The New Republic reports on the attempts by some Sons of Confederate Veterans to prevent their organization's slide from harmless genealogical buffery to radical politics.
(Might be appropriate to mention here Tony Horwitz's excellent Confederates in the Attic, one liberal Yankee's surprisingly even-handed, often sympathetic account of Civil War enthusiasts in Dixie).
Posted by Alan Allport at July 25, 2004 01:49 AMIt's a sad state of affairs. Being quite fond of cemeteries and genealogy, and having four direct Confederate ancestors myself, I've often sniffed around the SCV. But let's just say that the whole "heritage violation report" thing they started up in the late ninties was less than appealing.
Posted by: Ben Brumfield at July 25, 2004 11:55 AMWhat's that?
Posted by: Alan Hogue at July 25, 2004 05:53 PMMore links:
Reporting "heritage violations"
An interesting (if a bit nutty) speech from a SUVCW convention:
Consider how strange it s that we attach all this baggage solely to the poor boys in blue and gray! I wonder how the veterans of the Spanish-American War felt about comprehensive health care? Did those World War I doughboys really favor a balanced budget amendment? Sounds absurd, doesn't it? Yet we continue to allow OUR ancestors to be used as political TOYS!
As a result of all this posturing, many descendants are choosing NOT to affiliate with either the SUVCW or the SCV. They are choosing NOT to declare publicly their pride in their Union and Confederate forbearers because they do not want to adopt all the garbage that goes with it.
And the ominous and fascinating story of a purge in the SCV:
You are receiving this letter because it has been alleged that you participated in one or more of the activities on the following page.
It is not the desire of either this comission or the North Carolina Division to expel any members in good standing. Rather, we hope that all compatiots who have participated in activities damaging to the SCV will see the error of their ways and repudiate those actions.
I'm amazed by how much this last appeal mimics the sort of phrasing used by the CP.
Posted by: Ben Brumfield at July 26, 2004 11:44 AM