HELP US KEEP THE KAUFMAN COUNTY TEXAS CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL!

Kaufman, Texas November 23, 1911: “The unveiling of the Confederate monument by the Judah P. Benjamin Camp, United Confederate Veterans, was the inspiration for one of the largest crowds ever seen in Kaufman…

Miss Daffan in unveiling the monument said: “In the name of those men who gave their strength, their undaunted service and their precious lives, in the name of those women who also served by waiting, watching, weeping, praying, or in their homes made shoes of saddle skirts and blankets of homespun and wove the cloth which clothed themselves and little children, in the name of the Confederate government, civil and military, and in the name of our fair united country, and our perpetual flag, I unveil this beautiful monument to the memory of the soldiers of the Confederacy.””

Kaufman Confederate Memorial Inscription: Erected to the memory of the Confederate soldiers by the people of Kaufman County.  They went down into battle at the command of their state and fought for their Constitution, homes, and firesides.  No soldiers ever fought more bravely on the field, nor suffered greater privations for their country.  Honor to their memory, glory to their cause, and peace to their ashes.

More than 150 years ago, brave men left tearful families to fight a war that pitted brother against brother – each acting at the direction of their governments.  Those families left behind struggled to survive, while still providing supplies to the men that had gone to protect their homes and firesides from an invader intent on their destruction.

As the years passed, bringing gray hair and death to the aging survivors of the War Between the States, the remaining war Veterans, along with family and friends, sought to honor the memory of the men and women who endured a war that came knocking on their doors without invitation.  Money was scarce, but they managed to scrimp & save, raising funds to memorialize those who gave much, and some who gave all, to a war that left no one untouched. 

Today, 109 years after the unveiling of the Kaufman County Confederate Memorial, some people have decided they do not want to allow the ashes of people long-dead to lie in peace.  These people have decided that they should be able to choose for someone else how the earlier residents of Kaufman County should be remembered.  These people are now demanding the memorial, which for some is considered a gravestone for those Kaufman County residents who are buried in unmarked, long-forgotten graves, be removed.

Some of these people have said that such memorials should be removed to museums, while others have said these memorials should be removed to cemeteries.  Sadly we have seen that those who advocate for these memorials to be moved to museums and cemeteries have later fought against these memorials being placed in a museum or cemetery and demanded they be destroyed instead.

We have witnessed how the city of Dallas removed a memorial, but refused to allow it to be placed in a museum - because they thought the museum was “too Confederate”.  Very recently we have seen how a memorial in Houston was to be moved to a state historic site, only to have the local government scream that they did not want the memorial placed anywhere near their town.  A battle is still being fought in court over a memorial in a historic cemetery in Dallas – because the city wants the memorial removed from that hallowed ground. 

These same scenarios are being played out all over our country today.  Memorials that were originally erected in cemeteries are being removed - even when those memorials are the only gravestones for men buried in unknown graves in those same cemeteries.

Even when these memorials and artifacts are moved to museums and cemeteries, they too often are not allowed to remain there.  On a daily basis, museums and graveyards are being vandalized and even destroyed - because someone doesn’t like the artifacts and history held in those places.  And now we have a national organization, whose mission is to preserve history, advocating for the removal of “Confederate” things from public view. 

All these things are happening because some members of our society believe they should be the ones to tell other people how to think and how to remember history and their ancestors - when admittedly many of them had never even noticed the history they want removed until someone told them they should be offended by it.

If you place value on history and wish to keep the Kaufman County Confederate Memorial standing in its place, please sign our petition and show the elected government of Kaufman County and the State of Texas that you are against the removal of this memorial.