Conversations in the Streets: Nikki Haley & Harvard; Black Confederate Soldiers
February 24, 2024
Dear Ms. Lunelle,
On this morning of February 24, 2024, I would don the uniform of the Southern Soldier and make my way down Highway 29 South into Spartanburg, County and post the Southern Cross alongside the road.
Not long afterward, a car with New Jersey license plates would park and an elderly White man and woman would come to where I stood.
“Good morning Sir, I am Hank, and this is my wife Sophia. We never imagined that we would ever see anyone with that flag let alone a Black man on the side of the road at the break of dawn don in the Confederate uniform. I want you to know that I am in no way offended.
My great-grandfather told me a story that was told to him by his grandfather. "He said that as the Confederate forces were charging the Union ranks, one of their men, his best friend was shot and left for dead. As it turns out a Confederate soldier heard his moaning. He would stop, bandage him up, reach into his mess and leave a blanket and water. Later that day Union forces would pick him up. He never forgot the kindness of that Rebel soldier who saved his life.
And we don't agree with the Isis-Taliban behavior of tearing down Memorials and name places here in the South of these brave men and arguably women. I told my wife that you were probably here because its Black History Month. However, she said it was voting going on today and that you might be reminding South Carolinians about what Nikki Haley did by giving momentum to the naysayers when she removed the Battle flag from the Confederate Memorial in Columbia after it was promised by the Legislative Body after taking it off the Capitol Dome never to be removed again.”
I gently pushed him aside and hugged his wife. He asked me if I accepted donations. She did not wait for me to reply handing me $40.00 and telling me to “be careful.”
As they waved goodbye another car pulled up with Massachusetts license plates.
I thought to myself…”sure are a lot of Yankees around here.” However, seeing on this morning, seeing a great big smile on his face and his hand extended out to shake mine; my second thought was he must be a South Carolinian living in Massachusetts.
“Mr. Edgerton, I presume. I live in Boston and you were at Harvard University last summer don in your pretty uniform with the Southern Cross, and I was so sad that I didn't get to see and greet you. And honey he said looking at his wife; "look at us now," while giving me a big hug!
HK, I want you to know that a lot of people in Massachusetts love and respect you for coming there. You are a very courageous man, and not to forget the entourage who were with you.”
Yes, I said, Ms. Lunelle and her husband, the Honorable Attorney David McCallister.
His wife would hand me $25.00 to use as I chose.
About this time car horns began blaring and the Rebel Yell and shouts of my name coming from all directions. I hate that my legs are only about 60% and dictated that it was time for me to head homeward.
It was a great day in Dixie! God bless you!
Your brother,
HK
Chairman Board of Advisors Emeritus Southern Legal Resource Center
Recipient South Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans Citizen of the Year Award
Recipient National Order of the Confederate Rose Lifetime Achievement Award
Recipient Virginia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans General Robert E. Lee Medal
United Daughters of the Confederacy Texas Division Jefferson Davis Medal
President Southern Heritage 411
Black Confederate Soldier
Holt Collier - First Black man to be acquitted of killing a White man in Mississippi. Courtroom still stands as a Historic Landmark.
Holt would ride with the Confederate Texas Calvary and later with the Honorable General Nathan Bedford Forest. One of his claim to fame was being a guide and trapper for President Theodore Roosevelt on a bear hunt. After the party abandoned the hunt, Holt lassoed the bear he had chased down for the President’s hunt, tied it to a tree and told the President to shoot it. The President refused. When word got out, people started sending him stuffed Bears from all over the country that led to a marketing bonanza for toy makers (still – the “Teddy Bear”)! Roosevelt and Collier became lifelong friends.
Don’t forget to watch Me Monday Night Discussing the Reconciliation Cenotaph at Arlington National Cemetery
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