Confederate Flags Return to Graveyard
Confederate battle flags flew again Sunday over graves of about 700 Southern soldiers and wives at a historic site in Missouri where the flag was abruptly ordered down in January.
The battle flag is still absent from the main pole at the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site, under orders from the state.
But volunteers -- with state approval -- placed smaller flags on all of the graves May 24.
A park administrator said the smaller flags flew without complaint or incident through Sunday’s observation of Confederate Memorial Day.
“What does that tell you? Anyone coming to a Confederate memorial site would expect to see a Confederate flag, and it is being flown in tribute to brave soldiers and in its proper context,” said Gene Dressel, commander of the Missouri Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans.
“It should fly year-round, and it will fly again someday when we make some changes in the leadership of this state and get away from political correctness,” Dressel added.
At the behest of Democratic Gov. Bob Holden’s office, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in January ordered the flags down in Higginsville and at Ft. Davidson, site of the 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob. Missouri was a slave state under the 1821 Missouri Compromise, but it did not join the Civil War confederacy.
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