"Civil War 'Silent Sentinels' Still on Guard " Topic

After the Civil War ended in April 1865, statues depicting Union and Confederate soldiers went up across the country, from New England squares to Southern courthouses. A century and a half later, these weathered "Silent Sentinels" still stand guard, rifles at the ready, gazing off in the distance.
link

Probably not for much longer. Already there are attacks to have the confederate ones removed from parks and city halls across the south. Apparently the Union ones are ok.

Revisionist history.

Our local county museum has 'Confederate Memorial'
chiseled across the gable at the front.

There are loud cries to have that expunged.

It is a county building, true, on land donated by and
built with funds from the UDC as a WPA project in 1938.

Might be an interesting fight….

What is it they say, "Those who ignore their history are doomed to repeat it."
I live in the north, but I don't think any statues erected to Confederate soldiers should be taken down. They were all brave men fighting for what they believed in, blue or gray does not matter, honor the fallen.

"History Erasure" is more like it.

In the South, most of these Silent Sentinels do indeed face North, always vigilant, with never a back to the foe.

They will take down the Confederate ones now.
They will take down the Union ones later.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Many have issues with the statues because many were not put up to honor southern soldiers, but as power symbols of Jim Crow and segregation. No different than Saddam or Stalin statues taking a fall.

If the statues in question had been raised and put in place in the 1950s or 1960s I might be inclined to agree with you. However, most were put up in the late 1800s by the veterans and the people in the towns that wished to honor them. So I cannot agree with your interpretation EJ unless you have some documentation to back it up.

Actually, some of the 60's one are for the centennial. Some of the negative ones date from the 20's and Klan support. It definitely is a case by case basis in which both sides in the debate are making mistakes. Personally, I would rather, if they are now in African American neighborhoods or majority towns (the ones with the most issues), the monuments get moved to some place where they might be appreciated than remain where they are and get trashed by people who obviously do not appreciate them and see them as insults. Why should tax payers be required to take care of other people's refuge they left behind, particularly if they don't like it?

Cleburne1863, as requested. The grandest monument of all. Built by the Klan, for the Klan. link link However, I myself, thinks it has value and should remain, not because of the Confederate/racist message, but because it happens to be the work of an important artist. The rock face is still pretty empty. I suggest they put an image of Sherman and/or Martin Luther King up by another famous artist and call it a day. You will get more tourists and everybody is happy. End of the nonsense.

Also, many of the late 1800s statues, particularly the mass produced small town variety, have little to do with the soldiers or racism. Many of these were simply installed to get up the martial spirit for the Spanish American war. They are as much a monument to that war as the civil war.

You should probably do a little research on Sherman before you say that. Sherman was a pretty big racist, and often commented that blacks should be slaves and that they were a lesser race. Not exactly the face that you want to show to ease racial tensions.

No one is taking down memorials to Confederate soldiers. You guys should take a pause from your delusional persecution fantasies to check in with reality.

Ivan DBA +1

They are quite impressive to me, North or South…
The town in NY where I now live has one and is on a column. 1861-1865 "In Memory of Our Heroes Who Served in the Defense of the Union".

>In the South, most of these Silent Sentinels do indeed face North, always vigilant, with never a back to the foe.

This is a myth. I live in the South and have seen many, many monuments. They do not predominately face north.

As for Confederate monuments being a symbol of the Jim Crow/KKK era, it's ironic that Democrats supported both at the time and now frequently are the ones calling for their removal. Hubris?

>No one is taking down memorials to Confederate soldiers. You guys should take a pause from your delusional persecution fantasies to check in with reality.

It's not a delusion that people are campaigning extremely hard to have Confederate memorials removed. Here in North Carolina there are two monuments I know of specifically that have extremely vocal movements for removal. One is in downtown Durham the other is in Chapel Hill on the campus of UNC. They are both routinely defaced.

As long as the removals are being done at the local level all we can do is shrug and live with it. They were put up at the local level and if the current residents of the towns want to take them down that's their right. I would only object if the locals were forced to take them down (or leave them up!) by outside agitators.

In NC the administration has put in place significant restrictions on what historical monuments can be altered or removed, even at the local level, and this should at least help buffer the tide of groups wanting to remove them.

Makes you wonder why we waste all that blood and treasure fighting the Taliban