(Ed.'s Note: Harlingen resident Jack Ayoub wrote a letter to the Valley Morning Star taking local anti-NeoConfederate instructor Antonio Castillo to task for wanting to remove Jefferson Davis Boulder in Washington Park moved and renaming the Robert E. Lee Learning Center. He says his – and members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans – research shows some Castillos served in the confederate army in Laredo. Castillo's defenders replies are included.)
Is Antonio Castillo up to another cheap publicity stunt by wanting to move the Jefferson Davis Boulder in Washington Park moved and renaming the Robert E. Lee Learning Center?
Because these names offend him, Antonio wants to have them erased or removed from the general public.
If he truly finds these names offensive, then his family name, Castillo, should be equally offensive to him.
My research combined with help from the Harlingen chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have discovered that 13 Castillos fought for the confederacy, including three from Laredo, such as Pvt. Cristobal Castillo, age 25, Pvt. Serapio Castillo, 22, and Pvt. Severiano Castillo, 19, under command of Col Santos Benavides of the 33rd Texas Calvary.
One of these Castillos could have been one of your relatives from Laredo that you told me about.
These Castillos were a part of the 42 man Regiment who fought off 200 Union troups at the Battle of Laredo on March 18, 1864 that kept the only major cotton pipeline open from Laredo to Brownsville/Matamorous to Bagdad (Mexican seaport).
The Rio Grande Valley/Laredo played a very important part in the Civil War that included 15 skirmishes, mostly along the river, as well as two major battles: the Battle of Laredo and the last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch (Hill).
Texas history has long forgotten the 2,550 Tejanos and Mexican Nationals who fought for the Confederacy, as well as the 958 Tejanos and Mexican Nationals who fought for the Union.
Antonio, we should not judge these soldiers of the Civil War, but honor their bravery and courage for their choices that they felt that they had to make.
And, if you can not do this in your heart and still ashamed of your Civil War relative, then you need to change your family name of Castillo to Castle …
RESPONSES:
Kathy Trentfield Raines said: "I have at least one confederate forefather, probably more, and probably many sympathizers. I am not proud. And I am not ashamed. That was a century and a half ago. I didn't even know them."
Ray Crooks: "Is this from the same douchebag that is obsessed with you?"
Pete Owen: "I have a great grandfather from laredo last name Aguilares who fought with a unit of Mexican-Americans from Laredo. Not sure why, maybe pressed? Poverty? Who knows? He ended up in a prison camp in Atlanta."
David Anshen: "What a moron. If you have Confederates A) they may have been drafted as working people were and B) We're not responsible for our ancestors. It would be to your credit if you can think objectively about politics. I have a racist and anti-racist (my mother) Southern family. So what, I, like you, can look past family and look at reality. We don't choose our family or any other accidents of birth but this idiot feel loyalty to atrocious oppression is justified by past family members. What a complete fool."
Lina Alicia Zamora: "LMFAO. The sad part is this guy is 100 percent serious."
Roger Bland: "This is terrible, I will have to unfriend you. Unfortunately, we're not friends, please be patient while I send you a friend request."
Nicole Blakely Boulding: "My, my, he really all over you with this one. Keep up the good work."
Bob Paris: "Let's look at the facts...the times were different so the attitudes and mores were different, not meaning they were correct by our standards today. People did things then that we would never do, that is growth. I know folks who have lot of items in their closets that are hidden. Heck, I have a couple of criminals who went to jail in my tree, but that doesn't make me a criminal. So we can remove monuments to a "bad past" and recognize this is part of history, not present. We must speak out to show that we don't want to return to a "yesteryear" or allow the "bad" to return...
Chris Cox: "The monuments have one singular purpose. Your name represent what you and your family do. This guy is an idiot.
Stefanie Herweck: "It is super unprofessional and inappropriate for a newspaper to run a letter like this attacking a private citizen. Who is making these decisions? Why are they so ill educated?
Antonio Castillo: "The local white supremacist is showing his true colors..."