Photo: State attorneys representing the Tennessee Historic Commission in a case filed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Photo Credit: John Partipilo
By Anita Wadhwani [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
A decision over whether Williamson County can remove an image of the Confederate flag from its official seal now rests with a Chancery Court judge.
The Major Nathaniel Cheairs Camp 2138 Sons of Confederate Veterans filed suit against the county and the Tennessee Historical Commission in December seeking to keep the Great Seal of Williamson County — with its image of a cannon draped by a Confederate flag — intact.
Their lawsuit alleged that Williamson County and the historical commission followed an unlawful procedure when the county sought — and the historical commission granted — an official declaration that the seal is not a historic monument and therefore not subject to the state’s historic preservation law, which generally disfavors altering or removing monuments and markers of Tennessee’s history.
Before seeking that declaration, the county had begun the process of petitioning the historical commission for permission to alter the seal, an admission that the county believed the seal was, in fact, subject to the state’s historic preservation law, according to legal arguments by the the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
During a court hearing Tuesday, H. Edward Phillips, III, attorney for the Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter, said that the county’s actions “completely turned the tables” on his clients, who had been prepared to fight efforts to obtain a waiver to preservation laws but were then confronted with the county’s subsequent claim they required no state waiver to make changes to the decades-old seal, which is affixed to official documents and county properties.
“I just think the procedure is so muddled in this case…it wound up where we had a decision that, at the end of the day, was arbitrary and capricious,” Phillips said.
Wilson Buntin, Sr. an assistant state attorney general representing the Tennessee Historical Commission, said the historical commission’s decision follows the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, the law that requires historic monuments — a broad term that encompasses public statues, street names and art — to be preserved and protected.
“Their interpretation that the seal is not a monument is a reasonable interpretation of the act,” Buntin said.
The seal — a circle divided into four quadrants, each containing a different tableau — was first adopted in 1968 at the height of the civil rights movement. The Confederate flag and canon are in the upper left quadrant, while other quadrants depict a bible in front of a church window, a school house and a pasture with animals.
In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police, the seal drew increased public criticism. A task force convened by the county recommended removing the Confederate flag image.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is seeking a ruling that reverses the historical commission’s declaration, issued in May 2022, that the Williamson County seal is not a historic monument.
Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Patricia Head Moskal, who presided over Tuesday’s hearing, said she would take the matter under advisement and issue a written ruling “as soon as I am able to do so.”
7 Responses
As a citizen of Williamson County I anxiously await some branch of our county or a city government to stand up and say “NO” to the Social Justice Warriors who ride through the streets and fields of this county looking for ways to annoy the rest of us with their demands. Best of luck to the Sons of the Confederacy in its attempts to remind us that there was a major battle in the War Between the States fought in this county and our residents were on the side of the Confederacy.
My bad, the luck should have been directed to the “Sons of Confederate Veterans” though if there is a “Sons of the Confederacy” I wish them the best of luck too.
Williamson was founded in 1799 – far before there was ever a Confederate flag. That shouldn’t be on the seal because the South fought to protect slavery. My ancestors were in TN but fought for the Union. Get rid of it – it’s offensive.
What most fighting for the South fought for was independence, the same kind of independence that portions of countries in democratic countries are granted today without question or threat of violence (e.g. the Slovaks leaving Czechoslovakia, the Scotts voting as to whether to leave the UK, or the Quebecois voting to leave Canada). Just as slavery has fallen out of fashion so has the type of aggression Abe Lincoln, with the aid of your ancestors David, launched on the southern states is only fashionable in despotic places like Yugoslavia and Russia and the world is a better place because of that fact.
You’re wrong. The motivation for the Civil War was slavery, going all the way back to the Constitution – it was an ongoing argument – do some research and be honest about it. The South started the Civil War by attacking Fort Sumter. You say “slavery has fallen out of fashion”. Wow. Do you sing Dixie and wish we were still in the Land of Cotton? Were your ancestors Plantation Owners?
As I recall the attack on Ft Sumter was the result of Lincoln attempting to send supplies to the Fort and the South Carolina authorities demanding that the Federal government surrender the Fort. Of course, all this stemmed from Lincoln’s refusal to recognize the right of the southern states to leave the union peacefully after its citizens voted, often overwhelmingly, to leave. This is the same behavior that we saw demonstrated by Milosevic of Yugoslavia in the 1990’s during the Croation War of Independence as well Bosnian Wars as he became a villain of the world. The South was in favor of slavery but the overwhelming number of citizens of the South who voted for independence did not own slaves but rather voted the way they did because they were convinced that the best interests of their states lie in gaining independence as is the case with all who support independence movements throughout history.
I sing Dixie with the same gusto as I sing the Star Spangled Banner because they are both songs whose origins lie in a people seeking independence with which as a libertarian-conservative I sympathize. I did not learn Dixie while growing up in New York City, but I did become a libertarian-conservative so that’s something I guess. As to my ancestors, I believe that in the early 1860;s most of them were farmers or laborers somewhere in the Austo-Hungarian Empire. I can’t be sure, but somehow I don’t think they were overly concerned with the rights or wrongs of the War Between the States at the time.
Every state that seceded mentioned slavery as the cause in their declarations of secession. That tells the truth. They were afraid Lincoln might revoke the Fugitive Slave laws that classified slaves as “Property” and forced runaway slaves to be returned to their owners.
The south was controlled by the rich aristocratic Plantation Owners and the people who worked for them. There wasn’t industry. The majority of the people were poor, ignorant, uneducated and were lied to by the media and by local officials. They were told that the north was going to invade and rape the women and steal everything. Lee himself said that. Lincoln tried to avoid war.
It was only about “independence” so they could continue slavery. There was nothing noble about what they did.
If you grew up in NYC, it’s hard to understand why you’ve embraced the Lost Cause fiction that was created after the Civil War to avoid the truth. And you hate Lincoln – arguably America’s greatest president and a Republican. Glad you aren’t a Republican – that would be embarrassing.