UDC chapter lowers flag out of caution
The local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy lowered the Confederate battle flag over Confederate Square Thursday ahead of today’s scheduled demonstration on Arlington Lawn in Hot Springs National Park.
Hot Springs chapter President Margie Hill said city leaders approached her Thursday morning about lowering the flag, which they worried could become a flashpoint during today’s gathering. The organizer told The Sentinel-Record Thursday he wants to show support for preserving monuments to Confederate history.
The Confederate Square Group was the name
listed on the permit application the National Park Service approved, but Hill said the group is not affiliated with the UDC. She said the local chapter didn’t know about the demonstration until its discussion with the city Thursday.
“We were not aware of this fact until we were told by the mayor,” Hill said in an email. “Our UDC chapter did not apply for any permits to hold a rally.”
Hill said she didn’t make a decision about the flag until consulting with the UDC state president. The local chapter isn’t scheduled to meet until next month, so she was unclear on how to proceed without direction from the full membership.
The local chapter owns Confederate Square, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. It also displays the flag of the Confederate States of America, which remained aloft Friday.
“I said if our flag might cause a confrontation which could lead to destruction of our beautiful city, my hometown, or any person’s life, then I would rather see the flag taken down,” Hill said. “However, I believed I did not have the authority to make that decision. I think our local chapter members should be allowed to vote and voice their opinion.
“When we left the meeting (with the city), no decision had been made. I later made a call to our state UDC president, explaining what had happened, and that this rally will happen within the next 48 hours. Her comment was: ‘If you can avert serious conflict by simply removing that flag, then you have the right to make an executive decision to remove it without a vote by the other members.’”
Hill said the local chapter hasn’t determined if the battle flag will be permanently removed.
“It’s a temporary measure at this point,” she said.
City Manager David Frasher notified the Hot Springs Board of Directors by email Thursday night that the flag had been taken down.
“We made a few suggestions on how we might work together to reduce public anxiety about their monument, and we learned some things about their organization,” Frasher, relating what happened at the meeting with Hill and three other members of the local UDC chapter, told directors. “I’m pleased to report that effective this evening, they have removed the Confederate battle flag from the monument.
“Our primary obligation remains to keep the peace and protect life and property of all residents and visitors. This action might help just a little to that end.”
A memo Frasher sent the board Friday said the city had activated its emergency operations center at the Central Fire Station to monitor events tomorrow.
Hill said the monument at Confederate Square isn’t intended as an ideological or political expression, but as a memorial to the “common soldier.” The marble statue dedicated in 1934 depicts a Confederate soldier holding a rifle at his side.
“It does not glorify any general or famous Confederate soldier,” she said. “It stands for a man, much like my great grandfather, or yours, who was suddenly charged with defending his home, his family and his rights granted to him by the U.S. Constitution.”
Hill said city officials, citing complaints they have received about the monument, asked if she was amenable to relocating it.
“My answer was no,” she said. “It’s on private property, and ladies, long ago members of the UDC, worked many years to raise enough money to place that monument to a common soldier on that spot.”