The Memory of Johnny Reb

On a business trip to Richmond last week I decided in the little free time I had to try and poke around to see some of the city's history. Whoever kept up the John Marshall House did an outstanding job. The gardens are beautiful and the whole property is a fitting memorial to this influential, but unprententious great American.

The memory of Richmond's temporary status as a national capital (at least according to some folks) has not survived nearly as well. Jefferson Davis while chief executive of the Confederate States lived in that country's own version of the White House. The rear of that building has fallen into disrepair as the gigantic Virginia Commonwealth University hospital has grown up on three sides of it. Behind the Confederate White House sits the Museum of the Confederacy, a typically ugly 1970s looking structure more reminiscent of the Soviet Union than the Old Dominion. The effect created by the position under the towers of the surrounding hospital is not unlike the shoving of unwanted items into a closet.

Richmond has grown into a vibrant community striving to portray a new face of ethnic diversity and a dynamism fit for the 21st century. It obviously has tensions regarding its past role as leading city of the Confederate States of America. This need not be the case.

The memory of the Confederacy has suffered over the years from an oversimplified approach. People want conflicts painted in a "good guys versus bad guys" manner and the Civil War belies that. Although slavery played a role in the coming of the Civil War it was not the main cause. The rights of the states and defense of one's homeland mobilized many hearts to fight for the South. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was considered a campus radical in Virginia for constantly breaking the laws concerning the education of slaves. He opposed the institution as did Robert E. Lee. At the close of the war, a regiment of black troops in Confederate gray marched through Richmond. Slavery was a tremendous injustice and contributed to the Southern defeat, but it did not make Southerners "bad guys."

Northern heroism deserves just as much mention. Thomas Carskadon of New Creek among many others risked his life for the dual principles of the State of West Virginia and the Republican Party. It is fitting that both Confederates and Unionists receive respect and admiration for defending their countries and standing by their principles even when it meant sometimes sacrificing all.