VMI visit - Andrew Taylor

I can confidently say the VMI visit has been my favorite field trip of the class so far. The history of the school is so controversial and yet the school seems extremely proud of their past. VMI glorifies graduates like Johnathan Daniels and pushes its cadets to admire such heroes, and yet at the same time they glorify Stonewall Jackson in his confederate uniform and name an entire barracks after him. What I think is even more interesting than Stonewall Jackson's lasting influence on the school is the way with which VMI honors their personal confederate history. For instance, take the massive painting they hang in their chapel that honors the VMI cadets that served in a civil war battle. The painting makes no attempt to hide the confederate uniforms worn by the cadets, which at first made me question what exactly the painting was memorializing. However after our tour guide told the story of the painting and discussed the wide array of emotion depicted on the soldiers faces my opinion changed. My opinion changed to believing the painting in no way honors the confederacy and instead honors and memorializes the courage and heroic deeds of the cadets who fought in that battle. It is nothing more than unfortunate luck that these brave cadets happened to have served under the confederate banner. But I don't think that means the painting should have covered up this fact. Why should a brave deed such as the one performed in that battle be altered just because of a controversial aspect of the story exists? As long as the painting doesn't honor what the confederacy stood for, which I don't believe the painting does, I see no issue with showing the soldiers as the confederates they were.