Articles on Controversies and Mysteries of the Civil War  

Missouri ~ January 14, 2003

~ Confederate Flags Ordered Pulled Down At Two Missouri Historic Sites ~

By SCOTT CHARTON
Associated Press Writer

The state of Missouri on Tuesday pulled down Confederate flags at two state historic sites after Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt said they shouldn't be flown anywhere.

Confederate battle flags were removed at the Confederate Memorial Historic Site near Higginsville and the Fort Davidson Historic Site near Pilot Knob, said Sue Holst, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Holst said the flags were ordered pulled down by Steve Mahfood, director of the Department of Natural Resources. However, they still will be displayed inside visitors centers at the two sites.

Mary Still, spokeswoman for Gov. Bob Holden, said she called Mahfood after reading an Associated Press story about Gephardt's weekend declaration, following a South Carolina visit, that the flag shouldn't be displayed "anytime, anywhere."

Still said Holden, a Democrat who formerly was a Gephardt aide, didn't know about her conversation with Mahfood.

"I told Steve it seemed to me it wouldn't be appropriate to have it flying on a flagpole, but that I didn't know all of their considerations and I left it in his lap," Still said.

Mahfood didn't immediately return a call from the AP. But Holst, his spokeswoman, said the flag would still be displayed inside the visitors centers.

The Missouri leader of a Confederate heritage organization that condemns racism criticized the removal of the flags, saying politicians were trying to erase a vital part of state history.

"They take our tax money and then they turn around and try to destroy our heritage," said Gene Dressel, state commander of Sons of Confederate Veterans, which has criticized use of the flag by hate groups.

Gephardt waded into South Carolina's controversy about the flag last weekend after visiting that state and initially sidestepping questions about its display there.

Then, on Saturday, Gephardt issued a statement saying the flag shouldn't be displayed "anytime, anywhere."

The AP noted in a story Monday that the flag had flown for decades without controversy - and without any criticism from Gephardt or other officials - at the Higginsville site, where remains of 694 Confederate veterans and 108 wives are buried.

Gephardt's spokesman, Erik Smith, said Tuesday that the congressman's call for removing the flag included the Missouri sites, which Smith said Gephardt didn't know about because they aren't in the area he represents.

Holst said Tuesday that no one had ever complained about the Missouri displays.

"This was in response to the comments by Representative Gephardt, but it's a discussion the governor's office and the director felt was worthwhile," Holst said.

Now, Holst said, "We will be displaying them inside in a way befitting the historical context. We have always viewed them as an artifact or a graphic that represents the telling of the story of the Civil War."

The Confederate battle flag flew daily - below the U.S. and Missouri flags - over the 192-acre state site near Higginsville, about 40 miles east of Kansas City.

The Higginsville site was the former location of a Confederate veterans home. A plaque at the park entrance says it is "dedicated to the valor of the Confederate soldiers."

The Fort Davidson site in eastern Missouri commemorates the 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob.

Dressel, of Jonesburg, is the state leader of the Confederate heritage group. He said the display at Higginsville was "historically appropriate, respectful and has never been controversial."

"I'm appalled that someone living off my tax money would be willing to dishonor graves of soldiers by seeking to remove a flag that has been flying very appropriately for decades and which hasn't been the slightest bit controversial," Dressel said.

In his Saturday statement, Gephardt said: "My own personal feeling is that the Confederate flag no longer has a place flying anytime, anywhere in our great nation."

Gephardt added that the flag flying at the Confederate Soldier Monument near South Carolina's Statehouse "is a hurtful, divisive symbol and in my view has no place flying anywhere, in any state in this country."

In South Carolina, the flag was removed from the Statehouse dome in July 2000 after a nationwide economic boycott led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In a compromise to remove the flag from the dome, it was put up at the Confederate monument that sits in front of the Statehouse.

Desoto Joe/The Record Man

To:  MacLinks' Civil War Research Center

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Would you like to add or become part of the MacLinks' Civil War Resource group? Please feel free to contact Dave at;   dmac44@rogers.com.