This is a speech I made before a sub-committee at the Virginia General Assembly regarding Civil War battlefield preservation. I am embarrassed to admit that I do not remember the date it was given.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I come before you as a voting citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to express my concern over HB 1029. I am now a resident of Midlothian, but was born and raised in Richmond. I have always been proud of my heritage and the history that surrounds this once great city. I would ask you to consider a few points before voting on HB 1029.

As a member of a group that takes part in historical interpretive programs on the Civil War, I have been to many historic sites throughout the State. Some well known and some rather obscure, but all with one thing in common, AMERICANS SHED THEIR BLOOD ON THE GROUND THERE IN A WAR FOR FREEDOM. To destroy these areas would be a travesty that cannot be undone. Like the bullet fired from the gun, it cannot be brought back.

While participating in these programs I have had occasion to meet many people from around the country and the world. When I ask these people what brought them here I have never heard anyone say, To see the new shopping mall, or I wanted to see the new business park that was built here. The answer I have received on every occasion was, I came here to see where 7,000 Americans were killed in less than twenty minutes, or I came to see where my great-grandfather was wounded in battle, or I read about this place and I had to see it for myself.

I have met folks from different States in this Union. I have talked to people who have come from England, Germany, Australia, and other places from around the world. Here to see a land of great history and courageous deeds. Not rock quarries and condos.

Is money the key issue here? If so, instead of tearing down and paving over land that holds much history, why not promote the tourism that these places already see and try to increase that? Once the land is destroyed only the developer will come to see what has been wrought.

I would ask those who own such land not to believe the scare tactics of the big money developers. The NPS is not going to take your land. We still have something in this land called due process of law. ONLY THE IRS CAN FORGO THAT. Just because a company has a lot of money to launch a campaign to try and get the land for themselves, doesn’t mean that they are right or that they are being honest with the land owners. It just means that they have more money to spend.

Well, I do not have a lot of money to spend to convince land owners that they will not have their land taken from them by the NPS or some other historical organization. I am simply someone who has seen the value of preserving this land, because I have been out there and talked to the people who come to see it.

One day my two year old daughter is going to ask me where all these battles or other historic events took place. I will be able to say that they are all nearby, but now they are covered up by apartment buildings and office complexes. When she asks me why that happened I won’t be able to answer her without wondering why a State would allow such a thing to happen. I won’t be able to answer without wondering why there are people out there who seem to think a building is more important than land that Americans fought and died on so that we could enjoy the freedoms that this country provides us today.

Please don’t allow those who would destroy our heritage to succeed. We should all be able to one day go to these places of great importance in the story of our nation and point to them with a sense of pride and say, This is where it happened.

Thank you for your time and please vote against HB 1029.