"Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less."
Posted on 01/25/2007 8:04:52 PM PST by stainlessbanner
ATLANTA - With little fanfare or controversy, the House proclaimed 2007 as the "Year of Lee" in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Lee's birthday was celebrated Friday by a small crowd at the Capitol. Officially, the birthday is one of three Confederate state holidays, but government employees are off the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Resolutions saluting people pass the General Assembly almost daily without discussion or much notice, but those recognizing controversial figures usually trigger a debate. For example, last year, a measure commending Oscar-winning actress and Georgia resident Jane Fonda for her contributions to curbing teen pregnancy resulted in national headlines when lawmakers voted it down because of her protests during the Vietnam War.
So House Resolution 28 is noteworthy because of how little stir it caused when it passed unanimously Jan. 11.
As a slaveowner who led the South in the war that eventually abolished slavery, Lee has been reviled in some circles. He was stripped of his U.S. citizenship until President Ford restored it. Last week, his memory caused friction in Tampa, Fla., when the city council there adopted its own resolution proclaiming a "year of Lee," according to The Associated Press.
Another icon of the Old South - the Confederate battle flag - remains a source of debate in Georgia, even during last fall's campaign as "flaggers" protested Gov. Sonny Perdue for not putting it back into the design of the official state banner.
But Lee also is remembered as a gentleman and a brilliant military commander.
Sponsored by Rep. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, the resolution recounts Lee's life, including stints in Georgia to supervise construction of Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island near Savannah in his first assignment after graduating from West Point and later as a brigadier general in charge of the defenses on the coast of Georgia before he joined the Confederacy. It also notes that in 1871, Savannah was the first city in the nation to celebrate his birthday.
"You can't criticize Lee," he said.
Benton, a retired teacher and Civil War buff, said he was asked by the Sons of the Confederacy and other groups to author the resolution. He compared Lee to George Washington.
"The only difference between Lee and Washington is Lee lost," Benton said.
Black leaders in the House said they didn't raise any objection because they're more concerned about being able to celebrate their own historical figures.
Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, who marched with King, said he didn't try to block the hanging of Lee's portrait in the Capitol either.
"I've never objected. I've learned to accept the reality of the fact that people want to honor him ... as long as there can be true diversity," Brooks said. "... I just want the complete history represented."
Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway, the chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, said few lawmakers paid any attention when the Lee resolution passed.
"Although he wasn't a hero of mine, I respect the ability of other people to honor their own heroes," he said.
In a few weeks, the House will consider a request by Gov. Sonny Perdue to spend taxpayer funds dressing up several Civil War battlefields in preparation of the 150th anniversary of the start of the war in 2011.
Perdue said it's a way to generate tourism dollars as supporters from both sides travel to learn about that historic period firsthand.
2007 General Lee Ping
ping
bump
The d'yankee south haters will be along shortly , they ain't gonna like that black politicians didn't complain about this.
He coulda said all those "Travellers," but the horse is in Virginia, lol.
Happy Double Centennial, General Lee!
Visit Georgia this year for the Year of Lee.
yeah, get millions slaughtered in an unwinnable war. right brilliant mr. lee.
Man of Brooks to say that. Lee is truly one of the great ones for all Americans to embrace.
"Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less."
There were 650,000 total lost on both sides, not millions.
He also had the option of getting hundreds of thousands slaughtered and winning.
Er, General Lee was a soldier. He took orders. Politicians fought the war and bade honorable men like Lee to follow. How would you do it differently? You certainly couldn't have done it better. You certainly could have done it worse.
Lee was offered the command of Lincoln's army but felt he couldn't be disloyal to his native Virginia. He may have been on the wrong side but no one can doubt his integrity.
Just think, if he was still alive he would hold the Guinness world record for oldest person in the world. What a tragedy, someday we will cure the disease of death.
One big bump for that picture. Wonderful. The only cadet to ever go through the US Military Academy without a single demerit.
Perhaps America's most over-rated general.
"Wrong side" and "losing" are debatable, anyway.
Sun Belt vs. Rust Belt
A few who share Robert E. Lee's birthday: James Watt, Edgar Allen Poe, Paul Cezanne, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, and I.
Sniping is cheap, unless you are Free Republic's most overrated poster. Please expound.
Name another General who has done that.
The Bonnie Blue Flag
We are a band of brothers
And native to the soil,
Fighting for the property
We gained by honest toil;
And when our rights were threatened,
The cry rose near and far--
"Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star!"
CHORUS:
Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
As long as the Union
Was faithful to her trust,
Like friends and like brothers
Both kind were we and just;
But now, when Northern treachery
Attempts our rights to mar,
We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
(CHORUS)
First gallant South Carolina
Nobly made the stand,
Then came Alabama,
Who took her by the hand.
Next quickly Mississippi,
Georgia and Florida
All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
(CHORUS)
Ye men of valor, gather round
The banner of the right;
Texas and fair Louisiana
Join us in the fight.
Davis, our loved president,
And Stephens statesmen are;
Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
(CHORUS)
And here's to old Virginia--
The Old Dominion State--
Who with the young Confederacy
At length has linked her fate;
Impelled by her example,
Now other states prepare
To hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
(CHORUS)
Then cheer, boys, cheer;
Raise the joyous shout,
For Arkansas and North Carolina
Now have both gone out;
And let another rousing cheer
For Tennessee be given,
The single star of the Bonnie Blue Flag
Has grown to be eleven.
(CHORUS)
Then here's to our Confederacy,
Strong are we and brave;
Like patriots of old we'll fight
Our heritage to save.
And rather than submit to shame,
To die we would prefer;
So cheer for the Bonnie Blue Flag
That bears a single star.
--By Harry McCarthy (d. 1874)
ping
> Perhaps America's most over-rated general.
On what basis would you say that?
> A few who share Robert E. Lee's birthday: James Watt, Edgar Allen Poe, Paul Cezanne, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, and I.
Happy Birthday!
Happy 200th, General!
My son shares his birthday as well. Lee was a wonderful, respectable human being. One of the few people in history I would have loved to have known.
Happy belated birthday to you! :)
If Lee had not decided to surrender his army to Grant, had instead allowed them to disperse into the hills, then Johnston and Forrest Bedford and the generals to the west of the Mississippi would have done the same. There would have been guerilla war for the next ten years. Instead of one Qauntrell, there would have been hundreds, and most would have likewise been bandits. The Federals would have had to maintain a large army in the field, and the whole development of the country would have taken a different course.
I have the four-volume biography of R.E. Lee written by Douglas Southall Freeman. I'll read it again this year in honor of General Lee's 200th birthday.
Great News!
In two years we will be celebrating Lincoln's 200th birthday.
Good looking man. High cheek bones. A real man like this is getting hard to find. Sigh. A good,honest man of his word. A true man who knew loyality and the meaning of DUTY.
Lee was soundly an abolitionist, even though he is often portrayed as the devil, it's quite evident that he was the opposite:
"There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. It is idle to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the colored race. .... Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild and melting influences of Christianity than from the storm and tempest of fiery controversy."
Thank you, thank you. :-)
What on EARTH does that have to do with being a good general?
> What on EARTH does that have to do with being a good general?
I guess we are still waiting to hear your thesis on why you think he was over-rated. Me, I think graduating from West Point with no demerits was certainly a good start...
wrong thread to pull this stuff on pal.
Lee would have been a great general in the Revolutionary War. However, the Civil War was an entirely different world. It was the fulcrum between pre- and post-industrial wars. Grant knew how to exploit the technology of the day while Lee was stuck in the dusty textbooks of West Point.
I'm not saying Lee was a bad guy nor a bad general. I would have preferred his company (and his command) to any of the others I've mentioned above. But I judge generals on winning wars, not on personal characteristics, however admirable.
He did mess up at Gettysburg
Stainless,
Deo Vindice, and thanks for the ping.
/jasper
Put me on your 'ping' list please...as I've just recently (late as it is) started reading up on our country's history from the Civil War era. General Lee, from what I've read so far, was a very honorable man.
I look forward to your 'pings' on related subject matter.
Lee beat Grunt like a drum at Cold Harbor
If the war had been a judged event, he would have won hands down.
now THAT is a stretch
BUMP for adult thinking.
> But I judge generals on winning wars, not on personal characteristics, however admirable.
By your logic, then, Gen Westmoreland would surely have been at least as "overrated" as General Lee, if not moreso?
Nah, that would be MacArthur. I think Lee was a brilliant delegator. He gave his generals wide latitude and freedom of action, with order that could be interpreted pretty much however the generals wanted. When he had terrific generals under him, as with Stonewall Jackson, this made Lee look brilliant. When he had, um, lesser generals under him, as at Gettysburg (anyone who has studied the battle should know who I mean), Lee didn't come off so well. But I think his style of command was admirable, and indeed he was a great general who rose to his greatest heights as the war came crashing down around him in '64-'65.
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