions expert pleaded guilty to theft and conspiracy in the 1990s for amassing a cache of weapons 鈥� machine guns, 25 pounds of TNT, land mines, an anti-aircraft gun, grenades, 45 pounds of C-4 plastic explosive and more 鈥� in connection with an alleged plot to target black and Jewish people. According to prosecutors, Tubbs and a partner robbed two soldiers of some of those weapons at gunpoint, yelling, 鈥淭his is for the KKK!鈥�
Tubbs is not some fringe member of the LOS. Leaked Facebook correspondence shows that he was recently promoted to Hill鈥檚 chief of staff, and his influence on the direction of the group seems clear. Meanwhile, the blogger 鈥淪pelunker鈥� recently identified Abe Monroe, described as 鈥渁 good, wholesome, normal LOSer,鈥� as the man who had just posted pictures of himself with the words 鈥淲hite Power鈥� tattooed on his back. A swastika was embedded in the 鈥淥.鈥澨�
The LOS denies Monroe is a member.
Regardless, it seems clear that the LOS is on an increasingly radical trajectory. In 2011, Hill told his followers 鈥渨e are already at war鈥� and urged them to buy AK-47s, hollow-point bullets and 鈥渢ools to derail trains.鈥� Members today, unlike the academically minded types who inhabited the LOS in its early days, are now focused on survivalism, assault weapons, hunting, tracking and other skills related more to war and fighting than any esoteric pursuit of independence.
The Report left telephone messages for Hill and the LOS, hoping to learn more about the new paramilitary unit. They were not returned. But within a day, Hill posted what seemed to be a dismissive, sarcastic response to the query.
鈥淚鈥檒l let you in on a little secret,鈥� Hill wrote. 鈥淲e Alpha Males in The League like to talk military stuff; we like to shoot and hunt; and we like to make you Beta Males nervous by exercising our God-given right to self-protection.鈥� He added: 鈥淚n closing, I鈥檒l say this. Even if we are 鈥� and you really have no idea on earth if we are or not 鈥� setting up a Southern militia or some other form of paramilitary organization, we are doing nothing that free men have not done for centuries. Deal with it and stop your whining.鈥�
At press time, it was unclear if the LOS was still moving ahead with its militia. But Hill was clearly scrambling to control the fallout as criticism mounted.听
Speaking with The Anniston (Ala.) Star after the 澳彩开奖 published its report, Hill refused to acknowledge the existence of the unit. And he insisted that an article entitled 鈥淎 Bazooka in Every Pot,鈥� published on the LOS blog months earlier and pontificating about future war, was only speculative. The article focused on the Second Amendment and ended with an ominous warning.
鈥淪o, both we 鈥榞un nuts鈥� and you bed-wetting, anti-gun leftists can rest easy about those bazookas in everyman鈥檚 closet,鈥� Hill wrote in the piece. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want us to have them and we really don鈥檛 need them. We鈥檒l manage just fine with what we have now. But if we need more, as an old friend is wont to say: 鈥榃e鈥檒l be able to literally pick them up in used condition 鈥� dropped only once.鈥欌�澨�
Hill sought to clarify the article in September. Speaking to the Anniston newspaper, Hill said: 鈥淚鈥檓 talking to you here as a military historian, in theory.鈥� However, he added that he wanted 鈥渢he group鈥檚 followers to begin thinking about how they鈥檇 fight if federal intrusion became intolerable,鈥� the newspaper reported.
Such mixed messaging almost immediately led to backpressure from inside and outside the group. One commenter to the LOS blog warned that the group鈥檚 leaders 鈥渟hould strictly avoid publishing paramilitary revolutionary fantasies, gun fantasy stuff, speculating on future guerrilla war secession scenarios.鈥�
Others said that the LOS was having trouble hiding its true self now. Frederick Clarkson, an expert on the far right writing for the liberal analytical group Political Research Associates, put it like this in September: 鈥淭ry as he might to divert our attention by debating definitions and name calling 鈥� Hill has been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. He called for the formation of guerrilla paramilitary units while simultaneously claiming he and the League were not.鈥澨�
Clarkson noted that in July, Hill had called on the 鈥渃itizen-soldier鈥� of the South to prepare for war and added: 鈥淣o sane man wants war if there are other viable and honorable alternatives. But wise men prepare for all eventualities.鈥�
Whether the LOS is simply thinking about possible future eventualities or actively building a kind of military force, one thing seems patently clear: Today鈥檚 League of the South is not the relatively benign LOS of 1994.
