Let’s Demolish All of Our Symbols of Treason…
One thing that gets confused in these Civil War discussions is the distinction between ‘secession’ and ‘treason’. The Confederacy was indeed overtly secessionist — no one would deny that — but the treason claim is a bit more problematic.
The Confederacy debated back and forth whether or not to encourage foreign participation — the critical component in a charge or treason — in the Civil War, but it ultimately remained a specifically inter-American conflict.
Not just that but, unlike the US Navy which was directly funded and maintained by the FedGov, US Army units through most of the 19th Century were mustered by the states from among their residents. Read the Order of Battle for most Civil War engagements and most of the units — both Union and Confederate — were associated with states (Chamberlain’s 20th Maine is probably the best known).
This is one of the reasons why Lincoln and Grant ultimately decided against levying Treason charges against the Confederates, it was legally unclear where precisely the individual’s obligations lay — instead, they immediately pardoned anyone who surrendered and even allowed officers to keep their sidearms.
And, lest one think I’m merely stating my own opinion here, no less an authority than Dwight D Eisenhower said much the same in a reply to someone who wondered why Ike kept a portrait of General Lee in the Oval Office while he was president:
Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War between the States the issue of secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.
General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was a poised and inspiring leader, true to the high trust reposed in him by millions of his fellow citizens; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his faith in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.
From deep conviction, I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s calibre would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the Nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.
Of course including in that in my post has probably numbered General Eisenhower alongside Columbus, Custer and others on the Damnatio Memoriae list being complied by the SJW faction.