Sons Of Confederate

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- This state has an aptitude for disgruntlement. It may have suffered more than any other state from the Civil War, but it deserved to, having done more than any other to ignite it. And even now, when it is a full participant in the prosperity of the country's southeast quadrant, it finds itself riven by an utterly optional argument.While most Americans are too busy making money to wage culture wars, South Carolinians find time to be at daggers drawn with each other over a symbol.

SIX SCORE AND 13 years after the organized killing ceased, the Civil War and its lingering emotions return today to Howard County, where the Sons of Confederate Veterans intend to hold a memorial service honoring vanished men and vanished yesterdays, and maybe not-so-vanished values.It isn't so easy to tell about the values.The Confederate loyalists will rededicate a Civil War monument placed before the Howard County Courthouse half a century ago and claim it has nothing to do with favoring the enslavement of human beings, while those actually descended from the enslaved will generally find this an outrageous and painful reminder of America's historic racist instincts.

A proclamation to declare Sunday Howard County Confederate Heritage Day and related plans by the local Sons of Confederate Veterans to rededicate a Confederate monument in Ellicott City have angered African-American leaders in Howard County who believe both events celebrate slavery and racism."

A ceremony to honor Howard County Confederate war dead went peacefully yesterday afternoon, despite about 100 protesters who felt that the event promoted racism and hatred.About 200 people attended the rededication of a 50-year-old Confederate monument outside the Howard County Circuit Courthouse in Ellicott City at 2 p.m. yesterday. They sang "Dixie," saluted the Confederate flag -- and listened to a speech that accused Maryland's secretary of state, John T. Willis, and Gov. Parris N. Glendening of trying to erase Maryland's Southern heritage.

A controversial plan to rededicate a Confederate monument in Ellicott City received another blow yesterday as Maryland's secretary of state refused to issue a proclamation he considered inflammatory.John T. Willis declined to approve a request by Sons of Confederate Veterans to proclaim tomorrow "Howard County Confederate Heritage Day," saying it would be "inappropriate" to issue a government proclamation that "unnecessarily inflames emotions and might divide rather than unify the citizens of Maryland."

When Bryan Green decided three months ago to organize a ceremony to honor men from Howard County who fought for the South in the Civil War, he says he envisioned a quiet, private ceremony at the site of a Confederate monument that lies behind the Howard County Circuit Courthouse in Ellicott City.Instead, the event has attracted the attention of activists, black and white, who believe the Sons of Confederate Veterans' ceremony celebrates bigotry and hatred. Four community organizers gathered last night at Guilford Community Church in Columbia to vent their anger and plan a protest.

IT IS THE right of members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and anyone else who so desires to gather peacefully and commemorate the rebels from Howard County who fought for the South in the Civil War.They plan to do so Saturday at a rededication of a Confederate monument near the Howard County Circuit Courthouse in Ellicott City.Many people wish the granite tombstone had never been erected on public property. (It was dedicated Sept. 23, 1948.) But it's there. And those who feel compelled to honor what it represents to them should not be prohibited.

An article in Saturday's editions incorrectly referred to the battle flag reproduced on Maryland license plates for members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans as the Stars and Bars. The Stars and Bars, with horizontal stripes, was the Confederate national flag.The Sun regrets the errors.You don't have to be a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to own a Maryland license tag with a Confederate symbol. In fact, you probably have one on your car right now.The stylized red and white cross that appears in the state seal and flag -- and on most Maryland license tags -- was a powerful symbol of Confederate sympathy in Maryland during and after the Civil War.Maryland men fighting in Confederate regiments often wore the cross on their lapels and incorporated it into their unit flags.

Growing up in Montgomery County listening to his grandmothers tell stories about his ancestors fighting and dying in the Civil War, Patrick J. Griffin III developed a curiosity that evolved into a lifelong passion.Although relatives served on both sides of the conflict, Griffin identified most closely with the South. Perhaps it was the fact that the Confederates were underdogs. But as he learned more about the war, his appreciation and respect for the sacrifices and the ideals of the Confederate soldier grew.

ATLANTA -- Like the drunk who runs into the very thing he's trying to miss, the South keeps tangling with the Confederate battle flag.Now even border states are doing it. Maryland has recalled the 70-some specialty license plates it had issued for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The plate featured the Confederate battle flag, to the instant outrage of many white citizens as well as black. State officials profess surprise at the reaction.Why surprise? Except when it's in a historic setting, no other symbol so surely inflames the nation's racial rancors.

Omitting Pete Seeger derails concert review While I understand the difficulty of writing a concert review and know that someone will inevitably be disappointed by a reviewer's failure to mention a concert participant, The Baltimore Sun's review of the inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial was egregious in its omission of the presence of Pete Seeger ("Musical messages of hope, faith," Jan. 19). While many Hollywood celebrities were part of the celebration, no other person was more deserving of that bully pulpit on such a day of celebration than was Mr. Seeger, who was blacklisted in the 1950s, marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and participated in the Poor People's March in 1968 at that same site.

Civil War sensitivity must run both ways I read with interest the editorial "A Civil action" (Nov. 21) which seems to confuse the "Stars and Bars" with the Confederate Battle Flag. The Stars and Bars is actually the first Confederate national flag. Mostly, it flew over Confederate government buildings during the war. The battle flag is the one depicted in the photo next to the editorial. Unfortunately, that flag has often been usurped by hate groups that share nothing in common with the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

I was dismayed to read that, after 20 years of hosting the groups, the Johns Hopkins University is refusing to allow Confederate Civil War re-enactment groups to rent space for their yearly ceremony ("Hopkins balks at Confederate banner," Nov. 20). As the wife of a Civil War history enthusiast, I know that the Civil War was about more than just slavery and that those who seek to celebrate Confederate ancestors are not also seeking to celebrate discrimination and bigotry. By including in its article on the controversy quotes from the NAACP condemning the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred, the newspapers boxes re-enactors and historical enthusiasts in with white supremacists and others who twist history to suit their political needs.

Every January, descendants of Confederate soldiers gather in Wyman Park to march under the banner of the Confederacy, sing "Dixie" and lay wreaths at the monument to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, legendary generals of the Confederate States of America. And afterward, for 20 years now, everyone has gone across the street to the Johns Hopkins University for coffee and refreshments, with some of the 200 descendants and observers still wearing the uniforms of Confederate re-enactors and carrying the flag.

RICHMOND, Va. - Two ceremonies were taking place yesterday with purposes as different as day and night, or North and South. One was the unveiling of a statue of Abraham Lincoln, the other a vigil in protest at the grave of Jefferson Davis. The statue of Lincoln, commissioned by the U.S. Historical Society, is in a park that was the site of Tredegar Ironworks, where tons of Confederate materiel were forged during the Civil War. The protest, by about 100 members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, was at Hollywood Cemetery, where many of the Confederacy's politicians and civic leaders are buried, as well as 18,000 Civil War soldiers.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- This state has an aptitude for disgruntlement. It may have suffered more than any other state from the Civil War, but it deserved to, having done more than any other to ignite it. And even now, when it is a full participant in the prosperity of the country's southeast quadrant, it finds itself riven by an utterly optional argument.While most Americans are too busy making money to wage culture wars, South Carolinians find time to be at daggers drawn with each other over a symbol.

A ceremony to honor Howard County Confederate war dead went peacefully yesterday afternoon, despite about 100 protesters who felt that the event promoted racism and hatred.About 200 people attended the rededication of a 50-year-old Confederate monument outside the Howard County Circuit Courthouse in Ellicott City at 2 p.m. yesterday. They sang "Dixie," saluted the Confederate flag -- and listened to a speech that accused Maryland's secretary of state, John T. Willis, and Gov. Parris N. Glendening of trying to erase Maryland's Southern heritage.

SIX SCORE AND 13 years after the organized killing ceased, the Civil War and its lingering emotions return today to Howard County, where the Sons of Confederate Veterans intend to hold a memorial service honoring vanished men and vanished yesterdays, and maybe not-so-vanished values.It isn't so easy to tell about the values.The Confederate loyalists will rededicate a Civil War monument placed before the Howard County Courthouse half a century ago and claim it has nothing to do with favoring the enslavement of human beings, while those actually descended from the enslaved will generally find this an outrageous and painful reminder of America's historic racist instincts.

A controversial plan to rededicate a Confederate monument in Ellicott City received another blow yesterday as Maryland's secretary of state refused to issue a proclamation he considered inflammatory.John T. Willis declined to approve a request by Sons of Confederate Veterans to proclaim tomorrow "Howard County Confederate Heritage Day," saying it would be "inappropriate" to issue a government proclamation that "unnecessarily inflames emotions and might divide rather than unify the citizens of Maryland."

When Bryan Green decided three months ago to organize a ceremony to honor men from Howard County who fought for the South in the Civil War, he says he envisioned a quiet, private ceremony at the site of a Confederate monument that lies behind the Howard County Circuit Courthouse in Ellicott City.Instead, the event has attracted the attention of activists, black and white, who believe the Sons of Confederate Veterans' ceremony celebrates bigotry and hatred. Four community organizers gathered last night at Guilford Community Church in Columbia to vent their anger and plan a protest.