Posted on 01/18/2005 5:57:53 PM PST by wagglebee
Great post, w.
Thank you for this post. Gen. Lee was indeed one of the finest Americans to ever live. It is a shame that all that our schools teach about him is his service to the Confederacy. While that service was great and honorable, his legacy is much greater than that.
I predict this thread will ... oh, nevermind.
Happy Birthday, Dear General Robert E. Lee. You are missed!
Had Virginia not seceded from the Union, General Lee would be remembered today as one of the most beloved presidents in American history.
Indeed.
BTTT
I believe you're right...
BTTT
In early 2004, I visited Virginia Military Institute, which adjoins Washington and Lee University. My son was being recruited to the soccer program there. While my son was involved with the coach and players, I found Robert E. Lee's house on campus at W&L. It is still occupied. I talked to some of the locals there and found that fresh hay and water were kept in the horse stall, prepared for Lee's return, for 130 years after his . This tradition was stopped in 2000, as I recall. The sense of greatness and history is palpable.
Yo Mama obviously never taught you manners. Thanks for getting on my "watch list."
"Because he was calm when others were frenzied, loving when they hated, and silent when they spoke with bitter tongue, they shook their heads and said he was a superman or a mysterious man. Beneath that untroubled exterior, they said, deep storms must rage; his dignity, his reserve, and his few words concealed sombre thoughts, repressed ambitions, livid resentments. They were mistaken. Robert Lee was one of the small company of great men in whom there is no inconsistency to be explained, no enigma to be solved. What he seemed, he was--a wholly human gentleman, the essential elements of whose positive character were two and only two, simplicity and spirituality." Douglas S. Freeman in R.E. LEE
One of my ancestors, a Sir Richard Earles, emigrated from England in the early 1600's and established a plantation in Westmoreland County, Va. I don't know exactly when this was, but there is a record of him being married in 1641. Some of my ancestors would have been neighbors of Harry Lighthorse Lee and also of George Washington's family, Washington having been born in Westmoreland County, as well.
Another one of my ancestors...my great-great grandfather, one Joab Anderson Oakes, was an officer in the Virginia Militia, and a hero of the Confederacy. He was with Lee at Appomatox. His own mount having been shot out from under him, he rode home on Lee's horse after the surrender.
I was born and raised in Kentucky, but now live in southern Maryland, not far from Westmoreland County...I hunt ducks in the Potomac River, within eyeshot of my ancestral home....but I haven't been there yet. I suppose I ought to go for a visit.
I shall do it as soon as the azaleas bloom in the spring.
God bless General Lee. (That's just a formality; I'm sure He has, and General Jackson, too!)
Tomorrow is my youngest son's 1st birthday, and he couldn't share a date with a better man!
Stainless, I'd like to get James a biography of General Lee for a birthday present (he'll appreciate it eventually :-). Which book would you recommend?
Some of us care to think he fought on the RIGHT side!
Lee and another man were walking and met a Black man who politely greeted Lee and Lee greeted him in a gracious manner. Lee's friend questioned whether he should show such courtesy to a slave.
Lee answered, "should I have poorer manners than him?"
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