<p>Wow. I was unaware that we were removing the monuments. Is there reasoning?</p>
<p>Silent Sam UNC Chapel Hill, I wish I knew how to link it here.
For some he is a reminder of oppression and equated with flying the confederate flag.
Many would like to see him removed. It pops up regularly.</p>
<p>I suppose I should have guessed that.</p>
<p>I can say that when the girls were in US history classes, they did know what they were talking about, topographically speaking. I think around 6th grade was when each of them realized it wasn’t “normal” to have to go and see all the places where there’d been a battle every time you were on vacation.</p>
<p>When the oldest went to England and found herself walking through an old battlefield, it felt oddly familiar to her, though. 
as far as a being a part of any vacation.</p>
<p>If you can’t live in the past, where can you live? </p>
<p>I believe this is taught in “Southern 101.”</p>
<p>
I had one, too (or maybe it was a great, great grandfather). He was wounded in the heel advancing on the foe. Ahem.</p>
<p>How many southerners does it take to change a light bulb?</p>
<p>Three. One to do it and two to talk about how much nicer the old one was.</p>
<p>My dad was an immigrant who became a Civil War buff and believe me, ALL my childhood vacations were spent on battlefields and cemeteries.</p>
<p>Sadly, he’s buried in a cemetery that has all level markers so you can’t identify tombstones like you could. And weirdly, I now try to go to cemeteries when I travel. I am fascinated by the ones in Europe with photographs and especially Maori cemeteries in NZ but my friends there tell me I’m not welcome to linger.</p>
<p>Sarah Jane Peters–you know she’s a Johnston of the Meridian, Mississippi Johnstons. Her mother’s second cousin’s father was Judge Butler of Atlanta.</p>
<p>Sarah Jane’s sister–Patsy Sue married Dr. Sutter whose poor first wife Emmy Jo Swanson of the Little Rock Swansons died in childbirth. You have heard that Dr. Sutter is galavanting around with that hussy Luddie May Smith–you know her daddy was that no count Harlan Smith up in Beauregard county…</p>
<p>07Dad, You gotta know who “their people” are in order to tell a credible story, right?</p>
<p>“Sarah Jane is married to Henry. You know all his people come from over 'round Rocky Mount”.</p>
<p>Major Civil War buffs in our house. DH’s great great grandfather was the last surviving Civil War Vet. from their home county (in NC)when he died in the early 1940’s. We visited the cemetary where he is buried recently. The have metal markers there by every grave of a Civil War veteran. We have the original newspaper clipping of his obituary in a glass case in our living room. Our youngest S is named after him…no lie.</p>
<p>Lexington VA is a great place to visit for Civil War buffs. The Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee is interesting and has a little museum underneath with lots of artifacts and furniture Lee used. Over at VMI, you can see Stonewall Jackson’s office and a monument for the VMI cadets that fought as a unit in the Battle Of New Market (which my then 11 yr. old S knew all about when we visited).</p>
<p>The Cemetary where Jackson is burired is interesting too and you can tour the house where he lived. The Shenandoah area is very pretty esp. in the Fall.</p>
<p>Many of the Southern civil war monuments were built/dedicated by the Daughters of the Confederacy founded in 1894, or similar groups, towards the end of the 19th century. They symbolize a number of things–the Lost Cause; the integration of the South back into the Union; the end of Reconstruction and the defeat of Blacks as voters and politicians e.g., see the Wilmington Race Riots[the whites rioted]; and, the victory of the Southern white point of view within the US about African-Americans. See for example Thomas Dixon’s novel the * The Clansman*, which was made into the Birth of a nation.</p>
<p>I remember staying with my grandparents in S.C. over winter term. I wrote a paper on Causes for Civil War, using books from local library. It didn’t go over well with my NE teacher. It taught me that their are always different points of view.</p>
<p>Many of the Southern civil war monuments were built/dedicated by groups like the Daughters of the Confederacy, founded in 1894, towards the end of the 19th century. These statutes represented in part the ultimate victory of the South in the Civil War. They were symbols of the Lost Cause, an idea which was detrimental to all Southerners. The White South was now being integrated back into the Union on their own terms, which included the suppression of Blacks. They also indicated the end of Reconstruction and the defeat of Blacks as voters and politicians e.g., see the Wilmington Race Riots [the whites rioted]; They also were part pf victory of the Southern White point of view within the US about African-Americans, who they were and how they should be treated. See for example Thomas Dixon’s novel * The Clansman*, which was made into the Birth of a Nation.</p>
<p>It was a bad time to be Black. It often is in this country. These monuments were part of the downward cycle for African-Americans that didn’t begin to reverse until the late 1950s and early 60s. Many would argue it still has a long way to go.</p>
<p>Sorry about the double post. The first one got away from me before I finished.</p>
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<p>I had one who fought for the Confederacy, and my husband had one who fought for the Union. We believe they might even have fought in the same battle!</p>
<p>We have all my H’s great-grandfather’s Union Civil War memorabilia, including his sword, belt buckle, brass epaulets, and medals. The most interesting items he left behind, however, were his lengthy, descriptive letters to his mother. Several years ago, I transcribed his letters before we gave them to a museum. They were fascinating, as they described in detail the cold, wet conditions and damp uniforms; the spoiled food that made everyone sick; and even how he felt as he was lying on the ground during battle as bullets were whizzing around him. He even drew maps of the battlefields.</p>
<p>^wow your H has a great grandfather in the Union army too! (I meet plenty of great-greats, but not greats!) Do you know the regiment? I can never remember the regiment #, but it was the Penn. Volunteers.</p>
<p>^^I didn’t realize you were making the distinction between great and great-great. I think it was our great-great grandfathers for both H and me.</p>
<p>H’s g-g-grandfather was a 1st Lieutenant in the 45th regiment of the Massachusetts Infantry.</p>
<p>Oh yah…thats why I pointed out that he married and had children late in life. :)</p>
<p>Are you sure you haven’t been holding out on us, musica? Maybe you’re really 100 years old!</p>
<p>Just kidding. Wow…I didn’t really think about it when you first mentioned it, but it’s amazing that your great-grandfather fought in the Civil War. Was he very young when he enlisted?</p>
<p>I grew up in Richmond and I remember my mother telling me about the Civil War monuments on Monument Avenue. It seems that all the generals are on horses and that the horses rear ends all face north. I don’t live there anymore, so I can’t check it out. Has anyone else from that area ever heard that story?</p>
<p>^^I heard that the statues of Confederate heroes who died in the war are facing one way and the ones who survived to return home are facing the other. I don’t remember which ones faced which direction.</p>
<p>My great-grandfather fought in the Civil War for the Union, too. (I am in my late fifties.) He was a teenager when he enlisted.</p>