Speaking of the Civil War…
Just in time for a new movie on Richard Rowland Kirkland (the “Angel of Marye’s Heights”) comes a blogger’s debunking that, quite reasonably, thoroughly, and without rancor, burns the Angel’s wings to ashes.
I suppose it’s not surprising that Confederate Gen. J.B. Kershaw apparently created the whole thing, as the debunker suggests, in an elite Platonic effort to give the masses a few spiritual crumbs, when good feeling between the sections was being promoted fifteen years after the war.
It had been a no-quarter conflict, with murderous hatred on both sides: the Rebels for the Yankee invaders, and the Yankees for the Rebel traitors. Only Grant’s magnanimity at Appomattox, and Sherman’s with Johnston had momentarily bred a kind of reconciliation. But Lincoln’s murder brought Jefferson Davis’s capture and imprisonment at Fortress Monroe.
So here’s Kershaw, in 1880, creating a myth of the benevolent Rebel helping the dying Yankees on the killing field of Fredericksburg in 1862—when the official records show there was so much hatred that even Union hospital stewards were being targeted by Confederate sharpshooters.
All to make the losers (“We are humiliated to the dust,” as my Mississippi great-great grandmother wrote in her diary shortly after Davis’s arrest) feel better about themselves.
So what if the Angel story wasn’t true? Well.
There’s the little matters of the poem about Kirkland that Southern schoolchildren once had to memorize (instead of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address) and, in 1965, a battlefield statue erected at Fredericksburg with the cooperation of the state of South Carolina, and now, forty-five years later, a sentimental movie.
I’ll let the debunker, Michael Schaffner, have the last, eloquent words:
“In celebrating an action that may not actually have occurred (and that Kershaw himself apparently never tried to place in the historical record), the statue [and, now, the movie] fictionalizes one man’s courage even as it overshadows that of thousands of others. In effect, the real soldiers – including Kirkland himself – have no statue. In its place stands a monument to a myth.”
UPDATE: Michael Aubrecht, writer-producer of the movie, has been following the criticism of the Kirkland legend, particularly Schaffner’s debunking. Aubrecht provided this response, including a paper by Mac Wycoff, a retired historian of the National Military Park Service. Wycoff sumarizes the evidence for the Kirkland story, concluding that there is simply too much of it to disregard the tale. I’m not sure I agree, but Wycoff makes a good case and it’s worth reading.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Hell, most monuments are more or less about myths. What’s one more, in the big show?
jd
Most monuments have some truth to them. There doesn’t seem to be any here.
Thank you for your service to our country and also for taking the time to comment on Sgt. Kirkland and our film. We have become very aware of the recent debate over this event and of course we are in the camp that believes it did indeed take place. During our documentary prep and in my own research, we had access to the archive materials at the Fredericksburg, VA NPS, as well as the Camden SC Historical Archives.
Without having any of those materials in front of me to quote as I type this, I reference the authority on the subject, Mac Wyckoff, retired and former NPS historian who assembled those files and provided the following statement during on an online discussion. He stated: [As a historian I wanted to know what motivated Kershaw to tell the story of Richard Kirkland and why he waited so long to tell the story. I did not expect to find an answer to my questions, but I did.
The answer was found in the South Carolina newspapers of 1880. It turns out that a reporter for a newspaper was told by a member of the 2nd South Carolina (Kirkland’s unit) that a member of his unit had performed a noble act of giving water to Union soldiers at the Battle of Fredericksburg. The veteran told the reporter that he could get more details from General Joseph Kershaw, the original commander of the 2nd South Carolina and brigade commander at Fredericksburg. The reporter wrote the story and asked if Kershaw could provide details. Kershaw’s article appeared in the newspaper six days later telling the story as we know it today.
Kershaw’s motivation was simply he had been asked to do so. Over the next few years, several members of the 2nd South Carolina confirmed the details of Kershaw’s story and the name of Richard Kirkland. It is significant that not a single member of the 2nd South Carolina challenged the veracity of the story which became quiet well known in South Carolina by 1900. Kershaw was a prominent figure in South Carolina politics after the war so had naturally developed some political opponents. Not one of them challenged Kerhaw’s statement about the Kirkland incident. The details of my research on Kirkland including the 1880 newspaper articles and the statements by other members of the 2nd South Carolina are in the Kirkland file in the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center.]
BTW: All of these files are open to the public to come and look. So in fact, Kershaw, although given primary credit, was actually a follow-up interview. I find it telling that not a single person ever challenged this account at the time it was made public. Surely there would have been an outcry if it was a total fabrication. That said, we do acknowledge that there is certainly room for speculation in the details. We did our best to incorporate a balanced presentation and acknowledge that fact. We use the term ‘memory’ in the opening. Thanks again for linking to us and I hope you will be able to view our film at a screening or when the DVD is released.
Even if it is pure fabrication, it is still a story I’ve always enjoyed reading. Many awards and decoration are also fabrications. The ones I turned in came back totally different than I submitted. That also includes some I recommended for Silver Star receiving Bronze Stars, those I recommended for Bronze Stars receiving Silver Stars and a couple recommended for
Silver Stars receiving nothing. This was all from the same contact.
Recently 7 guys received Silver Stars for the same contact? I think one to everybody there.
That’s very interesting, Michael, thanks for stopping by. You ought, however, to read the debunking at the link. It does claim that Kershaw was the only source, but it also goes into detail about the Union after-action reports, none of which mention the alleged ceasing of hostilities for 90 minutes (per Kershaw) while Kirkland performed his water deliveries.
The site where I found the debunking is notorious among ACW bloggers for just that, debunking, particularly on the subject of black Confederates, but this one seemed to me more persuasive than some of their other efforts.
I’m intrigued by Wyckoff’s assertion, but would like to hear the name of the 2nd SC fellow who started the ball rolling. Surely W. has it and you can come back again and let me know, yes?
Hi friends. Here is that piece from Mac Wyckoff that responds in detail to the Kirkland true-or-false debate. Enjoy: http://www.theangelmovie.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=114%3Athe-response&catid=14%3Ablog&Itemid=74
Thanks for the update, Michael. I attached your response and the link to the body of the post (for people who don’t read the comments). Pity Wycoff does not have the name of the original teller of the tale, but the newspaper article he cites predating Kershaw is the next best thing.
It is with great pleasure that Right Stripe Media announces the immediate availability of “The Angel of Marye’s Heights” on DVD. This long-anticipated release commemorates the beginning of the Sesquicentennial (150th) of the American Civil War.
In addition to the 30-minute documentary, 7 additional Bonus Features (1+ hour) are included: Dramatic Mercy-Scene, Richard Warren’s “Portrayal of a Hero” Monologue, “Living History” with Kathleen Warren, Cast and Crew Outtakes and Behind the Scenes Slideshow with Will White’s ‘Fredericksburg 1862’ title song, Director and Producer Premiere Comments and Scans of Richard Kirkland Letters.
This Widescreen DVD is now available for purchase online for $12 (+ shipping) at http://www.theangelmovie.com/store.
*Bulk-discounts available. Vendor and Media inquiries email info@theangelmovie.com. For more information, visit the film’s official website at http://www.theangelmovie.com.