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"Great weather, if you're a moss."
Jul. 29th, 2008 07:35 pmIt's surely a sign that I am both a history nerd and a Southerner that I have not only a broad and subtle (if not particularly detailed) understanding of Civil War politics, but also fairly strong and nuanced opinions thereon. However, responsible scholar that I am, I'm quite aware that the perspective from which I study the events and symbols of the past is very much my own -- and I am as much 'of my time' as anyone else. Everyone needs a little reminding, though.
Last night I was wandering through Wikipedia (as you do), and stumbled across the Confederate State Flag of North Carolina. The left side is a vertical rectangle with two dates framing a large white star. The upper date was May 20th 1775; I didn't recognise the significance, but it was clearly marking some date from the Revolution. The lower date, May 20th 1861, is North Carolina's secession date.
Now, of all the states in the Confederacy, North Carolina had the most latent Unionist political sentiment. It didn't secede until all of the states surrounding it had also seceded, and, as though insecure in its independence, suckled on to the Confederacy the very next day -- a good 6 weeks before its brassier neighbour Tennessee joined up. Though, to be fair, Virginia was already in the CSA by the time North Carolina seceded, so this was strategically and politically canny; Tennessee still had a long border with Union states so could afford to sit on the fence, but North Carolina was surrounded. But the point is, despite a lot of hot-blooded excitement, especially among the young, one gets the sense that North Carolina's transition of political sovereignty from the USA to the CSA was one of deep reluctance.
The point is, seeing a flag with a vertical rectangle containing a date from the American Revolution followed by the date of secession reminded me of nothing so much as a tombstone. 'Here lay our collective citizenship in the United States of America: 1775-1861.'
... But of course, a closer investigation into the significance of those dates -- and, more tellingly, of the dates shown on the current flag, which replaced it in 1885 -- reveals much more a spirit of memorial than of mourning. 'These are the significant dates of our birth: first our independence from the British Empire, then from the United States.' May 20th, 1775, was the (supposed) date of the much-debated Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, when a group of concerned citizens of Mecklenburg County, NC, apparently declared their independence over a year before the Continental Congress got around to doing so. The other date on the current flag, April 12 1776, is that of the Halifax Resolves, which gave the state's delegates in the Continental Congress the go-ahead to join the swelling parliamentary movement towards an official declaration of independence.
In other words, the current state flag commemorates two events of Very Important Local Significance to do with the formation of the state as it was to become: as part of the United States. It's reasonable to assume that the older flag intended to do the same for its formation and birth into the Confederacy. Yet, at first glance, it still looked like a tombstone to me.
Last night I was wandering through Wikipedia (as you do), and stumbled across the Confederate State Flag of North Carolina. The left side is a vertical rectangle with two dates framing a large white star. The upper date was May 20th 1775; I didn't recognise the significance, but it was clearly marking some date from the Revolution. The lower date, May 20th 1861, is North Carolina's secession date.
Now, of all the states in the Confederacy, North Carolina had the most latent Unionist political sentiment. It didn't secede until all of the states surrounding it had also seceded, and, as though insecure in its independence, suckled on to the Confederacy the very next day -- a good 6 weeks before its brassier neighbour Tennessee joined up. Though, to be fair, Virginia was already in the CSA by the time North Carolina seceded, so this was strategically and politically canny; Tennessee still had a long border with Union states so could afford to sit on the fence, but North Carolina was surrounded. But the point is, despite a lot of hot-blooded excitement, especially among the young, one gets the sense that North Carolina's transition of political sovereignty from the USA to the CSA was one of deep reluctance.
The point is, seeing a flag with a vertical rectangle containing a date from the American Revolution followed by the date of secession reminded me of nothing so much as a tombstone. 'Here lay our collective citizenship in the United States of America: 1775-1861.'
... But of course, a closer investigation into the significance of those dates -- and, more tellingly, of the dates shown on the current flag, which replaced it in 1885 -- reveals much more a spirit of memorial than of mourning. 'These are the significant dates of our birth: first our independence from the British Empire, then from the United States.' May 20th, 1775, was the (supposed) date of the much-debated Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, when a group of concerned citizens of Mecklenburg County, NC, apparently declared their independence over a year before the Continental Congress got around to doing so. The other date on the current flag, April 12 1776, is that of the Halifax Resolves, which gave the state's delegates in the Continental Congress the go-ahead to join the swelling parliamentary movement towards an official declaration of independence.
In other words, the current state flag commemorates two events of Very Important Local Significance to do with the formation of the state as it was to become: as part of the United States. It's reasonable to assume that the older flag intended to do the same for its formation and birth into the Confederacy. Yet, at first glance, it still looked like a tombstone to me.
