Month: January 2018

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A Natural Race Antipathy

The recent summary discharge of the three negro writers employed by the northern American Baptist Publication Society, simply, as acknowledged, because they are negroes, only adds one more to the innumerable instances that have, since the commencement of recorded history, demonstrated the fact that there is a natural race antipathy, that it exists in the North as well as in the South, and that a distinction made by God cannot be obliterated by man, and shows therefore that the protests of the negroes against it must be kicks against the pricks and attempts to resist the inevitable.

Alexandria Gazette, page 2
May 26, 1890

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Virginia Committee Kills Bill to Allow Local Control of Confederate Monuments

Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D)

Senate Bill 444, the Memorial for Veterans bill, introduced in the Virginia Senate by Senator Jennifer T. Wexton:

Provides that a locality may remove, relocate, or alter a war monument or memorial, regardless of when erected.

The Committee on Local Government, comprised of 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats voted along party lines to “Pass by indefinitely” Wexton’s bill.  The 7 Republicans voting to kill the bill were Senators Stanley, Hanger, DeSteph, Dunnavant, Chase, Sturtevant, and Carrico.  Voting “no” on the motion to kill the bill were Democrats Marsden, Favola, Lewis, Surovell, McPike, and McClellan.

SB 444 would have stricken language passed in the Virginia legislature in 1890.

If such are erected, it shall be unlawful for the authorities of the locality, or any other person or persons, to disturb or interfere with any monuments or memorials so erected, or to prevent its citizens from taking proper measures and exercising proper means for the protection, preservation and care of same. For purposes of this section, “disturb or interfere with” includes removal of, damaging or defacing monuments or memorials, or, in the case of the War Between the States, the placement of Union markings or monuments on previously designated Confederate memorials or the placement of Confederate markings or monuments on previously designated Union memorials.

Wexton, a Democrat, represents parts of Fairfax and Loudon counties, and was elected to the Virginia Senate in 2014. Wexton is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, challenging the incumbent, Republican Barbara Comstock.

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Lee’s Farewell

General Lee’s Farewell to His Army
HEAD QUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VA
April 10, 1865

General Order — After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the survivors of  so many hard fought battles who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result from no distrust to them; but feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss that would have attended the continuance of the contest. I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past service have endeared them to their countrymen. By the terms of agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and remain until exchanged. You will take with you satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray a merciful God will extend to you blessing and protection. With an increasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance or your kind and generous consideration of myself. I bid you an affectionate FAREWELL.

R E LEE, General

Lee’s farewell appears in the Alexandria Gazette on April 17, 1865

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Obituary of Raleigh Travers Daniel, Jr.

Daniel, Raleigh Travers (1853) – Raleigh Travers Daniel, Jr., Class of 1853: Genealogy: Born- ca. 1833. Father- Raleigh Travers Daniel; Mother- unknown. Grandparents- unknown. Marriage and Children- no info. Matriculated from Richmond, VA. At VMI 1 year, 9 months. Military Record: Helped organize and briefly served as Adjutant of 33d Virginia Militia in 1861; enlisted Apr. 18, 1861 in Richmond as a Private with Company A, 1st Virginia; commissioned as a 2d Lieutenant in the Provisional Army of Virginia on May 26, 1861 per the reccomendation of VMI Superintendent Francis H. Smith; assigned as Drillmaster for 2d (later 12th) North Carolina at Norfolk (“The efficiency of my regiment is due in a great measure to his valuable services,” wrote the Regimental Commander); Commission vacated when the Provisional Army of Virginia was absorbed by the Confederacy; volunteered to help Colonel (later Brigadier General) J.S. Williams organize troops in eastern Kentucky; appointed 1st Lieutenant and Adjutant, 5th Kentucky, on Nov. 16, 1861; later Adjutant on Williams’staff; possibly also on staff of Brigadier General H. Marshall in spring, 1862; in Richmond on leave (or official business, records differ)in June 1862 and volunteered to serve on staff of Brigadier General L. A. Armistead as Volunteer Aide-de-Camp; assigned on June 29 to command Company F, 38th Virginia (company then without officers); heroic service at Malvern Hill where he was wounded in action in the arm, chest, and thigh while carrying the Colors; appointed Captain in November of 1862; on staffs of Brigadier Generals J. Pegram and R. D. Lilley as Assistant Adjutant General and inspector; in hospital in Rome, Georgia during the fall of 1863; lost commission on June 14, 1864 when Confederate State Senate did not confirm appointment; reappointed Sep. 16, 1864 (date of rank is June 15); paroled at Appomattox as Captain, Inspector General on staff of Brigadier General J.A. Walker’s 52d Brigade. Post War Career: Lawyer. Died- Feb. 11, 1919, in Richmond, VA., in Soldiers’ Home.

From: Message Boards, Ancestry.com. Posted by: cantorjoeocho

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The Myth of the Kindly General Lee – The Atlantic

Removal of Lee Statue

Read the great article, The Myth of the Kindly General Lee, in the June 4, 2017 post on The Atlantic website, by Adam Serwer. Serwer offers several great points to refute the assertion that Confederate General Robert E. Lee was a great and honorable man as his supporters so often claim.

In Lee’s own words, in an 1856 letter, argues that blacks are better off in slavery than they were in their native Africa.

I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild & melting influence of Christianity, than the storms & tempests of fiery Controversy.

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Hiding History

I recently found a copy of a brochure, The Confederate Statue, distributed by the Office of Historic Alexandria.  If I understand the coding at the bottom of the brochure, it was created in November, 2002.

The brochure compiles a number of reported facts related to the creation of the monument, including the names attached to its various sides.

I found one paragraph particularly interesting:

The name of James W. Jackson, the proprietor of the Marshall House who was killed on May 24, 1861, during the occupation of the city, was added to the east side of the statue in 1900.

James W Jackson

I find it interesting that the brochure omits the fact that Jackson was killed immediately after his murder of a U.S. Soldier, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth at the Marshall House.

Why would the city of Alexandria permit a murderer to be honored with a statue, and then neglect to mention it in the brochure they create to give background on the monument?

 

 

 

Marshall House Plaque