dallashistory

Book reveals true meaning of Civil War memorials in Texas.

Link to article: http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/d ... 07c9d.html

Article:

11:32 PM CDT on Saturday, July 11, 2009
By Lori Forgay / Staff Writer

Nearly 70 civil war monuments are scattered throughout Texas, and a new book chronicles their rich and sometimes controversial history.

The book, Sacred Memories: The Civil War Monument Movement in Texas, written by Kelly McMichael, tells the story of how Texas remembers the Civil War through its monuments.

McMichael, a Denton resident and associate director of the Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment and Redesign at the University of North Texas, began her work on the topic as a doctoral student. She spent a year and a half traveling to all regions of the state researching large-scale Civil War monuments — 68 in all.

The public statuaries McMichael studied are made from granite, bronze and concrete and are housed at cemeteries, courthouse lawns and public parks.

The Civil War began in April 1861 and ended in May 1865, and the first Texas monument was in place a few years later.

“The South lost, so you can’t go around erecting monuments right away. People were recovering from the war,” said McMichael, who recently spoke about her book in Brownsville at a historic cemetery — the site of the last battle of the war and where the last soldier died. “Secondly, there was just no money to do so even if they had wanted to. People were trying to get their lives on track. They needed to regroup, recover economically and let time pass — and some distance — and have less hurt feelings.”

According to McMichael, the most common misinformation about Texas’ Civil War monuments is that the first was erected in Sherman in 1896. That is not true, McMichael said.

“The first monument erected in the state was in 1868, and that’s the one to the Union in Comfort,” she said. “The first Confederate monument was erected in Waco in 1892.”

Sherman does boast the first large “figurine” monument, and a Waco cemetery houses the first obelisk — a tall, narrow, four-sided, tapered monument.

Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, not the state, were primarily responsible for erecting Civil War monuments.

“The majority of statues were funded by women,” McMichael said. “So the women were in charge of creating these monuments and then hosting the public ceremonies and celebrations around these monuments.”

Dr. Randolph “Mike” Campbell, chief historian for the Texas State Historical Association, said the creation of the monuments had a large role in how Southerners came to accept losing the Civil War.

“It is obvious, I suppose, that being defeated in a war creates many problems for the losing side, particularly when it comes to whether their cause was just and their effort was pure,” Campbell said. “The monument movement played a major role in the post-bellum South’s argument that its people had fought valiantly for a ‘lost cause’ that was entirely worthy.”

“Also, as Dr. McMichael points out, the movement helped anchor Southern society in a glorious past during a period of contemporary tumult,” Campbell said. “Overall, her book is an excellent example of how collective memory works to provide a version of the past that, although not historically accurate, meets the needs of a particular society.”

There are three monuments in Texas that honor the Union and not the Confederacy, McMichael said. The one in Comfort, located west of Austin, honors Union sympathizers who were killed by Confederates.

Another resides in a Denison cemetery. It was erected by a family who moved to Texas after the war and built a monument to honor their son and other Union veterans who had moved to that city.

New Braunfels has a monument dedicated to all fallen soldiers from both the North and South.

In terms of history, the monuments are sometimes controversial — including one in Denton, McMichael said.

In the late 1990s, a resident started an unsuccessful drive to get the monument removed from the Denton Square. The monument includes two drinking fountains, one of which was marked “whites only.”

“Civil rights activists have put a lot of meaning into these monuments,” McMichael said. “This individual [wanted the monument] instead of being one of segregation and separation to be a monument to how much has changed in our society. … That is one of the functions of public statuary like this — that it begins with meaning, and that meaning can change to represent the current population’s needs and desires.

“I would say if the community has an issue with it, they should supplement the monument with a plaque or other type [of text] that is a more inclusive story.”

McMichael’s paperback, 116-page book is available at Amazon.com.

LORI FORGAY can be reached at 940-566-6845. Her e-mail address is lforgay@dentonrc

End of Article

I've been reading the pre-publications announcements for this book with great interest.
Looks interesting. Thanks for mentioning it.

I occasionally visit the well-kept cemetery in Kaufman County where my great-grandfather is buried. You'd have no idea he was a Confederate veteran except for an occasional flag planted by his grave by persons unknown. Some of the other tombstones in the cemetery have some inscription noting the unit or allegiance of the deceased. I keep an eye out for larger public memorials as I drive through Texas towns.

Quite controversial; on occasion. In Grimes County a few years ago, a local group wanted to set up a statue in honor of the Grimes County men who;d served in the Civil War. A (black) racist from Houston objected and got some (black racist) legislators to threaten to withhold courthouse renovation money for the historic Grimes County Courthouse if the statue was accepted and installed. Result - a little pocket park a block or so south of the courthouse of the main street of Anderson was obtained by privatepurchase and the memorial installed there. if you have a chance to visit Anderson, in Grimes County,. you should stop and view the Courthouse, the Memorial, and the old staging inn (Fanthorp inn Historic Site). And contemplate racism in all its forms.

And then there is the Confederate Memorial (soldier's statue, with inscription on plinth) in Marion County (Jefferson). Well there USED to be an inscription on the plinth. The Marion County Commissioners a few years ago, after the County Court became dominated by black racists, had most of the inscription chiseled off. Such mutilations are - unacceptable to me. I call anathema on those responsible and wish them a bitter end.

A "bitter end" is but a mild rebuke, Clyde.

Anyone that supports defacing memorials of any kind should be tossed under the jail. The largest groups of racists in the US today are blacks and hispanics. .....To direct such racism toward whites because of events that occurred in the 1800s and earlier just shows their stupidity and pettiness. Just watch some of the ridiculous crap that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Bobby Rush (D-IL) spew out constantly. The hispanic racists include almost anyone in La Raza and LULAC that believes that Texas or the US stole land from Mexico, instead of reading history and finding out that the lands were ceded to the Republic of Texas by treaty. ........Idiots all!

Well, I thought about suggesting the fate i actually wish on the villains - but decided this is a family forum.