Thanks to the 2016 Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, an impulsive, emotional overreaction to the Hamilton County Courthouse lawn bust of former Confederate Lt. Gen. A.P. Stewart has been prevented – for now.
The year-old law removes a local government’s authority to tinker with historic monuments, placing such decisions in the hands of the Tennessee Historical Commission.
Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Beck introduced a resolution at the county commission meeting Wednesday seeking the state group’s permission to remove the bust.
The resolution was introduced following a demand weeks ago by local NAACP President Elenora Woods that the likeness be removed. That demand was made in the midst of a sudden rush to rid the South of all monuments and other traces of the Confederacy and its place in the Civil War.
A marker dedicated to the founding of the First Baptist Church of Chattanooga, located on the Hamilton County Courthouse lawn.What the NAACP apparently didn’t know at the time, and perhaps has not made itself aware of today, is that the bust of Stewart was erected because of his service as a peacemaker. Stewart opposed slavery, did not own slaves and was not a significant battle figure. Instead, he was a resident commissioner during the preservation of Chickamauga Battlefield, which was created following an 1889 peace-making barbecue between veterans of both sides of the war. His supervisory role has been credited as significant in the park’s opening.