Republican John Reid says Confederate generals were “remarkable people”

Virginia lieutenant governor candidate John Reid praised Confederate generals and compared those critical of them to the Taliban.

Reid made these remarks on the Conservative & Chic podcast on Oct. 28 while condemning the removal of Confederate monuments from public spaces. 

“Much of the Civil War was fought here [in Virginia],” Reid said. “A lot of the people who are well-known characters—who’ve been dead for 160 years—lived and worked, and, in some cases, were born and raised in Virginia. Legendary names like Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson, and Matthew Fontaine Maury. It’s a remarkable group of people!”

Reid pointed to the 2020 George Floyd protests, when several Confederate monuments were vandalized by protesters and later removed by state officials. He said it was acceptable to disagree with Confederates “in a contemporary context,” but called the removal efforts “Talibanesque” and described those involved as “barbarians.”

Reid’s comments echo the Lost Cause myth, which asserts that the Confederacy was heroic and noble and that the Civil War was not centered on slavery. This view is pushed by the Ku Klux Klan and other white nationalist groups, but is widely dismissed by historians.

Reid added that he’s “not interested in refighting the Civil War” and has no interest in a debate over “who was right and who was wrong.”

Lee was the top commander of the Confederate Army, and Jackson was a general who served under him. Both men were enslavers who engaged in scorched earth military tactics which included destroying private property and killing civilians. Lee personally enforced a policy of kidnapping free Black people and forcing them into slavery.

Maury was commander of the Confederate Navy in Virginia. While he did not enslave people, he supported the institution of slavery and advocated for its expansion.

Jackson died during the war. Both Lee and Maury continued to publicly oppose racial equality,

Reid was a radio talk show host before launching his lieutenant governor campaign. His Democratic opponent is state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi.

Election Day is Nov. 4.