Stop the revisionism.
Robert E. Lee was a traitor.
“Stop the revisionism.
Robert E. Lee was a traitor.”
Lee lived and died a Great American, among the greatest.
Instead of maligning him, you should aspire to be like Lee, if you think you are worthy enough.
You are a traitor to revisionism, sir.
You are a traitor to revisionism, sir.
You are a traitor to revisionism, sir.
You are a traitor to revisionism, sir.
Lol. Someone has been in the government “skool” system way too long.
Then so was George Washington...
“With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword...”
His last five years were spent as a non-citizen with life and liberty at the mercy of the bounders and petty tyrants who had come exercise the power of the United States. This he endured with exemplary Christian fortitude and charity. Lee was an audacious military genius and inspired leader of men, called by Churchill the greatest captain of the English-speaking peoples, but his fame rests even more upon his character. No American leader has ever set a higher example in peace and war of what the Western world used to understand as a Christian gentleman. When the “traitor” died in 1870, the New York Herald editorialized: “Here in the North we . . .have claimed him as one of ourselves. . . have extolled his virtue as reflecting upon us – for Robert E. Lee was an American, and the great nation which gave him birth would be today unworthy of such a son if she regarded him lightly.”
Explain yourself ReaganMAN!!
That kind of mindset is beyond the comprehension of most people today. A nation that despises those kinds of loyalties has nothing to complain about when it ends up being led by a half-black, quasi-Muslim chief executive who considers himself a "citizen of the world" and has no loyalty to this country at all.
Lee was as great as Washington, he just happened to lose.
In that context, understand this quote:
"With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword....." Lee in a letter to his sister, April 20, 1861
It was an honorable decision..to suggest anything else is revisionist.
Lest anyone think I wrap myself up in the Rebel Flag and sing Dixie, not so fast. My family was considered nothing less than traitorous. My ancestor was considered the leader of a "Nest of Union men" between Cold Harbor and Dispatch Station. The night of the succession vote he rode past the tavern with 2 Union flags on his buggy and a "Whoop and a holler." The day after the vote he and others raised a Union flag high above Barker's Store.
"He did more for the black man than he could have done had he picked up a gun and fought with the Yankees." Not my words, the words of a friend, an ex-slave, who would drive the market carts from Richmond with a Rebel deserter, an escaped Union prisoner or a runaway slave hidden in the back. Another member of the 'nest' was a man considered to be the "meanest son of a bitch in the county because he believed no man should be owned." Another painted a sign with an eagle and the words "E Pluribus Unum" and put it in front of his tavern...the very tavern where the succession vote was held. He was disinherited by his father.
When they arrived at the old place my ancestor would smuggle them past confederate lines to Charles City. He rented a house in New Kent County for them to stay until the group was ready to leave. He loaned them money--a gift really because he knew he would not see these people again.
As a Virginian, I understand Lee's decision. I respect it. I admire the decision my family made. The lesson learned was stand up for what you think is right, regardless of the risk.
One thing is for certain, the very same people who called my family traitors and wanted to hang them from a tree for siding with the Union were a hell of a lot more forgiving than people are today. When the war was over, it was over. They got on with their lives.
So I am not some Southern "Heritage, not Hate" romantic as we are stereotyped. I don't pretend to speak for all Southerners, they don't need my voice. But I have made it a point to learn how history affected my family through the centuries.
I am not a debater. I cannot argue the causes of the war on a scholarly level. But I do have a good idea of what the real world was like for my family. I usually stay away from these threads. It is like arguing religion. Sometimes I just get pissed off and can't keep my mouth shut. :-)
You clearly do not understand this term any better than you understand U.S. history.
“Robert E. Lee was a traitor.” Then what in the hell is Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.?
“Robert E. Lee was a traitor.”
To whom? The United States or the united States? Lincoln was a traitor to all things concerning liberty and freedom.
‘zat you Wlat?
No, Lee was loyal to his state and his people. Lee was an American hero and a paragon of the Southern virtue that perished in that war as opposed to Grant who was a lush and Sherman who was a war criminal.
When I noted that most Freepers are favorable to Robert E. Lee, you responded,
Only those perpetuating a dead ideology from 145 years ago. I'll excuse the ignorant. Just remember, whether Lee was called a traitor or just a disloyal American, never forget where Arlington National Cemetery was located and why.However, if you search through the Lee threads on FR, you will find that the vast majority are favorable. Most negative remarks about him concern not his supposed "treason," but rather his judgment as a military strategist and tactician.
No, I haven't forgotten where Arlington National Cemetery is located, and why--it is on land that was illegally seized from the Lee family by the federal government.