A Letter to My Country

Robert Stubblefield, my great grandfather, served three years and one week in the Confederate Army. He spent over eighteen months, or half of his enlistment, hospitalized with gun shot wounds, and the last six months as a prisoner of war. I have the US Army records showing Robert was captured by Union troops after being wounded at Winchester, Virginia, on the September 19th, 1864, but didn't receive field surgery until six days later. He received field surgery on September 25, 1864, from Ass't Surgeon Burdett, USA Depot Field Hospital, Winchester, Virginia, for "removal of rib fragments and simple dressing."

Robert Stubblefield is on the on the CSA Roll of Honor for wounds received at the second battle of Manassas. His name is cruelly misspelled as Studfield, but his official records shows Robert signed by “X.” He could not have corrected the error simply because he could not read or write.

Robert was not a slave owner, in fact, it appears he was in bondage when he enlisted and was freed by serving in the Confederate Army. Plain and simple, he was just another foot soldier, a GI. One who does what he is told to do, and believes what he was told to believe. He did it proudly and at great cost. He was no different than the young soldiers of today who have been ordered to tear gas innocent protesters because that is their duty to obey orders. Unfortunately, history will judge them as harshly as it has judged my great-grandfather. It will be even harsher on those police officers who fail to serve their communities much less their country.

I qualify to join the Sons of the Confederacy, or more correctly the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Their mission is, and this is a direct quote from their website - “Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought.” I do not understand why. Vindicating slavery is appalling to me. It should buried along with the racism that burns as embers in the hearts and minds of organizations like the Sons of the Confederacy.

There are no monuments to Hitler in Munich. There are no statues of Himmler in Berlin nor parks or streets named after Goebbels anywhere in the country. There are no organizations in Germany that openly glorify exterminating Jews as we have here extolling the virtues of slavery. In the five and a half years I was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Air Force, I never once saw a swastika or any kind of tribute to the Nazi’s. There are no Nazi flags flying the infield at any automobile race.

Yet in my country, I see monuments to insurrection and slavery every day. Americans have been molded to believe we are the moral saviors of the oppressed the world over, but sadly we not only condone oppression in our own country, we systematically and comfortably indulge it. 

Keeping hatred alive and festering has a deep, evil motive. It is time for America to tear down the statues that glorify evil. It is time to remove the names from government facilities that honor the insurrectionist, including army bases and courthouses. Those names of Confederates do not show our love for our forefathers, only those who served the political and financial bidding of others. They serve only to misdirect the youth and the easily deceived. They are not heroes.

It is time to for America to change. It is time to honor our Constitution. It starts with “We the People...”