All over the country, people are arguing over whether or not to take down Confederate-era statues. In some cities, statues honoring Confederate generals or soldiers were taken down during the dark of night, in others, public forums let people express their opinions. But in South Carolina, two Republicans want to put up a Civil War monument. However, it would be a monument to honor the sacrifices of black Confederate troops from South Carolina. The issue is that historians say there were not any black Confederate soldiers in South Carolina. South Carolina state Reps. Bill Chumley and Mike Burns filed a pair of bills that would form a commission to create a monument to honor South Carolina’s black Confederate troops. Burns said that it would help educate current and future generations of a little-known part of South Carolina history. But Walter Edgar, considered to be the premier historian on all things South Carolina according to CNN, said there is no evidence that a black soldier ever fought for the Confederacy.
“In all my years of research, I can say I have seen no documentation of black South Carolina soldiers fighting for the Confederacy,” Edgar told The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, writes CNN. “In fact, when secession came, the state turned down free (blacks) who wanted to volunteer because they didn’t want armed persons of color.”
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