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The Confederate flags of Oakwood Cemetery

Oakwood Cemetery is estimated to contain the remains of as many as 17,000 Confederate soldiers, making it the second largest Confederate cemetery in America. The Confederate section of the cemetery is approximately 7.5 acres.

The Confederates buried in Oakwood were largely the casualties of the major battles fought to defend Richmond from northern invasion beginning in the summer of 1862, including the Seven Days Campaign, Gaines Mill, Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, Mechanicsville, Savage’s Station, and Beaver Dam Creek. Many were patients that failed to recover in the Chimborazo and Howard’s Grove hospitals.

Many Union soldiers where also originally buried near the Confederates in Oakwood Cemetery. In 1866 the federal government relocated the bodies of most Union soldiers and buried them in Richmond National Cemetery in Fulton.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans offer to maintain the Confederate section of the cemetery back in 2007 was rebuffed by the city, though the group did later provide a new fence for the monument. SCV members also place small Confederate flags on graves in and adjacent to the Confederate section of the cemetery.

36 comments

EDS 06/23/2015 at 7:20 PM

I have a G-great grand father buried there, died from injuries fro the Battle of Seven Pines.

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Ben 06/23/2015 at 9:11 PM

I urge everyone to visit an area battlefield this summer. It’s remarkable and tragic the shear numbers that perished so close to Richmond and throughout VA on both sides. The Seven Days campaign took place during this time of year, making a visit even more poignant.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 06/24/2015 at 8:36 AM

This whole Confederate Flag thing has gotten way out of hand and the issue about those innocent people loosing their lives overshadowed by it. But at the same time, I posted a commentary on my facebook page and here it is:

The Flag… true, the Confederate Flag was born out of the Civil War but it is a part of history. If we are to hide it out of sight then, should we also destroy the buildings and artifacts that was also a part of slavery? And if flying the flag is the ultimate reminder of this time in history, why are so many African-Americans protesting in Richmond, the Confederate Capitol, to open a Slave Trail and Museum? Isn’t that a bit contradictory? How about those Confederate Soldiers in the Confederate cemeteries and the flags on their headstones? Just like the Holocaust, there is a train car outside of the museum here in Richmond that carried Jews to their execution. Isn’t that a “flag” flying in people’s faces of sorts?

Speaking of Flags, we don’t even respect the one everyone is protecting. As I recall growing up and was taught in school, the American Flag is supposed to be raised at sunrise and taken down at sunset. Never left out in the rain. Never to touch the ground. So, why are they left out 24-7 and torn to pieces by the weather?

Just more of our “so called” American Freedoms being taken away.

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bozatwork 06/24/2015 at 9:47 AM

Really Eric?

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Bill 3 06/24/2015 at 10:23 AM

The fact that the topic of national discussion after this tragedy is whether or not a flag should be flown is just sad to me. It’s also so very typical of us as a country and as a people.

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Aud 06/24/2015 at 11:46 AM

@3 “Just like the Holocaust, there is a train car outside of the museum here in Richmond that carried Jews to their execution. Isn’t that a “flag” flying in people’s faces of sorts?”

Really? The train is part of a museum exhibit, along with other artifacts intended to educate the public about history. The only place a Confederate flag should be displayed is in a museum. But by all means, fly the flag on your own property; or even slap a decal on your bumper, on your shirt, or on your forehead.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 06/24/2015 at 4:24 PM

I was using symbolism. There is no real “flag” for the Holocaust but the trains that carried Jews to the camps is a “symbol” just like the Confederate flag is a “symbol”. Should the train be moved indoors? And now with what I saw on the news last night, should all of the statues on Monument Avenue be stuck in museums as well? They are not “flags” but people are protesting against “symbolism” of the Confederacy. I have family and friends on my side with this one so I must have struck true cords with people rather they want to admit it or not.

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GraceStreetResident 06/24/2015 at 4:57 PM

Okay, first I have no idea how the train at the holocaust museum could ever be conceived as rubbing anyone’s face in something the way that the Confederate flag flying at sites of government is.That’s a seriously bizarre piece of misdirection. I honestly don’t understand how you got there, and I’m not sure I want to know.

Regarding the flags at the Confederate Cemetery, I feel very conflicted. I am in the camp of taking the flag down from any state, city or federally owned property. It was conceived as a banner for a cause that was explicitly white supremacist and to fly it is to endorse white supremacy at worst and to be silently, misguidedly complicit in it at best. I hate that I feel like I need to put a personal background caveat on that, but just for the record: I know exactly which regiment my great-great grandfather fought in for the Confederacy (he was part of the Peninsula Campaign), I’ve read several books on the subject of the Civil War, and as I child I even went as Scarlett O’Hara one year for Halloween. I definitely believe that it’s possible to be interested in the history of it and still condemn the modern use of its symbols. Not only can you divorce the two, you absolutely should. With all of that said (in somewhat of a tangent, sorry) I do have feelings that the one place a Confederate Flag seems to belong (beside a museum) is in the Confederate section of a cemetery. However, I’d be open to hearing an argument for the other side.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 06/24/2015 at 9:44 PM

Again, I am flabbergasted about how we are completely loosing sight of the slain people in the church being overshadowed by one jerk waving a Confederate flag which is a part of history. By bowing to his actions and his wish to start a race war, isn’t this flag issue just reliving history that divided the north and south, people and their beliefs, and in essence, he is getting his wish?

But I am also seeing people going overboard with this wanting to tear down any and everything related to the Confederacy rather it is a flag or not. Answer this, what does rerouting the bike races or protesting about a statue of Lee that has stood 125 years, has to do with a flag?

As far as the flags in the cemeteries. How about the one for Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy and his grave which flies the flag of a nation he lead? If they are wanting to tear down monuments, will they also want to bulldoze down his grave? True, it is in a cemetery and low traffic but it is a “memorial” to him, the nucleus of the Confederacy.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 06/24/2015 at 10:07 PM

@lookis, good point but figured someone would eventually bring up the swastika a being a symbol of the Holocaust. It was a flag of a nation that millions of German civilians followed, not only the atrocities which was unknown by the average citizen happening in remote isolated camps. Unlike knowing why the north and south was at war. (Remember, there was no instant access news then and heavily censored).

On the other side of the coin is a matter of freedom of speech and tolerance for those who live in America after opening our doors for centuries, rather you believe in someone’s beliefs or not, including religion and culture.

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Clay Street 06/25/2015 at 10:00 AM

Eric–ask yourself why the Confederate battle flag (as opposed to the Confederate National Flag, or even the Bonnie Blue flag) has been the symbol appropriated by 20th-century segregationists and 21st-century Neo-Confederates, and you will have your answer as to why the symbol needs to stop being venerated in the public arena. It’s suitable for viewing in a museum.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 06/25/2015 at 11:55 AM

But also, how often do we encounter these flags? I rarely see them and only at the cemetery – at least here in Richmond, where you would thing you would see more of them being the Confederate Capitol. Yet, lately it has gone way beyond just the flag to anything elated to the Confederacy so, even if we do remove the flag, how safe are the monuments and grave memorials that glorify those leaders involved with the Confederacy? They have lasted for over 100 years and there has been other hate crimes so why now? I am not opposed to removing the flag, just that it seems like the nation I grew up in as “One Nation Under God” is being chipped away one piece at a time by one person, group, religious sect, etc… until is unrecognizable.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 06/25/2015 at 1:03 PM

Sorry for the typos but at the same time, I can’t even believe that we are having this discussion. It just goes to show how divided our community really is. That deep-rooted hidden feelings are now surfacing which indicate that there is still a divide between blacks and whites. Remember, I had encountered it concerning the property at 401 N 27th and when the same people sold 402 and regretted it revealing their feelings towards whites. Racism still exists from both sides.

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GraceStreetResident 06/25/2015 at 1:12 PM

Eric, I think “glorify” is a really key word in your last comment. We should be able to remember the people who fought in the Civil War WITHOUT glorifying them. Of course not everyone was a slaveholder and many people probably had nuanced reasons for fighting, but ultimately they were fighting to keep people in chains. Period. They were misguided at generous best. They nearly destroyed the America that you clearly do hold very dear. Theirs is not the glory. They were on the losing side of history.

And side note, it’s cool that you feel like you don’t encounter the flag a lot. But don’t try to make your personal experience speak for the country. The Confederate flag is still a part of the state flag of Mississippi. In Charleston (where I’m from, by the way) it’s everywhere – including on the grounds of the State House as we speak.

I truly, genuinely recommend this article. It’s an eye-opening look at the history of the use of the Confederate flag in the words of the people who have flown it. It’s really worth a read: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/?fb_ref=Default#disqus_thread

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lookis 06/25/2015 at 2:15 PM

Eric – the more you write the more ignorant you sound. This is not between blacks and whites (as you put it), but between the old way of thinking and a more enlightened time.

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Ron Burke 06/25/2015 at 2:17 PM

@GraceStreetResident I second your recommendation of that Atlantic article. Some people may find it revealing.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 06/25/2015 at 3:04 PM

Before I say any more, I am going to read the article link provided and suggest you do the same but if you look at the news you will also see that on the simplest level, the flag issue in the eyes of many is about race. It was held up by a white man who killed black citizens and now it has become a new national cause and seen as a symbol of why the country fought the Civil War – slavery. That is a white and black issue. It is the agenda of the killer, a race war.

You know, our house was built 203-years ago. The builder owned 9 slaves and were listed by name as part of his property on his probate. The house had a winter kitchen (basement) and a summer one (outdoor 4-room 2-story building). In the basement is still the functioning cook fireplace and near it are hooks where the slaves were shackled. Do we advertise that… no, but it was a part of the history and can’t be swept under the rug as the Governor put it so they have remained as part of the house ever since. You can’t erase all evidence that it ever existed nor that the war ever happened. I am here to tell you that I know for a fact that slavery still existed as late as WWII when at least one shipyard in Alabama, brought in blacks from the islands to work as slave labor to build Liberty ships.

If you try to eradicate all evidence of the Confederacy then you will have to do the same for everyone who objects to one thing or another over things that offends their culture or beliefs (someone will always complain) as immigrants voluntarily come into our country. How would they react to us doing the same moving into their country? Probably cut our heads off.

I did I say I would wait, sorry… reading now 🙂

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