From the August 19, 2020, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle.
I bet you're thinking that President Trump left the White House for one more campaign rally. But that is not the case because the December 19 in this instance is December 19, 1898, and the president is William McKinley.
DECEMBER 19, 1898
President William McKinley came to town and he brought his sense of humor with him. On a damp day in the week before Christmas, the republican drew one of the largest crowds ever on Broad Street.
During a lull in the activities, an ex-Confederate who was chatting with the president pointed with pride to a large marble memorial only a few yards away and said, "That represents what sort of soldier we were."
"Yes, and what you were," replied the president who was a Union Army sergeant at the Battle of Antietam, "for I see the soldier surmounting the column has a 'U.S.' on his cartridge box."
McKinley referred to the figure atop the memorial, according to an account in the Baltimore Sun, and told the old Confederate that things had really worked out for the best.
Then, he wasted little time introducing a local favorite, Gen. Joseph Wheeler. The Augusta native and once dashing Confederate cavalryman was now a hero of the Spanish-American conflict.
Earlier this month, an Augusta task force has recommended this memorial be removed to a cemetery. You know why.
Back Then, Not Now. --Old Secesh
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