John Hunt just won’t go away. He sits there on his horse, somebody’s horse, and don’t say nothing while controversy swirls. His role in the community is somehow more prominent these days than his effect on the war, showing off for the ladies, raiding for the evening’s mess. Now he sits at the vortex of gigantic gravitational forces, some ramping up for removal, others clamping down, anchors dropped, saying John’s not gonna budge. This is interesting.
The message, all some folks see, is offensive, the glorification of civil rebellion and the perpetuation of an evil agrarian oligarchy, but not everyone really cares about that, the war back a hundred and fifty and this monument aged over a hundred. It costs six hundred dollars to live in a rat hole, and the landlord is none too nice, at this moment, thanks a lot, but back to the courthouse lawn -- it isn’t a courthouse anymore. The monument has moved already, it’s in front of a restaurant now. Case solved, but it isn’t enough.
Someone suggests instead of sanitizing our history maybe we should put up monuments to people we revere these days, and suddenly we’re all on the verge of significant revelation. Pick any heroes you want, how would you represent them? Who would you hire to make what? The bronze casting of John Hunt Morgan on a horse, the only civil war statue mounted on a horse, cost fifteen thousand dollars in 1911. Don’t know the present day equivalent but that’s only the first problem. Where would you find the artist? The MLK monument committee hired the Chinese, and it isn’t him.
Maybe we should respect the art. Maybe we should recognize this is one excellent, even unique equestrian monument in front of a refurbished historic courthouse, and be proud of this jewel in bronze, instead of disapproving of its ancestry.
The message, all some folks see, is offensive, the glorification of civil rebellion and the perpetuation of an evil agrarian oligarchy, but not everyone really cares about that, the war back a hundred and fifty and this monument aged over a hundred. It costs six hundred dollars to live in a rat hole, and the landlord is none too nice, at this moment, thanks a lot, but back to the courthouse lawn -- it isn’t a courthouse anymore. The monument has moved already, it’s in front of a restaurant now. Case solved, but it isn’t enough.
Someone suggests instead of sanitizing our history maybe we should put up monuments to people we revere these days, and suddenly we’re all on the verge of significant revelation. Pick any heroes you want, how would you represent them? Who would you hire to make what? The bronze casting of John Hunt Morgan on a horse, the only civil war statue mounted on a horse, cost fifteen thousand dollars in 1911. Don’t know the present day equivalent but that’s only the first problem. Where would you find the artist? The MLK monument committee hired the Chinese, and it isn’t him.
Maybe we should respect the art. Maybe we should recognize this is one excellent, even unique equestrian monument in front of a refurbished historic courthouse, and be proud of this jewel in bronze, instead of disapproving of its ancestry.
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