GAINESVILLE - Confederate Memorial Day once again brought members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, authentic living historians and spectators to Redwine United Methodist Church in Gainesville Sunday.
Under a clear blue April sky, the flags of the Confederacy flew, women in period dress escorted by men in Rebel gray and butternut placed red roses on soldiers graves and there were musket and cannon salutes.
Event Speaker Professor Douglas Young from Gainesville State College said especially now, with the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States, it is time for Southerners to preserve their Confederate heritage.
Young told his audience that preserving the South's Confederate history is going to be a challenge, but he invited critics to research and get the facts about why the war was really fought, saying the 'Civil War' was not really a civil war.
"A civil war is defined when you have two sides fighting for control of the same government," Young said. "That was not the case, we simply wanted to go our own way, to be left alone."
Young, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, is a professor of political science and history at GSC and heads up the campus 'Politically Incorrect' Club.
The Memorial Day service was hosted by the General James Longstreet Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Military Service Records Recorder Kimberly Wright said the service began 85 years ago when some Confederate Army veterans were still alive.
"What we're commemorating is those men and women who have served their country and lost their lives in defense of our country and in defense of our freedom," Wright said.
During the event four military service awards were given to World War ll and Vietnam War veterans with Confederate Army ancestors.
Thursday
October 17th, 2024
8:30PM
