Posted on 03/29/2007 10:06:50 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
Interesting story about this painting.
"Whether the attachment was a conscious act or whether Stuart was oblivious to its meaning, it fails to diminish the significance of pairing an innocent slave with the highly trained soldier a few years before the outbreak of war," the documentation says."
Barf.
Thanks for the ping SB neat story
They were reading waaaaay to much into that one.
Sure 'nuff - good to see you StoneWall Brigade
Suspicious. UTC wasn't published until 1852, and took until 1857 to sell half a million copies. It was not an instant success, and would not have been read by many West Point cadets prior to an 1854 graduation.
According to the article, it was Mrs. Lee who named the portrait, not a West Point cadet.
Within a week of its release in the U.S., her book sold a phenomenal 10,000 copies, and 300,000 the first year. Sales were even higher in Britain. By 1854, her book was translated into 60 different languages.
"They were reading waaaaay to much into that one."
Entirely. I would like to see the watercolor, though.
And there is a legend that the back of the statute of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial has the profile of Gen. Lee. Thus Lee looks forever (though the marble wall) onto Arlington. Supposedly this was to show Lee's being cursed by never being able to again go to his home. The statue has other "hidden" messages supposedly put there by the sculptor, but they are not relevant here. Just adding my dos centavos.
Mrs. Lee was very talented. I think the fact that she gave it to Jeb Stuart showed the affection that both she and the General had for the young man.
Of course they are. And soon the usual suspects will be along to read waaaaay too much into it to.
It is an excellent watercolor, quite valuable.
The author is incorrect here. The first person buried at Arlington was Pvt. William Henry Christman, 67th Pennsylvania Infantry, May 13th 1864. He was killed at the battle of "The Wilderness". Bull Run was 2 years earlier.
Actually they sort of got that right, but not quite... They just weren't very clear about the facts.
From theArlington Cemetery website...
Arlington National Cemetery was established by Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House, appropriated the grounds June 15, 1864, for use as a military cemetery. His intention was to render the house uninhabitable should the Lee family ever attempt to return. A stone and masonry burial vault in the rose garden, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and containing the remains of 1,800 Bull Run casualties, was among the first monuments to Union dead erected under Meigs' orders. Meigs himself was later buried within 100 yards of Arlington House with his wife, father and son; the final statement to his original order.
Meigs was a friend of Lee before the war and took, quite personally, Lee's decision to fight for the South.
Meigs' decision to turn Arlington into a cemetary was for personal revenge. Like you stated, he did not want the Lee family, acutally that would be Custis Lee, who had inherted the property as the death of his grandfather, to ever inhabited it again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.