COURTHOUSE STATUE
In our little town is a statue of a Civil War soldier on the front lawn of the old county courthouse. The statue was created to honor hometown Confederates who fought and died in that awful conflict. This is Kentucky. 2/5ths of men from this state who fought in the Civil War fought for the Confederacy. In this county, not far away, is Camp Nelson, which was a Union encampment and which had a “massive recruitment and training center for African American soldiers” during the Civil War. All the men who fought from this county were both Kentucky and American citizens, since Kentucky, in 1861, officially remained neutral. Some died; all suffered. Those who returned home alive were changed, saddened, broken, and horrified. They needed to know their kin and their town still cared about them. They needed to know their hometown comrades were remembered as honorable by the community.
Our statue shows a Confederate soldier, readying himself for the coming battle in which he will fall. If you look at his face you can see that he had seen too many horrors. What is different is that this statue was something else before it was a Confederate soldier. In fact, THIS very statue hides a statue of a Union soldier. It had been ordered and cast in Louisville as a Union soldier, but had not been paid for. Thus, the Confederate remembrance organization which raised money for the Confederate soldier statue here was able to afford the memorial after the resulting discount. According to Wikipedia, the Yankee was “galvanized” into a Confederate soldier. Yet further research suggests that nothing much changed except his belt and pack. That curious bit of history means it represents ALL who went to war (both sides). You cannot honor some without honoring ALL in this area.
Sadly, there are some who think the statue is a dishonor and must be removed from the main square and set up where some Confederate soldiers were interred. I don’t think you can exchange some random Tennessee dead for hometown dead, can you? The Confederates interred here were not local kin.
I think our ancestors were far smarter in this case. After the War, the North did not punish the South, even though it did make a few errors (like the Black Codes). However, overall the Union worked to reconstruct the South and re-unify those peoples with itself, as well as help freed slaves to join society. Those were huge tasks. They rebuilt the rails and industry. They created opportunities and established markets for their products. It was far from a perfect solution. We know that some things were hurtful. Further, some in the South carried their resentments to the extremes. Nevertheless, there was a realization that THEY (who had a differing opinion) were our brothers. They were Americans, too. And in THIS county, in which our family now lives, they were neighbors, fellow church members, and relatives. In THIS place, as elsewhere in this state, there was a serious attempt to reconcile, to comfort, and honor those who fought.
The pain of the conflict, the wrongness, the strong emotions … these all made living peacefully in the same community uneasy. Jobs were needed. Families needed connection because, after all, “my children have to play with your children.”
Yes, the Confederacy was wrong and they lost. There are horrific battlefields not far away to remind us of the human cost, like Perryville where there were over 5,800 dead, wounded, or lost. Some of the wounded from that battle were carted to a Confederate “hospital” in this town. Those who died here were buried here, but they were not FROM here.
In 2014 “The Kaintuckeean” reported that the statue was dedicated on the courthouse lawn on June 15, 1896. Confederate Col. Young spoke: “We come in tenderness and devotion and affection to mark, beautify, and bless the soil that garners their dust, and to declare by the monument, which we trust will remain forever, that…our departed comrades shall be as deathless.” This man was from the area. Perhaps he had led soldiers and saw them dead and wounded on the battlefield. So, when he visited the local cemetery and saw that the wooden headstones of those soldiers were decaying, he spent his own money and ordered new ones replace them. He truly honored those men by his acts as well as his words. The statue was to honor the memory of those who DIED.
I emphasize that because one local pastor this year helped to petition the county to remove it to a cemetery. In his argument he said in part “…because we do not need in our face any reminders that African Americans were mistreated…” My wife and I are newcomers and have “no dog in this fight.“ However, I did notice that the man who said these words also was not born here. I hate to mention that in the distant county where he was born there is similarly a Confederate memorial on land where their courthouse once stood; it was erected in 1913 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor Confederate VETERANS. It still stands.
Bias is a creature which taints what we see. “Asians are good at math.” Is every Asian good at math? “Fords are lemons.” Is every Ford a lemon, or just the one you owned? “Confederate memorials are evil.” Hmmm! Maybe some are and some aren’t?
It is easy to be offended. In this case it appears the “offense” is not based on THIS statue, but in a generalized view of the past. Those seeking the removal of the statue may not know the full local history. They seem to equate a memorial to local dead with the offense of slavery. I do not see how they connect in that way in THIS case.
It is more difficult to seek understanding and peace than to bring retribution and discord. Yet the former can bring a much greater result than the latter. I grant that history has not been as kind to those who descended from American slavery compared to those who did not. Yet, much more progress has occurred than anyone could have imagined in 1865, or even 1944 (the halfway point from then to now). A proper movement forward should already have in mind what progress is desired in the NEXT 79 years. Can we get there? Not by removing statues, I would think. I would imagine that a reminder of past harms would be helpful to the ultimate goal. The end point should be actual and total equality of opportunity and mutual respect…like we have achieved North to South since the Civil War.
It would be EASY to merely acquiesce to the call to move the statue. That has happened many places in America. However, I’m wondering if this time there should be more studied thought. This is not just another generic monument. In just a few minutes online I found evidence that there is something different here. Just a few miles away is an entire national park memorializing the Union dead. This statue is both a Union soldier AND a Confederate soldier. One of the main speakers to dedicate this statue not only declared his desire to honor the local dead, but spent his own money to honor sons from another state in the local cemetery. This county served both sides. Could it be that we should still honor the ALL from this community who died in that conflict? I’m thinking, “Yes.”
Copyright 2023 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms, as I do, and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere. ~ Sherry]
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