In many areas of the South, monuments honoring the Confederacy and its leaders are being removed from public places. Schools and streets named after Confederate leaders have been renamed. In 2020 Mississippi removed the Confederate Flag from its state flag – the last state to do so – amid concerns that it was harming the state’s reputation.
A large limestone obelisk Confederate monument recently placed on privately owned lots at the Eureka Springs Cemetery has raised questions about the process for approval of the monument and what impact it might have on the image of the Eureka Springs, a tourism-based community which is 85 percent white and four percent Black, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
The monument was commissioned by Koltin Massie, a resident of rural Carroll County who is commander of the Seaborn Jones Cotten Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A website for the group states, “Founded in 2018, the Seaborn Jones Cotten Camp has been at the forefront fighting to honor and remember the lives of Confederate Veterans. The camp has worked tirelessly to find or replace damaged graves stones of both Union and Confederate soldiers. Putting up military markers to ensure these brave veterans are never forgotten. Our organization is a Veterans organization and does not condone hate in any shape or form.”
For several years Massie, identified as a descendant of Seaborn Jones Cotten, has placed Confederate flags at the graves of Confederate veterans at the cemetery. A sexton at the cemetery has said there are about 47 Confederate veterans and 97 Union veterans among the 4,600 burials at the cemetery, established in 1889.
Bruce Wright, a stonemason and superintendent of the cemetery, provided the following written statement:
“I approved the design of the monument after looking at the plans. It followed all the rules in place. It was my job and responsibility to ensure that all grave monuments follow cemetery protocols, rules, and regulations just as I was appointed to do as superintendent.
“Per the Municipal League Attorney, targeting a form of free speech no matter how archaic or incorrect, is not an option. I cannot deny a grave monument unless it breaks cemetery rules. The monument followed all cemetery rules and regulations and was approved. Denying someone from putting a monument up would be a First amendment violation. Also, another official, Mr. John Wilkerson, Municipal League Attorney, stated: First, I doubt you’ll be able to dictate what is placed on the privately purchased plot, unless there is a clear need, i.e., a legitimate safety concern. In addition, restricting this particular monument from being erected might be a First Amendment issue. I say that because you would be deciding what expressive monument goes up based on the content of the monument or, in First Amendment terms, the “speech.” Content based restrictions are sometimes allowed, but the bar is very high, and I can’t think of anything that would allow prohibiting of this type of speech on a privately owned plot.
“I was present and watched over the project in my personal time to ensure the monument was put up properly and did not endanger workers while construction was under way. I did not charge for my time as safety has always been a priority for me.
“There is no discussion over grave monuments by the Commission. It is all approved by the cemetery superintendent long as it follows parameters of the cemetery regulations. The monument put up followed those required guidelines.
“I as a public servant of the cemetery cannot discriminate against what is put in place. All I can do is make sure any person or persons follow guidelines created by the Cemetery Commission. If those guidelines are broken, I can act within my authority. Telling anyone what symbols they can or cannot put in place on a grave marker is discrimination per the city attorney and becomes a First Amendment Violation, which I’m sure you appreciate.”
Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry wrote in an email that this is a First Amendment issue:
“The Cemetery Commission, as far as I know, has always issued a deed for each cemetery plot,” Berry said. “And as such, each owner is entitled to the First Amendment rights as to expression of how they want a monument to be designed and what they want to say on that monument. I say this because you would be deciding what expressive monument goes up based on the content of the monument or, in First Amendment terms, the ‘speech.’
“The Commission in its guidelines does not regulate expressive monuments or content on the monument or what can be placed on their plot, unless it is shown to affect safety or health.”
Eureka Springs alderman Harry Meyer, who has also opposed the Confederate flags on graves at the cemetery, said the Cemetery Commission erred when it gave Wright full authority to sell plots and approve monuments. Meyer said previously everything had to be approved by the commission.
“It was just when Bruce got exclusive rights to decide that he approved that monument,” Meyer said. “That is the only monument in the cemetery that is not a grave marker. It is a monument to a defunct, failed revolution. It really upsets me. We have hundreds of veterans buried there from all the wars, including the Union guys. There are more Union graves than Confederate graves. But what goes up? A monument to the Confederacy. And this is not even for the Confederate dead. It is for the Confederacy.”
Meyer said Wright was the one who started putting Confederate flags on graves. After some protests, the Cemetery Commission ruled that if descendants of the Confederate veterans said “no,” that the flags could be removed. But Meyer said that is very difficult because so much time has passed, and few people may even be aware their ancestors are buried there.
Meyer said with such a high percentage of the population of Eureka Springs being white, that many might not understand what an insult the monument is and how frightening it is to Black people.
“I hope our Black visitors don’t go through the cemetery,” Meyer said. “They have installed gates that are locked at night and security cameras because of concern the memorial might be vandalized. These additional security features were paid for with public funds. I’m ready to vote ‘no’ on the cemetery budget next year.”
There are arguments that the Civil War was not about slavery or at least not completely about slavery. Meyer said that myth can be debunked by looking at the Confederate Constitution.
“It is pretty damning,” Meyer said. “You can’t defend the Confederacy if you read that. This is just a whitewashing of history. There is nothing about the 1861 insurrection that anyone should be proud of.”
Meyer pointed to excerpts from state articles of secession and the Constitution of the insurrection:
- As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race.
- People of the northern states have organized a political party, purely sectional in character, the central and controlling idea of which is, hostility to the institution of African slavery.
- They have denied to the people of the southern states the right to an equal participation in the benefits of the common territories of the Union, by refusing them the same protection to their slave property therein that is afforded to other property, and by declaring that no more slave states shall be admitted into the Union.
- They have declared that Congress possesses, under the constitution, and ought to exercise, the power to abolish slavery in the territories, in the District of Columbia, and in the forts, arsenals and dock yards of the United States, within the limits of the slaveholding states.
The website for the Seaborn Jones Cotten group states Seaborn and his sons endured a 48-day siege with 7,500 Confederates against nearly 40,000 Federals at the Port Hudson Battle on the Mississippi River in Louisiana. “Over 10,000 Federals died and over 1,000 Confederates were killed in the battle,” the website states.
However, according to battlesfields.org, Port Hudson Battle Facts, the battle in Louisiana resulted in the deaths of 7,208 Confederate soldiers and 5,000 Union soldiers.
“In July, the siege grew desperate for the Confederates for lack of food, and many soldiers resorted to eating mules and rats,” states battlefields.org. “When Gardner learned of the Confederate surrender at Vicksburg on July 4th, he officially surrendered Port Hudson five days later on July 9, 1863. This surrender ended a 48-day siege and allowed Federal forces to control the entire Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in half.”