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Cities to declare Confederate History Month next week

Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover and Bossier City Mayor Lorenz Walker will declare Confederate History Month in the two cities next week, repeating a similar declaration from last year.

Shreveport was the prize sought by Union President Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 Red River Campaign that culminated in the back-to-back battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. In June 1865, Shreveport was the last capital city of the Confederate States to surrender to Union forces, carving a unique spot in the city's history.

It also was the city to which Confederate President Jefferson Davis was headed when he was captured by Union forces, and the last place on land where the Confederate flag waved, he penned in his memoirs.

Scott Solice, a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans, said he wonders why Shreveport and the rest of northwest Louisiana have not begun to plan ways to capture tourist dollars with this heritage for the approaching sesquicentennial of the Civil War, which will be observed nationally from 2011-15. Civil War centennial events from 1961-65 drew tourists globally to most Southern states and a few Union states, such as Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Read entire article at http://www.shreveporttimes.com