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 ...
Arlington was Lee’s home in Virginia. Maj. Gen Mongomery Meigs, Quartermaster General of the United States Army [and a son of the South], turned it into a war cemetery asfter his son was killed fighting for the Union in the Shenandoah Valley. Lee never returned to it.
Andrew Johnson was impeached essentially for trying to enact Lincoln’s Reconstruction policy. Sumner and Stevens wantd to humiliate the south and imposed military rule on them. And they were in no hurry to let them back in, unless they were in control of those states.
Yep, much better to sit down and watch a literal whitewash of historical fact on the History Channel about a arsonist, murdering, terroristic, and racist war criminal eh?
You are not. Arlington was seized by Union troops in 1861. As I posted elsewhere, Maj. Gen. Meigs, the Quartermaster General of the U.S Army [and a Southerner], ordered Uniuon dead buried there after his son was killed fighting in the Shenandoah.
No, it was actually never 'his' yard.
No. They made Arlington an everlasting honor to the Americans who died fighting for their country. And Arlington came to Lee through marriage. It was originally from his wife’s family, the Custis’- and was the home of Washington’s stepson.
Well I’m a northerner and as a teen I enjoyed reading about the fine Virginian, Robert E. Lee. My uncle also from the North in NYC named his son Robert for similar reasons.
And for some odd reason he likes country music too.
We all respect and honor Robert E. Lee as the finest of Americans who felt he was defending Virginia.
It is good to hear from a contemporary. My high school did not teach American history beyond Secession, and Lincoln’s name was never in print for us to see!! We learned about Lee in places like Sunday School and from listening to the old-timers.
To claim that some particular instance of slavery was in some ways less heinous than some other particular description of slavery is not necessarily a defense of the institution of slavery. It might simply be an honest attempt at historical accuracy.
Are you sure you aren't simply enjoying a ride on a moralistic high-horse on this subject? Do you really believe that your moral sense of the institution of slavery itself is somehow more refined than that of the other poster you quoted?
Then try this one. According to one of the books I read [”Marble Man”?], Lee was negotiating a commission with the State of Virginia while still on active duty with the United States Army. The author referred to the documentation supporting the claim. Not very honorable.
“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.
Lee should have been hung, and his army decimated, in the Roman sense of the term.”
As the old saying goes, IGNORANCE IS BLISS and yours must be truly delightful. Go find a pre 1950 history book and READ it.
Lee’s act to free slaves is merely just another example of his greatness. As a northener, there’s no one I held in higher esteem as the fine Virginian while a teen.
He’s is without a doubt, a great American.
I have not seen much honoring of the South among non-Southerners in my lifetime.
That’s because up north here, the kids get lies in school and no one at home knows better.
“Blazing Saddles” ?
When it took effect on Jan 1, 1863, the EP immediately freed tens of thousands of slave in parts of Virginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee that were then under US military as opposed to civilian administration. Over the next two years over 3 million slaves were freed as the United States Army spread it´s control over the confederate states.
You guys ought to actually try reading some history as opposed to passing your own anti-American myths back and forth.
The post you quoted seems to me to be a straightforward recitation of some facts. Do you dispute the accuracy of these purported facts?Yam, there's no point arguing with such people. This thread was posted by Non Sequitur specifically to provoke these same old arguments, which haven't really changed since the days of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips.
Some people apparently derive great pleasure in striking the "I Hate Slavery More Than You Do" pose, and then denouncing as "racist" anyone who dares dispute their moral superiority. As harmful and divisive as such posturing was 140 years ago, it at least had some practical relevance back then, whereas today it's just tedious and foolish.
There is no fact you can cite that won't provoke from these latter-day Garrisons a "but what about ...?" They will accept no analogy or comparison that would tend to exculpate the South or indict the North. Offering any argument which does not conclude that Confederates were worse than Nazis will cause these people to scorn you as a simpleton and a bigot.
It's as pointless as arguing with Rosie O'Donnell or Alec Baldwin.
I am proud to hear about what you found while searchihg your background. Now, you will have no trouble whatsoever joining the Daughters of the Confederacy! There were a few legends about our family tree. and some of them are true. Once I learned how to manipulate Ancestry.com, I got back into the 1400s in a few minutes. Your children must be very interested and proud.
Your “history” is simply wrong.
“Then try this one. According to one of the books I read [”Marble Man”?], Lee was negotiating a commission with the State of Virginia while still on active duty with the United States Army. The author referred to the documentation supporting the claim. Not very honorable.”
Lee was at the end of his military career, and was bored out of his mind in his last two postings. It wasn’t unusual for regular army types to seek a commission in preparation for their leaving.
Sorry, that dog won’t hunt.
Whatever your opinion, dude, there is some truth in that statement. Slaves were very valuable property, and it behooved slave owners to take care of them out of economic self-interest. I mean, if you owned a fine expensive tractor, you wouldn't run it into a tree if you got mad at it, would you? With that said, slavery wasn't exactly all sugar and sweetness either, and SOME slaveowners, NOT all, abused their slaves.
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