Lowell's For the Union Dead: A Civil War Memorial

Through his poems, Richard Hugo takes places Americans traveled through in the era of westward expansion and, with little to no regard for any emotional attachments towns’ residents may still retain, turns them into elaborate locations with storied histories and troubled populations. Specifically, the poem “Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg” may sound from the title to be a maudlin description but is truly uplifting. In the poem, Hugo puts a focus on transience but also emphasizes appreciation of the small splashes of color in otherwise gray and dull lives. In his poetry, Hugo writes about real emotions and events from a personal perspective, using his knowledge of history, literary devices -- setting, imagery, personification, point of view,

Shelby Foote once said “But the Civil war defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things. It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.” In this famous phrase he states how the civil war shaped the future of generations ahead, and was the collision of our beliefs, which led to issuing many policies and the burst of many disagreements, which were later solved with violence. His statement is valid because it interprets the situation the people where in, how they felt, and how the Civil War later affected people’s actions and beliefs.

Between the Age of Exploration to the end of the Civil War, the United States of America has undergone countless events, people, and ideas in which the history of the country was forever altered. However, out of all these moments in history, the American Civil War of 1861-1865, is by far the most important event in the United States. Known as the largest and most destructive conflict in American history, the Civil War brought into question what kind of nation it would become. The importance of the Civil War can be found in the conflicts, deaths, and questions that were created by this brief event in

Thesis: As the debate continues on whether or not we should keep confederate monuments and symbols displayed publicly, it is important that we recognize both the benefits and downfalls of removing these symbols.

The tensions of the Civil War are very much still alive in the Southern United States one hundred and fifty years after the Confederacy surrendered to Union forces to end the war. While the tensions may have mitigated away from full-fledged war between North and South, there still remain tensions along racial and cultural lines well beyond the war. In Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic these long standing tensions left over from the war are delved into by Horwitz as he makes his way across the south to see how the old Confederacy is viewed in the modern world of the United States. What Horwitz found was a dualistic society differing views on the Confederacy and the events of the Civil War. Dualities left from the war in aspects such as racial tensions, the meaning of the Confederate flag even between North and South entirely. Those living in the South can be seen holding a resonating connection to the Civil War. It becomes clear in Confederates in the Attic the Civil War not only became the catalyst of such dualities in Southern society, but still further shape and perpetuate these dualities long after the Civil Wars conclusion.

“It is a time when one’s spirit is subdued and sad,” wrote Mark Twain in his bitter, nihilistic satire on the post-Reconstruction era of the United States: The Gilded Age. “[T]he past seems a storm-swept desolation…What is the use of struggling, and toiling and worrying anymore?” Such was the mood of the late 1800s; the racism and prejudice that had festered in the pre-Civil War South had not abated, and progress in civil rights was undermined by indifference among Northerners and Southerners alike. The deep sectional divisions from the War had not yet been repaired, and the struggle between justice and unity was bloody and heated. The deadly tug-of-war between the two culminated in a win for unity; Reconstruction ended not with the blessings and consent of freedmen, but with a quiet compromise between apathetic bureaucrats.

When examining defining moments in history, one must first analyze what led to the central event. In this case, one sees that the years following the American Revolution were very important to the historical timeline. During the 19th century, two regions with very different beliefs strongly contradicted each other. This plagued the nation, ultimately leading to the decimating battle of The Civil War. It is evident that the rapid expansion of slavery during this time unfolded and ignited a series of controversies that were evident in the political, economic, and social problems that slavery’s expansion created.

The Preservation of the Confederate Memory lives on through the Robert E. Lee memorial in Richmond. Many historians have written about the monument of Robert E. Lee and his importance to the preservation of Confederate Memory. But, recently a major debate surrounding the monument has spurred an argument between two groups. One group wants the monument to be removed or relocated from its original spot in Richmond V.A. This group believes that it is an offensive symbol in support of slavery. The other group fights to protect the monument and its location because of its importance to the southern heritage. However, trying to understand the significance of the monument requires one to look through the lenses of both groups.

Before August 12, 2017 many Americans neither cared about nor thought about Confederate flags or monuments in their daily lives. On that day in Charlottesville, Va. was “… one of the bloodiest fights to date over the removal of Confederate monuments across the South.” (Stolberg) This tragic event brought light to a movement that was able to fly under the national radar until that fateful day in August, the removal of the Confederate flag and monuments. This paper will demonstrate the need to move the Confederate flag and Confederate monuments to museums where they can be displayed in the context of history instead of in the public square where they glorify traitors and insurrectionists as heroes. This will be done by providing a brief

Is it appropriate for states to display monuments to the confederacy? In today’s society, some think that the monuments of the Confederates’ finest and the flags they stood for should be removed from public areas. In Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017, violence erupted between white supremacists and counter-protesters who were opposing them (Confederate Monuments 1).These people believe that they are only symbols of hate and racism. The situation is still currently being debated but many cities are removing them to avoid conflict, which may not be as effective as the people who commissioned these ideas thought. The Confederate flags and monuments should not be taken away because they aren't direct symbols of hate, it's part of american history, and its part of southern culture.

The debate over whether to tear down the Confederate monuments or to let them stand has turned many peaceful protests into violent clashes, Jessica Suerth, a writer for CNN, reported that this debate started back when Dylann Roof intended to start a race war by killing nine African Americans at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. After that, in a recent white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counter protester was killed amidst the clash between the two sides the two sides. Since these two incidents, many have begun to question the reason for the Confederate monuments, the meaning that they have, and their value in today's society. Some believe that the Confederate monuments are here to honor their heritage and remind

In Confederates in the Attic, the author, Tony Horwitz, gives an interesting, historical, and semi-humorous take on the Civil War, taking us on his journey through places and people that resonate the Civil War, a journey he called the hardcore campaign of his own. Throughout this adventure, Horwitz’s obsession with the Civil War is supplemented by reenactors who call themselves “hardcores,” historians, museums, Daughters of the Confederacy, teachers, and battlefields, along with everyday people who express their views and knowledge of the War. As Horwitz takes his readers through his journey, he brings to light the idea that the Civil War is “unfinished” for many Americans. This idea is explained and discussed through many of his encounters.

When the flag was first adopted as the national symbol on June 14, 1777 it received very little interest or public display. Not until the outbreak of the Civil War nearly 80 years later did it become an object of public adoration to the North. After the Civil War the flag became increasingly visible with the commercialization of a wide range of products, modern advertising developed from the rapid postwar industrialization. It was then in 1890, union veterans began to protest the use the American flag in what they considered commercial debasement (Goldstein, 2006). They argued such commercial use would degrade the significance of both the flag and the patriotism among the public. Sometime after 1900 the threat shifted from commercial concern to being used as a means of expressing radical protest.

No discussion of the United States of America’s past can go without mention of its long-term struggles with racism and segregation. From the harshness of slavery to the Civil Rights Act of 1965 to the Black Lives Matter movement, race has often played a central role in American culture. We had an entire war over the belief that owning another human being and forcing them to do labor on the basis of skin color was just fine morally. Even though we are still be grappling with issues of race today, our culture is significantly different than that of the Civil War and Post-Civil War era in the United States. One way this culture can be preserved is through monuments, meant to capture a time or a feeling so that it can live on long past when the memory occurred. Or as Frederick Douglass puts it, “Memorialization is an act in the present that expresses our debt to the past and our gift to the future. In acknowledging the nation's ancestral benefactors, we enshrine examples that can be emulated by generations to come. Thus, memorialization accomplishes the task of cultural transmission (qtd. in Schaub, 1).” Monuments almost always transmit an aspect of a culture like Douglass stated, but often times the uglier sides of the culture is passed on, even through seemingly good intentioned monuments like the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial. Although some consider it progressive for the time, The Shaw Memorial perpetuates America’s history of racism through artistic decisions, separation of

The American Civil War was a clouded era where, by comparison to modern norms, judgement was ill evolved; during the American Civil War era, slavery was still acceptable in certain parts of the country. However, it was nevertheless a cultural turning point in the history of our nation. Our nation has not always been the cultural mixing pot it is now. To arrive to modernity, there are many factors that we ought to take into consideration so we can be knowledgeable about how we got to where we are today. In the past months, there have been events that have caused a big spark in the debate of Confederate monuments; such as the rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where protesters and counter-protesters caused a riot, and a big part of their fight pertained to if specific Confederate monuments should be removed or be able to stay. Some argue that Confederate monuments should be removed due to the very apparent connections to slavery and racism and also that times are rapidly changing. However, I argue that Confederate monuments should be preserved, but the monuments should also be evolving with our ever-changing society, in order to be honest about our nation’s past even if those memorials are somber or difficult to talk about. If we were to keep Confederate monuments we should add placards where it talks about specific events that will help with maintaining the education and learning of the American Civil War.