It is good to remember and honor those who fought and died, and some of their ships and monuments too.
Much has been recently about taking down Confederate statues, especially in my hometown of Richmond, VA. Most statues are [CORRECTION: WERE] not there to remember slavery or to repress and oppress blacks, African-Americans, or people of color. I think they were put up to honor ancestors, relatives, and those who fought to protect their lands and their families. Yes, some view R. E. Lee and those who fought for the South as evil men, ESPECIALLY if they owned slaves at one point. (They are changing the name of a nearby Virginia Community College from John Tyler to some non-descript Brightpoint or some such.)
Tyler is becoming Brightpoint Community College. Our campuses in Chester & Midlothian,
https://jtcc.edu/I think the main reason is to honor those they saw (in 1910 or 1888) as fallen heroes and family who fought and died to protect their homeland from INVADERS.
One consequence will be loss of tourism. Those large Confederate statues were a focal point of many who came to Richmond to visit and to take in the History of the area. Yes, we still have Patrick Henry ("Give me Liberty, or give me Death!"), Jamestown, Yorktown, and the like. I was at a convention in Kansas City for science teachers a while back. Nearly all at my table were from the Kansas/Missouri area. When I told them I was from Richmond, nearly ALL said that they had visited Virginia. Many said they saw the monuments in Richmond. I guess they will later visit the Slavery Museum instead (if and when it gets built).
I visited Gettysburg, something every American who can should do. There are the "normal" large monuments there, as expected. What surprised me was how many STONE markers and memorials were there. I stopped at Little Round Top and there was a stone marker about every 3 feet apart or less. I reflected on this. Those stone markers were PUT there (imo) by friends and family of the survivors of that terrible battle to remember those WHO FELL, on both sides. There are picture of Civil War vets meeting the "other side" and shaking hands some 20 years or so AFTER the Battle, to again remember and reflect on that terrible battle. The Southerners did not do so to try to bring back slavery or to repress the freed black slaves. There is a desire to remember and honor those who died, no matter what the reason for death. Why else do we have tombstones and grave markers? Many of the stone markers I saw was to honor the Fallen from New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Gettysburg it is said has more stone memorials on site than any other US battlefield. They are there TO REMEMBER the Fallen, not as a sign of repression OR of the Southern Lost Cause.
How many monuments are in Gettysburg?
1,328 monuments
How many monuments are on the battlefield? There are approximately 1,328 monuments, markers and memorials at Gettysburg National Military Park.
https://www.nps.gov/gett/faqs.htmWhy are there so many monuments at Gettysburg?
Confederate Monuments at Gettysburg
The first of the Confederate monuments at Gettysburg battlefield was dedicated in 1884 to the 1st Maryland Battalion. It took years for the next Confederate monument to follow. Southern states were impoverished after the war. Gettysburg was a Union victory fought on Union soil, and the battlefield commission was controlled by Union veterans. They dictated rules that discouraged the meaningful placement of Confederate monuments at Gettysburg. An effort by the War Department to mark the locations of Confederate regiments failed due to lack of participation and even active opposition by surviving Confederate veterans.
As time went on the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg was understood. A spirit of reconciliation brought some southern monuments to this northern field. Many of the veterans who strongly associated with their regiments had passed on by then, so efforts were concentrated in state monuments. Virginia was the first in 1917. The last Confederate state monument, that of Tennessee, was not dedicated until 1982. Maryland, whose monument is dedicated to its troops who fought on both sides, was erected in 1994.
https://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/confederate-monuments/The War Department failed in the early 1900s in its attempt to mark Confederate regiments at Gettysburg. But it did place almost 200 markers showing the location of the headquarters of every Confederate Artillery Battalion, Infantry Brigade, Division, and Corps, as well as every Confederate artillery battery.