While the focus of this summers BLM protests and the three month occupation of Portland by leftist guerrillas has been on violence, destruction and removal of monuments deemed offensive, I envisioned the removal of Huntsville’s Confederate Monument as an appropriate, if belated, relocation.
As fate would have it, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battles wife Eula fell ill in the time prior to the removal and her passing coincided with the relocation of the monument from in front of the Madison County Courthouse to Maple Hill Cemetery.
A Monumental Day Of Remembrance In Huntsville
Crews worked to remove the monument in the early morning darkness of October 23, and relocated the monument to Maple Hill Cemetery shortly after 9:00 a.m. Later in the afternoon, Eula Battles services and interment also took place at Maple Hill Cemetery.
Flags in Huntsville had therefore been lowered to honor Eula with Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, ironically perhaps, chiming in with her approval. Alabama legislators had recently made removal of such monuments illegal – hence the “crime.” But of course, the relocation also stands for yet another demarcation of the bygone era. And so, the cover photo of the flags at half staff in front of the Courthouse, where an empty space remains in place of the Confederate Sentry, on the same morning, is a poignantly dual reality.
©2020 – Jim Casey
