N.C. man plans 17-hour, pro-Union vigil at Lee statue in Charlottesville

[mahatmakanejeeves]

N.C. man plans 17-hour, pro-Union vigil at Lee statue in Charlottesville
BY TYLER HAMMEL The Daily Progress May 8, 2019

CHARLOTTESVILLE — A North Carolina man will hold a 17-hour vigil in front of Charlottesville’s statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Thursday while dressed as a Union soldier in an effort to educate others about the Civil War.

William Thorpe, the sole orchestrator of the “One-Man Stand” and founder and director of the University of North Carolina Walk for Health, will finish out a semester-long project inspired by the university’s removal of its Silent Sam monument in Chapel Hill.

The statue, erected in 1913, was toppled by protesters in August and then moved by university officials to an undisclosed location. The pedestal was later removed, and the ground where the statue stood was covered up with grass.

Thorpe said he began his campaign on Jan. 24 as an effort to both educate the public on what Union soldiers fought for during the Civil War and to advocate for the placement of a statue of a Union soldier in place of Silent Sam.

“The Union soldier is not getting enough awareness, and I wanted to lobby UNC officials for a replacement statue,” he said. “Logically, the best replacement would be a Union soldier.”
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[TheRealNorth]

1. There is part of me that wants to celebrate my ancestral heritage

Of beating the South in the Civil War. Especially when I see racist bastards flying the stars and bars up here in the North.