Lee, Virginia, and the Union

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org ^ | March 27, 2019 | Fred H. Cox

[NKP_Vet]

The Hall of Fame recently dedicated at New York Uni­versity was conceived from the Ruhmes Halle in Bavaria. This structure on University Heights, on the Harlem river, in the borough of the Bronx, New York City, has, or is in­tended to have, a panel of bronze with other mementos for each of one hundred and fifty native-born Americans who have been deceased at least ten years, and who are of great character and fame in authorship, education, science, art, soldiery, statesmanship, philanthropy, or in any worthy un­dertaking. Fifty names were to have been chosen at once; but, on account of a slight change of plans, only twenty-nine have been chosen, and twenty-one more will be in 1902. The remaining one hundred names are to be chosen during the century, five at the end of each five years. The present judges of names to be honored are one hundred representa­tive American scholars in different callings. They are most­ly Northern men, although at least one judge represents each State.

[NKP_Vet]

Above article was originally published in the Sewanee Review in 1903.

“General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was a poised and inspiring leader,true to the high trust reposed in him by millions of his fellow citizens........ From deep conviction, I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s calibre would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the Nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.” -Pres. Dwight Eisenhower, 8-9-1960

[DiogenesLamp]

In order to argue that Independence is a constitutional issue, one must claim that the US Constitution rebukes the Declaration of Independence, which is the foundation of our own country.

Coming 11 years after the Declaration was signed by many of the same people who participated in the Constitutional convention, it is unlikely they had forgotten what they did in 1776.

[wbarmy]

Gen Lee was an oathbreaker, if nothing else.

He swore an oath to the United States and broke it.

He swore to not serve in the Confederate military and broke his oath.

He swore to only join to defend Virginia and broke it.

He swore to win the war and failed.

There is little if nothing to emulate in Gen Lee.

[jeffersondem]

“There is little if nothing to emulate in Gen Lee.”

I remember when I drank my first beer.

[central_va]

Lee's dedication to his native State of Virginia charted his course for the bitter Civil War years, causing him to reluctantly resign from a distinguished career in the United States Army and to serve as General of the Army of Northern Virginia. He, thus, forfeited his rights to U.S. citizenship.

Once the war was over, he firmly felt the wounds of the North and South must be bound up. He sought to show by example that the citizens of the South must dedicate their efforts to rebuilding that region of the country as a strong and vital part of the American Union.

In 1865, Robert E. Lee wrote to a former Confederate soldier concerning his signing the Oath of Allegiance, and I quote: "This war, being at an end, the Southern States having laid down their arms, and the questions at issue between them and the Northern States having been decided, I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony....

As a soldier, General Lee left his mark on military strategy. As a man, he stood as the symbol of valor and of duty. As an educator, he appealed to reason and learning to achieve understanding and to build a stronger nation. The course he chose after the war became a symbol to all those who had marched with him in the bitter years towards Appomattox.

General Lee's character has been an example to succeeding generations, making the restoration of his citizenship an event in which every American can take pride.

--- President Gerald R. Ford

[wbarmy]

Make jokes all you want, but the loss of life Lee’s oath-breaking engendered has hurt this country immensely.

He drug the war on and on, fighting battle after battle against men he had once called brother, then threw it all away on Pickett’s charge.

All for his own aggrandizement as the Great General from the south. Ask Longstreet what he thought of Lee’s actions on that day.

[the OlLine Rebel]

What a simplistic asinine statement.

So, the great George Washington was an oath-breaker, and consequently nothing to emulate?

It’s all relative. If Washington lost, you’d be declaring him a mere traitor and worthless, too.

[rockrr]

I’m appreciative of Lee’s efforts at reconciliation after the war.

[DiogenesLamp]

Oh, goody! Now do George Washington!

Putz.

[DiogenesLamp]

Make jokes all you want, but the loss of life Lee’s oath-breaking engendered has hurt this country immensely.

He wasn't the man who launched a war that killed 750,000 people, destroyed many family's lives, destroyed their property, their savings, and their future and completely changed the relationship between the States and the Federal government, resulting in the Federal government becoming ever more dictatorial and pervasive.

That was Abraham Lincoln who did that.

[rockrr]

That was jeff davis that did that.

putz

[an amused spectator]

It's interesting to read the opinions of people like wbarmy on the Internet, when we know that wbarmy would have soiled himself if asked to walk across the field of Pickett's Charge.

The critics of Robert E. Lee are yellow revisionist dogs.

[central_va]

He would of turned tail long before hitting Emmitsburg Pike.

[livius]

Lee was not pro-slavery and did indeed work hard after the war, not only to reconcile the sides, but to help the newly emancipated black Americans.

I think many of us forget that the US at that time wasn’t fully consolidated, so to speak, and many people identified more with their state than with the nation as a whole.

That said, I blame South Carolina for it all...oh, and Andrew Jackson, with the First Seminole War. Of course, Jackson was born in the Carolinas...

[wbarmy]

George Washington, eh.

What oath was George Washington under when the war started? He was not an officer in the British Army, he had been refused a commission. He and the other Founding Fathers tried to avert the war and claim their rights as Englishmen, but the Crown said they were not citizens, but subjects.

They considered King George a tyrant and they were not English as far as King George was concerned.

[wbarmy]

Another fake fact. Abraham Lincoln had no plan to attack until after they fired the first shot at Fort Sumter.

There was a lot of sabre rattling, but nothing would have been done until somebody shot first, which the Confederacy did, not President Lincoln.

[wbarmy]

One tour in Bosnia during our invasion.

One tour in Iraq, Dec 2003 to June 2004, Fallujah.

Three tours to AFG, in Khowst and Shkin, 2008-2011.

Three years in Sierra Leone during Ebola.

I am back in the States now and will meet you wherever you choose to see if you will back those words up.

[DiogenesLamp]

Jeff Davis never had control of the armies from the North that invaded the South to kill people who didn't want to be controlled by Washington DC.

Abraham Lincoln had that control, but only because he conned so many people in the North to back his move.

No invasion, no war. No war fleet, no war. Both were under Lincoln's control.

[DiogenesLamp]

Another fake fact. Abraham Lincoln had no plan to attack until after they fired the first shot at Fort Sumter.

You obviously are unaware of the orders issued by his government to those warships he sent to attack the Confederates at the harbor entrance of Charleston.

It was the arrival of those warships, and the knowledge that their orders were to use force to complete their mission that triggered the attack on Ft. Sumter.

Lincoln fired the first shot.

Odd that so many people are completely unaware of the warships Lincoln sent to attack. It's like they don't want to teach that part of history for some reason.

There was a lot of sabre rattling, but nothing would have been done until somebody shot first, which the Confederacy did, not President Lincoln.

Lincoln fired first. Sent warships and troops with orders to use their entire force to put arms and men into Sumter if the Confederates didn't cooperate.

USS Pawnee. One of the Warships he sent to attack them.