Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON -Washington and Lee University told the Stonewall Brigade Sons of Confederate Veterans they’ll no longer be allowed to rent out a campus chapel named after Robert E. Lee for their yearly celebration of Lee Jackson Day. The decision was made as the national controversy over flying Confederate flags and celebrating the Confederacy continues.
“We’ve been doing this ceremony at Lee Chapel for 14 years now without any problems. All of a sudden they decide that it wasn’t a proper thing for us to do, which I don’t think is correct,” said the group’s Judge Advocate Walt Wilmore. He explained they hold the celebration in the chapel because both Lee and Stonewall Jackson are buried in Lexington, and Lee is buried under the chapel, which was named in his honor.
Wilmore said his group is not political but rather a non-profit dedicated to honoring those who put their lives on the line for the Confederacy, including his great-great grandfather. He added his group had nothing to do with Dylann Roof who is charged with shooting and killing nine black people at a Bible club meeting in a church in Charleston, South Carolina in June.
Wilmore said his group is now working on finding a new venue for the celebration, which he vows will still happen.
“We gonna have it in a cornfield if nothing else,” Wilmore said adding the yearly event attracts hundreds of people from all over the country.
Washington and Lee University did not respond to WMAL Radio’s request for an interview for this story.
(photo: stonwallbrigade.webs.com)
