Posted on 01/18/2005 5:57:53 PM PST by wagglebee
All the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our Forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth.
--Robert E. Lee
Why do Americans continue to remember their past?
Perhaps it is because it was a time when truth was spoken. Men and women took their stand to give us the freedoms we now enjoy. God bless those in military service, who do their duty around the world for freedom.
The Hall of Fame for great Americans opened in 1900 in New York City. One thousand names were submitted, but only 29 received a majority vote from the electors. General Robert E. Lee, 30 years after his death, was among those honored. A bust of Lee was given to New York University by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Let America not forget January 19, 2005, the 198th birthday of General Robert E. Lee.
Robert E. Lee was born at Stratford House, Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 19, 1807. The winter was cold and fireplaces were little help. Robert's mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, was suffering from a severe cold.
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.
Army promotions were slow. 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.
President-to-be Abraham Lincoln offered command of the Union Army to Lee in 1861, but Lee refused. He would not raise arms against his native state.
War was in the air. The country was in turmoil of separation. Lee wrestled with his soul. He had served in the United States Army for over 30 years.
After an all-night battle, much of that time on his knees in prayer, Robert Edward Lee reached his decision. He reluctantly resigned his commission and headed home to Virginia.
Arlington House would be occupied by the Federals, who would turn the estate into a war cemetery. Today it is one of our country's most cherished memorials, Arlington National Cemetery.
President John F. Kennedy visited Arlington shortly before he was assassinated in 1963 and said he wanted to be buried there. And he is, in front of Robert E. Lee's home.
Lee served as adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and then commanded the legendary Army of Northern Virginia. The exploits of Lee's army fill thousands of books today.
After four terrible years of death and destruction, General Robert E. Lee met General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, and ended their battles. He told his disheartened comrades, "Go home and be good Americans."
Lee was called Marse Robert, Uncle Robert and Marble Man. He was loved by the people of the South and adopted by the folks from the North.
Robert E. Lee was a man of honor, proud of his name and heritage. After the War Between the States, he was offered $50,000 for the use of his name. His reply was "Sirs, my name is the heritage of my parents. It is all I have and it is not for sale."
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 of a heart attack at 9:30 on the morning of October 12, 1870, at Washington-Lee College. His last words were "Strike the tent." He was 63 years of age.
He is buried in a chapel on the school grounds with his family and near his favorite horse, Traveller.
A prolific letter writer, Lee wrote his most famous quote to son Custis in 1852: "Duty is the sublimest word in our language."
On this 198th anniversary let us ponder the words he wrote to Annette Carter in 1868: "I grieve for posterity, for American principles and American liberty."
Winston Churchill called Lee "one of the noblest Americans who ever lived." Lee's life was one of service and self-sacrifice. His motto was "Duty, Honor, Country."
God Bless America!
I second that.
Good post. Any reading of RE Lee makes it clear that he was a soldier first, politician not at all. Robert E. Lee did not foment secession, but when his state left, he went with it as its servant.
The alternative was for him to renounce his home, as he wrote about it....and from that perspective, he had no other choice...He was on the right side as far as his conscience and honor could grasp.
GregGinn, you should be so lucky that you never have to make such a fateful decision.
Machinery and low cost labor was also taking it's fortunate toll on a evil practice.
The truth about the war was that the north wanted cheap raw materials, and they wanted to control all natural resources. Not unlike our treatment of Alaska and it's oil resources.
The Slavery issue as it relates to the Civil War was more of a contrived one... This is evidenced in the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation DID NOT free one slave in the Union... only in those states that seceded. Slavery became an issue when Washington became worried that Europe would provide military support to the south.
Thanks ... maybe I'll have to skip the autograph to get the best book!
Now I dispute that reading of General Grant. He was not qualified to be president, but he was a good man and worthy of admiration.
Sorry! All that I remember was that the South attacked Fort Sumtner (Sp?) (I think that fort). Didn't know who provoked the other just knew that the North had not been openly agressive and the South attacked. Still, Lee was a great man(as I've said 2previous times).
I was sure that is what you meant but Fort Sumter is not in the North.
Any time :-). Happy Lee-Jackson Day!
All right, no big deal LOL! But it shows how he was revered that the story survived.
Very nice words indeed.
"In his final moments General Lee was reported to have made two seperate statements (Famous Last Words) the first one as I recall was :"Tell Hill he must come up" Anyone remember the second one.?"
IIRC, "Strike the tent."
Thanks! "Deo Vindice Christian School" (registered with the state under that name :-). Motto, "You may be whatever you resolve to be."
Tomorrow we'll be searching the History Channel website for good Civil War stuff!
Yes he was. But he met another in Grant who wouldnt quit no matter what. And Lee admitted it.
If Lee would have set aside the old style Napoleon tactics and given thought to more modern tactics, things might have been a whole lot different.
The best defense is offense and it was proven back then.
Thank you sir! I will check them out in the morning.
He had more "mercy" than Sherman and his terms of surrender for Lee were admirable, that's about it. He was elected president because half of the country was not allowed to vote. I've read the Constitution many times and I fail to see how it is that sovereign states which VOLUNTARILY entered into the Union somehow forfeited their sovereign right to secede from that Union.
It is obvious the North was preparing for war. President Buchannan agreed to leave the forts alone if they were not attacked. Colonel Gardner sought reinforcements at a Charleston arsenal and the citizens of Charleston prevented an envoy from restocking.
Major Anderson, upon taking control of Ft. Sumter, buttoned down and sought reinforcements, but knew it would provoke Charleston citizens. Lincoln reinforced the fort and ignited four years of war.
America remembers Robert E. Lee as a part of the rebel alliance and a traitor.
Yeah... BTW If you don't mind, what happened at Fort Picken's. ? It has been a few years since I studied the Civil War, will be a couple more till I study it again and don't really remember Fort Picken's.
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