[BostonianRightist]

If it's correspondence between generals or between the general and the government, then it is public record - just as correspondence between Rummy and a current general are public records.

But a good argument could be made that since the Confederate government does not exist, then the letters belong to the owner. But then you get into whether or not the Confederacy was ever a legitimate government.

[Old Professer]

Does anybody but me see this is fundamentally flawed since the confederacy was an illegal form of government and no ownership claim ought be made on that basis just as one cannot redeem confederate currency.

[auntyfemenist]

I agree with that. The former state was part of another government that no longer exists. It was a legitmate government unto itself.

[dixie sass]

Gee, Bostonian, I guess that if I receive a letter from the President of any public official about anything it is declared public property.

POOP!!!!

If something is addressed to you it becomes your property, not the governments. Of course, if FDR hadn't opened his Library to house his documents thus setting precedent, we wouldn't have this problem.

Papers that are passed from generation to generation in one family belong to that family. They are no different than the oil lamp or mixing bowl or Bible or letters that have come through my family since before and after the Civil War. If we want the government to have them, we will donate them, just like other families have done and presumably what others will do.