Since the time of President Wilson, who first established the tradition, it has been customary for presidential administrations to send a wreath to the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetary on Memorial Day. This year (and for all I know, every year), a Dallas “historian” named Edward Sebesta submitted a petition to President Obama’s office, urging him to end the tradition. The petition garnered…ahem…66 signatures. Needless to say, President Obama is doing the right thing and ignoring this petition; he will send a wreath to the memorial as all predidential administrations have done since the Memorial’s dedication in 1914.
Look, I’m no fan of the Confederacy. If I’d been alive during the Civil War, I’d have been on the side of the Union. I’m glad the Confederates lost, and of course I find their defense of slavery to be abominable and inhuman. But on this issue, there are a few points that I would think should be obvious to any thinking person:
- Sebesta says, “The tradition legitimizes the Confederacy, so the loss of this wreath would convert this monument into a relic.” I’m not really sure what he means by this. The Confederates existed and fought on one side of the Civil War, and they too were Americans. What about them was not legitimate? Just because they were wrong about the issue of slavery? What if the north had lost – would they be rightly considered illegitimate by the southern victors? I disagree with the Confederate stance on slavery too, but this was an issue 150-some-odd years ago. It’s simply not an issue today. I don’t like this kind of historical revisionism that seeks to change the status of groups just because of that disagreement, and just because they were not the victors. They lost, we won – too much history has been wrongly written by the victors, and we don’t need to propogate that error here. They still fought and died for what they believed was right for this country, and they existed. There’s nothing to legitimize, and sending a wreath does not condone their support and defense of slavery – it recognizes their service to their country. That’s all.
- Some people who agree with the petition are worried that modern day “neo-Confederates” and other racist types will be invigorated by the recognition the wreath confers. Well, that may be. But again, Confederates were Americans too. They had different ideas than we do today about what kind of a country America should be, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that they too were fighting for their country as they saw fit. They wound up on the wrong side of history and lost the war – isn’t that good enough? The fact that a bunch of modern-day yahoos will get a stiffy over this shouldn’t be the concern of a mature adult person when deciding whether or not to honor these men who sacrificed their lives for their country. Yahoos are best ignored, and the right thing is best done regardless.
- Some people think that sending a wreath sends the message that slavery was ok. I don’t think that any rational, thinking person believes that slavery is ok, so this is a point hardly worth addressing, except to say that regardless of the wide range of motivations we can attribute to Confederate soldiers, one thing is still certain: they fought for their country, just like every other soldier buried in that great cemetary.
I call a Sebesta a “historian” in quotes, because he actually seems like more of an activist, not an impartial scholar, which is what I think a proper historian would be. He has written a book on neo-Confederates and is active in causes that oppose them. I think that’s fine, and in fact I agree with that stance; there is obviously no room in American politics today for people that think like that. However, let’s continue to recognize that they too are deserving of the free speech protections afforded to all Americans, and let’s not forget that the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War were fighting for their country. It is worth noting the words inscribed at the base of the Confederate Memorial:
Not for fame or reward
Not for place or for rank
Not lured by ambition
Or goaded by necessity
But in simple
Obedience to duty
As they understood it
These men suffered all
Sacrificed all
Dared all – and died
The key phrase here is: obedience to duty, as they understood it. That they understood their duty wrongly does not take away from the fact that these brave men thought they were doing the right thing, and sacrificed and died for their country. I don’t think it’s necessary to make them out to be the boogeymen or the Nazis, and we certainly should recognize the fact that they too made the ultimate sacrifice in service of their country. The memorial is just, and the sending of a wreath is proper. They lost, we won, and now it should be well past the time to put such divisiveness aside. This small acknowledgement of these men’s service to their country is a good thing for good people to do, and I see no reason to petition this tradition out of existence. Thank you, President Obama, for letting common sense rather than raw emotion dictate your stance on the issue.
