Letters To The Editor

Originally published October 2017 · pp. 4–5

TO THE EDITOR: First, thank you for launching what should be a spirited debate among your readers about relocating various Confederate statues, plaques, and other memorabilia to less conspicuous locations. It is time for a national dialogue, not just on those activities, but on the fact that the Civil War has been over for more than 150 years but many well-meaning Americans have not been able to forgive the Confederates who fought that war in their attempt to save slavery. Americans forgave Great Britain after the War of 1812. We forgave Mexico after the Mexican War. We forgave Spain after the Spanish-American War. We forgave Germany and her Austro-Hungarian allies after WWI. We forgave Italy, Germany, and Japan after WWII. We forgave the Vietnamese Communists after that war. If and when the Middle East fighting ends, we will likely forgive those folks as well. (The Korean War, of course has never ended; it continues to be in a cease-fire situation.) We Americans are obviously a forgiving people. So why are so many of us unable to forgive those Confederates who took up arms against their own country? I am not a Southerner. I was born and reared in Ohio. My great-great grandfather, Alexander Sutherland, was in the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry. He and his brethren stood at attention on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox, Va., as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s men marched past and laid down their weapons. That day all-but-ended that terrible, terrible war. Why are so many of us still unable to forgive those Confederate soldiers? We must never forget. But we must find a way in our hearts to forgive. Lee Bailey Gahanna, Ohio TO THE EDITOR: Robert E. Lee and many other notable Confederate generals resigned their United States military commissions when their individual states seceded from the Union. If we accept the fact that the role of the Federal government was less prominent than the state governments at that time, then these men who felt a stronger loyalty to their state over the Federal government might not deserve the recriminations now being levied against them. Our national government did not levy an income tax until 1861. The administration of roads, railways, and waterways were mostly controlled by each state. The need for the imposition of laws concerning food, drugs, water, environment, etc. on a national level was not recognized at the time. The individual state houses legislated laws pertinent to that state’s needs. Citizens were more apt to be referred to as Ohioans, Virginians, Floridians, and New Yorkers rather than Americans. In addition to Lee, Albert Sydney Johnston, Braxton Bragg, Jubal Early, James Longstreet, George Pickett, and many others were graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Some were slave owners and some were not, but they all resigned their U.S. commissions in response to their individual state’s call to arms. Only a very few failed their state’s call and stayed with the United States military. For Americans today to call these men down for being racist seems unfair. They made a choice to place their loyalty with what was at that time their dominant government branch: their state. Maybe they did not agree with the position of their state government, but they were loyal to it. During the Vietnam War, many men were called to war and many disagreed with our government’s policies. Do we call those who disagreed and moved to Canada heroes? No, they are considered traitors. The same analogy applies to those who made a choice to be loyal to their individual states in 1861. However, many monuments of Confederate Civil War figures were erected in the twentieth century by politicians who may have had different agendas. These statues erected in town squares and prominent locations may not be about the past, but rather about the present. The statues and monuments erected in cemeteries commemorate the dead which represents the past. To condemn Lee, Bragg, Longstreet, and others is anachronistic at best; however, monuments of them that offend many belong in cemeteries. Mike Smith TO THE EDITOR: With regard to the wanton destruction of Confederate statues, monuments and other public items, I am horrified by what is happening. How did this start? Why now? Most of these items have been in the public eye for over 100 years. Now we have a feeding frenzy of destruction which is leading to a chasm in race relations not seen since the 1960s. This is reprehensible, and I believe an extension of the political power struggle the country is currently experiencing. The liberals are unhappy with the power given by its conservative citizens to our government. But even worse, I think outside sources are purposely causing the hysteria that has led to the loss of so many works of art. Many of the statues they have destroyed were works of art. Sculptors worked on these images to make them as accurate as possible. It’s doubtful they were thinking about what the person did and for whom while they created them. Everyone knows that in a mob, people pick up the mob mentality—becoming overly worked up and emotional, and then becoming destructive. If a person were truly offended by any of these art works, and the person was reasonable, would they not appeal to whoever owns the monument to ask that it be removed and provide a compelling reason for that? The people involved in these mobs have become uncivilized and horrible. I was born in the north and my ancestors on both sides were staunch Union soldiers. They fought the battles, they were wounded, and they came home. We’ll never know how they felt about Confederate memorials. The main thing in my mind is that we are all Americans. Black and white. I don’t call the black people I know “African-Americans”. I call them Americans. They’ve never lived in Africa. Their bloodlines are removed from Africa. My ancestry is British, Swiss, and German. I don’t call myself a British, Swiss or German American. The destruction MUST stop. Why do I not hear about people being arrested for destruction of public property? Are the police afraid of these people? Because if they are, we’re heading for anarchy. Why in the last hundred years or so has no one been “offended” by these memorials? Why suddenly? I think we could ask George Soros, and if he was honest (which is questionable), I think he would admit to paying protesters to start this whole mess. And I don’t think this will stop until these people are arrested, jailed and tried on destruction of public property, starting public riots, and any other applicable charges. This MUST stop. Whether or not we agree with the placing of a statue, we must not act upon it in violence. We must learn why it is there, we must teach our children about the people who enslaved other people and who were defeated in war, freeing those who were enslaved. We must not destroy, riot, go crazy, and be a public nuisance. We must be conciliatory towards each other, learn about our differences, and try to come together as God’s children. It’s the only way to stop this incredibly horrible chapter in our country’s fight for civil rights for ALL of us. Nancy Solomon Murrysville, Penn. TO THE EDITOR: Thank you for publishing my recent editorial comments regarding Confederate monuments and artifacts. Events of late have prompted me to write again. In the Seattle area, where I live, there are several Confederate memorials and historical markers. Some are located on private property while some are placed on public thoroughfares and on protected national park land. In the late 1850’s Federal army Capt. George Pickett, (yes, that George Pickett) built Fort Bellingham in Whatcom County and later transferred operations to nearby San Juan Island after the shooting of a British owned pig by an American settler (Pig War). Pickett also constructed a military bridge over Whatcom Creek on the mainland. The rebuilt bridge is still in use and has ever since been named for Pickett. Pickett lived in a private residence in Bellingham for a short time and was married to a Native American woman. They had a son together. The city of Bellingham has just removed the signage at the current bridge even though Pickett was a Union officer during his stay here in the Pacific Northwest. There is talk of renaming the bridge. The “Pickett House” in Bellingham has been preserved on private property and is open a few hours a month for tours. There is also a George Pickett historical marker near the American Camp visitor center on San Juan Island. It’s about three feet tall and is nondescript. The volunteer staff did not even know it was just outside their door during my last visit there a few weeks ago. To further cloud the monument issue here in Seattle; there is a Confederate memorial in a private cemetery in Seattle. It was placed there in 1926 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Several Confederate veterans are buried at the site. In contrast there is a statue of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin on a busy street corner in Seattle. Both artifacts have recently been called out for removal by Seattle Mayor, Ed Murray, even though each is on private property. The Confederate memorial is generally disdained by liberal

Seattle while the Lenin statue is considered “art” even though the Communist authoritarian leader was responsible for mass murder and systematic political repression. The statue was purchased from Czechoslovakia by a private individual in 1988. Oddly enough, some consider the Lenin statue to represent what ‘not’ to admire in a leader. The cemetery was forced to close for several days recently due to protests following an article in the Seattle Times about the Confederate memorial. Opinions are split in the media but local citizenry feel the Confederate memorial is more offensive than the Lenin statue. It must be noted that the Confederate memorial is out of sight of the general public, on private land, on a private burial plot. In my previous submission to the CWN I was reasonably comfortable thinking that battlefields and private property would be safe haven for Confederate markers, monuments, and memorials. Now I’m not so sure. I’m afraid for beautiful works like the Confederate memorial at Shiloh where the Confederate national flag is allowed to fly over the largest of the known mass graves on the battlefield. Both are in context there just as the cemetery memorial is in Seattle. A lot of the outrage in my area is politically convenient or is a product of knee jerk reactions. It only takes a small, vocal group to spread ignorance on the issue. Education and conversation are needed. Walt Fogle Bothell, Wash, TO THE EDITOR: History can be neither changed nor erased by removing art, in the form of statues; or burning books, or dismantling memorials. It was tried by the Nazis in WW II, and earlier during the Middle Ages by men such as Savonarola in Italy. Imagine the outcry if Holocaust memorials were deliberately destroyed or dismantled! They are reminders of the terrible events that happened, not just to those of Jewish religion, but to others too! These memorials are not in homage to Nazi Germany, but to honor people, some who survived, many did not, and as a reminder to never let this happen again. Our Confederate memorials are the same. Terrible things occurred on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, to and by both sides. Let them be a reminder to all of us— never again. Destroying them will not change or erase the past. It is time to move forward. Brenda J.

TO THE EDITOR: Regrettably the time has come for the statues to come down. What the hate groups have done; flying Confederate and Nazi flags together and espousing hate toward all non-whites has done irreparable damage to those who t originally fought for the Southern cause. These monuments are best left on the battlefields and in museums so that they can be interpreted in their proper context, warts and all. Buck Payne TO THE EDITOR: I am a long time subscriber to Civil War News and consider your new format an improvement over the former publication with less emphasis on re-enacting (I was a reenactor during the Civil War Centennial) and greater emphasis on well written articles of greater historical interest. Good work! I would like to mention an error in the article “Civil War History for World War II Veterans” in the September issue. It is true that General George Smith Patton of WWII fame had six great uncles serving in the Confederate army but no mention is made of the fact that his grandfather, George Smith Patton I, was a general and it was he, not his brother Hugh Mercer Patton (1841-1905), who was mortally wounded at 3rd Winchester on Sept. 19, 1864. My great grandfather, Adam Sanders Wilson, Co. B, 45th Virginia Infantry, served under him at the Battle of White Sulphur Springs on Aug. 26-27, 1863, in which Patton, as colonel of the 22nd Virginia Infantry, was in command of the Confederate force. He was a lawyer in Charleston, [West] Va., before the war and had organized the Kanawha Riflemen which became Co. H, 22nd Va. Inf. Also, only William Tazewell Patton (1835-1863) was killed at Gettysburg. I am on the board of the Eastern Kentucky Military Historical Society in Ashland, Ky., and we have had several WWII veterans relate their experiences over the past few years, one of whom is a cousin who served on LST 802 in the Pacific. We have been locating all who are able and willing to speak. In 2014 and 2015 we conducted a walking tour of downtown Ashland, commemorating the 70th anniversary of 1944 and 45 with large historic photos of the appearance of the business district at the time, strategically posted along the route, along with a map and booklet also containing the historical photographs. Thanks again for a great publication. Thomas W. Wilson Huntington, W.Va.

TO THE EDITOR: Let me first say that I am not a member of the SCV, nor am I a flagger, nor do I sympathize in any way, shape, or form with any right wing group of any ilk. In fact, my great grandfather manufactured uniforms for the Union Army and outfitted the Federal fleet. But one can be glad that the Union Army won the Civil War and still be appalled at what can only be characterized as political correctness run amok. There are many ways to view this current spate of iconoclasm, none of them, in my view, positive. Firstly, how does re-writing history in any way fight modern day racism? The Civil War occurred and the Confederacy’s economy was based on slavery; but that historic fact should not be erased, if one truly rejects modern racism and wants to understand its roots. In much of the rhetoric in the media, I not only hear a great deal of ignorance promoted as fact, but I see outright thuggery being justified as somehow combating racism. Vandalism, assault and battery, and other forms violence are now viewed as legitimate forms of protest. Secondly, memorials honoring American war dead are not inherently symbols of racism or white supremacy. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died on both sides of the conflict and their families and communities saw fit to erect memorials to them; in almost every town and city in the North there are memorials to Union war dead, just as there are to Confederate war dead in the South. The war was fought on Southern soil, so memorials are not commemorating some foreign event but things that happened in their very communities. In the frenzy of political correctness—being promulgated in many cases by those who still continue to promote bigotry and discrimination—the facts don’t seem to matter, nor does the rule of law. Mob rule is now being justified in the mainstream media as a matter of course and spokespersons now argue that the First Amendment only applies to those whose views they agree with. Secession was wrong; slavery was wrong; racism IS wrong; but what the hell has all that got to do with Robert E. Lee? Lee served honorably in the United States Army until he was forced to choose between duty to his homeland and his duty to the nation as a whole. President Lincoln offered him command of the Union Army; after much soul searching, Lee resigned his commission and cast his lot with his home state of Virginia. Lee, by his own words, was not in favor of secession, nor did he join the Confederate Army to defend slavery; he was motivated by devotion to the state of Virginia and believed he was fighting a defensive war. Lee was a slave-owner, true; but the fact that many officers serving in the Union Army were also slave owners and continued to be throughout the war, including General Grant and his wife is ignored. General Lee was a man of conscience who followed what he thought was the most honorable course; on that account alone he deserves to be honored; that he fought in defense of Virginia naturally makes his commemoration by many communities in Virginia both logical and proper. General Lee did not promote hate at any time before, during, or after the war. While we may not today agree with the decisions he made, we should at least credit him with trying to do the right thing according to his own lights. How many leaders today can be said to be doing that? No, we should not honor Robert E. Lee for the cause he fought for; but we should honor him for being a man of honor and conscience, two things in rare supply these days. Robert E. Lee was a great American, period. He deserves far better than the treatment he is currently being subjected to. Christopher Coleman TO THE EDITOR: A century and a half after the end of the Civil War the symbols of the Old South and the Confederacy have become the sparks of controversy and violence in the last several years. Most recently, and tragically, illustrated by the events that took place in Charlottesville, Va. People who support removing statues and other symbols of the old Confederacy argue that they represent the legacy of slavery and insurrection. Furthermore, they’ve become a rallying cry for White Nationalists, the neo-Nazis and the KKK and that has led to violence and killings. Those who oppose these moves argue that their removal violates our understanding of history, that by their very removal we damage our common background and culture. As members and supporters of the Scottsdale Civil War Round table, looking at the events in Virginia and other states, we should think about where we stand on the issues raised by these supporters and opponents. If you had to vote as a state legislator or member of a city council and this issue came before you, how and why would you vote? Several years ago I had the opportunity, while on a trip to Germany, to visit the Nuremberg stadium. This public gathering place was the site of huge Nazi rallies held during the 1930’s and 1940’s during the height of Nazi power. While standing on the steps where Hitler and other Nazi leaders stood, I realized how appropriately modern Germany handled this symbol of their past. The huge steps of the stadium were broken and falling apart, weeds were growing up everywhere and the large space facing the outdoor podium had gone to seed. It was clear that modern Germans did not want to glorify this part of their national past. Close by the stadium there was a museum that helped visitors to understand the events that took place at Nuremberg and the ramifications of those events on Germany and the world. There was no attempt to hide the past, but there was ample evidence of explaining, illustrating, and educating. The face of hatred is ugly. It was ugly in 1930’s Germany and it is just as ugly in 2017 Charlottesville. Organizations such as ours have a responsibility to take a stand and help citizens fully understand the historical events surrounding the Civil War. We dare not sugar coat any ugly events surrounding our past. We are clearly still living with baggage left over from the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Jim Crow era. It’s high time to let the symbols of these events go to seed wherever they exist and let us do our best to explain, illustrate, and educate about our history properly and fully. Our fathers fought against the blight of Nazism and other forms of extremism during WWII. We should not sit idly by and allow neo-Nazis to use a part of our history to glorify and justify their twisted ideology. Daniel Tumolo TO THE EDITOR: Governor Cooper: Do Not Remove North Carolina’s Confederate Monuments! 600,000 lives are immortalized in the Civil War and you want to remove the very symbols that honor their lives? Governor Cooper, you sir, are cultivating an atmosphere of hatred and division. Removing Confederate monuments is a blatant attempt to erase a part of history that brings pain to some and pride to others and you have no right to do that. Throughout history, from the simple to the illustrious, man has erected images of historical significance to serve as reminders of sacrifice both good and bad. Much like a lighthouse warns of dangerous waters and shorelines, many statues across this country serve to warn of dangerous times in history we should be vigilant to not repeat. Governor Cooper, you have stated that your first responsibility as governor is to protect North

Carolinians and keep them safe. You do that, sir, by upholding the rule of law…not by pandering to the lawless. You, sir, are amiss in your understanding of the reason for the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s contribution to it. Lincoln was not an anti-slavery zealot. Lincoln himself once proposed exporting all former slaves back to Africa. The South provided 80 percent of Federal reserves—a huge reason for Lincoln to keep the Union intact. To claim that the war was fought only for the abolition of slavery is a gross distortion of the facts. It’s one thing to disagree with history…but to erase a significant event in national history is another. It sets a dangerous precedent that you are promoting. Sheila Williams Granite Falls, N.C. TO THE EDITOR: Regarding the September 2017 issue article entitled “Civil War History for World War II Veterans”, there appear to be several factual errors. The General Patton uncle engaged in Pickett’s Charge was Waller T. Patton, not George S. Patton. Colonel W.T. Patton, 7th Va. Inf., was wounded in the face and lungs on July 3, 1863. He died on July 21, 1863 at the Pennsylvania College Hospital. The article states that “…50 plus Canadians died early on the first day as their unit, Buford’s Cavalry…” According to the Busey and Martin, Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg, considered the “bible” for Gettysburg casualties, General Buford’s entire cavalry division suffered a total of 15 killed at Gettysburg. The Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg contains the bodies of 17 named Canadians killed in the battle. All were in infantry units and none were in the cavalry. In spite of the article’s claim that many Canadian flags fly from gravesites in the National Cemetery, in my 20 plus years at Gettysburg and frequent visits to the cemetery, I have yet to see a Canadian flag fly at one of these graves. John R. Krohn Licensed Battlefield Guide Gettysburg, Penn.