The focus of this presentation is on Civil War monuments in Mississippi. Drawing from my experience photographing, transcribing and analyzing some 800 Civil War monuments across the state, I will demonstrate that the canon of commemoration across Mississippi has a complexity and depth that belies the stereotypes and assumptions associated with this genre.
For example, there are at least 44 statues of Confederate soldiers in Mississippi, mostly courthouse common soldiers, but there are also 27 statues of Union soldiers. In fact, because of Vicksburg National Military Park (VNMP), there are more Union monuments in Mississippi than any state in the Union apart from Pennsylvania. I will demonstrate that these opposing testimonies offer a vivid illustration of a tension that is held in perpetual sacramental stasis. Indeed, I will contend that Mississippi’s Civil War commemoration offers a unique point of contact—Anknüpfungspunkt—between Northern and Southern interpretations of the meaning of the defining mortal conflict in the history of the United States.
Therefore, although the inscribed Confederate battle flag and the statue of the Confederate soldier are common and controversial features of this genre, I will present a vast and multifaceted text that merits contextualization. The overview I offer will be juxtaposed with particular, distinctive examples. By focusing on selected monuments at Greenwood, Yazoo City and the state of Mississippi’s monument at Vicksburg NMP, I will contend that by inference, omission and implicit accusation, this genre provides a distinctive insight into the ways in which the wartime generation confronted mortality and fate.
About the presenterTimothy S. Sedore
Timothy S. Sedore is an ordained minister and serves as Professor of English at The City University of New York, Bronx Community College, where he teaches composition, literature and religious rhetoric. His book, An Illustrated Guide to Virginia’s Confederate Monuments was published in 2011 by the Southern Illinois University Press. His recent research to date includes book-length studies of Tennessee and Mississippi Civil War monuments.