Posted on 04/25/2007 10:11:37 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
Winston Churchill called him "one of the noblest Americans who ever lived," and Theodore Roosevelt called him "the very greatest of all the great captains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth." But has political correctness turned Robert E. Lee into a villain? That will be the question explored by six historians this weekend at a symposium commemorating the bicentennial of the Confederate commander's birth. "We were afraid that Lee would not receive the honors he should get because of the prevailing political correctness," says Brag Bowling, a Richmond resident who helped organize Saturday's event at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel in Arlington. The symposium will be the largest event of its kind this year honoring Lee, who was born Jan. 19, 1807.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Really? Where´s your documentation?
It was also 140 years ago.
In any case, Lee was no villain, but he was no hero either.
I agree with G-Bear's sentiment but it would have been a very, very bad idea to try and hang Lee.
Just because the South was wrong doesn’t mean that there weren’t good, godly, noble men who fought for it for reasons of their own.
General Lee definitely fits that bill.
Lee was a traitor, who resigned from his teaching position at West Point to fight for the Confederacy. I see him the same as the deluded Americans that have gone to fight for the Taliban.Like I said .... Oh, and G-Bear, Lee was superintendent (not at teacher) at West Point from 1852-55. At the time the War came, he was on leave from the 2nd U.S. Cavalry.
Lee should have been hung, and his army decimated, in the Roman sense of the term.
Then you are not a “Yankee” as used in The South.........You are a “Yankee” as used in the north.........
That’s exactly right. Also, remember that in the 1850s, the States had their own autonomous military systems through the militias. Getting a commission from a State following retirement from federal service was perfectly normal back then. In fact many of VMI’s officers were commissioned by the Commonwealth of Virginia rather than the federal government.
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winnah!
Let’s see. The Civil War is coming. I believe S.C has already seceded. And a serving officer in the U.S Army, who will shortly be offered command of the Union Army, and refuse it, was just seeking a commission to alleviate his boredom - while on active duty. Sorry, that dog doesn’t breathe.
“And also to impoverish him, by rendering valuless a lot of choice real estate. It was self-righteous Northern spite.”
Self-righteous Northern spite? Lee, Davis, and all the Generals and Politicians and most of the plantation owners should have been hung for treason. Getting off with having your house taken away seems pretty lenient a punishment for rebelling against your country to fight a war waged solely for the purpose of keeping an entire race of people in bondage so plantation owners can make a few extra bucks by keeping a cheap workforce. I find it despicable that any one would try and defend these men and their actions when they lied to their populations by telling them that the Federal Government was somehow trampling their rights as free men. What about the rights of slaves? And aside from the Federal Government trying to abolish slavery in all states what other state rights were being threatened? None. The Civil War was the most pointless catastrophe in U.S. history.
“That’s exactly right. Also, remember that in the 1850s, the States had their own autonomous military systems through the militias. Getting a commission from a State following retirement from federal service was perfectly normal back then. In fact many of VMI’s officers were commissioned by the Commonwealth of Virginia rather than the federal government.”
Yep.
Robert E Lee was one of the most honorable men this nation has ever produced. Anyone that says otherwise simply doesn’t know the facts about this man.
I’d love to have known him. Same for Longstreet, btw.
“Actually had Lee waited a day or two more the Emancipation Proclamation would have taken the problem of emancipation right out of his hands.”
Actually no it wouldn’t have because at the time of the proclamation the North had no control over the areas the proclamation attempted to cover. It also didn’t free those enslaved in the North.
“Let’s see. The Civil War is coming. I believe S.C has already seceded. And a serving officer in the U.S Army, who will shortly be offered command of the Union Army, and refuse it, was just seeking a commission to alleviate his boredom - while on active duty. Sorry, that dog doesn’t breathe.”
You need to find a poster that doesn’t know the history on this and other CW related stories. I’m not interested in debating a myth with somebody that has an axe to grind with Marse Robert.
Run along, friend.
Robert E. Lee was probably the best defensive general America ever produced. However, his two big offensive forays (Antietam and Gettysburg) both went off badly. Lee should've flanked at Gettysburg. Instead, he got the fire in his eyes to whip those Yankees, who were dug in well-fortified positions. It is said that Gettysburg was the price the Confederacy paid for having Lee as its general.
I believe that if Lee had stayed with the Union, the rebellion would've been put down in short order and the country re-united by the end of 1861.
Third time on this thread. The decision to put a national cemetery at Arlington was the province of the Quartermaster General of the United States Army. that man, Maj. Gen. Montgomery Meigs, was a SOUTHERNER [Alabaman, I believe.]. . He did it, in large part, because the North needed another cemetery, and also because his son had been killed in the Shenandoah by Confederate troops [Guess whose troops]. Meigs already detested Lee.
So while it may have been spite, it was SOUTHERN spite, and I don’t believe Meigs considered it self righteous.
And remember the courteousies extended to Lee’s family by Union troops during the war. McClellan conveyed Mrs. Lee through Union lines, twice. Grant put a guard on her house in Richmond. So spare me the bile.
Maj. Gen. Montgomery Meigs, was a SOUTHERNER [Alabaman, I believe.]False. Though born in Augusta, Ga., Meigs grew up in Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before his appointment to West Point.
Ever hear of something called "Google," Mr. Know-It-All?
copperhead lady here honors you
>> “Sorry, but slaves weren’t all beaten and treated badly. The farmers couldn’t afford to have them injured or sickly. If the slaves weren’t able to work, there was no harvest and the owners would be broke. My great-grandmother was glad when the slaves were freed because they were too much trouble to care for.”
>>
>> Personally, I find it tiresome. And it happens here more than I care to recall.
The quote you referenced in no way defends slavery as moral. It’s a simple historical fact. Not all plantations were the same. Rice plantations for example required more skill than brawn to run, and it was the slaves who had the skills. Even one angry slave could wipe out an entire year’s crops by flooding the fields at the wrong time; hence the slaves were typically not abused nor mistreated. Research the Middleton Place plantation for an example. History is always a bit more complex than the bumper-sticker slogans taught in the public schools.
“Lee should have been hung, and his army decimated, in the Roman sense of the term.”
Kind of overkill, as there wasn’t much left of his army at the end. Lots were killed or wounded. The Union was fighting a war of attrition, and wouldn’t exchange prisoners, with the legitimate excuse that the Confederates were not taking black soldiers from southern unions prisoner, so huge numbers in POW camps. Also, most of the remaining army deserted towards the end of the war, as thing got hopeless, and they wanted to tend to their families and farms that had in many cases been ravaged by the Union Army.
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