Posted on 08/22/2003 6:10:31 AM PDT by Moose4
A history-laden effort to highlight Beaufort County as the national birthplace of the South's Reconstruction era has stirred tension in the Lowcountry.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group of Civil War veterans' descendants, wants to stop the effort to federally protect several sites honoring South Carolina's and Beaufort County's prominent historical roles in the post-Civil War period.
"If the National Park Service wants to honor blacks being free from slavery and blacks getting the right to vote, that's fine," said Michael Givens, first lieutenant of the state division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "Just don't do it under the pretenses of Reconstruction."
A bill shepherded through the U.S. Senate by Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., has set aside $300,000 to complete two studies over three years.
One study would be a national search designed to identify U.S. sites and resources significant to Reconstruction.
The second would determine whether five Beaufort County sites with strong ties to Reconstruction should be added to the National Park System.
Second District Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of Lexington introduced a similar bill in the U.S. House that could be debated when Congress reconvenes next month, if Wilson pushes it.
Other delegation members are co-sponsors of the bill, but the group has pressured Wilson, an SCV member, to let the bill die.
If the House fails to pass the bill, some say, the state would lose a great opportunity.
If the Beaufort sites become part of the National Park System, they will be advertised in all national parks across the country -- about 380 sites -- which could help the state attract tourists.
But an educational opportunity exists, too, they say.
"Nowhere, at no time did I learn anything about our people or our plight," protested Bernie Wright, executive director of St. Helena Island's Penn Center. "I was completely oblivious."
The Penn Center, the first school in the South for freed slaves, is one of the Beaufort County sites. The others are:
• The Freedmen's Bureau, where ex-slaves first voted
• Michellville, on Hilton Head Island, established as the first freedmen's village
• The Old Fort Plantation, where the first ex-slaves gathered to hear the Emancipation Proclamation read, and
• The Robert Smalls house and other sites associated with the Reconstruction leader and Civil War hero.
Givens, of the SCV, said Reconstruction was a terrible time for Southern whites, who he said were "punished" by Northern whites, or "carpetbaggers," who came South. "The genesis of bad relationships between the races is Reconstruction," rather than slavery, Givens said.
Some whites never accepted ex-slaves as their equals.
A cross-section of Beaufort's business, education and governmental leaders have endorsed the Hollings bill, as has the Bush administration's Interior Department. Respected historians also support the project.
"I think it's neat that all these national folks have looked everywhere in the country to determine where can you best capture Reconstruction, and they choose Beaufort," said Walter Edgar, a noted S.C. historian and author who teaches at USC.
Robert Roper, SCV state division commander, said his group fears the park service's interpretation of Reconstruction would be one-sided, diluting the hardships of Southern Confederates. "We're certainly not against telling history, we just want the full history told," he said.
Recently, the park service included an explanation at a new exhibit at Fort Sumter, which it operates, saying slavery was the underlying cause of the Civil War. Southern groups, such as the SCV, maintain the war was fought over "states rights."
The SCV wrote Wilson, drafted a resolution against the Reconstruction study and put it on the group's Web site. Reconstruction study supporters countered by also writing Wilson.
A spokesman in Wilson's Washington office said last week the congressman fully expects his bill to be passed. Wilson has met with constituents on both sides of the issue.
"What we need very much is for Joe Wilson to push for it to come before the committee," said Page Putnam Miller, a visiting professor at USC. "We need Wilson's support."
Of the 380 National Park Service sites, half deal with history-based themes. About 30 are connected to Civil War history.
"No park focuses primarily on Reconstruction, though," said Miller. "The Park Service realizes it has a gap in subject matter related to Reconstruction."
More than 40 sites in the county have ties to the era, and most have either archaeological or structural significance.
"I think this is really ridiculous," said Eric Foner, a Columbia University history professor who is recognized as the leading authority on Reconstruction.
"Reconstruction is one of the most misunderstood periods of American history. There was great progress and great failure in many ways. But it was an integral part of our history. A new and up-to-date version of Reconstruction can benefit everyone."
My worry is this--knowing how the Park Service has been operating lately, it's going to turn into a "Southern whites are EEEEEEEEEEVIL" exhibit. Nothing will be mentioned about the economic devastation of the War's aftermath, on whites *and* blacks. It will all be about the noble freed slaves and their dastardly, evil white oppressors.
If I trusted the NPS to be fair and accurate in their retelling of history, I'd be all over this. As it is, I'm concerned.
}:-)4
Missouri.
Missouri's historical significance regarding slavery vs. abolition, the factors leading to the secession, the civil war itself, and finally, reconstruction and the succeeding "jim crow" laws, make it a highly relevent location for such historical sites.
Problem is, if it were told truthfully, honestly and completely, it would not be a "pretty picture".
Probably not what the PC crowd wants to see and hear.
And many Yankees did not consider their Southern countrymen equal either.
The honest picture of reconstruction won't be simple. The socialists are using the National Park Service to push their agenda: no flags at Confederate memorials, rewriting history to be more PC, etc.
I personally welcome an honorable way to remember these people and these sites but let's not do it at the expense of others, and let's be sure it's the truth.
A related FR story here: U.S. Corrects Southern Bias at Civil War Sites
"new" and "up-to-date". How about "as it was" and "unrevised". I wonder if they'll explain what a pack of scum-sucking thieves the "freedmen's bureau" really was, and how it blatantly stole from black and white alike? Probably not. For example, they set up a bank, worked like heck to get former slaves to put money in it, and then kept it. The actor Yaphet Koto (an African prince, no less) is part of one group of blacks still trying to get the US Gov't to cough up the money the "freedmen's bureau" stole from ex-slaves. And let's not even think about all the property that was illegally stolen from Southern whites by the profiteering trash at the "freedmen's bureau". Congress told them they could create taxes at will, and they did. Everytime one of them wanted to steal someone's property, they would just levy tax after tax until the person was unable to pay, and would then take their land. It would then be bought from "the bureau" for a pittance by one of their "friends". Innumerable Southern families were economically devastated by this tactic. My family's properties in South Carolina dwindled and dwindled and then disappeared during reconstruction as a result of this licensed larceny. Can anyone say "reparations"? I can. The NPS is playing with fire on this one. Even Southerners who don't protest their white-wash of history on the battlefield sites will raise hell if they try to do the same with reconstruction. NEVER FORGET!
And many Yankees did not consider their Southern countrymen equal either.
Who?
We know what President Lincoln said. He called the southern people civilized and patriotic:
"It might seem, at first thought, to be of little difference whether the present movement at the south be called "secession" or "rebellion." The movers, however, well understand the difference. At the beginning, they knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude, by any name that implies violation of law. They knew their people possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law and order, as much pride in, and reverence for, the history, and government, of their common country, as any other civilized and patriotic people."
7/4/61
free the southland,sw
remind me sometime to tell you about the "hissy fit" thrown by the manager of the Gettysburg Park, when some of our black SCV members showed up at the visitor's center in rebel GRAY uniforms!
also the black CSA re-enactors were told, by the NPS police,2 years ago that they could NOT participate in the memorial ceremonies at the national cemetery in uniform as "it wouldn't be seemly"! the re-enactors were threatened with JAIL for JUST BEING THERE!
free dixie,sw
Well, the better part a national park - the rest a zoo....
RECONSTRUCTION!!
Confederate Military History, Volume 12
WARNING! This is not what you were taught in school. It has a definite Southern bias. It is not politically correct! Nor should it be. It was written shortly after the war by Southerners about Southerners.
What is known as the reconstruction of the seceded States is a very sad epoch to recall, and no American who loves his country likes to bring back its harsh memories. Yet it is a matter of history and it needs be recorded in order that the part which the North and the South played during that period should be fully understood. It began under President Lincoln before the close of the war, and was carried on by President Johnson after the assassination of President Lincoln, during the years 1865 and 1866. Afterward there was a second phase of reconstruction, or "destruction," known as the congressional plan, which undid all that had been done by Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. This latter period was the greatest trial that the South had to bear, not excepting the terrible ordeal of war. To understand properly the surroundings, it is necessary to enumerate briefly the events which occurred early in 1865, and the directions given by President Johnson to the military officers of the United States. First, I would mention the death of Mr. Lincoln himself, which was regarded as the greatest calamity that could have happened to the people of the South. The arrest and imprisonment of President Davis and many of the Confederate soldiers and statesmen have been already related. The treatment of Mr. Davis was very harsh indeed, complicity in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln being cruelly imputed to him, and a large reward offered for his capture. He was placed in prison and shackled with irons in the strongest fortress in the Union, and a military guard placed over him day and night. Every town, village and district was occupied rapidly by the Union troops as the Confederate resistance melted away, and all civil government was ignored. The governors of most of the seceded States attempted to call their legislatures together to conform to the results of the war and take steps for their restoration to the Union. They did this, believing that the American principle of government--the sovereignty and indestructibility of the States--would be respected and that these prompt proceedings would be favored as the constitutional plan of restoration. They did this also believing it absolutely necessary to preserve civil government, and to show by legislative enactment complete submission to the results of the war in repealing their ordinances of secession and in accepting the freedom of the negro.
The order issued by General Wilson, of the United States army in Georgia, when the legislature was called to meet, was to this effect: "Neither the legislature nor any other political body will be permitted to assemble under the call of the rebel State authorities." The spirit of this order was carried out in all the seceded States. Existing civil government was ignored everywhere, and military rule inaugurated in municipal and local communities. The only government allowed was that of the local military officers, or under their supervision.
This harsh action of the United States authorities, civil and military, immediately following the collapse of the Confederate government, caused all prominent actors in the war to feel insecure. They did not know what to expect. It was not known how general the arrests and imprisonments would be, and many leading men, civil and military, escaped to foreign lands, and for the time expatriated themselves. Gen. Jubal Early, with others, escaped to Cuba. Generals Loring, Graves, and a few other officers went to Egypt and took service under the khedive. Hons. Robert Toombs, J. C. Breckinridge and many others went to Europe. Gov. Isham G. Harris, Gens. J. Bankhead Magruder, Hindman and Price went to Mexico; in fact, prominent citizens and soldiers everywhere felt great apprehension as to the course of the government, even with their paroles. It was even contemplated by President Johnson and his advisers to arrest and imprison Gen. Robert E. Lee, who had surrendered his army to General Grant and had been paroled. General Grant, however, entered a vigorous protest against such action, and insisted that men who had surrendered with arms in their hands were entitled to the usual laws recognized by all civilized nations, and that their paroles should be respected. This action on his part, and the advice of Gen. Robert E. Lee and the leading statesmen, officers, and soldiers of all the lately seceded States, caused it to be thought best for all to remain in their respective States and share whatever fate was in store for the South. The feeling of expatriation was greatly allayed when such prominent men advised against it.
The rest can be found at:
http://www.civilwarhome.com/reconstruction.htm
Walt, look at the date. When Lincoln said this, he thought the war was going to be as bloody as a church cake walk (assuming he knew what a "church" was). He didn't realize that the movers of which he spoke comprised the Southern people at large, nor the distaste they had for invasion of their homeland.
Within the month, he was to find out the truth (7/21/61).
This quote can be thought of as little more than Lincoln doing his Sally Fields imitation: "They like me... they really, really like me!"
Good for him. So at least one yankee considered his Southern countrymen as an equal.
I've lived my 58 years in the South. My grandfaher (born in 1903) taught me that I was as good as anyone, but no better than anyone. I don't think he made it up. Maybe he learned it from his parents who learned it from their parents.
You are correct. Some whites never accepted ex-slaves as their equals. Some still do not. Some Yankees did not consider their Southern countymen as their equals. Some still do not. Some on both sides want conflict to continue.
I say enough is enough. Find a better way to spend our tax dollars. And slap Hollins senseless (sorry for the oxymoron).:-)
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