Delaney wants Lee statue removed from Antietam National Battlefield

LTC Orlando Illi - Thought this would of interest to you: An Open Letter to the Honorable John Delaney, Congressman, 6th Congressional District of Maryland

Dear Congressmen Delany:

It has come to my attention that over this past weekend you called for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue that is erected on the Antietam National Battlefield located in Sharpsburg, MD.

I am writing to you today as a constituent, Maryland resident, retired United States Army Officer and a veteran of multiple combat tours of duty on behalf of this nation to respectfully request that you immediately withdraw your request for this statue to be removed from this hallowed ground. This particular battle represents a key historical event among the events of our nations “Civil War”. More soldiers, on both sides of the battle died this day then in any other single battle of the struggle and the those who fought there, on both sides need to be recognized for the sacrifice that was made that day.

This location is not a court house or a public square, it is battlefield where real blood was shed by soldiers who though they were fighting for a just cause on both sides. Anyone who has studied the Civil War and its root causes recognizes that the outcome of the war and the subsequent forgiveness by the then Commander-in-Chief was a symbol and sign that the nation was start the process of healing itself. I do not believe that the statues and tributes to the many who fought on these sacred fields that have been placed in these locations with the intent of offending anyone. It was done to remember those who fought and died and nothing more.

The wave of hysteria demanding the removal these monuments to those who won and who lost is a faux outrage that has all the earmarks of a political coup intended to disrupt the duly elected President of the United States. Your participation in this effort is unseemly, unwarranted and unwanted by many of your constituents and highlights why a lack of military service and the honor of having served a great cause among public officials taints their perspective when it comes to matters regarding the honoring of present day military matters or recognizing military events of the past from a historical perspective. Even though General Lee and the Confederate forces he led won the battle within four days of the battle’s conclusion the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation… and that was a win for the Union and the against those who thought otherwise. That was the outcome that was sought but it did not happen on the battlefield… It happened in the White House.

I have to conclude that you as the congressional representative for the 6th District of Maryland have been afforded the opportunity to pass by the Antietam National Battlefield on many occasions and not once did the notion of removing any of the monuments erected there ever cross your mind; till it became a possible tool in your election efforts for 2020 which are well known and on the record.

So, I ask you in the most fervent of terms, as a combat veteran who can honor his enemy in defeat as well as honoring his own solders in the glory of their battlefield win that you cease and desist immediately with this outrageous request and let those who served and died honorably on both sides remain at piece on their hollowed ground.

Just for once please allow good sense to override political correctness.

Marc A. King
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret)
Armored Cavalry
United States Army
Germantown, MD

LTC Marc King - very similar to the one I sent

LTC Marc King - I also enclosed a copy of the Federal Statute on Recalling Congressional Representatives. I stated that I would be the first to afix my signature, as one of his constiuents, to such a petition. His action is both self serving, vile and is affront to the bravery and sacrifice exhibited by both sides that day

LTC Orlando Illi - I'm happy to be #2 on the sign line!

MAJ James Woods - The Revolutionary war was effectively a civil war where we (the Rebels) won. I don't recall a statue of William Howe at Bunker Hill. I don't have a problem with markers and memorials, as long as they are not honoring those who fought on the side of Tyranny (Revolutionary War) or Slavery (Civil War).

SSG (Join to see) - Was the Revolutionary War a Civil War? You had colonists that decided America was going to be it's own nation and fight a tyrannical nation called England. I haven't been to Bunker Hill so you tell me what markers and memorials exists for either side at those battlefields. I've already been told by an RP member you can find statues of Benedict Arnold at different historical sites so it won't surprise me if there are memorials of other colonists who fought for Queen and Country also remembered in their home towns. You know we recognize Native American tribal leaders on battlefields from the era of post civil war western expansion with memorials. They were considered enemies of the U.S. government, would you like to remove those as well? We remember the fallen Americans from both sides of war at the battlefields they fought in a war on American soil.

MAJ James Woods - Yes, it was a Civil War. Our Civil War would also have been a Revolutionary war, had the South prevailed and become an independent country.

SSG (Join to see) - uh yeah...no.