“Lee  -  Jackson  Day,  2004”  was  celebrated  across   the
Commonwealth  with  commendable attention to detail by those
who share a love of the South and its history.  This  year's
holiday  was  characterized by a number of occurrences, both
positive and  negative.   Governor  Mark  Warner  issued  an
official  proclamation  honoring  both  Robert  E.   Lee and
Stonewall Jackson, but there was vandalism to the statues of
both  Lee  and  Jackson on Monument Avenue in the Capital of
the Confederacy.  All of the several ceremonies held at  the
State Capitol were extremely well attended, but the mood was
subdued, one might even say somber.  Speaker  after  speaker
most  eloquently  extolled  the virtues, accomplishments and
legacies of two of the finest military leaders the world has
ever  known,  but  many  also expended considerable time and
effort demonizing our detractors and bearing witness to  the
ever  increasing  ranks  of our foes who, according to some,
now rival the Mongol Hordes.  “Our enemies are legion,” they
cry.   “We  must  fight  back.  We must be vigilant.  We are
vastly outnumbered, and soon all of  our  cherished  symbols
will  be in danger of being swept away.  The very things for
which our ancestors fought are  in  danger  of  being  swept
away.”  I  even  saw  a  headline  not  long  ago  that read
“CONFEDERATE FLAGS; OBSOLETE SYMBOLS OF A LOST CAUSE.” There
seems  to be a significant, albeit understandable, degree of
negativity and hostility within the  organization  over  the
recent   and   persistent   assaults   against   all  things
Confederate, and “gloomy,” I think,  is  an  adjective  most
appropriate  in  describing  the current mindset of the SCV.
But it need not be so.                                      

There is no doubt that there has  been  a  growing  movement
against  long-standing  symbols of our history and heritage,
such as the re-naming of schools, the re-naming of  streets,
and  now  even  the  Boy Scouts have become involved.  It is
quite easy to become disheartened and to become  preoccupied
with trying to discern “why,” but the answer is very simple.
It was quite powerfully stated by actor Robert Duval in  his
portrayal  of  Robert  E.   Lee in the recent movie GODS AND
GENERALS.  In one scene, Lee and Major Taylor are posted  on
a  ridge  overlooking  the  town  of Fredericksburg as Union
General Burnside is preparing for the attack.  Lee explains,
“There's  something  those  Yankees  do not understand, will
never  understand.   You  see  those  rivers,  valleys   and
streams,  fields,  even  towns?  They are just markings on a
map to those people, but to us,  they  are  birthplaces  and
burial  grounds,  they  are battlefields where our ancestors
fought, places where you and I learned to walk and  to  talk
and to pray.  Places where we made friendships, oh yes, fell
in love, and they are the incarnation of all  our  memories,
and  all  that  we  are…all  that  we are.” That sums up the
current attitude of our detractors perfectly.  Our  heritage
is nothing more than names on a building to those people.   

Now the fact that vandals defaced the monuments of Robert E.
Lee and Stonewall Jackson is indeed  disconcerting,  but  it
should  not  be  of overwhelming concern.  Vandals have been
defacing monuments for thousands of years and will  continue
to  do  so  in  spite  of all efforts to stop them.  However
monuments are temporal symbols easily susceptible to damage,
but  the  ideals  and heritage of our Southern ancestors are
unassailable.  They are the bastion in which we should  take
our  stand  and not lash out with idle threats, inflammatory
saber rattling and bellicose pontification.   If  we  as  an
organization  give the impression that the barbarians are at
the gates and the empire is about to crumble, what incentive
is  there  for  others to join our ranks?  I doubt that many
people would have been eager to book passage on the  Titanic
after  the  iceberg  had  been struck, and so it is with the
SCV.  I feel that the vilification of our  detractors  is  a
disservice to our Cause, rather we should take a lesson from
no less a personage than General Lee himself.  While  others
may  have  engaged  in  the  use of slanderous epithets when
referring to citizens and soldiers of the North, Lee  simply
referred  to  them as “those people;” a term devoid of anger
or contempt, and thus he maintained his dignity and won  the
respect of his opponents.                                   

If  the SCV is now viewed in a less than favorable light, it
is  because  “those  people”  have  done  a  better  job  of
promoting  their perceptions of our organization and what it
stands for, than we have of promoting the  facts.   Many  of
our  Compatriots  have bemoaned what has come to be known as
“revisionist history,” and there is merit in their argument.
However,  rather  than  stand  by  and watch the revisionist
historians re-write the past to their own liking or  to  the
completely  arbitrary standards of political correctness, we
should be pro-active in providing the  facts  as  they  are,
correcting the message rather than attacking the messengers.
Education, not retaliation is the key.  The vast majority of
the  general public is ours to be won or lost depending upon
how we are perceived, but if we act out  of  the  anger  and
frustration  forced upon us by “those people,” we do nothing
more than simply prove their  point.   One  of  the  keynote
speakers  this  holiday  lamented  that  the  SCV was losing
ground in the onslaught of our enemies, winning only  “small
victories”  in  on-going  battles  with  our adversaries.  I
submit THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SMALL VICTORY.  A victory
is  just  that,  a  victory.  Small things can have gigantic
consequences.  Confederate General R.  H.   Anderson  didn't
bivouac  his  troops  on  the  march  from the Wilderness to
Spotsylvania, but continued moving throughout the  night  of
May  7-8,  1864,  a  small  thing.  But by not stopping, his
troops won the race  to  the  all  important  crossroads  at
Spotsylvania  Court  House  and prevented Grant from cutting
off the Army of Northern  Virginia  from  Richmond,  thereby
saving   the   Capital   of   the  Confederacy,  a  gigantic
consequence.                                                

Rumors abound that  there  is  currently  a  move  afoot  to
discredit   the   SCV   in   an   effort  at  a  modern  day
Reconstruction.   Historically,  there   have   been   three
separate attempts by the federal government to “reconstruct”
the  South.   We  have   endured   Wartime   Reconstruction,
Presidential Reconstruction, Radical Reconstruction, and all
have failed.  Scholars and historians agree that  the  South
remains  “unreconstructed”  to  this day.  If Reconstruction
didn't work the first three times, I submit  we  are  in  no
danger of it now.                                           

The  SCV  is  a proud organization with a proud heritage and
there is no one who is filled with  more  pride  than  I  at
being  a  member.  But our emphasis must be on the positive,
and not the negative.  It should feel good to be a member of
this  organization.   If  the  barbarians  are indeed at the
gates, then let them come.  Robert E.  Lee  never  fought  a
campaign  where he commanded the numerically superior force,
however neither was he daunted by his adversaries.  As he so
emphatically  stated,  “You  know,  gentlemen, we have never
concerned ourselves with  being  outnumbered,”  and  neither
should the SCV.                                             

The  Bible states, “Be of good cheer!  Let the Heathen rage.
This too shall pass.” All things are cyclical, ebb and  flow
is a natural condition of the universe.  We have but to stay
the course and this current round of  “Confederate  bashing”
shall likewise pass.  I say now, take pride in your history,
take pride in your ancestors, and take pride in the SCV.  Our
ancestors  did  not  fight  and  die  simply  for  arbitrary
political boundaries and random lines drawn on  a  map,  nor
for  names  on  a building, nor for monuments made of stone,
but for ideals that were held sacred and for the respect  of
future generations.  They defined who and what we are.      

So  glory in your Southern heritage!  And even though “those
people” may rant and rave in their ignorance, theirs is,  as
Shakespeare  observed,  nothing more than “a tale told by an
idiot; full of  sound  and  fury,  signifying  nothing.”  No
matter  what  the  final  outcome of this latest exercise in
political  correctness,  our  battle  has  been  won.    The
Confederacy did not exist simply as an abstract ideology but
as a living entity; an entity that is still alive  and  well
in  the  minds,  bodies and spirits of all true Southerners.
Have  no  doubt,  the  Confederacy  survives  and  is   held
vouchsafe  in  the  hearts and souls of each of her sons and
daughters.  So long  as  one  person  remains  true  to  our
history  and  heritage, our flags will never be obsolete nor
our Cause lost.                                             

God Save the South and God Save the SCV!                    

					Harry