Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME

Still Fighting: Inside the Dedication of the National Confederate Museum

By Gabby Raymond | Photographs by Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME

Amid a period of national reckoning regarding Confederate statues, park names and other symbology and iconography, The Sons of Confederate Veterans is holding a dedication ceremony Friday at the site of the National Confederate Museum, an upcoming and controversial museum dedicated to the Confederacy.

The $5 million museum is being built at the group’s headquarters in Columbia, Tennessee, at the onetime home of Confederate Col. Abram M. Looney. The event was intended to be a grand opening, but weather delays caused construction delays, and the museum will not be open until at least 2019.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a non-profit made up of male descendents of Confederate combatants.

“At the completion of this museum, it will be out of the reach of the long arm of political correctness,” The Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Paul Gramling told the Columbia Daily Herald.

Photographer Mark Peterson will be documenting the dedication ceremony for TIME. “For the last few months I have gone to White National conferences, Confederate Memorial Services and Confederate Monument fights,” says Peterson. “I have been looking at how we are still fighting the Civil War in the streets, the history books and state legislatures.”

Reenactors of confederate soldiers and wives attend the dedication of the National Confederate Museum in Elm Springs in Columbia, Tenn. on July 20. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Reenactors of confederate soldiers and wives attend the dedication of the National Confederate Museum in Elm Springs in Columbia, Tenn. on July 20.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
A race car sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans sits outside the hotel hosting the national convention. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
A race car sponsored by the Sons of Confederate Veterans sits outside the hotel hosting the national convention.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Shoes of attendees at the museum's dedication. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Shoes of attendees at the museum's dedication.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Artist and Confederate supporter Gregory Goodwin Newson at his booth in the vendors area of the Sons of Confederate Veterans national convention. Newson paints pictures of Black Confederate soldiers. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Artist and Confederate supporter Gregory Goodwin Newson at his booth in the vendors area of the Sons of Confederate Veterans national convention. Newson paints pictures of Black Confederate soldiers.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Reenactors at the museum's dedication. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Reenactors at the museum's dedication.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Vice commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Paul Gramling, attends the dedication. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Vice commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Paul Gramling, attends the dedication.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Reenactors of Confederate soldiers at the dedication. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Reenactors of Confederate soldiers at the dedication.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Former SCV commander Charles McMichael, of Shreveport, La., helped start the museum back when he was commander. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Former SCV commander Charles McMichael, of Shreveport, La., helped start the museum back when he was commander.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
The Knibb’s battery, a reenactment organization from Richmond, Va., prepare a canon for the dedication. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
The Knibb’s battery, a reenactment organization from Richmond, Va., prepare a canon for the dedication.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Author Barbara Marthal, whose husband is a member of the SCV, in the vendor area of the SCV national convention. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Author Barbara Marthal, whose husband is a member of the SCV, in the vendor area of the SCV national convention.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
A reenactor at the Elm Springs house, which serves as the Sons of Confederate Veterans General Headquarters, in Columbia, Tenn. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
A reenactor at the Elm Springs house, which serves as the Sons of Confederate Veterans General Headquarters, in Columbia, Tenn.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Reenactors at the museum's dedication. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Reenactors at the museum's dedication.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME
Attendees at the dedication. (Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME)
Attendees at the dedication.
Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME

 

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com.