TROLL!
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
> add the idea that UN troops invaded the US to enforce their beliefs.
After the US attacks UN Fort Sumter. Ummm...
> his motives were honorable and just.
THAT is highly debatable. He fought *against* his nation *for* his state... that's kind of a wash. But he fought FOR slavery. That clinches it.
3/5ths was a compromise. The South wanted slaves to be counted as 1 person even though they had no more rights than cattle. If you were going to count slaves as a whole person, you might as well have counted livestock since slaves had pretty much the same legal status.
The South did not want slaves counted out of any sense that slaves were human. They wanted them counted so as to pad the number of Southern members of Congress.
Ouch!
Accurate, but ouch. See the Japanese & Russian histories on WWII
. The "Lost Cause" myth began to take shape immediately after appomatix. Jubal Early was the greatest proprietor of this myth, which had numerous key points among which were the deification of "The Marble Man" Lee, the destruction of Grant & Lincoln, and the obscufication of the cause, slavery.
Bump for later.
The South did not want slaves counted out of any sense that slaves were human. They wanted them counted so as to pad the number of Southern members of Congress.
The exact truth.
Can you document that?
My understanding was that count was dreamed up by Yankees who feared a loss of power should the South count all slaves as the South wanted to. Yankees didn't want slaves counted at all.The three fifth solution was the compromise.
No, the North didn't want the slaves counted under the circumstances. Slaves were property, the southern owner no more considered his slave his equal as he considered is cow his equal. Slaves had no legal standing in southern society, did not vote, had to rights whatsoever. It was sheer hypocrisy on the part of the Southern delegation to insist that slaves count the same as a free person for the purpose of congressional representation. The 3/5th figure was a compromise.
Lee was one of the greatest Napoleanic generals. Unfortunately for him and the South, the Civil War was the first modern war. Napoleanic tactics had become obsolete.
TROLL!
Neo-Confeds love playing with statistics.
Even if we assume for the sake of argument that there were more abolitionist societies South of the Mason Dixon line (which would, of course, include such places as Maryland, Delaware and DC) the relevant question is what percentage of the Southern population actually belonged to such organizations versus the same percentage in the North.
Call me a troll all you want, it still doesn't rebut what I said about Lee being responsible for the deaths of more loyal Americans than anyone except Hitler.
"Happy Birthday General Lee...I am proud to be in the college classroom to teach the truth of that war and American patriots like you."
How DARE you teach the truth when the old lies are so much better. I mean, come on, the old lies are good enough for most people, why not for you too? ;-)
Since the mere mention of abolition in the south could result in one being beaten to death, since the entire Methodist Church split over the issue, it is safe to say we are dealing with what you appropriatly defined as "Neo-confederates" playing with the statistics.
The truth is out. The "old lies" are the Lost cause mythos - spin & revisionism worthy of liberal dems - taught for the first 100 years after the war.
They tend to slink away when you challenge their statistics.
Lee was one of the greatest Napoleanic generals. Unfortunately for him and the South, the Civil War was the first modern war. Napoleanic tactics had become obsolete.
I admire my southern countrymen and women for many things. I am grateful for much of what they have done and continue to do for this nation. I admire much in them that is graceful, honest, polite, hard working, family-oriented, and patriotic.
But this absolute failure to see the reality of a past that is not their fault or their burden, which they nonetheless feel compeled to advance, saddens and confuses me.
Were it not for this willful blindness I would cosider it not a boast to call them the greatest America has to offer in a land of beauty and liberty. More is the pity. My love-hate with the south goes on.
With some time, we could recreate the situation, using the US/UN analogy. It wouldn't be that hard - I'll play with it tonight and see what we can come up with.
It's valuable to do exercises like this to put history into proper perspective. It's not cut-and-dried. It's humans with human emotions and human conflicts, who try as best they can to resolve the conflicts and still live with themselves.
Really? No doubt the following items will be appearing in history books soon: 1) Joan of Arc was a heretic freak who deserved to be burned at the stake.
2) O.J. Simpson was an innocent man unjustly framed for murder by racist cops.
3) America (and FDR) was fully justified in placing Japanese-Americans during WWII
4) Only creationism should be taught in Tennessee public schools (hey guess who the VICTOR in the Scopes Monkey trial was?)
5) The trial of tears? Nothing wrong with that.
6) The Spanish-America war was completely due to the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana's harbor, and had absolutely nothing to do with Hearst newspapers. (so said the "victors")
7) England should be a Republic. The royals must be removed immediately (you may notice the republicans and NOT the loyalists were the VICTORS during the English civil war, but good luck trying to stir up any popular sentiment to remove the royals now)
8) Western Europe during the Dark Ages was a GREAT period in history, cuz it was so much better after the Roman Empire fell to barbarian horde invaders.
Shall I continue listing additional "victors" that are remember in a NEGATIVE light by history? There are dozens of more examples.
>> (and do notice that only a few whack jobs agree with your assertion) <<<<<
Ironically, most of the "confederate" leaders themselves WERE honorable men who were extremely respectful towards Lincoln, Grant, etc., and praised their leadership skills, then worked to unite this country during reconstruction. It is the NEO confederates who insist on villifying and tearing down others because they can't get over losing a conflict from 160 years ago. Robert E. Lee would greatly disappointed. (oh well, he's from Northern Virgina and therefore a "liberal yankee scalawag" by their standards)
"I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than the dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation."
--Robert E. Lee, January 23, 1861
"Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our constitution never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It was intended for perpetual union so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession. Anarchy would have been established, and not a government, by Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and the other patriots of the Revolution."
—Robert E. Lee, letter, January 23, 1861
"I shall carry with me to the grave the most grateful recollections of your kind consideration, & your name & fame will always be dear to me. Save in the defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword."
--Robert E. Lee to General Winfield Scott
"I have carefully searched the millitary records of both ancient and modern history, and have never found Grant's superior as a general"
--Robert E. Lee
"Both sides forget that we are all Americans. I foresee that our country will pass through a terrible ordeal, a necessary expiation, perhaps, for our national sins."
--Robert E. Lee
"With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children and my home."
--Robert E. Lee
"There is a terrible war coming, and these young men who have never seen war cannot wait for it to happen, but I tell you, I wish that I owned every slave in the South, for I would free them all to avoid this war."
--Robert E. Lee
"It is well that war is so terrible--we should grow too fond of it"
- Robert E. Lee gave this observation while watching thousands of Union soldiers sent to the slaughter at Fredericksburg
"I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony."
- Robert E. Lee made this statement following the end of hostilities.
"Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans."
--Robert E. Lee, 1865
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1323474/posts
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.
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