George,

I share your feelings 100%. I think Ashleigh's intention is to hold the NPS's feet to the fire on some issues in Petersburg. One being the acknowledgement of the the defense of the city provided by the old men and boys (including many free blacks) on June 9th and the subject of some unaccounted for graves near Blandford, to name two. I hate to be so blunt but a lot of us in the area look at the NPS as the enemy to our history and heritage. The stated mission of the National Civil War Visitors Center at Tredegar is to show the three sides of the conflict. The Northern side, The Southern Side, and the Black side. They seem to continue to try to drive a wedge between themselves and anyone that shows any effort at reconciliation. We firmly believe that the MOC as we know it will cease to exist and it's vast collection will end up at Tredegar and other locations. I'm sure you are aware that one of their plans was to relocate the Confederate White House. Such a move would have removed the buildings status as a National Historic Property. My camp commander, who is also SCV National Heritage Chief, Darryl Starnes and some press people were literally kicked off the MOC property yesterday while trying to get an official response to the MOC's Tuesday announcement. These people are becoming more facist in their tactics everyday. If you can provide me with an e-mail address I'll forward Mr. Starnes' latest report on the situation at the MOC.

Keith