VaFlaggers: Chesterfield Observer I-95 Editorial Rebuttal

Some of you may have seen the January 8 Letter to the Editor in the Chesterfield Observer regarding the Chester I-95 Memorial Battle Flag. 

http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2014-01-08/Opinions
Our response was printed today, along with several other excellent letters from SCV members.  Here's ours...

Regarding the Jan. 8 letter “I-95 Confederate flag: legal but not wise,” I respectfully submit the following corrections and clarifications.

The flag that was raised alongside I-95 near the Old Bermuda Hundred overpass is the 3rd Bunting Issue of the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, not the Stars and Bars as stated. The Stars and Bars was the name for the first national flag of the Confederacy, created in 1861, but later discontinued. The battle flag was used throughout the war and it was the flag of the Confederate soldier. The Confederate battle flag used at this location is historically accurate to honor the Confederate soldiers engaged in this area during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign.

Further, the statements made before, during and since the raising of the Chester I-95 Memorial Flag by the Virginia Flaggers made our intent and purpose perfectly clear — to pay homage to those brave Confederate veterans, who fought and died to protect Virginia’s citizens and soil. Mr. Logan’s accusations that he “knows” this to be untrue, are, at best, misguided and false, and at worse, slanderous, as he has, to my knowledge never met or known any of those who make up our group to be able to make such incendiary assumptions.

We also take exception to his claims that the Confederate battle flag is forever “tarnished” by certain hate groups that have displayed her. A cursory glance at the history of these various groups show that they have also used (and with the same frequency) the U.S. flag, the Bible and the Christian cross, just to name a few items, in their demonstrations and activities. By Mr. Logan’s logic, should these symbols also be banned, shunned and forbidden from future use? As Christians, we refuse to allow them to “hijack” our faith. As Americans, we refuse to allow them to “own” the Stars and Stripes. And as the descendants of Confederate soldiers, we will not allow them to tarnish our banner. We suggest, instead, that these people should be dealt with accordingly, based on their deeds and actions, instead of assigning blame to certain symbols they use.

Finally, Mr. Logan tosses out the inflammatory “connection” of the Confederate Battle Flag to the Nazi swastika. This analogy can only be based on ignorance or a desire to incite. At no time in its existence did the Confederate Army take part in the murder of 6 million people because of their race. Any comparison is an insult to Holocaust victims, survivors, and their families. The grandsons of the same Confederate soldiers we honor, fought and defeated the Nazi army, many of them carrying the Confederate battle flags of their grandfathers with them overseas.

Perhaps instead of lecturing us about inaccurate facts and false motives, Mr. Logan should endeavor to further his education on the War Between the States, and search his own heart for the seed of hate that would lead one to write such a letter.

Susan Hathaway
Virginia Flaggers

Read this and other letters online here:  http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2014-01-29/Opinions/Blowback_on_the_Confederate_flag_issue.html