Charlie Daniels on the Confederate Flag, Restraint and Common Sense

CNS News.com ^ | June 26,2015 | By Charlie Daniels

[Hojczyk]

This will have the potential to be lengthy, so bear with me and I will try my best to relate my honest feelings on the Confederate flag in question, which was actually the battle flag carried by several Confederate army regiments – and was not the official flag of the Confederacy.

I was born in 1936, a mere 71 years after the Civil War ended, when the South was looked upon by what seemed to be a majority of the Northern States as an inbred, backward, uneducated, slow-talking and slower-thinking people, with low morals and a propensity for incest.

This was in the days before television, and about all the folks up North knew about Southerners was what they heard. There were a lot of people who took great pleasure in proliferating the myth, and some still do it to this day.

As you might suppose, people in the South bitterly resented this attitude of superiority, and in some quarters the words “damn” and “Yankee” became one word. And a somewhat fierce type of Southern pride came into being.

The Confederate battle flag was a sign of defiance, a sign of pride, a declaration of a geographical area that you were proud to be from.

That’s all it is to me and all it has ever been to me.

I can’t speak for all, but I know in my heart that most Southerners feel the same way.

I have no desire to reinstate the Confederacy. I oppose slavery as vehemently as any man, and I believe that every human being, regardless of the color of their skin, is just as valuable as I am and deserves the exact same rights and advantages as I do.

[Tax-chick]

We all have to die from something, might as well enjoy it. (That’s what I say to myself when my Mexican and Central American friends offer me food ...)

[GOPJ]

Finally a voice of common sense. The confederate flag is not a symbol of racism, it’s a symbol of southern pride. Why don’t the politicians speak with this much common sense and wisdom?

I know why... it's because Charlie Daniels is a good man... a thoughtful man - and most of our politicians aren't...

[McGruff]

Always been a Charlie Daniels fan and still am. Marshal Tucker Band also. Good Ole Southern boys without a racist bone in their body. Unlike the current resident of the White House.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk.

[DigitalVideoDude]

1984 DCI Spirit of Atlanta

[jsanders2001]

> You will no longer be allowed to be proud of certain things.
Meanwhile, you will be forced to be proud of other things.

Frame it and hang it....: )

[vetvetdoug]

I have a newspaper article from circa 1970’s stating the event where The Citadel placed a Confederate Battle Flag to fly in honor of the Cadets that gave their lives for the State. I noted the day before yesterday it was taken down.

[jsanders2001]

LOL now THAT needs to be on t-shirts for display on the 4th...

[real saxophonist]

Contrabass,’83 to ‘86. I remember Southwind. I think we had a guy march with us after marching Southwind the previous year. Twin daughters. Wow.

[real saxophonist]

Thanks for that. Yep, I’m on that field. Mark Hoskins is the mellophone soloist, and Mike Elam is the soprano soloist.

[CodeToad]

Dittos to Charlie!

[CodeToad]

For this.

[BamaBelle]

They marched in 1992 (won Division II Championship which was thrilling) and again in 1993. After that they concentrated on local high school band stuff. Drum Corps is expensive and I was a single mom so was a bit relieved when they decided not to march anymore but they will carry those memories forever...great experience for them!

[semaj]

Mr. Daniels is a class act. We need more of his kind.

[impactplayer]

Yes, I know. The Citadel has seven battle flags on their school flag - they fought as a unit in the Civil War.

So much for history!

[jmacusa]

Just as an aside and off the subject a bit, today is the 237rd. anniversary of the Revolutionary War battle known as ''The Battle Of Monmouth Courthouse''. It occurred in what is now present day Monmouth County, about 40 minutes northwest of where I live in NJ. The outcome of the battle itself was at best considered a draw but five things about it were notable. First, it was the largest military engagement of it's kind on the North American Continent up to that time. Second, it was the first appearance of the newly formed and uniformed Continental Army. Thirdly what everyone commented on that day was the intense heat. By 11am that June morning the temperature hovered at almost 100 degrees and the humidity was about the same.'' The heat of the day heat was as if a thousands furnaces of Hades'' said Washington's aide-de camp General John Mercer. the fourth being that this battle would be the last of it's kind in the North as the fighting would shift to the South most notably to the Carolina's. And lastly it saw the birth of the legend of “Molly Pitcher’’ aka Mary Ludwig Hayes. She was among a number of women who followed their men into battle to act as cooks, seamstresses and nurses. Farm women in the era were often referred to as "Mollies''. Eight months pregnant she picked up a cannon swab and power bucket when her husband was wounded and help his gun crew to continue to fire on the British. Now back to the current situation.....

[ExCTCitizen]

You are 100% correct, Charlie Daniels...

[MD Expat in PA]

Several members of my family, including my ex-husband, my brother and a nephew in law, marched with the Yankee Rebels Drum & Bugle Corps in the 1970’s and early 80’s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyKJgUi_U9E

I seem to recall they stopped using the Confederate flag sometime in the early ‘80’s due to PC pressure.

[Tax-chick]

Charlie Daniels was born the same year as my late father, who was from northeastern Missouri. Many of the people of his generation and older were casually racist, even though there probably weren’t fifty black people in the whole county when he was growing up. It was just the culture of their time.

The farmers who never went anywhere, like my great-uncle Pete, were more likely to be racist than those who had been in World War II or gone to college and met different kinds of people.

It had nothing to do with the Confederacy. Five of my father’s great-grand-uncles were Union volunteers. I saw their graves decorated with American flags by the American Legion.

[plain talk]

well reasoned post.