Before we condemn Judge R. E. Baylor and Governor Sul Ross and tear down their statues, I think there are a few things to consider.

A 21-year-old man from a severely broken and dysfunctional family, who was on an anti-depressant with known side effects of violence and who was raised on violent video games for many years, has killed nine (9) people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. This is the same drug and video game profile we saw played out in the Columbine, Colorado; Aurora, Colorado; and Sandy Hook, Connecticut murders. However, we have no calls for restricting or examining psychotropic drugs or violent video games — no, we have an outcry to condemn and remove the Confederate Battle Flag from monuments all over this nation. Dylan Roof was no doubt a racist, and the people he killed were black. He was photographed with the Confederate Battle Flag. He is not the first, nor the last, unbalanced person to misuse that flag.

Many people today consider the Confederate flag to be racist. I do not. First consider what the War of the Southern Independence was about. The CAUSE was states rights and the ISSUE was primarily slavery. However, there were other issues that alienated the northern and southern congressmen. The Morrill Tariff was enacted on March 2, 1861. It increased the effective rate collected on dutiable imports by 70%. It was passed by northern congressmen and penalized the South. There was a total breakdown in appreciation of the different cultures and economies of the two regions. The end result was the Civil War. After secession of the 13 states, all men had to decide if they would fight or leave the state. Most chose to defend their state, their home, and their family. Some were not ardent secessionists. I have a great, great grandfather who was against secession and got into a gun fight with an ardent secessionist and killed him; but when the war began, he volunteered to serve his state of Mississippi as an officer. I have a cousin who was a Presbyterian rector. He joined as a chaplain to be with his parishioners as they fought, experiencing injury and death. Even if a man was against secession and the war at the onset, when Sherman made his devastating “March to the Sea,” many joined to literally defend their families and homes.

As we examine the horror of slavery, let us be careful in judging behaviors from 150 years ago by standards of today. The tactics of Grant and Sherman, if utilized by U.S. officers today, would certainly result in courts martial and life in prison.

When examining slavery today, no rational person can imagine it acceptable in any form or fashion. However, slavery is still actively practiced in Africa and Asia, yet we hear nothing from “civil rights leaders” about that travesty. We just hear about what happened here 150 years ago. While we examine slavery, consider this: No slave was ever brought to America under the Confederate flag. Every slave was imported on a ship flying the Stars and Stripes or another European ensign.

And who sold the slaves to the Americans? Black African slave traders who held fellow black captives from other tribes in the interior of Africa. Oh and by the way, most American Indians enslaved all other Indian tribes they defeated or captured. It seems to me there is plenty of blame to go around during the 80 years of slavery in America. The Confederate flag flew for only four of those years. I am also sorry to disappoint those who see Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator, but read the following quote:

“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races — that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.” —Abraham Lincoln, 1858

So you say if he felt that way, why did he liberate all the oppressed in the South? He freed the slaves for one reason only; for every fighting Confederate there were five slaves doing his work back home. Lincoln freed the slaves to make the Confederates go home. Lincoln’s primary goal was to preserve the Union.

Immediately after the cries to remove all of the Confederate flags, there also began a movement to remove all of the statues honoring any Confederate officers and leaders from state capitols, universities, and graves. I submit to you that most of those men who were honored with a statue were descendants of Revolutionary War heroes. They had attended the United States Military Academy, and distinguished themselves in battle in the Mexican-American War. Many have served as congressmen, state legislators, or university presidents before and after the war. In short, they had distinguished lives and careers of 50 or 60 years. Four years of that were spent in rebellion against what they saw as a repressive and unreasonable federal government.

I am sorry to resurrect the pain of tenth grade English class, but let us “compare and contrast” the lives of Ulysses S. Grant with Robert E. Lee.

Ulysses S. Grant graduated near the bottom of his class at West Point, a poor officer who developed a drinking problem and left the military very early. He then was a failure at everything he attempted including store keeper. He was brought back into the Army by the war. He served in the Western Theater with some success. Lincoln brought him to the Army of the Potomac after firing four other generals. In Lincoln’s words, Grant was successful because “he was the only general who did the math,” meaning because of superior numbers, Grant utilized massive frontal assaults resulting in death and dismemberment of 100,000 of his own men. This earned him the nickname “The Butcher.” After the war, he was drafted for president and presided over one of the most corrupt and scandal-ridden administrations in U.S. history.

Robert E. Lee, descendant of multiple Revolutionary War leaders, graduated 2nd in his class at West Point. Posted to the Engineers, the most prestigious discipline in the U.S. Army, he became a distinguished veteran of the Mexican-American war, a tremendous leader and career officer. When the war began he was offered the command of the U.S. Army but refused it to serve his state of Virginia. He was remarkably successful until Gettysburg. Lee was finally defeated by the superior manpower and armament of the industrial North. After the war, Lee was president of Washington College, now called Washington and Lee University. He was revered as a gentleman, scholar, and leader by both his friends and enemies of all races throughout his entire life.

We need more statues of Robert E. Lee in this country, not less.

Patriotism? I have heard that individuals that flew the Confederate flag are guilty of treason. Well, let’s review the statistics. According to the Heritage Foundation in 2007, 43% of all the people serving the U.S. Military were from the 13 Confederate states. I served in the U.S. Military for 22 years and 8 months and I think that number is low.

Some people who are most adamant about calling all Confederates “racist” may be unaware that over 13,000 black Confederates saw combat in the Civil War. Some were free and some were slaves. In that large group there were men that distinguished themselves in combat, such as Holt Collier, Louis Napoleon Nelson, George Washington Yancey, and Levi Miller just to name a few. Holt Collier probably killed more Yankees than any white man who served the Confederacy.

The Confederate Battle flag today is about heritage, not hate. It has been misused by some, but is cherished by many, including the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) to honor our ancestors who fought for a cause and defended their families, their home, and their states from a ruthless invader. There are Blacks, Indians, Orientals, and Jews in the SCV just as there were in the Confederate Army.

In 1906, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that considered all Confederate soldiers and sailors as American Military Veterans. They were extended burial honors and all recognition except a federal pension.

Be careful in painting the history of 150 years ago with too broad a brush; you may not know all the details.

So you can keep Grant and Sherman and the present-day federal government with oppressive regulations and excessive taxes. I will keep Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Sul Ross, Judge R.E. Baylor, and my brave ancestors. I will fly the Confederate Battle flag on Confederate Heroes Day, January 19th, as we continue to fight the battle against an overreaching federal government. We will continue our fight for states rights in the halls of Congress, not on the battlefield. The federal government has continued to usurp our states sovereignty since 1860.

Very Respectfully,

CDR Markham B. Dossett USNR (ret)
Sons of Confederate Veterans