To the editor:

I greatly appreciated David Shermans piece on Col. Elmer Ellsworth (Remember Ellsworth, martyr for the Northern cause, May 26, 2011). One can find his memorabilia at the tiny Fort Ward Museum in Alexandria, including his kepi.

It is appalling to me how people tolerate the display of the Confederate flag. Its a past symbol of treason and a current symbol of racism. Fine men like Ellsworth died to end that symbol and we dishonor his memory when we fly it. There has been so much glorification of the Confederacy that the hundreds of thousands of loyal Americans who gave their lives for a truly just cause are often forgotten.