A Genuine Hero

Reprinted from NewsMax.com ^ | Monday, Dec. 31, 2001 | Calvin E. Johnson Jr.

[vannrox]

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

A Genuine Hero

Calvin E. Johnson Jr.
Monday, Dec. 31, 2001

The tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, reminds people of Dec. 7, 1941. Like Pearl Harbor, the attack on America this year has brought out the best in people. Everyone has been glued to their TV sets to witness live accounts of true heroism, such as that of the brave police, firefighters and ordinary citizens who came to the rescue of their countrymen and women in the Big Apple.

True heroes have always been held in high esteem by Americans. When I was a young man my heroes were ball players and cowboys, but my all-time hero was, and still is, Gen. Robert E. Lee of Virginia.

Lee is still studied and admired by America and the world. He is not only respected as a sharp military leader but also admired as a man who loved God, loved his family, was a man of honor and virtue and a man of his word.

General Lee was born on Jan. 19, 1807, at Stratford House in Westmoreland County, Va. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1829 and was second in his class and the only one to serve four years without a demerit. In 1852, he was appointed superintendent of West Point, a position he held until 1855.

Lee served honorably in the United States Army, beginning as a second lieutenant and becoming first lieutenant in 1836. He would become captain two years later.

Lee was appointed engineer-in-chief for the United States Army in Mexico in 1846 and was breveted major in April of that year for gallant conduct at the battle of Cerro Gordo. He was made lieutenant colonel in August 1847, for distinguished bravery in the actions of Contraras and Churubusco, and colonel on Sept. 13, 1847, for his services at Chapultepec.

At the outbreak of the War Between the States, Lee was offered a command in the Union Army but turned it down when his home state of Virginia was invaded. Lee believed, as did most Southerners at that time, that his state came before the union, as did his father, Lighthorse Harry Lee in the American Revolution.

Lee began with command of the Virginia troops and in 1865, before surrender, would command the army of the Confederate States of America. Lee, after surrender, asked his men to go home and be good Americans, and Southerners have done what he wanted. The South has always been the first to supply men and women to all wars that the United States has entered.

After the war Lee took the presidency of Washington College, which eventually became Washington and Lee University, and helped the school come out of some very hard times. The university ranks among the best today.

Some say that Lee had trouble with his heart as far back as the war. He died in 1870, and his legacy should be remembered and taught to our young people, who are always in need of heroes. Gen. Robert E. Lee was a genuine American hero for all times.

God bless America!

[don-o]

it is simply inhuman to compare this philosophical arguement to the defense a state's right to allow something as morally reprehensible as slavery.

If slavery, ipso facto is "morally reprehensible" tell me why then is it not condemned outright in Holy Scripture?

Abolition of chattel slavery was just the convenient excuse for the subjugation of the South.

Slavery was a part of a culture and way of life which the industrial North needed to get rid of by any means necessary. If you will do some serious study, you will find many Southrons who acknowledged the evils around the institution. Slaveowners who mistreated their people, as Marse Robert always called his slaves, were the scum of the earth - a.k.a. white trash.

Many took care that their slaves were treated humanely, kept families intact and enabled the Africans the blessing of the Christian faith.

The abolitionists goal of making the South Northern was a post facto declaration of war. Back then, the rights of the states actually meant something to the citizens of the state.

[HiJinx]

One of my co-workers educated me in a similar manner a couple of hours ago...
I am now enlightened, and thank you for taking the time to disabuse me of my ignorance. :-)

[Colt .45]

"And yet he led his men to slaughter fighting for a state's right to determine something that he did not agree with. How principled! What a true hero!"

What a newby! You ... are a quack. Not only a quack, but a politically correctivist, leftist leaning historical revisionist moron.

Robert E. Lee did what he felt was his duty! Something you would know nothing about. He was a moral and principled man (which you are not), he felt that "duty" was a higher calling from God. He knew that duty was not always easy, but to do one's duty was right and just. He felt his duty was to his home state of Virginia, his allegiance was to the Old Dominion. He was saddened by the Secession of the South, but knew that his duty lay with his state.

I quote from the 'Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography' - 'Lee's skill as a general rested on his ability to analyze a situation swiftly and accurately, his knack for anticipating an enemy's movements, and his abilities as improvisation and extemporization; these skills were matched by a great strength of character, a high sense of duty, and genuine humility, and selflessness; one of the great generals.'

You would do well to study the actual truth about this great man. But I see you would rather run around sounding like an unprincipled PC hack. Your kind aren't welcomed too kindly here!

[Twodees]

There's nothing heroic about killing one's countrymen for the right to enslave people stolen from their own country. Who did that, and why did you bring up that non sequitor?

I think you've inadvertantly wandered away from your Marxist discussion forum. Click the back button on your browser until you're back at DU.

[mo]

Boy-among men who know and can judge men, Lee is truly head and shoulders above all in almost every attribute and asset. The best description of Lee I have seen ascribed to him is "stainless". Some have descibed him as a "true Christian Gentleman"; none knowing Lee have ever truly observed or attributed to him, a character or conduct flaw. Only Ronald Reagan, in my estimation approaches Lee in this capacity. My observation is that those insisting upon reviling either man, demonstrate ignorance or fear of someone they find incomprehensible.

[Leesylvanian]

Not knowing everything is a sign of being human; knowing when to ask is a sign of intelligence.

[LadyJD]

I believe the lobster may be the infamous homosexual man-hating "Crawfish", a true worm. Notice the non-answer to the challenge put forth about Grant's slave owning. Typical of these sphinc-lovers.

[Twodees]

Yes,ma'am. You're right as well about what kind of crustacean he resembles. I was thinking of a shrimp, but a lobster takes on a decidedly red hue when cooked. Communists are smoked out very quickly in a discussion of the history of the South.

[wasp69]

What exactly is heroic about killing fellow Americans for the right to enslave a race of people stolen from their homeland?
4 posted on 1/2/02 1:39 PM Eastern by Crustacean

Damn, that didn't take long.