This archive is useful for one’s understanding of what a soldiers’ home was and its significance to post-Civil War Southern ideology. Unlike other entries in the larger monument-map, this memorial housed Confederate veterans and thereby provided them with a grounding for their Lost Cause narrative. Emphasis on Alabama's natural resources within its construction directly anchored stakeholders’ identities to the soldiers' home complex itself. That process continued through the memorial park and its neo-Confederate ideology. Hence, this archive re-emphasized said “living monument” as a significant type within the larger discourse about Confederate monuments in public and U.S. history.
]]>This archive contextualized how the Confederate Soldiers’ Home and Memorial Park at Mountain Creek, Alabama historically and contemporarily forwarded the Lost Cause narrative. However, the memorial as having been a soldiers’ home made its history a difficult one in how Confederate veterans housed there were simultaneously “indigent” and deliberate collaborators throughout said narrative's development. Accordingly, each artifact disclosed the various individual and institutional agents which comprised this memorial’s stakeholders, and how their interests became conjoined with the veterans’ in their Lost Cause memorialization. As this memorial provided those stakeholders with a milieu necessary for such action, ideas which have been transmitted across generations of Alabamians, it affirmed historian Randall B. Rosenberg’s notion of soldiers’ homes as “living monuments” still alive long after their last inmates died [1]. Just as this memorial outlived the veterans it once housed, so did their Lost Cause narrative survive into our contemporary period of history.
This archive is useful for one’s understanding of what a soldiers’ home was and its significance to post-Civil War Southern ideology. Unlike other entries in the larger monument-map, this memorial housed Confederate veterans and thereby provided them with a grounding for their Lost Cause narrative. Emphasis on Alabama's natural resources within its construction directly anchored stakeholders’ identities to the soldiers' home complex itself. That process continued through the memorial park and its neo-Confederate ideology. Hence, this archive re-emphasized said “living monument” as a significant type within the larger discourse about Confederate monuments in public and U.S. history.
References
The monument was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans and faced immediate challenge in 1931. The immediate reaction was a plaque created by NAACP, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, condemning the false notion of Shepherd as a “faithful slave” just one year later. The plaque was immediately removed until 2006, which was placed at the Fort's original location. The claim of loyal and faithful slaves led to continued controversies over the monument throughout the years. In 1955 another plaque was created by the National Park Service that recorded the history of the monument as being reflective of the Lost Cause. In the 1970s, the National Park Service removed the monument for protection due to supposed construction with surrounding buildings and remained due to threats of defacement. In 1995, the plaque was on display for the public again, while in 1994 a newer plaque was created and placed next to the monument with an interpretive text, depicting the controversial history of the monument of Heyward Shepherd. Once again the plaque incited the values of the Lost Cause.
]]>The Heyward Shepherd Monument, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Monument commemorates Heyward Shepherd, a free African American who worked as a baggage handler for Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. During abolitionist John Brown’s attempted slave revolt which set out to take over the Harpers Ferry Virginia United States arsenal, Heyward Shepherd was the first man killed by one of Brown’s men. The raid itself was swiftly put down by a United States Marines company. The monument was planned and intended to be a Faithful Slave Monument to claim the loyalty of slaves towards the Confederacy. Even though Shepherd was free, his death was used as rationale for perpetuating the Lost Cause narrative of the Faithful Slave. According to the doctor that attempted to treat his wounds, claimed Shepherd was looking for a missing watchman on a railroad bridge when approached by men who told him to halt. Shepherd ignored their orders, turning his back to walk away, and was shot from behind. It is not known whether Shepherd was even opposed to John Brown’s actions, however his narrative was distorted by the UDC who used Shepherd to promote their own cause. Today Heyward Shepherd’s monument remains standing as a granite boulder with an inscription near descriptive plaques.
The monument was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans and faced immediate challenge in 1931. The immediate reaction was a plaque created by NAACP, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, condemning the false notion of Shepherd as a “faithful slave” just one year later. The plaque was immediately removed until 2006, which was placed at the Fort's original location. The claim of loyal and faithful slaves led to continued controversies over the monument throughout the years. In 1955 another plaque was created by the National Park Service that recorded the history of the monument as being reflective of the Lost Cause. In the 1970s, the National Park Service removed the monument for protection due to supposed construction with surrounding buildings and remained due to threats of defacement. In 1995, the plaque was on display for the public again, while in 1994 a newer plaque was created and placed next to the monument with an interpretive text, depicting the controversial history of the monument of Heyward Shepherd. Once again the plaque incited the values of the Lost Cause.
Ochiai, Akiko. "Continuing Skirmishes in Harpers Ferry: Entangled Memories of Heyward Shepherd and John Brown.” Japanese Journal of American Studies, No. 23 (2012): 7-26.
The Confederate Solders’ Monument on the grounds of the Caldwell County courthouse in Princeton, Kentucky, is a small-town monument commemorating the average soldier, one of many like it throughout the south. Confederate statues for the everyman soldier were so common that they were eventually mass-produced, though this monument was sourced to a local architect. The monument was funded by the local Tom Johnson chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy organization, the chapter fundraised for “several years’ time” bringing in a grand total of $10,000 (about $270,00 today).[1] Though “Ladies’ Memorial Associations throughout the South took charge” of raising funds to commemorate the Confederate dead,[2] it was Southern men who gave speeches at the dedications of these memorials. Former Confederate officer and future national president of the United Confederate Veterans Gen. Bennett H. Young was brought in to deliver the address at the memorial's dedication. While General Young’s speech was lost to history, one can surmise that his speech echoed the sentiments he expressed in his other, better-known speeches, where he was instrumental in painting the Confederate cause as a just battle for freedom rather than a war to protect the institution of slavery.[3] James Young in his work The Stages of Memory, analyzes this type of monument, arguing that traditional monuments boldly convey messages in an attempt to craft a unifying historical narrative, as does this monument in Princeton in declaring that “Our heroes’ deeds and hard-won fame will live”.[4] Still more, by making the monument a tribute to the common Confederate soldier, a statement is made about the “normative white soldier and citizen”, ingraining Lost Cause ideology into the background of everyday life.[5]
In 2020 there were calls for this monument to be removed but county magistrate Jeff Sims reiterated that the removal of the statue without the approval of the owners which happens to be the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission is illegal.
Bardes observed during New Orleans' Lee monument removal process in May 2017, "few took note of the stately brick building behind the warring throngs of protests and counter-protestors: Confederate Memorial Hall, home to the world's second-largest collection of Confederate artifacts." [3] This is intentional by the museum following the approach of Thomas Nelson Page who pushed for Southerners to take hold of the narrative around the Civil War to portray the South in a positive light and to maintain pre-Civil War racial hierarchies.[4] As noted by Bardes, the museum exhibits numerous pieces of Civil War memorabilia with descriptions that use language to evoke emotional nostalgic responses while giving little historical context. Among the exhibits, no mention is made of secession or the reasoning behind it. Slavery is only mentioned in passing, noting that some free black people owned slaves and noted the recruitment of slaves into the Union Army by General Benjamin Butler who is portrayed as deeply racist. These divisive areas are either whitewashed to depict a noble respectable South while ignoring the immeasurable suffering perpetrated under slavery and the plight of African Americans after the Civil War and today. The museum's mission statement obscures its role as a site that maintains the fictitious Lost Cause narrative in the service of white supremacy.
Placing this museum in the context of this archive identifies its role in the perpetuation of the Lost Cause and expands notions around what constitutes a monument. While much attention has been paid to public open-air monuments to Confederate figures, significantly less public attention has been paid to museums and heritage sites. The museum falls into the same niche as the more traditional monuments but uses a different visual language and takes a different shape.[5] In examining this entry, the viewer can better understand the approaches used to manipulate the public into believing false historical narratives and provide resources in the form of endnotes to further explore the topic.
]]>Although not a monument, the Confederate Memorial Hall Museum supports similar narratives to more traditional monuments and arises from similar circumstances. Constructed in 1890 and opened in 1891, the museum is home to the second-largest collection of Confederate artifacts and memorabilia. [1] The collection includes uniforms, flags, weapons, and other personal artifacts donated by Confederate veterans and important figures. The Confederate Memorial Hall Museum was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 11, 1975. [2] The mission statement of the museum is to collect, preserve, and exhibit Civil War memorabilia in a "non ideological" manner. What this statement hides is that the museum is highly ideological and supports the narrative of the Lost Cause which conjures an erroneous image of the South during and after the Civil War in which the South is not responsible for the evils of slavery and secession was a necessary action done in a manner similar to the American Revolution rather than an attempt to ensure the continuation of slavery as an institution. Historian John Bardes has written astutely about how the museum covertly pursues its goals in the manner it creates its exhibits.
Bardes observed during New Orleans' Lee monument removal process in May 2017, "few took note of the stately brick building behind the warring throngs of protests and counter-protestors: Confederate Memorial Hall, home to the world's second-largest collection of Confederate artifacts." [3] This is intentional by the museum following the approach of Thomas Nelson Page who pushed for Southerners to take hold of the narrative around the Civil War to portray the South in a positive light and to maintain pre-Civil War racial hierarchies.[4] As noted by Bardes, the museum exhibits numerous pieces of Civil War memorabilia with descriptions that use language to evoke emotional nostalgic responses while giving little historical context. Among the exhibits, no mention is made of secession or the reasoning behind it. Slavery is only mentioned in passing, noting that some free black people owned slaves and noted the recruitment of slaves into the Union Army by General Benjamin Butler who is portrayed as deeply racist. These divisive areas are either whitewashed to depict a noble respectable South while ignoring the immeasurable suffering perpetrated under slavery and the plight of African Americans after the Civil War and today. The museum's mission statement obscures its role as a site that maintains the fictitious Lost Cause narrative in the service of white supremacy.
Placing this museum in the context of this archive identifies its role in the perpetuation of the Lost Cause and expands notions around what constitutes a monument. While much attention has been paid to public open-air monuments to Confederate figures, significantly less public attention has been paid to museums and heritage sites. The museum falls into the same niche as the more traditional monuments but uses a different visual language and takes a different shape.[5] In examining this entry, the viewer can better understand the approaches used to manipulate the public into believing false historical narratives and provide resources in the form of endnotes to further explore the topic.
Scott, Mike. "The history stored in Memorial Hall is controversial, but the building has a story of its own". The Times-Picaynue. Accessed November 18, 2021. https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/home_garden/article_c65c1ede-0714-11eb-bf85-a737637cd1f1.html
"Confederate Memorial Hall," National Park Service, accessed November 18, 2021.
Page, Thomas Nelson. The Negro. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904. 111-113.
Young, James E. The Stages of Memory: Reflections on Memorial Art, Loss, and the Spaces Between. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2016. 136-139.
Prior to becoming Vice President of the C.S.A., Stephens served in the U.S. House of Representatives for twenty-five years, as well as the Governor of Georgia for four months before his death in 1883. He and President Jefferson Davis had their differences on many points, such as the need to secede from the Union and the issues regarded as states’ rights violations. As vice president he did his best to keep some measure of peace between the Confederacy and the United States. On March 31st, 1861, he delivered the infamous Cornerstone Speech in which he defended slavery as the ‘natural condition’ of the black race, and highlighted that black inferiority to whites was foundational to the formation of the Confederacy. His statue is one of six Confederate leaders remaining in the National Statuary Hall, while two have been removed to other locations.
In 2017, descendants of Stephens wrote to then-Governor Nathan Deal requesting the removal of his statue based on the rhetoric included in the Cornerstone speech. Three years later, on June 17th, 2020, partly in response to the protests for racial justice in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the Georgia Assembly filed resolution H.R. 1551, calling to replace the Stephens sculpture with one honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Though it was filed too late to have a chance of passing before the end of the year, the hopes of its sponsors was to get the wheels turning in early 2021. A few months later in February of 2021, plans moved ahead in the Assembly to replace Stephens’ statue with one honoring the late Georgia representative and civil rights leader John Lewis. This proposal enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the state including Governor Brian Kemp, the lieutentant governor and speaker of the house.
On June 29th, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on H.R. 3005, a bill calling for the removal of Confederate statuary from the Capitol complex, passing the House with bipartisan support, 285-120. However, the bill was not considered in the U.S. Senate despite efforts by representatives reaching out to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer to have it expedited. Nevertheless, continued efforts to remove the Confederate statues continued in 2023, spearheaded by the Democrat members of Congress. On February 28th, 2023, California Congresswoman Barbare Lee, Mississippi Congressman Bernie Thompson, and New Jersey Senator Corey Booker reintroduced a similar measure calling for the removal of Confederate monuments in the Capitol Complex. The bicameral bill The Confederate Monument Removal Act seeks to: "To remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol." If passed, the bill will remove Confederate statues in the first 120 days of the approval of the bill to their States of origin, while those statues that are not claimed by a State will fall under the care of the Architect of the Capitol, which will store the statues in a non-public location. The bill has not yet been voted on.
This marble statue depicts Alexander Hamilton Stephens (1812-1883), the former Vice President of the Confederate States of America. Located in the National Statuary Hall within the Congress Building in Washington, D.C., it was carved by artist Gutzon Borglum and gifted to Congress by the state of Georgia in 1927.
Prior to becoming Vice President of the C.S.A., Stephens served in the U.S. House of Representatives for twenty-five years, as well as the Governor of Georgia for four months before his death in 1883. He and President Jefferson Davis had their differences on many points, such as the need to secede from the Union and the issues regarded as states’ rights violations. As vice president he did his best to keep some measure of peace between the Confederacy and the United States. On March 31st, 1861, he delivered the infamous Cornerstone Speech in which he defended slavery as the ‘natural condition’ of the black race, and highlighted that black inferiority to whites was foundational to the formation of the Confederacy. His statue is one of six Confederate leaders remaining in the National Statuary Hall, while two have been removed to other locations.
In 2017, descendants of Stephens wrote to then-Governor Nathan Deal requesting the removal of his statue based on the rhetoric included in the Cornerstone speech. Three years later, on June 17th, 2020, partly in response to the protests for racial justice in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the Georgia Assembly filed resolution H.R. 1551, calling to replace the Stephens sculpture with one honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Though it was filed too late to have a chance of passing before the end of the year, the hopes of its sponsors was to get the wheels turning in early 2021. A few months later in February of 2021, plans moved ahead in the Assembly to replace Stephens’ statue with one honoring the late Georgia representative and civil rights leader John Lewis. This proposal enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the state including Governor Brian Kemp, the lieutentant governor and speaker of the house.
On June 29th, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on H.R. 3005, a bill calling for the removal of Confederate statuary from the Capitol complex, passing the House with bipartisan support, 285-120. However, the bill was not considered in the U.S. Senate despite efforts by representatives reaching out to Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer to have it expedited. Nevertheless, continued efforts to remove the Confederate statues continued in 2023, spearheaded by the Democrat members of Congress. On February 28th, 2023, California Congresswoman Barbare Lee, Mississippi Congressman Bernie Thompson, and New Jersey Senator Corey Booker reintroduced a similar measure calling for the removal of Confederate monuments in the Capitol Complex. The bicameral bill The Confederate Monument Removal Act seeks to: "To remove all statues of individuals who voluntarily served the Confederate States of America from display in the United States Capitol." If passed, the bill will remove Confederate statues in the first 120 days of the approval of the bill to their States of origin, while those statues that are not claimed by a State will fall under the care of the Architect of the Capitol, which will store the statues in a non-public location. The bill has not yet been voted on.
“Alexander Stephens.” American Battlefield Trust. Accessed November 17, 2021. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/alexander-stephens
“Alexander Hamilton Stephens Statue.” Architect of the Capitol. Accessed November 17, 2021. https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/alexander-hamilton-stephens
Garriss, Kirstin. “Democrats reintroduce legislation to remove remaining Confederate statues in U.S. Capitol.” CMG Washington News Bureau, June 16, 2023. https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/democrats-reintroduce-legislation-remove-remaining-confeder ate-statues-us-capitol/4ZOCLIYS3JEWTKMXTI46AXWSEI/
“Hoyer, Lee, Clyburn, House Democrats Send Letter Calling for Senate Action on Legislation to Remove Hate.” Congressman Steny Hoyer, September 24, 2021. https://hoyer.house.gov/
“Lee ,Thompson, Booker Reintroduce Bill To Remove Confederate Statues From Capital.” Congresswoman Barbara Lee 12th District of California Accessed November 14, 2023. https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/lee-thompson-booker-reintroduce-bill-to-remove-conf ederate-statues-from-capitol-
Mitchell, Tia. “House Votes to Move Georgia Statue, Other Confederate Symbols from U.S. Capitol.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 29, 2021. https://www.ajc.com/
Reimann, Nicholas. “Plan for John Lewis Statue to Replace Confederate Vice President in U.S. Capitol Moves Forward.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, February 4, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/
Salzer, James. “Resolution Filed to Replace Confederate VP with MLK in US Capitol.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 17, 2020. https://www.ajc.com/