Lasting memories of the American Civil War (1861-65) challenge the view that ’History is written by the victors’. War leaders’ statues, in both the South (the Confederacy) and the North, were revered as those showing the righteousness of their particular cause. This photograph taken in 1890 of crowds at Robert E. Lee’s statue in Richmond, Virginia is evidence of Confederate supporters and their descendants re-asserting belief in their side’s noble and truly American cause. Statues of Confederate leaders were erected in their thousands even into the 20th century throughout the Southern states to maintain the glorious ‘Lost Cause’.
This recent Northern procession on Boston Common, Massachusetts, is honouring a local regiment and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, showing support for the fight to end black slavery, and for the Black soldiers who joined the fight for true freedom. In each region examining the wish to fund, dedicate and maintain permanent memorials to those who fought for ‘your cause’ also brings questions about the complex motives and memories of the American Civil War, and the impact on present day American culture and politics.
Does understanding the past lead to a better understanding of the present? An important question in American politics today, and certainly it will be in November 2024.
Dr. Rachel Williams lectures in the American Studies department at Hull University. Her specialism is 19th Century social history, and her research is concentrated on the philosophical and cultural views of combatants in the Civil War, and those working to help them and civilians. As this lecture indicates she studies how evangelical views as well as maintained memories are affecting the post millennium politics.