And, the New War Continues-- Part 5: Get Your Facts Right, Mayor

Said the mayor,  "We will honor our history, we will respect the dead.  We make sure our legacy is to tell the truth and to remove evidence of racist historical revisionism.

"We will use the story of these monuments to tell the truth about a century of Jim Crow, economic oppression and those like the UDC and the Ku Klux Klan who spread their lies far beyond the boundaries of the rebellious states.  It's time for education.  It's time for people to learn the history of the nation."

Looks like it's time for the mayor to learn something about the nation's history and not just jump on the bandwagon after Charleston and Charlottesville.  Comparing the UDC to the Klan or an ultra-racist group is like calling the  DAR racist.

The men who are buried there in Madison were fighting to protect their homes and families from invaders.  These men being enlisted, probably very few if any even owned a slave.

Maybe the mayor should stop reading what the racist group Southern Poverty Law Center writes about in regards to the Confederacy.

It is  so surprising that the Confederacy was held in high regard all these years until recently.  And now, let's talk about revisionism as the mayor said.  Who's doing the revising?

Now, There Is One Really Racist Group.  --Old Secesh

And the New War Continues-- Part 4: Already Removed the Memorial Plaque

In 1981, the memorial plaque at the Confederate Rest section was placed at the Forest Hill Cemetery.  It describes the people buried there as "valiant Confederate soldiers" and "unsung heroes."  The privately funded plaque rested on a granite structure, said the soldiers were buried in a Union state after surrendering in a battle and dying at Camp Randall as prisoners of war.

Mayor Soglin had  the plaque  removed in August and he claims he had the right to do it. He said he received about 100 phone calls after doing that.  Most were opposed to what he did and came from out of the area (probably from those mean old UDC ladies).

He has contacted the Wisconsin State Historical Society about a place to store or display the plaque.

--Old Secesh

And, the New War Continues-- Part 2: Madison Preparing to Desecrate Confederate Graves

Mayor Soglin has three propositions for the 1931 memorial in the cemetery:

1.  Remove it.

2.  Eradication a section that refers to the United Daughters of the Confederacy organization that installed it.

3.  Leaving it, but placing next to it "a new honest monument" that tells the story of how the Daughters have spread lies about slavery throughout the United States and "continues to do so to this day.

He says the third item would be his preferred solution. I would say that none of these are advisable.  Leave it as it is.  Soglin wants the City Council of Madison to make the final decision but will introduce a resolution.

I think an appropriate plaque would be a plaque explaining how so many Confederates came to die while in Union hands over a short period of time in their fair city.  Also, there should be acknowledgement of the atrocities Wisconsin and Union soldiers inflicted on Southern civilians, women and children during the war.

Kind of strange that that memorial was okay from 1931 to 2017,

But Now It Is Not.  --Old Secesh

And, the New War Continues-- Part 1: Madison, Wis. About to Embarrass Self

That new war is one being waged to completely wipe out everything having to do with the Confederacy and damage a people's heritage.

Though I have not been writing much about it, the current attempt to erase all aspects of the Confederacy from history continues.  I don't get as involved because it makes me so angry.

But, I see that in Madison, Wisconsin, a group will be making a decision of a Confederate monument in a city cemetery soon.  This story goes back to last summer.

From the August 22, 2017, Madison State Journal  "Mayor Paul Soglin calls Confederate memorials historical 'lies'" by Paul Mosiman.

He says the memorial placed at the Confederate Rest section of Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison a
"historical lie" placed there by a racist organization around 1931 to promote a new form of racism, rather than a monument of the Civil War.  What he refers to as a racist organization is the United Daughters of the Confederacy.  It is made up of female descendants of Confederates.  (Kind of like calling the DAR racist.)

Last week, he ordered the removal of a plaque placed by the memorial in 1981.

The memorial is there to mark the 139 Confederate prisoners who died at Camp Randall (present day Camp Randall Stadium) in Madison.

You Have to Wonder Where Mayor Soglin Is Getting His Information?  --Old Secesh

Civil War II-- 606: What Is the Future of Confederate Statues?

From the August 15, 2017, Civil War North Carolina Google Alerts.

**  What's the future for North Carolina's Confederate statues?  There are more than 200 Confederate memorials and statues in the state that are protected by a 2015 state law.

The article also has a video of the desecration of the Confederate statue in Durham.

**  Protesters topple Confederate statue in North Carolina.  (Loss)  They weren't so much protesters as they were guilty of a hate crime.

**  Around 100 demonstrate in Pack Square following deadliest white supremacist rally in Virginia.  (Asheville, N.C.)  Remember that the Confederate-haters were just as nasty and ugly as the white supremacists.

Sure Wish Those of Us Who Revere Confederate Soldiers Did Not Have the "Help" of the White Supremacists.  --Old Secesh

Two Interesting Accounts of Whether Confederate Soldiers Are U.S. Veterans

The August 13, 2017, San Antonio Employment and Law Blog had an interesting piece  "Confederate soldiers were veterans" by Thomas J. Crane.

Also, the Truth or Fiction site has a good one "Confederate Soldiers Are Considered U.S. Veterans Under Law."

Both give a good perspective.

--Old Secesh

Civil War II-- 605: DON'T CALL IT VANDALISM!! It Is a HATE CRIME

From the August 14, 2017, Google Alerts for Confederate.

**  Kentucky Confederate statue vandalized with orange paint.  (Loss)  This is a HATE CRIME, not vandalsim.

**  West Virginia group to call for removing Confederate statues.

**  Confederate Flag controversy at Delaware County fair.

**  Confederate soldiers were veterans.  Meaning that they were U.S. veterans.

**  Sides clash over Confederate monuments in Dallas.

Remember the good old days when all the C-haters were after were Confederate Flags?

--Old Secesh

Civil War II-- 604: Again, You Desecrate a Confederate Statue, That Is a Hate Crime

From the August 14, 2017, Google Alerts for Confederate.

**  It's time to stop coddling the Confederacy.  (Yahoo Sports)  (Sports...Really)  Why is there air?  To blow up footballs with!!

**  How Charlottesville hasn't yet changed he Confederate monument debate.  I would have to greatly disagree with this statement.  We are many times worse off for it.  I rank it right up there with the Charleston murders as rallying points for the Confederate haters.

**  Take the statues down.  (Atlantic Magazine)  (Loss)

**  Confederate statues vandalized in (l)ouisville.  (Kentucky)  It was the statue of John Breckenridge Castleman erected in 1913.  He was a major in the Confederate Army and later a brigadier general in the U.S. Army.  He had a lot to do with the development of (l)ouisville and especially its parks.

(l)ouisville is lower case for its shame as being the first major Southern city to desecrate a Confederate statue.

When Are We Going To Stop Calling it Vandalizing?  It Is Nothing But a Hate Crime.  Let's Call It Like It Is.  --Old Secesh

Civil War II-- 603: In the Wake of Charlottesville

From the August 14, 2017, Google Alerts for Confederate.

**  In the wake of Charlottesville protests, a Kentucky mayor wants to remove Confederate statues.  (Lexington)  (Loss)

**  The latest:  Confederate group:  Atlanta statue must be fixed.

**  There is a good article in the Chicago Tribune by Russell Contreras  "How Robert E. Lee went from hero to racist icon."

**  Councilman formally calls for Baltimore's Confederate monuments to be destroyed.  (Brandon Scott, a black man)  (Loss)

As for myself, any politician in anyway involved with desecrating a Confederate statue or memorial would never get my vote, but their opponent sure would.

--Old secesh

22 Americans Who Deserve Monuments More Than Any Confederate General-- Part 3

16.  Newton Knight, Southern Unionist

17.  Juliette Gordon Low, Girl Scouts

18.  Madge Oberholtzer, anti-Klan

19.  J. Robert Oppenheimer, atom bomb

20.  Jesse Owens, Olympics

21.  Mark Twain

22.  Ida B. Wells, journalist, Civil Rights

Being deep into history, I like to see as many things marked as possible.  But I sure don't agree with the taking down of existing statues.

--Old Secesh

22 Americans Who Deserve Monuments More Than Any Confederate General-- Part 2

9.  Cornelius Charlton, Medal of Honor, Korean War

10.  Cesar Chavez

11.  John Glenn

12.  Shirley Chisholm, congresswoman

13.  Major General Gordon Grainger, Union general responsible for Juneteenth.

14.  Lyndon Johnson, Civil Rights

15.  Scott Joplin, ragtime music

--Old Secesh

22 Americans Who Deserve Monuments More Than Any Confederate General-- Part 1

From the November 9, 2017, Washington Post by Alyssa Rosenberg.

She is right in that they deserve monuments.  But, I wouldn't take down existing ones.  Not so sure about Jerry, though.

1.  immigrants

2.  Women Airforce Pilots

3.  Louis Armstrong

4.  Duke Ellington

5.  Ella Fitzgerald

6.  Clara Barton

7.  Jerry Brown, California governor

8.  Rachel Carson  "Silent Spring"

--Old Secesh

Civil War II-- 602: No More "Maryland, My Maryland" At Terps Games

From the August 30, 2017, Google Alerts for Confederate Navy.

**  UMD band nixes state song.  (Loss)  The University of Maryland has long played this song before every home football game.  But, "Maryland, My Maryland" is considered a Confederate song, so you know how that goes.

I imagine that from now on they will be playing and singing, "We're So Politically Correct."

"We're so politically correct, politically correct, we can't fly."

Well, what would you expect from a great Midwestern school like Maryland being in the Big 10, 11, 12, 13, 14?

So Sad.  --Old Secesh

What to Do With Confederate Monuments? Take a Look At the End of WW II

From the browbeat "How did we treat monuments to white supremacists when they weren't our white supremacists?" by Matthew Dessem.

White Southerners have strong ties ties to the past.

These monuments are historical in themselves because of how long they have stood.

Attempts to remove them are sparking the current round of violence.

This was written after the sad affair in Charlottesville, Virginia.

--Old Secesh

While We're Removing Statues-- Part 4: Even William Penn Was a Slave Owner

**  FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA--  Venezuelan hero who participated in the American Revolution.  Had a couple children with his housekeeper so there was a question of morals.

**  AFRICA--  The statue looks more like a white woman.

**  JOHN PAUL JONES--  Great American Revolution naval hero but he once killed a sailor and there was something about a 12-year-old girl.

**  WILLIAM PENN--  Owned 12 slaves.  (Then, of course, they will have to change the name of the state as well.)

See?  You can always find something wrong with a statue if you try.

Take 'Em All Down.  No One Must Be Offended.  --Old Secesh

While We're Removing Statues-- Part 3: Germans and Greeks

Statues which might need to be taken down around Philadelphia.

**  WOLFGANG VON GOETHE--  German writer but accused of selling German criminals and political dissidents to British Army during the American Revolution.

**  FRIEDRICH SCHILLER--  Friend of Goethe's.  Guilty by association.

**  ORESTES AND PHYLADES FOUNTAIN--  Greek mythology.  Orestes killed his mother and boyfriend because she had murdered his father and his cousin.  Phylades egged him on to do it.  Do they deserve a statue for that?

**  STEPHEN GIRARD--  Founded a segregated college.

--Old Secesh

While We're Removing Statues-- Part 2: Four Union Officers

Remember, if the person to whom the statue is dedicated has ever done anything to offend anybody, their statue must come down.

Some Civil War statues:

**  GEN. GEORGE McCLELLAN--  A major Union leader from Philadelphia, but not very successful on the battlefield.  Once called Lincoln "nothing more than a well-meaning baboon."

**  GEN. JOHN F. REYNOLDS--  Shot dead on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Only then did his wife tell her parents that she had married Reynolds, a Protestant.

**  ULYSSES S. GRANT--  Won the Civil War and elected president for two terms, but a heavy drinker.

**  GALUSHA PENNYPACKER--  When he was wounded at the Battle of Fort Fisher, his men beat to death the Confederate who shot him..  That wasn't his fault, so maybe his ten-foot statue should stay although it depicts him in virtually no clothes with some kind of ancient helmet and two lions.

It's a Union Thing.  --Old Secesh

While We're Removing Statues-- Part 1: Ones in Philadelphia That Must Come Down

From the October 26, 2017, Review, Philadelphia  "Of All Things:  Some statues that could be removed."  Jim Smart.

Since the country is in the process of removing all things Confederate, once that is completed it will be necessary  to look at all statues, everywhere.  Should anyone find offense, it will also have to come down.

Mr. Smart went through various statues around Philadelphia taking a facetious look at ones that would have to be removed because of a possible offense to somebody.  He gives the location as well.

**  ADAM AND EVE--  Adam has a hole in his side where the Creator removed a rib to create Eve.  Sexist

**  ALL WARS MEMORIAL TO COLORED SOLDIERS AND SAILORS--  Segregated.

**  TEEDUSCUNG--  Mid-18th century Indian leader who had a reputation for excessive drinking.

--Old Secesh

Civil War II-- 601: Do We Have New Nazis?

From the January 25, 2016, Vintage News.

**When the Nazis occupied France, they removed all metal monuments & statues so they could be melted down.

Hitler ordered Nazis to destroy any piece of art that didn't appeal to him.  He kept anything he liked.

**  During the 1930s, dozens of German towns took part in book burning, hoping to erase any history they didn't like.

Perhaps, we now have a new group of Nazis on the block, intent on erasing all things Confederate and they continually try to make Confederates out to be Nazis.

You Know, Those Confederate-Haters.  --Old Secesh

Desecrating Statues and Monuments Is a Hate Crime, Not Vandalism

It will be nice when the media stops referring to these horrible desecrations to monuments and statues memorializing American veterans as vandalism.

It is not vandalism.

It is nothing short of a hate crime.

Just imagine if someone did something like the left is doing to Confederate statuary to a Martin Luther  King Jr. statue?

What would the media call it.  You'd better believe it wouldn't be called vandalism.

Hate Crimes.  Not Vandalism.  --Old Secesh