Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Here we go again … rewriting history to please visitors from Pittsburgh and elsewhere, but never mentioning the facts.

The monuments and flags are about history and heritage. Not hate. Mathews and Gloucester counties are American history incarnate—Bacons Rebellion, the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Walter Reed, T.C. Walker, Chesty Puller—just to name a few.

I have a rich family history here and will not have it disparaged by self-righteous outsiders. I am not white or of slave ancestry. The Confederate flag is a part of our history, along with the statues and monuments that honor those who fought and died, and for our family and friends who mourn their loss.

My great-grandfather is named on the Gloucester monument. Killed in the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862 and a cousin killed in the Battle of Yorktown. I know my heritage and am proud of it.

Those who forget their past are doomed and destined to repeat it.

Craig J. BatesGloucest...