"MCS: I believe it was 2003 the Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of the Confederate Veteran uh, they, they put an Iron Cross on his grave and a Confederate flag."
They did so with the permission of family members.
"JH: These groups… had taken Myra’s ancestor away from her…... They had redefined who Silas was."
I've never seen any writing by Silas or even a quote in a newspaper about his Civil War experience. And I don't think MCS knows any more about his sentiments regarding that conflict than anyone else. It's all speculation. BTW Andrew (the "oppressor") was witness for Silas when he applied for a Confederate pension after the war.
I do think it was removed after a lot of petitioning from his family. But, It was highly inappropriate and out of line.
It was highly insensitive for those organizations to assert themselves -- and basically make the decision to do such a thing. No one would be OK with that if the shoe was on the other foot - unless everyone in the family was OK with it and signed approval. That wasn't done.
I am the Great Granddaughter of Silas Chandler. The lies being told about Silas fighting in the confederate army keep growing. And that is what they are “LIES”. The majority of the descendents of Silas are also disgusted about all of the lies told about our ancestor. Silas was a slave, and did what he had to do in order to survive. I am a Black Chandler who grew up in West Point, Mississippi where it was unheard of to even look at or even speak to a white Chandler. I have a letter signed by the majority of the descendents of Silas demanding the Iron Cross and Confederate flag be removed from Silas’ grave. Signing this letter is the Granddaughter of Silas who is 107 years old and still lives in Long Island, New York. I grew up with my Grandfather, who was the son of Silas. He told us all about Silas and how he saved his money and hid it in the barn and bought his freedom. He also bought the land where he built his house. That record is in the Clay County court house as of this day. Source: http://cwmemory.com/2010/03/10/descendents-of-silas-chandler-respond/
We don't know what Silas felt - but neither did the organizations who chose to make that decision. They took the agency from the deceased and from his relatives who chose his resting place and the marker they chose.
On top of that, it was a Black cemetery - with many Black people who were former slaves or their descendants. They were laid to rest there due to Black people not being able to be buried in the same cemeteries as whites.
To place a symbol that represents to many Black people -- enslavement, separation and negative historical baggage and trauma -- in a sacred place is terrible. It is not the place for such symbols.
Claims can also be found on the Internet that Andrew helped Silas to receive a pension in 1878 for his “service” in the Confederate Army. No evidence corroborates that statement.
In Silas’ final years, troubled by failing vision, he more than once applied for a pension. It was approved at least twice by 1916, three years before his death at 78. But the pension that he—along with thousands of former servants living in the former Confederate states—received after the war was defined as an “Application of Indigent Servants of Soldiers or Sailors of the Late Confederacy.” The paperwork Silas Chandler submitted clearly indicates that, as a servant, he was not recognized as a Confederate soldier. Source: https://www.academia.edu/5196718/The_Loyalty_of_Silas_Chandler