Posted on 12/21/2020 9:35:46 AM PST by EinNYC
A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed overnight from its perch in the US Capitol where it has stood next to George Washington for 111 years and will be replaced by one honoring a civil rights icon from Virginia.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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 a poised and inspiring leader, true to the high trust reposed in him by millions of his fellow citizens; 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 faith 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 calibre 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
General Lee's character has been an example to succeeding generations, making the restoration of his citizenship an event in which every American can take pride.
President Gerald R. Ford ( in 1975)
What was their takes on his actions as a slave owner?
Mount Vernon will be next. It's not run by the National Park Service. It's always been managed by a private group.
Two of Washington's closest associates in winning our liberty were Lee's father and uncle. Men like Lee epitomized the Founders' posterity,, the liberty of whom was the stated purpose of the Revolution & the Constitution that followed. Truly this is the theatre of the absurd!!
Have the Leftist betrayers of the heritage of Virginia ever read the Preamble to the Constitution? Did any of them understand it? Will no one rise to defend the noble men who created the institutions being betrayed?
When Lee’s wife inherited the Custis estate it was nearly insolvent. It was specified in her father’s will that all the slaves were to be freed once the estate was restored to solvency. Lee was a full time army officer and was not around to run the enterprise. He did take a long leave and did what he could. Some of the slaves were leased out and there is one account of Lee’s being present when a runaway was flogged.
The estate did regain solvency and the slaves were freed. As late as 1862 Lee was still trying to get their papers to them so they would legally be freemen.
Give Lee’s statue a bath and put him in a more respectable location. Lee had no business being in that den of filth.
"Being present" is a helluva a way to spin it. Guess he wanted to watch too.
It has frequently been represented by the friends and admirers of Robert E. Lee, late an officer in the rebel army, that, although a slaveholder, his treatment of his chattels was invariably kind and humane. The subjoined statement, taken from the lips of one of his former slaves, indicates the real character of the man:
My name is Wesley Norris; I was born a slave on the plantation of George Parke Custis; after the death of Mr. Custis, Gen. Lee, who had been made executor of the estate, assumed control of the slaves, in number about seventy; it was the general impression among the slaves of Mr. Custis that on his death they should be forever free; in fact this statement had been made to them by Mr. C. years before; at his death we were informed by Gen. Lee that by the conditions of the will we must remain slaves for five years; I remained with Gen. Lee for about seventeen months, when my sister Mary, a cousin of ours, and I determined to run away, which we did in the year 1859; we had already reached Westminster, in Maryland, on our way to the North, when we were apprehended and thrown into prison, and Gen. Lee notified of our arrest; we remained in prison fifteen days, when we were sent back to Arlington; we were immediately taken before Gen. Lee, who demanded the reason why we ran away; we frankly told him that we considered ourselves free; he then told us he would teach us a lesson we never would forget; he then ordered us to the barn, where, in his presence, we were tied firmly to posts by a Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us fifty lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but twenty; we were accordingly stripped to the skin by the overseer, who, however, had sufficient humanity to decline whipping us; accordingly Dick Williams, a county constable, was called in, who gave us the number of lashes ordered; Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to lay it on well, an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine, which was done. After this my cousin and myself were sent to Hanover Court-House jail, my sister being sent to Richmond to an agent to be hired; we remained in jail about a week, when we were sent to Nelson county, where we were hired out by Gen. Lee’s agent to work on the Orange and Alexander railroad; we remained thus employed for about seven months, and were then sent to Alabama, and put to work on what is known as the Northeastern railroad; in January, 1863, we were sent to Richmond, from which place I finally made my escape through the rebel lines to freedom; I have nothing further to say; what I have stated is true in every particular, and I can at any time bring at least a dozen witnesses, both white and black, to substantiate my statements: I am at present employed by the Government; and am at work in the National Cemetary on Arlington Heights, where I can be found by those who desire further particulars; my sister referred to is at present employed by the French Minister at Washington, and will confirm my statement.
Nobody is asking you to be grateful for Hitler but just to understand (as you seemingly do) that bad circumstances as much as good circumstances are part of the fateful mix that creates who we are. If Hitler had taken up gardening instead of world domination, neither you or I would be having this discussion right now.
I can imagine how you and yours will conform to the rewrite that is going to happen over the next few years. Modern interpretation of old circumstances is the fodder of liberals. Glad I don’t know you.
What rewrite? The one that attempted to cast Lee as not a violent and repressive slave holder?
You’re an ass. Go off by your self, and do what perverters do.
Whip their slaves and cover their wounds in brine?
Wouldn’t you be happy over in the ANTIFA camp? Robert E. Lee was a great American and if you cannot see that you must have the mindset of Robespierre.
Do you think slavery is a 'Christian' practice?
Robert E. Lee was a traitor to the United States of America and should have been hung by the neck until dead after he was captured. Anyone who loves America has nothing but contempt for those who would take up arms against it.
“Thank God My Granddaddy Got On That Boat!” - Muhammad Ali
As Thomas Sowell pointed out, it was a universal practice at the time of this country’s founding. It was all over the world. Instant freedom for slaves was only possible through the filter of learning the modern ways of agriculture. Even then there were terrible shortfalls of knowledge for struggling freedmen. As Jubal Early said, “What a gentle institution slavery must have been to have so well prepared the Negro for the ballot box.” At the time the majority of South Carolina’s state house was made up of Blacks.
You also belong in the ANTIFA camp. I would gladly serve with Robert E. Lee, then or now.
None of that dissembling touched my question.
Do you think slavery is a ‘Christian’ practice?
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