Letters To The Editor

Originally published November 2017 · pp. 2–4

Letters To The Editor TO THE EDITOR: When the Civil War started, my great-grandfather enlisted in the 22nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry and served in that Union unit for three years. His musket, with bayonet, is hanging on my living room wall. We were living in Norfolk, Neb., in 1937 when my father’s doctor told him he needed to move to a warmer climate if he wanted to continue living. So he found a job in Clearwater, Fla., and I grew up there. We were surprised to find that they did not celebrate Lincoln’s birthday but did celebrate Robert E. Lee’s.

Later I went to a boy’s boarding school, Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tenn. There was a statue of a Confederate soldier in the middle of the town square. The young people from the North and the South respected each other’s beliefs and opinions, and would not have considered removing a Confederate statue. My opinion is that the Confederate soldiers fought, and many died for, a cause they believed in and their monuments are part of our national history and should not be destroyed. If the vandals who are removing statues of Civil War generals get away with it, then statues of later military leaders will be next. My great, great, great, great grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. My father served in WWI, and I served in Vietnam, twice. Veterans should refuse to give in to the destruction of military monuments. Thomas P. McKenna Stowe, Vt.

Letters To The Editor TO THE EDITOR: Salvatore Cilella’s column, “The Graphic War,” in the September issue raises some questions. I know Sal is a careful researcher with great credentials, however, I am wondering about his claim that the first battlefield monuments were erected in June 1865. His lead question does not state this, but is Sal referring to the first post-war monuments? Otherwise, other monuments were erected before the war even was finished. I refer to the Hazen Brigade Monument at the Battle of Stones River. The National Park Service calls that monument the “oldest American Civil War monument still standing in its original battlefield location.” It commemorates the defense that Col. William B. Hazen’s brigade made during the Dec. 31, 1862, battle. The NPS also says that two earlier battlefield monuments had been erected. One was to Col. Francis S. Bartow who died at First Manassas, though it was destroyed during the Second Battle of Manassas a year later. The other early monument was for the 32nd Indiana Regiment at the late 1861 Battle of Rowlett’s Station. That monument was later moved to a museum in Kentucky. In addition, I have read, but do not remember the source, that an obelisk monument was erected in Vicksburg, Miss., a year after the city fell to Union forces. All together, that makes four monuments that pre-date the two dedicated in 1865 at the Manassas battlefield. Steve Norder Peachtree Corners, Ga. Response from Sal Cilella: My intent was to focus on the fact that the two Prang prints were the only surviving images of the soldiers as the original Gardner photographs are now lost. The monuments were undoubtedly the earliest post war examples of “historical memory.” TO THE EDITOR: Threat to Blackburn Ford Battlefield. The purpose of this letter is to apprise you and your readership of a potential threat to the Blackburn Ford Battlefield posed by a proposal to reroute Virginia Route 28 in Prince William County, Virginia. As your readership is likely aware, the July 18, 1861, Battle of Blackburn Ford, in what is now Fairfax and Prince William Counties, Va., marked the opening phase of the First Manassas Campaign, and constituted the first significant land engagement between Union and Confederate Forces. The battle, which involved opposing units from Virginia, New York and Massachusetts, resulted in over 150 casualties, and prompted Union Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell to abandon plans to attack his Confederate opponents across Bull Run via frontal assault. The axis of the Union reconnaissance-in-force that resulted in the battle lies roughly along Virginia State Route 28 as it leaves Fairfax County and enters Prince William County. The only portion of the battlefield that remains undisturbed lies within Northern Virginia Regional Parks (“NOVA Parks”) and is protected by the Regional Park Authority. For some time a committee, that includes officials from several Northern Virginia jurisdictions and the Virginia Department of Transportation, has been working with a consulting firm to devise ways to ease traffic congestion on Route 28 as it proceeds through Prince William County north into Fairfax County. The conferees recently released a “Route 28 Corridor Feasibility Study.” The study sets out four options for rerouting or upgrading Route 28. One option the study identified as “alternative 2B,” designates the highest ranked alternative, proposes rerouting Route 28 through the portion of NOVA Parks that embraces the Blackburn Ford Battlefield. If adopted, that option would not only obliterate the only remaining undisturbed portion of the battlefield, it would seriously degrade other natural and cultural resources that lie within the Park. NOVA Parks has expressed strong opposition to any proposed alternative that would encroach upon its property and significant legal constraints may make a course of action that involves such an encroachment infeasible. Nonetheless, we solicit your readership’s assistance in making the proponents of the feasibility study understand that any alternative that degrades or despoils the battlefield is intolerable to the Civil War history community. Expressions of concern should be directed to Executive Committee, Route 28 Corridor Feasibility Study, c/o Rick Canizales, Director of Transportation, Prince William County, 5 County Complex, Suite 290, Prince William, VA 22192 ([email protected]). We deeply appreciate the support of your publication and its readership. John F. De Pue Trustee, Bull Run Civil War Roundtable, Preservation Committee