In the wake of posting about the annual proclamation for Confederate History Month in Virginia yesterday, I have some additional thoughts. First, were Virginians in the Civil War era, by default, Confederates? Absolutely not. Were those who lived throughout the South at the time of the war, by default, Confederates? No. So, why do people seem to think this way?
Well, maybe we should boil this all down. Really, what’s Confederate History Month all about? Is it about us or them? Keep it in the back of your mind… I’ll get back to that.
What should we do for Confederate History Month? Think about this… let’s put aside talk about Unionists, slaves, free blacks and everyone else… just get straight to the “Confederates”. That’s what this proclamation is all about, right?
So, where do we start? Shall we start with our ancestors first? After all, in all probability, that’s where we have the connection (if your roots go back that far in Virginia) to Virginia Confederates. But hold on a second. Shall we start placing Confederate flags on all their graves and start talking about how they were fighting to “defend hearth and home”, “combat the tyranny of Lincoln”… and all that other stuff? Ok, this is where problems start… the word “were”. For one thing, how do you know any of those reasons were the reasons why they fought AND, is the same or similar reason the case with all your ancestors in gray? Some may know because of diaries and letters, but in the absence of these, how do you know? In most cases, most of us don’t have letters and diaries. We don’t have long memoirs of our Confederate ancestors. We don’t even have a scrap of paper giving us a hint why they fought. Like it or not, we have to read between the lines, and most of the times that means reading over the military records carefully, reviewing pension records, local newspapers, and even looking to see if that ancestor (or those ancestors) participated in postwar Confederate veteran activities. There’s a lot of legwork to get to understand your Confederate ancestors and it isn’t about finding a military record and, in the absence of information telling what they served or fought for, meshing Robert E. Lee’s reasons for fighting (just as an example) with that of your ancestors. In reality, most people don’t really know but are left to speculate; but if you speculate, the least you can do to really honor an ancestor is to try and bark up the right tree.
If Confederate History Month is REALLY about them, we need to do some serious work within the month to educate ourselves (probably the first greatest need) about the complexities of Virginia and her citizens and the affiliation with the Confederacy. We need to lay aside the “moonlight and magnolias” and get a grip on the many different meanings of what it meant to be affiliated with the Confederacy, for better or worse, and whether they wanted to or not. The key is being able to accept that fact that not everyone in gray or in the South, embraced the Confederacy as much as some people today try to play it up. Making others aware of this folly isn’t PC, it’s responsible stewardship of history.
In addition to this and all that I have mentioned above, we also need to be aware of the differences between honoring sacrifice and honoring cause. It’s easier to appreciate sacrifice in a person from 150 years ago than it is to understand cause. All too often, some people have made them one in the same.
If it is about us… that’s getting silly, especially when the people of the past are played up as something they may not have been, and believing things in which they may not have believed.
Jimmy Price
April 7, 2010
“If Confederate History Month is REALLY about them, we need to do some serious work within the month to educate ourselves (probably the first greatest need) about the complexities of Virginia and her citizens and the affiliation with the Confederacy.”
If that was the end result of the governor’s proclamation I would jump for joy and support it wholeheartedly. Instead, I’m afraid it reinforces stereotypes, which in turn leads individuals to believe that there is no need for further self education.
Robert Moore
April 7, 2010
So true, Jimmy.
Robert Moore
April 7, 2010
You know… next year we should all get together and approach this differently. Specifically, maybe we should carry the month the way we think it should be done, more along the lines of Virginia Civil War History and/or Heritage Month instead of Confederate History Month. I wonder if our “Virginia element” of those with a like mind could carry the month in a series of posts in their own blogs… or join in an annual event blog, covering April each year.
scripto
April 7, 2010
Read your post on Mercersburg. Good stuff. I live in Chambersburg and have an interest the local history. A lot of the names you find in newspaper accounts of the era are still around. I don’t know how the individual Confederate soldiers felt about slavery but they were certainly proactive in rounding up free blacks and contraband the three times they raided through here. Margaret Creighton in the Colors of Courage has some interesting tales of black citizens fleeing before the Confederate Army and some horrific tales about those who were sent south.
I agree with you that it seems odd that the popular conception that the winners and losers of any great battles are seen as being universally in agreement in their respective spheres. If that were the case for the south we wouldn’t have a West Virginia. And I’m sure the reasons for joining the Confederate Army were as varied as the men in it but the main reason for secession was slavery. I imagine the black citizens of Virginia are a little irritated with Gov. Bob.
Robert Moore
April 8, 2010
Thanks for commenting! The Mercersburg and Chambersburg stories are among my favorite finds as they made me realize an aspect of the war about which I had no idea. The seizing of slaves as well as whites during campaigns into Pa. leaves us with a lot to consider.
Yes, the reasons for men joining varied, blue and gray, we just need to acknowledge that fact. I mentioned it just recently, but I think our passions, in focusing on personal heritage, have the potential to overshadow the truth in history.
Eric Peterson
April 8, 2010
Good thoughts. I know that a great many Virginians were actually pro-Union. Nearly half from what I have read.
Georgia has tried to pass legislation a number of times for Confederate History month. I do not support it. I would support Georgia Civil War History Month.
Robert Moore
April 8, 2010
I think the all-encompassing history month is just a better way to go. Everybody gets a chance to have their particular interests in the spotlight, and everybody in the Civil War era has a chance of being recognized, no matter their sentiments.
Robert Moore
April 8, 2010
Also, the thing about Virginians is that many were at different levels of “conditional Unionism” and then there were the unconditional Unionists. Around May 1861, we begin to get an idea of where the dividing line may have been, but I think a good many who went Confederate, may have been on the fence just enough to turn them into disillusioned or disaffected Confederates at different points later in the war… and of course there were also the “leave-aloners”.
Craig Swain
April 9, 2010
Maybe we had about 100 years of “The Lost Cause” interpretation of the “whaar.” And that is somewhat counterbalanced by decades of revisionism. The true story lies somewhere in between.
People’s stand on the issues leading up to the war, and during the war itself, were not always clear cut. Such is the nature of “civil” war. Our nation wrestled with issues that involved slavery, racism, and states rights. But the war was not simply about slavery, racism, and states rights. I still would advance the argument that *a* major underlying cause of the Civil War was control of labor resources (both black and white). Still it is impossible to summarize the stand of an individual, much less a group of individuals, based on a few sentences in a speech. The Civil War was far too complex for such. And all the writing on the topic in 150 years has not provided a simple understanding. Actually to the contrary, has even made our understanding of the war more convoluted.
But listening to the dialog on this topic, particularly in the popular media, I worry about the dialog and tone used. Seems to me that “Confederate” is now becoming a code word for something beyond the 1860s. If we argue that George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, and, well, Dixie Outfitters, hijacked the symbolism of the Confederacy for their own agenda, well then we must also consider it is possible for the other side of the spectrum to do the same. Political pundits were quick to put labels on Gov. McDonnell this week. Many of which implied that “Confederate” was directly analogous to being a racist, not supporting equal rights, or other similar positions.
Just as we can’t paint with a broad brush and say “all (historical) Confederates were good,” we cannot say “all Confederates were bad.” And nor should we use the term “Confederate” when alluding to modern day situations without pausing to provide proper context.
Now “ne0-Confederates” I’d say are are more modern enigma. You can call them what you want!
Kevin
April 9, 2010
Craig,
I couldn’t agree more. You are making a very important point here. Of course there is a great deal of politics behind the initial decision to re-introduce the proclamation and then to amend it along with the apology. The mainstream media was completely ill-equipped to deal with the historical questions related to the proclamation.
Michael Aubrecht
April 10, 2010
I have enjoyed your posts Robert on this subject. Yet I still can’t help when examining this whole controversy over Confederate History Month that we are putting one group of people’s feelings over another’s. There is no way to be inclusive without being exclusive here. The Libertarian in me thinks that the individual people should have the right to celebrate whatever they want (regardless of its detractors) and the state should stay the hell out of it. I wish the governor had never declared anything.
Michael Aubrecht
April 11, 2010
Robert. Something happened today to me that I think you may find fitting. I posted about over on my blog at:
http://www.pinstripepress.net/PPBlog/index.blog/1402736/month-or-no-month-it-shouldnt-matter/
Robert Moore
April 11, 2010
Hi Michael,
Sounds like you have the makings for an interesting story. It reminds me of some of the work I was fortunate to be part of our in this direction a few years ago.
While I was a camp and brigade commander in the SCV, I found information about the only Union soldier to earn a medal of honor in my home county (also where my SCV camp was located). Different members of the camp had different opinions on it, but those (myself included) who wanted to have something to recognize this fellow moved forward to take the appropriate steps. We had three years in which we had been regularly approved for historic signage (grants for three Va. CW Trails a year for three years). One of these signs was to recognize the fight at Yager’s Mill, just north of Luray. This is the action in which this fellow earned his MOH. Fortunately, I was able to draft the text for the sign, so I made sure that I added a sidebar recognizing the fellow… who, by the way, was an Englishman who was denied a pension (even though he was awarded the MOH). See this link to see the sign…
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?MarkerID=801&Print=1
In addition to this, the story kept on moving forward when I was contacted by a descendant of this soldier (who happens to live in Northern Virginia), and we made the effort to have an appropriate MOH headstone ordered and shipped to the UK… see this link for a photo of the stone…
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=baybutt&GSfn=p&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=9347820&
Also during my time as commander, when we ordered flag holders to mark the graves of all the Confederates in a large cemetery in Luray, we looked out for the men in blue as well. Capt. Robert H. Russell was one of those men…
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=russell&GSfn=robert&GSmn=hill&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=48365609&
Not at all bragging, but to show that I agree with you, in that we don’t need a designated month, because there’s a good number of us who do this regularly, equally interested in those who wore the blue or gray. Sadly, all of this focus on Union soldiers wasn’t always appreciated by a fair number of folks in the SCV, but that’s another story.
I also recognize that people are going to celebrate, remember, or whatever, however they like, no matter what anyone else says. Still, it would be much better if we had a month focused on the complex nature of Virginians in the war… whereby everyone, no matter their sentiments, can be recognized. By doing this, the majority of the people throughout the Commonwealth (many who probably don’t give the war much thought until someone brings their attention to it anyway) are privy to the diversity of our story as Virginians, not limited to one element that all too frequently overshadows all the rest who have an equal right at being recognized for their sacrifices.