Do we have to advertise that an ancestor was a confederate soldier on the profile? [closed]

Question

I am somewhat torn about adding Civil War information on ancestors that were Confederate soldiers. I know it's part of their lives, history, etc. but another WikiTree member has put large banners and flag waving graphics on my ancestor's profile that I'm not comfortable with or feel is necessary. I'm not mad or anything negative but I do feel it's excessive for something with such negative meaning. I don't want to hide my ancestor's service because it's sometimes possible they fought because they had to but may not have believed in the cause in the south. Others may have believed. I want to add their service information to their profile but would like to remove the wild flashing graphics. What would the policy be and best way to proceed?

Thank you for your help,

Jeri Satterwhite-Dearing

Comments

Hi Jeri
There's no policy that states you must add veteran templates or medals. However I might suggest contacting the member who added the extra details and work out a compromise. This would probably be the best way to collaborate on a detail that is not exactly specified in policy

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Thank you, Steve. I hesitated to even post the question for fear of it starting negative comments. I'm not ashamed of my ancestors. I'd just prefer not to have all the flashing graphics. It would be a problem with the person that added them so I'll just leave things as they are. I wish I hadn't posted the question and will close it now.

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Hi Jeri,

Sorry I didn't have a better answer for you.I personally recognize that each person has there per say preferences on how they like information stated on the profile. And I appreciate the fact that you wasn't trying to omit information. Feel free to come forward with any questions and one of are friendly genealogist will be able to assist.

Thanks for choosing wikitree.

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I was under the impression, that the "waving, flashing graphics" had all been removed. If it's a recognition box the it should look like this

{{Civil War
| enlisted = mmm dd, yyyy
| mustered = mm dd, yyyy
| side = CSA or USA
| regiment flag = image file
| regiment name = regiment name
}}

If it's the Project box it should look like this

{{US Civil War|side=CSA}}

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Thanks for asking the question.  I don't like them either since most of my ancestors are from states with a confederate flag.  I'm glad I don't have any German ancestors.  Guess they would have swastikas all over their profiles because "that's their history"!  :D

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My ancestors served in the Civil War in Kentucky's Volunteer Cavalry (fortunately the Union Army). But had they been Confederate, I would have posted their service just the same.

3/4 of my family however is German, but again fortunate for me they all left in the 1760's, or the mid/late 1800's.

But realize it is not something that any of us control in any way at this point. My grandfather flew as a World War II fighter pilot on D-Day escorting our bombers across the English Channel, but I have also created profiles for German flying aces from World War I.

Answer 1

I don't see why not. Many brave men fought on both sides. Most Confederate soldiers weren't slave owners . Slavery was a major issue but of equal consideration, it was a War for states rights . The federal government at that time was passing laws and making policies to favor the industrial north and such was sometimes detrimental to Southern economy.

Comments

You can argue for ever about who was right.  Because war never settles it.  Which is why they were all wrong for having a war.

But we can respect our ancestors by not imposing our judgments - while recognizing that we shouldn't expect to like our own ancestors any more than anybody else's.  We can only have a small quota of saints and heroes, because there were never many around.

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I didn't say I didn't like my ancestors that fought in the Civil War. I love my ancestors. I don't want to hide those away that fought and I have their service details on the profiles. I just don't want the flags and flashy stuff on the profiles for any reason or war. I like having well researched and documented information on each person, simple to read and understand. That's all I was curious about and not wanting anyone to get upset!

Thank you all for answering.