So I managed to make it up to Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield last week, and as I alluded elsewhere, I bought myself a hat with a Confederate flag on it:
I bought it to show my support for the park and because I wear hats to keep my balding head from burning when I pretend to work the land.
However, I’m sort of stricken with the notion that it might be distasteful or odd, to say the least, to purchase a hat commemorating a battle. Men fought and died for honor, state, and country on that battlefield, and I got a hat about it.
Trivializing or commemorating? You decide.
Also, two things I learned at the battlefield:
- The Old Wire Road that followed the telegraph lines and upon which both armies marched at different times quite probably did follow the edge of my property.
- From atop Bloody Hill, you can see my house.
I don’t think it’s in bad taste, especially if you feel proper reverence for those men who gave their lives (and even those who lived) on both sides. It’s also a part of our history, so you’ve financially supported the organization that keeps that site open and kept up so generations after us will be able to learn about such a vital part of American and Missouri history.
(P.S. Found this post through the Springfield Bloggers Association Twitter feed.)
It seems like a tasteful presentation of the Confederate flag in an appropriate context.
I think that, in general, the Confederate flag should not be displayed in a manner that reflects respect for the Confederacy. Let’s clear aside the romanticism of the Civil War and admit that the Southern cause was a dishonorable one.