The Battle of Stones River, or Murfreesboro, was a very important battle in Tennessee that lasted from December 21, 1862 to January 2, 1863. At the Stones River National Battlefield there are a large number of exhibits and literature that has been submitted to the Interior Department for violating President Trump 2025 Executive Order to restore “sanity” in the telling of history. Nearly all the potential violators have to do with slavery or other historic events connected to African Americans.
You can find out more about the Executive Order and the collection of exhibits being done to carry out the order HERE.
First up is a display on the Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed on January 1, 1863, right in the middle of the battle. The central graphic is a centerfold created by German immigrant cartoonist Thomas Nast. Because this illustration focuses on slavery and Emancipation it is highly questionably under the new rules the president put into place last year.
Next is a panel showing enslaved African Americans working under the direction of their overseer.
Another questionable display focuses in on the Emancipation Proclamation.
The next panel focuses on Murfreesboro in the months after the battle. With the Union victorious and the Emancipation Proclamation the exhibit says that slavery “disintegrated” which apparently National Parks should not discuss.
The next panel talks about the changes after the Civil War. Blacks were now free and during Reconstruction they earned the right to vote and hold citizenship. Apparently talking about these gains may violate the directives of the president.
The file on Stones River also contains a number of brochures that are being reviewed. The Interior Department staff member who prepared these drew highlights on the questionable text and used a pen to show what may need to be changed or deleted.
As we can see, the questionable sections deal with the Emancipation Proclamation as well as words like “The Confederates limped away from the battlefield” or “dealt a deathblow to the Confederacy.”
NEXT: Brochures and Exhibits under review at Vicksburg.
Please contact your Representative and let her or him know you are concerned about this.
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