One hundred forty seven years ago Thursday, Oct. 12, 1870, Robert Edward Lee died. He is remembered most as the Confederate general who led the South in the Civil War.
Although he fought against the Union, he was a remarkable man. The respect that he gained from soldiers on both sides of the conflict, as well as from others during his life before and after the war, provides sufficient evidence of that.
Recently, however, his image has been tarnished and statues and other memorials in his honor have been removed. He has been labeled a racist and traitor, and other insults have been heaped on his once good name.
An Associated Press article written by Russell Contreras for the news media in mid-August is perhaps the best example of the changing attitude toward Lee. In my nearly 50 years at the Journal-Tribune, it is the worst article I have ever read from the once top-notch, now turned liberal news agency. It is full of untruths, unsubstantiated allegations and innuendoes based on hearsay. It labels Lee as a “racist icon,” an Army officer with “little experience leading troops,” who won Civil War battles because of incompetent Union generals. It alleged Lee was cruel to his slaves and encouraged beatings of them.
All of these statements have absolutely no factual basis.
Lee was born into a prominent Virginia family on Jan. 19, 1807. His father, Henry, was a famous Revolutionary War general known as “Light Horse Harry” Lee. However, the family had little money because of poor financial management.
Robert entered West Point, graduating second in his class in 1829. He spent the next 32 years in the United States Army rising to the rank of colonel. He distinguished himself in battles during the Mexican War and in the capture of abolitionist John Brown at Harpers Ferry in 1859. His commanding officer, Gen. Winfield Scott, called him the best officer in the Army.
With civil war looming in 1861, Lee came to the point of his life where he had to make a difficult decision. He was offered command of the Union forces by President Abraham Lincoln, but couldn’t turn his back on his beloved Virginia. Although he was opposed to slavery, secession and the war, when Virginia left the Union, he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army and accepted command of the Army of Northern Virginia within the Confederacy.
Throughout the war, because of his brilliant strategy, he won several important battles, and even when defeated, was able to save his forces with masterful retreats. It all ended at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. It is interesting to note that Gen. Ulysses Grant, who accepted Lee’s surrender, treated him with utmost respect, not as the vanquished enemy.
On the slave issue, Lee’s wife, Mary Custis, was the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, wife of the first U.S. president. When her father died, she inherited several properties that included slaves. Because of financial problems with the estates, Lee took a little time off from the military to help straighten out the problems, and in the course of doing that interacted with the slaves. Although there were allegations of their mistreatment at Lee’s direction, there was never any proof, direct or indirect, of the truth of those accusations. Several times, in writing, Lee expressed his firm opposition to slavery, and those who knew him were quoted as dismissing such charges because of his gentle, dignified, kind, Christian character.
After the war, he was adamant that Southerners abandon their former dreams and render a new allegiance to a reunited government. The last five years of his life he served as president of Washington College in Virginia, which later changed its name to Washington and Lee.
He may have had slaves, as did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but that didn’t make him or them racists, nor did it diminish the greatness of their character.