Controversy Over Delaware Confederate Flag Leads to Partial Boycott of Traditional Parade

Thursdays after Election Day are unique in Georgetown, Delaware close to the Maryland border on the Eastern Shore. It is the scene of the Return Day Parade in which carriages drawn by horses carry those who stood for election, winners and losers, through the town together. The parade is an expression of bipartisan support for the democratic process in our constitutional republic. This year many of the political candidates have said they will not ride in the carriages. The reason: The parade starts at the Georgetown Historical Society where a Confederate Battle Flag has been flying for more than a decade. The carriages are supplied by the Marvel Carriage Museum at the site of the historical society. According to the Marvel Museum, the parade may have begun in 1791.

The parade is a popular tradition assembled every two years and involving people as well-known as Joe Biden. Ten thousand people attend the parade, nearly twice the population of the town. The parade ends with a ceremonial “burial of the hatchet,” in which an actual hatchet is buried. Those boycotting the start of the parade have said they will join it later on, but that they will not ride in the carriages provided by the historical society which is connected administered by the Historical Society.

In August of this year, the Georgetown Historical Society published a letter defending its flying of the Confederate Battle Flag and its commitment to keeping the Confederate monument on its grounds. According to the letter, The monument was first envisioned in 2005 when the society solicited a proposal from the Sons of Confederate Veterans for a Confederate monument. The society says it also sought a proposal from a Union veterans descendent group. Using terminology familiar to students of the Lost Cause, the letter says it sought to “erect a monument honoring…those Delawareans who demonstrated valor in battle toward the ultimate sacrifice that shaped our history in the late War Between The States prosecuted between 1861-65,” both Union and Confederate.

The letter next describes the events after the Sons of Confederates Veterans took on the erecting of the monument:

“…the SCV acceptance led to their significant investment in treasure, research and time ongoing, leading to the erection of a 9-foot obelisk memorializing more than 100 Delawareans who supported or enlisted in Southern armies, including General Leonidas Polk and Delaware Gov. William Henry Harrison Ross. The unveiling ceremony was held May 12, 2007, including the memorial obelisk flanked by 25-foot flag poles punctuated on each side, featuring both the Delaware flag and the Confederate Battle Flag – also inscribed upon the obelisk, featuring a 14th star for Delaware. The event included joint proclamations from Georgetown Mayor Mike Wyatt and Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, both in attendance, who declared May 12-18 as Confederate History and Heritage Week, covering both the town and entire State of Delaware.”

The historical society says that a central figure in the ceremony was a African American spokesman for Confederate support groups; “Also in attendance was noted Southern patriot H.K. Edgerton, who led the gathered crowd of 300 in singing “Dixie,” performed his rendition of “I Am Their Flag,” and spoke passionately about the need to preserve Southern history.” The society portrayed itself as meeting a need for Confederate memorialization in Delaware, saying:

“no memorial to Delaware’s Confederate history exists in their struggle seeking independence, other than ours. Memorials of accuracy in history don’t always generate universal acceptance or endorsement. Our society appropriately gave its word of binding commitment to SCV, allowing them to exclusively select the flags to be evidenced as part of their memorial in perpetuity, upon which promise they have justifiably and materially relied continuously since. We note that both GHS and SCV have and continue to regard the institution of slavery as a moral and political evil for all time, as Gen. Robert E. Lee consistently maintained in his public pronouncements and private correspondence.”

The Georgetown Historical Society’s own statement indicates that, from 1861 to 1865, support for the Confederacy was so low in Delaware that as few as “more than 100” Delawareans enlisted in the Confederate forces. In fact, three times as many people apparently showed up for the dedication ceremony in the 21st Century as enlisted in the Confederate army! It is also hardly true that the Sons of Confederate Veterans regarded “the institution of slavery as a moral and political evil for all time.” Until the late 20th Century the SCV published defenses of the enslavement of Blacks.

In 2007 the Sons of Confederate Veterans explained its purpose in erecting the monument:

It is the desire of the Delaware Grays Camp, (Sons of Confederate Veterans), to recognize the valor and sacrifices of Delaware’s citizens and soldiers who fought for the Confederacy by installing this monument within our state, inscribed with the known names of Delaware’s Southern soldiers and their regiments, dedicated to those citizen/soldiers that are known. We do this so history may honor all of our statesmen that fought and served during the War between the States period.

The historical society has repeatedly been asked to take down the Confederate Flag. The town’s NAACP chapter called for the flag’s removal for a number of years without action by the society. Georgetown’s population is more than 20% Black. Representatives of the town’s Hispanic community, about 40% of the population, have asked that the flag be removed from the flag pole for possible display inside the museum.

In 2019, the state cut off funding to the historical society. In 2022 the town’s legislature voted 3 -2 to restore funding. When irregularities in the vote were established the town’s Republican mayor Bill West tried to rescind the grant by halting payment on the town’s check. The three legislature members who supported the grant met unilaterally and issued the check again. Mayor West “This is a unique situation. This is a big, total mess.” The Delaware Attorney General and a state court have both ruled that the payment was illegal.

On September 26 the council met again and approved the grant.

The family of Nutter Marvel, whom the Marvel Carriage Museum is named after, has also called for the removal of the flag. A spokesperson for the family said that Marvel “would be rolling over in his grave” over the display of the flag. Sussex County Council member John Riely has asked his council to intervene saying that:

“To those who claim the memorial and the Confederate battle flag are just history, that is just not true. The public wants history to remember Benedict Arnold, Tokyo Rose, Americans who fought with ISIS, and those few Delawareans who fought in the Civil War against the United States. But the public knows the difference between remembering and a monument that glorifies such vile behavior.”

On April 23, 2022 the Sons of Confederate Veterans held a ceremony honoring Delaware residents who fought for the Confederates at the Marvel Carriage Museum. These photos appear on the SCV web site.

The first photo shows the interior of the Marvel Carriage Museum during the celebration. In spite of the Georgetown Historical Society’s claim that its involvement merely marks an historical event 160 years ago, this was clearly a Neo-Confederate assembly. The speaker, shown below, Susan Lee, is a spokesperson for the Virginia Flaggers, a controversial organization branded a hate group by civil rights groups.

On her own web site, Susan Lee urges Americans to fly the Confederate Battle Flag, saying it “is one of the oldest Christian Symbol on Earth and silently, but eloquently lets the world know that a Christian family resides at the residence where it is flown.” She also claims that “It is a universal symbol of resistance to tyranny.” She argues that flying the flag shows that people are  “proud of your ancestors efforts to preserve their liberty and God-given freedom.” Her reasons include revanchist themes; “It is a constant and powerful reminder that we have not forgotten what the Yankees did to our Ancestors and to our civilization, and are still doing, and that we do not intend to forget, nor forgive, until they cease meddling in our Sovereign affairs.” In another dive into modern politics she says “It is a reminder that Liberty is a God-given right, not a commodity to be controlled by greedy politicians, left-wing liberal teachers, and power-crazed activist judges.” Finally she identifies the flag as a white Christian icon:

It symbolizes the unique Southern States, where, we as a separate people, with a common background, have preserved, and continue to preserve, our honorable cultural heritage. In fact, the design of the Flag is Christian and Celtic in origin.

Here Susan Lee helps display a Confederate Battle Flag at the Marvel Museum with the logo of the “New Jersey Flaggers.” While New Jersey supplied no troops to the Confederacy and never made any attempt to support the Confederate armed struggle, Confederate symbolism has become popular among racist groups in the state. The social media for the New Jersey group claim that it is “standing up for Southern Heritage” although New Jersey is not in the South. The group also asserts that it is “standing up to cancel culture.”

These photos show what was going on at a Georgetown Historic Society event inside the Marvel Carriage Museum. I am not sure what the “historical” justification is for these banners from the two Flagger groups is. By the way, the groups call themselves “Flaggers” because of their defense of displays on public property of Confederate Battle Flags.

The Marvel Museums Flagger/SCV event concluded with the raising and honoring of the Confederate flag at the Delaware Confederate Monument outside the museum.

 

 

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