Liverpool, Site of Last Surrender in US Civil War, Grapples with its Confederate Links

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Strong ties to the Confederacy

Looking at the Bulloch grave markers, historian Laurence Westgaph explained why his city — once the de facto capital of the trans-Atlantic slave trade — has attracted the attention of several groups with Confederate sympathies over the years.

"It was said during the American Civil War that there were more Confederate flags flying here than in Richmond, Virginia — and Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy," Westgaph told CNN.

Even the classic Civil War-set movie "Gone with the Wind" — a film now under fire for its depictions of racism — makes mention of Liverpool.

The city had strong ties to the Confederacy through its shipping industry and the trade in cotton, produced on plantations across the southern states. During the war, blockade-running vessels carried arms across the Atlantic from Liverpool.

“I am sure a lot of people here … liked or enjoyed that connection," said Westgaph. "That romanticism of the Deep South — the plantations, sitting on the porch drinking mint juleps, peach cobbler in the oven — people don’t associate it with visceral, racial slavery."

For years, Confederate sympathizers have come to Liverpool to celebrate their heritage.

Now, in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests, the city is reconsidering the symbols of that terrible part of its past, and working out how to use them to educate Liverpool’s future generations.

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