Northern Bias

I'll admit that I've never really understood the fascination with the rebel flag. I haven't always associated it with slavery or racism, but I have always wondered about the loyalties to the losing side of a war to which many seem to cling.

As a proud citizen of the United States of America, I've always viewed the Confederate flag and the sentiments that "the South will rise again" as treasonous.

While I understand that everybody should be proud of their heritage, waving the flag of the side that lost a war more than a century and a half ago seems a little off.

I grew up in Illinois -- the Land of Lincoln. I obviously have a different perspective of the Civil War than those that grew up in the South. Today, I live in Missouri, a state that was often divided in its loyalties. As a border state, there were a number of Civil War battles that took place in Missouri.

Last weekend we visited several of the state parks in southeast Missouri and also revisited the memorial site at Fort Davidson where the Battle of Pilot Knob took place. This battle has been called the Thermopylae of the West by one author, as a small Union outfit took on a Confederate army of nearly ten times its size and successfully delayed their advance on St. Louis and Jefferson City. It is an interesting story and the site, though small, does a pretty good job explaining the battle and its significance to the war.

I know that in any war, it is the winners that get to write the history. The losers always get painted as the villains. The winners get to be the heroes. Because the Union won the war, we are still the United States of America. To this northerner, the Confederate flag, the rebel flag, the Confederate battle flag -- whatever you want to call it -- still represents the treasonous states that wanted to divide our nation.

There are many that still display the Confederate flag in Southwest Missouri -- even a few more since it has become an issue in South Carolina. I just shake my head and wonder if they know that the South lost the war; that the flag says, "I'm a loser!"

Sigh.

John <><