Stone Mountain and the Civil War as it really was
For decades Stone Mountain has been a place for Atlantans and visitors to hike, recreate and play, all under the watchful granite gaze of the majestic heroes of the Confederacy.
But lately, a plan to add a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. is causing consternation among some on both sides of the divide concerning the so-called War Between the States. Supporters of keeping the mountain as it is argue that Stone Mountain is a legally certified Confederate Memorial, that King had nothing to do with the Confederacy, and on those points they are right.
But the Confederacy remembered at Stone Mountain is the one created by the vanquished, the one that recalls The Lost Cause, a glorious and almost chivalrous escapade in which the South broke away fighting for its rights and was shut down by a tyrannical neighbor to the North. I called a few historians and authors to ask them about "memorializations" of the Civil War that actually took place.
If Stone Mountain is to tell the story of the war, it should tell the whole story. What's that story? Read today's Bill Torpy at Large.
About the Author
Bill Torpy, who writes about metro Atlanta for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, joined the newspaper in 1990.
