The Woke Mob is coming for a monument and our national history at Arlington National Cemetery and this action should make Americans mad! For those who might be unaware of what is taking place, let me explain.
In 1900, Congress authorized Confederate remains, many of which were found in scattered locations around the northern Virginia area, to be reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery, which designated a special section for them (in what is now Section 16).
In 1914, a Memorial was erected having been commissioned by the Daughters of the Confederacy. However, to understand more fully why Confederate graves are at a former Union cemetery, and to interpret the memorial’s symbolism, it is necessary to delve more deeply into historical context.
The official description and history provided by Arlington National Cemetery tells us that: By the turn of the twentieth century, Arlington had become a truly national cemetery, a transformation that occurred amidst reconciliation between North and South, enduring racial inequality, and a new war. Reconstruction — the U.S. government’s efforts to reunify the nation and transform the South’s former slavery-based society — effectively ended in 1877. However, on December 14, 1898 — four days after the Spanish-American War ended — President William McKinley kicked off his “Peace Jubilee” nationwide tour with a speech in Atlanta in which he proclaimed, “in the spirit of fraternity we should share with you in the care of the graves of Confederate soldiers…. Sectional feeling no longer holds back the love we feel for each other. The old flag again waves over us in peace with new glories.”
Notably, this “spirit of fraternity” did not include African Americans. In 1871, a group of black soldiers had petitioned the War Department to relocate the graves of hundreds of United States Colored Troops (USCT) from the “Lower Cemetery,” where they were buried alongside former slaves and poor whites, to the main cemetery near Arlington House, where white Civil War veterans lay at rest. The War Department denied the petition. Arlington National Cemetery would remain segregated until 1948, when President Harry S. Truman desegregated the armed forces by executive order.
On June 6, 1900, Congress appropriated $2,500 for the removal and reinterment of Confederate remains. By 1902, 262 Confederate bodies were interred in a specially designated section, Section 16. Unlike the orderly rows in the rest of the cemetery, graves in the Confederate section were arranged in concentric rings. Their headstones also looked different: while having the same dimensions as regular government headstones, the Confederate headstones featured pointed tops. The cemetery added more Confederate graves over the years, eventually totaling more than 400.
On June 7, 1903, the first Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies were held in Arlington's Confederate section. President Theodore Roosevelt sent a floral arrangement, beginning a tradition continued by nearly every U.S. president. In 2009, President Barack Obama modified the tradition, sending two wreaths: one to the Confederate Memorial, the other to Washington, D.C.’s African American Civil War Memorial, in honor of U.S. Colored Troops.
So, we see that for well over 120 years, we as a nation allowed and participated in memorializing soldiers of the confederacy not as insurrectionists but as soldiers who did what their country asked them to do in the times that they found themselves. They were not political leaders, they were soldiers just doing their duty as the times called for. All died away from their homes, and their families and were buried in shallow graves on the battlefield on which they died. With the passage of time, we reconciled ourselves as a nation and we began to appreciate that a soldier’s sacrifice is a sacrifice no matter what the circumstances. This was best understood in the words of the 30th President, Calvin Coolidge, when in a speech given at Arlington, Section 16 in 1924. He said: The bitterness of conflict is passed. Time has softened it; discretion has changed it. Your country respects you for cherishing the memory of those who wore the gray. You respect others who cherish the memory of those who wore the blue. In that mutual respect may there be a firmer friendship, a stronger and more glorious Union. Coolidge went on to remind us that: A mightier force than ever followed Grant or Lee has leveled both their hosts, raised up a united Nation, and made us all partakers of a new glory. It is not for us to forget the past but to remember it, that we may profit by it. But it is gone; we cannot change it. We must put our emphasis on the present and put into effect the lessons the past has taught us. All about us sleep; those of many different beliefs and many divergent actions.
But America claims them all. Her flag floats over them all. Her Government protects them all. They all rest in the same divine peace.
And so, it was within the context of the times that a monument was erected in Section 16 that recognized the old south, the sacrifice of soldiers and on which were inscribed the words: "They have beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks." The Civil War was ended … the country had healed … and the sacrifice of the young men who had fought was put to sleep.
But, in 2020, a rogue cop killed George Floyd and the nation was once again on fire. To appease the mob, Congress decided that all references to Civil War Generals such as Lee, Benning and Hood, whose names were on some of most famous military posts, had to be erased. History cannot be allowed to stand. Street names were erased and even the historical Lee Barracks at the US Military Academy was changed. All this was done by an independent commission established by Congress on the renaming of military bases and assets that commemorate the Confederacy.
Now there is some disagreement as to whether the Confederate Memorial in Section 16 was considered part of the actions to be taken by this commission. However, in their final report: the commission is recommending that the Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery be dismantled and taken down.
That said, the recommendation to remove the monument … does not meet the criteria established under the National Historic Preservation Act, any federal agency that considers the removal—or provides funding, assistance, or approval for the removal—of historic properties would be subject to the applicable procedural considerations required by law for properties designated as national historic landmarks as reported by the Congressional Research Office in a 2020 report to Congress.
Soldiers who fought on both sides of the conflict have reconciled among themselves. Many were still alive in the 1900-1920’s when this monument was dedicated and yet … now, we want to disturb this peaceful and tranquil place because it offends Black Lives Matter?
It is American history and as a soldier and a veteran, I say “leave it alone.”
Let those who sleep beneath this memorial do so in peace. In the words of the 30th President of the United States: All about us sleep; those of many different beliefs and many divergent actions. But America claims them all. Her flag floats over them all. Her Government protects them all. They all rest in the same divine peace.
AMERICA CLAIMS THEM ALL … HER FLAG FLOATS OVER THEM ALL … THEY ALL REST IN DIVINE PEACE … LET IT BE SO
!