THE ASSAULT ON SOUTHERN HISTORY

By John Friend

History is written by the victors, as the oldsaying goes. When a nation is conquered,the victorious forces often alter or outrighterase the history of the conquered people,and demonize their symbols, heroes and lead-

ers in an effort to discredit and delegitimize the conqueredpeople’s identity. A conquered people cannot be allowedto maintain their own particular historical recording andunderstanding of their past, as well as their own uniquesymbols and identity—at least not for long. The collectiveunderstanding of history is a primary factor in shaping aunique identity, which is key to maintaining a strong,healthy sense of peoplehood. Conquering armies oftenseek to undermine and attack their conquered foes’ un-derstanding of history, transforming heroes into villains,an honorable cause into an illegitimate and immoral en-deavor that must be viewed with scorn and derision.

While the Confederate States of America, which com-

The Great History HeistStealing Our Statues Won’t EradicateOur Affection for Southern HeroesTHERE ARE MANY GOOD PEOPLE OUT THERE resisting the Cultural Bolsheviks

working day and night to erase not just Southern history but rewrite Western historyin general to match their politically correct narrative—no matter how far it actuallyis from the truth. One of those is Dr. Edward DeVries, editor of the Dixie Heritagenewsletter and website. TBR Editorial Board member John Friend caught up withDeVries to help us get a handle on this full-frontal assault on true Southern history.

ROBERT E. LEE risked everything for the cause of Southernfreedom. He jeopardized his life and lost his estate in Ar-lington, Virginia. Some even called for his execution. Todaythis patriotic American is being vilified by radical leftists.

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prised the 11 slaveholding states that declared inde-pendence from the United States federal government in1861, were defeated in the Civil War when ConfederateGen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of NorthernVirginia at Appomattox, Virginia on April 9, 1865, theSouthern people maintained a unique identity and senseof purpose. Although defeated, the Southern volk wereable to articulate their own historical understanding ofthe conflict and the causes of it. They were able tomaintain their unique symbols and banners, includingthe many incarnations of the Confederate flag, andproudly established memorials for Confederate officers,soldiers and other political leaders in an effort to com-memorate and honor their struggle and legacy.

After the war, Confederate flags and other symbolswere still openly and proudly displayed across the South,oftentimes on public land or in public places. Memorials,statues and other symbols of reverence for the Confed-eracy and the honorable men and women who comprisedit peppered the South. Southerners were proud of theirhistory and identity.

All of that is changing in rapid fashion, particularlyin the wake of the shooting at Emanuel African MethodistEpiscopal Church, a largely black church in Charleston,South Carolina, which took place on June 17, 2015. Theshootings, carried out by Dylann Storm Roof, a young,alienated white man, resulted in the deaths of nine

THE SAGA OF THE “SURRENDER HOUSE.” Shownis a photo of the home of Wilmer McLean in Appo-mattox, Virginia, acquired by McLean in 1863, andin whose parlor Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered toGen. Ulysses S. Grant on Palm Sunday, 1865. McLeanmade a sizeable profit in Confederate dollars by run-ning sugar through the Union blockade. After thewar ended, his Confederate money was worthless.Financially ruined, McLean couldn’t pay his debtsand the house was purchased at public auction in1869 by John L. Pascoe. The house was later sold torenter Nathaniel Ragland in 1872. Ragland’s widowthen sold the house to Capt. Myron Dunlap of NewYork, who wanted to take the house apart and re-construct it as an exhibition at Chicago’s 1893 WorldColumbian Exposition. When that venture failed, an-other was concocted to move the house to Wash-ington and charge admission as a Civil War museum.Luckily, architects were hired to measure and drawevery detail of the home before it was disassembled.The investors, however, ran out of money and thehome was by now nothing but a pile of bricks androtting wood, much of it removed by curiosity seekersand vandals. Finally, in 1940, the U.S. governmentbecame involved and arranged for the house to bemeticulously rebuilt to its original specifications. In1950 the Appomattox Battlefield Park and the McLeanhouse were opened in restored condition to thepublic. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant III and Robert E.Lee IV were at the opening ceremony.

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African-American churchgoers, including senior pastorClementa C. Pinckney, who was also a state senator inSouth Carolina. Roof is alleged to have had “white su-premacist” leanings, and photos soon emerged of himposing with a hand gun and a Confederate battle flag.Roof was found guilty on both federal and state chargesrelating to the mass shooting earlier this year, andremains in federal custody.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, leftistand anti-white agitators—led by groups such as theSouthern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)—argued that“white supremacists” posed the worstthreat to the United States, and mustbe viewed as the next target in the“Global War on Terror.” Morris Deesand J. Richard Cohen, the founderand current president of the SPLCrespectively, argued in a widely readopinion piece published by The NewYork Times shortly after the shoot -ing that “white supremacists” are us-ing the Internet to network, spreadideas and organize on a global scale,threatening “democracy” and “humanrights” both in the United States ofAmerica and across the world.

“Americans tend to view attacks like the mass murderin Charleston as isolated hate crimes, the work of a de-ranged racist or group of zealots lashing out in anger,unconnected to a broader movement,” Dees and Cohenargue. “This view we can no longer afford to indulge.”

In addition to hysterically hyping the supposed threatof “white supremacists,” all of which was based on the“official” narrative promoted by the government and

mainstream mass media explaining the massacre inCharleston, a coordinated campaign—led primarily bythe SPLC—to remove all Confederate flags and othersymbols of the Confederacy from public places acrossthe South was launched.

Pressure was put on public figures at all levels ofgovernment to act, and the Confederate flag in all formswas the first target.

FLAG REMOVED FROM S.C. STATEHOUSE

Former South Carolina Gov. NikkiHaley, who currently serves as theambassador to the United Nationsfor the United States, almost imme-diately called for the Confederate flagto be removed from Statehousegrounds in Columbia, where the flaghad flown since 1962. In a speechless than one week after the shootingsin Charleston, then-Gov. Haley arguedthat many South Carolinians viewthe flag as “a deeply offensive symbolof a brutally oppressive past,” beforeurging her fellow lawmakers to enact

legislation to remove the flag posthaste from the Capitolgrounds.

“My hope is that by removing a symbol that dividesus, we can move forward as a state in harmony and wecan honor the nine blessed souls who are now in heaven,”Haley stated in the emotionally charged speech, referringto the victims of the Charleston church shooting.

South Carolina lawmakers soon thereafter approveda bill to officially remove the flag from the state Capitol,

Groups like the SPLCclaim that whites arethe most dangerousterrorists in the U.S.

“

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after rowdy protests took place demanding the flagcome down.

“In South Carolina, we honor tradition, we honor his-tory, we honor heritage, but there’s a place for that flag,and that flag needs to be in a museum, where we willcontinue to make sure people will honor it appropriately,”Haley stated following the passage of the legislation andthe removal of the flag. “But the statehouse—that’s anarea that belongs to everyone. And no one should driveby the statehouse and feel pain. No one should drive bythe statehouse and feel like they don’t belong.”

Following South Carolina’s decision to remove theConfederate flag, other states, municipalities and insti-tutions began to take measures to remove not only theflag, but other symbols of the Confederacy as well.

MAJOR RETAILERS BAN CONFEDERATE FLAGS

Soon after the Confederate battle flag was officiallyremoved from the state Capitol in South Carolina, majorretailers began banning items relating to the Con -federacy from being sold on their online platforms aswell as in their stores. Walmart, Sears and eBay all an-nounced Confederate flags and other memorabilia wouldbe dropped from their inventory. Target, Amazon andEtsy.com, an online e-commerce marketplace specializingin handmade and vintage items, followed suit. Evensome flag manufacturers, such as Valley Forge, announcedthey would no longer produce and sell Confederate flagsin the wake of the shootings in Charleston.

“We hope that this decision will show our support for

those affected by the recent events in Charleston and, insome small way, help to foster racial unity and tolerancein our country,” the company declared in a statement fol-lowing its decision.

Other states, including Alabama, followed South Car-olina’s example and removed the Confederate flag fromtheir respective state Capitol grounds. Alabama Gov.Robert Bentley ordered workers to remove not only theConfederate flag from the state Capitol building, butalso a number of other Civil War-era flags. The Confederateflag had flown at the foot of a Confederate memorial onthe state Capitol grounds for years before it was summarilyremoved by Gov. Bentley, who did not consult theAlabama legislature before taking unilateral action andordering workers to remove the flag.

When questioned about his decision, Gov. Bentley in-dicated it was “partially” in response to the Charles tonmassacre and the controversy surrounding the Confederateflag it generated.

“This is the right thing to do,” Gov. Bentley told re-porters at the time. “We are facing some major issues inthis state regarding the budget and other matters thatwe need to deal with. This had the potential to become amajor distraction as we go forward.”

The Alabama governor went on to admit that it washis decision and his decision alone “that the flag neededto come down.” No doubt his decision was influencedby the media hysteria and leftist agitation launched afterthe Charleston shootings.

Other efforts have been made to remove the Confed-erate flag and other Confederate monuments from public

Bumper stickers, decals, t-shirts, full-sized flags, even desk flags depicting the Confederate battle flag—or anyof the flags of the Confederacy—are now taboo for sale through Amazon and other big-dollar online vendors.

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