Posted on 01/18/2005 5:57:53 PM PST by wagglebee
All the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our Forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth.
--Robert E. Lee
Why do Americans continue to remember their past?
Perhaps it is because it was a time when truth was spoken. Men and women took their stand to give us the freedoms we now enjoy. God bless those in military service, who do their duty around the world for freedom.
The Hall of Fame for great Americans opened in 1900 in New York City. One thousand names were submitted, but only 29 received a majority vote from the electors. General Robert E. Lee, 30 years after his death, was among those honored. A bust of Lee was given to New York University by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Let America not forget January 19, 2005, the 198th birthday of General Robert E. Lee.
Robert E. Lee was born at Stratford House, Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 19, 1807. The winter was cold and fireplaces were little help. Robert's mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, was suffering from a severe cold.
Ann Lee named her son Robert Edward after her two brothers.
Robert E. Lee undoubtedly acquired his love of country from those who had lived during the American Revolution. His father, "Light Horse" Harry, was a hero of the revolution and served as governor of Virginia and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Members of his family also signed the Declaration of Independence.
Lee was educated in the schools of Alexandria, Virginia. In 1825, he received an appointment to West Point Military Academy. He graduated in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit.
Robert E. Lee wed Mary Anna Randolph Custis in June 1831, two years after his graduation from West Point. 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.
Mary was an only child; therefore, she inherited Arlington House, across the Potomac from Washington, where she and Robert raised seven children.
Army promotions were slow. 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.
President-to-be Abraham Lincoln offered command of the Union Army to Lee in 1861, but Lee refused. He would not raise arms against his native state.
War was in the air. The country was in turmoil of separation. Lee wrestled with his soul. He had served in the United States Army for over 30 years.
After an all-night battle, much of that time on his knees in prayer, Robert Edward Lee reached his decision. He reluctantly resigned his commission and headed home to Virginia.
Arlington House would be occupied by the Federals, who would turn the estate into a war cemetery. Today it is one of our country's most cherished memorials, Arlington National Cemetery.
President John F. Kennedy visited Arlington shortly before he was assassinated in 1963 and said he wanted to be buried there. And he is, in front of Robert E. Lee's home.
Lee served as adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and then commanded the legendary Army of Northern Virginia. The exploits of Lee's army fill thousands of books today.
After four terrible years of death and destruction, General Robert E. Lee met General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, and ended their battles. He told his disheartened comrades, "Go home and be good Americans."
Lee was called Marse Robert, Uncle Robert and Marble Man. He was loved by the people of the South and adopted by the folks from the North.
Robert E. 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."
In the fall of 1865, Lee was offered and accepted the presidency of troubled Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. The school was renamed Washington and Lee in his honor.
Robert E. Lee died of a heart attack at 9:30 on the morning of October 12, 1870, at Washington-Lee College. His last words were "Strike the tent." He was 63 years of age.
He is buried in a chapel on the school grounds with his family and near his favorite horse, Traveller.
A prolific letter writer, Lee wrote his most famous quote to son Custis in 1852: "Duty is the sublimest word in our language."
On this 198th anniversary let us ponder the words he wrote to Annette Carter in 1868: "I grieve for posterity, for American principles and American liberty."
Winston Churchill called Lee "one of the noblest Americans who ever lived." Lee's life was one of service and self-sacrifice. His motto was "Duty, Honor, Country."
God Bless America!
BTTT
"Wow. That's weird, cause I thought Lincoln was a Republican? Bizzare."
Yes, he was such a great man that he had Northern newspapermen jailed and their presses broken for writing stories critical of him. He suspended Habeous Corpus (sp?) and even had a congressman jailed. I don't think it matters what party he was from he was still a rascal with no respect for the Constitution.
I agree. Everything I've ever read about the man says the same thing. He was against secession, but his loyalty to Virginia forced him to fight for her. It must have tormented him to have to make the decision that he made, but he felt that he had no choice. It probably seems strange to people that a man whose father was a Revolutionary War hero could fight against the Union that his father helped to establish, but I don't think we can understand the loyalty that men had for their home states at that time.
Happy birthday to your son! My son (who is also named James) shares a birthday with Alexander Hamilton Stephens - February 11th.
I know of one father who named his sons David Lee and Michael Lee. When David Lee begat a daughter, he was sad that they did not Lee in her name somehow.
Somewhere along the line, the Democrat and Republican Parties have swapped positions - Lincoln's Republican Party stood for a bloated federal government, strong central control, high taxes, lots of government projects (mostly railroads and canals) and limiting the rights of states and individuals. Of course, they could not possible conceive how far down that road we have come since then...
I think that Lee was one of the three best men to be forged in the fires of the Civil War. The other two are Grant and Lincoln. Without these three, the late great unpleasantness may not have ended on such an optimistic note.
Nice post. Thanks. I've always admired the General.
He more than just ignored the Constitution. He trampled it under his foot, mocked it, and destroyed it.
I suggest you head on back whence you came.
I was born and raised in the north, yet I learned that General Lee was indeed an honorable man. This lesson was reinforced during my extended stay in the South. Why is it that dumba$$es (not unlike your less than lovely self) cannot let people honor their heroes without throwing out your snide and utterly uncalled-for "wit"??? General Lee may not have been on the side of the angels during the war, but he was far from being on the side of the devil, as General Grant was, to his eternal discredit... and, yes, I am referring to the far less than venerable A. Lincoln.
I sure do wish people would remember the service he rendered in Mexico under Gen. Scott. Down there he was part SEAL part Prussian general staff officer. Amazing record. He could've died in '49 and would've been remembered as one heck of a soldier.
Jackson could have been the fourth. That blacks would sneak past Union sentries to put flowers upon Stonewall's grave speaks volumes.
Look up Honor in a dictionary, see Gen. Lee's picture
there.
The side of states' rights and the side of allowing states, when the Federal government threatened their rights, to take the ultimate enforcement action. Without the right to secede, the Federal colossus can do to the states (and by extension to individuals) any darn thing it wants, effectively. Secession, although it should be a VERY last resort, is the ultimate means to keep Federal power in check.
I am very proud to have Lee blood. They truly are the First Family of Virginia and one of America's first families. (It was a Lee who wrote the resolution for independence, you know.)
What schools? My children didn't get one word about Gen. Robert E. Lee in school! So we made darn sure they knew who he was and what a fine example he set. Later we went to Stratford Hall and they learned a lot more; also went to Appomattox Courthouse and several of the great Battlefields, and spent a lot of time in Lexington, Va.,(Stonewall Jackson),etc.--that was the Civil War History vacation. The kids soaked it up, too. The way things have gone in this country,a parent has to do a lot of teaching if they expect the kids to actually learn HISTORY of AMERICA in addition to school classes for they just aren't about to do it. And, that is why this country has been going down the wrong road for so many years!!!!Parents are not taking the time to teach and we are losing our children to a bunch of talking heads who don't have a clue. Thanks to W also for the great post!
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