Symbol of Confederacy

Re “Why Is Symbol of Confederacy Flying?” Opinion, June 23:

Trey Ellis builds his entire argument on a false premise. The Confederate battle emblem is not a symbol for slavery. It was a battle standard carried by military units from the corps down to the regiment level. Men looked to it for inspiration, courage and eternal salvation as they charged headlong into the enemy’s Minie balls, grapeshot, shell and canister. The federal troops looked to their battle standards for the same purpose.

The men who died in service to the Confederacy during the Civil War did so with honor. They can’t do anything about any group today who decides to adopt their battle emblem for their own purposes. Every time someone like Ellis writes a column like this one he dishonors those dead; he demeans their courage; he slanders their gallantry.

CHARLES E. GRUBBS

Newport Beach

* I think the Confederate flag, while it is and was flown by many misguided individuals, still serves a purpose: to remind us of what has been.

After the flag, do we then move on to changing landmarks named after Confederate generals and getting rid of battlefields where the South won? There are quite a few groups who don’t like the image of our own flag for various items in our past. Do we change it as well?

Ellis bought into the myth of the “New South,” brought about by historians who wanted to put up a defiant and aristocratic bravado in the face of defeat. Most who fought under the Stars and Bars were poor farmers suckered into fighting to protect their property for a luxury they couldn’t afford, by those who could.

JEFF HAWKINS

Burbank