Posted on 01/19/2005 5:41:26 AM PST by meandog
Celebrate today the birth of a great American: Gen. Robert E. Lee
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
KENNESAW, Ga.--Why do Ameri- cans continue to remember their past?
Maybe, 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 in 1900, but only 29 received a majority vote from the electors. Gen. 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 today, Lee's 198th birthday.
Lee was born at Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County on Jan. 19, 1807. The winter was cold and fireplaces were little help. Robert's mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, was also 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, "Lighthorse" 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.
Robert E. Lee was educated in Alexandria. In 1825, he received an appointment to West Point Military Academy. He graduated in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit.
Lee wed Mary Anne 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 very soul. He had served in the Army for more than 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 went to Arlington shortly before he was assassinated in 1963 and said he wanted to be buried there. And he is, in front of 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.
After four terrible years of death and destruction, Lee met Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, and the two ended the Civil War. Lee 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.
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. The school was later renamed Washington and Lee in his memory.
Lee died of a heart attack at 9:30 on the morning of Oct. 12, 1870, at Washington 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 one of his sons 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."
2005
I can see you gradiated from a little red schoolhouse up north somewhere.AH--YOu are as entitled to your dementia
as JohnKerry is his-I reckon.
I am as conservative as the day is long sir.
There is no dementia in me sir. If you care to offer evidence rather than insults, I will respond again. I have the truth on my side. You have the misplaced longings for a thing that never was.
Scroll up and see who called Lee a traitor and likened him to Hitler.
I just love how most of you will agree that public schools are awful and change history to suit a leftist agenda....except your school....and only when teaching about the WBTS. Gee....on THAT they were telling the truth!
Pshaw.... they brainwashed you just as they do the little tykes today.
EXACTLY RIGHT!! :)
The cause he fought against was the Federal Government having complete control. Anyone who has read even the most biased of classroom history books knows that is why he joined the South. Anyone who still believes the Civil War was about slavery would probably believe every word Dan Rather has to say.
How about believing the southern leadership of the time?
"But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other -- though last, not least. The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution -- African slavery as it exists amongst us -- the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind blew."
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition. [Applause.] This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." -- Alexander Stephens, March 1861
But hey, what did Alexander Stephens know? He was just the vice president.
I hope you don't think Lincoln was a great man because he freed the slaves. He owned more slaves than any other American President before him. The move to free the slaves was a political move to get re-elected. Also, Lincoln only freed the slaves in the South. The slaves were still slaves in the North.
> The cause he fought against was the Federal Government having complete control...
...over freeing the slaves.
> Anyone who still believes the Civil War was about slavery ...
... has probably read the individual Confederate state constitutions, which are quite clear on the topic.
> He [Lincoln] owned more slaves than any other American President before him.
Care to back that up?
Say what?
The war of northern aggression was entirely avoidable, since the South only wished to secede peacefully.
> since the South only wished to secede peacefully.
And thus they launched a war of aggression, starting with Ft. Sumpter.
Lincoln owned no slaves.
The move to free the slaves was a political move to get re-elected. Also, Lincoln only freed the slaves in the South. The slaves were still slaves in the North
Lincoln did not have the constitutional power to free the slaves in non-rebellious states. He did, however, have the power to ban slavery in rebellious areas in his role as commander-in-chief. Freeing the slaves was an attack on the economy supporting the rebels.
Us silly Rebs will keep up the good fight, then. Have fun with your snow shovel.
Typical of Neoconfederates as well that you ignore several separate and sincere comments I have made about the numerous laurels of the South & Southerners to wish a warm "stay the heck out".
Just doing my job, Cap.
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