Mythical and toxic romance with a Confederate banner (SC)

BY JAMES E. CLYBURN
May 6 2016 12:01 am

... I pointed out that it is a myth that the Navy Jack flying atop the dome was ever the official flag of the Confederacy. I was ridiculed by the ill-informed and suffered silence from those who knew or should have known the truth.

It is also a myth that the Navy Jack was placed on the dome to memorialize those who fought and died in that ill-fated cause. The fact is the Navy Jack was raised at the height of the state’s rabid resistance to extending civil rights to its black citizens, though ostensibly to celebrate the centennial of the Civil War. Although the resolution that placed it on the dome is silent on the matter, the common understanding at the time was that the flag was intended to fly only for the duration of the celebration ...

When it was lowered from the dome in 2000, a different flag was raised on the grounds adjacent to the Confederate monument — the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.

That square flag — with the St. Andrew’s cross and gold trim — was Robert E. Lee’s banner, which he asked to be furled when the war ended. Few, if any, South Carolinians ever fought under it. Many South Carolinians fought under the Citadel’s flag, affectionately called “Big Red,” but most are said to have fought under their own company or regiment banners ...

http://www.postandcourier.com/20160506/160509620/mythical-and-toxic-romance-with-a-confederate-banner