TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog

Michael Goodwin (New York Post) has another, harder look at the New York Times’s ruling Ochs-Sulzberger clan in a new column. After recounting what he revealed in the last column, he goes on to show that a member of their extended family owned slaves. Bertha Levy (later Ochs) lived for a time with her Uncle John (her father’s brother), who owned at least five slaves. There is more. Goodwin again wonders why “such breathtaking self-righteousness” as the Times has lately displayed in things like their 1619 Project does not “include the responsibility to lead by example? Shouldn’t the Times first clean out the Confederates in its own closet?” Good question.

Although Confederates are in short supply these days, the statue wars continue. In Chicago rioters attempted to pull down a statue of Columbus but were met by the police. A battle ensued, which the cops eventually won, albeit with 18 of their number injured, some of whom were hospitalized. About a dozen people were arrested. As expected these days, a group of local politicians condemned sending in the police “to beat, arrest, and terrorize the demonstrators and journalists gathered in Grant Park tonight.” At least the press has stopped calling these riots “mostly peaceful.”

In the last post I mentioned that there had been attacks on statues of the Virgin Mary. Now they’ve come for Her Son. It is part of a string of anti-Catholic attacks recently.

Update: After first saying they should remain, Chicago mayor Lightfoot caved and had the Columbus statues taken down in the dead of night. Goodbye Columbus.

Michael Goodwin (New York Post) has an excellent article looking at the history of the New York Times, and its Confederate connections that it now finds so offensive in others.

… the Times has never applied to its own history the standards it uses to demonize others. If it did, reporters there would learn that the Ochs-Sulzberger family that has owned and run the paper for 125 years has a “complicated legacy” of its own.

That legacy includes Confederates in the closet — men and at least one woman who supported the South and slavery during the Civil War. In fact, Times patriarch Adolph S. Ochs contributed money to the very Stone Mountain project and other Confederate memorials the Times now finds so objectionable.

Adolph Ochs bought the struggling Times in 1897 and was the man who made it into what it is today. He was from Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father, Julius, had served in an Ohio regiment during the war and his sympathies were decidedly Unionist. His wife, Bertha, was a different story. She was a passionate Confederate supporter, who was busted (or threatened, accounts differ) for smuggling quinine to the Rebels. According to the story, she hid the contraband in baby Adolph’s carriage. At her funeral, at her express request, her coffin was draped with a Confederate flag. They must have had some interesting dinner conversations.

There is much more. Goodwin concludes:

In any other company …. that record would be fair game for the paper’s journalists, especially given the Confederate connections. In that spirit, it’s time for the Times to clean out its closet and live by the standards of purity it demands of others. For a thorough, honest examination of its checkered past, the paper should assign a team of its top investigative reporters to the project.

As they say, read the whole thing.

The madness continues all over the country. A statue of “Aunt Lucy” Nichols has been defaced in New Albany, Indiana.

Born in 1838, Nichols escaped from a Tennessee farm in 1862 with her young daughter, Mona, and traveled several miles to the Union line across the Hatchie River. She joined the 23rd Indiana Infantry Regiment as a nurse and followed them throughout the war, eventually taking part in the victorious Grand Review of the Armies in Washington, D.C.

Beloved by the troops who referred to her as “Aunt Lucy,” Nichols was the only woman to receive an honorary induction into the Grand Army of the Republic, and she was buried in an unmarked grave in New Albany with full military honors in 1915.

In other news, there have been calls to rename Indiana because it has “Indian” in it.

The Vermont Law School has decided to paint over a mural put up in 1993 honoring the Underground Railroad in that state because some people think that “the depictions of the African-Americans on the mural are offensive.” Apparently one of the problems is that it was painted by a white male. The artist, Sam Kerson, called it “thuggery.”

These days even the Virgin Mary isn’t safe. Vandals in Boston set fire to her statue.

UPDATE: A little something to lighten the mood from halfway around the world. There is a Lenin statue in Russia (yes, he’s still up) that has a problem with birds who light on his head and well, do what birds do. So the enterprising utility companies came up with a solution—spiking Comrade Lenin’s (bald) head. Unfortunately this made the Bolshevik leader look too much like an American movie character and the governor eventually vetoed it (I thought it made him look more punk). The article’s writer, who has obviously never heard of Antifa or BLM, says “birds are believed the worst enemies of monuments.”

The city of Asheville has done some boneheaded things but this time they’ve outdone themselves. The Vance Monument downtown, which I mentioned earlier, has now been covered with a plywood barrier and a shroud, to keep it from offending anyone until a commission decides what to do with it.

The mayor, Esther Manheimer, says that “People have a lot of different opinions, which is why I think it’s a challenging issue that requires a lot of different heads to think about what we need.” As you might expect, though, the fix is already in. In the city the commission applications are being handled by the Department of Equity and Inclusion, which tips you off right there. To even apply you have to agree to the following:

Do you agree with the call to remove and/or repurpose the Vance monument as expeditiously as possible due to the harm it poses, and to replace it with monument(s) that honor local African-American history and are created by African-American artists?

There are apparently no other options so far as the city is concerned. So far it’s cost the city about $26,000 and there will also be a stiff charge for continuing scaffold rental. If they decide to take it down (it’s 75 ft. tall) that will also be a major expense at a time of financial stress for the city. It is also probably Asheville’s most recognizable landmark. If I were in better health I might apply for a seat on the commission but I doubt I’d get past the “loyalty oath” above.

The irony is that it’s not really a Confederate memorial. Zebulon Vance did serve in the Confederate Army briefly at the beginning of the war, but resigned to run (successfully) for governor in 1862. He was NCs wartime governor and did an excellent job in a difficult situation—the state’s coastal areas were under Yankee occupation and the western end in more or less open revolt. Nevertheless he refused to suspend habeas corpus and kept the courts working normally during the war. After the war he served as a US Senator until his death in 1894. He was an important and influential part of North Carolina’s history, but never mind, he didn’t have the right politics for today and his monument causes “harm.”

A happy 4th of July weekend to everyone, and I hope you are all with family in this holiday and staying healthy.

The news keeps on coming faster than I can keep up with it.

The city of Richmond, I am sorry to say, has removed the statue of General Stonewall Jackson. At least it was properly removed and not torn down and desecrated. Like New Orleans, Richmond seems hell-bent to rid itself of its history, one of the chief reasons why people visit.

Up North the city of Boston will be removing the Emancipation Statue of Lincoln and a freed slave, a copy of the one in Washington. Fortunately the Washington statue is Federal property and the president has pledged to defend it and other National statues, and prosecute anyone attempting to deface or destroy them. True to his word the “ringleader” of the attack on the Andrew Jackson statue has been arrested. Jason Charter has been accused of masterminding the attacks on the statues of both Jackson and Confederate General Albert Pike. At present Trump seems to be the only one who is willing to stand up to the mob.

Meanwhile in the far West a mob has torched an elk statue—obviously a Confederate spy—in downtown Portland. Seriously, it just shows that once you permit this sort of mindless destruction, there is no end to it.

So far as I am aware no Democratic congressional figure has issued any kind of outright condemnation of this kind of behavior. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has allowed that statues of Washington, Jefferson, and even Columbus should be “protected” although he doesn’t say what measures the government should use. Too often we’ve seen politicians issue tepid statements like this, then let the mob do their dirty work.

Speaking of Columbus, last night a mob pulled down a statue of him in Baltimore and threw it into the harbor while the cops stood by and watched.

Protesters in Washington now want to remove the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park, which they for some reason find offensive. The statue commemorates the emancipation proclamation. Yesterday they held a peaceful protest but promised to come back tomorrow (Thursday) to tear it down. Since this is on Federal property this would seem to be setting the stage for a direct confrontation with President Trump, who seems to be about the only one willing to stand up to the mobs. We will see who blinks first.

DCs delegation, which sees it as “problematic,” also wants it gone. Never mind that it was paid for by the donations of freed slaves. How long before they go after the Lincoln Memorial, which has already been defaced with graffiti?

Speaking of Lincoln, Senator Tom Cotton quoted him in an address a few days ago.

I hope I am over wary; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill omen, amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. Accounts of outrages committed by mobs, form the everyday news of the times.

Mob violence in the 1850s, when Lincoln said this, was a precursor to the last Civil War. Let’s hope this round doesn’t presage a second.

Moving further afield, the statue of John C. Calhoun has been taken down in Charleston.

In Madison, Wisconsin, also no stranger to radicalism, a mob pulled down and beheaded the statue of Hans Christian Heg, a noted abolitionist and Union soldier who died at Chickamauga, then threw it in a lake. The also pulled down another statue, Forward, fire-bombed public buildings, and beat up a state senator who happened to be there. This was all done without serious opposition, and the governor has belatedly activated the National Guard.

This is proceeding as I predicted, but I take no pleasure in being right.

UPDATE: Now students at UW in Madison, WI, want to remove the statue of Lincoln on campus. “Just because he was anti-slavery doesn’t mean he was pro-Black.”

This is a post I wanted never to write.

I am sorry to report that a mob has desecrated the Confederate monument at the capitol grounds in Raleigh, NC. It began as a raucous Junteenth celebration and quickly became a riot. The mob brazenly entered the capitol grounds and began attacking the monument, trying to pull down the bronze soldier figures on it. The police made a token attempt to interfere and then stood aside, and the “demonstrators” proceeded, pulling down two figures, one of which they lynched—dragged it through the streets and then hung it from a lamp post. Although the mob made no attempt to hide their identities, the police made only one arrest. You can follow the whole sorry thing here.

NC Gov. Roy Cooper calls for 3 Confederate statues to be removed, including the remainder of the 75-foot Confederate monument at the Capitol.https://t.co/YFbjklAVHu

— The News & Observer (@newsobserver) June 20, 2020

I wondered what NCs governor, Roy Cooper would have to say about this bold act of vandalism. I expected some mealy-mouth statement deploring the violence, but instead Cooper totally rolled over. Now says he will take down the entire monument (which is massive), and just as a sweetener, all the Confederate monuments at the capitol as a matter of “public safety.” Not the safety of the public, but that of the rioters. He said he was

concerned about the dangerous efforts to pull down and carry off large, heavy statues and the strong potential for violent clashes at the site. … Monuments to white supremacy don’t belong in places of allegiance, and it’s past time that these painful memorials be moved in a legal, safe way.

He refuses to say who ordered the police to stand down, and why reinforcements weren’t called in. Cooper is a liberal Democrat who barely won his seat as governor and is up re-election this year, and probably feels he can’t alienate the black community by being seen to be protecting Confederate symbols. However the NC senate majority leader, Phil Berger, a Republican, wasn’t buying it. “I’m aware of only one person in this state who has final authority over state law enforcement. Did Gov. Cooper order the police to abandon the Capitol grounds? If not, who is in control of this state?” Good question. Or was the governor just letting the mob do his dirty work, saving him the time and trouble of going through the democratic process?

He appears to be using the same emergency powers rationale he has been using to keep the state on Coronavirus lockdown. He has chided “Reopen NC” demonstrators for not using masks and observing social distancing, and some were even cited or arrested. You can’t go to a bar, a gym, or even to church in this state, and restaurants are limited to 50% capacity, yet he has not said a word about the recent demonstrations and riots, and even briefly joined a march himself. So apparently the state is now at the mercy of the mob—you can riot and vandalize public property and no one will say a word, much less arrest or prosecute you. This is something you now see nationwide. The police have stopped trying to protect statues or confront the mobs. Which of course will only whet their appetite for something more.

Today the mob is lynching statues. How long before they come for people?

The Asheville city council and that of Buncombe county has voted to remove Confederate monuments here. Asheville has never been a hotbed of the Lost Cause, and there are only three of them—a monument to the 60th NC at Chickamauga, a plaque honoring Robert E. Lee, and an obelisk dedicated to Zebulon Vance, NCs wartime governor. The first two will be easy enough, but the Vance monument is 90 feet tall and must weigh several hundred tons. It is also right downtown and is probably Asheville’s most recognizable monument, as well as being a gathering point for demonstrators and tourists alike. Tearing it down will be costly for a city already strapped for cash because of the pandemic.

Mobs in San Francisco, always a hotbed of political radicalism, went statue-hunting also. Unfortunately the Bay Area is rather short on Confederate monuments, so they had to settle for a saint (Junipero Serra), the writer of the national anthem (Francis Scott Key), and General Ulysses Grant. Yep, Grant got the same treatment as his counterpart Robert E. Lee because he was briefly a slaveholder before the war. Never mind that he won it. Both Grant and Lee got their slaves the same way – by marriage – and did not want them, but no matter.

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington and a plaque honoring the all-black 54th Massachusetts have also been defaced with graffiti.

We do live in sad times. British sociologist Frank Furedi thinks we are in the grip of a mass psychosis, and at this point I am inclined to agree with him. This has never been about the Confederacy, and isn’t now. It’s about America.

This just in: Theodore Roosevelt’s statue at the New York Museum of Natural History will be coming down, and a mob attempted to pull down a statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park, next to the White House, but were stopped by Park Police.