Civil War monuments belong in cemeteries, not by courthouses

My husband and I have Southern roots. Both of us have great-great-grandfathers who fought as Confederates at Gettysburg and were among the almost 4,000 prisoners who died at Point Lookout in Maryland in the last days of the Civil War.

My great-grandmother was left fatherless at the age of 3, and her family joined the ranks of Virginians living near poverty on small farms that had not depended on slave labor and were exhausted by the demands and destruction of war.

The Civil War took more lives than any other and should be recognized for the disaster it was for the South, not glorified. Our monuments should be in cemeteries, not in front of courthouses where they were placed in the 1920s with racist intent. Then and now, they serve to intimidate citizens who expect justice and fairness for all.

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Civil War monuments belong in cemeteries, not by courthouses."