Appomattox Day

April 9 was the day Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

It's not a day that's particularly marked in our country. If you had asked me to name the date before this morning, I couldn't have. I knew it was in April because I read Irene Hunt's book Across Five Aprils so many times, but that's the only reason. 

Jamelle Bouie shared this image on BlueSky today...

...with these words:

on this appomattox day let me share my favorite union army flag. they should have made this the american flag.... a soldier for freedom bayoneting a soldier for repression and supremacism

In case it's not clear, the 22nd was a regiment of Black troops, and that's a Black soldier with the bayonet. The regiment was organized in New Jersey, though it was a federal unit with soldiers from all over. They had fought in the battles of Richmond and Petersburg, which immediately preceded the surrender at Appomattox.

The flag was designed by David Bustill Bowser, an African American artist.

Personally, I think it's a bit unclear what's going on going on in the image, despite Bouie's summary. The white officer (I assume he's an officer, since he has a saber) also has a flag of surrender. The Black soldier is not bayoneting him, but rather holding him at bay, forcing him to drop his weapon — which the officer shouldn't have in the first place if he was supposed to be holding up the flag of truce. 

In my opinion, the image is intended to symbolize Black troops' role in forcing the South to surrender in the war, to drop the saber and pick up the white flag. Thus always to tyrants.