Should statues stand?

The old saying goes “If you do not know history, you are bound to repeat it”. Statues of famous people and events are being decimated, desecrated, and destroyed across our great nation. Is that a good thing? Some rioters think it is. My appeal to the statue destroyers is “before you spray paint to disfigure and topple statues in our land, first learn their history. If not, you and your children will eventually see the erasure of issues for which you are protesting”. 

There is a distinction between protesters and rioters. Protestors are people who have joined to protest current laws or events. Their purpose is to change laws and situations according to their convictions. In America we believe in free speech. Protestors are certainly entitled to state their case, as are all of us. Their free speech is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 

Rioters are different. They are a mob who use power, intimidation and violence to enforce their wants. They destroy, loot, burn, deface anything with which they disagree. Statues, murals, paintings, names of towns and streets are on their hit list.

I must make a confession. I am a history nut. Here are some of the historical facts pertaining to the current “statue removal” of Ulysses S. Grant and the desecration of the statue of Andrew Jackson. 

Ulysses S. Grant married Julia Dent in 1848. Even though Grant opposed slavery, his Father-in-law gave him a slave as a wedding gift. Ulysses was unsuccessful in his business pursuits and began living on poor street. He was offered an extraordinary price for his slave. Grant however, shockingly signed freedom papers and set the slave free. 

Ulysses later in 1861 became an officer in the Union Army in the civil war. Due to his military brilliance he became General of the Union army. He was President Lincoln’s “The Man” to preserve the Union and bring emancipation for slaves. Under Grant and other officers, the Northern armies witnessed appalling numbers in the death of 320,000 men (about 600,000 combined from North and South). Grant proved to be the only Union General who could win the Civil war and set the slaves free. Please ask the rioters who tore down Grant’s statue what was his detestable sin; could not have known a stitch of history. 

Another of my history favorites whose statue in Washington D.C. was pummeled was that of Andrew Jackson. Here is the history. The British were sore losers in the war for American independence of 1775-1783. With their powerful navy with which they ruled the sea, they determined to capture New Orleans in 1815 and thus control the entire Mississippi River. Whoever controlled the river would then claim and control all the land west of the Mississippi. The British were working a deal with Spain to place all the land west of the Mississippi under Spanish rule according to Spain’s prior claim. The British had sailed a great armada of ships thereby enlarging their forces around New Orleans to advance on the Americans. Enter a tough pioneer from Tennessee, Andrew Jackson. He constantly had intestinal dysentery and carried a lead ball in a lung from a previous duel. But against all odds, he miraculously rallied a great diversity of Americans from Tennessee and New Orleans, plus French, Spaniards, Pirates, Indians, slaves, and free slaves of New Orleans to defend the city and the river. Through a series of ingenious military moves Jackson forced the British to fight in a narrow strip of land he defended by canals and earthen works. The British outnumbered Jackson’s forces ten to one. However, the British army commander was delayed from England by a storm at sea. Consequently, the navy commander sent the British against the New Orleaners in a disastrous strategy. The famous Battle of New Orleans won by Jackson opened the vast western territory for the Americans. If he had lost the battle, all land west of the Mississippi, including Lyman Co., would probably belong to Spain. 

Andrew Jackson’s statue was attacked in vehemence by rioters; a total void of knowing history! 

I apologize for such a brief history of two great men. I recommend any of the historical books by Brian Kilmeade, David McCullough or Geoffery Perret. 

Here are my final quips concerning history and statue removal. 

“If you do not know history you will not know from where you came, and you will not know where you are now”. 

“History is the context in which we make sense of our lives”