The war had only an iota to do with slavery ...
Posted on 01/19/2014 5:51:53 AM PST by BigReb555
“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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
Fess Parker played “Davy Crockett” on TV, American school and military bands played “Dixie” and the late country music legend Johnny Cash sang “God Bless Robert E. Lee” that includes these words:
“I won't ever stop loving you my Dixie till they put me in the ground. And the last words they probably hear from me are God bless Robert E Lee.”
What was General Robert E. Lee’s favorite war horse? See answer at end of article.
January is a historic month of history when students, teachers, parents, Joe and Jane America and the world will hear much praise in memorial tribute to the Civil Rights leader and Baptist Pastor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was born on the 15th day of January, in the year of our Lord, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia…. But, shouldn’t local, state and national news institutions also give fair and equal treatment and coverage to those who will remember the birthdays of General’s Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee who were also born during the month of January?
There will be memorial tributes to honor Dr. Martin Luther King in January and….
General Robert E. Lee will be memorialized in Lexington, Virginia with a tribute to both him and Stonewall Jackson on January 17th and 18th. Read more at: http://leejacksonday.webs.com/
The Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans will again sponsor their annual Robert E. Lee Birthday Commemorative on Saturday January 18, 2014 at the Old Capitol Building, 201 E. Greene St., Milledgeville, Georgia. The parade route will assemble at 10:30 a.m. at the Old Governor's Mansion on W. Hancock Street and proceed through downtown to the Old Capitol on East Greene St.
The ceremony should begin around 11:00 a.m. at the Old Capitol where Georgia voted to secede from the Union in 1861. Read more at: http://gascv.org/robert-e-lee-celebration/#comment-4
During Robert E. Lee's 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Army Commander and grandson of United States President John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee College's Lee Chapel in Lexington, Virginia. 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.
Could you imagine the President of the United States, members of Congress or A Northern Veteran speaking publicly today in tribute to General Lee like Commander Adams and President Theodore Roosevelt did while touring the South in 1905?....The president told an aged group of Confederate Veterans in Richmond, Virginia:
“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.”
Who was Robert E. Lee?
Robert E. Lee was born on Jan. 19, 1807, at “Stratford” in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The winter was cold and the fireplaces were little help for Robert's mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, who suffered from a severe cold. Ann Lee named her son "Robert Edward" after her two brothers.
Lee was educated at the schools of Alexandria, Va., and also received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York 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, Georgia, to supervise the construction of Fort Pulaski.
Robert E. Lee wed Mary Anna Randolph Custis in June 1831. Robert and Mary had grown up together. Mary was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington and the adopted son of George Washington.
In 1836, Lee was appointed to first lieutenant. In 1838, with the rank of captain, Lee fought valiantly in the War with Mexico and was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.
He was appointed superintendent of 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. Lee would command the legendary Army of Northern Virginia for the South during the War Between the States.
The answer to the question of what was Lee’s beloved war horse is “Traveller” who is buried near Robert E. Lee and his family at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
Do our schools teach the young folks about Robert E. Lee and his farewell address to the troops?
Robert E. Lee, Farewell to the Army of Northern Virginia
Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia Appomattox Courthouse, April 10, 1865 (General Orders No. 9)
After four years' arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.
I need not tell the survivors of so many hard fought battles who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them, but feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the loss which would have attended the continuation of the contest, I have determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed, and I earnestly pray that a merciful God may extend to you His blessing and protection. With an increasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration of myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell.
Robert E. Lee General
Let’s not forget our heroes!
I wonder who will emerge as the heroes in the next war between the states?
Thanx 4-posting!
Dick.G: AMERICAN !
*****
Thanks for posting.
s, ping....
I will not forget. But the next generation will never even hear of Lee and many others.
We are in the midst of a purge very similar to the purges of the old Soviet Union. Remember the pictures taken in 1918-1960 then displayed with some formerly important personage airbrushed out? Same thing is happening in the United States now. My grandchildren will only know Robert E. Lee and the others as evil slave owners who were disloyal to America and Lincoln.
You’re just kidding aren’t you? You know that R. E. Lee was a patriotic son of Virginia and needed to fight to push the juggernaut that was then the central government back to the tiny District of Columbia.
This had nothing to do with being a traitor and everything to do with what’s happening in this pathetic nation today. That central government of 1861 is now an octopus. It’s tentacles reach into every facet of our everyday lives. It is now the Central Communist Government!
The war had only an iota to do with slavery, but everything to do with the rights of the states and the Constitution.
Be concerned about the miasma created by statists that today literally chokes the life out of a once great nation.
Was he still not an American when he was a general for the Confederacy?
Wouldn't that depend on how you define the term?
August 9, 1960
Dear Dr. Scott:
Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War Between the States the issue of Secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.
General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his belief in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.
From deep conviction I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s caliber would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.
Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.
Sincerely,
Dwight D. Eisenhower
He was loyal to Virginia
Lest we forget, there were many black soldiers fighting for the Confederacy
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/blackcs.htm
this was a war of differing visions
it split families
most who fought fought on principle
Your brief profile indicates you served our country, YOU are an American Patriot.
In light of the current political landscape, I often lament for what our country would look like if the yankees had lost the war.
Robert E. Lee is indeed a hero and a patriot to the South. Perhaps not to the North, but certainly to the South.
Comparing the likes of Pelosi, McCain, Graham, Ried, Obozo, Clinton, Jimmy Carter to General Lee would be an absolute insult to the very notion of courage, integrity, honor, chivalry, patriotism, loyalty.
The whole notion that the war of Northern aggression was about slavery is in of itself sophomoric and a shallow understanding of the war.
Because of the outcome of the war, we live under a mammoth federal social state where liberty, freedom and a government of the people...are no more.
If Robert E. Lee’s home in 1861 wasn’t in Virginia (at the site of what is now Arlington National Cemetery), he would have ended being Union general—and that could have dramatically changed the course of the Civil War.
Perhaps it is the "forlorn hope" theme of the Southern cause, or the vestiges of nobility that guided so many of his actions, but whatever the source, there is something almost classically tragic about his story, and he remains an inspiration to any who would forgo their partisan alignment and focus on traits that transcend mere allegiance.
Thanks for posting. I had never read that.
Put his bust in the WH next to Churchills.
Lee, Jackson and other generals were simply really bothered that an unwelcome visitor was on Virginia soil. That was their motivation to engage.
Sad. Posts such as this reinforce my confidence that we made the right decision in homeschooling our daughter...
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