Anthony Hervey Remembered at Confederate Honor Funeral and Procession

On Sunday, hundreds gathered at First Baptist Church in Oxford for the funeral of black Confederate activist Anthony Hervey, who was killed in a car crash on July 19 under mysterious circumstances.

Anthony Hervey’s profile picture on Facebook, dated July 7.

Though he was a resident of Water Valley, Hervey frequently attended First Baptist Church in Oxford.

Known in Oxford for his outspoken support of the Confederate flag, Hervey was often seen demonstrating with pro-Confederate signs on the Square and on Jackson Avenue.

Hervey is remembered fondly by friends as one who was very passionate about the Confederate flag and his southern heritage. He reportedly had ancestors who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

“I went to junior high and high school with him,” said Greg Stewart. “During the flag fight in 2000, I ran into him at the gym and he said he was going to march across Oxford and on campus with the battle flag. Then he did and he kept it up all these years.”

Pro-Confederate activists display the Confederate battle flag at the funeral of Anthony Hervey in Oxford.

Stewart said Hervey was instrumental in the Mississippi flag controversy 15 years ago.

Sons of Confederate Veterans organized a full Confederate honor funeral and procession for Hervey. A casket-sized Mississippi state flag was slated to drape Hervey’s casket during the funeral, but was allegedly not allowed to adorn the casket while it was inside the church.

According to reports from WTVA, Confederate flags were not allowed inside the church. Hervey’s friend and fellow pro-Confederate H.K. Edgerton was reportedly asked to leave the church when he brought in a Confederate flag. “If my flag can’t go, I can’t go,” Edgerton said in the article. “It would have been a huge disappointment to Anthony, especially to ask me to leave with the flag. He would have wanted me standing next to the casket with the flag,”

Supporters and funeral attendees on the Oxford Square.

Edgerton reportedly stood outside during the services.

The casket-sized Mississippi state flag did adorn Hervey’s during the funeral procession to the Confederate monument on the Oxford Square that immediately followed the funeral.

“Everybody in the Confederation knows him and likes him,” Stewart said. “They’ve rallied around his family in their time of mourning, have helped raise money and just want to send him off the way he would have wanted to be sent off. “

Hervey, 49, died when his SUV ran off Highway 6 in Lafayette County. A woman passenger, Arlene Barnum, said she and Hervey were driving back from a Confederate flag rally in Birmingham, Alabama, when a silver vehicle forced them off the road.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol could not confirm if someone hit Hervey’s vehicle and is still looking for information surrounding the crash.

HottyToddy.com Staff Report

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