Coffee Camp calls on Rep. Skelton to boycott monument dedication

Honorable Representative Ike Skelton

U.S. House of Representatives

2206 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515-2504

Telephone: 202-225-2876

Honorable Representative Skelton,

It has come to our attention that you are scheduled to speak at the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Missouri Department, monument dedication to be held on September 26, 2009 at the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site.

First of all we want to offer our most sincere and heartfelt Thank You for attending the recent dedication of the General JO Shelby monument earlier this year in Waverly, Missouri and appreciate the respect that you have shown for Missouri history.

That being said, we feel it is our duty to inform you of some key differences between the Shelby monument dedication and the proposed Union monument to be located at Lexington later this year.

First and foremost, Waverly was the home of Missouri General JO Shelby, who as one of the most famous, able and respected Generals of the CSA, proved himself to be a patriot both during and after the War Between the States. There can be absolutely no doubt that he fought for Missouri, family, friends and a genteel way of life. No matter what his actions were, one can always be sure that he was doing what he thought best in defense of the Show Me State.

The Colonel John T. Coffee Camp #1934, Sons of Confederate Veterans has many reservations about allowing the Union monument to be placed at the Lexington State Historic Site.

#1: The Missouri Sons of Union Veterans have called the Union veterans of Colonel Mulligan's brigade "defenders" of Lexington, which is simply not true. While there is no doubting the bravery of this Irish Brigade the fact is that they can more accurately be described as "invaders", having enlisted in Chicago, Illinois.

#2: The Missouri Sons of Union Veterans has specially ordered the monument to be made of African stone to represent their fight against slavery. Colonel Mulligan's men were no more fighting against slavery than General Shelby's men were fighting for slavery. Largely unskilled Irish immigrants most likely would have seen the slave population as "competition" to their workforce.

#3: The monument was largely funded by the publishing and sales of a 19th century book in which the author refers to Missourians as "Pukeites".

#4: As the descendants of Confederate Veterans, we the members of the Colonel John T. Coffee Camp #1934, Sons of Confederate Veterans feel the proposed Missouri Sons of Union Veterans Monument is at the very least discriminatory, considering that the flags of our ancestors were removed from their places of honor in 2003.

We, the members of the Colonel John T. Coffee Camp #1934, Sons of Confederate Veterans find the funding of the proposed Union monument at Lexington, through the Missouri Sons of Union Veterans sale of a book that is derogatory towards Missourians highly offensive.

We very respectfully ask you not to attend this dedication on September 26, 2009.

In addition we very respectfully ask that you please make a concerted effort to restore Missouri's Confederate flags to their original places of honor.

Perhaps mutual respect can be achieved if all parties were treated equally and Missouri history held in its proper context.