SLRC RESEARCH SUPPORTS SCV’S POSITION ABOUT BATTLE FLAG AT DEPOT

The SLRC on Sunday concluded its initial research to support the local SCV camp’s position that the Confederate Battle Flag should be restored to an outdoor display at the historic Ringgold, Georgia, train depot.

The Ringgold town council removed the flag in March of 2005, following objections to its presence by the local NAACP. Members of the local SCV camp argued for its restoration, citing Georgia statutes prohibiting interference with a memorial display, but were rebuffed by the Council’s attorney. The town then substituted a blue Hardee-pattern corps flag for the battle flag which it claimed was historically correct because it was the unit flag of Confederate forces who fought at the Battle of Ringgold Gap (November 27, 1863). SCV members countered that the Battle Flag, as a soldiers’ and later a veterans’ flag, was the appropriate flag, as the display was intended to honor all Confederates who left for all theaters of the war from Ringgold Depot, and not just those involved in the action there. The matter remained in limbo until April of this year, when the Georgia Division of the SCV retained the SLRC to pursue the matter.

Painstaking SLRC research indicates that the Confederate units which departed from the Ringgold depot served in several different combat theaters, which in turn would mean that the appropriate flag to display there would be the Battle Flag. The presence of paving bricks displaying the names of units and individuals who embarked from Ringgold reinforces the position that the depot site is a memorial, as opposed to a mere historical display, according to the SLRC.

“The next step, once we get our material organized, will probably be to lay what we have before the town council and ask them to reconsider their position and restore the battle flag,” said SLRC Executive Director Roger McCredie. “We just want to have all the t’s crossed and the I’s dotted first.”

SLRC eUpdate