Union Civil War Memorials

[ChicagoRonin]

It just occurred to me, shouldn't we doing all we can to recognize and honor memorials to the Union at this time? You know, the side that WON the Civil War? In our current sociopolitical context, it would appear they would make ideal rallying sites.

[shenmue]

1. Yes

[NCjack]

2. In Trump speak: I like winners, not losers. I don't like guys who surrender. nt

[Xolodno]

3. Absolutely!

Let's put a huge ass statue up of William T. Sherman in Atlanta!

[Historic NY]

9. With a match?

[Xolodno]

10. Nah...why be politcally correct...

...it is one of the things the alt-right complain about.

Lets give him a modern appeal...call it modern art.... and put a flame thrower on him that goes off from Nov. 15 to Dec. 21.

[flyingfysh]

4. there is a great Union memorial in Boston

It's right across Beacon Street from the State House, just on the edge of Boston Common. It is a memorial for the Massachusetts 54th, an all-black regiment, headed by a white officer, Robert Gould Shaw, whose family lived a short distance away on Beacon Street. It was created by noted sculptor Auguste Saint-Gaudens. In one battle in the Civil War, Shaw and a third of his men were killed, in South Carolina. There is a movie "Glory" about the Massachusetts 54th.

if you are ever in Boston, go see it.

[flamingdem]

5. yes!

!!

[Wolf Frankula]

6. Those who fought for the Union

fought to set people free, fought to defend the Constitutional order from secessionist traitors, fought for the rights of man.

Let them be remembered, and the traitors like Lee and Forrest be forgotten.

Wolf

[Throck]

14. They were drafted and forced to fight.

Just like Vietnam.

[Wounded Bear]

18. Not all of them...

In fact the first several hundred thousand who served volunteered, and in 1864, when their 3 year enlistments expired, most re-enlisted to see the job done.

Yes, many were drafted. But the over 100,000 black soldiers weren't.

[SweetieD]

7. How many union memorials are in the south?

[oneshooter]

8. There are both Union and Confederate memorials at the Vicksburg Ms. battlefield

https://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm

[SweetieD]

13. I'm not talking about battlefields or museums. I'm talking about in everyday city town squares.

Are there statutes of Grant or Sherman o n a horse posing proudly in somewhere in Georgia in the middle of a city town Square or college campus?

[d_r]

11. There are many union memorials

spread throughout Chickamauga battle field.

https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=3039F79A-1DD8-B71C-07DE3406A00137A1

[SweetieD]

12. I'm not talking about battlefields. I'm more talking about statutes. Like statutes of Lee

or Davis or other confederates. Are there statutes of Grant, Sherman, McClellan etc. In city squares? Maybe there should be to remind folks that the south lost and lost badly.

[Throck]

15. Aren't we glorifying war?

Many of those Union soldiers went on to kill indians.

[ChicagoRonin]

17. In some ways, but . . .

In the complex arena that is history, I believe we still should honor the contribution of the Union army and its leaders in defeating the Confederacy. That does not wash away their involvement in the Native American genocide. That does not wash away the fact that many in the North were just as racist as their brethren in the South.

I'm Japanese American. I believe Franklin D. Roosevelt should be justly condemned for authorizing the Japanese American internment. However, that does not mean he should not be honored for leading the U.S. through WWII, the New Deal and host of other progressive measures (even if some were flawed in implementation).

[TrishaJ]

16. There you go! Great idea!

Let's put up a giant statue of William Tecumseh Sherman on the grounds of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta! You know, the city that was burnt to the ground? That'll teach 'em! That should really unite us as a country!

[gratuitous]

19. A Sherman statue in Atlanta would serve a purpose similar to the Lee statues

Larry Wilmore had his take on the Confederate statuary in the public places around the South (and I tend to agree with him):

https://www.theringer.com/2017/8/16/16159634/larry-wilmore-charlottesville-confederate-symbols

Certain people in the Atlanta area might suddenly see Wilmore's point if a statue of Sherman went up in Atlanta.

[oneshooter]

20. And then lets put one up on each Indian reservation.

After all They lost to the same General.