General Robert E. Lee
Sir Winston Churchill called General Robert E. Lee, “one of the noblest Americans who ever lived.”
Children will get a school holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday but do young people know that January is also the birthday month for General Robert E. Lee?
Please let me call to your attention that Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, is the 216th birthday of Robert E. Lee, whose memory is still dear in the hearts of many Americans.
During Robert E. Lee's 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Commander and grandson of U.S. President John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee College's Lee Chapel in Lexington, Va. His speech was printed in both Northern and Southern newspapers and is said to had lifted Lee to a renewed respect among the American people.
Booker T. Washington, America's great black educator, wrote in 1910, "The first white people in America, certainly the first in the South to exhibit their interest in the reaching of the Negro and saving his soul through the medium of the Sunday-school were Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson."
During a tour through the South in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt told the aged Confederate veterans in Richmond, Va, "Here I greet you in the shadow of the statue of your Commander, General Robert E. Lee. You and he left us memories which are part of the memories bequeathed to the entire nation by all the Americans who fought in the War Between the States."
Georgia's famous Stone Mountain carving of Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee was dedicated on May 9, 1970. William Holmes Borders, a noted African-American theologian and pastor of the Wheat Avenue Baptist Church, was asked to give the invocation. The many dignitaries attending this historic event included United States Vice President Spiro Agnew. Thousands of people bring their families each year to see this memorial to these three great Americans.
Robert E. Lee, a man whose military tactics have been studied worldwide, was an American soldier, educator, Christian gentlemen, husband and father.
Robert E. Lee was born on Jan. 19, 1807, at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Va. The winter was cold and the fireplaces were little help for Robert's mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, who suffered from a severe cold.
Robert E. Lee’s Father, 'Light Horse' Harry was a hero of the revolution and served three terms as governor of Virginia and as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Two members of his family also signed the Declaration of Independence.
Lee was educated at the schools of Alexandria, Va., and he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1825. He graduated in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit.
Robert E. Lee's first assignment was to Cockspur Island, Ga., to supervise the construction of Fort Pulaski.
While serving as 2nd Lieutenant of Engineers at Fort Monroe, Va., Lee wed Mary Ann Randolph Custis. Robert and Mary had grown up together, Mary was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington and adopted son of George Washington.
Mary was an only child; therefore, she inherited Arlington House, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., where she and Robert E. Lee raised seven children, three boys and four girls.
Army promotions were slow. In 1836, Lee was appointed to first lieutenant. In 1838, with the rank of captain, Robert E. Lee fought in the War with Mexico and was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.
Lee was appointed superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1852 and is considered one of the best superintendents in that institution's history.
General Winfield Scott offered Robert E. Lee command of the Union Army in 1861, but he refused. He said, “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.”
Lee served as adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and then on June 1, 1862, commanded the legendary Army of Northern Virginia.
After four terrible years of war, Gen. Robert E. Lee met Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia in 1865.
Lee was a man of honor, proud of his name and heritage. After the War Between the States, he was offered $50,000 for the use of his name. His reply was, "Sirs, my name is the heritage of my parents. It is all I have and it is not for sale." His refusal came at a time when he had nothing.
In the fall of 1865, Lee was offered and accepted the presidency of troubled Washington College in Lexington, Va. The school was later renamed Washington and Lee College in his honor.
Robert E. Lee died of a heart attack at 9:30 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 12, 1870, at Washington College.
Robert E. Lee was a great American who should not be forgotten.
Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
Chairman of the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Confederate History and Heritage Month committee
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I want to add some facts to Mr. Johnson's summary of General Robert E. Lee's life. I do this for two reasons. First, to make sure all of the historical facts are known. And secondly, to possibly get us to reflect on the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
If my memory of history is correct, after the Civil War Lee was considered a traitor as were all those who fought on the Confederate side against other Americans. Treason is defined in the Constitution and they were considered traitors for their rebellion against the Constitution of the United States. But to pull the country back together, Lincoln did not hold them accountable in court for their rebellion (big mistake). Lincoln gave pardons to the Confederate soldiers, but not to the senior officers--Lee being one of them. The senior Confederate officers lost their citizenship rights. At one point Lee applied for amnesty to get his citizenship rights restored, but died before his application was processed. Some say his paperwork disappeared. Nevertheless, he died a traitor to this country. For millions of Americans, Robert E. Lee committed treason in part to support and maintain the institution of slavery. Historians recorded it all--the what, when where and how. The speculation is the why question. We can debate that I'm sure.
Here's what I'd like people to reflect on this day--Jan. 6, 2023. If Lincoln had used the Constitution and the court system, our Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection may never have happened. Remember, if we don't know our history we will tend to repeat it. I found it interesting that Lee's citizenship was restored in the mid-1970's by some piece of legislation. I wonder why. I think I'll go back and research Lee again.
(Note: Also, it is wrong to use Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday holiday to justify a holiday for General Lee. The celebration of Dr. King's life is far more than a "school holiday" for children. But that is another editorial.) Peace.
Renee Smith
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Dear Mr. Johnson,
Your post to the Chattanoogan is a great exercise in public memory, full of paternalistic anecdotes that attempt to gloss over the Civil War as just a minor footnote in the story and legacy of Robert E. Lee. Even if you were to try and remove the centrality of slavery to the Confederate States of America, there are a few facts that I believe would automatically disqualify Robert E. Lee from even being considered in a list of the "greatest Americans.
1. Robert E. Lee joined another republic and took up arms against the United States of America
2. He did so after a fair election, and disrupted a peaceful transfer of power.
3. The event he subsequently fought in would take the lives of nearly 2 percent of Americans
4. Had the Confederate States of America gained legal recognition and sovereignty, the future of slavery would have been not only prolonged, but nothing less than permanent as the Confederate States of America's Constitution solidified this protection--This is the only remarkably different feature of their Constitution vs. the US Constitution.
Please don't treat the American Civil War as a minor anecdote in the legacy of Robert E. Lee.
Clay Huffaker
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Ms. Smith is correct in her assertion that “if we don't know our history we will tend to repeat it.”
For that reason, I’d like to offer some corrections.
It was President Johnson, not Lincoln, who issued the pardon. Lincoln had been assassinated April 15, 1965, less than a week after Lee’s surrender. The post-war clean up fell to Johnson.
Further, at the time of the Civil War, the United States was a plural entity, with “States” as a plural noun modified by the adjective “United.” Each state was sovereign, but those sovereign states had chosen to unionize for mutual benefit. Think of the European Union for something akin to a modern example. Since the Civil War, the United States has become a mostly singular entity, with “United States” being treated as a singular noun, instead of a plural noun with a modifier. Context is important to understanding history, as is nuance.
Lee chose his home state, Virginia, over the collective, when Virginia chose to attempt to leave that collective and war resulted.
Calling Lee a traitor for choosing Virginia over the United States would be like calling Mark Carleton-Smith a traitor for choosing England over the EU had Brexit turned violent. Lee may be considered a traitor in retrospect, but to Virginians in the late 19th century, Lee was a patriot.
Along with context and nuance, perspective is important to understanding history. From one perspective, the angry protest in DC on Jan. 6, 2021 was no worse than the angry protest(s) in DC (and elsewhere) on Jan. 20, 2017. From a different perspective, the former was treason, and the latter was merely dissent.
Ms. Smith and Mr. Huffaker would do well to avoid the pitfalls of Presentism, especially since at least one of them is a history teacher.
Kevin Hargis