This has been a remarkable week. \u00a0We’ve seen a coordinated push to see the Confederate Battle flag, actually the battle flag for the Army of Northern Virginia, removed from state capital grounds in the south.<\/p>\n
This has, of course, stirred controversy among people who see this as an attack on southern heritage. \u00a0Nothing could be further from the truth, and for many reasons. \u00a0Let’s get into the History of the Battle Flag first.<\/p>\n
The flag was flown by all commanders of the Army of Northern Virginia. \u00a0Robert E. Lee being the most recognized of these commanders. \u00a0It was the flag used, because it was easily distinguishable from the Union Flag, unlike the actual confederate flag. \u00a0This was the flag that the confederate troops flew over the bloodiest of battles in the Civil War.<\/p>\n
After his defeat, Robert E. Lee wished to have nothing to do with symbols of division. \u00a0He ordered his troops to honorably surrender, and to forego any attempts at guerrilla warfare. Lee refused to participate in ceremonies commemorating the war, and never few the Battle Flag again. \u00a0He wished to repair the wounds that the nation had incurred, and though he was no saint, he understood that holding on to bitterness served no good. \u00a0The south did not fight a just war, against a tyrannical power, they had attempted to preserve their ability to keep slaves. \u00a0Even at his funeral, no confederate flags, battle flag or otherwise, flew.<\/p>\n
After the death of Robert E. Lee, many bitter confederate officers pushed the concept of a “lost cause” explanation for confederate defeat. \u00a0They pushed to keep wounds open, and founded the basis of years of bitterness. \u00a0These were not the actions supported by Robert E. Lee, though they used his standard and his name often.<\/p>\n
The Battle Flag, during the period of Reconstruction until the Civil Rights era, was not flown on State Capital grounds, it was popularly used, being a symbol of rebellion. \u00a0It was used by the KKK in recruitment attempts. \u00a0It wasn’t until the push for desegregation that the flag was adopted by bitter southern states. It was done purposely, to keep wounds open, and arrogantly, but this was not a symbol of long-standing southern pride.<\/p>\n
Now for my opinion:<\/p>\n
The south has much to be proud for, each state has given heavily of its people for the maintenance of the Union. \u00a0Our founding fathers hailed heavily from the south. \u00a0George Washington, Jefferson, etc. \u00a0Southern heritage, except period in the 1860’s, is that of dedication, pride, and honor in service of the United States. \u00a0States such as Texas find further pride in their actual flags.<\/p>\n
Nobody is saying that you can’t fly the Battle Flag on your own personal property, however if you do, remember that this is not a symbol of southern heritage, but of Southern Arrogance, gone out of control. \u00a0The true heritage of the south is of rich, diverse culture, a blemished past, and an insanely promising future. \u00a0The south is home to Nasa, The Texas Medical Center, and scores of industry. \u00a0This is our heritage, found under the US flag.<\/p>\n
There has been some argument about the flying of the gay pride flag being ok, but flying the Confederate Battle flag not being ok. \u00a0All I can say is that the Gay Pride flag is not being flown on state capital grounds. \u00a0The Gay Pride flag has only ever been used as symbol of the struggle a group of people have faced, in the face of unfair persecution and violence. \u00a0To be threatened, lynched, and even killed because you choose to love someone differently from the majority is a far cry from a flag that was flown over the bloodiest of wars.<\/p>\n
The fact is, one flag was used to divide, \u00a0the other is used a symbol of love. \u00a0To compare the two is a disservice to all.<\/p>\n
Sources:<\/p>\n
Davis, George W, Leslie J Perry and Joseph W Kirkley, The War of the Rebellion A compilation\u00a0of the Official Records.<\/span> Google Books Edition. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1897.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dowdey, Clifford and Louis H Manarin, The Wartime Papers of Robert E. Lee. <\/span>New York: DaCapo Press, Inc, 1987.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lee, Robert E. The Recollections and letters of Robert E. Lee<\/span>. Ed. Captain Robert E. Lee. Old\u00a0Saybrook: Konecky & Konecky, 1909.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This has been a remarkable week. \u00a0We’ve seen a coordinated push to see the Confederate Battle flag, actually the battle flag for the Army of Northern Virginia, removed from state capital grounds in the south. This has, of course, stirred controversy among people who see this as an attack on southern heritage. \u00a0Nothing could be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-tidbits"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25aXt-8m","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":519,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theplatypuses.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}