Letter: Let Gen’l Sherman RIP
Huckl received the following email from Aaron Thykeson, who defends the decision to name places in town after Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. (See link at end in which the Museum of North Idaho explained why our main street is named after Sherman):
It is common these days to question the honoring of places with the names of those whose actions and words are reprehensible to us in the modern world, like those of General Sherman. However in this particular case a bit of history should have been mentioned in your recent article, especially in lue of the North Idaho Museum's relatively recent article on the cause of the street's name and the history of our town.
The town of Coeur d'Alene was literally founded at the explicit request of General Sherman to congress, and the current streets of the town are the same names as those first sketched on the original Fort Coeur'd Alene, renamed Fort Sherman 9 years later and reverted back on the founding of the city.
Sherman Avenue is a direct link to the settling of the west and it is a direct part of our shared history. It was not named decades later in honor of General Sherman, but at the time the first settlement along the shore was being constructed in recognition of the man that caused it to be built in the first place. This is not one of those places or things that should fall victim to making buildings and streets PC, because in doing so we would be rewriting history and that is a dangerous path to walk for any culture.
I would have hoped the historical basis of the name and the direct connection to the man for whom it was named would have made your article as it hit google's front news feed rather than a generic attempt to spark debate that gave the impression it was named for a civil war general with little to do with our town. (Photo of William Tecumseh Sherman, from Museum of North Idaho newsletter (fall 2012).
- Why Coeur d'Alene's main street is named after Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman/Museum of North Idaho newsletter (fall 2012)
