They Came for General Lee

They came for General Lee, and before him General Beauregard, after which Mayor Landrieu got up and gave a long speech about what a fine fellow he was for erasing the city’s history. Seeing how the Crescent City is perennially broke, I’d be curious as to how much the removal cost, especially for police overtime, which must have been a considerable item in itself.

Baltimore is also considering the removal of its Confederate monuments. Like New Orleans, Baltimore is a city with a long list of problems, including crumbling infrastructure, riots, police scandals, corruption and much more. They seem to be at least considering the cost, although virtue-signaling seems to be more important these days.

Lee will be joined in the list of unpersons by Chief Justice Roger Taney. He was no Confederate, but wrote a judicial opinion that has since become unpopular. Even football mascots are not safe. Louisiana State University’s Tiger mascot is under fire because it, too, is somehow a Confederate symbol. Who knew tigers were Confederates, but hey, like Commies you just never know. I don’t doubt that the new mascot will be the snowflake.

Still, there are outbreaks of sanity here and there. The small Kentucky town of Brandenburg has taken a Confederate statue banished from the University of Louisville. I am familiar with Brandenburg, it’s just off Fort Knox and hosts a lot of military retirees. This is not to say they’re necessarily pro-Confederate, just that as soldiers who have served themselves they appreciate the sacrifices made by the common soldiers of both sides in the conflict.

Courtney Hamilton, in London, calls the campaign against the statues “anti-racism, ISIS-style.” Yup.

And make no mistake about it, this is just the beginning. Ask not for who the tumbrils roll. They roll for you.

Have re-read this post and it seems awfully depressing, so I’ll lighten it up with an account by the inimitable Fred Reed, who describes as only he can what it was like to be a Marine “boot” in the (19)60s. Not Civil War related but funny, and includes an encounter with the greatly feared Carolina Wampus Cat.