|
As we have seen, last wills and testaments that relayed personal property and slaves to descendants, inventories of property and slaves, and bills of sales even of African American children have all been a large part of the Shenandoah County Will Books before 1865. Today, I'm pausing to point out certain terminology that is really important to notice in these primary source documents.
First, "mulatto", which is a racial classification that refers to mixed African and European races. In Virginia during the pre-Civil War time period, the status of the child was determined by the status of the mother. That means, if the mother was enslaved, so too was the child. In terms of any mulatto children listed in the Will Books of Shenandoah County, if they were enslaved it was because their mothers were enslaved. For example, Will Book V lists "1 mulatto man named Anthony aged 32" (p. 226) among the inventory appraisement of slaves and personal estate of a recently deceased Mount Jackson area resident. The Minute Book 1774-1780, lists the sale of a mulatto girl, Martha (p. 148). In another will from 1784, "1 Mulatto Boy Toby" (Will Book B, p. 80) was to be "freed at 21" years of age. This implies that his mother was enslaved and his father was most likely either the property owner, himself, or someone in his family - a situation that was not uncommon in enslaving families. Martha, Anthony, and Toby, by the way, lived in areas of the county that today pool into Honey Run Elementary School and Mountain View High School. Second, the Will Books vary between "Negro", "Black", and "Colored" for racial classifications for Africans and African Americans. Even for free African Americans mentioned prior to 1865, they always have a racial designation in primary source documents. This doesn't happen for people of European descent, whom we would classify as "White" on records today. It's really important to recognize this because our county and our society intentionally distinguished between the two races. Even further, by the use of racial classifications for African Americans in Will Books, Minutes, and similar primary documents, it reveals subliminal messages about whom was considered a normal, everyday citizen with certain inalienable rights and whom was not. These primary source documents were all written by people of European descent, a.k.a. "White" people. Our county was set up on an assumption that was part of our colonies' and our country's foundation. Benjamin Franklin says it best: "The number of purely white people in the world is proportionally very small. All Africa is black or tawny. Asia chiefly tawny. America (exclusive of the newcomers) wholly so. And in Europe, the Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes are generally of what we call a swarthy complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted, who with the English make the principal body of white people on the face of the earth. I could wish their numbers were increased. And while we are, as I may call it, scouring our planet, by clearing America of woods, and so making this side of our globe reflect a brighter light to the eyes of inhabitants in Mars or Venus, why should we in the sight of superior beings, darken its people? Why increase the sons of Africa, by planting them in America, where we have so fair an opportunity, by excluding all blacks and tawneys, of increasing the lovely white and red? But perhaps I am partial to the complexion of my Country, for such kind of partiality is natural to Mankind" (Four Hundred Souls, ed. by Kendi & Blain, 2021:122). For me, what stands out are my own ethnic backgrounds: French and German people were considered swarthy by one of our country's founding fathers. Swarthy means "dark-skinned." According to Franklin, the only "lovely white" and "brighter light" ethnicities were Anglo-Saxons. A quick perusal of our county's claim for origins includes the following description: "Permanent settlement began in the 1730s as German and Scotch-Irish immigrants from Pennsylvania began to arrive, attracted by the Valley’s fertile land" (SVTA, accessed 18 March 2023) and "Shenandoah County, Virginia, in the center of one of the most scenic valleys in America, was settled by Germans during the middle of the eighteenth century" (SCHS, accessed 18 March 2023). According to Franklin, Orange County (a.k.a. Shenandoah County today) was founded by dark-skinned people. And in some ways this is accurate since colonial Virginia, especially under the leadership of governors Spotswood and Gooch and out of fear of French alliances with Indigenous Peoples, was encouraging German and Scotch-Irish settlers loyal to the colonial government to inhabit the backcountry of Virginia. In the early 1700s the backcountry was the eastern part of the Appalachian mountains, namely the Shenandoah Valley. By creating a buffer, the colony was protecting itself from raids by French-supplied tribes of Indigenous Peoples (Monacan, Manahoac, Tutelo, Shawnee, Delaware, Iroquois, Cherokee, etc) who were being pushed away from the Shenandoah Valley region. However, it's not a completely accurate picture of our county's origins. Yes, large land grants, especially from 1726 to 1736, were given to one or two loyalists that could afford expenses associated with 5,000 to 100,000 acre land tracts, which would then be patented off to settling families in smaller parcels. In 1730, John & Isaac Van Meter, for example, acquired 10,000 acres from Gov. Gooch, surveyed the land, then parceled it out in 1,000 acre allotments to settlers. Once that had been done, the brothers could acquire more land to parcel out and did so until 1734. It was a similar situation for Jacob Stover, who acquired land along the Massanutten Mountain and Rockingham County in 1730. Jost Hite and Robert McKay arrived in the Cedar Creek area in 1731 and also took over the Van Meters' claims in 1734; and so forth. They recruited settlers from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and even New York, with a preference for Protestants. One such settler, who received smaller tracts of land from these larger landowners and specifically Hite, was Daniel Holman, who arrived in the Forestville area in 1736. With him were twelve enslaved Africans. Drawn to the fertile lands near the Shenandoah, Opequon, and Potomac Rivers and its tributaries, these large landowners were typically German, Swiss, and English. But what is always left out is the fact that further cultivation required a lot of work and with these large landowners came enslaved Africans to provide that labor. Nancy Stewart, in her studies of African Americans in Shenandoah County, reflects on the fact that even among many of our settling German families, there were often one or two enslaved Africans living with them. Larger landowners also hired out their enslaved Africans. And as we have seen in the will books and will see in the minute books in coming weeks, our own county government engaged in and managed such renting of enslaved Africans. While not in the same numbers as found in the Piedmont region, enslaved Africans were a part of our county's foundational history. The presence of enslaved Africans and their contributions (as well as those of free African Americans) to settling the Shenandoah Valley are missing from Shenandoah County's historical narrative. Our county should feel convicted to finally embrace this truth, recognize the contributions of Africans and African Americans, as well as include this information in our histories. When we fail to do so, poor name choices for our public spaces, whether they be the names of public schools or our county's district names, result. From a descendant of someone Benjamin Franklin would describe as "swarthy," I encourage you to really consider the biases and inequalities that have resulted in our country's laws and in our county's preserved histories and social practices as a result of racial designations that led to citizenship privileges for those that wrote and maintained those laws and histories. We inherited this legacy. We didn't choose it. But, we have a responsibility not to allow it to define us or our communities, today. And keep this in mind as we continue to look through primary source documents. I certainly would not be classified by most as dark-skinned, but knowing that historically others would have classified me as "swarthy" gives me a greater sense of compassion and responsibility for what and whom I celebrate and honor, today.
1 Comment
In 1840, a citizen of Shenandoah County "calling to mind the certainty of death and the uncertainty what hour" made a last will and testament beginning with the emancipation of his slave:
"First, I direct and will that my black boy Alfred Lee my slave, he shall be free after harvest so soon as the work may be over provided he goes out of the County & the State" (Will Book V, p. 172). The reference of removal from the county and state is directly linked to Virginia laws at that time. A brief aside: a lot of the information I am referencing in this letter comes from an extremely valuable resource: Chronology of World Slavery by Junius Rodriquez (1999). More specific to the Virginia law that defines the principles of the above emancipation: in 1806, Virginia Assembly enacted legislation that required anyone manumitted after May 1st of that year to leave the state within one year (Rodriguez 1999:253). Although it's uncomfortable to hear, state and federal laws prior to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments are full of legally-binding decisions designed to control or establish standards for free and enslaved African Americans. Much of the social traditions followed even in Shenandoah County, which had been formally established in 1772 as Dunmore County, had been first established with the 1705 Virginia Slave Code. Such laws included recognizing slaves as chattel property; forbidding blacks to serve as witnesses in court; and defining slavery as a legal condition limited to blacks (Rodriguez 1999:211). In 1723, further discrimination resulted in higher colonial taxes imposed on blacks and Native Americans, as well as free blacks being denied the right to carry weapons (aka, their Second Amendment rights, which our county loves so much) (Rodriguez 1999:216). While we can look as far back as colonial Virginia for state laws that deny civil rights to people based on race, for the sake of this letter, I'm focusing on the time period following our country's formation. According to the American Bar Association, racism is "the unintended (but often foreseeable) consequence of choices." The Science Museum of Virginia defines racism, or identifying differences in ethnicities and skin colors "and promoting negative attitudes toward people with those differences" as a learned behavior. Although it's a negative catchword in at least 36 states around the USA, critical race theory (CRT), which was officially introduced as a term in 1989, simply states that race is not a biological truth, but a social construct. And, that race has been embedded into systems and institutions in such a way as to create inequality. A quick perusal of the laws and wills we have been analyzing and discussing quickly reveal the truth of CRT: the United States of America was founded on principles of inequality and racism toward people of color. And even today our country continues to draw lines and enact laws that generate inequality based on socially-constructed labels. That means that decisions across the country and at every level must be made with a real sensitivity to how people of all labels have been treated and should be treated, now and in the future. It's also important to note that CRT is a higher education academic topic - not taught in the primary or secondary public schools within our country. I can vouch for that, since I was never taught about Virginia's slave code in the SCPS system; and although I do remember hearing about Jim Crow, it was always in association with the deep south, never Virginia. That said, we do a major disservice to our community when we don't talk about these issues honestly and openly - recognizing all of our history, not just what we were taught to believe about our country, our state, and our community from the perspective of an unbalanced majority that controls these narratives. So, let's take an honest look at just a handful of the laws in place between 1772 and 1861: In 1793, Virginia legislature passed a law that made it illegal for any free black person to enter our state (Rodriquez 1999:243). In 1820, a presidential order allowed the U.S. Army to deny blacks and mulattoes the right to serve in the U.S. military (Rodriguez 1999:265). In 1839, the U.S. State Department denied a black applicant's passport request on the grounds that blacks were not considered citizens (Rodriguez 1999:297). In 1851, Virginia legislature strengthened the 1806 law requiring recently freed blacks to leave the state, by adding the risk of re-enslavement (Rodriguez 1999: 322). In 1860, Virginia legislature made it possible for free blacks, found guilty of an act that would normally lead to imprisonment, to be sold into slavery instead (Rodriguez 1999:346). And that takes us to 1861, when Virginia seceded from The United States of America. As I have mentioned before, CSA vice president Alexander Stephens, clearly stated the foundational principle of the Confederate States of America, which Virginia was part of: "the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is a natural and normal condition . . . our new Government, is the first in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth" (Rodriguez 1999:349). This statement is precisely what CRT is getting at: race is a social construct and yet, racism has been embedded in systems and institutions. CSA documents and speeches by leaders clearly reveal that it was based on racism. And this is why CSA leaders, including generals and soldiers, should not have their names on any public buildings that are funded by the USA today. These leaders fought to uphold the laws described above. They supported pro-slavery, pro-inequality measures. The United States of America, since its foundation, has stumbled toward true equality for all. Reverting to names with Confederate leaders for the southern campus Shenandoah County Public Schools would be an impediment to promoting a message of true equality. The will books housed in the Shenandoah County Circuit Court Clerk's stacks are also useful in understanding more about American material culture and property through the Inventory and Appraisement recordations. Prior to the American Civil War, enslaved Africans and African Americans were incorporated into these lists. Generally referred to with a first name - and sometimes just by their gender and age - and deemed as property of landowners, they too were inventoried in county records along with the recently deceased property owner's material goods (such as furniture, harvested supplies like flax or hemp, tools, etc) and animals. Sometimes, this is the only historical record our communities have for enslaved individuals, since their last names (if they were given last names) were not usually preserved.
Here are some examples: Will Book V, p. 132 "1 negro boy named Wesley" who is listed along with a road "waggon," hay ladders, tomahawks, and similar tools, supplies, and property. On page 142, payment is received "for hire of Wesley," which demonstrates the presence of slavery as a viable and real part of our county's economical practices. Will Book V, p. 149 "1 Negro Man 25 years old... 750.00 1 Negro boy, 6... 300.00 1 Negro boy, 5... 250.00 1 Negro girl, 3... 200.00 1 Negro woman & child (boy)... 100.00" These nameless enslaved individuals are given worth according to gender and age during this inventory in 1839. These human beings are listed in between a quantity of flax and "hackeled hemp" and deemed as property that could be sold or hired out to pay off debts. Will Book V, p. 154 "Negro man Benjamin... 300 Negro woman Charlotte... 450 Negro man Alfred... 800 Negro girl Milly... 400 Negro boy Charles... 400 Negro girl Sarah... 300 Negro boy James... 250 Negro boy Frank... 200 Negro boy Richard... 150 Negro girl Lindy... 50" The total inventory worth of this property included enslaved individuals, which made up 70% of the total assessment: $4,706. Over half of this Shenandoah County resident's property was invested in slavery. And as we see in a little while, the government of Shenandoah County benefitted from hiring out these enslaved individuals to extract payment for debts the deceased property owner's family owed. Will Book W, p. 140 "1 Black man named George 1 Black man named James 1 Black Boy named Harry 1 Black Girl named Betsy" In Will Book V, p. 200, we see an Inventory of slave hire, recorded by the county to pay debts from a deceased property owner: "... Negro man Alfred... 90.00 ... Negro boy Charles... 25.05 ... Negro man Ben... 50.00 ... Negro girl Milly... 25.30 ... Negro girl Sarah... 8.75" Following this listing and on the same page there is another recordation of the Inventory & valuation of the slaves belonging to a county resident in 1839 from page 154 and listed above. According to Encyclopedia Virginia, "for many enslaved African Americans in Virginia, being hired out was a more common experience than being sold, and one that could occur at multiple points in their lives, causing repeated disruption." This, too, is true from what we learned in the narrative of Bethany Veney. If an enslaved person was going to be sold, they were often kept in a jail until transportation could be arranged or the sale took place. Will Book W, page 179 has the following property intermingled on cursive-script lines as follows: "1 Barrel tar $2 1 Coloured boy Isaac $180 1 Coloured man Jim $350 1 d[itt]o woman (Betty) $100 1 Coloured woman Charlotte $1 3 sacks 50 cts. 1 pair of pumps $1.25 2 pair choppers $0.75" In this instance, notice the mention of Charlotte. Based on historical research, she is most likely an old woman past child-bearing age. Someone who can no longer contribute to the plantation through work. According to the inventory, she isn't even worth a pair of pumps according to the county assessor. What does that say about how many in our county deemed worth, and not just from an economic practice? In Will Book V, pages 231, 237, 317, 325, 328, 330, and 331, the Shenandoah County government recorded and followed the inventory, appraisement, and sale of the enslaved of a recent Mount Jackson-area property owner that had passed away in the late 1830s. The 1 April 1840 sale of the Slaves and personal estate for this individual include the following information: "Jim Parister (a slave) 46 years old Hannah 43 Fannah 12 William 10 Sally 3 Minty 25 years old Nancy 6 Ben 5 John 2 Harriet 16 Morriky 17 & George 1/2 Andrew (Young) 15" The total income from this sale was $2875.00. In this sale, three would be considered legal adults today. The remaining ten - Fannah, William, Sally, Nancy, Ben, John, Harriet, Morriky & George, and Andrew (Young) - would be considered children by today's standards. Our community benefited from the sale of children when they should have freed them, educated them, and provided them with a better way of life. If any of their descendants still live in the Mount Jackson area, they would attend Mountain View High School today. And this is precisely why the name of that school matters! There are myriad more pages that list these sorts of inventories and appraisements in our Shenandoah County records. It is important to be familiar with these primary source documents, because they reveal a lot about the economic practices in our county before the American Civil War, as well as how our society and our government viewed enslaved individuals in terms of value and status. A community that has this as part of its history needs to make decisions in the future that validate every individual. Messages of inequality, especially those attached to names related to the Confederacy, which was founded on the concept of inequality and further establishing its economy on slave labor, have no place in America's public spaces, today or in the future. This is particularly true for Confederate leaders that died during the American Civil War, with their last breaths not used for freeing the enslaved people they owned nor in showing remorse for yoking their faith and future with establishing a government, tyrannical to anyone deemed "negro," "mulatto," "coloured," or "black" - but still in oath to the Confederate States of America, not the United States of America. In order to understand why Stonewall Jackson and Ashby-Lee are poor choices for names of public schools in Shenandoah County, Virginia, and, really, for any public school in The United States of America, we have to look at primary source documents. What has been the social environment in which African Americans, European Americans, Hispanic Americans, Indigenous Peoples, etc have lived in relationship with one another in a certain place? What laws have emerged in these locations? And how have these laws and social expectations impacted all people in their day to day living?
For the next few weeks, before diving into the time right before the Civil Rights Amendment, which is the context for the public high school's naming in 1959, we are going to consider the questions above in relation to Shenandoah County, Virginia. For the sake of time, the focus of these letters is going to revolve around African Americans, as well as anyone categorized by the county in public records as "mulatto," "slave," or "negro." That said, a study of laws and social standards related to other minority groups would prove just as important in making decisions within our local governments and school boards, today. I remember the first time that I perused the Circuit Court Clerk's records. Rows of oversized leather-bound documents, handwritten in scrawling cursive, and later fading typeset, over the 250 years of the county's history fill the basement of one of the courthouses in downtown Woodstock. I was looking for documents a fellow historian, Nancy Stewart, had used in researching African American history over the course of her life. What sticks with me most are the smell of aging parchment, the buzz of fluorescent tube lights, and the crinkle of plastic on the chair where I sat - senses that represented everyday life - even while I read public records about the sale of slaves, whipping of African Americans, loss of goods and chattels, and bounding out of mulatto children in the very county in which I was born and raised. Wills. Deeds. Bills of sale. Chancery cases. Pick up any of these books prior to 1865 and you will find the names of enslaved people interwoven with the affairs of the county. Lives that were deeply impacted by the leaders of Shenandoah County and the decisions made for them. People who were not free to go where they wanted to whenever they wanted to. People who were considered as property. Today, we are focusing on wills, which were written by property owners to share what they wanted to happen to what they owned when they died. You will notice that I am intentionally leaving the names of the deceased off these wills. As I have said before, this is not about shame or blame. It's about recognizing the history of our county and making better decisions today in light of this truth. A handful of examples from will books in Shenandoah County share these wishes as they relate to enslaved people: "I do give & bequeath to my well beloved wife... the plantation or tract of land whereon I now live...to be in her possession during life together with the following slaves viz. Boatswin, Nan, Mary, Winney, George, Tom, James, Ann, Suse & Jack to her only use & property during life... to be divided amongst my children as they come of age at the discretion of my wife... I give & bequeath to my son...all that plantation on tract of land whereon he now lives... to him his heirs and assigns for ever with the following slaves John, Nan Junior & Lydia to him & his heirs & assigns for ever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth... to her & the heirs of her body for ever with the following slaves viz. Reuben & Doll with their increase to her & the heirs of her body forever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Rachel... the following slaves viz. Sall & Jenny Boatswin & Nan Senior to her & the heirs of her body forever with one sorrel mare to her. her heirs & assigns forever also fourteen head of cattle now in her possession & one feather bed & furniture to her & her heirs & assigns forever.... I give & bequeath to my Andrew... the following slaves Jim & Ann to him his heirs & assigns forever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Rebecca... the following slaves Mary & Suse to her & the heirs of her body forever... I give & bequeath to my daughter Mary Ann... the following slaves viz. Winney & George to her & the heirs of her body for ever... I give & bequeath to my son Jacob... all that plantation on tract of land adjoining the former tract willed to Andrew... with the following slave (Tom) to him & his heirs forever." (Will Book B, p. 86-87) "I... will and direct that all my personal estate (except my slaves and that part of my wife Susannah may want and choose for her own use during her natural life)... and I do further will and direct that after the death of my said wife Susannah my negro woman slave Rosena and her future increase shall go and I do will and devise her and her increase to my five children..." (Will Book V, p. 38-39) "I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife... all my land, Negroes, and personal estate, during her natural life to carry on the farm and support and educate my children the same as if I was present myself... All my other land not mentioned above, Negroes and personal estate, I give to my other six children after the death of my wife." (Will Book V, p. 45) "I will that my debts and funeral expences be paid as soon as convenient after my decease, and should my personal estate not be sufficient for that purpose, my slaves that are able to work for wages shall be hired out til my debts are paid. After the payment of my debts I will and direct that my slaves be divided among my heirs, equally, my grandchildren receiving what their father or mother would receive if living." (Will Book V, p. 97) "I give to my beloved wife, for and during her natural life, all that part of my real estate whereon we now live, being about one third part of my real estate in the County of Shenandoah... Also I give to my said beloved wife, the following slaves and other property which be entirely for her own use and at her disposal; namely, Jesse and his wife, Claressy, George Hite, James Marshall and his wife Mary, Nancy and her two sons, Anthony and William, my carriage and two carriage horses, four work horses, the choice of my stock, with their geer, a good wagon and all other farming utencils, six of the choice of my milch cows, together with all my household and kitchen furniture." (Will Book V, p. 115) These are just a few examples from Shenandoah County, Virginia. Notice the language that is used - these wills do not mention emancipation, but continued enslavement, not only of the human beings named, but even of any future descendants they may have. In addition, notice that often it was the enslaved people who were working to pay off the debts of the enslaving family, even after the death of the enslaving property owner. This is a legacy of enslavement braided into the fabric of many Shenandoah County families! Davis in Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World shares how enslaved children often didn't know they were slaves. "The shock of coming to terms with a slave identity was then devastating, especially in a country that talked of liberty and equality and took such pride in disavowing hereditary titles and aristocratic status" (2006:199). Current leaders cannot ignore this aspect of our county's history when making decisions that impact descendants not only of families that enslaved, but also of families that were enslaved. Lingering messages of inequality from the Confederate States of America have no place defining the identity of public schools in The United States of America today. Last week, we heard about some in the community's perspective on why the southern campus school was named Stonewall Jackson High School in 1959. Today, we are going to look at the school annual to see what the leaders in the school deemed as the reason for the name.
"It is more than an ordinary circumstance that this first annual of the Stonewall Jackson High School is dedicated to Lieutenant-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, C.S.A. "It is because here in Shenandoah County many of its finest sons became members of the Stonewall Brigade, one of the most illustrious organizations of military men known in all the annals of military history. "It is also because among all the great men of our nation no one today captures more strikingly the admiration of the high school student, nor affords a stronger pattern of human character than the beloved leader of the Stonewall Brigade, 'Stonewall' Jackson. "And because of Stonewall Jackson's unblemished Christian character, because of his fearless courage in peace and in war, because of his masterful use in his people's service of his God-given talents and skills, and because these traits deserve emulation by the youth of our land, this annual is dedicated to him" (1960:3). Now, as a Classicist, I have learned about a lot of leaders and armies from antiquity, including the Spartans (whose men were sent off to war with the phrase, ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς ("either (with) it or upon it" in reference to their hoplon, or shield - and meaning either return with your shield in glory having done your duty or dying bravely doing your duty and returning dead on your shield) and the Persian Immortals; Hannibal and his bold quest crossing the Alps with elephants into Italy to engage in war with the Romans at the battle of Trebbia in 218 BCE; and, without taking too much of your time, because there are so many I could continue to name, I'm 100% certain that rural farmers from Shenandoah County in the 1860s were not "one of the most illustrious organizations of military men known in all the annals of military history." This (and the 1959 annual dedication) is the Lost Cause narrative. After the American Civil War, the Lost Cause narrative formed as readily as the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremist band that formed under the leadership of C.S.A. General Nathan Bedford Forrest in an effort to thwart Reconstructionist efforts in southern states. After such devastating loss and destruction in the South, the Lost Cause narrative shimmered with the glory that was lost with the Confederacy's defeat: from reframing the relationship between the Confederacy and slavery to portraying chattel slavery as a beneficial situation for people that were happy in that status and without a care in the world; from portraying Confederate soldiers as "heroic, gallant, and saintly" (American Battlefields Trust, The Lost Cause: Definition and Origins, posted 2021) to making Stonewall Jackson a martyr and Robert E. Lee "the ultimate Christian soldier who took up arms for his state" (2021). Even today, the Sons of Confederate Veterans still hand out the Confederate Catechism by Lyon Tyler (1929), which is an amalgamation of the Lost Cause narrative and a lot of vexation and wrath against Lincoln. During the Sixteenth National Reunion of the United Confederate Veterans, April 25-27, 1906, in New Orleans, C.S.A. Lt. General Stephen Lee unfairly charged descendants of Confederate veterans with the following: "To you, ...we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought. To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish" (Charleston Athenaeum Press, Gen. Stephen D. Lee's 1906 Address that Contains the SCV Charge, posted 2020). In this speech, Lee also states: "Here amid the very chivalry of patriotism there is welcome for all who prize noble and generous deeds, and most of all a welcome for him who loved his country best and bore her cross of pain - the Confederate soldier." I find no fault with the Confederate soldier. These men (whether they were soldiers in the Stonewall Brigade or not) did their duty, either because of conscription, peer pressure, or because they really did believe they were protecting their family, their land, and their way of life in joining the war. I do find fault with their leaders, many of whom were wealthy, enslaving plantation owners - including Lee and Jackson. Just as I am sure my ancestor Dorotha Polk would have preferred a long life with her husband Simon Polk, who died from wounds suffered at Antietam, she didn't get that and their five children lost a father. Simon was one of the approximately 258,000 Confederates that died in the American Civil War. It is not "the cause for which (the Confederate soldier) fought" that needs vindication, it is the soldier himself. And that vindication is in honesty over their misuse as pawns in an unjust war, in their freedom from a perpetuated Lost Cause narrative, and in peace. In a post-George Floyd USA, the Confederate legacy is no longer something for "emulation by the youth of our land." Soon after America was born, it was stained by racism, which (according the Merriam-Webster) is simply put "a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race / the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another." Racism continued for hundreds of years in America. Racism lingers in our laws, infrastructure, and institutions. Racism is especially tied to the Confederate legacy and while the names of Confederate leaders continue to be used for public schools, street names, and other avenues of public life, America will not be free from its subliminal influence. Respect and honor are not forced, they are earned. The Union soldier has just as much right to all of the claims to bravery that the Confederate soldier has. And both deserve truth, freedom, and peace. It's time to honor both by supporting America's mission of equality for all. Each one of us has a responsibility to aim for equality for every single American citizen, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or genetic information. So far, a majority of what I have shared has been ubiquitous to observations as they relate predominantly to often cited sources. While I will continue with information from such primary source documents and firsthand accounts, today, I'm going to be a little more personal.
One of the most common arguments for why the name Stonewall Jackson was chosen on January 12, 1959 was to honor the men who fought (and in some cases died) in the Stonewall Brigade, which was formed as the First Brigade of Virginia from the 2nd, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia regiments and the Rockbridge Artillery and got its name from the Battle of Manassas on July 15, 1861. Some in the community participated in reenactments of the Confederate victory of May 15, 1864, at New Market Battlefield and saw this as the heart and soul of the county. In the unfolding weeks, we will be looking at primary source documents from Shenandoah County that encapsulate and add perspective to this decision that must be held in as equal light as this ephemeral desire in 1959. But for today, I'm speaking to you as a descendant of Confederate soldiers. One of these was Simon Polk. He served under William Clark, Jr. in the Winchester Riflemen, Company F of the Second Virginia regiment, which was assembled in Charles Town on April 18, 1861. One year later, on October 11th, Simon died from wounds he had received at Antietam - a battle which encouraged President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved individuals in enemy territory. Simon was married to Dorotha Dellinger Polk, with whom he had five children, before serving for the CSA during the Civil War. When I think of this time period, I reflect on Dorotha's hard work and perseverance in managing their small farm and raising five children without her husband's help. I am here because Dorotha lived, not because Simon died. My family was part of the Palatine, Swiss, and Swabian immigrants that made homes in the Stony Creek area in the mid-1700s. The rolling hills allowed for lovely views of the mountains, and the meandering streams were more predictable than the flooding North Fork. One of my ancestors, Stefan Schauman, married Susanna Ziegler, whose father died in the Narrow Passage attack by Indigenous Peoples in 1765. Today, I live barely a mile away from the church they attended, Zion Pient-Kirche. Another ancestor, Johann Döllinger, arrived in Cabin Hill in 1730. During the American Revolution, his daughter-in-law Magdalene provided beef to the Continental Army. My ancestors were indentured servants, soldiers, mothers and fathers, farmers and homemakers, laborers and nurses, even Americans displaced from the cabin homes in the the Blue Ridge Mountains by the government for Skyline Drive's formation, and as all of us can claim today, survivors. Every family that has Confederate soldiers, lost something. They lost lives, land, resources, nationality, kinship ties, and so much more. These four years were some of the hardest of our country. And the men, many of whom were required to fight due to conscriptions, didn't deserve to be led like pawns by the slave-owning leaders that wanted to preserve their individual rights to capitalize off of free labor from the human beings they enslaved or bred and sold into slavery. I remember parts of my childhood fondly in many ways. But I can honestly say that I had no idea about any of this history in my ancestry or that I also have several Confederate soldiers in that lineage as well. It wasn't discussed - so, the fact that the public school I attended was supposedly honoring not even a handful of my ancestors was unknown to me. And it certainly isn't a source of pride to me now. Frederick Douglass shares a perspective of America that is important for us to hold as a beacon in any decisions our country, our county, and our communities make today. He says in his Mission of the War speech from 1864 that the North was "like the south, fighting for National unity; a unity of which the great principles of liberty and equality, and not slavery and class superiority, are the corner stone" (Kendi & Blain, Four Hundred Souls, 2021:227). What is Unity in our public school system today? What great principles will be part of our corner stone? The American Civil War was the culmination of decades of divided conversations surrounding slavery. As William Seward said in a speech known as "The Irrepressible Conflict" in 1858, "Our country is a theatre, which exhibits, in full operation, two radically different political systems; the one resting on the basis of servile or slave labor, the other on the basis of voluntary labor of freemen." He continues, "relatively increasing the number of slave states, (the slaveholding class of American citizens) will allow no amendment to the constitution prejudicial to their interest; and so, having permanently established their power, they expect the federal judiciary to nullify all state laws which shall interfere with internal or foreign commerce in slaves. When the free states shall be sufficiently demoralized to tolerate these designs, they reasonably conclude that slavery will be accepted by those states themselves" (American Speeches, 2006:649). Seward was sharing what Abraham Lincoln shared in his famous "House Divided" speech just half a year earlier: "Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new - North as well as South" (2006:634).
And then we get to 1859, the year of a raid by John Brown, who I have mentioned before. Brown devoted his life to the destruction of slavery in 1837. The national attention that he brought to the issue could not have been missed, especially by an educated professor like Jackson, or a military leader like Lee. Brown's speech to the court on November 2nd reveals the reason behind his actions: "the Bible...teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. I endeavored to act up to that instruction... I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, is no wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done" (2006:678-9). In April of that year, immigrant Carl Schurz addressed US statesmen in Boston, MA, on True Americanism: "...the first time that I heard of America,...my childish imagination took possession of...a land where everybody could do what he thought best, and where nobody need be poor, because everybody was free" (2006:659). Schurz continues with the realization, "the system of slavery has enslaved them all, master as well as slave. What is the cause of all this? It is that you cannot deny one class of society the full measure of their natural rights without imposing restraints upon your own liberty. If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other" (2006:667). Brown was acting out Schurz's ideals of true Americanism. Jackson, Lee, Ashby, and other Confederate leaders were doing quite the opposite - supporting the dissolution of America for a completely different country founded on the principles of slave labor. They chose to turn their backs on America and to lead others in doing so. One-hundred and sixty-one years. That's how long ago Jackson was in the Shenandoah County area and even then for only a small amount of time. Like Brown, he lost his life on Virginian soil. But for very different reasons. When Virginia seceded from the USA in 1861, Jackson accepted a commission as colonel in the CSA. Accepting a commission acknowledges an oath of allegiance. It's similar to The Pledge of Allegiance that students say in public schools every morning. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States of America...." Only, for Jackson and for Ashby, the last oath they were to ever make on this earth was to the Confederate States of America, not the USA, for they died as foreign military leaders in active duty against today's America. Would Schurz see these gentlemen as signifying true Americanism? Last year, in defense of the old school names, every person spoke more about the character of Jackson, than anything else. They spoke about how anyone could offend his memory. These images of Jackson are part of the Lost Cause narrative. We'll visit that soon. For now I want to quote Kierkegaard, who in "At the Side of a Grave," shares: "In the decision of death it is thus over, there is rest; nothing, nothing disturbs the dead; if this little word, if that lacking moment, made the death struggle restless, now the dead man is not disturbed. If the suppression of the little word confused the life of many living, if the mysterious work again and again engaged the attention of the inquiring scholar, the dead man is not disturbed" (Thoughts on Crucial Situations in Human Life, 1941:87). Or more poetically perhaps: "a silent night overshadows them... nothing disturbs their peace" (1941:88). We look at the past to help us point the way toward the future; nothing more. It should not be something we wear like a red letter any more than we claim as a tiki torch while yelling, Blood and tears. As African American poet Lucille Clifton shares: "they ask me to remember but they want me to remember their memories and i keep on remembering mine." The name Stonewall Jackson or Ashby-Lee or pick a Confederate leader on the name of an American public school, shares different messages depending on what side of the issue you were on. The only way to promote true Americanism is to make sure the names of our schools prove unifying and Confederate leaders do not do that in The United States of America. Last week I shared an account by an African American man, enslaved by Lee, to remind that Lee was an enslaver who benefitted from such an economic practice. Abolition would have dire consequences for him and for many other southern plantation owners - and yet it crept closer with the 1820 Missouri Compromise (admitting Maine as a free state / Missouri as a slave state and limiting slavery to south of the 36°30' parallel in the Louisiana Purchase), the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act (repealing the Missouri Compromise and allowing "popular sovereignty" or essentially state's rights in choosing slavery in newly formed territories), and 1856 Dred Scott vs. Stanford case (in which the Supreme Court ruled "a free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a 'citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States"). US 393 continues by stating, "The change in public opinion and feeling in relation to the African race which has taken place since the adoption of the Constitution cannot change its construction and meaning, and it must be construed and administered now according to its true meaning and intention when it was formed and adopted... The plaintiff having admitted, by his demurrer to the plea in abatement, that his ancestors were imported from Africa and sold as slaves, he is not a citizen of the State of Missouri according to the Constitution of the United States, and was not entitled to sue in that character in the Circuit Court." Ultimately, this decision reaffirmed slaves as property, which was claimed in the US 393 decision as protected by the Constitution for citizens. And as noted in a previous letter, this concept of slavery as property and a right for citizens was written clearly into the Constitution of the Confederate States of America.
The point is: slavery had been a hot topic for a long time. Senator Calhoun concedes in his speech to the Senate on Antislavery Petitions from 1837: "The peculiar institution of the South, that on the maintenance of which the very existence of the slave-holding States depends, is pronounced to be sinful and odious, in the sight of God and man; and this with a systematic design of rendering us hateful in the eyes of the world, with a view to a general crusade against us and our institutions... and yet we, the representatives of twelve of these sovereign States against whom this deadly war is waged, are expected to sit here in silence, hearing ourselves and our constituents day after day denounced..." (American Speeches, 2006:293). Men like Lee, Jackson, and Ashby would have known about the issues of slavery and abolition, including the fact that slavery was written into the foundational principles of the CSA, for which they chose to fight. And any thoughts on the character of slavery are contemporaneous to the 1800s - it was seen as an evil by many then, just as it is seen as an evil by many today. The Valley Campaign of 1862 cemented Thomas Jackson's larger than life persona. While this image sparkled with that of an immovable combatant that inspired many, he also embodied fear and sparked defiance among some of his men. At Cedar Creek, for example, an account by a New York soldier, who witnessed contraband enslaved African Americans fleeing lest they be captured and murdered by Jackson's men, states: "They...knew that they had everything to lose in being captured" (Noyalas, Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign, 2010:84). Not long after one battle returned Winchester into the hands of the CSA, a Union commissary sergeant wrote, "The road was lined all the way with families of free negroes who with a bundle in their hands were leaving all for fear Jackson would get them and kill them" (2010:94). Service in the CSA's army was required for local men of a certain age. If they could not desert via the Unionist Underground Railroad, which was a way for males subject to Confederate conscription to realize freedom by removing them to a safe location, and if they could not afford to hire a substitute to take their place in the conscription, then they had little choice but to join. Jackson, himself, shares this: "Those who do not desert will, to some extent, hire substitutes, others will turn out in obedience to the governor's call; but I understand some of them to say they will not 'shoot.' They can be made to fire, but can very easily take bad aim" (2010:55). Many soldiers and leaders in the United States's army, on the other hand, were abolitionists. Gen. Banks, for example, was known for his policy of encouraging slaves to run away. His men were even known to punish or arrest white southerners who mistreated slaves. If the point of the southern campus schools was in honoring great generals - then why weren't the names Banks or Grant or another USA general considered as options for the school names on January 12, 1959, when Stonewall Jackson High School was officially named? (Don't worry, we will return to this.) Recognizing the historic injustices against African Americans, Indigenous Peoples, women, and other minorities, due not only to a lack of representation in government, but also the foundational mindset of exploitation placed on our country as a result of being a colony of Great Britain, means it is extremely important for leaders in our country to make choices more intentionally. As Proenza-Coles says in American Founders, "American history is not black or white, free or slave; it is both, we are both, and this realization will help us to better understand our past and our present" (2019:xxx). Generals that belittle or strike fear into the hearts of people that should be protected (and thankfully now are protected) by our laws and government, have no place as role models for our youth today - especially when those generals led thousands of men into an unjust war. Many of our community's ancestors died because they were required to follow men like Lee and Jackson and Ashby into war. Many of our community's ancestors were enslaved and beaten because of men like these. If this is what it means to be a General, then even that mascot should have been removed from our schools. The public school is not meant for training children to become soldiers, but to become capable citizens of The United States of America. How can we do that at schools whose names derive from leaders that fought against the USA, and led others to do so, as well? That is the antithesis of citizenship. I am a product of the Shenandoah County Public School system. I did not know there were any slave cemeteries in Shenandoah County, Va, when I was growing up. I was required to write an essay espousing the virtues of leaders like Lee and Jackson. I was taught by a Sunday School teacher about the War of Northern Aggression. These perspectives are damaging to our children and to our community. And I only recognized this by reading primary source documents, minutes, deed books, and personal accounts by enslaved individuals, as well as seeing several slave cemeteries' depressions of graves along a fence line and devoid of the grandiose statuary that memorializes Confederate leaders and soldiers in our county. Experiences with none of these things has traditionally happened in our school system. But, our children are required to visit the New Market Battlefield, which commemorates a Confederate victory.
These letters are not about me. They are not about pointing out where the school system has been failing our children. They are neither condemnations of historical figures nor admirations of them. They are reminders that whatever names go onto our public school buildings need to be 1) non-divisive, and 2) the best of all of us - historically, in the present, and looking toward our future. The current names, Honey Run and Mountain View, do that well! The Christian character of Confederate generals and soldiers is constantly brought to the forefront of any conversation surrounding the name change issue. I'll share more in another post; however, today, I'm focusing on Lee. In Slave Testimony, edited by John Blassingame, there is the following account of Wesley Norris, enslaved in Virginia by Robert E Lee and interviewed in 1866: "It has frequently been represented by the friends and admirers of Robert E. Lee, late an officer in the rebel army, that, although a slaveholder, his treatment of his chattels was invariably kind and humane. The subjoined statement, taken from the lips of one of his former slaves, indicates the real character of the man: "My name is Wesley Norris; I was born a slave on the plantation of George Parke Custis; after the death of Mr. Custis, Gen. Lee, who had been made executor of the estate, assumed control of the slaves, in number about seventy; it was the general impression among the slaves of Mr. Custis that on his death they should be forever free; in fact this statement had been made to them by Mr. C. years before; at his death we were informed by Gen. Lee that by the conditions of the will we must remain slaves for five years; I remained with Gen. Lee for about seventeen months, when my sister Mary, a cousin of ours, and I determined to run away, which we did in the year 1859; we had already reached Westminster, in Maryland, on our way to the North, when we were apprehended and thrown into prison, and Gen. Lee notified of our arrest; we remained in prison fifteen days, when we were sent back to Arlington; we were immediately taken before Gen. Lee, who demanded the reason why we ran away; we frankly told him that we considered ourselves free; he then told us he would teach us a lesson we never would forget; he then ordered us to the barn, where, in his presence, we were tied firmly to posts by a Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us fifty lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but twenty; we were accordingly stripped to the skin by the overseer, who, however, had sufficient humanity to decline whipping us; accordingly Dick Williams, a county constable, was called in, who gave us the number of lashes ordered; Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to 'lay it on well,' an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flash, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our bodies with brine, which was done. After this my cousin and myself were sent to Hanover Court-House jail, my sister being sent to Richmond to an agent to be hired; we remained in jail about a week, when we were sent to Nelson county, where we were hired out by Gen. Lee's agent to work on the Orange and Alexander railroad; we remained thus employed for about seven months, and were then sent to Alabama, and put to work on what is known as the Northeastern railroad; in January, 1863, we were sent to Richmond, from which place I finally made my escape through the rebel lines to freedom; I have nothing further to say; what I have stated is true in every particular, and I can at any time bring at least a dozen witnesses, both white and black, to substantiate my statements..." (1977:467-468). In a previous post, I shared that Confederate leaders like Lee and Jackson chose to follow state over God. In terms of this comment, another testimony in the same resource but this time by Primus Smith who was born in Virginia in 1844 and enslaved in Virginia and Missouri states, "I have heard Mr. Lee say, with my own ears, that he would stay with his state of Virginia if a war came" (1977:599). This sentiment was part of Lee's own letters and decision to choose fighting for his State, even when offered the position U.S. Grant assumed for America, later. It was similar for Jackson - despite letters from his sister encouraging him otherwise. So when I talk about choosing state, I'm literally stating that - they chose Virginia, they chose the position of breaking away from America, foremost - not as founding fathers of our current nation, but as leaders of a new country - one whose cornerstone was literally the inequality between the two races and the economic preservation of slavery. And even moreso, they had a choice - there are plenty of examples, especially in 1859, of abolitionists who were fighting literally with their very lives to end slavery. John Brown, who was a Christian too, is the most notorious of these - and whom Lee and Jackson would have known about. Here are words from John Brown (not Lee or Jackson or Ashby): "I hold God in infinitely greater reverence than Congress..." Brown gave his life for the cause of racial abolition. You can travel to Kennedy Farm and Harper's Ferry and learn more about his story there. Brown's was a far more noble goal than the decisions that people like Lee, Jackson, and Ashby made to lead thousands of soldiers into a bloody civil war. As you will notice, I am trying to condense these points as much as I can, not only out of respect for your time, but also because I, too, have a lot of roles and three precious sons to raise. I am doing this because I love them and I care about what their diplomas say. I didn't have that choice and my parents' generation didn't speak up. I'm doing this because of my local African American and Hispanic friends - all of whom I have heard share that they did not want the names of Confederate leaders on our public schools. I value their perspectives and want to honor them by raising my voice, even if no one else does. A president of The United States of America has never apologized for the enslavement of Africans and African Americans, nor the Jim Crow era that stripped opportunity and equality from so many African Americans following Reconstruction.
Reagan did sign the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which was an official apology and reparations to Japanese-Americans, for their wrongful internment on American soil, in places like Minidoka in Idaho, during World War II. This is especially poignant to note because it was today in 1942, that President Roosevelt reluctantly signed Proclamation No. 2537, which put into motion these internments. (I say reluctantly, because he was pushed by majority leaders in California, etc.) However, in terms of other historical injustices, which happened over a longer period of time in America and which impacted a far greater number of people, only unofficial, incongruent, or addendum apologies have been kicked around by congressional or senatorial representatives. In the back portion of Defense Appropriations Act of 2010 (H.R. 3326, section 8113) you will find an apology sans reparations and sans liability to the US government for "many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States" (H.R. 3326, section 8113.2). This act also called on the President of the United States to acknowledge such wrongs, which President Obama did the same year. (A president, we should note, whose ancestry included people that had been wronged by our government was required to apologize on behalf of that government.) H.R. 3326 also encouraged "all state governments to work toward reconciling their relationship with Indian tribes within their boundaries" (Sec. 8113.4) Unlike the Japanese-American apology, this one did not come with reparations. In 2008 and 2009, it appeared that an official apology might happen for African Americans, too. By this time, some West African nations had been issuing formal apologies for their roles in the transatlantic slave trade: Benin (1999), Ghana (2006), and later by tribal leaders in Cameroon (2013) and among other West African peoples. In some cases these apologies were issued to descendants of peoples who had been enslaved in places like Virginia. And sometimes it was encouraged by the missionary outreach of Virginians, like Brian Johnson who heads a Reconciliation Missions Network in Africa, according to one article, West Africans to African-Americans: "We Apology for Slavery." H.R. 194, which was passed by the House of Representatives in July 2008, "acknowledges that slavery is incompatible with the basic principle recognized in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. Acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow. Apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the U.S. people for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors. Commits to rectifying the lingering consequences of slavery and Jim Crow and to stopping future human rights violations." But it didn't go any further. There was no presidential apology. No reparations. It settled like a sparked match without a candle to light. In presenting H.R. 194, Rep. Cohen stated: "I speak on this resolution and urge the members of this body to pass this historic resolution, recognize our errors, but also recognize the greatness of this country, because only a great country can recognize and admit its mistakes and then travel forth to create indeed a more perfect union that works to bring people of all races, religions and creeds together in unity as Americans part of the United States of America." And that is where we are today. In a post-George Floyd world that has experienced an unprecedented global pandemic and continues to experience repercussions from both, America's leaders need to support reconciliatory measures in their communities. I'm not talking about checks to some citizens and not to others. I'm talking about investing in appropriate public spaces (schools, parks, roads, etc), whose names empower and inspire - not haunt part of a community; investing in the educational success of all of our children; investing in health reforms that care for all of our elderly; investing in our country's healing. The impacts of historical trauma are real. To heal from such trauma, it is vital to acknowledge the wrongdoings of a country against people that should have been under its protection, allow the stories to be known, and integrate actions that promote transformation into places of inclusion and respect for all Americans. Renaming southern campus schools to once again bear the names of Confederate leaders that worked, in some cases, until their deaths to lead others against the ideals of equality and justice, aligns with the impacts of historical trauma. I encourage you to publicly work toward true social healing by encouraging continued acts of reconciliation in our community. |
authorSENK is an artist and writer in the Shenandoah Valley. The blog, 52 Weeks, is an ethical contemplation on the importance of choosing public school names that are not divisive within a community. Each post is based on over seven years of research by the author. 52 Weeks is a compassionate appeal to community and school board members to not revert to the names of Confederate leaders for Shenandoah County, Va, public schools. posts |
RSS Feed