Civil War Memory

Stonewall Jackson Continues to Educate in Alabama

How many of you have ever heard of the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Fund of Alabama?  The 3-member panel created by Alabama lawmakers in 1955 and headed by state archives officials offers $1,000 scholarships to college-bound students for essays on the Confederate general.  Apparently they have awarded 53 interest-free scholarships since 1989.  What kind of essay are we talking about here?

There is hereby created and established the Alabama Stonewall Jackson Memorial Fund, which fund is to be composed of the money hereinafter appropriated in this chapter, together with any accruals from the income from the fund or repayments thereto.  The purpose of this fund is to memorialize that great American and Confederate general, "Stonewall" Jackson, through a program of education initiated by Stonewall Jackson Memorial, Incorporated, including both essay contests and scholarships. The benefits of this fund shall accrue only to Alabamians.

Mississippi also enacted a similar program before it was "abolished" in 1990:

(1) There is hereby created the Mississippi Stonewall Jackson Memorial Board, which shall have as its purpose the memorializing of that great American and Confederate General, Stonewall Jackson, through a program of education initiated by Stonewall Jackson Memorial, Inc. The Mississippi Stonewall Jackson Memorial Board shall be governed by a board of trustees, who shall serve without compensation. The board of trustees shall be composed of three (3) members, the Mississippi State Superintendent of Public Education, the Director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the President of Stonewall Jackson Memorial, Inc. The board of trustees shall be vested with the power to administer this section in its entirety and to establish the Mississippi Stonewall Jackson Memorial Fund.
(2) From and after March 13, 1990, the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Board shall be abolished by operation of law, and any monies appropriated or donated to or deposited in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Fund shall be received, invested and administered by the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History as it deems advisable in line with sound business procedure. The Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History may spend the interest derived from the Mississippi Stonewall Jackson Memorial Fund to support the programs and activities of the Junior Historical Society of Mississippi and thereby promote the study of Mississippi history. No part of the principal of such fund shall be disbursed for any purpose, and all grants to the Junior Historical Society shall be taken from the interest derived from investments only.

It's pretty clear as to the types of articles that must be written to qualify for a Jackson loan.  There seems to be little room for any kind of critical analysis of some aspect of Jackson's life.  I would love to know how many black students have chosen to submit essays on this topic.  So, why is this in the news?  Well, you guessed it, some lawmakers in Alabama want to end the program.  The arguments both for ending and continuing the program are pretty straightforward and follow the arguments related to just about every controversy related to our public memory of the Civil War. 

What I find interesting, and which is not referenced at all, is the fact that Alabama's program was started in 1955.  The landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education had been decided just months earlier.  To what extent was this carried out in response to a perceived threat to a central pillar of southern life by the federal government? 

There would be no issue if this were a private endowment, but this program is state funded and lawmakers have the right and responsibility to challenge appropriations.  As for my own view of this issue it seems to be much to do about nothing.  I lived and taught in Alabama for two years so I am well aware of the state of public education there.  If it takes a goofy 1,500-word essay to earn a $1,000 scholarship for college than so be it.  Black students can write about what Jackson teaches us about being a friendly slaveowner.

Just Leave Her Index Finger Be

From the Rants and Raves section of the Montgomery Advertiser: "For the dolts who continue vandalizing the Emma Sansom Monument in Gadsden by removing fingers on the 1907 statute. Emma Sansom was the young girl who pointed out a safe creek crossing for troops led by Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest during the Civil War. This important bit of Alabama history deserves more respect."

According to the Gadsten Times this is the fifth time that Sansom's index finger has had to be replaced.

I wonder if this mischief is the work of the same group of white teenagers who painted the faces of the soldiers on the Confederate monument in Montgomery black. 

Update on SCV's Plans to Erect Monument to Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber

I had a feeling the Sons of Confederate Veterans would try something like this when I blogged about Jefferson Davis and Jim Limber a few weeks ago.  We all remember back in 2003 when the SCV put up a big stink about the unveiling of a statue commemorating Abraham Lincoln and his son Tad's visit to Richmond in April 1865.  Turns out that the monument is being planned for the grounds of the American Civil War Center (ACWC) and Richmond National Battlefield Park at Tredegar.  No surprise that Brad Bowling is behind this project.

Historian Pleads Guilty to Stealing Lincoln and Washington Letters

Historian Edward Renehan admitted to stealing a March 1, 1840, letter written by Lincoln and two by Washington, one written on Aug. 9, 1791 and one written and signed on Dec. 29, 1778.  Renehan later sold them to a New York gallery for $97,000, according the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan.  He is the author of a number of books, the most recent being Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.  The Newsday snippet included a short reference to Renehan's bipolar disorder which was undiagnosed during 2005 and 2006 at the time of the thefts. I want to quote Renehan's own thoughts on this very serious mental disorder:

I was diagnosed as "type 2" bipolar (aka, manic depressive) in 2007. This is a progressive biochemical disorder from which I've evidently suffered for a very long time, perhaps even since adolescence, and which had reached a grave critical mass in recent years. I am currently under treatment, on meds that my doctor and I are fine-tuning, and I am slowly learning how to cope more efficiently and constructively than I have in the past. (In the meantime, I continue to pick up the shattered pieces from one of my last great, extended hypo-manias.) I only mention the bipolar issue because I approve of the movement of sufferers who are "outing" themselves, discussing the disorder, and thus working to remove the stigma that surrounds it.

Information about bipolar disorder can be found here.  This crime comes with a maximum 10-year prison sentence, but I do hope that given the circumstances the court will be lenient.

Jefferson Davis, Jim Limber, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans

It looks like 200th anniversary of Jefferson Davis's birth is passing us by with very little interest.  This is no surprise given our tendency to concentrate on military leaders and ignore the broader political/racial issues that defined the Civil War.  Spend too much time on Davis and you raise the problem of slavery and race.  I recently came across a very brief reference to a plan on the part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to erect a statue in memory of Davis and his adopted free black son, Jim Limber.  Limber's story is very interesting from what little we know of it.  William J. Cooper makes no reference of the boy in his excellent biography of Davis.  I did locate a short article about Limber by Peggy Robbins which was published in Civil War Times Illustrated (Vol. 17) back in 1978.

No Confederate Plates in Florida

Actually, the situation is much worse:

Finally, before they hit the road, lawmakers passed only two transportation proposals. The first will outlaw motorcyclists from popping wheelies and increases penalties for all motorists caught driving more than 50 miles per hour above the speed limit. The second bans the introduction of new specialty license plates which nixes proposals for a new Christian "I Believe" specialty license plate and a "Confederate Heritage" specialty license plate.

So, in addition to not being able to express their Confederate heritage Floridians are also being barred from expressing their Christian faith.  It's not all bad news however.  A bill allowing the police to ticket vehicles with replica bull testicles hanging from the rear did not make it through. 

Nice to know some things are still sacred in this country.

"We Do This To Educate The People"

I can't report on all of the wonderful public ceremonies during Confederate Heritage and History Month, but this one seems to capture the spirit behind the commemorations.  On Friday a small group of local SCV and UDC memories took part in a 21-gun salute in front of the Nathan Bedford Forrest monument in downtown Hattiesburg, Mississippi:

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy attended.   A half-dozen men dressed in period costumes and about four men rode in on Harleys, wearing leather jackets that read "Mechanized Cavalry."   "We're not re-enactors. We ride bikes," said Jerry Cooley, 58.   The Mechanized Calvary has about 10 members in South Mississippi and about 1,000 nationally, all of them members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

And the purpose of it all?:

"We do this to educate the people," Cooley said.   "We know what our ancestors fought for. Our ancestors did not fight over slavery. Both sides had slaves. The Union had slaves. Slavery was wrong," he said.

Here's to Education!

Florida's Confederate Plates Bill Dead in the Water

[Hat-Tip to John Maas]

It looks like Representative Don Brown's bill to offer Confederate plates to Florida's residents is going nowhere.  Here is what Brown had to say:

It is not about racism, it’s not about slavery, it is about an acknowledgement that many of these people’s families have documented that they had friends and family or family who lost their lives fighting for a cause they believed in.

Fair enough, but why not honor your Confederate heritage  in a way that does not involve defacing a sacred symbol?

Update on Confederate Monument Defacing in Montgomery

This is an update on the three white teens who were arrested for defacing a Confederate statue in Montgomery, Alabama back in November 2007.  The teens painted "N.T. 11 11 31" in black paint on the monument's base, an apparent reference to the date rebellious slave Nat Turner was hanged in 1831.  According to Attorney Richard Keith:

They learned this stuff in school.  Folks are wondering what was going on, what the message was and it was a statement against slavery.  They should have used pens and paper instead of cans of spray paint, but otherwise they weren't making antagonistic gestures.  I don't think anyone condones slavery, at least not these days anyway.

Read the story here.

Congratulations to Chandra Manning

Chandra Manning's What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War has won the Organization of American Historian's Avery O. Craven Award.  The book is now out in paperback.