This is the monument to my great grandfather,
John Pelopidus Leach. It was erected at the time of his death in 1914
and depicts two hands shaking, one black and one white, with the
inscription: "This Is What He Meant - All Men Up, Erected By His Colored
Friends."
When he was nineteen years of age, Private Leach surrendered at
Appomattox and walked home to North Carolina with his black friend and
companion, Needham Leach. Later in life, Private Leach represented
Warren County as a State Senator in 1892 and as the Presiding Judge of
the Criminal Court of the same county from 1892 to 1896. He continued to
love and cherish the Confederate Battle Flag until the day he died.
During those years he offered free firewood to those in need and divided
land into smaller than normal size lots and sold them at reduced rates
to enable the poor to be become homeowners. He also donated the land for
the Enon Baptist Church (Black) in Littleton.
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Dated and re-posted as original link went bad.
BATTLE FLAG WAVES TO RESTORE PRIDE IN SOUTHERN HERITAGE
By Luci Weldon, The
Warren Record
If you were driving down the road and saw a black man carrying
a Confederate flag, what would your reaction be?
Many of us would have
to admit that we would be surprised to say the least because the sight of
a Confederate flag is likely to spark strong emotions. To some, the symbol
represents a part of the
honorable history of people who held high principles.
To others, the flag represents only hatred and oppression.
At times,
these opposing viewpoints reach the forefront of discussion such as in the
case of whether clothing depicting the Confederate flag is appropriate to
wear to public school.
Asheville resident H.K. Edgerton, a black man, has
proudly carried the Confederate flag over many, many miles in his mission
to educate people of all races and ages about southern history so that
southerners will be proud of their heritage.
On Monday, that mission brought
him to Littleton and the start of a 160-mile march to Richmond, Va. He plans
to travel about 15 miles a day, five days per week, all while carrying a
Confederate flag.
"In Richmond, Virginia, the DuPont Company has banned
Confederate symbols from their plant and have ignored requests to honor Confederate soldiers buried on their property, and this in the former
capital
city of the Confederate States of America," he said.
Edgerton serves
as chairman of the board of advisors of Southern Legal Resource Center, Inc.,
which has an office in Black Mountain, and has been active with that organization
for about seven years.
He is also the immediate past president of the Asheville
NAACP and is a life member of the NAACP.
A retired engineer, Edgerton
and his brother later owned and operated an office products company in Fullerton,
Calif.
Edgerton chose to begin his march at a monument located at Mosby
Avenue in Littleton which honors Confederate Private John Leach, described
as a pioneer in southern race relations. The monument is inscribed, "This
is what he meant - All men up! Erected by his Colored Friends."
"I
am very proud to call myself a Confederate American," he said. "I want to educate folks about our wonderful heritage. You can't find more honorable
people than southerners."
He added that others are "trying to
divide black people and white people."
"We are a family in
the Southland of America," Edgerton said. "I caution you that if
you don't know your history, you can't know where you are going."
As
he began his march on Monday morning, he wore a Dixie Outfitters shirt and
Dixie Outfitters jeans.
"What they want to do is tell the truth about
southern heritage," he said, describing the owner of the company as
"one of the finest gentlemen that I know."
Perhaps most of
all, Edgerton hopes that young people of all races in the south will learn
more about their history and be proud of that history.
"Our babies
now don't know history," he said. "Southern people have always
been some of the most patriotic, God-loving people in the country."
The
journey which began Monday is not Edgerton's first march. In fact, he completed
a 1,600-mile March across Dixie as well as a 260- mile march to attend the
Confederate submarine Hunley funeral in South Carolina.
"When
I walked to Texas, the deeper I traveled in the south, more black people
came out to recall history, to talk about their heritage and their love for
the south, all the black men who played a part in the (Civil) war, honorable
men in the war," Edgerton said. "Black Confederates who earned
places of honor are not talked about in the Civil War. It baffles me how
you can talk about Black History Month and not Confederate History Month."
He
noted that the heritage of southerners includes helping one another.
"The
people of the south have always been a family together, then people tried
to separate us," Edgerton said. "We are still a family here."
He
went on to praise the "Christian white folks of the south."
"Blacks
and whites are a family in the south," he said. "Whites have always
been proud to see black people advance. It is now time for people to know
our honorable heritage. I'm going to Richmond to
reclaim the heritage of
our honorable people."
Edgerton, describing the Confederate flag as
the Christian cross of St. Andrew, added that others, such as the Ku Klux
Klan, have caused an incorrect meaning to be associated with this symbol.
"History
has been twisted around," he said. "It is time for all to know
the truth, and our black babies to know that there is a place of honor under
this flag for them."
