Statues and history

TO THE EDITOR:

We the ladies in the United Daughters of the Confederacy honor all American veterans, not just Confederates. We are proud of our 116 years of remembrance.

Wherever they sleep, they were our sons, fathers, grandfathers, heroes all who died far from home, and are represented forever by our country’s military monuments. Stop for a few minutes to appreciate those noble places and the sacrifices of those thousands.

Our local chapter owns the sculpture here, which is a proxy tombstone serving as a veterans’ memorial for those who could not return from war. It deserves respect. This is all we, the living, can do for them —never forget. We respect all American monuments, and stand tall, especially in these days of bullying, coercion, and vandalism. Stand against them. It is time for the vindictiveness to stop.

The Confederate soldier fought with honor, surrendered with honor, and abided the issues of their time with honor. After the war he came back into the Union equal with all Union men. He had suffered, but the southern women suffered at home as well; they all had to endure that awful reconstruction period, but wise people who read their history understand why it was a necessity then and why we today have to fight for our history to be passed on to teach the following generations how good and precious our life is now. We must teach to them the principles for which our fathers fought — Constitutional liberty.

But, does anyone really think that by removing our Confederate flags and our Confederate monuments now will prevent our continued loyalty to the Confederate ideals? Not at all.

Aren’t we in the same situation today? The whinings of the offended must not be the only voice. Encourage future historians to get all the facts. Keeping Confederate monuments keeps minds curious, keeps the history alive.

We in the UDC are historians and the first qualification for any historian is truthfulness. History is truth, and you must truthfully preserve and pass on the facts, even on the difficult topics. So all reasons for the Civil War are considered and not twisted to excite an unschooled populace.

Jackie Nichols Shreveport, Louisiana