Confederate Circle Rededication
Read the Montgomery Advertiser article by Alvin Benn
“reporting” or commenting on the Confederate Circle rededication in Selma held
on Saturday May 23rd and wanted to post a comment regarding the
article and rebuffing some other posted comments. Mike Williams (Montgomery Semple Camp) posted
some nice succinct rebuttals but mine just grew too lengthy so I decided
instead to post them as my column for June.
There were numerous inaccuracies and omissions in the
article. If I had to estimate the number
of attendees, it was closer to 400 than the 200 “proud Confederate descendants”
Benn could or wanted to count. Instead of paying tribute to the heroism of the
160 Confederate veterans interred there, the article only accounted for “more
than 100” and incorrectly maintained that General Forrest himself was laid to
rest there. The article didn’t do
justice to the extent of the work performed and still planned for the cemetery
including the stonework, informational kiosks and enhanced access with
handicapped provisions. The featured
speakers at the Rededication did a fine job of highlighting the heroism of the
Confederate veterans interred at Old Live Oak Cemetery there including many
defenders of Selma. The article failed
to mention these heroes and the importance of Selma to the Confederacy and the
significance of the Battle of Selma as one of the last of the War for Southern
Independence.
The article rightly described Forrest as a “great
military tactician” but sought to tie him to the KKK by citing unnamed
historians. Benn threw out the requisite
bone to the radical “black activists” equating “Forrest to Hitler and said
honors bestowed on the general by Southern whites were far from
justified”. Forrest and Hitler? Really?
What parallels could possibly being made in comparing those two figures
excepting inflammatory non-sensical rhetoric.
He apparently didn’t bother to listen to Bill Rambo’s speech on
Forrest. No recognition of the credence
military institutes bestow on Forrest’s timeless tactical and leadership
genius. Didn’t care to mention the
desecration and anarchy the militant fringe “activists” employed attempting to
disparage the memory and honor due Forrest and the veterans there at Live Oak as
rightful historical patriots and defenders of Selma. Didn’t care to question the hooligan's motives
creating racial tension and negatively impacting the promotion of the
historical significance of the cemetery and of Selma in this Sesquicentennial
period.
A couple commenters deemed the article the appropriate
venue to show their ignorance of the historical record and jump on their
soapbox to decry the “evil racist Southern plantation owners” as representative
of the whole of the Confederacy and the Cause for which the Confederate
veterans fought and died. The South
fought to defend their homes and families from the beginning of the war at the
First Battle of Manassas when Union troops invaded Virginia under Brig. Gen
McDowell til the end when Lee surrendered his Army of Virginia defending
Petersburg and Richmond. The North
fought to “Preserve the Union” (as emblazoned for example on the entry arch to
the National Military Cemetery in Marietta GA and countless other references).
Why would they want to force the Southern states back into the Union
with their repulsive baggage of slavery?
Money. Wars are fought for
money. Wars are fought for territories
including their resources and whole economies which equates to money. Wars simply are not fought for magnanimous
ideals but for conquests from the beginning of recorded history to modern
times. Even the Great Crusades could be viewed as having a goal of converting
territories (and trade routes) from pagan and Muslim to Christian western
control. In the Pacific theatre during World War II, the Allies fought the Japanese forces seeking to establish a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Cold War and associated
conflicts were fought to preserve capitalism and democracy over communism and
the opposing economic systems, preserving associated trading partners and
economic zones. Recent Mideast conflicts
were fought to preserve or create friendly governments to largely ensure
continued economic trading in that volatile region, most specifically of oil.
The North wanted the tax revenue from the South which
they depended on to fund their industrial and infrastructure projects in the
New England states. Lincoln wished to
continue the Federal imperialistic expansionism to grow the United States from
sea to shining sea. This expansionism
and imperialism was continued after the war in the extermination of the Indian
nations of the west and railroad construction westward. Besides losing his
income to the national treasury with the secession of the Southern states,
Lincoln could not afford to have a formidable competing country on the same
continent with a capital a mere 100 miles from Washington DC, one competing for
the same continental resources and westward territory and international trading
partners. The fall of Selma was but one
but an important step in the quickening demise of the Confederate forces and
the fall of the Confederacy and the resultant unfettered expansionism of the
Union and the Federal control and domination of the states and the citizenry.
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