Posted on 10/09/2009 4:00:18 PM PDT by BigReb555
The United States flag, which Robert E. Lee had defended as a soldier, flew at half mast in Lexington, Virginia and throughout the USA.
(Excerpt) Read more at huntingtonnews.net ...
“News of the death of Robert E. Lee, beloved chieftain of the Southern army, whose strategy mainly was responsible for the surprising fight staged by the Confederacy, brought a two-day halt to Richmond's business activities.” unquote
The United States flag, which Robert E. Lee had defended as a soldier, flew at half mast in Lexington, Virginia and throughout the USA.
General Lee died at his home at Lexington, Virginia at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, October 12, 1870. His last great deed came after the War Between the States when he accepted the presidency of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University. He saved the financially troubled college and helped many young folks further their education.
Some write that Robert E. Lee suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on September 28, 1870, but was thought to greatly improve until October 12th, when he took a turn for the worse. His condition seemed more hopeless when his doctor told him, "General you must make haste and get well---Traveller---has been standing too long in his stable and needs exercise."
Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Cadet William Nalle said in a letter home to his mother, dated October 16, 1870, quote;
“I suppose of course that you have all read full accounts of Gen Lee's death in the papers. He died on the morning of the 12th at about half past nine. All business was suspended at once all over the country and town, and all duties, military and academic suspended at the Institute, and all the black crape and all similar black material in Lexington, was used up at once, and they had to send on to Lynchburg for more. Every cadet had black crape issued to him, and an order was published at once requiring us to wear it as a badge of mourning for six months.” unquote
Read entire letter on Virginia Military Institute website at:
http://www.vmi.edu/archives.aspx?id=5517
The rains and flooding were the worse of Virginia's history on the day General Lee died. On Wednesday, October 12, 1870, in the presence of his family, Lee quietly passed away.
The church bells rang as the sad news passed through Washington College, Virginia Military Institute, the town of Lexington and the nation. Cadets from VMI College carried the remains of the old soldier to Lee Chapel where he laid in state.
Memorial meetings were held throughout the South and as far North as New York. At Washington College in Lexington eulogies were delivered by: Reverend Pemberton, Reverend W.S. White--Stonewall Jackson's Pastor and Reverend J. William Jones. Former Confederate President Jefferson Davis brought the eulogy in Richmond, Virginia. Lee was also eulogized in Great Britain.
When all settled down, Mrs. Robert E. Lee said, "If he had succeeded in gaining by the sword all the South expected and hoped for, he could not have been more honored and lamented."
Many thousands witnessed Lee's funeral procession marching through the town of Lexington, Virginia, with muffled drums and the artillery firing as the hearse was driven to the school's chapel where he was buried.
US President Dwight D. Eisenhower knew and appreciated our nation’s rich history. President Eisenhower was criticized for displaying a portrait of Robert E. Lee in his office. This was part of his response; quote
"Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by this nation." unquote
Robert E. Lee was the hero of the Southern people and admired both North and South of the Mason-Dixon Line.
This Christian- gentleman's last words were, "Strike the Tent."
There will be a Remembering Robert E. Lee Program at Lee Chapel on Monday, October 12, 2009. For details go to:
http://chapelapps.wlu.edu/tertiary.asp?ID=40&Parent=43&NavOrder=1
One of the greatest generals.
Great post.
Thanks.
BUMP.
This northerner salutes General Lee.
Had history taken a different turn, I believe that Gen. Lee may well have become President of this country and we would be a better nation for it.
Thank you, Mr. Lott.
(just joking)
This quote is from Viscount Garnet Wolseley. It is given more importance by the fact that Wolseley was one of the greatest soldiers the world has ever known and possbibly the best ever produced by Great Britain.
“His character has been subjected to that ordeal, and who can point to any spot upon it? His clear, sound judgment, personal courage, untiring activity, genius for war, and absolute devotion to his State mark him out as a public man, as a patriot to be for ever remembered by all Americans. His amiability of disposition, deep sympathy with those in pain or sorrow, his love for children, nice sense of personal honour and genial courtesy endeared him to all his friends. I shall never forget his sweet winning smile, nor his clear, honest eyes that seemed to look into your heart whilst they searched your brain. I have met many of the great men of my time, but Lee alone impressed me with the feeling that I was in the presence of a man who was cast in a grander mould, and made of different and of finer metal than all other men. He is stamped upon my memory as a being apart and superior to all others in every way: a man with whom none I ever knew, and very few of whom I have read, are worthy to be classed. I have met but two men who realize my ideas of what a true hero should be: my friend Charles Gordon was one, General Lee was the other.”
General Lee was a great man, in so many ways.
A Vermont Yankee.
He probably would have been the President of the Southern nation, the Confederate States of America, w/ its capitol in Montgomery, AL. The northern states would have remained as they were. There is no doubt in my mind that BOTH nations would have been better had the South won its right to secede.
One of my grandfathers............
My Brother and my Grandson were born on Robert E. Lees birth date, pretentious or a cold spring.
ping
Robert E.Lee,a man of courage and conviction.It must be remembered that he could have lead the Union army,but instead choose to fight for his “country†ie Virginia.We must all think hard and deep about the precarious situation that we find ourselves in.The Central government has become a Frankensteins monster,unteathered and uncompromising.Will we as a people choose to cower,or show the backbone of the men who wintered at Valley Forge?
Gordon was pretty cool too.
The United States of Southern Canada works for me...Tell me it is still possible?????
The death of a great man.
This has become a current dilemna and lesson for us all. The Federal government has become the oppressor. Are we citizens of individual states, or of the federal government as a whole? Or of the Constitution? The 10th Amendment favors the States. That’s where Lee’s heart was.
Amen to that. We are no longer a free people.
The Confederacy was not worthy of Lee and the men who fought so that the Confederate elite could sit at home and grow even richer through slave labor while the families of the warriors starved.
dixie ping -- both sides respected him
Your name befits you Sir.I came real close to not responding to the idiocy of your comment,but the better Angles of my nature required me to.Study your history Sir and you will find that your statement is completely without merit
Thanks for the reference!
This Westerner, as a young person, had never been encouraged to study the generals of either the North or the South. In fact, I don’t remember a single full hour being used in my California high school in discussion of the war between the states. I only knew that I shared Robert Lee’s birth date, January 19th.
In the late 1980s our family spent considerable time in the Carolinas, and around dinner tables, listened to many people speak of the war, its causes, and its affects. Many had shelves full of books and war antiques.
I remember several older men in South Carolina discussing how that if Lincoln had let the Southern States go, and had not attacked the South, the USA and CSA would have been re-united again within a generation without a drop of blood spilt . . . with slavery gone as well. I wish I had a recording of that discussion from which to make a transcript to post here.
Later, when I was abroad and hungry for books to read, someone in Kansas City sent me a copy of Grey Fox, on General Lee, of course. At the moment I can’t recall the author’s name (perhaps someone else who has read it can post the author’s name). A read it thrice, back-to-back, and cried many times during my reading.
This Westerner joins you, Larry, in your salute, and the nation’s salute, of a fine Christian gentleman and great soldier, Robert E. Lee.
“One of the greatest generals.”
Fighting a defensive battle, particularly on Virginia soil, Lee was without peer. He was help by the series of non-entities that the Union sent against him. On offense he was a disaster, and got his clock cleaned every time he did it.
He was an honorable man and a good, but not great, general.
I do wonder how he would have fared in the West, where the war was decided, which needed a good defensive general.
Your post is simply wrong. Chancellorsville was Lee on the offense and it was a brilliantly fought battle.
Lee took over the defense of Richmond when McClellan was virtually in position to capture the city and routed him. He did do so at a cost but still saved the city and possibly the country.
At Antietam Lee fought his best battle. He was unfortunate to have his battle plans found by McClellan and Mc realizing what he had, declared that he would destroy Lee’s army within a day. (and he should havd) Lee caught in a very precarious situation, his plans known, the location of all his troops known and badly outnumbered by fine troops ably led.
Lee extricated himself by brilliant moves and counter moves thus preserving his army from total destruction.
At Gettysburg Lee still did not suffer as many casualties as Meade tho they were close. He probably lost that battle due to defective fuses which caused his massive bombardment of Union lines before picket’s charge to all miss their targets.
I forgot to mention that when Lee took over the defense of Richmond, he went on the offensive.
I agree.
Always gotta be one on a thread like this that has no clue as to what they’re talking about.
The problem with Antietam and Gettysburg is that the battles were fought at all. The South was outnumbered from the start of the war. The only way to win it is to hold on and wear the Union down. Every time Lee left Virginia to go North he failed. He also effectively threw away the lives of several thousand soldiers that the Confederacy could ill afford to lose.
To win the Civil War the Rebels have to do four things:
1. Keep the army intact
2. Keep the Union out of Atlanta
3. Keep the Mississippi open.
4. Do the above long enough that the war loses Union support and Lincoln is defeated in 1864. If they do that they win, if they do not, they lose.
Lee lost soldiers on pointless raids into the North that he would disparately need later in the war.
>>Will we as a people choose to cower,or show the backbone of the men who wintered at Valley Forge?<<
Most people will stay glued to the idiot box and the latest “American Idol” show. I would hope that most Freepers would be at a Valley Forge.
On General Lee’s prowess, consider this: he assembled a full army, equipped them with uniforms, drilled them; put them in the field and defeated the Yankees at Manassas- in less than a year. With all our technological and manufacturing prowess, it took that long in World War II to fight in Africa and land on Guadalcanal.
I truly believe that General Lee fought to keep the “united States” as a union of States versus the outcome of the war when the United States became a federal power over the States.
As it is said, before the war is was said that the “united States are”, but after the war the saying became, “the United States is”.
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