A third flag will join the U.S. and Florida ones on Wednesday at Belleview’s City Hall to honor Confederate History Day.
The third national Confederate flag, also known as the “blood-stained banner,” will be raised to half-staff around 7:30 a.m. to honor Confederate veterans. The local Sons of Confederate Veterans unit has performed this tribute ceremony for more than 10 years.
Sons of Confederate Veterans 8th Brigade Commander Chuck Kadel said it is important to recognize all American veterans.
“(Confederate veterans) were veterans just as American veterans are,” he said.
April is recognized by the state of Florida as Confederate History Month. A Belleview city proclamation passed April 4, which will be read at the flag raising ceremony, states that Florida supplied the greatest percentage of its population as soldiers compared to all other Confederate states. Further, one-third of the Floridian soldiers did not return from war.
Being the least populous state, Florida provided 15,000 soldiers to fight in the war, 5,000 of which were killed, according to a website called “Exploring Florida,” curated by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology at the University of South Florida.
Florida also became the breadbasket of the Confederacy. Farmers sent beef, pork, fish, fruit and salt to keep the meat from spoiling to Confederate soldiers throughout the war, according to the website.
The 8th Brigade also hosts memorial services at a couple of local cemeteries during Confederate History Month, Kadel said.
“We’re just a historical preservation group,” he said. “We try to preserve the history too, not just raising the flag. Today they just want to erase all this history.”
Belleview’s decision to fly the flag seems to be unaffected by the recent controversy over flying the Confederate flag in Marion County.
Beginning in summer 2015, after the deadly Charleston church shooting in which a white man shot and killed nine black people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a debate was sparked about whether the Confederate flag should be flown in front of the McPherson Governmental Complex. Confederate flags across the country were pulled down in the aftermath of the shooting. Demonstrations by groups both for and against flying the flag and community debates filled the months afterward. The flag was removed in May 2016.
The Marion County Commission approved a proclamation April 4 acknowledging Confederate Memorial Day.
Belleview Mayor Christine Dobkowski said the city has never heard any formal complaints about flying the Confederate flag. She said acknowledging Confederate History Day and Month is historically important to the city of Belleview.
“It’s part of the history of our community,” she said.
When the proclamation was read at the Belleview City Commission meeting April 4, no one spoke for or against it when Dobkowski called for public comment.
The city does not host any events celebrating the month.
The “blood-stained banner” is the last flag to be introduced to the Confederacy. Kadel said it is seen as the official flag of the Confederacy.
“That was the flag introduced to the Confederacy just before the end of the war and it was never changed,” he said. “If the Confederacy was still in existence, that probably would have been the flag they would be using.”
Contact Katie Pohlman at 867-4065, katie.pohlman@starbanner.com or @katie_pohlman.
http://www.ocala.com/news/20170424/belleview-will-fly-confederate-flag-to-honor-community-history