WEATHER ALERT
Biden bestows Medal of Honor on Union soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederate territory
Read full article: Biden bestows Medal of Honor on Union soldiers who helped hijack train in Confederate territoryA descendent of a Union soldier getting the Medal of Honor from President Joe Biden for conspicuous gallantry during the Civil War says it’s an opportunity for his ancestor to be remembered as “a brave soldier who did what he thought was right.”.
'Civil War' might be the year's most explosive movie. Alex Garland thinks it's just reporting
Read full article: 'Civil War' might be the year's most explosive movie. Alex Garland thinks it's just reportingThe new film “Civil War” is an ominous attempt to turn widely held American anxieties into a violent, unsettling big-screen reality.
'Civil War,' an election-year provocation, premieres at SXSW film festival
Read full article: 'Civil War,' an election-year provocation, premieres at SXSW film festival"Civil War,” Alex Garland’s election-year provocation, debuted at the SXSW Film and TV Festival, unveiling a violent vision of a near-future America at war with itself.
Nikki Haley doesn't mention slavery when asked what caused the Civil War. She later walks that back
Read full article: Nikki Haley doesn't mention slavery when asked what caused the Civil War. She later walks that backRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is walking back an answer she gave to a voter about the reason for the Civil War that didn’t include a mention of slavery.
Marjorie Taylor Greene hostile in testimony over eligibility
Read full article: Marjorie Taylor Greene hostile in testimony over eligibilityU.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was hostile during testimony in a hearing on her eligibility to run for reelection, saying she did not remember liking and making various social media posts surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year.
Treasure hunters sue for records on FBI's Civil War gold dig
Read full article: Treasure hunters sue for records on FBI's Civil War gold digTreasure hunters who believe they found a huge cache of fabled Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania are now on the prowl for something as elusive as the buried booty itself: government records of the FBI’s excavation.
Award-winning Civil War historian Stephen Oates dies at 85
Read full article: Award-winning Civil War historian Stephen Oates dies at 85Stephen Oates has died after a life that saw him become an award-winning Civil War historian who wrote biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton, William Faulkner and others.
‘Where our nation reunited’: Appomattox’s rich history in the Civil War
Read full article: ‘Where our nation reunited’: Appomattox’s rich history in the Civil WarSome residents consider Appomattox a small community including restaurants and outdoor recreation, but what’s driving a lot of tourism is what the area’s most known for -- its role in the Civil War.
Affidavit: FBI feared Pennsylvania would seize fabled gold
Read full article: Affidavit: FBI feared Pennsylvania would seize fabled goldAn FBI agent applied for a federal warrant in 2018 to seize a cache of gold that he said had been “stolen during the Civil War” while en route to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, and was “now concealed in an underground cave” in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Event spotlights untold history of local Black Union soldiers leading up to Juneteenth
Read full article: Event spotlights untold history of local Black Union soldiers leading up to JuneteenthYou don’t have to be a history buff to get reeled into “Fighting for Freedom: Black Union Soldiers from Rockbridge”.
Emails: FBI was looking for gold at Pennsylvania dig site
Read full article: Emails: FBI was looking for gold at Pennsylvania dig siteFILE-This Sept. 20, 2018 file photo, Dennis Parada, right, and his son Kem Parada stand at the site of the FBI's dig for Civil War-era gold in Dents Run, Pennsylvania. Government emails released under court order show that FBI agents were looking for gold when they excavated Dent's Run in 2018, though the FBI says that nothing was found. FBI agents were looking for an extremely valuable cache of fabled Civil War-era gold — possibly tons of it — when they excavated a remote woodland site in Pennsylvania three years ago this month, according to government emails and other recently released documents in the case. The legal maneuvering generated emails between Newton and Audrey Miner, chief lawyer for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. It's indicative, it's suggestive, but it can’t prove it.”To prove it, the FBI needed to dig.
Some in the GOP parrot far-right talk of a coming civil war
Read full article: Some in the GOP parrot far-right talk of a coming civil warSome leftists have used similar language, which Republicans have likened to advocating a new civil war. “At the time of the Civil War, this took the form of Southern white men angry at the idea that the federal government would interfere with their right to own Black slaves. “The favorite son of this city was murdered because of a civil war as he was president. She resigned after she was barraged by calls from Trump supporters, some of whom demanded a military coup to keep Trump in office “no matter what it takes." Silber, the Civil War historian, said she is worried the attack on the Capitol wasn't the last stand for enraged Trump supporters.
We cant undo our history': VMI to address racism, inequality without removing Confederate monuments
Read full article: We cant undo our history': VMI to address racism, inequality without removing Confederate monumentsLEXINGTON, Va. Statues and buildings scatter the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), commemorating those who fought for the south during the Civil War. However, institute leaders plan to take action to address and fight racism. VMI Director of Communications and Marketing, Col. Bill Wyatt, said the military college cant erase its past and doesnt want to. VMI does not define itself by our statues or by any of the things that we have on Post. We want to be able to recruit faculty, qualified faculty and diversify the faculty, as well.In a letter, VMI Superintendent Ret.
Lee descendant urges official removal of Confederate statues
Read full article: Lee descendant urges official removal of Confederate statues(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Democratic lawmakers and others urged official removal of Confederate monuments at the center of a politically fraught national debate, saying Tuesday that slow action was leading protesters to try to topple statues of defenders of slavery themselves. A descendant of Confederate military commander Robert E. Lee was among those joining Black historians at a hearing of the House subcommittee on national parks, forests and public lands to urge passage of legislation addressing Confederate statues at national parks and other federal sites. One of the bills would remove a statue of Lee erected this century at the battlefield of Antietam, the site of the deadliest day of fighting in the Civil War. Robert W. Lee IV, a descendant of the Souths military leader in the Civil War, cited his forebears testimony before Congress after the Civil War as evidence of the Confederate leader's unfitness for commemorative monuments. Trump increasingly has come out in defense of the Confederate statues and other historical tributes to the Civil Wars defeated side.
Confederate statue being moved at University of Mississippi
Read full article: Confederate statue being moved at University of MississippiFILE - In this Feb. 23, 2019 file photo a Confederate soldier monument stands at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. A Confederate monument thats been a divisive symbol at the University of Mississippi was being removed Tuesday from a prominent spot on the Oxford campus. Its not going to create a shrine to the Confederacy, University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce told The Associated Press on June 24 at the state Capitol. Since 2016, the university has installed plaques to provide historical context about the Confederate monument and about slaves who built some campus buildings before the Civil War. A plaque installed at the base of the Confederate statue says such monuments were built across the South decades after the Civil War, at a time that aging Confederate veterans were dying.
AP Explains: Confederate flags draw differing responses
Read full article: AP Explains: Confederate flags draw differing responsesFILE - In this Friday, July 3, 2020, file photo, Civil War reenactors marching with Confederate battle flags during their reenactment of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)Public pressure amid protests over racial inequality forced Mississippi to furl its Confederate-inspired state flag for good, yet Georgias flag is based on another Confederate design and lives on. The Confederate States of America had three different national flags during its brief existence from 1861 through 1865, and multiple other flags were used by individual states, army and naval groups. CONFEDERATE NATIONAL FLAGS LARGELY FORGOTTENWhile the battle flag is recognized almost universally as the Confederate flag, its association with hate and white supremacy has taken a toll. Meanwhile, Confederate national flags like the Stainless Banner and the Blood-Stained Banner" or the unofficial Bonnie Blue Flag are virtually unknown to many.
Race relations in Wisconsin capital are a tale of 2 cities
Read full article: Race relations in Wisconsin capital are a tale of 2 cities(Emily Hamer/Wisconsin State Journal via AP File)MADISON, Wis. In this college town that considers itself a bastion of progressive politics and inclusion, race relations are really a tale of two cities. Madison is a wonderful place, but it is a tale of two cities, said former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, who is Black. Heg was an Norwegian immigrant who became an anti-slavery activist and a colonel in the 15th Wisconsin Regiment. The Forward statue represented Wisconsin at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He called toppling the statues a setback for the Black rights movement but said there's no denying racial inequities in Madison.
5 years after church massacre, S Carolina protects monuments
Read full article: 5 years after church massacre, S Carolina protects monumentsHe also left behind pictures of himself holding the gun used in the killings, posing at historic Civil War and African American sites and holding the Confederate flag. Outraged political leaders came together and overwhelmingly voted to take down a Confederate flag that flew near a monument to Confederate soldiers on the Statehouse lawn. The law protects all historical monuments and names of buildings, requiring a two-thirds vote from the state General Assembly to make any changes. The president of the University of South Carolina wants lawmakers to let the school remove the name of J. Marion Sims from a women's dorm. The time has come to take down the monuments that honor the evil that was done in the name of Charleston, in the name of South Carolina," Rivers said Tuesday at the foot of Calhoun's statue.
A dozen Confederates are honored with US Capitol statues
Read full article: A dozen Confederates are honored with US Capitol statuesHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is calling to have the statues of Confederates removed from the Capitol, though she cannot do so unilaterally. Each of the 50 states is allowed by law to place two statues in the collection. LOUISIANAEdward Douglass White (1955) -- He was a teenager when he enlisted in the Confederate army, only to be captured a short time later. SOUTH CAROLINAWade Hampton (1929) -- A state lawmaker before the war, he rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate army. WEST VIRGINIAJohn Kenna (1901) -- He was wounded at 16 while serving in the Confederate army and would later become a congressman and senator.
NFL plans to observe Juneteenth as league holiday
Read full article: NFL plans to observe Juneteenth as league holidayThe NFL plans to recognize Juneteenth as a league holiday. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the announcement to league employees on Friday in an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. Juneteenth is considered the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. Colin Kaepernick began raising awareness for these problems by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016. Juneteenth not only marks the end of slavery in the United States, but it also symbolizes freedom a freedom that was delayed, and brutally resisted; and though decades of progress followed, a freedom for which we must continue to fight.___More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
HBO Max removes 'Gone With the Wind,' will add context
Read full article: HBO Max removes 'Gone With the Wind,' will add contextNEW YORK HBO Max has temporarily removed Gone With the Wind from its streaming library in order to add historical context to the 1939 film long criticized for romanticizing slavery and the Civil War-era South. Protests in the wake of George Floyd's death have forced entertainment companies to grapple with the appropriateness of both current and past productions. The BBC also removed episodes of Little Britain," a comedy series that featured a character in blackface, from its streaming service. "These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible, said an HBO Max spokesman in a statement. Gone With the Wind has long been denounced for featuring slave characters who remain loyal to their former owners after the abolition of slavery.
Lee monument doesn’t belong in public space, says history professor
Read full article: Lee monument doesn’t belong in public space, says history professorRICHMOND, Va. – As Virginia moves forward with the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, one professor of history education says it doesn't belong in a public space. Dr. Gabriel Reich says the ‘Lost Cause’ narrative began after the Civil War. He said knowing what we know now, the Confederate statue doesn’t belong on public property. “When we allow the continued presence of monuments in our public spaces that are hostile to a large portion of our population, and in this case African Americans in Virginia, that we are sending a message about who counts and whose voices count in our public spaces. Five of the six statues on Monument Avenue pay tribute to the Confederacy.
Virginia Tech community remembers Bud Robertson Jr., beloved professor and historian
Read full article: Virginia Tech community remembers Bud Robertson Jr., beloved professor and historianBLACKSBURG, Va. - A longtime local college professor is being remembered for his knowledge about the Civil War. Bud Robertson Jr. died over the weekend. A colleague said Robertson had great knowledge of the Civil War and was loved by generations of Hokies. "Not only did he teach those students, in many cases, he transformed their understanding of American history," said Dr. Paul Quigley, the director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. I still get students in my class whose parents took civil war history with Dr. Robertson and whose parents have fond memories of him."
Army proposes changes to rules on who can be buried in Arlington
Read full article: Army proposes changes to rules on who can be buried in ArlingtonPresident Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump paid their respects to fallen American troops during an unannounced visit to Arlington National Cemetery ahead of Memorial Day. (CNN) - Faced with a shortage of burial spaces, the US Army announced Wednesday that it has proposed changes to the eligibility criteria for internment at Arlington National Cemetery. The Army said in a statement that while Arlington National Cemetery "continues to look for ways to expand, that alone will not solve the existing demand for burial space." "Arlington National Cemetery is a national shrine for all Americans, but especially those who have served our great nation," acting Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy said in the statement announcing the proposed rule change. The Army said that the proposed changes were the product of a two and a half year process that involved "public outreach and surveys -- including feedback from veterans and military service organizations."
Cannonball From Civil War Found Lodged in Missouri Tree
Read full article: Cannonball From Civil War Found Lodged in Missouri TreeRemnants of a Civil War battle in Independence, Missouri, were uncovered earlier this week by a local tree service that deemed an old tree needed to be taken apart for safety purposes. Jeff Eastham of Jeffs Tree Services said he was sent to the home because he was told the tree posed a danger to the rest of the local landscape. In fact, homeowner Randall Pratt said this isnt the first time a cannonball was found on the property. During another renovation in 1980, the family found a cannonball lodged inside the structure of the house. It was a part of the tree for at least 157 years and it will stay with the house, he said.
Controversial Civil War statue in Virginia vandalized again
Read full article: Controversial Civil War statue in Virginia vandalized againCHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - A controversial Civil War statue has been vandalized once again. The statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville's Market Street Park has been vandalized. This time, someone spray-painted "1619" on the base of the statue, which is the year slavery began in the United States. The vandalism happened after a three-day civil trial concluded Friday with a Virginia judge ruling that has blocked the city's effort to remove the Confederate statue. The statue was last vandalized in July.
Jefferson Davis' name removed from arch at Va. fort
Read full article: Jefferson Davis' name removed from arch at Va. fortThe letters on the double-arched gate to Jefferson Davis Memorial Park at Fort Monroe were removed Friday. The name of Confederate President Jefferson Davis has been removed from an arch at the Fort Monroe historic site in Hampton, Virginia. "Fort Monroe is where the first enslaved Africans arrived on our shores in 1619," Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam tweeted on Friday -- the same day letters spelling out "Jefferson Davis Memorial Park" were taken down by workers. Oder told WAVY-TV the letters will be preserved as part of a Jefferson Davis exhibit at the Casement Museum on the site.