GAINESVILLE, Ga. — In the rich history of the American South, Alta Vista Cemetery in this town stands out as a remarkably thought-provoking site. It is the final resting place of General James Longstreet, a South Carolinian, West Point graduate, and Mexican War veteran who joined the Confederate Army in 1861 under General Robert E. Lee. However, what truly sets Longstreet apart is his post-war actions: he renounced the rebellion, advocated for the civil and political rights of Black individuals, and supported federal efforts to reform the South. Despite facing vilification, ostracism, and threats from fellow white Southerners, Longstreet made his home in Gainesville until his death in 1904, at the age of 82. Today, visitors to Alta Vista cemetery pay their respects to the general by leaving tokens on his headstone, such as coins, flowers, and even a Georgia state flag.
As the nation prepares for the next step in grappling with the legacy of slavery, rebellion, and the Civil War, attention has turned to the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. This 32-foot-tall bronze sculpture is set to be removed by January 1, 2024, according to the findings of a bipartisan national commission established by Congress in 2021 after the murder of George Floyd and widespread racial justice protests. The commission’s mission was to eliminate any “names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia” on Defense Department property that honor individual Confederates or the Confederacy. The Confederate Memorial at Arlington exemplifies this offensive category, with inscriptions referring to Confederate soldiers as “heroes” and imagery that sanitizes slavery.
Despite these findings and the planned removal, the Sons of Confederate Veterans have filed a lawsuit to keep the monument in place, citing its origins in a supposedly benign movement for sectional reconciliation in the late 19th century. In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, former Navy secretary and Virginia Democrat Jim Webb supports the preservation of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington, branding its removal as another example of “cancel culture” and the erasure of history.
However, the true nature and purpose of the Confederate Memorial tell a different story. While President William McKinley did allow fallen Confederates to be buried at Arlington as a conciliatory gesture in 1898, the design and funding of the monument were controlled by neo-Confederate organizations. Its purpose was to support the ideological underpinnings of Jim Crow laws, rather than promoting true unity and healing. The Confederate Memorial’s message of rebellion apologism and slavery denial is evident to scholars and even descendants of its sculptor, as six years ago, they called for the sculpture to be placed in a museum as an artifact of oppressive history.
Moving the Confederate Memorial from Arlington to a museum would be a long-overdue act of national reconciliation, similar to the spirit of General James Longstreet. Just as Longstreet abandoned outdated ideas and embraced the requirements of the law, removing the memorial would be a step forward in acknowledging the true history of the Confederacy and promoting a more inclusive and equitable society.
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