Jasper, Alabama Declared “Sanctuary City” for Confederate Flag
A reader passes along this story, that you had to know was coming:
Citing growing hostility and a lack of safe spaces where it can roam freely without fear of retaliation, the City of Jasper declared earlier this week that it is now officially a “sanctuary city” for Confederate flags.
After watching helplessly as the Stars and Bars were ripped from flagpoles across the country, the residents of Walker County have taken the necessary steps to provide protection to the controversial symbol.
Ray Corbin, a member of Protect our Southern Heritage, a local Facebook group that specializes in genealogy and memes, said he believes flying the Confederate flag is a constitutional right that no government can take away from him.
“Our forefathers gave their lives to establish a government that protects our right to free speech,” explained Corbin. “All I want to do is fly the flag of my southern ancestors who fought for their independence from that government.”
It’s satire, of course, but like all good satire, it contains a core of reality:
Protect our Southern Heritage, a local Facebook group that specializes in genealogy and memes. . . .
Y’all have a good weekend.
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Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog 
Do they know that Walker County had a lot of Unionists during the Late Rebellion who refused to serve under that flag?
Probably not.
Last Wednesday I made a presentation to our local Civil War Round Table, on “Unionists in the Attic.” The two areas I emphasized were northern Alabama and Kentucky. If you’re interest go to http://grosvenor-cwrt.org/event-calendar/ and scroll down to February 8 to see the description of the presentation. Too bad I can’t link to my PowerPoint file. The interesting thing about Alabama Hill Country is that many of the descendants of these Unionists remember their ancestors service and have annual celebrations. One of these is in Walker County’s neighboring county of Winston, where they annually reenact the incident at Looney’s Tavern where the Free State of Winston was declared.
After reading the link it’s clear that this is satire, and that the city government of Jasper has not actually declared it a CBF sanctuary city. Maybe the mayor actually knows about the many Unionists in northern Alabama Hill Country, back in the day.
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1415
Excerpt from the above link, referring to the 100 delegates to the Secession Convention (note the reference to the man from Walker County, who was what is called “an unconditional unionist): These delegates convened in Montgomery on January 7, 1861, and debated secession for four days. On January 11, 1861, the convention passed Alabama’s Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 61 to 39. Many of those who voted against the ordinance, however, ultimately did support secession, and four immediately reversed themselves and signed with the majority. Among the opposition, 33 delegates subsequently signed the “Address to the People of Alabama,” in which they pledged to consult with their supporters and then act on their wishes. Ten signatories of the address signed the ordinance to satisfy their constituents. Other delegates who rejected the ordinance eventually took active part in the war. Only three signers—Henry C. Sanford of Cherokee County, Elliot P. Jones of Fayette County, and Robert Guttery of Walker County—never signed the ordinance and maintained their Unionism throughout the war. Only two wartime Unionists—R. S. Watkins of Franklin County and Christopher C. Sheats of Winston County—signed neither the “Address” nor the Ordinance of Secession.