From: Mark Vogl
To: Waite Rawls
Subject: MOC’s policy important to Southern Pride and respect.
Director Rawls;
Presenlty there is a great deal of communcations traffic concerning the Musuem’s decision not to fly Confederate flags at the opening of the Appomattoc location.
The choice of this being your first out-of-Richmond location is questionable to begin with. Starting with surrender seems to be a fade among many.
But, let’s put that aside, and consider the question of the flag.
As a graduate of THE CITADEL, 1977, I selected attendance there specfically because of its involvement in the commencement of the war and its association with the South. As a graduate of VMI I would think that their honorable connection with the Confederacy and Lt. General Jackson might have been in your decision-making.
Sir, the Confederate naval ensign is a globally recognized symbol of the South. The value of its public relations presence is immeasurable.
If you are concerned with the corrupting of the flag’s symbolism your organization is central to correcting that misunderstanding. Your role as the caretaker of the reputation and artifacts of the Confederacy requires a "forward defense." You cannot sheath the Colors because of the propaganda war ongoing. Nor, should you sheath it because of President Obama’s ethnicity. The Colors stand a nation seeking liberty from oppression. The Colors stand for the original Constitution and the Founders of this nation.
Mr. Rawl’s you are not the head of a secondary institution. You are the head of the Musuem of the Confederacy. Your position, and the position of the Museum is clear. There can be no wavering.
Sir, I do not know you, I do not know the pressures and voics who are influencing you. But as a V.M.I. graduate I take for granted your character and personal courage. Sir this is the Sesquicentennial. 1862 was the highwater mark for the entire Confederacy in terms of territory controlled and our ability to parry northern aggression.
Sir, I beseech you to rethink any decision which has marginalized the Colors. There clearly is a Culture War in America, and your decision/action are a point of supreme importance. May I suggest you consider connecting a fund raising effort to the final decision. Explain to "the South" the need for funds and the threats from the main stream media, government officials, and the PC social culture, and tell them what it would take to encourage you to rely on "the South."
I do not require a response. I will be praying for you, and for the MOC. I am,
Your Obedient Servant,
Mark K. Vogl
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
From: Waite Rawls <WRawls@moc.org>
To: Mark Vogl <johnyreb43@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012
Subject: RE: MOC’s policy important to Southern Pride and respect.
Dear Mr. Vogl,
You and I have a lot in common, with the Citadel and VMI (you can take your Star of the West, and I’ll take New Market), with your love of the Confederacy starting at an early age (I joined my first Civil War Roundtable at age 9 and was the President of the VMI Cadet Civil War Roundtable), with our membership in the SCV (I’m also a member of the MOS&B and the Order of the Southern Cross), and, particularly, with our concern about the political correctness around every corner.
Let me tell you first what we are going to do at our new site.As you will read below, the flags of the Confederacy will be prominent in our new location.
In 2006 the Museum of the Confederacy embarked on a plan to increase its ability to reach more people in fulfilling its mission “…to serve as the preeminent world center for the display, study, interpretation, commemoration, and preservation of the history and artifacts of the Confederate States of America.” A plan was formulated to create a system of museums in various places in Virginia close to historic sites related to the Civil War. The first of these new museums in the system is the 11,700 square foot Museum of the Confederacy-Appomattox. This project is dedicated to our mission and the history of the Confederacy and its people, and it will be the largest single capital project in the nation during the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. The grand opening is March 31, 2012.
The Museum of the Confederacy-Appomattox will be an artifact rich experience for the visitor. Among the 179 artifacts; 166 photographs, images, and graphics; 95 documents; 25 Confederate uniforms; will be the sword and uniform worn by General Lee when he met General Grant at the McLean House; the pen he used to sign the document of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia; and the parole signed by Lee and his staff. A special feature of the 41 interactive workstations, which will include 450 interactive and audio-visual components, will be the opportunity for visitors to see the original Confederate parole list to search for an ancestor who may have been present at the surrender.
The Museum’s galleries will include 22 original Confederate flags, including a special exhibition, “Colors of the Gray: Consecration and Controversy.” Together the display of Confederate flags will be the largest and most comprehensive display of war time Confederate flags ever exhibited by any institution—museum or otherwise. In addition, there will be two computer stations devoted to the history and design of the Confederate national and battle flags. The stations will include the original flag design criteria issued by the Confederate Congress. Visitors will be able to use the criteria to design their own flags. We hope that this feature will encourage young people to learn more about the flags of the Confederacy. It will certainly be the most positive presentation of the Confederate flag that I have ever heard of.
Here’s what a visitor will see before they come to our new site. They might see our brochures, which have a prominent 1st National flag on the front cover, a portion of an ANV battle flag, and two different company flags inside. They might see a billboard, with an ANV battle flag in the background. They might see a highway sign with a 1st National flag on it. They might also see advertisements, which we have begun to run, featuring an ANV battle flag in the background.
As they approach the museum, they will see a long wall, with a 60-foot long sign that says “Museum of the Confederacy” on it in letters over two feet high. On the front of the building will be large images of 3 Confederate flags that will be on exhibit—a first National (Turner Ashby’s HQ), a battle flag (the first ANV ever made and used by Joe Johnston), and a unique pattern of the 5th Kentucky Cavalry. (I have attached copies.) Outside of the museum The Reunification Promenade will serve as an exhibit and symbol of how the individual states left the Union in 1861 and came back into the Union after the war. It will feature the state flags of the states that supported the Confederacy, including Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland—in total 14 flags of the Confederacy—and the United States flag. The first 11 will be in the order of their secession. Many of these state flags have already been dedicated to the memory of Confederate ancestors from those states. More importantly, you need to understand the educational nature of this flag EXHIBIT on the outside of the museum. With 122 years under our belt of educating the public about the Confederacy, one of the most important things that they should learn is about states rights. With all due respect to people like you and me, most of our visitors do not know and need to learn that each of the states of the Confederacy believed in 1861 that its own sovereignty would allow it to secede from the Union of the founding fathers. These states seceded as individual entities, not as a collective new government. At the end of the war, these states came back into the Union, again as individual states. The Confederate government, as an entity, never surrendered or came back into the union. There were still other armies in the field in April 1865, but Americans then understood that Lee’s surrender was essentially the end of the war, and the very word—Appomattox—has become the metaphor and symbol for the reunification of the United States. The town and county of Appomattox share that some over-arching theme—reunification. Not reconciliation, but reunification. (To drive home the point about not reconciliation, we’ll play an audio version inside of Bobby Horton’s version of I’m a Good Ol’ Rebel Soldier.)
If the visitor comes to our grand opening, they will experience a procession led by living historians portraying Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant. To the tune of Dixie, they will see a Confederate color guard—the Maryland Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, featuring up to 15 various Confederate flags—followed by a Union color guard to the tune of Battlecry of Freedom. They will be followed by a number of Confederate re-enactor groups, chosen because of their support of the conservation of our collection of Confederate flags, all flying replicas of those flags saved. After a speech by Bud Robertson, there will be a ceremony to raise the flags of the Confederate states, followed by raising the American flag, symbolizing the states as they reunified with the United States.
We hope that all of the visitors, on opening day and thereafter, will be impressed with their opportunity to learn much more about the Confederacy—and its flags—regardless of whether they are descended from numerous Confederate soldiers (as I obviously am) or whether they are first time visitors to our country. We know that our members will be proud of what they see.
(If you ever read any of our literature, you will know that I always sign my name) I am your most obedient servant,
Waite Rawls
(Please note new telephone extension is ‘130’)
S. Waite Rawls III
President & CEO
Museum of the Confederacy
1201 E. Clay St.
Richmond, VA 23219
wrawls@moc.org
(804) 649-1861×130
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
From: Mark Vogl <johnyreb43@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 12, 2012
Subject: Re: MOC’s policy important to Southern Pride and respect.
To: Waite Rawls <WRawls@moc.org>
Director Rawles,
Sir, I commend you both for a prompt and honest reply. I shall with hold comments regarding our various alma maters for another time.
It is the absence of colors flying in equality with the other flags which is at the heart of the communications. It also seems somewhat troublesome that you would bring in a color guard from Maryland, when the Virginia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans must have a fine guard of its own.
I see you made no comment concerning my suggestion that you reconsider your present approach by addressing “the South.”
Much of your answer concerning little known facts of the history of secession and the war is sound and should be applauded by all Southern men and women. However, your present course avoids the heart of discussion in present day America, the meaning of the Confederate flags. And if the symbols of the South are misunderstood, defined by our opponents, not ourselves, than would appear a poor marketing environment for a new extension you all have invested so much time and money in. The great distance from any well travelled north-south interstate not-wthstanding.
As I said before, I know not the pressures you face. But was I amiss with respect to your personal character when facing adversity? The motives behind those who control the MoC have long been suspect. This is an opportunity to clear away those clouds and to proudly proclaim the South is back.
I will not question your devotion to the Cause, and the Charge, but rather ask that you reconsider whether what has been proposed is fair to the great sacrifices of the nation, people, and armies that the Museum of Confederacy represent? It could be that as the Director you have little room, that the Members of the Board have established these parameters, and that you can only follow orders. We may never know. Regardless of who is presently responsible for the lack of Confederate pride that is evident in the absence of your colors, and the poor location of this first announcement, clearly the MoC is not fulfilling the "spirit of the undefeated’ embodied by those who initially created this once noble institution.
May God intervene on behalf of a people who called on Him in the Preamble of their Constitution. May God bring His wisdom and strength to those who hold the responsibility for the policies and actions of the Museum of the Confederacy.
Mark Vogl
