Change

David:

One of the questions in my mind as we prepared to bike across the Florida Panhandle was how the history of the Civil War would be portrayed. 

I lived in Blountsown, Florida in 1978, doing carpentry work to make tuition money for college. Blountstown is in the northern Panhandle.  It is "deep South." Leroy, a co-worker who hailed from Blountstown, referred to me as a damnyankee.  One word.  A younger co-worker, also from Blountstown, told me that for many of the older people, the Civil War was not over.  But that was 45 years ago. I wondered what changes there might be, especially in light of the movement to remove Civil War era monuments in many States and Cities?

I got a small glimpse of some of that during a morning stroll through the downtown of Madison, Florida. I discovered it's not as easy as taking down a monument.

Madison has a wealth of preserved and restored homes from the Civil War era. The plaques in front of each house give the history of the original owner. In most cases, that includes their service in the Civil War. The name of the County next door comes from a man from Madison who lost his life in a pivotal Civil War battle. The conference center downtown served as a Confederate Hospital during the War.  The history of men from Madison who served in the Civil War is woven throughout the natural and built architecture of the town, and region.

There is, of course, a statue in the center of the park in the center of town honoring the men from the town who fought in the Civil War.  There is also a plaque marking the site of the Blockhouse built to protect women, children and old people "in the threatening period of 1835-1842."  That threatening period was the time of the "Seminole Indian War," and it is true that the Seminole Nation did not take kindly to the efforts to eradicate and relocate them. The last sentence of the marker reads, "This marker will remind succeeding generations of their priceless heritage."  Which makes the link between "heritage" and "heinous actions" quite clear.  Also muddy.  Because the Seminole War was not carried out by the Confederacy, it was carried out by the United States.  Just as there are statues to the confederate soldiers, there are statues to men from Madison who fought in subsequent wars that our country fought.  Honor and dishonor are allocated by the winners.

As I made my way around the park, I also came to a monument that stunned me, a monument erected in 1996, "Dedicated to the former slaves of Madison County, their supporters, and the unsung heroes who gave their prayers, blood, sweat and tears to help make our community what it is today."  There is as well a monument to David Dukes, a young man from Madison, who was a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights struggle.  https://www.greenepublishing.com/david-dukes-madisons-civil-rights-leader/

It was a morning that deepened my understanding of the complexity of history, and the changes that do come.