After the Flag, On To the Shamrock
Issues & Views
http://www.issues-views.com/index.php/sect/1007/article/1101
Friday, March 24, 2006
One of the lessons that most Americans appear too dense to learn is that wholesale capitulation to the demands of minorities leads only to demands for more such capitulations. The furor over display of Confederate flags is a case in point. Once the anti-South crusaders have won this battle in the culture war, they will march on to the next encounter, in order to cleanse what they perceive as the symbols of white Euro culture from this country.
In Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports that there has been a directive (either official or unofficial) issued to personnel of the Boston Housing Authority, suggesting that the age-old symbol of the shamrock be removed from public places. This familiar Irish emblem, a herald of Irish-American pride, is now being equated to the swastika (the same symbolism used against the Confederate battle flag), and is a point of discussion in "diversity training" sessions held at the BHA. It seems that in these sessions, some minorities have revealed that the sight of the shamrock flying from flagpoles and hanging in windows "bothers" them or makes them "feel uncomfortable."
So far, the order has not yet been given to forbid shamrock flags from being flown from windows or as part of displays. Boston City Council President James Kelly accused the BHA of fomenting anti-Irish bias and called the diversity seminars "a course in hating white Irish Catholics."
From the Flag, onward to the Shamrock. What's next? Since the traditional song "Dixie" is publicly banned in most parts of the South, perhaps a ban will be instituted in the North against the playing or singing of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."
Let them not be Forgotten
Confederate Memorial Day. A day set aside in the South to pay tribute to those who served with the Confederate forces during the War For Southern Independence. The founder of the Federal Memorial Day, Gen. John A. Logan (Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic), was so impressed with the way the South honored their dead with a special day, he became convinced that such a day must be created to honor Union dead. The battlefield graves all around Richmond could be seen "marked with little white flags, faded wreaths of laurel" where family and friends of Confederate soldiers had placed them. Logan is reported to have been "deeply touched" and said "it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in this land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday." This of course was done at a later date, thus our National Memorial Day. This year Confederate Memorial Day is April 24th. In Alabama.
Edmond Winchester Rucker
Edmund Winchester Rucker was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on July 22, 1835. He was the son of Edmund and Louisa Winchester Rucker and grandson of General James Winchester and Thomas Rucker, both officers during the War of 1812. He had little education, gaining only what was available at the Wilson County common schools. Prior to enlisting in the Confederate Army, Rucker worked with a surveying crew to survey for the Nashville & Decatur Railroad. He then moved to Memphis and established engineering and surveying business. In 1858 he was appointed City Engineer of Memphis.
Upon his enlistment in the Confederate Army, he was appointed First Lieutenant of Engineers and was sent to Columbus, KY. He was subsequently promoted to Captain of Tennessee Artillery and was assigned to command a company of Illinoisans who had come South to fight for the Confederacy. He fought at the battles of Island No. 10 and Fort Pillow, both of which were disasters. In the summer of 1862 he was promoted to Major of the 16th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion. He commanded forces at Kingston and Cleveland in Tennessee.
In 1863 Rucker's Battalion was combined with the 12th Battalion to form Rucker's Legion and was attached to Forrest's Cavalry Corps of the Army of Tennessee. By late 1863 and the battle of Chickamauga, Rucker had been promoted to Colonel. In 1864, he was transferred to Mississippi and given command of a Brigade of Tennessee Cavalry in Brigadier General James Chalmer's Division of Forrest's new cavalry command. He led forces at the battles of Brice's Crossroads on June 10, 1864 and Tupelo on July 14, 1864, where he was wounded twice.
After returning to duty, Rucker was given command of another cavalry brigade which he led in General John Bell Hood's invasion of Tennessee. During the Battle of Nashville, Rucker was shot in the arm and captured and his arm was amputated by Union surgeons. Although he was never commissioned as a General, he was termed a Brigadier General due to his command of a brigade.
In 1869 he moved to Alabama where he became president of Salem, Marion & Memphis Railroad; president of Birmingham Compress and Warehouse Co., vice president of Sloss Iron and Steel Company; vice-president and director of Alabama National Bank; vice-president of American Coal Company.
Rucker was a member of St. Mary's Episcopal church. He was married twice, first to Mary A. Woodfin and second to Mary T. Bentley. He had three children, Mary, Louise and Edmund. Rucker died in Birmingham on April 13, 1924 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.
God Save the South
