W&L Grapples with Central Role in Lee-Jackson Day

W&L Grapples with Central Role in Lee-Jackson Day

A parade honoring Confederate leaders draws passionate enthusiasm and intense criticism.

(Participants in the 2025 Lee-Jackson Day parade march down Main Street. | SOURCE: The W&L Spectator)

LEXINGTON, VA: On Saturday, January 18, a crowd gathered in Oak Grove Cemetery for annual Lee-Jackson Day events. After giving speeches honoring the holiday’s namesakes, organizers led a wreath-laying ceremony and a parade down Lexington’s Main Street.

Lee-Jackson Day, abolished as an official state holiday in 2020, drew a crowd and law enforcement presence to Lexington’s ordinarily quiet streets.

Before the events, W&L’s Committee on Inclusiveness and Campus Climate sent a message alerting students and faculty. “Beginning on Friday, January 17, Lexington will be the site of several events commemorating the Confederacy … Many of the participants will wear Confederate Civil War regalia and will carry various flags and symbols,” the message said.

“The University does not have any connection with these events, but the symbols of the events may be displayed on public property along North Jefferson Street in front of the Memorial Gate near University Chapel, as well as elsewhere in the city, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”

W&L’s Department of Public Safety worked with local and state law enforcement throughout the Lee-Jackson Day events, according to the email. The school offered alternative programming via a breakfast at the Sankofa House and encouraged students to participate in events celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day later in the weekend.

In a statement, W&L College Democrats president Brady Madden told The Spectator that “Lee and Jackson are undoubtedly important local, historical figures who should not be erased from history.” However,” he said,  “marching down the street to celebrate one of the darkest periods in American history, marked by systemic oppression and the dehumanization of millions, is not the appropriate way to honor or remember them.”

Spectator reporters noted that some onlookers of the parade wore shirts displaying slogans such as “Black Lives Matter”.

The events were hosted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans #1296 of Lexington, though multiple different organizations participated in the official ceremony. The parade itself consisted of a bagpipe player followed by participants bearing Confederate flags.

A member of the parade, dressed in a Confederate cavalry officer’s uniform, told The Spectator that the parade was about “honoring Lee and Jackson, and for [him], all Confederate soldiers.” He remarked that parade turnout was slightly diminished due to the cold weather but still larger than some years in the past.

A Jefferson Davis reenactor, who led part of the ceremony at Oak Grove Cemetery, spoke to The Spectator after the parade. For him, the goal of the ceremony was “to promote and preserve the history of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and the men that served under them.” Dressed in an antebellum-style suit, the reenactor stressed that the event was not about slavery and that race “had nothing to do with it.”

The man said that he considers himself an American patriot, noting a background of serving in the U.S. Army.

Saturday’s schedule also featured a keynote address, held at the nearby Virginia Horse Center, from Jeffrey Addicott, a professor at the St. Mary’s University School of Law and law of war expert.

(Jeffrey Addicott gives the Annual Memorial Address at the Virginia Horse Center | SOURCE: The W&L Spectator)

His address argued that Lee and Jackson deserve continued respect and emulation because they — distinctly from other Civil War commanders — understood God’s role in the world and throughout history.

“They were fully confident that God controls history,” Addicott explained. “They weren't worried about anything. They didn't have fear, as we know it. They did their duty, and they didn't do it for human approbation or for money lust or power lust. They were humble men. They were quiet professionals, and they show us the path in our own times.”

“If we didn't have those two heroes, well, there are very few other people that can stand up to that, those qualities that we can look to. So there are qualities worth emulating, absolutely,” he said.

In addition to Saturday’s events, Sons of Confederate Veterans gave tours of the Jackson House and the Oak Grove Cemetery on Friday, January 17. Later that day, they held a symposium at the Virginia Horse Center with speakers focusing on historical lectures.

One W&L freshman, who requested to remain anonymous, viewed the events as a “culture shock.”

“I don’t think you should be celebrating a nation that was built on racism and rebelled against the United States,” the student told The Spectator.