via reddit.com
“In 2000, Virginia legislators got involved, asking Governor Jesse Ventura to return their captured icon.
‘Why?’ he asked. ‘We won.’”
LMAAAAO
All the salty racists in the comments are a cherry on top.
Die mad about it energy strong af
Okay but this is a story that @dadhoc loves to talk about because this is a REALLY BIG DEAL in Minnesota.
I have heard the story of The First Minnesota at LEAST ONE HUNDRED TIMES in the course of my marriage and now I GET TO TELL THE REST OF YOU.
So. It’s not just ANY Confederate flag. It is the Confederate flag that the First Minnesota captured on July 3rd, 1863. The First Minnesota prevented the Union line from crumbling by keeping the Federalists from being pushed off of Cemetery Ridge on July 2nd, and on July 2nd, the First Minnesota sustained 82% casualties.
EIGHTY-TWO PERCENT CASUALTIES. They started out as 262 men and ended as 47. But they held the line. They held. The. Line. Then on July 3rd they were placed in one of the few places where the line was breached, and they thus had to charge in again and retake the line breaches, and they did.
It was during one of these charges – remember, they’d already lost eighty-two percent of their friends – that Private Marshall Sherman of Company C captured the flag. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for this.
The survivors of the First Minnesota at Gettysburg served through the rest of the war.
Now, Virginians have asked for it back repeatedly, saying ‘it’s our heritage.’ But the response from the Minnesota Historical Society has basically been, as @dadhoc has summed it up, “to us, this is the legacy of 215 men who were killed or wounded in the preservation of the Union. What, exactly, is its legacy to you?”
No one’s been able to give an answer that isn’t ‘it’s our legacy of trying to destroy the US over slavery,’ because there isn’t one.
Fuck Virginia wanting that flag back, it belongs in Minnesota.
I get the point here but Virginia may want it to put in historical museums in Richmond, I dont think we’d fly it anywhere or try to display it proudly, especially not with two Democratic Senators and a Democratic Governor. Does MN have it in a museum over there at least?
In 2003, Democrat Governor Mark Warner (currently our Senator along with Democrat Tim Kaine) asked for it back – I think at this rate it’s just wanting it for VA Civil War museums, since Richmond was the Confederate capitol.
Not letting VA use it almost seems like they’re keeping the tensions alive? Why not exchange it between the states and have it shared between historical museums? Virginians dont really hear about this historical event, and having the original flag could educate us and all the tourists we get in Richmond about it. Idk, seems a lot to keep holding onto it at this point?
It was on display until its preservation required it be removed from display and kept in safe keeping. Trust me, we’re taking very super excellent good care of it up here in Minnesota.
Seems to me that asking for it every few years after being repeatedly told no is keeping the tensions alive. We’ve said no. We’ve said no repeatedly. We’ve stated time and again why the answer is no, and why the answer will always BE no.
The unit with the highest casualty rate in the history of the US Military is the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. Higher than the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn. Higher than the 3rd Infantry Division at Anzio. Higher than the 101st at Bastogne. And in the midst of that sacrifice in blood, they performed an act that during that period of warfare was the single most gallant act of bravery that could be performed. They took the regimental colors of the 28th Virginia Infantry.
We didn’t steal that flag, we bought it with the lives of our fighting men. We aren’t holding onto the flag, we’re holding on to the memory of the sacrifice of one of the first regiments to answer the call of the Union. A regiment fully comprised of men who volunteered to be there. Who knew they were advancing in regimental strength on a full brigade of screaming confederates and fought for seven minutes, surrounded on three sides, when they were asked to buy the union just five minutes. And in doing so saved the entire Union army.
If anyone is keeping tensions alive, it’s every person that insists on flying flags like this one to preserve a heritage of slavery and human suffering. Stop everyone around you from flying them sincerely and maybe we’ll actually for a moment believe Virginia wants it back as an historical relic, rather than a rallying point for continued bigotry.
So. Once more, on behalf of the entire state of Minnesota and the St. Olaf’s Lutheran Women’s League and Hotdish Circle:
No.
I love you.
Published
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