Confederate Memorial Day, 2007

Well, today is Confederate Memorial Day, 2007. This may seem strange to some that know me well, but I find it incongrous that we still celebrate Confederate Memorial Day in the year 2007. Its not that I find it inapropriate or incorrect to celebrate Confederate Memorial Day. As a matter of fact, I think we ought to celebrate it the same as we do any other historical holiday like Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Veteran's Day, etc. However, I find it strange that the Georgia legislature hasn't renamed it or eliminated it in an effort to be politically correct. I guess its hard to get rid of a day off for the state employees. It reminds me of an argument that was put to the State of Arizona when they had initially refused to make Martin Luther King's birthday a state holiday. I think Chris Rock queried, "Who doesn't want a day off? It doesn't mean you have to do something racially significant. Just don't go to work."

I remember my first Confederate Memorial Day. We had recently moved to Huntsville, Alabama from Indianapolis, Indiana. We still had about a month to go in school and all of a sudden I had a day off in the middle of the week. I remember riding my bike around the subdivision thinking how cool it was that we got to celebrate Confederate Memorial Day. Definitely something different from Indiana. Of course, in Huntsville, Alabama, "Rocket City, U.S.A.," I was surrounded by people from all around the globe, to whom Confederate Memorial Day meant nothing more than a day off in April.

When we lived in Indiana, I was the littlest rebel. It was in the middle of the Civil War Centennial and I had a historical map of the United States, divided into the Union and the Confederacy, hanging from my bedroom wall. Pictures of the significant generals from both sides were pictured around the border of the map and all of the major battles of the war were marked on the the states depicted. A chronological listing of the significant moments in the war were listed where the western states would be, if they mattered.

My parents bought me a Confederate officer's costume from Sears Roebuck for Christmas. My brother Frank, who had the misfortune of being born north of the Ohio River, was given a little union soldier's uniform. We even had a little plastic Civil War cannon which fired plastic cannon balls, for about three hours on Christmas Day, until the spring inside the cannon barrel broke and eliminated our artillery. My father drove all the way to Michigan City, Indiana, on the Indiana/Michigan border to buy that plastic cannon. Wearing that grey uniform, I always knew that I had the upper hand, and simply ignored the fact that Frank's side won in the end.

Frank has a schizophrenic feeling about the north and the south. He considers himself a southerner, but doesn't celebrate it like I do. I think he still harbors that connection to the north. The last time that northern connection came out was when I graduated from Washington and Lee. He looked at my diploma and stated that the picture of Lee looked like Grant had just kicked his butt. I have to agree that his eyes look a little surprised.

But I think this emotional tie to the south has unintended results. For instance, a lot of people down here in Georgia don't think that Kentucky is in the South. Some of them don't even think any state located further north than Tennessee or North Carolina are southern. Sometimes I have to remind them that the best sour mash they drink is from Kentucky, that the Kentucky Derby is in Louisville, that the best country hams come from Kentucky, and that bluegrass music was created by a man born in Western Kentucky, near Bowling Green. How would they celebrate their southerness without those things?

But the most unintended result of having been born in Kentucky is the philosophical requirements of being from Kentucky. Your whole point of reference, your center of gravity, has to be different. For instance, both Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, and Abraham Lincoln, President of the Union, were born in Kentucky, within one hundred miles of my birthplace in Hopkinsville. Jefferson Davis was born within ten miles of Jenny Stuart Memorial Hospital, where I was born. During the Civil Was, there were regiments from Kentucky who fought in both the Union and Confederacy. They were led by men who were from Kentucky, one of which had been the Vice President of the United States of America. Most of them had fought in the Union Army during the Mexican War. Two brothers from Kentucky were generals of armies in both countries and one of Abraham Lincoln's brothers-in-law was killed by Union troops when he led his Confederate brigade at the battle of Chicamauga. When you are born in a state like Kentucky where brother fought literally against his brother, it engenders a certain philosophical bent when considering matters that some in other states take for granted.

It forces you to consider both sides of the story. It gives you the freedom to consider the pros and cons of both positions. It even allows you to opt out sometimes, like Samuel Clemons, and simply go west. I have no problem with seeing the greatness of Abraham Lincoln. I consider him the best president we ever had. But I also recognize the great accomplishments of men like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee and John B. Gordon, both in the war, and in the other aspects of their lives. Their political cause in the 1860's is certainly unpopular now, but that modern unpopularity doesn't necessarily diminish the greatness that they showed in their lives as a whole.

History is written by the victors, but the study of History, and the conclusions of that study, should be more clinical, more scientific and respectful of the positions of both sides.

I remember one time driving through North Georgia, wearing a Washington and Lee t-shirt which had a picture of Robert E. Lee on the back. An old fellow in a gas station outside of Lafayette (pronounced "La FAY ett") made the remark that that was a "bad old fellow" depicted on the back of my shirt. Judging from his remark and his North Georgia accent, I figured his statement was more cultural than the product of any academic study of the life of Lee on his part. I smiled politely at his comment.

But he completely ignored the quote on the back of the shirt. It read, "Gentlemen, we have but one rule at Washington College, and that is that you act as gentlemen at all times."

Today, I honor General Lee and others like him, who sacrificed much for their families, their homes and even for the colleges, governments and other institutions of their native states. Beyond their sacrifices during the War Between the States, they provided leadership to this country that often guides us still.