William Chaney of Lothian in Maryland’s southern Anne Arundel County has not only purchased 40 acres of land adjacent to the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg. He has also paid a six-figure amount of money to erect a 24-foot tall statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, riding his horse Traveller. “I thought it important that the southern side be more represented,” he said.
This brings the total number of war monuments at this battle site to 105 – 99 Union and (now) six Confederate.
Mr. Chaney has also endured the politically correct coverage of David Snyder of the still left-wing Washington Post, who reports: “For some, Chaney’s statue … is an affront … a powerful evocation of the Confederacy at a time when the Old South’s symbols are under fire from those who say they glorify a dark chapter in American history.”
From there, Snyder goes to the Georgia state flag controversy, and then to the University of Mississippi’s disassociation from the Confederate flag in both 1983 and 1997.
But for some strange reason Snyder does not mention the recent vote of all the citizens of Mississippi – including a number of counties with black majorities – to retain their state flag with the Confederate Battle Flag in the canton.
Why did Snyder of the Post fail to report this?
At least he did not fail to report Mr. Chaney’s comment on protests of his statue (at the end of his story): “Political correctness that’s gone berserk. You have to have balance in history. You can’t tell history accurately if it is not balanced.”
And speaking of “political correctness gone berserk,” reporter Snyder also quoted the Montgomery County branch chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Henry Hailstock. Chairman Hailstock declared: “When you raise monuments, they are to glorify and to put into a place of prominence. The Confederacy should be remembered for historical purposes and understanding, but not glorified.”
This raises the questions of why the NAACP has been virtually mute about the hundreds of thousands of black slaves in Sudan and Mauritania today – while, instead, conducting their ridiculous ban-the-flag campaign. That and the NAACP refusal to recognize the considerable number of free blacks who were combat soldiers in the Confederate army.
Also questionable is Post reporter Snyder’s notation that the Lee statue was objected to by the Save Historic Antietam Foundation, because: “It is historically inaccurate, showing Lee in a place he might not have been, they say.”
That logic is memorable. Because Gen. Lee might not have ridden over that spot, the statue is historically inaccurate.
We hope very much that historic Antietam may be saved by a newly arrived determination of historical accuracy of much more than “might not have been.” For this kind of historical imprecision could justify a claim that the battle was really fought in nearby Shepherdstown, W. Va.
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