Key West To Preserve Confederate Memorial: ‘Why Would We Hide What Actually Happened? Good Or Bad, It’s What Happened’

A Key West official has vowed that the United States’ southernmost city plans to restore a Confederate memorial, despite the recent uproar over symbols of Confederacy following the tragic deaths of nine people in Charleston, South Carolina, in June.

Clayton Lopez, who works on the Key West City Commission and is the only black member of this seven-person panel, has insisted that he has no objection to the Confederate memorial, which is currently being restored.

“I’m glad that we’re actually doing it,” Lopez insisted to WLRN. “We have to preserve it. Why would we hide what actually happened? Good or bad, it’s what happened.”

The memorial in question was originally erected in 1924 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, where it has stood in Bayview Park in the city since.

But to highlight their appreciation of each forces that served in the Civil War, another monument, which is located just 140 yards away from the Confederate memorial, is being dedicated to two regiments from New York that were stationed in the city during the war.

These regiments both ended up perishing in Key West after they were struck down by a variety of diseases, which included yellow fever.

Speaking about the 91-year-old United Daughters of the Confederacy memorial, Tom Theisen, who has lived in Key West for most of his life, admitted that he’d never even been slightly perturbed by it before. However, because of the confederate flag debate, Theisen admitted to Boise State Public Radio that it has since been brought to his attention.

“I probably had seen it before,” Theisen explained. “But it never crossed my mind until all the flag stuff.”

Key West plans on continuing its celebration of its diverse history with a brand new memorial, which will be dedicated to the African-American soldiers that signed to join the Union Army when they were in Key West.

Throughout the Civil War, Key West actually stayed as part of the Union Army. This was despite the fact that Florida was actually the third state to secede when the Confederacy separated from the United States.

Throughout the Civil War, the local sentiment was, for the most part, neutral. In fact, Tom Hambright, a historian for Key West’s Monroe County Public Library, has explained that only seven people joined the Confederate forces, even though Stephen Mallory, a prominent Key West native, was hired as the secretary of the Confederate Navy.

[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]