Category: Virginia history
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The Enduring Value of Arlington’s Endangered Monument to Reconciliation
by Donald Smith Jim Webb, former U.S. Senator from Virginia, former Navy Secretary, and certified badass (Navy Cross, Silver Star and two Purple Hearts from his service as a Marine officer in Vietnam) grabbed quite a bit of attention last week. On August 18 he called for the Confederate Memorial at Arlington Cemetery to be…
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Satire: Lexington’s Battle of the Statues
by Thomas Moncure The Virginia Military Institute removed the statue of former Professor (and Confederate General) Thomas J. Jackson from the front of barracks. In doing so they have meekly emulated the sterling example of the City of Richmond and other places. Cleansing the landscape of offensive historical figures is now the touchstone of our…
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Ignorance Erases George Wythe at a Virginia Community College
by Suzanne Munson Virginia Peninsula Community College recently announced the removal of the names of two historic American leaders from its buildings, George Wythe and Dr. Corbin Griffin, a surgeon for Virginia patriot soldiers, presumably because they once owned slaves. It should be noted that these were heroes of the American Revolution, not the Civil…
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Webb’s Last Ditch Attempt to Save the Confederate Memorial at Arlington
by Shaun Kenney Former Virginia Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Webb is begging federal officials to save the last remaining Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in a forceful op-ed to The Wall Street Journal. Webb writes: [President William] McKinley understood the Civil War as one who had lived it, having served four years in the…
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You’ve Been to Paris but You’ve Never Been to the Luray Caverns?
by Kerry Dougherty Today we’re taking a break from politics, woke culture and indictments. It’s Explore Beautiful Virginia time. A midsummer palate cleanser! But first a question: Why does every tourist destination sell fudge? More precisely, is there some sort of law that mandates every vacation spot feature a “fudgery”? Is there something about salt…
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Ham Cemetery Stands Strong
by Jon Baliles Over in the woods behind Bandy Field Nature Park in the West End along (and overlapping with) the border of Henrico County near the Village Shopping Center, there is a small African-American cemetery with an enormous history that recently appeared in a feature by Bill Pike in the Henrico Citizen; it is…
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The Pettiness of Canceling John S. Mosby
by Donald Smith In April, in Georgia, a correction morphed into an overreaction. As part of the ongoing process to change the names of military bases named for Confederate generals, Fort Benning became Fort Moore. Around the same time, the National Ranger Memorial Foundation (NRMF) responded to a directive from U.S. government officials. The NRMF sent workmen…
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RVA History: Quintessential Preservationist
by Jon Baliles Historic preservation is important for many reasons, like helping us better understand our past and how to improve it for future generations. One great advocate of preserving Richmond’s history to convey stories forward was Mary Winfield Scott, who passed away in 1983, but whose legacy lives on in neighborhoods across Richmond, and…
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The Document That Inspired the Declaration of Independence
by Joseph Postell It’s common for Americans on July 4th to read and discuss the Declaration of Independence, and to reflect on its principles and ideas. Those principles and ideas are often attributed solely — though wrongly — to Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the draft of the Declaration. Jefferson’s draft was modified in…
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Old Law Coming Back to Bite Virginia?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore On behalf of three Virginia residents, the Virginia ACLU, along with a large D.C. law firm, has filed suit in federal court challenging the provision of Virginia’s constitution that disenfranchises anyone convicted of a felony, providing that their voting rights can be restored only by the governor. Such a legal challenge is…
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Patriotism in Virginia
by Robin Beres In less than a week, Virginians, like Americans everywhere, will celebrate Independence Day. This year, despite high inflation, high gas prices, a sharply divided electorate, and rising crime rates, there seems to be a growing consensus that we celebrate this occasion with all the gusto we can muster. Despite the holiday falling…
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Colleges Falsely Claim Juneteenth Was ‘The Day Slavery Ended in the U.S.’
by Hans Bader Many colleges and progressives are claiming that Juneteenth — June 19, 1865 — was “the day slavery ended” in the U.S. But slavery actually remained legal in Kentucky and Delaware until December 6, 1865, the day the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on slavery went into effect. Yale University has a web site titled,…
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State Flags are Going Woke. Is Virginia’s Next?
by Anna Jankowski In the midst of America’s ongoing culture war, it is widely recognized that the left comprehends (and exploits) the profound influence that American history, values and tradition exert on its citizens. Cancel culture has rapidly infiltrated public discourse, leaving state flags as its next target. From Maine to Utah, left-leaning activists are…
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Along the Back Roads –the Rise and Demise of a Town
Let’s take a break from DEI; the shortcomings of UVa, W&M and the rest of higher education; and all the other issues that get us riled up. Virginia is an interesting state to travel and see. I have always liked to travel the back roads. It is slower than the interstates and the primary highways,…
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Town of Bedford Honors June 6 D-Day
by Scott Dreyer World War II saw conflict across Europe, North Africa, Asia, and the oceans of the world. However, the charming Central Virginia town of Bedford is the site of the famous D-Day Memorial. Bedford sent 35 men to land at Normandy, France. The memorial honors the 19 local boys who died on June…