Go to the battlefield

Four years ago, my wife and I took our son and his family to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the site of Lt. Col. George A. Custer’s last stand. My wife’s great-grandfather was a member of the

7th Cavalry at that battle. Fortunately for us, he was with Capt. Frederick Benteen’s detachment and not with Custer. It was an emotional moment seeing three generations of his descendants standing on the hilltop where he and his fellow soldiers held out against the American Indians until relief arrived.

Therefore, I can understand descendants of Confederate soldiers wanting to honor and preserve the history of their relatives. I also understand that this doesn’t necessarily mean they approve of what the Confederacy stood for, just as honoring my wife’s relative doesn’t mean my family approves of how our government treated American Indians in the 19th century.

But just as I would not want to see statues glorifying Custer and the other American Indian fighters, monuments that would remind American Indians of the atrocities committed against their ancestors, so I do not like seeing statues and monuments glorifying the Confederacy. Removing them does not erase history as some claim. We have done an outstanding job of preserving history at the numerous Civil War sites in Virginia. I encourage Virginians to visit those sites. Stand on a battlefield where your relative fought. By doing so you will honor his or her memory more.

Wilner N.J. Nelson, Yorktown