Some South Carolinians still don’t like to be challenged about slavery | Opinion
Salty emails began to pepper my inbox soon after my column calling for an end to South Carolina’s Confederate Memorial Day published Thursday. I’ll share them below.
The column was the second-most read post on The State’s website Thursday so I expected a lot of reader email. I just didn’t expect the sordid sort.
The column sought to make the case for South Carolina and the eight counties in the state that closed government offices Friday should stop giving non-essential workers a paid day off on Confederate Memorial Day because of its connections to slavery.
The column also shared how Lexington County had announced its offices would be closed without saying why on Facebook, perhaps out of embarassment and shame.
There certainly wasn’t a lot of shame in the emails discounting my opinion. I’m all for a clash of ideas. I encourage it. But I also try to disagree agreeably because there’s too little of that in a world where debate and respect are uncommon partners.
I do, however, take issue with anyone who says the Civil War wasn’t fought over chattel slavery. That’s simply untrue. There are 18 references to slaves, slavery and slaveholding in South Carolina’s declaration of secession, making the notion that the Civil War was fought over something as high-minded as states’ rights inaccurate.
The reason for the secession and the war that followed cannot be mistaken.
South Carolina’s declaration of secession, adopted Dec. 24, 1860, on Christmas Eve, says that non-slaveholding states “have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection.”
I am neither sharing the names of these emailers nor editing their words beyond fixing grammar and punctuation. I will note that the figures some cite to say that only a relative few Southernors owned slaves have been disproven.
Shiloh National Military Park did it expertly as recently as February.
“According to the 1860 United States Census, 5% of individuals kept slaves. But that 5% number obscures the whole story. It only refers to the heads of slaveholding households, typically the patriarch, so it discounts every other member of a slaveholding family like a wife, son, or daughter who also directly benefitted from the enslavement of others and had the same authority over those their family kept in bondage.
“So out of the 5,582,222 free Southerners in 1860 that were living in what would become the Confederate States, how many were actually slaveowners? When taking entire households into account, that answer comes out to be 30.8%, or 1,719,324 people. As for the other 69.2% of Southerners who were not enslavers, they also frequently benefitted from the ‘peculiar institution’ by renting the enslaved from their neighbors when extra labor was needed.”
Here are seven emails I received withing 24 hours of my initial column being published. Two arrived Friday morning, shortly after midnight, so I expect the column to keep touching a nerve as South Carolinians go about their Friday and weekend.
My only substantial change will be to add dashes where they saw fit to swear.
Without further ado, meet seven of South Carolina’s ambassadors for Confederate Memorial Day. I hope we keep discussing whether the state and eight counties that represent all people should commemorate a day tied to the mistreatment of some.
- I can only assume you are retiring or transferring from the state of SC. You can do/say pretty much what you want but when you deal with SC brave fallen warriors in a disrespectful manner you are persona non grata. 97% of Confederate Soldiers never owned a slave. Their bravery in combat is internationally recognized. 25% of them never came home. I wish you the best but I also wish I never hear your name or dribble again.
No Matt. We descendants of Confederate soldiers are never going away. Ever. You’re from California. I was born in San Francisco descended from 100 Confederate soldiers who fought for southern independence who I honor. You’re just another loud mouth carpetbagger who knows nothing about the war. Zero. Are you black? You flatter yourself to think that the war was about you. My ancestors didn’t get killed in battle to keep any negro. No Union soldier fought to free any negro. You’re just another antiwhite Marxist from a criminal demographic. I come from better people than you ever will. Leave the South a------.
Hello sir. I find it sad that you would suggest stopping a holiday that commemorates southern families who fought for states’ rights. They didn’t fight for slavery. Why would my grandfather’s grandfather go risk his life for rich slave owners? Less than 10% of southerners owned slaves. You have bought into revisionist history. I would suggest watching ”Gods and Generals,” and then “Gettysburg.” God bless.
You need to lay off your gaslighting and propaganda. This is true history that they are re inacting not saluting slavery get you facts straight and no the Confederate veterans did not found the KKK, don’t be ignorant
“Confederates“ aren’t doing 8 out of 10 shootings in every community across america. If you don’t like the holiday, f--- off and don’t celebrate it. See how easy that is? But of course, that’s now how your cult works.
Mr. Hall, Really?? Are you still peddling the bs that that the war between the states was based on slavery? First, only 3% of Southerners owned slaves; so my ancestors who fought so that he could support their family and obtain new clothing did so because they supported slavery? Really. Here is the facts... Slavery was not wrong; it was what it was. My son and daughter in law (a naturalized citizen) are happy to get a day off. Would you say they don’t deserve a day off? With all due respect; go f--- yourself. You self-righteous piece of s---. Keep drinking the Flavor Aid; you probably think Jim Jones was a good person.
With all due respect sir, spending most of your career in New Hampshire and California, you do not have the DNA or understanding that those of us that have spent our entire lives in the South have. I remember my great-grandmother telling me what her father had done and seen in the war. Women raped by Northern soldiers, food taken from civilian families by Sherman’s Army leaving them to starve. Homes burned, horses taken. By today’s laws, many northerner “Heroes” would be charged with war crimes. We do not and have never condoned slavery. But we do honor those ancestors that fought to protect their state, homes and families. In a country that supposedly allows for free speech and celebrates most every lifestyle and heritage there is, we should have that same opportunity.
That last email disagreed agreeably, which I appreciated.
I heard from someone else on Facebook who raised similar points.
She wrote, “Matthew, I agree that the South went to war to preserve slavery, which is an abomination. I however do not view many soldiers in the same light. It is the everyday soldier often heeding the call to arms in protection of their homeland. Just as our military of today go off and fight what we may feel is unjust war. WE have done over and over. The soldier often not an adult many were under 18 fight at the bidding of their government and naive. A soldier does not often fight for the political purpose of their seniors they fight for their brothers in arms.
“You can take any of our U.S. Wars and find them to be unjust. I do not blame that soldier but the government that orders them to war.
“I have no problem honoring fallen soldiers. War is heinous but the acts that occur on the battlefield whichever side you may be fighting on are often heroic. The soldier lays his/her life down for the soldier on the right, and the soldier on the left.
“If I honor that dead confederate soldier it is not the cause that put them in the fray it is the dying, the laying down of life for their fellow soldier. For me it is a different view.”
She signed the message, “Retired Army Nurse.”
I told her that her points were very fair and thoughtful. They are. I also told her that there is a way for the state and the nation to commemorate its dead soldiers. It’s called Memorial Day and we will mark the solemn occasion in just a few weeks.
In closing, I do want to thank the couple of readers who noticed I’d made an embarrassing math error in the column saying the Civil War was fought 264 years ago. The war began in 1861, which is obviously 164 years ago. I have fixed that. I apologize for the mistake and appreciate the civil way they called it to my attention.
When discussing the Civil War in South Carolina, we should all endeavor to do so civilly, with a firm grasp of the facts and an appreciation for all people.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 6:06 AM with the headline "Some South Carolinians still don’t like to be challenged about slavery | Opinion."