University of Virginia Library

Show Respect

This is in response to the letter
of Messrs. McCoy and Emery.

It is true that the Confederacy
was founded in order to preserve
slavery, and that from today's
perspective such a goal appears
unworthy. Mr. McCoy and Mr.
Emery, however, ignore the fact
that at that time the South was
trying to uphold a social order
based on what seemed to be sound
principles. Slavery, and the social
order based on it, appeared to the
Southerners of that day to follow
naturally from the premise that
Negroes were, in fact, the
Encyclopedia Brittanica for 1910
or 1911 (I forget which) said as
much, basing its conclusions on
skull measurements. Southerners
based their opinions on the best
information available in their day:
that information was wrong, and
their governmental policies and
social structures were thereby set
adrift. How much moral blame
attaches to men who make an
honest mistake?

Meanwhile, granted that their
policy and beliefs were mistaken,
the South, with less than half the
recruiting field of the North and
with almost no industry to speak
of, put forth a truly heroic effort to
avoid cultural devolution. Many
Southern individuals made
incredible sacrifices and showed
degrees of valor and courage that
appear starkly incredible in the
light of today's behavior and
standards.

I can speak with some authority
on that point, because several such
individuals were members of my
family, and at one point we had an
old daguerreotype album, embossed
in gold with the words -"Our
Honored Dead", with a score or so
pictures in it of relatives of mine
who had given their lives on various
contested fields. Under each
picture, in faded, brown ink, was a
short description of what the man
portrayed was doing when he was
slain.

I haven't seen that album since I
was ten, but this I do know, both
from it and from the family
anecdotes surrounding those men:
every one of them attained a high
degree of excellence. They were
characterized by courage, moral
strength, gentlemanliness, a
willingness to serve and sacrifice for
the public good as they saw it, and
capability; the vast majority of
them were officers and wore
decorations in their photographs,
and the South did not pass out
medals cheaply.

For a man to support a racist
stand in this day and age is a sure
sign that that man is either stupid
or corrupt, but such was not the
case in the days of the
Confederacy. No moral stigma can
be attached to them for their
beliefs. And these were most
excellent gentlemen; for that reason
I lack patience with those who
would blacken their memory and
ban the symbol of their doomed
struggle. My forefathers paid a
blood-price for that flag; if I were a
'flag waving type' I would wave it,
in spite of all the deliberate
misinterpretations that others
might seek to apply to my action in
so doing.