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BN, BR. . . BN, BR. . . it’s a troll question, but you can get something out of it. . . come on, Waggoner, BN, BR. . . breathe. . .Nobody is trying to dispose of all evidence of the Confederate Army in the US.The single largest preserver of evidence of the Civil War in the US—including Confederate evidence—would actually be the US Federal government, notably the National Park Service. (Although, ironically enough, if Trump manages to slash their budget, this could conceivably change. . . )You see, the NPS preserves major Civil War battlefields as National Military Parks, National Historic Parks, National Battlefields, and sometimes as parts of larger historic sites. (As it does for major battlefields from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Indian wars, and even one from the Mexican War.) Here’s one in my home state: Pea Ridge National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service), site of the largest Civil War battle west of the Mississippi River.You have Vicksburg National Military Park, Shiloh National Military Park, Antietam National Battlefield, Gettysburg National Military Park . . . all the way to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. That is all under Federal protection, and it’s going to stay that way unless the National Park Service gets severely defunded or otherwise upended.And those parks include a lot of memorials that were built after the war by both Northern and Southern veterans’ organizations. Here, just as one example out of hundreds, is the memorial to the Second Minnesota Regiment at Chickamauga:And here’s another one to the Florida troops on the same battlefield:There are hundreds of these, maybe thousands. They are protected by Federal law, and they aren’t going anywhere.The Civil War battlefields that aren’t protected by the NPS are often protected as state parks or state historic sites. Those aren’t going anywhere either. (Should you ever visit my humble home state, you might appreciate a trip to Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, for example—or to Arkansas’ Confederate capital for a couple of years, Historic Washington State Park.)The monuments that are being taken down are primarily under the jurisdiction of individual cities. Many of them aren’t “historic” in the sense that they don’t mark the place where any notable Civil War events happened. Many of them were erected decades after the Civil War, and the people that they memorialize may never have come near the place where their monuments stand. As has been often pointed out, many of them were erected, not just after the Civil War, but during times of racial unrest and injustice, and their purpose was not to commemorate actual history, but to send a clear message that this is the side we’re on, and don’t you uppity folks ever forget it. As this often-reprinted graphic shows, the peak times when most of those monuments were erected were 1900–1920 (passage of Jim Crow laws disenfranchising blacks, rise of the new KKK) and 1955–1965 (opposition to civil rights legislation):(Source: Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy)Just one example: Robert E. Lee only briefly visited New Orleans, and he did it while he was an officer in the United States Army—not while he was a Confederate officer. New Orleans raised a monument to him anyway, in full Confederate regalia and looking north, towards “his perpetual adversaries— eight years after his death. Why?Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye. . .Removing that statue—which New Orleans did this past May—does not erase Lee from history. It doesn’t destroy any sites where he was born or lived or did anything significant. The same could be said for most of the monuments that are being taken down—they’re not especially historically or artistically important; what they are is propaganda for the side that lost the war, but won the aftermath for 100 years.Still, if you oppose taking those monuments down, you can always move to the cities in question and use your vote, your money, and your influence to try to preserve them. My feelings on the Robert E. Lee memorial in New Orleans don’t matter—I haven’t lived, voted, or paid taxes there since 1991; it’s not my decision to make. Anyone who wants it put back can move there if necessary, and use the familiar political process.But in answer to your troll question: No, the US is not remotely attempting to dispose of all evidence of the Confederacy. The US national government preserves abundant evidence of the Confederacy, in the parks system, and for that matter in the National Archives, Library of Congress, and other agencies, and none of that is going anywhere. Neither is the abundant evidence preserved by state governments, or by state and university libraries and archives.There will forever remain abundant evidence of what the Confederate Army did—including my great-great-grandfather, 19th Mississippi Co. A, who fought in most of the Eastern theater battles and came home disabled for the rest of his life. And there will forever remain abundant evidence of what the Union Army did—including my other great-great-grandfather, 15th Illinois Co. D, who fought at Shiloh, Corinth, and Vicksburg, and who survived the Confederate Konzentrationslager at Andersonville, Georgia.

My entire life changed because I walked down a different hallway in my school between classes than I usually did.I was kind of a terrible student in school — did the minimum I could get away with, unless it was a teacher I liked, in which case I worked my ass off. I was way more loyal to people I liked than I was to the whole educational process. I grew up in rural southern Louisiana, and I was not planning on going to college (my general attitude was “No fucking way am I setting foot in an educational institution again”) - I wanted to take the Ranger Training program for the Parks Service, and vanish into one of the National Parks in Arizona or New Mexico permanently.Anyhow, in my senior year I was going between classes, and was talking to someone in the hall and followed them part way to their class, which meant taking a different hall to my next class than I usually did, one that passed by the counseling office. As I passed by, my counselor, Mr. Grace (no, I’m not making that up, that’s actually his name), looked up and saw me, and got this “AHA” look on his face. He popped out of his office, grabbed me by the arm, and told me that a rich guy had died and endowed a full ride scholarship to the University of Louisiana, to be based on a science/math aptitude test. Apparently the guy thought there weren’t enough scientists & mathematicians in the world, or something (which there aren’t, actually).I said, “Sorry, Mr. Grace, I’m not going to college.”He said, “You’re gonna be at that test if I have to show up at your house Saturday morning and drag your lazy ass out of bed and make you sit for the test wearing nothing but your pajama pants.”Long story short: I got one of the top twenty scores, got a full ride to U of L. Majored in physics, which was kind of a mistake, but ultimately led me to teaching high school science, which I’ve now done (and loved) for 31 years. It also ultimately led me to upstate New York, where I now live, and where I met my lovely wife, and where circumstances would lead to my becoming a successful fiction author (just published my sixth book).It all reminds me of the movie “Sliding Doors” — where one tiny chance event completely changes the path you’re on. Of course, you don’t realize it at the time — it only becomes clear in retrospect.

There have been a few remarkable people who became important scientists in the 20th Century without a proper degree. One of them, a paleontologist, named Jack Horner, became internationally famous after he discovered nests of a dinosaur, named Maiasaura.[1]Later on, he discovered a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil with soft tissue inside which allowed analysis of its protein content. And, after that, he led a team that discovered dozens of nearly intact Psittacosaurus skeletons in the Gobi Desert.[2]He was so well regarded that he served as a scientific adviser on the Jurassic Park films and probably inspired the character of Dr. Alan Grant.[3]You might think he had to be bright. But he graduated from high school with a D average. He then enrolled at the University of Montana in the fall of 1964, planning to major in geology. But he flunked out and was and was drafted into the Marines. After service, he kept trying to attend college but kept failing.He wouldn’t give up.My goal in life was simple: I wanted to be a dinosaur paleontologist and make some kind of contribution to the field of paleontology that would help our understanding of dinosaurs as living creatures. To accomplish this, I knew I needed a job in a museum, but I also realized that with my college grades and no degree, I might never get such a job.[4]While working as a truck driver, he applied to work at every museum he could think of. He eventually got a position at Princeton University’s Natural History Museum, to work as a technician. He started at the bottom. His first assignment at Princeton was to bend nails straight so they could be used to build an exhibit because the person he worked for didn’t like wasting money.But that didn’t stop him. After finding some dinosaur fossils in the museum’s basement, he studied them and wrote his first scientific research paper. During each summer he went back to Montana and looked for dinosaur bones. His big break came in 1977 when he discovered a squashed dinosaur egg. This was the first dinosaur egg discovery in the Western Hemisphere.He called the species Maiasaura and it made him famous.[5]He was eventually promoted to research assistant and even managed his own research projects, with funding from the National Science Foundation. He wrote his own grant applications and people there considered him a full member of the paleontological research faculty, though he couldn’t sign the applications because he lacked degrees.After that, he realized that he was dyslexic.To this day, I struggle with the effects of dyslexia. It takes me a long time to read things, but I take the time that’s required, because if I try to move too quickly, I have no clue what I’m reading….I know what I can do and what I can’t do, and for the things I can’t do, I try to find someone to help. I think that’s really important, and it’s something I stress to people like me.[6]He eventually became the Regents Professor of Paleontology in the Honors College at Montana State University (MSU) where he teaches two graduate classes in paleontology and two undergraduate honors courses. He also became the curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies. He has been given honorary doctorates from MSU and Pennsylvania State University, a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called Genius Grant.[7]He says that“Personally, I think dyslexia and the consequences of dyslexia — learning to deal with failure — explain my own success. From my failures, I’ve learned where I need help, such as in reading and math. But I’ve also learned from my accomplishments what I’m better at than the linear thinkers.”More to readThere are lots of similar biographies:Jack Horner, Paleontologist - Yale DyslexiaJack HornerBiography, Facts and PicturesThis biography gives a more personal view:Dinosaur hunter: Jack HornerIf you ever visit Montana, you might want to see Egg MountainEgg Mountain, the Two Medicine, and the Caring Mother Dinosaur (U.S. National Park Service)Personal noteI had a 22-year career, doing mostly biology-related research, despite having degrees in Psychology and no real training in Biology.Footnotes[1] Egg Mountain, the Two Medicine, and the Caring Mother Dinosaur (U.S. National Park Service)[2] Jack Horner, Famous Paleontologist[3] The Scientist Behind "Jurassic World", Jack Horner, Breaks Down the Movie's Thrilling Trailer[4] Jack Horner, Paleontologist - Yale Dyslexia[5] Egg Mountain, the Two Medicine, and the Caring Mother Dinosaur (U.S. National Park Service)[6] Jack Horner, Paleontologist - Yale Dyslexia[7] Jack Horner