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

Posted on 01/02/2002 8:54:55 AM PST by 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!


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: dixielist
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I thought that this was a very good read.
1 posted on 01/02/2002 8:54:58 AM PST by vannrox
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To: vannrox
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.

Chronologically incorrect. Lee resigned from the Union Army after VA seceded, but well before it was "invaded."

2 posted on 01/02/2002 9:00:46 AM PST by Restorer
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To: vannrox
as did his father, Lighthorse Harry Lee in the American Revolution

I agree, this is a very good read, but...
There is something like an 80-year span between the Revolution and the Civil War.
Are we sure Harry Lee is Rob't. E.'s father? (I'm ignorant on this point, if he is, I apologize...)

3 posted on 01/02/2002 9:35:15 AM PST by HiJinx
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To: vannrox
What exactly is heroic about killing fellow Americans for the right to enslave a race of people stolen from their homeland?
4 posted on 01/02/2002 9:39:44 AM PST by Crustacean
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To: Crustacean
"What exactly is heroic about killing fellow Americans for the right to enslave a race of people stolen from their homeland?"

You might try studying history rather than just reading someone's revision to fit their perpetual victimhood.

And before you launch into your attack on Southern Rednecks, I am from Wisconsin and now live in New Hampshire.

5 posted on 01/02/2002 9:53:06 AM PST by Redleg Duke
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To: Crustacean
What, are you talking about, if it is the war between the states, you must have gone to public
schools if at all. Lee was a great man, he did not agree with slavery
but felt states rights were greater than federal government. Go study some real history for a change.
6 posted on 01/02/2002 10:16:29 AM PST by vin-one
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To: vin-one
"Lee was a great man, he did not agree with slavery." 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!
7 posted on 01/02/2002 10:28:02 AM PST by Crustacean
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To: Crustacean
Not stolen, bought and paid for!
8 posted on 01/02/2002 10:36:04 AM PST by satan
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To: vannrox; shuckmaster; Colt .45; stainlessbanner; sheltonmac
Robert E. Lee Bump!
9 posted on 01/02/2002 10:46:11 AM PST by aomagrat
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To: Derville; shuckmaster; sola gracia; Dawntreader; greenthumb; JoeGar; Intimidator; ThJ1800...
"'Lee was a great man, he did not agree with slavery.' 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!"
--Crustacean

Tsk, tsk, tsk! Some people never learn.

BUMP!

10 posted on 01/02/2002 11:10:38 AM PST by sheltonmac
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To: TomServo; tex-oma; Twodees; margie;NovemberCharlie; BlackbirdSST;enemy of the people...
Thanks for the ping!

BTW, are you on my newsletter mailing list?

11 posted on 01/02/2002 11:11:09 AM PST by shuckmaster
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: Crustacean
And yet he led his men to slaughter fighting for a state's right to determine something that he did not agree with.

Much like my support your own right to free speech (no matter how little I care for what you have to say.)

I can't be held personally responsible for how you choose to exercise that right.

13 posted on 01/02/2002 11:20:54 AM PST by been_lurking
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To: vannrox
a man who loved God, loved his family, was a man of honor and virtue and a man of his word.

That right there makes him a hero in my book and men like this have not been seen in United States government for a long, long time.

14 posted on 01/02/2002 11:23:35 AM PST by billbears
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To: HiJinx
Light-Horse Harry is the father of General Rob't. E. Lee. He was born at Leesylvania plantation in Prince William County, Virginia, in 1756, and was still a teenager when he joined the Revolution where he became a controversial war hero.

However, he left the country to go to the Barbados around 1812 in order to restore his health (after being beaten by a mob in Baltimore while trying to defend an editor friend's right to publish anti-war articles) and possibly to escape creditors as well. He left his wife and young children behind in Alexandria, Virginia, so young Robert didn't have much contact with him.

In 1818 he decided to return to see his family after realizing his health wasn't improving. Along the way he took a turn for the worse and asked the ship's captain to put in off the coast of Georgia. Ironically, he found himself at the home of his former comrade-in-arms, the late General Greene of Revolutionary War fame, where he died.

Ironically, during the Civil War, RE Lee ordered cannon batteries to be built along the Potomac River. One of these batteries was located on his father's birthplace.

15 posted on 01/02/2002 11:25:40 AM PST by Leesylvanian
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To: vannrox
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.

This is My Cousin

16 posted on 01/02/2002 11:39:12 AM PST by Frank Grimes
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To: Crustacean
"...And yet he led his men to slaughter fighting for a state's right to determine something that he did not agree with."

Exactly!

The alternative to this would imply that a state has only those rights that you would agree with? how principled would that be?

This seems to be pretty close to the idea that I would defend to the death YOUR right to espouse wrong ideas. I may not agree with you, but I'll defend your right to be wrong.

17 posted on 01/02/2002 12:04:29 PM PST by Lloyd227
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To: Lloyd227
As much as I appreciate your defense of my right to speak freely, it is simply inhuman to compare this philosophical arguement to the defense a state's right to allow something as morally reprehensible as slavery.
18 posted on 01/02/2002 12:24:34 PM PST by Crustacean
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To: vannrox
Thank you for this post. General Lee was a shining example of manhood, a role model indeed.
19 posted on 01/02/2002 1:04:16 PM PST by goodieD
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To: Crustacean
"...it is simply inhuman to compare this philosophical arguement to the defense a state's right to allow something as morally reprehensible as slavery.

Lee was not defending state's rights to practise slavery, as you insist on saying. He was defending state's rights, period. Why can't you understand the distinction?

Slavery may have been reprehensible, but the fact that it was practised in the southern states did not make those states ineligible to enjoy their natural rights.

20 posted on 01/02/2002 1:14:35 PM PST by Aurelius
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