History is messy. Sometimes the interpretations of history get messier, even surreal.
Some protesters in New Orleans opposing the removal of the monuments of Confederates Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard, and Robert E. Lee displayed U.S. flags as part of their support for keeping the monuments. Does this display make sense? These men not only rejected any connection to the United States, they waged war to attempt to achieve a political divorce. What’s going on here?
The Confederacy has long had a strange effect on American consciousness and culture. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, Lee was acclaimed as a tragic hero in the North as well as the South. The martial romanticism of the period ignored the underlying cause for which the Confederates fought and celebrated their status as noble warriors. The war was so horrible that the collective consciousness was that such sacrifice and loss and dedication could not possibly have been for an ignoble cause. The piles of rotting bodies and the generations of enslavement were too overwhelming to be considered closely. The heroes fought for a “cause.” Whatever it was, the “cause” must have been worthwhile and decent because they were worthy and decent men. Those attributes seem to explain why they are revered as American heroes.
This spirit continued and was amplified in the 20th century with the enduring success of Gone With The Wind in print and film. Rhett Butler, a war profiteer and blockade runner, was depicted as a handsome, daring rogue. The spirit of the Civil War and the Confederacy as romantic adventure prosecuted by noble but tragic heroes found its way into the U.S. Navy. Four ships have been named for Confederate officers: the USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601), the USS Stonewall Jackson (SSBN-634), the USS Hunley (AS-31), and the USS Dixon (AS-37). H. L. Hunley built the Confederate submarine that sank with him on board before it engaged in combat. A subsequent Confederate submarine was built and named for him. Commanded by George Dixon, the CSS Hunley carried out the world’s first submarine attack when it struck the USS Housatonic in February1864.
Currently in the fleet is the USS Chancellorsville (CG-62), named for Lee’s greatest victory over the U.S. Army. Chancellorsville also was the battle in which Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was mortally wounded by friendly fire.
The purpose of erecting monuments and naming U.S. ships after Confederates—enemies of the United States—seems to be to recognize their perceived status as noble warriors rather than to remember the cause for which they waged war: the dissolution of the United States to preserve the “peculiar institution” of human slavery. This view of history is not shared by millions of Americans who see the monuments to Confederates as glorifying, even justifying the “lost cause” and the enslavement of humans.
Other ships have been named for enemies, probably because they were considered “noble warriors” too. USS Tecumseh (SSBN-628) and USS Osceola (YT-129) were named after American Indian leaders who fought wars against the United States. We are not, however, ready to name ships for Erwin Rommel, Isoroku Yamamoto, or Vo Nguyen Giap.
At least not yet.
