Greene History Notes: Debate Over Civil War Monuments Continues

The controversy over Confederate Civil War monuments in the south rages on.

Today I am writing about a monument in the north — Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. I discovered it last year while vacationing with my family.

Like the monuments in the south, it also became controversial. Because of its uniqueness it flew under the radar for a long time. Following is the history of the monument and why it became a thorn in many residents’ sides.

At first glance the monument itself is not unusual. It even has a Union soldier on top, similar to the one we have in Catskill’s Thompson Street Cemetery. It was erected in 1891 with money Charles Strahan, a former Confederate soldier, had raised. He had moved to Martha’s Vineyard after the Civil War and was the publisher of the local newspaper, “Martha’s Vineland Herald.” Strahan wanted to reconcile deep divisions over the war that still lingered.

Charles Strahan (1840–1931) enlisted in May of 1861 with Company B, 21st Virginia Infantry Regiment. He was wounded in the Battle of Seven Pines near Richmond, Virginia, and also fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. In 1925 two plaques were placed on the monument. It is these plaques that have caused the controversy. Recent newspaper accounts indicate Strahan had a role in placing the plaques and was still alive at the time.

The first reads: “The chasm is closed. In memory of the restored Union this tablet is dedicated by the Union veterans of the Civil War and patriotic citizens of Martha’s Vineyard in honor of Confederate soldiers.” The second plaque installed at the foot of the monument details the statue’s history and says it was erected as “a gesture of conciliation.”

The monument became a point of overt contention in 2018 when residents descended on a meeting of the Oak Bluffs Board of Selectmen to ask that the two plaques be removed. Erik Blake, president of the local NAACP, described the plaques as “hurtful” and said of the statue, “it is unnecessary for it to be there.” At the same time, some veterans opposed the move. Several meetings followed and in the end a compromise was reached.

In May, 2019 Oak Bluffs selectmen voted to remove the plaques. They were donated to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum where their history could be better explained.

The “Martha’s Vineyard Times” reported: “Below the plaques is a temporary panel explaining the history of the plaques and why they were removed. Museum staff, working with representatives from the NAACP and the Island’s veterans’ organizations, plan to replace the panel with an interactive touchscreen to explain the plaques in depth.”

This next step of getting the parties to agree on how the plaques will interpreted may also be contentious. Hopefully they can reach agreement.

News and Notes: A New Feature

The Greene County Historical Society’s Vedder Research Library is proud to host a free blog featuring articles by Greene County historians. Currently available are three articles by Deputy Greene County Historian Jonathan Palmer, the most recent of which is excerpted below. You can view the other articles at vedderresearchlibrary.org/gc-historians-blog.

“The Grave of Ezra Ramsdell”

“The graveyard is a difficult place to describe, as it (perhaps more than any other work by human hands) is vested with a power entirely divested of the sum of its parts. A description of a graveyard will always begin with paths, stones and grass, but the description invariably transcends what can be observed with the senses. Cemeteries evoke all manner of things and awaken within us a unique philosophical and spiritual awareness. Our little corner of the Catskills is well endowed with this particular variety of muse. Three hundred graveyards of every order of magnitude dot the hills and valleys of this place, each one collectively serving as an epitaph to different, distant, and more superstitious times.

The anonymity of the graveyard is one of its startling features, with row upon row of stones bearing silent witness to a moment when the remains entombed below were the subject of not only great and immediate lamentations, but also prolonged sorrows that often endured as long as anyone remained who knew the departed in life. Gravestones are overtly a refutation of the passage of time and a symbol of our desire to endure, but in the end these weathered and crooked markers up bearing witness to a separate truth - that History is merely a reconciliation of the past with our feeble powers of memory; it is an imperfect and weighted truce at best.

This was a subject of no small significance to Augusta Hallock, a girl only 18 years old when her friend and neighbor Ezra Ramsdell passed at the age of 25. In a composition book she kept while attending Greenville Academy she devoted two separate entries to the occasion of his passing. The themes she confronts are universal, and Ezra’s passing was something she took several months to process on the pages of her journal...”

Read the rest here: https://vedderresearchlibrary.org/gc-historians-blog/2019/10/1/the-grave-of-ezra-ramsdell

To reach columnist David Dorpfeld, e-mail gchistorian@gmail.com or visit him on Facebook at “Greene County Historian.”