Yesterday, I posted a critical tweet about Washington and Lee University removing a plaque referring to the horse of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Traveller is one of the more famous horses in military history, an iconic animal associated with the Civil War. My tweet led to a few people objecting that Traveller had to go due to his association with the confederacy.
For years, a controversy has raged over the removal of historic statues and memorials from figures ranging from Lee to Columbus to Lincoln. Back in 2018, I was part of a discussion at the National Archives on the issue. Yet, there is little tolerance for any debate on campuses or even the suggestion that it is possible to preserve controversial historical pieces while learning from them. The same controversy has raged in other countries. Other universities from University of North Carolina to Notre Dame to Wisconsin have faced protests. The ever lengthening list covers pioneer figures to William McKinley to Mission Bells.
I am not an absolutist on the question and have supported the removal of some statues. However, I admit that my natural default is to preserve controversial memorials with the option of adding material to put the displays in a historical context.
The Board pushed back on the criticism and stated that the “campus is neither a museum nor an appropriate repository for Confederate artifacts.”
Perhaps this small squabble over a marker to a horse can offer an opportunity for a civil and substantive debate. Indeed, it would have been an educational opportunity for Washington & Lee University to hold a discussion or debate with a broader array of voices before ordering the changes.
In this case, the University (which is partially named for Robert E. Lee) removed a plaque to Traveller, who is buried on campus. The plaque read: The last home of Traveller. Through war and peace the faithful, devoted and beloved horse of General Robert Lee. Placed by the Virginia Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy.”
The Civil War is a major part of our history and Washington & Lee University is a prominent part of that history. The preserving of such memorials allows for the public to see the full historical continuum, including the painful chapters in that history.
For the public, and particularly for Civil War buffs, visiting such sites can offer a sense of authenticity and continuity to history. Universities have the added burden to not just preserve as much of this history as possible, but to place that history in a proper context. It can never be forgotten that Lee fought for the South in a struggle against slavery. The stain of slavery in our history is indelible and painful for all of us.
However, we can reflect that contextual history and preserve the history . . . and spare the horse.
The left and those it has indoctrinated are determined to destroy and hide our history. They no longer want to learn from it, and therefore we are all doomed to repeat it. They are determined to change history by erasing it and redefining it based on their current cultural beliefs. They have forgotten that times were different then and should not be judged on today’s standards. If we destroy all our history, then we are unable to remember and demand it never happens again. I am so frustrated by the ‘hate’ that is being fostered by our education systems towards a country that has helped so many. As I now, can clearly see the trees for the forest, ( backwards, but easy to see when you do your homework and listen to real news) I am disgusted by the ‘big picture’ that is emerging today. Our government has become so corrupt and money hungry, they are willing to maime, kill and destroy everything we have fought so hard to achieve, in order to appease and accept payment from our adversaries, and divide us all with their fake narratives of racial hate. SHAMEFUL!
Unfortunately Turley’s pleas for civil discourse will fall on deaf ears. The modern American progressive is an intolerant. illiberal, aspirational Maoist who will countenance no dissent and will demand that all history be revised and cancelled where necessary as part of an overall plan to create a one party totalitarian state. The complexity of the past is of no interest to them. American was evil in the past and is evil in the present and like any good Jacobin they support the elimination of our history, our institutions, and our way of life. Period.
Pretty soon Mr Ed will be described as she/him/they. Leave Traveler alone. He should be a symbol of loyalty.
The prog/left may think that they are erasing history but they are, in fact, documenting all those ideas and markers that the conservatives will find necessary and significant in continuing Western Culture. They are making a list around which the right will gather. Not that I am a fan of Robert E. Lee, but I understand that a healthy examination and explanation for our past is important. The progs think they are erasing history when all they are doing is creating hordes of ignorant, angry thugs who will need, eventually, to be dealt with in one form or another if we are to survive. The prog/left is creating an army of blinkered and obedient tools who will be directed in their rage against Western culture for no reason other than it needs to be eliminated before the prog/left can attain total control over us. The question is; how long will the conservatives wait before responding to this growing threat?
“The Board pushed back on the criticism and stated that the “campus is neither a museum nor an appropriate repository for Confederate artifacts.”
The Board is a museum of Roman History where brute force prevailed over their enemies. However, the Romans were substantial, something the Board is not.
“It can never be forgotten that Lee fought for the South in a struggle against slavery. The stain of slavery in our history is indelible and painful for all of us.”
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Lee fought for Virginia in a struggle against the national government. That is the accurate assessment from Lee’s own lips: “If Virginia stands by the old Union, so will I. But if she secedes (though I do not believe in secession as a constitutional right, nor that there is sufficient cause for revolution), then I will follow my native State with my sword, and, if need be, with my life.” The “South” wasn’t mentioned and his army was “The Army of Northern Virginia” with most of its campaigns there except for a very few notable exceptions.
As for slavery, it was a common stain on black, white, red and yellow peoples and well-subscibed internationally for eons. To blame America for a centuries old institution is like blaming Newton for the apple falling. Sure the US benefited from it but hardly invented it as some suggest.
IMPROBABLE IDEAL: “Indeed, it would have been an educational opportunity for Washington & Lee University to hold a discussion or debate with a broader array of voices before ordering the changes.” A civil debate while voices scream “racist” in the background? Seriously?
FANTASY at best: “The preserving such memorials allows for the public to see the full historical continuum, including the painful chapters in that history.” Since the “memorials” are often commissioned and sanctioned by very biased groups, would not the “associated historical continuum” be biased?
Case in point: The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).
The UDC’s stated intention: “tell of the glorious fight against the greatest odds a nation ever faced, that their hallowed memory should never die.” and “their primary activity was to support the construction of Confederate memorials” per Wikipedia (others as well). That amounts to a propaganda push for the ‘Lost Cause’ promoted by Gen.Jubal Early. Among UDC’s other efforts was a push “in demanding textbooks for public schools that told the story of the war and the Confederacy from a definite southern point of view.” And apparently those efforts extended to a memorial, of all things, a horse.
The South (most notably Richmond) debated about “historical context’ for their memorials for decades and essentially did nothing. And for all that time their black citizens were treated to the daily experience of seeing memorials to the men that had, in Article I of their Confederate Constitution, the declared right to own their ancestors. Such circumstances were not only a lost “educational opportunity” in history on a grand scale, they were insulting and degrading to those citizens.
What lessons are to be learned? The purpose of any “memorials” should be questioned at the outset of proposals and the questioners should be highly skeptical of any such endeavor. And that is the point where “discussion or debate with a broader array of voices” should take place in order to be reflective and effective. Once these “memorials” are in place, it would be likely that only under distressing circumstances that they would be removed…circumstances that would likely not be conducive to civil “discussion or debate”. If you need to give a horse a “memorial”, make it a footnote and not a monument so that it does not become a distorted issue at a later date.
First time in istory horse’s arses conspired against the horse.
Please don’t tell any of the students or faculty at Washinton & Lee University where Rin Tin Tin is buried or they will tear down his marker as well. I mean he was a German Shepherd so he had to be a Nazi fascist dog right ?
Dear Prof Turley,
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.
*Ukraine replaces Soviet-era hammer and sickle symbol with a trident on Kyiv statue .. . removing the last vestiges memorializing the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in Ukraine during WWII.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-replaces-soviet-era-hammer-and-sickle-symbol-with-a-trident-on-kyiv-statue/ar-AA1eUoGr
All totalitarian regimes try to wipe out history and cherry-pick the past to bolster their symbolic power. Whether it’s US leftist-liberals who indiscriminately hate all US history, or Ukrainian Nazis who rededicate streets and public spaces to their Nazi forefather, Stepan Bandera, the tactic is the same. Tear down the past and restart history with year 0.
Really?
If there is something to be canceled woke leftists will find a way to do it. Even if it is as absurd as canceling a . . . horse.
Just when I did not think woke leftists could get any dumber, they find a way to prove me wrong.
“The Board pushed back . . . and stated that the “campus is neither a museum . . .'”
So academia is *not* the place for students to learn about history (warts and all)?
The barbarians are not at the gates; they are manning the gates.
I demand that Egypt tear down the pyramids!
The great Cicero, one of the giants of history, had a slave. PS. not a black slave, not a Jewish slave, but a slave nonetheless.
“It can never be forgotten that Lee fought for the South in a struggle against slavery. The stain of slavery in our history is indelible and painful for all of us.”
Historically it has been that the victors determine the context of what happened. The south lost. Historically they shouldn’t be romanticized as “the good ol’ days”.
Ironically in Florida they are actively trying to avoid the uncomfortable reality of the horribleness that was slavery by making it as benign and comfortable to those uncomfortable with the idea that it was that bad. They just made it a requirement to tell students how slavery was beneficial to slaves because it provided them with…skills.
“Anonymous” lying about Florida again. Politics makes people silly and it makes silly people dumb.
Ignorance prevails in the comments of this anonymous. Florida’s educational system keeps improving and that makes anonymous look bad.
In this, they are entitled to the back end of the horse only . It’s all they deserve. Make it so!!
We need De Santis policies on what tax payer funded colleges can do or not do.
DeSant who?
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell
Re-litigating the Civil War in 2024 is among the stupidest issues ever invented by morons and the moron media.
Now the WokeMob has come to persecute sweet and innocent animals. I used to think everyone loved horses. Guess not. Apparently poor old Traveler was just blowing away on that proverbial dog whistle (the Left hates dogs too) by giving General Lee a ride during the great ordeal of our last Civil War.
With this sort of thinking we’ll be plunged into another one soon! Good grief. Somebody needs to squash the nasty bug that just crawled onto this forum.
Have these people so little to do – no jobs, no family or friends to spend time with, that their idleness leads to the mischief of erasing an animal from history? Will they next dig up Traveller’s bones to hang him for his “crimes?”
I guess their hobbies are finding anything and everything historical and destroying it to the extent possible.
They’re kind of like the Taliban, of course, tearing down cultural artfiacts to suit their anorexically narrow minds’ limited compass.
Erasing history so that no one can learn from it. Here is a modest idea: Do away with the Democrat Party, the party of slavery, Jim Crow, the KKK, etc.
It’s already working. Those who condemn Robert E. Lee prove their ignorance of history by doing so. The fact that he was the most deeply conflicted of the great military leaders of our nation after being chosen by Lincoln to lead the Union army escapes them entirely. The notion that he would have then been forced into the impossible task of war with his own family doesn’t occur to them. And his many warnings that the Civil War would ultimately prove to be a terrible mistake remain undiscovered by them. Their ignorance fuels their hatred, and it is so deep-seated that by by dog-whistling “Lee” they can even extend that hatred to an innocent horse. Because… slavery.