See previous post below. The more I think about it, the madder I get. This racist crap has got to stop.
Besides the flimsy "states rights" cover used by the segregationists, there is the question of how to remember those who fought the Confederacy. We have heard the arguments that they merely honor the bravery of those fighting, or the heritage of the South, not the cause they fought for. I don't buy it. In Richmond VA, they built monuments in the early 20th century (the height of kukluxery) to 3 Confederate generals and one Confederate commodore. They were all sons of Virginia, my birth state. In 1996, they added a monument to Arthur Ashe, the tennis champion. Leaving tennis aside, if they were truly interested in honoring the courage of Virginians in the Civil War, then there were some significant omissions:
- Admiral David Glasgow Farragut USN, who uttered the immortal order "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" at the attack on Mobile. Running under the battery at Vicksburg, he and Grant cut the Confederacy in two. His family adhered to the Confederacy; he remained loyal to his shipmates and his country. He left behind everything but the clothes he wore and never returned.
- General Winfield Scott USA was the leader of the American forces against Mexico in 1846, his conduct so exemplary that the defeated Mexicans offered him their presidency. He was well past his prime when the Civil War broke out, and unequal to the exertions of command. He remained, however, a superb strategian. His "anaconda strategy" of blockading the southern ports was the ultimate downfall of the South.
- General George H. Thomas earned the epithet "The Rock of Chickamauga" for his stubborn rearguard defense of the retreating Union forces at that battle, his troops resorting to bashing with splintered rifle butts when their ammunition was exhausted. At Chattanooga, his utter destruction of Hood's Confederate forces in the west laid the South open to invasion on that front. He later served as Sherman's second in command in the march to the sea, often forcing his enemies to withdraw by catching or forcing them out of position, and demonstrating his tactical mastery as often as the situation required.
Curious omissions, wouldn't you say?
