Jun 7, 2023 2 min read

Confederate soldiers should not be honored

An Associated Press article that appeared in the May 27 edition of the Observer-Reporter outlined some Memorial Day controversies. Despite mentioning the Civil War, it missed perhaps the most relevant and controversial issue – whether the United States should honor soldiers who fought for the Confederacy.

Although it is true that Confederates were legally pardoned for their crimes, history and decency suggest that Confederates should not be celebrated. This should apply to leaders like Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, along with the soldiers who bought into the treasonous rhetoric of their leaders and killed fellow Americans.

At the time of the Civil War, there was some ambiguity about the legal status of the Confederacy. Was it legal for Confederate states to secede from the United States? Probably not at the time, and currently it is almost certainly illegal to unilaterally secede from the United States. This means that Confederates most likely fought as traitors.

The “Lost Cause” rewriting of Civil War history makes the actions of the Confederates seem less treasonous, if not actually noble. The Lost Cause posits that the Union was the aggressor, and calls the Civil War “The War against Northern Aggression.” The Lost Cause denies that slavery was the cause of the war, despite contemporaneous documents and speeches that clearly stated that maintaining slavery was the reason for the treason. Hence, vague references to states’ rights are offered as a cause of the Civil War.

The Lost Cause also claims that slaves were treated well and enjoyed their status as property. Furthermore, the Lost Cause casts the Confederacy as noble. Every American should ask, “What is noble about killing fellow Americans to preserve the right to own people as property?”

Lost Cause mythology has influenced how many Americans view the Civil War. It appears to be a hard thing to admit for the descendants of Confederates or those sympathetic to them that they committed treason. However, a country needs to confront its history to progress as a society, especially in a diverse democracy such as ours.

John Moretti

Claysville