Confederate flags not flying Thursday at Linwood Cemetery

The two Confederate flags that fly over war dead at Linwood Cemetery were not flying Thursday morning and their is no definite answer as to why.

The flag in the southwest corner was on the pole Wednesday, said Jane Brady, director of the Historic Linwood Foundation, which has an office on the grounds the city-owned cemetery off Linwood Boulevard near Midtown Medical Center.

The flag that flies on the cemetery’s upper section, also near Confederate dead, has been gone since Monday and it was likely stolen, Brady said.

“That is a common occurrence,” she said.

One thing is certain, Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson said the city did not order the flags to be removed.

“The city had nothing to do with their removal,” Tomlinson said.

The flagpole in the southwest corner of the cemetery is on a plot owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Brady said. It is not known if the second flag in the upper section is on city land or property owned by a private entity.

“They both seem to be on private property and is no doubt that one of them is,” Tomlinson said.

It was unclear if flag in the southwest corner was removed late Wednesday or Thursday morning and by whom. No one from the Sons of Confederate Veterans could be reached for comment and the Historic Linwood Foundation could not speak for them, Brady said.

The flag that was flying in that section on Wednesday was worn and tattered and could be in the process of being replaced, Brady said. The flag flies continuously and was not on the pole late Thursday afternoon.

The flags disappearance come amid a national debate on the appropriateness of Civil War monuments in the aftermath of a white nationalist march in Chatlottesville, Va., over the weekend where a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is being removed.

The two Confederate flags have flown over the Linwood Cemetery in their current spots for more than two decades and are there by an act of Columbus Council.

On Oct. 4, 1994, Columbus Council passed a resolution on a 6-4 vote allowing the flags to fly over the cemetery. All of the costs associated with the project were paid by the Benning Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, according to the resolution.

There was a Civil War hospital near the cemetery and a number of Confederate war dead, known and unknown, are buried in the cemetery.

The marker at the pole in the southwest corner states: “Dedicated on Confederate Memorial Day, 26 April 1995 by the General Henry L. Benning Camp 517, Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Citizens of Columbus. In Memory of those Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Who Rest in Everlasting Glory in Linwood Cemetery.”

Fort Benning is named for the Confederate general.

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Confederate flags not flying Thursday at Linwood Cemetery."