Still Relevant? The Almost Exchange of Union-Confederate Flags in 1887

Flag Day is this Thursday, June 14^th. Given the controversy over the national anthem, it’s useful to learn about this almost exchange of Union and Confederate flags in 1887.

President Grover Cleveland was informed that captured Confederate flags were stored in Washington D.C. offices and Northern statehouses, while captured Union flags were in Southern statehouses. He proposed a friendly exchange.

A storm of protest ensued.

Governor Foraker of Ohio flatly refused the executive order. He filed for a court order to prevent the Secretary of War from doing so. General Fairchild, of the Union Army, led the charge against returning any Confederate flag.

Take a moment to read his speech. See how much of it—if any—is relevant today. Drop me note on FB or at mhl@illinois.edu.

They tell us nowadays that all men are loyal. I thank God that it is so. But the Grand Army men have a loyalty that is spelled with capital letters; a loyalty without any "ifs" or "buts;" a loyalty which they will teach to their children and children's children; a loyalty teaching that the allegiance of every American citizen is due to the American flag under all circumstances, and if demanded they shall turn their backs upon their State flags and follow the Stars and Stripes.

The Grand Army men have always been the friends of the South from 1861 to 1887. They were the best friends of the Southern people when they saved them from themselves. When afflicted with yellow fever, when they wanted to build soldiers' homes, when Charleston was wrecked by earthquakes, the Grand Army men were the first to tender assistance.

We have no feeling of hate or malice toward the South, but we feel that they have no right to take back into their possession the relics of the rebels' flags. I believe, thank God, that the right to associate a State in the Union with a State which it was supposed was in existence during the war.

What would Missouri or Maryland or Kentucky do with the rebel flags if they were restored to them?

Destroy them I should hope. To return them would be a lesson in treason. (NYT, June 17, 1887, p. 1)
PHOTO CREDIT: BigAlBaloo