Confederate Memorial Day

Confederate Memorial Day (CMD) is observed on April 26 each year here in the state of Georgia because that was the date in 1865 on which Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, who was charged with the defense of Georgia, surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman. The “holiday” isn’t much of one; it doesn’t get a lot of attention among the population at large and it certainly doesn’t get much attention in the media. Georgia state offices were closed on Monday in recognition of the day.

I remember one observance of CMD. I was a student at Gordon Grammar School in Barnesville, Georgia; the school was named for Confederate General John B. Gordon. The teachers marched us outside one day so we could watch the Confederate Memorial Day parade. I’m sure that I was glad to be outside on a nice spring day; other than that I recall nothing of the event.

One observance of CMD this year did make the news. Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, who was voted out of office after he removed the Confederate battle flag emblem from the Georgia state flag in 2001 (I’m sure that wasn’t the only reason but I’m also sure it didn’t help him any), spoke at an observance at Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta, where some 3000 Confederate dead, including five generals, are buried. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution story on the event quoted Gov. Barnes as explaining his flag decision by saying, "I didn't think a flag that had been appropriated by some groups for the wrong purposes should be the symbol of our state.”

I agree with Gov. Barnes’ reasoning. Given that the Confederate battle flag has such negative connotations associated with it and given that it evokes such painful images for so many in our state’s population, removing that emblem was the right thing to do.

Besides, I feel no particular allegiance to the Confederacy.

A few years ago a very fine lady of our acquaintance paid to have a new headstone placed on the grave of her grandfather, a Confederate veteran. She arranged for a very nice ceremony featuring some re-enactors from the Sons of Confederate Veterans. We were handed a program when we arrived for the ceremony. The program said that we would recite the pledge to the flag of the Confederate States of America as well as the pledge to the flag of the United States of America. Debra asked me if I was going to say the pledge to the CSA flag. “No,” I replied, “because I am not now nor have I ever been a citizen of the Confederate States of America.” To my way of thinking, pledging allegiance to that flag made even less sense than pledging allegiance to the flag of an existing country of which I am not a citizen; the CSA doesn’t even exist any more.

Someone might respond, “Yes, but that flag once flew over Georgia.” True, but as I learned from going to Six Flags Over Georgia in the early days of that park when they still emphasized what the term “Six Flags” referred to, so did the flags of Great Britain, France, and Spain. I won’t pledge allegiance to those, either, because I have no national allegiance to them. I respect and appreciate the heritage of those great nations, but I have no allegiance to pledge to their flags.


I say all of this as someone who has some pretty serious Confederate credentials. According to tradition, one of my ancestors, Edmund Ruffin, fired the first shot on Fort Sumter. Now, I admit that some revisionist historians dispute that claim, but, being a Ruffin, I’ll go with the tradition. Besides, why let “facts” ruin a good story?

Still, there is another side to all of this, namely, the fact that the Confederacy is a part of our state and national history.

Is it possible to celebrate Southern heritage—warts and all—without inappropriately giving vent to prejudice? I realize that an idealization of the antebellum South is dangerous and misguided. Things aren’t like they used to be—and they never were. The holding of human beings as property was a blight on our society as is the continued prejudice and bigotry that is practiced in our nation. And it is true that many people who idolize the Confederacy and who fly the Stars and Bars have a hateful agenda that Christians and all people of good will should repudiate.

But that is not universally so. There are those who acknowledge the wrongness of the cause that was championed by the Confederacy and the wrongness of those who use the symbols of the Confederacy to promote a racist agenda but who nonetheless desire to accept Confederate heritage and to honor those who in good conscience and with strong commitment gave their lives in defense of a misguided cause.

Is that not how we should deal with American heritage, as well—that is, should we not celebrate it, warts and all, without inappropriately giving vent to a narrow-minded nationalism? Should not we be mature enough to celebrate America without closing our eyes to our imperfections and failures? We have made mistakes. We do make mistakes. We do not always live up to our highest ideals. We love America but we love America as it really is, not as we would like it to be and not as we pretend that it is.

When we celebrate Memorial Day, we should not differentiate between those who fought as members of our Armed Forces for “just” causes and those who fought for “unjust” causes. There are those among us who would say that all wars are unjust. There are those among us who would say that no American war has ever been unjust. There are those among us who would say that our involvement in the present Iraq War will prove to be an unjust cause and there are those hold a different position. But, when it comes to appreciating and honoring our veterans and particularly those who have given their lives in service to our country, what we appreciate and celebrate is their loyalty and devotion and honor.

Perhaps honoring our Confederate dead can serve the purpose of reminding us of that. The cause was unjust, but that does not make their service dishonorable.

For what it’s worth, here’s my opinion on Confederate Memorial Day: I think that it should no longer be observed. Why? Because we are one country and we only need one Memorial Day. But I also think that when we celebrate our national Memorial Day, it should be made clear that all American service people who died in all American Armed Forces—including the Confederate army—are being honored.

That’s what this descendant of Edmund Ruffin thinks.

What’s Worth Dying—and Living--For?

(A message for Memorial Day 2009)

Fitzgerald, Georgia is an especially appropriate place to observe Memorial Day. To understand what I mean, let’s consider some history.

First, consider the history of Memorial Day. The observance developed out of the traumatic experience of the War Between the States (1861-1865). There is some evidence that women’s groups in the South were decorating the graves of fallen soldiers before the end of the war. The first widespread observance of the day took place on May 30, 1868 as a day to remember those soldiers killed during the Civil War by decorating their graves. Because of the practice of decorating soldiers’ graves, the day was originally known as Decoration Day. Originally, then, and for many years, the day focused on remembering those who gave their lives during the War Between the States. After World War I (ended 1918), the observance was expanded to remember those who died in all of America’s wars.

Second, consider the history of Fitzgerald. The city of Fitzgerald was founded in 1895 through the efforts of Indianapolis, Indiana newspaper editor P. H. Fitzgerald who dreamed during a time of depression in the nation and drought in the Midwest of establishing a home in the South for Union veterans of the Civil War; some 2,700 such veterans were among the original settlers of Fitzgerald. Our city has two streets named for Confederate ships and two named for Union ships; it has seven streets named for Union generals and seven named for Confederate generals; one of the first large buildings constructed was the Lee-Grant Hotel, named after the two great opposing commanding officers of the war.

Listen to this excerpt from the City of Fitzgerald website:

With the first year's hardships behind them and with thankful hearts, the colonists erected a Corn and Cotton Palace, planning a great Thanksgiving harvest. Invitations blanketed the surrounding area. Most natives were skeptical of the Yankees, but many decided to see for themselves. The Festival Committee had planned separate Union and Confederate parades. . . no use in asking for trouble. But as often happens, their plan did not work. When the band struck up a march, veterans in gray, recognizing the accomplishments of the colonists, stepped into formation with veterans in blue, and all marched as one beneath the Stars and Stripes. The stage was set for the future of Fitzgerald by men who, having met once on the field of battle, determined on that day to meet again on the field of life and forge a unique and enduring city where North and South reunited: Fitzgerald.

Granting that such an account may be sentimentalized and idealized, it nonetheless speaks to the hopes and dreams and no doubt also to some of the realities of the founding of our city.

My point is this: the history of both Memorial Day and Fitzgerald points us toward what is worth dying for and what is worth living for: the unity of brothers and sisters. Now, war is conflict and usually at the end of a conflict there are winners and losers although sometimes there is what amounts to a draw. Regardless, a war or a conflict is futile and purposeless if at the end of the conflict the combatants are still enemies; it may take them a long time to be allies and it may certainly take them a long time to be friends but such is the goal. Indeed, one of the things that speaks well of our nation is our willingness, having vanquished a foe, to lead in the rebuilding of that foe and in the rehabilitation of that foe in the community of nations. The Civil War, with all of its horrors and with all of its recriminations, nonetheless in the long term served to preserve the Union. Those who did the best work following the war were not those in the North who wished to punish the Southern rebels nor those in the South who wished to perpetuate hate toward the Northern victors; they were those who worked toward reconciliation and toward the reestablishment of unity. That is why we can be justifiably proud of the heritage of our city—it was founded as an effort to promote such unity.

So here on Memorial Day 2009 we honor and thank our noble dead because they died to preserve unity. They died to preserve the unity of the people of America because, even though the Civil War was our only conflict that directly threatened our national unity, other wars were fought to preserve our liberty and the integrity of our way of life and such preservation is necessary if we are to grow in unity as a people. In a larger context, though, our honored dead also died to promote greater unity in the world; such unity will never be fully achieved but when we fight we fight because of our foundational beliefs in the worth of the individual, in the right of self-determination, and in the ideal of peace.

There is a parallel here for the Church: the ideal for the Church is unity in Jesus Christ. As Psalm 133 puts it, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” (v. 1). And as it says in Ephesians,

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (4:1-6)

Jesus died and rose again that we might be one in him; he left us the legacy of his love that we might be one in him—one of the things that Jesus died for is our unity! Churches, like nations, are made up of imperfect people, but we imperfect people in the Church are nonetheless recipients of the great grace and love of our Lord and so we have a far greater chance at unity than do they, and the unity of the Church is worth dying for—and living for.

Sometimes churches have conflicts; sometimes there is even what amounts to war in a church, which is most unfortunate and which damages our witness more than just about anything else. Here on this Memorial Day weekend, I say to you that, as our noble dead gave their lives for the unity of our nation and for the unity of our planet, we should give our lives and we should live our lives for the unity of the Church.

Our national motto, I remind you, is E pluribus unum: “Out of many, one.”

The Church's motto, I remind you, is “One body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.”

Both are worth dying—and living—for.

Happy Confederate Memorial Day 2009

State offices here in Georgia are closed today in observance of Confederate Memorial Day. Here is my post from last year on that subject.