The county council can vote Tuesday night on the latest effort to remove the “Talbot Boys” from the courthouse green.
Resolution 290, introduced by two of the five council members, calls for the removal of the statue of a young flag bearer carrying the battle flag of the rebel Army of Northern Virginia. As introduced, the resolution would allow the base, containing the names of Talbot County men who fought against the United States, to remain.
An amended resolution has been introduced by Councilman Pete Lesher and Council President Corey Pack, who introduced the initial resolution. The amended resolution calls for the removal of the entire monument and removes language that would have banned depictions of soldiers.
Lesher also plans to introduce two amendments during Tuesday night’s meeting, according to the agenda.
One would change language concerning the statue’s relocation to have the monument safely stored in the care of the county “until a place for its ultimate relocation can be identified and prepared.”
The second would establish a restricted county fund to receive any private contributions toward the cost of removing the monument.
During a July 28 public hearing on the resolution, the overwhelming majority of those calling into the meeting of the Talbot County Council urged members to completely remove the monument.
The council also was given a petition with 30-plus pages of signatures of people calling for the Talbot Boys to be removed from the courthouse green. A video entitled “I am Talbot County” also was submitted into the record.
“Statues are not how history is taught. It’s not about erasing history, but about what history to glorify,” one caller said. “What we do not support is a monument glorifying the Confederacy.”
Another caller cited a community survey in which 63% of respondents said racism is an issue in Talbot County.
“The Confederacy should not be glorified and that’s what the Talbot Boys statue does,” another caller said.
“This isn’t the first time the removal of the monument has been discussed. I hope it will be the last,” he said. “The question now is what side of history do you want to be a part of.”
“To commemorate is to celebrate” and the statue symbolizes racism and slavery, another caller said.
David Montgomery disagreed.
“The monument is to soldiers of Talbot County, not to slavery, not to the Confederacy,” he said.
Montgomery argued that it was highly unlikely that Talbot’s soldiers were fighting to preserve slavery.
Paul Callahan argued that Talbot’s rebels were fighting against Lincoln’s unconstitutional actions during the war against the secessionists.
“During the Civil War, what was done in Maryland was unconstitutional, unlawful, and brutal,” Callahan said, citing martial law, the suspension of habeas corpus, and the arrests of thousands of Marylanders suspected of Southern sympathies.
But Benjamin Rubenstein noted that Talbot’s rebel soldiers fought for the Confederate States of America.
“Even if they didn’t own slaves, they fought to protect slavery,” he said. “There’s no place for racism and white supremacy” on the public square.
Larrier Walker agreed that the fact that someone fought in a war could not be separated from “what they fought for.”
“Where in Germany are there statues or memorials to Hitler or the Nazis?” he asked. “There are none. To African-Americans and others, the Talbot Boys are just like Hitler and the Nazis.”
Henry Herr, who circulated the petition for the statue’s removal, noted the seceding states went to war against the U.S. in order to preserve slavery.
“The vast majority of historians have proven it time and time again,” he said.
“This symbol is a scourge of Talbot County,” Herr said. “Stand up for the minorities in your community who have been begging you to take it down.”
One caller said he was related to 10% of the names on the Talbot Boys monument.
He noted that the monument has 84 names, but many times that number from Talbot County fought for the United States.
The “time has come to remove” the monument and show that “Talbot County does not hold racism as a central tenet,” he said.
Others noted that the courthouse green was the site of the county’s slave auctions, where the KKK met in the 1880s, and where thousands gathered — just a few years after the Talbot Boys monument was erected — in an attempt to lynch a black man accused of sexually assaulting a white girl.
Keith Watts said the statue stands on hallowed ground — the site where thousands of Talbot’s slaves were brought to auction, where families were torn apart, “sold on the very spot that that statue stands.”
“Those people have no voice now. They need to be heard down through the ages,” Watts said. “The weight of history is on you tonight. The eyes of the nation and world are on you tonight. If Mississippi can do this, Talbot County can do this.”
William Keppen says
I think we are in a moment in our country’s history where we must take all reasonable steps to deal with “original sin.” I say move this and all such monuments to Confederate cemeteries or to Civil War battle fields. Any inscriptions that glorify the Confederacy or what it stood for, should be removed.
Vincent De Sanctis says
Well-reasoned presentation of the issues. Defenders of the statute do not have a legitimate argument.
The Council needs to exhibit definitive leadership.
Frederick Robinson says
The Talbot Boys monument was put up in early 1900’s at the same time as The Daughters of the Confederacy was most active putting up statues all across the Sputh. It was in suport of Jim Crow. To me Jim Crow was even more shameful than the Confederacy. I can’t imagine that Talbot County today wants to be remembered fot that shamful time.
RC Shafer says
Enough already — this annoyingly persistent Talbot Boys kerfuffle would give a woodpecker a headache! Contrasted with enduring the viral pandemic of the century and the total self-inflicted devastation of the local economy thanks to our Governor’s ignorant, cookie cutter lock down mentality — assuaging our town’s collective white privilege guilt over a Confederate statue — appears to this ardent history buff to be a petty tantrum at best. Here is my prescription: tear the mother out from its perch by the roots, then ceremoniously drag the effigy by a cable attached to one of our fire engines through the streets so that citizens can indulge themselves with cathartic, mocking glee. Finally, have the mayor preside over recasting “the Boys” into a more politically correct and acceptable likeness. Might I suggest anything innocuous to being racially controversial — perhaps a tribute to Duke Ellington or Jackie Robinson? It seems to this observer — that our quaint, peaceful burg has been stricken with an acute case of lock down withdrawal cabin fever. But rather than rioting in the streets, we have at least had the good sense to purge this objectionable Civil War iconography from our hallowed county courtyard without throwing bricks through Main Street store windows.
Steve Huntoon says
My friends, it’s time to take it down.
Kathy Bosin says
Absolutely. Thanks, Steve.
Anne Stalfort says
It is way past time for the Talbot Boys to be removed from the Courthouse Grounds. I would throw it in the Tred Avon but as long as it is never on public property again I’m good. The first time a group of us asked the Country Council (not this Council) for permission to put a monument to Frederick Douglass on the Courthouse Grounds, we were met with a brick wall. The statements of some were shocking. A Washington Post reporter sitting next to me, asked me which century this group was living in. Let’s show our children of all races and the rest of the country, that Talbot County is living in the 21st century and we are moving forward to make our county a more equitable place to live.
Clive Ewing says
The flurry of amendments introduced by Messrs. Pack and Lesher are difficult to track. This article, published Aug. 10 in the Spy, is already woefully out of date. It seems two additional amendments have been recently introduced to address critical elements that the original Resolution failed to address. There has been little opportunity for the Public to review, comment and debate this new information. Perhaps that is the intent.
Perhaps that is also why so many complaints have been filed with Maryland’s Open Meetings Act (OMA) Compliance Board. Regardless of the public’s position on the Talbot Boys Monument, the public might find it interesting as to how some on the Talbot County Council are trying to leverage the State of Emergency to fulfill a pet project. What else could be up their sleeves while We the People stay focused on staying healthy, keeping our jobs and educating our children? It’s hard to say when so many in the County cannot effectively participate in the Council’s ‘open’ meetings which are only available electronically. Unreliable cellular service and limited broadband internet are problems throughout the county, particularly the rural areas. Citizens are reporting to the Council and the OMA Board of their inability to view, hear and speak at ‘open’ meetings. Meeting minutes are not available in a timely fashion, and the quality of audio/video recordings are sub-standard at best. These complaints seem to fall on deaf ears.
As to the Talbot Boys Monument; Paul Callahan, Lynn Mielke and so many others have eloquently stated that this Monument represents a vital part of Talbot County’s history. There is no doubt this Monument needs to remain tall and proud on the Courthouse Yard, perhaps now more than ever. These Talbot Boys fought against the tyranny of a Federal Government which was depriving Talbot Countians of their God given rights. We still face much the same issues at the local, state and federal levels of government today.
For example, we see backdoor dealing between the County and the Town of Easton regarding the Talbot Boys Monument itself. Did the People get a chance to participate or review the discussions between these two public bodies? No, and no meeting minutes or other documentation seem readily available to anyone that asks. Did anyone notice the three County employees starting to take down the Talbot Boys statue early Monday morning, until they were captured on camera and they scurried away? One must wonder who gave these County employees the order to start work? It is well understood that the County needs a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) from the Town’s Historic District Commission before they could start work. In fact, it seems like the County Council would actually have to VOTE and PASS Resolution 290 before starting to take down the Monument. Minor details I guess, if it’s your pet project and your pals are on board.
Citizens need to wake up from their Covid-19 stupor. Love or hate the Talbot Boys, they still stand in opposition to tyranny to this very day.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Clive, Now THAT is a spirited essay. I will again follow(and try to hear) the meeting this evening. They may well take several hours discussing appropriate crowd size for public gatherings, so steel thyself. We see what happen.
Richard Marks says
As tyranny has been raised, I provide Tom Paine’s quote from American Crisis, “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet, we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” The road to removal of the statue has been long and arduous, but the time has come to recognize and remove the true tyranny of the Confederacy the monument represents.
Stephen Schaare says
Hi Richard, Take it down, sure. This will not resolve anything. The tyranny will gain strength. Next? Might I suggest getting rid of Washington Street? Do we have a Jefferson boulevard? Got to go! Oh, that Courthouse or the County it self need new names to appropriately honor those who were oppressed. May want to put aside coupla’ bucks to cover expense of paint and rollers for street murals, very soon to be seen in Chestertown.Just “ideating” here. Work with me, Rich.
Richard Marks says
Hi Steve,
Happy to work with you. I have no problem with the Talbot Boys families honoring their lost loved ones. Just let them do so in an appropriate place. Which, by the way, is also the sentiment of many of their descendants. Should they have the final say? Would you accept that verdict?
As your prior response was just a bit acerbic, please do appreciate mine herein:
For the descendent’s voting rights in the matter, perhaps a three-fifths compromise is in order. Work with me, Steve.
Stephen Schaare says
Very nice, Rich. Love to see acerbic and the 3/5 reference. I have no interest in the statue. I sought only to say that this is the beginning. I have always wondered where all this ends. Do we priveledged hand over all property?
Working with you Rich- anytime. Watch the council tonight.
Richard Marks says
Steve,
Rumors are circulating there will be no vote tonight. Delayed once more so I plan to be eating dinner at 6 PM and celebrating the re-opening of Out of The Fire.
Interesting to use that word.. property. Good place to begin a healthy conversation to lead us through a truth and reconciliation process long overdue.
Thanks for working with me! Appreciate the civility as well. Hope others follow…
Stephen Schaare says
Me too! Ok, financial assets. You are good.
Paul Gilmore says
A truly appalling example of spinelessness by Mr. Divilio and Mr. Callahan. Hey, we can say we’re #1!! The last one in the state of Maryland with a monument to treasonous behavior on public property! Perhaps we can advertise that.