Posted on 01/18/2011 2:13:15 PM PST by BigReb555
Young people will get a school holiday in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King whose birthday is January 15th. But, will anyone tell them that January 19th is also the birthday of Robert E. Lee?
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
Wednesday, January 19, 2011, is the 204th birthday of General Robert E. Lee.
Young people will get a school holiday in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King whose birthday is January 15th. But, will anyone tell them that January 19th is also the birthday of Robert E. Lee?
Booker T. Washington, America’s great Black-American Educator wrote in 1910, quote “The first white people in America, certainly the first in the South to exhibit their interest in the reaching of the Negro and saving his soul through the medium of the Sunday-school were Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.” unquote
During Robert E. Lee’s 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Army Commander and grandson of United States President John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee College’s Lee Chapel in Lexington, Virginia. His speech was printed in both Northern and Southern newspapers and is said to had lifted Lee to a renewed respect among the American people.
Robert E. Lee-Stonewall Jackson Day events are planned for Saturday, January 15, 2011, in Lexington, Virginia that includes a Memorial at Lee Chapel featuring Guest Speaker Kenny J. Rowlette with topic: Opposites In Command—The Legendary Partnership of Lee and Jackson. For additional information go to: http://leejacksonday.webs.com/
And the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans will sponsor their 24th Annual Robert E. Lee birthday celebration on Saturday, January 22, 2011, in the Legislative Chambers of Georgia’s Old Capitol in Milledgeville, Georgia that will begin with a parade to the Old Capitol at 10:45 AM.
Many more events are planned for Robert E. Lee…. who was born at “Stratford” in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 19, 1807. The winter was cold and fireplaces were little help for Robert's mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee.
Ann Lee named her son "Robert Edward" after her two brothers.
Robert E. Lee undoubtedly acquired his love of country from those who had lived during the American Revolution. His father, "Light Horse" Harry, was a hero of the revolution and served as Governor of Virginia and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Members of his family also signed the Declaration of Independence. Lee was educated in the schools of Alexandria, Virginia. In 1825, he received an appointment to West Point Military Academy. He graduated in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit.
Robert E. Lee wed Mary Anna Randolph Custis in June 1831, two years after his graduation from West Point. Robert and Mary had grown up together. Mary was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington and the adopted son of George Washington.
Mary was an only child; therefore, she inherited Arlington House, across the Potomac from Washington, where she and Robert raised seven children.
In 1836, Lee was appointed to first lieutenant. In 1838, with the rank of captain, Lee fought valiantly in the War with Mexico and was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.
He was appointed superintendent of West Point in 1852 and is considered one of the best superintendents in that institution's history.
General Winfield Scott offered Robert E. Lee command of the Union Army in 1861, but he refused. He said, “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.”
Lee served as adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and then commanded the legendary Army of Northern Virginia.
After four terrible years of death and destruction, General Robert E. Lee met General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, and ended their battles.
In the fall of 1865, Lee was offered and accepted the presidency of troubled Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. The school was renamed Washington and Lee in his honor.
Robert E. Lee died at 9:30 on the morning of October 12, 1870, at Washington-Lee College.
He is buried in a chapel on the school grounds with his family and near his favorite horse, Traveller.
President Theodore Roosevelt described General Robert E. Lee as "the very greatest of all the great captains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth."
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fle18
Robert E Lee in Texas 1855-61.
One of my buddies has a deer lease in the property that confines Camp Cooper and he was allowed to see it.
Robert E. Lee-Stonewall Jackson Day bump
I would honor Robert E. Lee for good sportsmanship, if I could. Very few people took defeat, and the terms of Reconstruction following the Civil War, or any war, for that matter, as well as he did. I personally think we should emphasize him for some points, because generally, a lot of people seem to have forgotten good sportsmanship nowadays. Robert E. Lee wasn’t all bad, and some of his better virtues we have a serious need for nowadays.
The terms were more generous than any in the history of warfare. Took it well? He couldn't believe his good luck.
Cue the haters....
You know, I missed it. So I'm grateful for this thread which helped educate me about some of the things our government schools failed to point out to me when I was young.
I might even read one of those Lee biographies I have on my shelves because of it.
ML/NJ
Really? What histories are you reading?
I know this is the cr@p that is taught to kids in school, but looking at thing now, I see that the Germans and the Japanese were allowed to maintain the essence of their cultures. Would you say that the South was permitted to maintain the essence of its culture?
ML/NJ (Honest Yankee)
A great American.
My great grandmother was named after Robert E Lee even though she was a girl.
Interesting tidbit - R.E. Lee freed his slaves before the war but U.S. Grant owned slaves throughout the war and did not free them until the 13th amendment was ratified
Yes, but a differennt news site. This was published today, one day before Robert E. Lee’s birthday.
You just can’t speak or write enough about General Robert E. Lee.
There are few who can stand up to him today.
bttt
The terms were more generous than any in the history of warfare. Took it well? He couldn’t believe his good luck.
He showed up better than U.S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, he did not complain much about the possibility of integration following the war, and did not feel we should go to separate churches from the former slaves. If that is not taking it well, I don’t know what is.
I do agree with you that Lincoln and the other higher-ups are also key to the terms Lee received, but just because Lee was in the Confederacy doesn’t equate with him being all bad.
Grant owned slaves?? Where are the references for that one?
Go to Google and search for "grant owned slaves". It's never been a secret.
US Grant never owned slaves. He was too poor.
I have read his autobiography, several biographies, and several other books that included facts about US Grant.
Slaves, fraid not.
Grant was one of 12 U.S. presidents who owned slaves at some point in their lives. His wife inherited some from his father in law but Grant himself bought at least one more in 1858 when he was working as a farmer near St. Louis. His wife had 4 slaves. Although it is unclear who actually held title to them, Grant and his wife certainly had the use of them. These slaves were not freed until the ratification of the 13th amendment.
Also cited here > http://home.nas.com/lopresti/ps.htm
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