The Shenandoah County School Board has chosen to remove school names that are associated with our country's slaveholding history. Yet it only seems to pertain to some schools.
An email from school board member Karen Whetzel in reply to a resident questioning why Muhlenberg Middle School name is not slated to be changed.
"We are not retiring the names of schools in southern Shenandoah County because the men for whom they were named were slave owners, but because the men for whom the schools were named were Confederate generals. "
So if it's about combating racism and slaveholders don't fall into that category, what exactly makes the Confederate Generals such an issue?
Dennis Atwood, a major contributor to the push to change the names of our local schools said this in his opinion piece published in the Northern Virginia Daily;
"Slavery has been the taproot of the poisonous tree of racism in America that led to George Floyd’s murder by a police officer..."
This stance is quite interesting as he is clearly saying slavery is the problem.
If slavery is the issue, how can Peter Muhlenberg be an acceptable name for a school while Thomas J. Jackson, Turner Ashby, and Robert E Lee are not?
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg moved to the Shenandoah Valley prior to the American Revolution from the Philadelphia area to preach. He brought his slaves with him. Yes, the minster from Pennsylvania owned slaves. He lived and preached in Woodstock, becoming an officer of the 5th Virginia militia. When war was imminent, Muhlenberg symbolically removed his clergy man's attire to reveal a continental army officer uniform.
He recruited hundreds into service and marched off to war, leaving his family and slaves behind to work the land in his absence. Muhlenberg rose to the rank of Major General during the War for Independence, becoming one of the most well known leaders in America.
Attwood goes on to say; "When Virginia committed troops to the Continental Army, Col. Muhlenberg’s regiment fought well, and he went on to be a major general in the service of a newly born nation as it won its independence from British tyranny. That was a complete contrast with the three Confederate generals memorialized in our two schools. "
"Complete Contrast"?
The three Confederate Generals actually did almost exactly what General Muhlenberg had done. They followed their state when Virginia legislators decided to secede from the Union, recruiting, training and fighting in a war against what they felt was government tyranny. (This came a full 5 months after South Carolina had voted to secede, and followed Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers, who certainly would have marched through Virginia. )
The similarities go even further. One of the causes of our War for Independence was taxation of the colonists. One of the things taxed highest and often was the import of African slaves to the colonies. Thus, slavery not only played a part in causing the American Civil War, but the Revolutionary War as well.
Removing the history of the Confederates from our landscape is removing the history of America itself.
Muhlenberg's biographer wrote ;" His whole heart was with his country; rebellion against tyrants was obedience to God". That easily could have been said about the very religious Jackson as well. If things are to be changed, it would be better if it were done with a more educated and consistent approach. Due process and discussions are important to properly implement such changes. The actions of our school board and those pushing them to act seem to overlook these things completely.
John Peter Muhlenberg and, Turner Ashby, Robert E. Lee and T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson are vital parts of American History and should all be all be remembered as American icons like the Father of our Nation George Washington.
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