1. The Confederate Battle Flag isn't the problem. No one complained about the battle flag flying in the Point Lookout Cemetery. Not even the naacp ! No one complained, black or white. Matter of fact, when the previous caretakers were maintaining the cemetery when the flag was flying, folks (black and white) would stop by and comment that they agreed that the soldiers' battle flag should fly in their cemetery. The Vet. Adm. says that NO flag EXCEPT the US flag (POW/MIA can fly six days out of the year) can fly in any of their cemeteries. It wouldn't matter if it was a Christian flag (which by the way is what the battle flag was patterned after).
2. If the battle flag was the problem....why would we compromise because someone thought of it as racist? ALL CSA flags were flags of the Southern Confederacy, whether one of the nationals or one of the regiments. As soon as the naacp accomplishes removal of all battle flags, they’ll go after the other CSA national flags, as well. It is us, the white and black descendants, of these brave men who are offended! Our ancestors did NOT fight to preserve slavery, nor does the battle flag stand for slavery. This flag flew over battlefields, not cotton fields and NO slave ship EVER sailed under the Confederate Battle Flag.
3. The Confederate Battle flag is the flag that the prisoners fought for, were imprisoned in Pt. Lookout for, and the flag that they died for!
4. They died as citizens of the Confederate States of America. EVERY soldier in the Pt. Lookout Cemetery was NOT a citizen of the USA. They never took the oath of allegiance to the U. S. They died as citizens of the C.S.A. WHY would they want the flag of their enemy over their immortal remains? Would one of our WWII Veterans who died in Germany want a German flag over his grave? As a whole, foreign countries fly the US flag over our soldiers who are buried abroad. These countries have more respect for our dead than the Vet. Adm. does for fellow Americans. Foreign countries fly the U.S. flag over American graves: 3,349 Americans are buried in Aisne-Marne Cemetery; 4,908 Americans are buried in Brittany Cemetery; 6,253 Americans are buried in Oise-Aisne Cemetery; 5,679 Americans are buried in Epinal Cemetery; 1,155 Americans are buried in Rhone Dragungnan Cemetery; 10,933 Americans are buried in Lorraine Cemetery; 15, 200 Americans are buried in Meuse-Argonne Cemetery; 4,437 Americans are buried in St. Mihiel Cemetery; 998 Americans are buried in Suresnes Cemetery; 10,944 Americans are buried in Normandy Cemetery...all under their U.S. flag....yet, right here in America, American Confederate soldiers are denied their flag over their final resting place. War is over.....we’re all one country....then show fellow Americans some respectful honor and let them have their flag!!
5. Most soldiers never saw the CSA national flags. They were flags that represented their government and used by officers. When the third national flag came into being, most soldiers were already imprisoned in Pt. Lookout and never saw this flag until after the war was over! The battle flag represented the common soldier in the field.
6. After the war, the Veterans themselves chose by voting "A" flag to represent them. Although many of them followed various flags across battlefields, they chose the Confederate Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia to be their symbol. That flag symbol is still used today by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Now....if THE VETERANS THEMSELVES chose the Confederate Battle Flag to represent them and their fallen comrades, who are we to decide different?!
7. The Confederate Battle Flag IS an American flag. The CSA soldiers were American Veterans. Therefore, these American Veterans should have THEIR American flag over their mass grave!

....Arrived at Point Lookout [Maryland] on the 14th (April, 1865). That was the day that President Lincoln was assassinated and the guards showed their resentment in their treatment of us...I received a letter advising me and my comrades to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. I took the oath and was released on June 14th just two months after I was in prison and I was hungry the whole time I was there and cold a great deal of the time. When we were marched out to take the oath, we were compelled to stand on the Confederate flag while we bent our heads under the U.S. flag and I have never liked to look at the thing since. ...Ludwell Hutchison, Co. D, 8th Virginia Infantry.

The Stars and Bars (First National) flag has never flown on a flagpole in the Point Lookout Cemetery, either under the US flag or on a separate pole. This would be a violation of protocol - since the Stars and Bars was a national flag - granted belligerent status under international law. To fly the Stars and Bars below the US flag would violate international protocol, since national flags are not to fly at different levels. It would also be terribly insensitive to Southerners to have their national flag fly in a subservient position. ...Sgt. Larry Beane