Visitors Since Feb. 8, 1997
Part of Civil War @ Charleston Website
This page tracks the controversy over the Colleton County, SC (about 40 miles N.W. of Charleston, SC) Confederate Monument and demands by a citizen's group that it be removed from public property (the Courthouse Lawn). It recieved the Political Site of the Day Award for March 11, 1997
January 23, 1997: President of Oak Grove Citizen's Committee presents letter to Colleton County Council on behalf of "all black citizen's and progressive minded white citizens" calling for the removal of the Confederate Monument on the grounds of the County Courthouse in Walterboro, SC. Earl T. Moultrie's letter says in part:
In addition to the arguments on capitol hill, we would question the legality of the mainteance of any exhibits on public property which is not an official seal of the state, county, or city government. We do not believe that our government should provide space for any unauthorized government to exhibit its wares. If the confederates of old are permitted to use public property is such a fashion, then of course the same treatment should be accorded to the KKK or the Nation of Islam, just to mention a few.Quoted from the Press and Standard, January 28, 1997
It bothers me not that some people might want to image or live in an erroneous pass; but, there is no reason for all of us to be forced to live the undesirable and shameful.
I would think that the descendants of that ungodly period of history should be the frontrunner in burying and forgetting such shameful deeds rather than striving to keep the thoughts of such alive.
We believe that confederate exhibits only serves to re- enforce thoughts and actions which are better buried and forgotten. Therefore, on behalf of sensitive black citizens and progressive-minded white citizens, we ask for the removal of the confederate monument situated on public property at the Colleton County Courthouse.
January 27 - Story reported in Newspapers throughout South Carolina. Immediate public controversy erupts on Radio and Television, in letters to the editor and elsewhere. The state is in the midst of an already angry fight over the Confederate Flag (Oblong version of the Battle Flag) flown over the Statehouse in Columbia. The eventual fate of Confederate Monuments has been an issue in those arguments with provisions to protect them being part of some proposals to move or remove the flag and not part of others.
January 28 - Colleton County NAACP tells press they have no desire to "stir up" this devisive issue after making ambigious initial comments.
January 29 - Monument Controversy discussed at Charleston public hearing on African American History Monument planned for Statehouse grounds in Columbia. Concerns expressed that Colleton controversy distracts from positive progress on African American Monument. Planned African American History Monument also repeatedly mentioned in public controversy on talk radio and in newspaper letters.
Jan. 30- Robert Ford, Email - 602@legis.lpitr.state.sc.us an African American State Senator active in the Civil rights movement, introduces Bill 281 to protect Confederate and Civil Rights Monuments throughout the state and signs up 90% of the State Senate as Co-sponsors. You can track progress on this bill through the link above.
January 28, 1997: Full text of Moultrie letter appears in the Press and Standard, the local newspaper, Walterboro, SC.
January 29, Clerk of County Council begins to recieve petitions, letters and phone calls regarding issues. Except for Mr. Moultries letter, all correspondence & petitions support the monument.
Karla Daddieco
Clerk to Council of Colleton County
P.O. Box 157
Walterboro, SC 29488
(803) 549-1725
No email or fax
January 29 - February 3, 1997: Petitions gathered in support of the monument.
February 3, 1997: County Committee of the Whole meets with Chairman Kinard absent (illness) and another member absent. Committtee presided by Mr. Floyd Buckner, who is black. The item is first on the agenda. "Do I have a motion to consider this request?" asked Mr. Buckner. No response. He asked two more times. No response. "Having no motion, the request has not reached council for consideration." He stated. Neither Mr. Moultrie (president, Oak Grove Citizen's Committee) nor any of his organization were present at this committee meeting, which was informal and open to the public. Several concerned citizens, including the local camp, SCV were present. Three quarters of the audience were people in favor of leaving the monument alone. A list of all Colleton County war dead, and several petitions from citizens were given to the committee before the meeting.
Feb. 4 - Decision of Committee reported in article in Charleston Post and Courier: Civil War monument issue dies By Lisa Hofbauer
February 4, 1997: Full Council meets. All are present. Meeting is open to the public. Again Mr. Moultrie and his group are not present. When Committee of the Whole actions reached Full Council, the vote was 5-0 in favor of upholding the committee action not to consider the request.
February 7, 1997: The Press and Standard printed a letter from Mr. Moultrie threatening legal action to have the monument removed from public property. According to Newspaper reports, Mr. Moultrie handled his own appeal from a conviction for armed robbery sucessfully some years ago and was able to have his conviction reversed and apparently has some interest in Pro Se litigation and is a self educated amateur attorney. He was not convicted after the successful appeal.
Further updates will be posted as they become available.
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Visitors Since Feb. 8, 1997
Image of Colleton County Confederate Monument, Walterboro, SC
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Our mapquest link pinpoints the monument location in Walterboro, SC on an interactive map of the United States. You can zoom in to street level. Due to mapping limitations, the monument is about one half block west of the point indicated on the courthouse lawn.
Dedicated on June 22, 1911
Erected by United Confederate Veterans at a cost (then) of $1000
Description: 25 foot obelisk on a 7 foot base
"To the Confederate soldiers of Colleton County, SC;
To those who fought and lived;
To those who fought and died;
To those who gave much;
And to those who gave all."
"To the mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of Colleton County Who fought the home battles of 1861-1865."
By Douglas M. Schauer: schauer@lowcountry.com
In early 1861, Colleton County, like most areas of the South, sent its young men off to war. It was a war fought for many reasons. Many of the men did not return; they died at Chickamauga, Pocataligo, Drury's Bluff, Weldon Railroad, Petersburg, Gettysburg, and many other untold places. They died of disease, they died of the musket, they died of the bayonet, they died of the sword. They were citizens of Colleton County and as such deserve to be honored, like the dead of our other wars, with the monument that now stands on the courthouse grounds.
It is said that the monument promotes racism and division. Inanimate objects cannot do this. Only the hearts of men can do this. It is unfortunate that today many groups, both black and white, promote this philosophy, but I can assure you it's not this monument. The fact remains that 94% of the men who fought for the South during the War Between the States did not own slaves. Of the 6% who did, only 3% can be considered large slaveholders; most worked the fields alongside their servants. It does not make sense that 94% of the men would fight and possibly die so that only a few could hold men captive.
If you read the countless memoirs, diaries, letters and other first person accounts of the War, you will find a variety of reasons why they chose to go off to war. They went because they thought it would be fun. They went because they did not want to miss the adventure of their generation. They went to protect their homes. They went because they thought of themselves as patriots just as the Founding Fathers did. They went because if they didn't, others would think they were cowards. And they went so that their families and sweethearts would be proud of them. All of these reasons can be found in the first person accounts of all our other wars, too. They were no different. In all the first person accounts I have read, not one mentions that they were fighting to promote slavery - not one!
It's not just a white monument. A Colleton County African-American joined C Company, 24th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry as a cook. His name was James Russell. He joined of his own free will, he wasn't forced. He was a free man, not a slave. And he didn't just stay in the rear. On November 25, 1863, he followed his comrades into battle at Missionary Ridge and laid down his life with them. He is listed as killed in action. So you see, this monument does represent us all. Different races, different backgrounds, different ideas, and different dreams. To forget our Confederate dead is to forget Mr. Russell and the contributions he made for Colleton County.
Image left - Confederate Reenactor Bill Creech
Some say the monument represents what is shameful and undesirable. Some say it reinforces thoughts and actions better buried and forgotten. To this I say - the monument represents duty, honor, courage, and sacrifice. These things should not be forgotten or buried. These are desirable traits that should be instilled in all our youth: black and white. The men who fought and died sacrificed everything for their homes. The men who fought and lived came home different people. And all of them helped define our national character.
If this monument is removed, it will dishonor the dead of this county by judging them with a label they do not deserve. It is fitting that this monument is erected on the county courthouse grounds; the men who died were citizens of this county; they are our kin and should not be forgotten. If this monument is removed, it will not only dishonor those who fought in the War Between the States, but it will dishonor those who fought in all other American wars as well for you see, they all are comrades in death and as we all know death is colorblind.
For many reasons, as illustrated above, soldiers go off to war. It is rarely for political ones. But once at war, the only thought on a soldier's mind is home. Home is what motivates all soldiers whether from the War Between the States of the Gulf War.
Vietnam soldiers always thought of home. They didn't care about communism, or about the VC, or about the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. All they cared about was surviving their tour and coming home. I remember my dad telling me about getting off the plane in America after his tour in Vietnam. He stood proudly in his officer's uniform with medals shining in the sun. Then some student walked up to him and spit on him. His own people spit on him because they assumed he was a baby-killer and was evil. They didn't take the time to ask why he went or what actually happened over there. They believed their own propaganda. Vietnam veterans really didn't get to come home until recently with the construction of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. You know we lost that war, too.
The same is true with this monument. Many of the dead of Colleton County lay in cemeteries and battlefields strewn throughout the Nation, including Mr. Russell who is buried at Missionary Ridge in Tennessee. This monument lets them come home. For those veteran's who survived and their descendants, it gives them closure and a way to cope with the tragedy of the War. For the families of those who didn't come home, it allows them to proclaim to the world that their father, their brother, their husband, their son gave everything they had for home.
To those who want this monument removed, I challenge you. Read the letters, the diaries, the memoirs of those soldiers. Learn about them. Dr. Martin Luther King fought and died so that his children would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I ask you now not to judge these Confederate soldiers on the color of their skin but by the content of their character as witnessed by the writings they left behind. Writings meant only for family or self and therefore a true judge of what they felt. I guarantee you that these men thought only of one thing. They didn't care about slavery, or state's rights, or politics, or race, or hatred; they thought only of home. And that home is here.