ASHEVILLE, June 27 — On Thursday, June 26, 2008, at the invitation of Asheville Tribune Editor David Morgan and confirmation of SLRC Administrative Director, the Honorable Roger McCredie that a Truth Patrol should be present; I would don the uniform of the Southern soldier, pick up his glorious banner and head out to Malaprop's Bookstore in downtown Asheville where actor Gene Hackman with his co-author, Daniel Lenihan had come to promote, sign copies and answer questions about their book titled "Escape From Andersonville," touted as a novel of the Civil War.
After greeting and posing for pictures for many of the people that included some of Asheville and Buncombe Counties' most prominent citizens who stood in line outside Malaprops waiting to be seated, I would enter and take my seat right up front next to the podium from which the authors would speak. After their introductions whereupon Mr. Hackman had set the stage with his charismatic charm, he turned and introduced his co-author who began his opening statements by saying that their book centered on Andersonville that was undoubtedly the worst prisoner of war facility on either side of the war effort, North or South. After several more moments of discourse in an explanation that their book was about some Union Captain who had escaped Andersonville and was planning on returning to aid in the escape of some of his comrades who were still suffering there; Mr. Lenihan opened the foor up for questions from the audience.
I was the frst to be recognized and offered this discord: "Mr. Lenihan, I take great exception on your opening remarks in describing Andersonville as the worst of the prison systems on both sides of he War. You make no mention of places like Camp Douglas which would have made Andersonville ook like a picnic with the POPE." I take exception with the title of your book, The Escape from Andersonville, when Major Wirtz did everything he could do to return Union soldiers under the prisoner exchange program, only to have General Grant suspend the program and send his men back to an overcrowded Andersonville where Major Wirtz was having diffculty feeding his own men.
You make no mention of the deliberate actions of Union Colonel Sweet, who deliberately starved, tortured, maimed and immediately killed any Confederate soldier who looked like me and left their remains to be eaten by the hoards of rats who patrolled there. Mr. Lenihan would back away from his original contentions and began to offer a substantially different and more accurate description of historical events surrounding this tragic epoch. I must say that it was not until Mr. Hackman answered a question in affrmation that he and Mr. Lenihan had come to the conclusion that the trial and consequential hanging of Major Wirtz was tainted and Major Wirtz was used as a scapegoat by the Northern Federal government, did I began to feel better about this night, and when I began clap loudly after Mr. Hackman's statement, I believed he felt his frst moment of relief.
I raised my hand once more and told Mr. Hackman that he had always been one of my favorite actors, but that on this evening that before he had so by his statements vindicated himself and his co-author; I had come to whip him. He answered cheerfully that he could sense that. I told him that Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the biased writings about Andersonville had probably been the most signifcant determining factors in turning Northern people against the Southern people, and probably more so than Lincoln's proclamation that those bad people have fred upon our flag at Ft. Sumter, and for this reason alone, anything written about Andersonville would always fall under the eye of those of us who work hard to vindicate our homeland from the wrongs that besiege the pages of those who write unfairly about her.
On Friday June 27, 2008, the Asheville Citizen-Times would only show a postage stamp picture taken by their staff photographer, John Coutlakis with his arms draped around one of our residents, but you can believe it was not the picture that he took with a black man dressed in the Confederate uniform carrying the Confederate Naval Jack. Nor would the story reported carry the exchange of dialogue that took place in Malaprops that would lead some of Western North Carolina's most prominent citizens and visitors as it had Gene Hackman and co-author Daniel Lenihan to the conclusion that Major Wirtz deserved vindicat ion and just maybe so does his homeland, the Southland of America.
The Last Rebel (slide show with the song)
There's a grey horse standin' still As a soldier climbs in the saddle for one last ride As the rain pours off his hat You can see the shadows of the past written in his eyes Now the cannons are silent His friends are all gone Gotta put it all behind him If he ever wants to find his way home He's the last rebel on the road Just a boy with his old guitar Keeps to himself but everybody takes him wrong But he carries on Got a dream that will never die Can't change him, no use in stayin' where you don't belong Now he's rollin' down the highway Gone too far too fast No one will ever find him, he'll never look back (chorus) 'Cause he's the last rebel And he's all alone He's the last rebel His friends are all gone He's the last rebel The last rebel on the road There'll never be another like him He's the last of a dying breed Ain't no use in tryin' to tame him 'Cause he's the last rebel (repeat chorus)
Above, H.K. Edgrton (l) and Gene Hackman (r).On Thursday, June 26, actor Gene Hackman and Dan Lenihan presented themselves for a book signing and discussion at Malaprops bookstore of their Civil War novel / Escape from Andersonville./ The bookstore was packed with an attentive audience. Even though the book was fctional and not written as an historical account, several people asked Hackman and Lenihan their views regarding historical events. One of the questions asked was whether or not the authors thought that the North had railroaded the Commandant of the camp, Captain Henry Wirz, to his hanging at the end of the war. After some refection, the authors voiced their view that they believed that such had been the case. After the discussion, the authors remained to sign what appeared to be close to 100 of their books. In a slight turn of events - that was well received - H.K. Edgerton presented the authors with a copy of Mike Scruggs’ book /The Un-Civil War/ that Edgerton himself signed, while dressed in his Confederate uniform and carrying the Battle Flag
It was interesting to observe the jovial mood of Gene Hackman having his photograph taken with H.K. Edgerton at Malaprops last week. (Ref pic page 3) We were reminded of a few weeks ago when we received a phone call from Rocky D, who is a well-known talk show host in Charleston, S.C. for WTMA-AM 1250. Rocky D was in Asheville attending our Memorial Day presentations downtown and was walking around with H.K. Edgerton. He had interviewed H.K. on his show several times, in Charleston and in Tampa, FL, and considered him to be a friend.
At the downtown ceremonies, H.K. had introduced Rocky to Mayor Terry Bellamy. After the introduction, a lady photographer was standing near-by and asked the mayor if she would stand next to H.K. for a photograph. At that point Mayor Bellamy declared firmly, "No, I do not want my picture taken with him," and walked off.
Shortly after that we received a call from Rocky D who reiterated the event to us and said he felt rather embarrassed for Asheville and HK about what had happened. He thought we would like to be made aware of this strange photo session. Well, Rocky, all we can say is that we guess HK is good enough for Gene Hackman, but just not good enough for Asheville's mayor.
You can imagine my surprise when I noticed this comment from H.K. Edgerton in response to the last post. For those of you who do not know of Mr. Edgerton, he is one of the more outspoken and charismatic proponents of the black Confederate myth. Interestingly, Mr. Edgerton is African American. He can be found in a Confederate uniform and carrying a Confederate flag on long treks through the South. His last mission took him to the inauguration of Barack Obama in January. I’ve offered extensive commentary about Mr. Edgerton over the course of the life of this blog, which you can find at the bottom.
It is unfortunate that those of you who were educated in the Federal school system have such a dim view of the honorable Black confederate soldier. If you can be so proud of the Black Union soldier who received half the pay of his counterpart, one who fought with a bayonet at his back from his white counterpart, watched as his wives were raped by the union soldier and used as concubine, watched as his Southern Black and White families homes were burned, food stuffs to feed innocent women and children stolen, animals killed, women raped and murdered. You go ahead and be proud of the Battle of the Craters, and Denzelle Washington’s Glory as the Union Whites murdered their black’s returning to their lines.
Here in the South we shall continue to honor Napoleon Nelson ant the other the Black men who rode with the Honorable General Nathan Bedford Forrest , and the likes of Holt Collier, Levi Carnine, Rev. Mack Lee and celebrate Dick Poplar in Petersburg, Virginia. The shame is that you truly believe the propaganda of your Northern Master.
Unfortunately, Edgerton’s comment follows the standard Lost Cause narrative along with vague comparisons/references to the challenges that blacks faced in the Union army as well as the North generally. Still, it’s nice to know that he is reading the blog. See the following posts for additional commentary about Edgerton:
