Replies

In response to this article on General Lee, a friend who knows far more about the military than I wrote this comment. I found it interesting and thought that others might as well. General Lee was a gentleman and there have been very few who measured up to the standards he set for himself.

Some may not know this, but in photos Lee can be seen wearing the three stars of a Confederate States Army colonel, not a general, and he rarely wore any other rank insignia. In the CSA, the insignia of rank of general was three stars inside a wreath. There’s always been speculation as to why he did this — his inherent modesty, his recognition that colonel was the highest rank he earned from a legitimate government, his desire to wait until the Confederacy won the war and could legitimately confer higher rank, his recognition that three stars was the insignia of rank of a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army…. I’ve always thought modesty and honoring his previous rank were the reasons.