Kincardine made correct decision to maintain monument to Dr. Solomon Secord, says writer

To the Editor:
RE: “Dr. Solomon Secord monument to remain on Kincardine's main street”

In 2013, I researched and published a series of articles for the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg, on the life of Dr. Solomon Secord and his experiences, which was published in “Esprit De Corps” magazine.

The decision by Kincardine mayor Anne Eadie and the Municipality of Kincardine, to keep the monument to Secord, is appropriate and correct.

Jeroen Thompson's petition to council is based on the sweeping statement that it should be removed because Secord served in the Southern Army during the Civil War. According to Thompson, Secord had to be a racist because he served as a surgeon in the 20th Georgia.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Secord happened to be living and practising in the part of the state where the 20th Georgia was raised. He simply went with his friends and neighbours to support the unit. This was common in all regiments, both north and south, to recruit local physicians.

That Secord was a racist is the farthest thing from the truth. He was an abolitionist and against slavery - an opinion which he did not back away from. So much so, that one day after a heated argument, local townsfolk decided they were going to lynch Secord for his views. Only the intervention of friends saved his life.

During the Civil War, Secord was a non-combatant - his sole purpose being fulfilment of his Hippocratic oath to do no harm and save lives. He saw the horrors of war during his service in two of the most bloody conflicts - the Battle of Antietam (September,1862) and the Battle of Gettysburg (July, 1863).

Secord would have treated both Confederate and Union prisoners without prejudice as was the practice in the Civil War.

During the Battle of Gettysburg, Secord's actions were heroic. He remained on his feet for days, without rest or sleep, surrounded by amputated limbs and dying men, saving as many lives as he could.

Never was Secord's humanitarian instincts more evident than when the Confederate army retreated from Gettysburg and he volunteered to remain behind and treat the wounded and dying, becoming a prisoner of war.

After the war, Secord, a descendant of Laura Secord (of War of 1812 fame), adopted Kincardine as his home, never talking about the war except to mention his "almost lynching."

He gave decades of service to the Town of Kincardine and was dedicated to healing the sick and saving lives. His war experience made him an exceptionally-skilled doctor. Many descendants of the town are around today because of Secord's skill and baptism of blood in the Civil War.

Secord was revered for his civic duty. That is why the grateful citizens of Kincardine erected a memorial. His war service was but a footnote. He was the town's greatest humanitarian and citizen.

If anything, the memorial stands for public education. It is a chance for educators to dovetail into the topic of slavery as one of the causes of the Civil War. Slavery was an abomination, no doubt about it. Tell the truth, but don't rewrite history.

Secord paid a high price for saving lives. Absolutely, he had what we now know to be Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The horrors of what he saw during the Civil War haunted him for the rest of his life.

Thompson is welcome as a new citizen of Canada. However, drawing conclusions and making public statements based on American sentiments, without vetting information, is a dangerous path.

Respectfully,
Paul Culliton, producer
Joint Media Group
London