Robert E. Lee: Icon of the South -- and American Hero

American Spectator ^ | 1/30/07 | HW Crocker III

[RayStacy]

Robert E. Lee: Icon of the South -- and American Hero By H. W. Crocker III Published 1/30/2007 12:08:14 AM

January can be a depressing month. The Christmas decorations come down, the creche is returned to its box (save for those hardliners, like the Crocker family, who leave the nativity set up until 2 February, the Presentation of the Lord), and the tree is dragged unceremoniously from the house. If you've had any time off of work, it ends; the spirit of Christmas can deflate pretty fast, if you're not careful. Even if you are, and you're returning to a desk job, you might start day-dreaming (as I always do) about whether you could, in good conscience, risk the family finances and try your hand at farming or ranching or doing anything that would get you out of an office and away from the corporate crowd.

But we all have to buckle down to our responsibilities, and as we settle down to it, there comes along another anniversary, another date to mark, another birthday to celebrate. In traditional Southern households, four weeks after Christmas, comes the birthday of Robert E. Lee, icon of the South, "one of the noblest Americans who ever lived, and of the greatest captains known to the annals of war" (according to Winston Churchill).

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Lee's birth, and yet so far it seems to have been marked largely by silence. How many of you noticed, or celebrated yourselves, Lee's birthday on 19 January (or Stonewall Jackson's on 21 January)? Lee's birthday is still officially marked in some Southern states, but the great and good general seems to be slipping from America's consciousness, or at least from America's esteem.

Lee, in the mind of some, has become a sectarian hero, when he used to be a national one. Theodore Roosevelt, scion of a Yankee father and a Southern mother, thought Lee was "without any exception the very greatest of all the great captains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth." On Lee's death in 1870, a Northern paper, the New York Herald, editorialized: "Here in the North... we have long ceased to look upon him as the Confederate leader, but have claimed him as one of ourselves; have cherished and felt proud of his military genius as belonging to us; have recounted and recorded his triumphs as our own; have extolled his virtue as reflecting upon us -- for Robert Edward Lee was an American, and the great nation which gave him birth would be to-day unworthy of such a son if she regarded him lightly. Never had mother a nobler son."

IT IS IRONIC THAT LEE was so respected as a national hero when the wounds of war were still fresh, but now, a century and a half later, he is considered discredited because of the cause for which he fought. Yet his cause, if anything, is another reason to admire him.

If that last statement sounds controversial, consider, without prejudice, the cause for which Lee sacrificed everything -- his life, his family, his career. It was a simple and eloquent one that every humane man should be able to rally round: "With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty as an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home." In another letter, he wrote, "a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets has no charm for me. If the Union is dissolved and government disrupted, I shall return to my native state and share the miseries of my people, and save in defense will draw my sword on none."

Lee would have endorsed the view of General Richard (son of Zachary) Taylor who said that he and his fellow Southerners had fought not for the preservation of slavery -- regret for slavery's loss, Taylor noted after the war, "has neither been felt nor expressed" -- but rather, they had "striven for that which brought our forefathers to Runnymede, the privilege of exercising some influence in their own government."

That Lee believed that the Confederacy had only exercised its rights as guaranteed under the Constitution, defended by the founders, and invoked by states and statesmen "for the last seventy years," can be seen in his letter of 15 December 1866 to Lord Acton, in which he says precisely that. He wishes that "the judgment of reason" had not "been displaced by the arbitrament of war," but concludes it has been, and it is time for the South to move on, to accept "without reserve... the extinction of slavery.... [A]n event that has been long sought, though in a different way, and by none... more earnestly desired than by citizens of Virginia," and to "trust that the constitution may undergo no [further] change, but that it may be handed down to our succeeding generations in the form we received it from our forefathers."

This does not sound like a man whose politics should bar him from the admiration that used to be his due.

I THINK, HOWEVER, THAT THERE IS another, deeper reason why Lee makes modern America uncomfortable. It is his Christianity -- not the fact the he was a believer, but that he actually knew what it meant to pursue the imitation of Christ. Try reading the Gospel of Matthew and you'll find that it's arresting stuff. And Lee, though gentle in demeanor -- indeed a thoroughgoing gentleman -- could be equally arresting.

When a young mother sought Lee's advice for raising her infant son, Lee replied, "Teach him he must deny himself." Or how about this: "Duty...is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things.... You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less."

Lee always put others first; he believed that to lead is to serve; he believed that the "forbearing use of power does not only form the touchstone, but the manner ... of a true gentleman.... A true gentleman of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help humbling others."

Today, Self seems to be the great god of most people. They bow before the presumed truth that happiness lies in self-esteem and "self-actualization" -- a very self-flattering way of affirming that one's "inner self" is always right, and the source of all truth. Self-denial, unless it is in the form of a diet (to make us feel better about ourselves), is not much in vogue.

Well, Lee was the great anti-self-actualizer of American history. As Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Douglas Southall Freeman put it: "Had [Lee's] life been epitomized in one sentence of the Book he read so often, it would have been in the words, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.'"

Today, many find that sentence too bracing, and Lee, who embodied it, becomes an affront, a perfect example of Mark Twain's apothegm that "Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."

And it's not just that, of course. Ignorance is part of the problem too. For how many Americans today know the real Robert E. Lee or know anything about him at all, save that he was a general "who fought for slavery."

If we want an America of heroes, we need to cherish our heroes of the past. It is to the advantage of every Southerner, of every American, to renew his acquaintance with Robert E. Lee, because there simply is no finer American hero.

[the OlLine Rebel]

A very famous 1 at that. ;-)

[Southern Partisan]

Bama ping

[OldSmaj]

How many of you noticed, or celebrated yourselves, Lee's birthday on 19 January (or Stonewall Jackson's on 21 January)?

Well, since I knew I was going to be busy on the 19th and the 21st, I celebrated both on the 15th of January.

I even took a monday holiday for it.

[rockrr]

I hadn't heard of any agenda against the Stone Mountain Memorial. How organized an effort is there? Any links?

[groanup]

General Robert E. Lee, leader of the Confederate army, won the respect of North and South alike. In fact General Lee was loved and admired the world over. Sir Garnet Joseph Woseley from England, who met Lee on several occasions wrote: "I never felt my own individual insignificance more keenly then I did in his presence. I have met many of the great men of my time, but Lee alone impressed me with the feeling that I was in the presence of a man who was cast in a grander mold, and made of a different and finer metal than all other men.'' General Lee was the very embodiment of all that was good in the Confederate States of America, and to this very day is loved and admired by any one that has a knowledge of history...

[Zeroisanumber]

Well he did get a riverboat named after him.

And a car.

[groanup]

Right now, they are trying to gin up interest in destroying the memorial at Stone Mountain.

L - R: Davis, Lee, Jackson

[13Sisters76]

Truthfully, I don't know- I heard it mentioned at work. I never sought out any of the facts because I have a feeling it isn't going very far. I'll poke around and see what I can find...

[BnBlFlag]

I believe the Government was forcrd to make restitution to the Lee family later after one of his sons filed suit.

[Towsoncrs]

Just a side note... Lee is the only cadet to ever graduate West Point without a single demerit, he was also second in his class.

Members of Kappa Alpha Order - Which was founded at Washington and Lee College still celebrate Lee's Birthday every year and strive to be gentleman just like Lee.

[TheDon]

The War was indeed over the issue of states rights...the right of the states to continue slavery inspite of the federal government. The Civil War resolved the slavery issue that had not been resolved when the US Constitution was written, and had been a problem ever since.

That Lee believed that the Confederacy had only exercised its rights as guaranteed under the Constitution, defended by the founders, and invoked by states and statesmen "for the last seventy years," can be seen in his letter of 15 December 1866 to Lord Acton, in which he says precisely that. He wishes that "the judgment of reason" had not "been displaced by the arbitrament of war," but concludes it has been, and it is time for the South to move on, to accept "without reserve... the extinction of slavery.... [A]n event that has been long sought, though in a different way, and by none... more earnestly desired than by citizens of Virginia," and to "trust that the constitution may undergo no [further] change, but that it may be handed down to our succeeding generations in the form we received it from our forefathers."

As they were seeking English help, it was wise to speak so. The English weren't about to help the secessionist promote slavery.

It is too easy for Lee to side step the slavery issue by saying he was falling in with his family and friends on state's rights to practice slavery.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Actually Lee never owned Arlington himself. When George Custis died, he left the plantation to his daughter Mary Custis Lee, and then in turn to her son, George Custis Lee.

[groanup]

You can certainly count expansion of slavery in the west among the issues of secession which were vast and complex. You can also count on one hand the number of Union soldiers who went to war to "end slavery". Wasn't an issue save for a few abolitionists in New England.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I am a Southerner and was taught early as a child that Sherman was evil, not quite on Hitler or Stalin's level, but close. In Georgia, his name was generally spoken as a curse.
I love history and because I received a heavy dose of the history of the War Between the States in my youth, I found it more interesting to study European and Ancient History in college and later in life. Still, the history of that awful war still resonates in modern times.
We have gone from treating my Southern ancestors that fought for the CSA as heroes to misguided bigoted slave holders. Yes, my ancestors had slaves. I am told from my Grandparents, parents and Aunt that our ancestors worked in the fields alongside the slaves.

Back to the issue. William T. Sherman changed history, because his tactics included destroying the economic base of the keystone state of the South (Georgia). In fact, his troops destroyed my Mother's family plantation. From an objective view, Sherman anticipated the future of warfare. I agree that we could use some tougher tactics than have been the case. However, in a counterinsurgency operation, destroying the enemy is hard until you figure out just who the enemy really is.
Lee and Sherman, in their own way were both true American heroes.

[dljordan]

"What, exactly, is the bone of contention?"

I don't even want to go into it. Anything connected to the Civil War gets pretty nasty sometimes.

[Pelham]

President Eisenhower had four portraits displayed in his White House office, one being Robert E Lee.

[Shadowstrike]

Actually you should be wishing that Gen. Lee was still around today. A true gentleman to be sure, he was also one of the most brilliant tacticians in the world. Many of his military maneuvers were taught in the most noble institutions in this country. Sherman, for all his own brilliance, was awed by Lee.

And yes, here in 'Bama we had a big celebration for General Lees' birthday - we just did it on Martin Luther King Jr. Day :)

[Moose4]

Is Stone Mountain itself private property? I know that Stone Mountain Park is at least privately run by some outfit called "Silver Dollar," but I don't know if they actually own the land around the base of the rock and/or the rock and the carving itself.

}:-)4

[SWEETSUNNYSOUTH]

There sure wouldn't be anything left worth keeping.

[TheDon]

Quite right. They weren't about to let the Union be destroyed so that Southerners could keep their slaves. :^)