An Army of Imaginary Neo-Confederates at Gettysburg

I haven’t checked in with the Virginia Flaggers in quite some time. Yesterday I came across this photograph on their Facebook page, which suggests that support for neo-Confederate groups like the Flaggers and their policies has never been stronger. Fortunately, the Internet is the last place where such ridiculous claims like this can be made.

Here is the photograph:

It would certainly be an impressive show of support if it were true, but this photograph was taken at Gettysburg on the 150th anniversary of the battle in 2013. The commemorative walk marking the anniversary of Pickett’s Charge was organized by the National Park Service.

Here are a few more pics from that day:

and…

This was not a neo-Confederate rally. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the vast majority of the people who took part in this commemorative walk are members of the neo-Confederate community or identify with their agenda.

On the Internet truth is whatever you want it to be, but the reality of their world is very different as Confederate flags and monuments continue to be debated and removed across the country.

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44 comments… add one
  • John May 11, 2018 @ 3:53

    Poor Kevin Levin, the little snowflake that thinks he is a historian had to write a blog about a meme! You are not only a poor excuse for a historian you are a poor excuse for a man!

    • Kevin Levin May 11, 2018 @ 4:07

      Sorry to disappoint you. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

  • JD Curtis May 9, 2018 @ 20:16

    It’s sort of prejudiced to assume they are Neo Confederate as opposed to Heritage oriernted

  • Keith Resmon May 9, 2018 @ 16:18

    The Flaggers weren’t even there…

    • Andy Hall May 10, 2018 @ 4:09

      The Flaggers have largely ceded the field at public events, in favor of posting memes.

  • Kevin May 9, 2018 @ 16:11

    Neo-Confederate? What exactly is that? Neo means new. A new Confederate? We Confederate minded people have been here since the articles of the Confederation were written. Time to connect the dots as we often say. Check out another website at http://www.deovindice.org The Confederate Society of America. It’s really not about race not about slavery or any of the typical talking points that are regularly spewed by people who try to demonize the cause the Confederates were fighting for. Slavery was surely involved but the onion has many layers most are too lazy or righteous to dig into that smelly mess to understand the mindset of the times.

    • Kevin Levin May 9, 2018 @ 16:41

      You just keep telling yourself this. 🙂

    • Andy Hall May 10, 2018 @ 4:06

      “Neo-Confederate? What exactly is that?”

      According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch of January 27, 1934, “the neo-Confederate school of thought. . . is convinced that Northerners are damyankees, and they they ought to stop ‘meddling’ in Southern affairs.” The paper goes on to point out that these folks, at that time, were complaining about outsiders interfering with the infamous Scottsboro case, which is now understood to have been a serious miscarriage of justice.

      I think that definition of “neo-Confederate” has held up pretty well.

  • Kevin May 9, 2018 @ 16:06

    And yet Confederate flags are going up everywhere and not just by the VF .
    Haven’t you nitwits figured it out yet ? Leave our monuments ,memorials ets alone !
    I’ve seen more Confederate flags in the last five years than I’ve seen my entire life living in The Old Dominion . Good job SJW’s
    Mr Levine is obviously infatuated with the Va Flaggers .
    They must be getting under his skin .
    Keep up the good work folks !

    • Kevin Levin May 9, 2018 @ 16:42

      Right. You’ve seen them go up on private property. That has always been a right. Where you have seen them removed across former Confederate states is in connection to public spaces. That’s a big difference if you bothered to think about it.

      • Kevin May 9, 2018 @ 17:43

        Enjoy the flags tinker bell

  • woodrowfan May 7, 2018 @ 7:29

    I notice none of the Southrons here are denying the Flaggers were obviously lying….

  • Timateo May 6, 2018 @ 8:04

    So…
    The South will rise again…
    Then what?

    • Andy Hall May 8, 2018 @ 7:42

      If it lasts for more than four hours, consult. . . . Nevermind.

  • David Hubbard May 5, 2018 @ 19:26

    didn’t you state a while back Levin that a Battleflag will never be raised on 95? Can you hear me now?

    • Kevin Levin May 6, 2018 @ 1:57

      I did. The Flaggers have always had the right to raise large flags on private property. What they have yet to succeed in is returning a flag to a public or private space that chose to remove it, beginning with the VMFA. Nice try, Dave.

  • Josh May 5, 2018 @ 19:15

    If Neo-Confederates will photoshop historical photos to “prove” things like infantry regiments made up of supposed Black Confederate soldiers then why not also use modern photos out of context to “prove” how much support they have too?

    Maybe “The South shall rise again!” is the original Fake News?

    • Andy Hall May 8, 2018 @ 5:30

      The Virginia Flaggers are not reliable reporters of fact. There are just too many cases over the years where they’ve told stories that are exaggerated, incomplete, or straight-up fabrications. If they tell you the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, I suggest seeking additional corroboration.

      • CliosFanBoy ne woodrowfan May 9, 2018 @ 6:55

        they talk a lot about “honor” but seem to be very dishonest. What’s the old line about whenever someones keeps telling you how honest they are to count the silverware.

  • Monica Mausolf May 5, 2018 @ 11:26

    Keep up the good!! Everything that y’all have done to save our Confederate Heritage has been awesome and I support y’all 💯%. Keep on fighting Virginia Flaggers,!!!

    • Kevin Levin May 5, 2018 @ 11:28

      I am not sure they have managed to save much at all over the past few years in Virginia.

      • David Hubbard May 5, 2018 @ 19:00

        Oh, but you are confused… With your “wishful thinking” that people of Southern Heritage will simply lay down and give up, you are only fooling yourself.

    • Josh May 5, 2018 @ 19:13

      Did someone really just type “y’all” instead of “you all” not once but twice? I guess this is our demonstration of Poe’s Law for the day.

    • Msb May 6, 2018 @ 6:36

      So what do you support 100% in this case? The disrespect to a battlefield or the subsequent lies?

      • Monica Mausolf May 6, 2018 @ 7:55

        I support the Confederate Flag and I have great respect for the Confederacy. My great great great grandfather fought and died for the Confederacy and I’m very proud of the heritage he left me. I’m against the removal of the Confederate Monuments the Flags and especially the graves of the brave soilders that died.

        • Kevin Levin May 6, 2018 @ 7:57

          Exactly what grave sites are you referring to that have been removed? Whatever respect you have for the Confederacy all of us can be grateful in 2018 that they lost.

          • Monica Mausolf May 6, 2018 @ 14:03

            So far the graves haven’t been touched but they are talking about removing the Confederate Grave’s in Arlington.

            • Kevin Levin May 6, 2018 @ 14:05

              No one is talking seriously about moving the graves of Confederate soldiers in Arlington. I am in touch with personnel in the NPS at Arlington.

              • CliosFanBoy ne woodrowfan May 9, 2018 @ 6:54

                One of the NPS people at Arlington House recently told us that people were asking if it were true that the whole building was going to be torn down. (It’s NOT, obviously).

                • Kevin Levin May 9, 2018 @ 6:59

                  In fact, the interpretive staff is working hard on expanding its focus on the history of enslaved people in the house and its surroundings.

  • Sam Levitt May 5, 2018 @ 7:32

    Hey Ken, I was there on the Union side of the wall. Another thing about this event, is that the flaggers crashed it. Rather than joining a brigade they started at the road and marched to the wall. Something the park ranger groups didn’t do. Not only is their understand of the past poor, but they disrespected the park service by deliberately not being a part of the commemorations, physically starting halfway between the two groups, and going beyond the points that the rangers told groups under their control to stop.

    • Kevin Levin May 5, 2018 @ 7:34

      Why am I not surprised to hear this.

    • Andy Hall May 5, 2018 @ 10:57

      They have a history of inserting themselves into events where they’re neither invited nor particularly welcome, to “advance the colors.” Most folks generally ignore them (as here, at Antietam), which is probably wise, given that any more negative response would be immediately turned into a whinge about how they’re being victimized.

      Image via Crossroads.

      • Kevin Levin May 5, 2018 @ 11:04

        I still remember when they showed up at the 150th anniversary of the battle of the Crater, which was hosted by the NPS. As soon as they saw me a bunch of them pranced in a circle around me as I was talking with a friend. All I could do was laugh.

        • John C. Hall, Jr. May 9, 2018 @ 13:01

          Mr. Levin…just wanted you to know that my ancestor, Captain Corker headed a group of the boys to visit the “Crater” at the 3rd Ga reunion in 1875. I have published my book, Above the High Water Mark, April 26, 2017. As a historian you will appreciate this article included in my book. …………..This “spot presented special interest to the survivors of the Third as they had helped to drive
          the enemy back from the “Mine” on the terrible day of the “Blow up,” and in the charge lost their intrepid ensign, Mayor Gregory (Petersburg, Va.) took the old battle flag of the Veterans and planted it amidst wild cheers upon the ramparts at the “Crater” and again it fluttered in the wind where more than eleven years before it had blazed defiantly in the face of the foe and was followed into “the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell” as cannon “bellowed and thundered.”

          “The Augusta Chronicle, August 15, 1875”

          • Kevin Levin May 9, 2018 @ 13:41

            Thanks for the information and congratulations on the publication of your book.

  • Andy Hall May 5, 2018 @ 5:30

    The Virginia Flaggers’ primary metric of success these days seems to be how many “likes” they’ve received on Facebook. It’s hard to imagine a lower level of effort required to be counted in their ranks. CLICK!

    • Kevin Levin May 5, 2018 @ 5:52

      The South Will Rise Again with thousands of “likes.” 🙂

  • Elmer Divens May 5, 2018 @ 3:57

    I was also there for this commemoration of pickett’s charge,and took part in the march across the field. However, if this traitorous rag were ever seriously raised over this country again, it would be buried once and for all.

    • Kevin Levin May 5, 2018 @ 3:59

      Looks like their army is falling apart one participant at a time.

    • David Hubbard May 5, 2018 @ 19:08

      Well, Elmer… the “traitorous rag” you refer to in your twisted simple mind is absolutely not what you “simply” type in a “free” forum that is provided to you without knowledge of Hypertext Transfer Protocol schooling of which I am positive you and the tree hugger who runs this page have. That blood stained banner was followed by men who left the comfort of their firesides, families, and friends to protect their States,Homes, Families of which I am positive that you have no clue of.

      • Jimmy Dick May 6, 2018 @ 4:23

        Really? Then why did those men say they were following that flag in order to protect the right to own slaves? Forget that part or just ignore it because it doesn’t fit into what you want people to believe?

        • Sea Skimer May 22, 2018 @ 22:07

          For the same reason, Taliban fighters say their fighting in the name of their religion and so on. There is no one reason. There is a common reason, the politicians create. However, when someone invades your home, imposes their unwanted will on you; your gonna do something about it. Especially if its pre-geneva invasions where killing, raping and looting is the standard, not the exception. Imagine if you went and talked to any veteran of any side of any war, they’re gonna say they fought for the people next to them.

  • Bryce Hartranft May 5, 2018 @ 3:37

    I was there. They had you pick a brigade and walk across in the order that they did. I chose Armistead. It was pretty neat, though the thought of being used as neo-confederate propaganda makes me feel a bit dirty.

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