In 1871, the city of Richmond, Va., publicly celebrated the Fourth of
July. It was an unfamiliar experience. There had been no general
commemoration of Independence Day since 1860 — before Virginia had
seceded from the nation that was formed in 1776. Not entirely true and I will demonstrate why shortly.
Other Southern
cities were not ready to resume participation in our national ritual.
Actually many places did do so during the War itself, and I would point out that New England does not own Independence Day, six Southern States: Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and especially my home state of South Carolina had a big role in maintaining the independence that day commemorates. Few people from any of those States at the time denied that at all. Cheraw became the first place in post-Civil War South Carolina to do so,
in 1891. Jackson, Miss., waited until 1901 to hold a reading of the
Declaration of Independence on the occasion. Vicksburg, Miss., didn't
join the party until 1945.
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Humm, well dude, looks like SOME Confederates didn't quite follow this BS paradigm you
are trying to peddle. Won't argue about the others since some people did in fact refuse to
celebrate the 4th until the Spanish-American War (1898). The War Between The States did cause some really bitter feelings all around. |
Staunch supporters of the Lost Cause
had little fondness for the United States. The Stars and Stripes was the
banner of their enemy.
At the time the banner of what was then an invading country, yes. When Union troops occupied Richmond in April
1865, the first thing they did was hoist the
American United States flag over the
capitol.
Um, that is generally what happens when someone takes an enemy position.
The die-hards recognized what some modern Southerners
miss: the deep contradiction between loving America and revering the
Confederacy.
Wow guess somebody failed to inform THESE proud (and dare I say "die-hard"?) Confederate Veterans about this alleged "contradiction" between loving America and honoring their service. Buddy, your paradigms are completely hollow.
I would also add something that I have stated time and time again on this blog, something that modern regressive Leftists always fail to get: that loving America and Federal power are NOT THE SAME DAMN THING! Again y'all have no monopoly on defining what it means to BE an American.
Now let's come to the sad and silly point of this article.
The struggle over what to do with monuments to rebel
leaders is a conflict between those who think what they did was
admirable or heroic and those who think it was disgraceful.
I wouldn't put it in those terms
exactly, all I would say is that they were not wrong to defend their
home and independence from an invader and I don't apologize for that
service. I would say I think their courage and heroism was admirable
under the circumstances. Beyond that I do not advocate for war, even though I admire the men -- ON BOTH SIDES -- who fought.
My
long-dead relatives include several men who fought for the South. One
was Gen. Leonidas Polk, who commanded troops in several major battles
before being killed in action. He was not the last person to illustrate
that fallibility runs in the family.
Nope, so far you are doing a good job demonstrating a great deal of fallibility in your research and weak attempt at propaganda.
In 1961, when I was a boy in
the West Texas city of Midland, a new high school opened. It was named
after Robert E. Lee, for reasons that are obvious: White resentment of
the civil rights movement had produced widespread nostalgia for the
Confederacy. San Antonio's Lee High School opened in 1958; Houston's in
1962.
So are you about to provide evidence for your arrogant assumption that those things were done in defiance of civil rights, rather than in commemoration for the upcoming Civil War Centennial celebrations happening at the same time? Humm?
Midland Lee called its sports teams the Rebels and used the
Confederate battle flag as its symbol. Black students didn't mind,
because there weren't any. They attended a segregated black school.
Nice virtue signaling there.
The
general did have a connection to Texas. His last U.S. Army command
before the Civil War was at a fort in the Hill Country town of Mason —
which has no Lee monument. Gerald Gamel, editor of the Mason County
News, ascribes the omission to strong anti-secession sentiment in Mason.
That tells you something about why other places honor Confederate
heroes.
It tells me something, but I am certain you and I don't share the same conclusions fella.
His role comes to mind because of a
recent rally in defense of a statue of him in Houston, which supposedly
was under threat from leftists because he owned slaves. Armed
counter-protesters, many expressing secessionist views, showed up on the
appointed date. But the threat was a hoax, and Houston's self-styled
defenders apparently didn't know that he saw disunion as treason.
Reality check: the monument defenders who showed up -- a couple of which I know well from facebook -- did so because it was the right thing to do. The destruction of those monuments is wrong-thinking virtue signaling garbage, pure and simple. Trust me they were well aware of Sam Houston's contributions to American heritage, the existence of the modern State of Texas, and his opposition to secession at the time. They just did it to defend history, that is what you miss. Some of these same people would have done the same had some group of vandals decided a statue to Martin Luther King Jr. or some other Civil Rights icon was subject to attack.
It
was. Yet grand memorials were erected across the South to celebrate
what the traitors did.
Secession was not legally treason until a US Supreme Court case (White Vs. Texas) ruled it unconstitutional four years AFTER the War ended. There was no court case that ruled either in favor of, nor against secession prior to that, and the US Constitution did not specifically make secession either legal or illegal. The monuments were built by whites at a time when
blacks had no political power — a condition those whites were desperate
to preserve.
LMAO! Oh wow! Um fella, you might wanna read the following account of the erection of one of these monuments:
In Mississippi on February 1, 1890, an appropriation for a monument
to the Confederate dead was being considered. A delegate had just spoken
against the bill, when John F. Harris, a Black Republican delegate from
Washington, county, rose to speak:
“Mr. Speaker! I have risen in my place to offer a few words on the bill.
I have come from a sick bed. Perhaps it was not prudent for me to
come. But sir, I could not rest quietly in my room without contributing a
few remarks of my own.
I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentlemen from Marshall
County. I am sorry that any son of a soldier would go on record as
opposed to the erections of a monument in honor of the brave dead. And,
Sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines, and in
the Seven Day’s fighting around Richmond, the battlefield covered with
mangled forms of those who fought for this country and their country’s
honor, he would not have made the speech.
When the news came that the South had been invaded, those men went
forth to fight for what they believed, and they made not requests for
monuments. But they died, and their virtues should be remembered.
Sir, I went with them. I, too, wore the gray, the same color my
master wore. We stayed for four long years, and if that war had gone on
till now I would have been there yet. I want to honor those brave men
who died for their convictions.
When my Mother died I was a boy. Who, Sir, then acted the part of
Mother to the orphaned slave boy, but my old Missus! Were she living
now, or could speak to me from those high realms where are gathered the
sainted dead, she would tell me to vote for this bill. And, Sir, I shall
vote for it. I want it known to all the world that my vote is given in
favor of the bill to erect a monument in HONOR OF THE CONFEDERATE DEAD.”
When the applause died down, the measure passed overwhelmingly, and every Black member voted “AYE.”
The sources for this story -- which is very much in the historical record of Mississippi State Legislature -- can be found HERE.
In addition to your ill-informed statements, black Southerners themselves often times donated money towards the erection of these monuments of their own free will, even helped raise said money through bake sales, church fundraisers, ect. Well, you would know that if you were not trying to peddle some bullshit argument in the first place.
They failed, and they deserved to fail.
God and the resources and fighting abilities of Union generals in the late period of the War saw to it they did at any rate. It's only
fitting that Southerners who reject the legacies of slavery, secession
and Jim Crow would prefer to be rid of these tributes to them.
One cannot reject history, or the legacy of it. Even if you could somehow equate the removal of these monuments with those acts -- you cannot and have failed to do so effectively -- their removal won't alter American history. The only thing these acts seem to serve is a chance for you, a white Leftist regressive "ally" and self-hater to pat yourself on the back and claim you are not a bigot....which makes you an even bigger fool than I already think you are.
It's
not a symptom of modern political correctness.
Uh, yeah it is. Days after the
Declaration of Independence was signed, a New York mob destroyed a
statue of King George III.
LOL oh this argument again. You are aware that at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed King George III was STILL ALIVE. Tearing down the statue was meant to show him that the Crown no longer ruled the colonies. Confederate monuments by contrast were put up to honor long dead people out of respect and closure for the families who lost loved ones in the War. There is a big gaping difference between the two, are you intellectually honest enough to acknowledge it?
If the men and women of the Revolution
were eager to be rid of the images of those who had oppressed them and
made war on America, why should African-Americans in the South feel
differently about statues of leaders who fought to keep their race in
chains?
So now like all white Leftist regressive "allies" YOU claim to speak for all African-Americans in the South? Sorry but no son, that dog don't hunt. Be sure to check out some more really nifty photographic examples for why you are full of shit: HERE.
For a long time, American history was owned by white men
and minimized the treatment of blacks, women, Indians and Latinos.
Yeah AMERICAN history was, not just Southern history.
Accommodating our public spaces to their full citizenship doesn't erase
history.
Oh is that what you call it? I call it regression on the march. It fills in parts that had been shamefully omitted.
So....removing something fills something? Um, you ever looked in a dictionary dude?
The
Confederate monuments belong not in places of honor but in museums, as
artifacts of past error.
Your opinion, and thankfully not one shared by a significant majority in this country. They were put up to enshrine an interpretation
of the past that has been discredited.
See above showing why your conclusions are in error. Taking them down and putting up
different statues
AH! So you DO wanna fill something in? Ok, gotcha! is a reminder that in understanding the past, we shape
the future.
No you intellectual retard, understanding the past tells us where we have been.
If there's a statue of my relative Leonidas Polk
honoring his Confederate leadership,
There is indeed -- and as someone who claims knowledge of family history I'm shocked you don't know that....unless your family history isn't as fabricated as the rest of your opinion piece? I'm willing to see it pulled down.
In fact, I'd like to be there to help.
And I'm certain it would help you feel you have made up for some inadequacy in your shallow existence....for about two minutes or so.
Well folks, there you have it, another regressive, self-hating Confederate "descendant" called out and his narratives taken apart by the truth. In doing so I hope I have helped many of y'all learn more about why those of us who are proud descendants of Confederate soldiers continue to honor them, and more about the character of those who seek to protect and preserve historical truth rather than those who seek to take it apart with a sledge hammer.
Have a Happy Independence Day 2017 Y'all! 
