Lee and the Leftists

If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state?

Robert E. Lee, said by him while declining command of the Union Army on April 18, 1861.

Dave Griffey at Daffey Thoughts examines the current two minute hate against General Robert E. Lee:

When Donald Trump is the voice of truth and reason

You know we’ve jumped the shark somewhere.  So former president Trump issued a statement celebrating the legacy of Robert E. Lee, even as we live in an age that would ban an Asian sportscaster from his job because his name is Bob Lee.  Let that level of crazy sink in.

What struck me, however, was this quote from the story:

 

Lee’s leadership of the Confederate Army during the Civil War led to hundreds of thousands of deaths as he fought to defend Southerners’ rights to own Black people as property.

 

That made me think of this little gem from years ago:

Note there is nothing technically wrong in either the story quote or the above joke. It reminds us that history is more an art than a science.  Its usefulness to society is only as good as the goodwill and good intentions of the society itself.  Nazi Germany taught history.  So did the USSR.  But I’d wager most of us would disagree with how those terror states actually interpreted the history.

Nonetheless, the ability to interpret things based on biases and agendas remains strong in many areas, nowhere more than historical studies.  And right now, the template for approaching the history of the Christian West and America is that the heritage of the Christian West and America must go.  Until we get our heads around that and call it for what it is, expect more pillars of our civilization to come crumbling down in the near future.

Iconoclasm Update:  Apparently there was supposed to be a time capsule from the statue they’ve been unable to locate.  If there is any justice, it will remain hidden from the claws of the leftist iconoclasts.  They plan on replacing it with a time capsule reflecting our values, that is one reflective of our times. If that were the case, it would include AIDS, illegal drug paraphernalia, pornographic material, and aborted fetuses.  Apart from the fight racism with racism done right of BLM, I’d say those sum up our national identity as much as anything in the year 2021.

Go here to comment.  That a man as great and good as Robert E. Lee is hated by so many historically illiterate Leftists, says much about them, and nothing about Lee.

Always outnumbered, with troops often dressed in rags, ill-fed, ill-supplied, he led his men to magnificent victories in the Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.  Fighting another great general, Grant, he achieved a stalemate in 1864 against an army that had more than a two-to-one advantage, and prolonged the life of his country by almost a year.  A fighting general with a propensity for taking huge risks, he was also a humane man with unfailing courtesy for both friend and foe.  A true Christian, he did his best, in turbulent times, to live the teachings of Christ.

In regard to the great issues of his day, he was opposed to secession as he indicated in this letter to his son “Rooney” on January 29, 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.”  When Virginia seceded however, he decided that he had no choice but to fight in her defense.

As to slavery,  before the Civil War Lee condemned it in private correspondence, viewing it as an unmitigated evil. While not an abolitionist he hoped that Christianity and education would eventually end slavery.

Pursuant to the terms of his father-in-law’s tangled pro se will, he manumitted his father-in-law’s slaves.

For years prior to the Civil War, Lee and his wife financially supported black families in Liberia, part of their efforts to encourage freeing slaves to participate in setting up a free black state in Liberia. Lee and his wife led by example, freeing their slaves and offering to pay the expenses of all of his former slaves who wished to settle in Liberia.

Lee was in favor of enlisting blacks in the Confederate army from the moment that it was proposed in 1864, and stated that in simple fairness the black soldiers should be guaranteed freedom for themselves and their families.  His thoughts on black troops are set forth in these letters.  I have little doubt that if it had been in his power Lee would have used black troops from the beginning of the war with freedom being their reward for volunteering to fight.

After the war Lee stated that rather than fighting for slavery he rejoiced that the outcome of the war had ended slavery. That this was no idle comment was demonstrated by Lee while at Church one Sunday morning soon after the war.  Lee opposed immediate suffrage for former slaves, but only on the ground that they currently lacked the education to exercise the franchise responsibly. He led a successful campaign to remedy this by championing the public funding of schools for blacks in 1869-70.  He repeatedly expelled white students from Washington University, of which he was President after the war, who engaged in attacks on blacks.

In the midst of defeat Lee gave a great gift to all Americans.  By not starting a guerrilla war against the occupying Union troops Lee ensured that the Civil War was not merely the prelude to an endless cycle of wars between the states.  In devoting his remaining years to education in a defeated and devastated South he was a shining example to the veterans who followed him of dignity and courage in the face of adversity.  There have been greater generals than Robert E. Lee, there have been few greater men.

Robert E. Lee after the War when  writing to a young mother who expressed animosity towards the North:

Madam, don’t bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans.

The great truth of the Civil War is that we are one people:  North and South, white and black.  People who try to stir up old hatreds are spitting upon the graves of those who lost their lives seeking to preserve the Union, and the graves of the men on both sides who after the War counseled reconciliation.  Time to recall these other words of Lee after the War:

We must forgive our enemies. I can truly say that not a day has passed since the war began that I have not prayed for them.

“When the future historian shall come to survey the character of Lee he will find it rising like a huge mountain above the undulating plane of humanity, and he must lift his eyes high toward heaven to catch its summit. He possessed every virtue of other great commanders without their vices. He was a foe without hate; a friend without treachery; a soldier without cruelty; a victor without oppression; and a victim without murmuring. He was a public officer without vices; a private citizen without wrong; a neighbor without reproach; a Christian without hypocrisy and a man without guile. He was a Caesar without his ambition; Frederick without his tyranny; Napoleon without his selfishness; and Washington without his reward. He was obedient to authority as a servant, and royal in authority as a true king. He was gentle as a woman in life; modest and pure as a virgin in thought; watchful as a Roman vestal in duty; submissive to law as Socrates; and grand in battle as Achilles.”

Benjamin H. Hill, 1874