Neo-Confederates and "Southern Heritage"

One of the worst effects of the increasingly poisonous propaganda of the neo-Confederate groups is that it threatens to delegitimize some kinds of genuine interest in Civil War history.

One of the most moving historical ceremonies I ever attended was the July 4 celebration in Vicksburg, MS, in 1988. That was the 125th anniversary of the day when the Union armies won major battles at both Vickburg and Gettysburg, PA. It was the most decisive military turning point of the war.

It was not many years before that the City of Vickburg had refused to formally celebrate Independence Day. Because that was the day of its defeat by the hated Yankee armies. By 1988, though, I believe Vickburg already had an African-American mayor who encouraged historical commemoration events. And that year there was a series of re-enactor events held to celebrate the Fourth.

I got up early and drove over to see a group of "re-enactors" repeat the military surrender of the Confederate troops to General Grant's Army, ending the month-long seige of the city. The climax of the day's events was when General Grant came marching up to the Vicksburg City Hall and lowered the Confederate flag and raised the American flag. (That would be the official Confederate governmental flag, not the battle flag that we know today as the "Confederate flag".)

As the federal "troops" marched up the street, some of the crowd cheered and others booed and called out, "God save the South!" and things like that. Probably about like the original event 125 years earlier. But when the Confederate flag came down and the US flag went up, the entire crowd clapped and cheered for a long time.

I'm not much for corny sentimentalism about national symbols. But that day, I really could both picture and feel how the American flag represented freedom and the nation and the end of slavery in those days.

I'd hate to see that kind of event get tainted with the brush of the neo-Confederate "heritage" advocates, who really don't care about history or what America means. That's why many re-enactor groups have stopped using the Confederate battle flag in their events, even at the cost of sacrificing some of the historical accuracy they strive to achieve.

Tags: neo-confederates, vicksburg