Battle over the past rages on in an evolving South

Christian Science Monitor ^ | from the February 24, 2005 edition | By Patrik Jonsson

[.cnI redruM]

RALEIGH, N.C. – Bronzed Johnny Rebs, sprinting across a Capitol lawn, charging soundlessly for the ideals of the "lost cause," have long been seen as a quaint and largely harmless part of this region's heritage. Today, doubts rise alongside pride in regard to these sculpted heroes.

A school board declines to name a new high school in Cherokee County after Georgia's Civil War governor. Floridians question why Confederate soldiers adorn a water tower. Even the word "South," in some quarters, has become a slur - a convenient repository of national guilt over the exploitation of Africans in the Cotton Belt a century and a half ago.

[.cnI redruM]

As soon as I here some arrogant Northern Liberal start in on the South, I reach for the barf bag and the pepto bismol. I guess today, it's the CSM's turn to condescend.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I hear ya over here.

[righthand man]

bump for later

[.cnI redruM]

That's for certain.

[TrueKnightGalahad]

Couldn't agree more -- can't wait to move out of Yankee Hell.

[LadyPilgrim]

You're right Tony! They do not know the Christ of the Holy Scriptures! At least they don't talk like it. And Christ said, By their fruits, you shall KNOW them.
BTW, did you read your mail? Just wondering. ;-)

[LadyPilgrim]

Take your time.
I know how that is. Besides, it was long! ;-)

[Clemenza]

Florida is only a "su-thun" state north of Orlando in the Pork Chop region.

[Clemenza]

Y'ever been to Gainesville? Chapel Hill? Athens? Southern college towns are just as sickeningly leftist as Boulder, Cambridge, Ann Arbor, and Yellow Springs are.

[Howlin]

RALEIGH, N.C. – Bronzed Johnny Rebs, sprinting across a Capitol lawn, charging soundlessly for the ideals of the "lost cause," have long been seen as a quaint and largely harmless part of this region's heritage. Today, doubts rise alongside pride in regard to these sculpted heroes.

HUH?

Statues and Monuments on Union Square

Over the last century, numerous statues and monuments have been erected on the Square memorializing people and events in the history of North Carolina. The collection on Union Square consists of fourteen monuments, most of them bronze on stone bases. The following are brief descriptions of each:

• Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation - This work honors the three presidents born in North Carolina: Andrew Jackson of Union County, seventh president of the United States (1829-1837); James Knox Polk of Mecklenberg County, eleventh president of the United States (1856-1869); and Andrew Johnson of Wake County, seventeenth president of the United States (1865-1869). Although North Carolina claims all three presidents as native sons, all were elected while residents of Tennessee.

• Charles Duncan McIver - Dr. McIver was a renowned promoter of education in North Carolina in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is remembered as the founder and the first president of the State Normal and Industrial School for Women (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro).

• Zebulon Baird Vance - A native of Buncombe County, Vance was one of this state's most popular political figures during the Civil War. He helped organize state troops for the Confederacy and was promoted to full colonel shortly before his election as governor in 1862. He again served as governor from 1877 to 1879 and was a United States senator from 1879 until his death in 1894.

• George Washington - This bronze statue is one of six cast by William J. Hubbard of Richmond, Virginia, from a mold of Houdon's Washington which stands in the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia. It was intended to replace the destroyed Canova statue. Unveiled on July 4, 1857, it was the first statue placed on the grounds.

• Charles Brantley Aycock - Known as the "education governor," Aycock was responsible for beginning the public school system existing today in North Carolina. It is said that one new school was opened for nearly every day of his term, 1901-1905.

• Women of the Confederacy - The Women of the Confederacy monument was a gift to the state by Confederate veteran Col. Ashley Horne, and was unveiled in June 1914. It was the wish of Colonel Horne to recognize the suffering and hardship faced by women during this tragic period in our nation's history.

• Wildcat Division Memorial - A simple stone marker honors North Carolina men of the U.S. Army's 81st Division (nicknamed "Wildcat Division" because of its ferocious and unyielding spirit) who took part in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in France during World War I.

• Worth Bagley - Born in Raleigh in 1874, Ensign Bagley was the first American naval officer killed in the Spanish-American War. Bagley, the executive officer of the torpedo ship U.S.S. Winslow, was killed May 11, 1898, by a shell from Spanish shore batteries at Cardenas Bay, Cuba.

• Confederate Monument - This monument is in remembrance of North Carolina's Confederate dead (nearly one quarter of all Confederate deaths were from North Carolina). The three statues on the monument represent Confederate infantry, cavalry, and artillery soldiers. The inscription, "First at Bethel - Last at Appomatox," represents the forwardness and tenacity of North Carolina's soldiers during the Civil War.

• Samuel A'Court Ashe - This tablet is a tribute to Captain Ashe who, as a captain in the Confederate Army, took part in the defense of Fort Wagner, S.C. He later served as a legislator, newspaper editor, and historian.

• Henry Lawson Wyatt - Wyatt, from Edgecombe County, was the first Confederate soldier to die in battle in the Civil War. A private in the Confederate Army, he was killed at the Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia on June 10, 1861, as his brigade attacked Union troops.

• North Carolina Veteran's Monument - This monument honors the veterans of the state who served in World Wars I and II and the Korean War. The base features scenes and lists major battles from each of the wars, and atop a granite shaft stands Lady Liberty holding a palm frond to symbolize peace and victory. The flags of each of the armed services fly at the rear of the monument.

• Old Hickory Highway Marker - This granite marker commemorates North Carolina's soldiers of the U.S. Army's 30th "Old Hickory" Division, who fought and died to break the Hindenberg Line in France during World War I.

• Vietnam Veteran's Memorial - Entitled "After the Firefight," this memorial honors the more than 206,000 men and women of the state who served in Vietnam. The monument depicts two soldiers carrying a wounded comrade to a nearby landing zone to await medical help. This monument is unique in that it is the first to be sculpted by a woman, and the first to depict an African American.

[TC Rider]

How racist is this?

Gaffney, SC

[SittinYonder]

I'm nearing the end of Webb's "Born Fighting." Being of Scotch-Irish descent and Southern (by the grace of God), I relate very much to the book. It is a fascinating read and he nailed the Southern culture in a way that the Christian Science Monitor never could begin to understand.

[100%FEDUP]

I'm a yankee by birth,
Southern by the Grace of God!

I guess you can call me an Urban Redneck!

[southernnorthcarolina]

College towns have been mentioned on this thread, and as it happens, both of my Southerm alma maters have been embroiled in controversies over Confederate Memorials. The United Daughters of the Confederacy were involved in both cases.

Vanderbilt University: In 1935, a grant of $50,000 (and that was serious money in the middle of the Depression) by the United Daughters of the Confederacy helped fund the construction of dormitory named Confederate Memorial Hall on the campus of Peabody College (Vanderbilt has since taken over Peabody, whose campus is across 24th Avenue, South from Vanderbilt's main campus).

A few years ago, Vanderbilt summarily decided to remove the name "Confederate," in an effort to be "more inclusive." They were sued by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who alleged breach of contract. The Court found the contract regarding the name of the building to be null and void, so "Confederate Memorial Hall" is no more, alas.

Ah, but Vanderbilt can't completely run from its past. The late Senator from Mississippi, Theodore Bilbo, whose views on racial matters were, shall we say, at odds with the current concept of enlightenment, was an alum of Vanderbilt Law -- something I've never heard the university brag about.

University of North Carolina: In 1913, a statue of a Confederate soldier, paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and in honor of the approximately 1,000 students of UNC who served in the Confederate armed forces (that was about 40% of the enrollment at the time) was placed in a prominent location in the old part of the campus, McCorkle Place, facing Franklin Street. The soldier carries a rifle, and he soon came to be known as "Silent Sam": legend has it that he fires his rifle every time he sees a virgin, hence his quietude (or at least, that's the story which is always told to parents during parental orientation tours).

Silent Sam has been under sporadic attack by the NAACP, certain professors, and liberal groups for quite a few years; thus far, efforts to remove him have failed.

[billbears]

RALEIGH, N.C. – Bronzed Johnny Rebs, sprinting across a Capitol lawn, charging soundlessly for the ideals of the "lost cause," have long been seen as a quaint and largely harmless part of this region's heritage. Today, doubts rise alongside pride in regard to these sculpted heroes.

I live in the Raleigh area. Coming straight down Hillsborough Street, the monument to the Confederacy is the first monument you see. Turn right and around the corner is a monument to the women of the Confederacy. In the town I live in, Pittsboro (about 30 miles away), the monument to the Confederate soldier is just outside of town hall around the circle. Frankly, I'm suprised the yankees (and trust me there are plenty of yankees to go around) that live in this state haven't attacked either one yet

[Alia]

Thanks for the ping, Howlin. I love this state. I love its history. And right before my eyes, I'm witnessing the encroachment of mass ignorance vis a vis liberalism and "political identity politics".

Over my dead body.