In 2020 Congress created the Naming Commission, to review Confederate names and iconography on DoD installations.  In August and September of 2022 -- right in the midst of congressional reelection season -- the commission issued its final report.  In the preface to that report, the commissioners proclaimed what, in their view, it meant to “commemorate” a person, group or other entity:

Commemoration elevates an act, event, or individual by bestowing it with communal esteem and honor… The best commemorations highlight individuals, movements and moments that epitomize the highest values of our present and motivate us as we shape our societies of the future… Commemoration celebrates, affirms, and extols… Commemoration is about who we strive to be.

Then, the commissioners unloaded this bombshell:

In passing the 2021 William M. “Mac” Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act, the United States Congress determined that Confederates and the Confederacy no longer warrant commemoration through Department of Defense assets.

Presumably then, the Naming Commission -- an agent of Congress -- has determined that any aspect of Confederate service or accomplishments of Confederate soldiers are now unworthy of “communal esteem and honor” by today’s American military.  The commissioners didn’t come out, place themselves on record and specifically say that Confederates are unworthy of respect.  But, the flow of the text and the specific language used in the preface makes their intent -- and presumably that of Congress -- crystal-clear.

"Politics makes me sad sometimes."  That statement is from Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.  What specifically made Reynolds sad?  "[T]he ongoing game of Civilizational Jenga that our ruling class is playing.  One by one, they’re withdrawing the supports of civil society, in a process that will inevitably lead to a collapse.  They’re taking what was a very robust society, and consuming all the safety margins, bit by bit." 

What triggered his sadness?  The removal of the Reconciliation Memorial from Arlington National Cemetery.  It is, according to Reynolds, “a post Civil War memorial marking a return to American unity.”

As David Strom writes: “Speaking practically, history has shown that even though the Southern states rose against the federal government, over the past century, our most patriotic and self-sacrificial defenders of our country have come from citizens of the South. Tearing down the reconciliation monument is spitting in the face of the memory of these citizens’ ancestors and a rejection of recognizing the complications in America’s history. It is, in other words, both offensive and stupid. I say this as an admirer of Lincoln’s cause and a strong opponent of the Southern ideology.”

"[T]he American experience of reconciliation after one of the world’s bloodier and more divisive conflicts," said Reynolds "is one that perhaps ought to get more attention. Instead, it is being erased.  There’s little enough of reconciliation in today’s politics."  And that makes Reynolds sad.  It should make all of us sad.  And irritated -- at Congress.

In the linked Substack article, Reynolds seems to point the finger of blame at the Biden administration ("the Biden Administration is removing the Reconciliation Monument").  But Congress owns the Naming Commission, and everything associated with it. It created the commission and, most importantly, reviewed and approved its recommendations. It is the culprit that caused this latest iteration of “civilizational Jenga.”

During the past year, as the overreach and sweep of the "Naming" Commission's recommendations and judgment came to light, Congress received numerous warnings about the negative side-effects of those recommendations and judgments, the most prominent of those warnings being Jim Webb's WSJ op-ed. Apparently, it ignored all of them.  Okay, then -- it now owns this issue. Not the Defense Department. Not the Army. The Congress.

On April 12^th, 1865, Union general Joshua Chamberlain showed a different attitude toward Confederate soldiers. Chamberlain was no insignificant officer.  As commander of the 20th Maine Infantry regiment at Gettysburg, he arguably (along with generals Stephen H. Weed and Strong Vincent, both of whom died in the battle, and General Gouverneur Warren) saved the battle for the Union.  The 20th Maine, 83^rd Pennsylvania, and 44^th New York held Little Round Top, the extreme left of the Union line.  If the Confederates took the hill, they might have broken the Union defensive line.  Chamberlain's Mainers withstood repeated assaults from Hood's division.  With insufficient ammunition to repel another charge, Chamberlain ordered a bayonet attack.  It was a classic "spoiling attack."  It surprised and scattered the Confederates at the bottom of the hill and saved Little Round Top for the Union.  Jeff Daniels played Chamberlain in the Civil War epics Gettysburg and Gods and Generals.

On April 12^th, 1865, Chamberlain commanded the detachments of the Union Armies of the Potomac and James that accepted the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia’s infantry.  Here's how Chamberlain described the scene at Appomattox, as the Confederate troops approached the surrender field:

At such a time and under such conditions I thought it eminently fitting to show some token of our feeling, and I therefore instructed my subordinate officers to come to the position of 'salute' in the manual of arms as each body of the Confederates passed before us.

It was not a 'present arms,' however, not a 'present,' which then as now was the highest possible honor to be paid even to a president. It was the 'carry arms,' as it was then known, with musket held by the right hand and perpendicular to the shoulder. I may best describe it as a marching salute in review.

When General Gordon came opposite me I had the bugle blown and the entire line came to 'attention,' preparatory to executing this movement of the manual successively and by regiments as Gordon's columns should pass before our front, each in turn.

The General was riding in advance of his troops, his chin drooped to his breast, downhearted and dejected in appearance almost beyond description. At the sound of that machine-like snap of arms, however, General Gordon started, caught in a moment its significance, and instantly assumed the finest attitude of a soldier. He wheeled his horse facing me, touching him gently with the spur, so that the animal slightly reared, and as he wheeled, horse and rider made one motion, the horse's head swung down with a graceful bow, and General Gordon dropped his swordpoint to his toe in salutation.

By word of mouth General Gordon sent back orders to the rear that his own troops take the same position of the manual in the march past as did our line. That was done, and a truly imposing sight was the mutual salutation and farewell.

I suppose that, if the Naming Commission (or the modern-day U.S. Congress) had been at Appomattox that day, they would have chastised Chamberlain. 

Appomattox was the site of the beginning of a long national and cultural reconciliation. At Appomattox, the leaders on both sides, Lee and Grant, took actions that helped end the war peacefully.  Lee decided to surrender his army, instead of scattering it into the Southern countryside as guerillas. Grant offered generous surrender terms. Those actions showed a spirit of reconciliation instead of retribution. If our modern-day elected leaders are uninterested in or indifferent to reconciliation, then they have turned their back on the spirit of Appomattox, and the honorable example that Grant, Lee and thousands of decent men set there. That should make all of us sad.  And worried.

Image: Timothy Evanson