By RICHARD NEBEL

This is a response to Alan Webber’s recent letter to the Post (link).

My great-great-great grandfather was a Union soldier who died in the civil war.  My great-great grandfather was a Union soldier who died after the war from the diseases he caught during his service.

Since there are a lot more monuments to Confederate soldiers around the country than there are to Union soldiers (the obelisk was erected in 1867), I could take a lot of offense at its removal. However, I’m not going to do that.

Webber and Teresa Leger Fernandez think that we should all sit down and discuss this. That way we can all get touchy-feely about each other, improve our understanding, and become unified. Mr. Webber wants to appoint a committee (several committees) to come up with suitable artwork to replace the obelisk.  That’s ridiculous. Artwork that is designed by committee is probably going to be atrocious.

I have a better solution. Santa Fe needs to erect a statue of President Millard Fillmore on the Plaza.  Fillmore is the one who instituted the Compromise of 1850. Prior to that time, Texas claimed all territory North and East of the Rio Grande (including Santa Fe). Fillmore told the Texans that they had nothing in common with the people of New Mexico and he wasn’t going to allow them to rule New Mexico. That was formalized as part of the Compromise of 1850.

My understanding is that Millard Fillmore’s birthday used to be a state holiday in New Mexico. Nowadays, most New Mexicans probably have no idea who he was and what he did. I suggest that they simply put his name on the statue with no inscription. That way all of those Texan tourists won’t have any idea that New Mexicans are quietly thumbing their collective noses at them.

If you want to unite people, give them a common enemy. The Confederates found that out at the battle of Glorieta when a unit composed of native New Mexicans burned their wagon train forcing them to retreat South.

New Mexico may be last in education. New Mexico may be first in crime. But at least we aren’t Texans. That’s something you could probably get all New Mexicans to agree on!

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