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!
LOL...not a very difficult prediction to make, eh?
No. And your last post re: Stonewall Jackson has already begun the cut and paste brigade's search for bad things written or said about the man.
There, fixed it.
Another thing that bothers me is that every slave came in on Northern ships. They made their profits off slavery, but seemed to rather selfishly not understand the cost to the South that abolition would have meant. Surely the shipping concerns that made so much on the slave trade should have contributed to relieve that burden.
Forebears of mine volunteered to wear the blue, and some never returned, others received gifts of Southern lead and/or Southern hospitality. Graves of my family lie in a churchyard with a historical marker that highlights the strong abolitionist fervor of the church. If there are ever reparations, I sure hope I get my chunk for all my non-slaveholding, non-slave importing, sacrificing ancestors did! :-)
I often ponder whether they would have wanted the Lincoln bureaucratic behemoth, though, and I somehow doubt it.
I think that's one of the lost cause myths.
And of course, blacks loved Stonewall because he ran a "colored Sunday school," where he taught "Negroes" how to read and how to achieve salvation.
Jackson didn't run the school, it was sponsored by the Presbyterian Church he was a member of. Black Sunday schools were common throughout the south, Jackson wasn't unique in teaching in one. The schools taught scripture, not reading, and were for both free blacks and slaves. Some of the slaves attending belonged to Jackson himself.
He wasn't treasonous at all. He was very loyal to Virginia, his home State that had been united with others. Recall that when Virginia (and New York) ratified the Constitution, they did so with the explicit mention that it was only with the understanding that secession would be allowed. Lincoln changed the rules, not Lee.
Besides, there was nary a word when New England states had considered secession a few decades previously. Why were those gatherings not broken up as "seditious" or something?
So, as long as a person remains loyal to their home state, they can commit whatever treason they want against the United States? Interesting.
Besides, there was nary a word when New England states had considered secession a few decades previously. Why were those gatherings not broken up as "seditious" or something?
Because, AFAIK, they did not organize an army and attempt to secede from the Union.
Just a minor detail that, I reckon.
Respect, not intimidation. No one intimidated Grant. This does not mean Grant did not take into account his opponents abilities.
Lee was a courteous man. Shame you have not learned anything from your hero.
He taught a class, and yes it was sponsored by the church. (But if you know so much about this, surely you recall that Jackson sent funds himself from the field back to Lexington for the school.)
So what if black sunday schools were common throughout the South? Why would that diminish the fact that it was a very different situation from what is often portrayed in Northern grade schools today? It only illustrates my point more.
And yes, it was for both free and slaves...again, even slaves were taught (which conflicts with what was taught to me in grade school). And the sources I have seen have pretty clearly indicated that reading WAS taught...else no mention would be made of him violating laws against teaching blacks to read! Where are you getting your claim?
Truth.
My comment was to the well recognized fact that Lincoln trashed the Constitution.
Will you accord the same honor to President Grant, General Grant?
Uh, he resigned his commission, and Virginia seceded...there was no way he could have committed treason against the United States when they weren't a part of it.
You need to look at the historical perspective and see that before the South was invaded and subdued, there were states that were united...thus, united states. The individuality of the states was quite clear, as Robert E. Lee felt loyalty to Virginia, not to some "Confederacy" when he resigned his US commission. Recall that the confederacy formed after states had seceded.
New England states considered secession and raising an army. Again, why was the discussion of that, and the voting on it, not seditious?
How?
I understand. Mine was to the well recognized fact that he saved the United States of America.
Oh he was pretty rough on it Non-S. But he needed to be, FDR was as well. I have no doubts that W would be if he needed to.
Only if you accept the southern acts of unilateral secession to be legal.
New England states considered secession and raising an army. Again, why was the discussion of that, and the voting on it, not seditious?
The Sedition Acts had been ruled unconstitutional some time before so merely talking about rebellion wasn't illegal. Too, the Hartford Convention never seriously debated secession. Those attending advocating the breakup of the Union were voted down early. If you read the declaration issued by the convention you would find that nowhere does it threaten secession.
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