After my lectures to the Raleigh and Outer Banks CWRTs over the last few days, I stopped to visit a few Civil War sites, some of which have been, shall we say, a bit controversial in the last few months. Some not so much, but the potential is there, of course.
The four pictured here, are, in Raleigh, the North Carolina memorial to Confederate dead; and the statue on the North Carolina statehouse grounds honoring North Carolina’s three presidents (Polk, Jackson, and Andrew Johnson). The one for Johnson says he “defended the constitution,” primarily against the 14th amendment, unfortunately.
In Richmond we visited the “Museum of the Civil War,” which was formerly the Museum of the Confederacy. This included a visit to the “Confederate White House,” which a fellow named Abraham Lincoln also visited for a few hours on April 4, 1865. The final picture is of the overwhelmingly large (clearly intentionally) statue of Lee on Monument Avenue.
Some day I’ll comment on the whole Civil War statue issue. But it is of some note that the “One Way” sign appears on the Lee picture. Here are the pics:
GENE SCHMIEL, CIVIL WAR HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, AND LECTURER 