The Civil War is History

When we moved to north Georgia one of the cultural conditions I expected to find was remnants of the spirit of the southern attitude regarding the Civil War. There are physical reminders of the war everywhere, in monuments, museums, antique shops, and even cannons both real and replica in front yards. Occasionally cars are seen with Confederate flags attached, or on bumper stickers. But I have yet to meet anyone who speaks about the war with any indication of spirit or emotion. Many people in the area will mention that they had ancestors who fought and sometimes were killed in the war but it's done in a matter-of-fact tone with no more emphasis than if they were commenting on the weather. 

That's not the attitude I saw when I did a personal Civil War tour 55 years ago. I clearly remember a Shiloh Battlefield guide continually emphasizing the "valiant actions" of southern officers and regiments, while pointing out the panic retreat of the Federal forces. He concluded by saying something to the effect that it was pure luck that Federal reinforcements arrived just in time to avert disaster, and to force the Confederate troops to retreat in good order.

An even more vivid memory is of an incident during my tour that occurred in Mississippi. I was in Natchez to see the antebellum mansions, one of which was General Grant's headquarters. If I remember correctly, Natchez chose not to defend the city when Federal forces arrived and thus sustained no damage. A few days later I was in Vicksburg, a city about 75 miles north of Natchez. Vicksburg did defend itself and finally surrendered after a lengthy siege and sustaining massive destruction. 

I was taking a tour of mansions, guided by an older, white-haired woman in a peach colored dress. Her manner and speech was aristocratic, and I could easily imagine her as the grand dame of Vicksburg in the 1850s. For some forgotten reason I mentioned to her that I had been touring mansions in Natchez. She paused, then turned her head slowly in the direction of Natchez, then just as slowly turned back to me and with a voice absolutely dripping with disdain said, "At least we fought."

That was 55 years ago and the war had ended only 100 years earlier. For her it is possible, even likely, that a grandfather or maybe even her father had fought in Vicksburg's trenches. I can understand her pride. The south had lost the war but her attitude had not been defeated.

Today the war is 155 years in the past and most people are at least four generations removed from it. As I mentioned, there are still many physical reminders of the war and there are lots of reenactments in many towns, but the personal pride and emotional attachment to the war are gone. No where is that more evident to me than in the current movement to remove Confederate monuments. I had expected to see massive protests when city governments in southern states began removing monuments, and usually at night. To my knowledge there hasn't been any protests. 

To me those monuments and the preservation of battlefields represent a period of time in the history of our country. To try to erase them and what they represent is wrong. The vast majority of Confederate soldiers and many officers were not plantation owners, didn't own slaves and were fighting because they felt a fierce loyalty toward their states. With each passing generation the  memory of those men and women and why they fought is fading. 

Those monuments are not hurting anything. They are not being used as rallying points for the KKK or other white supremacist groups, that in practical terms exist in name only, the few so-called members being taken seriously by no one. The south is not going to rise again militarily, nor attempt to again enslave blacks. In fact I will go so far as to say that the removal of Confederate memorabilia is just another facet of the political correctness era we live in. 

I am not attempting to make an impassioned plea for the southern cause. I am a northerner. I have many ancestors on my maternal side who fought and died as Federal soldiers. What I am trying to say is that Federal or Confederate, the soldiers, the women who knitted clothing, nursed and fed their wounded soldiers all felt the same love for their countries and way of life. To try to rewrite history, to remove physical reminders of that history does a disservice to those brave people. Let's don't forget them.