(06/18/2020)

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I know I mentioned this before, but my Great-Grand-Father Samuel George 
Swezey, was a soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, as was his 
brother William and his brother-in-law, George A. Burnett.

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William was in the Vicksburg campaign and later captured at Tilton, Georgia 
and ended up as a prisoner of war in the infamous hell-hole Andersonville 
Prison in Georgia.

IOWA PRISONERS HELD AT ANDERSONVILLE
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/Andersonvilleprison1/Iowaps.html

SWEEZY, WILLIAM M., PRIVATE 17th Iowa Infantry C, EXCHANGED APRIL 1, 1865 
41463

(It is common for people to misspell my last name - but I'm sure this is my 
Great-Grand-Uncle.)

He was captured as part of the attack on Tilton, Ga. on October 13, 1864.

Capture of the Tilton Block House
https://www.dailycitizen.news/news/civil-war-anniversary-capture-of-the-tilton-block-house/article_41fa1606-9ec3-11e4-ab52-5f41c8cdfa0a.html

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George Burnett died in the Vicksburg campaign of disease on July 23, 1863 at 
Chickasaw Landing, Miss. He was 20 years old.

I read an account of his unit, the 40th Iowa Infantry Regiment, Company "G". 
They were hammered by malaria so I assume that's what he died from.

HISTORICAL SKETCH FORTIETH IOWA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
http://iagenweb.org/civilwar/books/logan/mil709.htm

"... of the nine hundred enlisted men in the regiment, at its organization 
one year ago, only six hundred eighty remain, the other two hundred twenty 
having given up their lives in their country's service or been discharged on 
account of diseases contracted in the line of duty."

"The regiment suffered greatly from sickness during this period of its 
service, caused by the malaria inhaled from the Yazoo River, the swamps in 
the vicinity of its encampment, and the impure water the men were compelled 
to drink. It was therefore as greatly reduced in effective strength as some 
of the other Iowa regiments which had been engaged in the assaults upon the 
enemy's works at Vicksburg."

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I guess what I'm saying is: pardon me if I don't get all warm and fuzzy 
about the Confederate flag and Confederate statues.

Besides the racism and treason - they are responsible for my 
Great-Grand-Uncle's death.

This is a free country, so if you want to wave the Confederate flag around 
and say you're an America hating racist, you have that right - go ahead.

Paint it on the top of your car like the "Dukes of Hazard" if you want. I 
don't care.

I'll will even look the other way on sites historically associated with he 
Confederacy, like Jefferson Davis' house or a Confederate cemetery. Okay.

But I see no reason for official government anything to idolize these 
traitors.

There's no Fort Benedict Arnold, no statues of Adolf Hitler. We don't honor 
America's enemies.

There are a lot of German-Americans in Wisconsin - should they add the 
swastika to their state flag to "honor their ancestors"? I think not.

What about honoring MY ancestors?

How about renaming Fort Braxton Bragg to Fort George Burnett?

Seems like a much better choice to me.