Idols in the dust
BY KIRK ROSS
... If you’re unaware of the origin of Silent Sam, there’s plenty of information around. But you might want to start with the speech by Julian Carr at the dedication to the statue. On June 2, 1913 in McCorkle Place, ... “General” Carr, actually a private, described for the assembled crowd of university leaders and townspeople how not long after his return from the surrender at Appomattox he proudly “horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds” in full view of the Union troops because, he said, “upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady.” Carr failed to mention, that those Union troops took the town of Chapel Hill not after a gallant defense, but because town leaders met the Union Army at the bottom of the hill and surrendered peacefully. Among those leaders was Wilson Caldwell, an African-American born into slavery to former President Swain. Caldwell, head of the university workforce, helped to convince the troops to protect the town rather than burn it. He went on to serve on the town board of commissioners, started a school and was appointed Justice of the Peace ...
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/chapel-hill-news/chn-opinion/article27481105.html
Note: "Silent Sam" is a monument to the confederacy on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill
