Yesterday, Duke University removed a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from its campus. A few days earlier, protestors tore down a statue of a Confederate soldier that had stood outside a Durham, North Carolina government building. Both actions came in the wake of violence between white supremacists and counter protestors over the planned removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia.

As I write this blog, other colleges and municipalities around the country are considering the removal of Confederate statues and monuments. Those that glorify the Confederate cause probably should come down. That would include statues of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and other Confederate leaders. Their cause, after all, involved establishing a separate, sovereign nation on American soil where slavery would flourish and be protected under law.

But I wonder if monuments that mourn and/or memorialize rank-and-file Confederate soldiers who died in battle should remain. Most of the Confederate monuments on Civil War battlefields are of this type. And I also wonder whether it’s possible that a good man could fight for a bad cause like the Confederacy. I will let the story of Richard Kirkland answer that question.

Kirkland was a member of a South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Company during the Civil War. On December 13, 1862, his unit was arrayed along a stone wall at the base of Marye’s Heights near Fredericksburg, Virginia. In the battle that followed, Union General Ambrose Burnside’s troops suffered heavy casualties as they struggled up a slope to attack the well-positioned Confederates. Dawn on December 14 found hundreds of dead and wounded Union soldiers lying in front of the stone wall at Marye’s Heights.

Painful cries from the wounded Yankees filled the air, but for a while, neither side dared to send anyone out to help lest he be shot by the enemy. Finally, Kirkland approached his commanding officer, Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw, and volunteered to aid the wounded Union soldiers. Kershaw hesitated, but eventually agreed with the condition that Kirkland not display anything that could be construed as a white flag.

Gathering all the canteens he could carry, Kirkland filled them with water and then went out onto the battlefield. Back and forth he went, for more than an hour, giving the wounded Union soldiers not only water but warm clothing and blankets. Men from both the Union and Confederate armies watched as he performed his task, but no one fired a shot. They also gave him a nickname: “The Angel of Marye’s Heights.”

Some historians now believe that Kirkland’s act of mercy was probably exaggerated by General Kershaw and others, that the young Confederate soldier may have helped only a few Union soldiers. Even if that is the case, his courage and compassion still make him worthy of the monument in his honor that stands on Fredericksburg battlefield. It shows Kirkland giving water to a wounded Union soldier whose head rests upon his knee. An inscription on the monument declares it to be “Dedicated to National Unity and the Brotherhood of Man.”

As other monuments to the Confederacy come down, I hope this one remains. It is, after all, not a celebration of the Confederacy or a glorification of those who fought to preserve an unjust system of labor. It is a simple but honest tribute to a good man who fought for a bad cause. As for national unity and the brotherhood of man, we could use more of both.