5/23/2010
Brother against brother
I am offended that the owners of the Muvico theater chose to remove the Confederate flag from a mural painted on a wall at the complex.
You see, just three miles west of the theater on State Route 3, my great-great-great-grandfather Reuben McGee owned a small farm that became part of the battlefield the first day of the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Two of Reuben’s sons–Absalom, a Union sympathizer, and Ebonezer, a Union spy–were loyal to the Union army, while his sons Robert, Sanford, and Reuben Jr. joined the Confederate army.
Robert and Sanford later deserted the Confederate army and joined the Union army, leaving only my great-great-grandfather Reuben Jr. to serve the Confederate army for the duration of the war.
I am proud of my great-great-grandfather’s service to the Confederacy and his dedication to Virginia and states’ rights. He was willing to divide his family and fight his own brothers for his beliefs.
The Civil War, slavery, and the Confederate flag are all a part of this country’s history, and painting over the part that is offensive to you does not mean that it didn’t happen.
Tolerance for our beliefs must go both ways.
Bob McGhee
Waldorf, Md.
