Civil War Monuments

I was in Chicago last week and was able to look around. Above is an equestrian statue in Grant Park in Chicago honoring Union General John A. Logan. An interesting urban legend about equestrian monuments is that the feet of the horse telegraph the fate of the hero in battle. If the horse has one leg up, the hero was wounded. Two legs up means the hero was killed. All four horse hoofs on the ground indicated the hero unscathed. This may be true in Chicago's Civil War statues, but other indications are that this is a urban myth perpetuated by circa 1980s tourist guide books. In the picture left, Logan's horse features one leg raised, indicating he was wounded in battle, and that's true.

Whatever the case, Logan was a true patriot. A veteran of the Mexican War, he was in the U.S. Congress when the Civil War broke out. He resigned his seat, and served under U.S. Grant and later W.T. Sherman during the Atlanta campaign and the March to the Sea. I cannot think of one San Angelo politician in office today who served at all.

Honoring the winning side is easy in today's politically correct country. What about Civil War heroes in San Angelo? Here locally, Tom Green was a Confederate war hero. So too was Beauregard. More notorious, Forts Hood and Bragg are named after Confederate generals. It's a testimony of how dramatically the Civil War shaped our nation that so many things we see in every day life are actually mementos of that era. With Obama wanting to rename the Washington Redskins because of insensitivity towards Indians, how long will it be before we rename Tom Green County of Beauregard Ave. because both fought for another Lost Cause?