Alabama Flaggers announced Wednesday the planned July 17 Athens rally is cancelled — a week after the Gadsden-based Confederate heritage group announced the event. 

Justin Burton, an Illinois native and director of the Alabama Flaggers, made the following post on the group’s Facebook page Wednesday:

“The event in limestone county has been cancelled but union springs is still on. we will see you all there. Thank you again for all your support. see you all in union springs. God bless the south!”

Freda Mincey Burton, head director of the group and Justin Burton’s wife, confirmed to The News Courier on Wednesday that the rally was called off after the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp asked them not to come.

While Freda Burton said the SCV’s request was the only reason the flag rally was cancelled, Tom Strain, lieutenant commander-in-chief of the national Sons of Confederate Veterans and member of Limestone County’s Thomas Hobbs Camp, also confirmed the cancellation with The News Courier and added there was “a lot more behind the scenes” that went into the Burtons’ decision.

 

Recap

The Alabama Flaggers first came to the attention of Limestone County residents on June 8, after local NAACP members approached the Limestone County Commission early last month requesting commissioners remove stick flags from the base of Confederate monuments on the courthouse lawn.

Outraged, the Burtons pledged to bring their group and a cavalcade of motorcyclists to the steps of the Limestone County courthouse on July 17 if the flags were not replaced permanently.

Turns out, the Flaggers were already making waves in Bullock County, where they have organized a flag rally in Union Springs after a prominent African American attorney was alleged to have taken flags from Confederate soldiers’ graves and dropped them off at city hall. That rally is still set to take place Saturday.

“We have spoken today with the City Attorney in Union Springs and she gave us the go ahead to go with it. She said to have a peaceful rally and to be safe to everyone who is driving,” the Burtons posted on the Flaggers’ Facebook page Wednesday.

Freda told The News Courier the group is planning a memorial service for Confederate dead, not any kind of protest, appearing to backpedal on earlier statements of outrage against Union Springs officials and threats to arrest anyone in Limestone County responsible for removing Confederate flags.

 

Behind the scenes

As the Burtons began speaking with press about their plans for the Union Springs rally, other Southern heritage groups pledged to attend the event and possibly follow them to Limestone County next month. Among those was a group calling itself the Defenders of the Confederate Cross, based in Greenville, South Carolina. The Burtons even said the Sons of Confederate Veterans would also stand in support and that its “mechanized cavalry” of more than 500 bikers would be participating.

Then — and it is unclear at what point in time this happened — relationships among the Flaggers, Defenders of the Confederate Cross and SCV began dissolving. Leaders, members and supporters of all groups took to social media to trade jabs at each other and call each other’s Southern loyalty into question. The words “scalawags,” “turncoats,” and “carpetbaggers” are often thrown in these comments as insults.

Alabama Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans even released an official proclamation June 6 declaring it the only Confederate heritage group within the state with any claim to preserving Southern legacy and rejecting any protests made by other groups.

“I want the people of Athens and Limestone County to know that in no way are the Alabama Flaggers involved with the Sons of Confederate Veterans,” Strain told The News Courier last week.

Defenders of the Confederate Cross have also distanced themselves from the Alabama Flaggers.

“We are in no way associated with the alabama flaggers,” DCC officials wrote June 10. “Many SCV members are being asked to not attend. I am in contact with a key member of the SCV to work this situation out. Once again, thanks Alabama Floppies. We are in support of the SCV and always have been.”

The infighting culminated Tuesday with the release of a mug shot of Justin Burton from the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office, where he was arrested on a third-degree theft charge last month.

Justin was arrested May 4 and later released, jail records show, but the charge was not pursued in court. The Burtons took to social media to ask supporters to report the image and announced they would file lawsuits and seek the arrest of Defenders of the Confederate Cross members that shared the photo.

On Wednesday, it appeared all groups had returned to their corners and were working on separate rallies to be held in Union Springs. After the Flaggers announced the cancellation of the Athens rally, the DCC made no statement of its intent to hold an event here.