The U.S. House of Representatives late yesterday banned the display of Confederate flags at historic federal cemeteries in the Deep South, including one in Andersonville, Georgia. The voice vote, which no member opposed, came after a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers. The proposal by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Ca., would block the Park Service from allowing private groups from decorating the graves of Southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day (which Georgia does).
The ban does not apply, though, to Confederate cemeteries in the South including the large one in Marietta, Georgia, containing 3,000 graves and displaying an array of secessionist flags. In fact, InsiderAdvantage is told, no American flag flies at the cemetery.
Betty L. Hunter, president of Marietta’s Confederate Cemetery board of directors, explains some history and reacts to the congressional vote:
“The Confederate flag was not allowed to fly here until after the Spanish-American War. Our southern soldiers fought bravely shoulder to shoulder with the men from the north. In fact there were more southerners in that battle than northerners. The federal government realized that these men would honor the United States. So it was after this war that the Confederate flag flew in the Marietta Cemetery. Mattie Harris Lyon had her son write a letter to a senator asking if it could be flown here. The response was, ‘Tell her to fly her flag. The federal government has no jurisdiction over a Confederate Cemetery.’ Mattie wanted to have this flag flown over these young men who had fought so valiantly. “It is not or has not ever been a symbol of hatred and racism in our cemetery, and I am sorry to hear that southern soldiers in federal cemeteries cannot be honored with the placing of their flag above their graves.” Hunter concludes: “I am appalled when I see that some disrespectful person pulls out our flag and uses it as a symbol of hatred. They degrade these soldiers who went to war to protect their homeland.”
