Another view of R.E. Lee

Tue, 02/21/2006 - 4:42pm
By: Letters to the ...

Mr. Scott Gilbert of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (letter to the editor, 01/24/2006) extolled the virtues of Robert E. Lee. Perhaps an opposing and less laudatory view of this iconic figure is worth contemplating.

It is the nature of humankind to exalt when achieving lofty ideals and to wallow in the vileness of man’s inhumanity. The 20th century was graced with the likes of Stalin and Pope John Paul II; the likes of Hitler and Mother Theresa and others both famous and infamous. A continuum of human behavior, from the killing field of Cambodia to the rescue and feeding of the multitudes, can be attributed to a fundamental characteristic of our existence: freewill. What we do with our lives is not predetermined nor the result of divine intervention. We choose to do what we do whether for the good or the bad.

Some ponder the efficacy of their actions before proceeding. They question the righteousness of desires and the paths sought and followed. They debate whether their actions will benefit others as well as their selves. Others are inclined to do what satisfies the self with little regard to those their actions may affect.

Cain freely chose to slay Abel. His god did not compel him to do so. Hitler under his own volition freely chose to sign the death warrants of millions of innocent men, woman and children. His devil did not force his hand. Did these people contemplate the ramifications of their actions or did they act with contemptuous disregard for the welfare of others?

Did Hitler always choose to do evil? Did Mother Theresa always do good? No one is perfectly righteous and no one is perfectly evil. But at critical junctures in human affairs the decision to act one way or another can have far reaching affects. It is at those fleeting, ephemeral moments when the exercise of freewill may alter the course of history.

When Hitler’s henchmen suggested the final solution he could have dismissed their heinous ideas but he thought otherwise. When Stalin decided to enforce collectivization of the proletariat he consciously condemned tens of millions of people to starvation and death. Unfortunately, these infamous characters possessed freewill but lacked integrity.

Integrity, simple stated, is the willingness to do what one thinks is right whether or not there is direct benefit for oneself or even when there are drawbacks for the one acting with integrity.

Granted, Mr. Gilbert did indicate that Lee was not quite infallible when he said that Lee “was not perfect any more than Washington was, he came closer than most of us could ever hope to.” But perhaps Gilbert has propped Lee on a precarious pedestal of a revisionist’s tendentious tale.

Lee may not be as odious and despicable as Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot but due to his poor judgment, his void of integrity, he was indirectly responsible for untold death and destruction.

The American Civil War was an unjust war that should never have been waged. The South should have freed the slaves and moved on. Lee may have been an intelligent fellow but he lacked integrity as revealed through some of his actions. Lee inherited 63 slaves when his father-in-law Custis died. The will stipulated that the slaves were to be manumitted within five years of Custis’s death. The slaves themselves believed that they would be released immediately.

Yet, Lee retained them for those five years. During the intervening years three of them stole away but were captured during their quest for freedom. Eyewitness accounts indicate that Lee had the captured slaves whipped and brine applied to their wounds. What honor, what integrity is revealed in such behavior?

The most egregious example of Lee’s lack of integrity was his decision to turn his back on his country when men of honorable stature were sorely needed. A man of his intelligence and ability should have had the wisdom to see the folly of the Southern cause to perpetuate slavery. His inability to the comprehend this consequential juncture in American history clearly precludes any sense of “greatness of character” that some may wish to bestow on Lee.

If Lee was not inhibited by his unquestioned, morally corrupt loyalty to the Southern cause, the war may have been short-lived and perhaps never fought. The essences of humanity, the double-edged sword of free will, allowed Lee to lead many a man to his death.

Lee’s failure as a military leader is overshadow by his failure to lead his Southern brethren down the righteous path toward freedom. What glory, what honor, what greatness is there to be found along the path he ultimately walked?

r.j. desprez
Tyrone, Ga.

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G35 Dude's picture
Submitted by G35 Dude on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 9:04pm.

Man, you really shouldn't attempt to discuss things that you don't know about.


Submitted by Brock Townsend on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 6:17pm.

1. "Lee may not be as odious and despicable as Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot"

What an asinine statement, or are you confusing Lee with the Tyrant Lincoln? THE Cause of the War was Lincoln's invasion of Virginia, no ifs, ands or buts. The Murderer Lincoln caused the deaths of approximately 700,000 Americans so he could continue to collect his filthy lucre.

2. "The South should have freed the slaves and moved on."

Just amazing. You have obviously been educated in our fine public schools. Slavery wasn't even mentioned until Lincoln realized that the South had a real chance of winning the War. By the way, explain way Lincoln admitted West Virginia (illegally) as a SLAVE state after the EP was issued? Think hard, now.

3. "Eyewitness accounts indicate that Lee had the captured slaves whipped and brine applied to their wounds."

Proof, please, and, no, Foner won't suffice.

Lee's failure as a military leader.....

5. The opinion of Churchill, and Eisenhower among many others trumps yours.

Submitted by robert m on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 5:25pm.

Easy to see you don't know much about Robert E Lee or his ingegrity, or the not so civil war, for that matter.

1bighammer pretty well laid it out the way it is. Every military mind since that horrible war has acknowledged that Lee is the military genius of all times.

It's not important, but family history reveals that Robert E Lee was a second cousin to my great-great-great-grandmother. For that reason I have had occasion to learn a great deal about Lee the man, not necessarily the war, and Lee had no deficit of integrity.

Now, go on line and find the speech Robert Toombs maed on the senate floor to learn what the civil war was really about, then come back and apologize.

Billy Bearden's picture
Submitted by Billy Bearden on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 3:45pm.

R. J. Despret says
"Lee ...was indirectly responsible for untold death and destruction"

NO SIR - It was Lincoln's calling up 75, 000 soldiers to attack the south! Jefferson Davis said the south just wanted to be left alone.

R. J. Despret says
"The South should have freed the slaves and moved on."

SORRY BUDDY - It wasn't up to the south - it was a practice of 89 years protected by the US CONSTITUTION! And if in your fantasy universe, the south (Original 7 Comfederate States) had simply just 'gave up their slaves' then that would have left Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and West Virginia as slave holding states. Man what an idiot!

R.J.Despret says
"The most egregious example of Lee’s lack of integrity was his decision to turn his back on his country when men of honorable stature were sorely needed"

A Man who refused to make war on innocent civilians, women, children, and old men like a Grant or Sherman. A Man who would not raise arms against his family and friends because the government told him to. THAT IS THE SIGN OF INTEGRETY !

R.J.Despret says
"...Southern cause to perpetuate slavery "

HEY PAL - As stated before - the 89 year old practice of slavery was protected by the US Constitution! If it were NOT for the south leaving and having to defend itself against Lincoln the TYRANT, then today slavery would still be legal under the US CONSTITUTION under the 2nd version of the 13th Amendment:

" ARTICLE THIRTEEN, No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State."

Hey Desperate Dude
It must really be rough making it in the world without a proper and full education......


Submitted by 1bighammer on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 11:07am.

it had more to do with unfair taxation on the southern states.

At that time, goods could be imported to the Southern states from England and France cheaper than they could be bought from the Northern businesses. When Abraham Lincoln and the U.S Congress passed the Morrill Tariff , it drove the import tax rate from 20% to 47%. A tax of that rate would have bankrupted many southerners. That tax is what pushed Southern states to legally withdraw from the union. Since the Southern states withdrew and avoided the tax , the Nothern states had to invade the Confederate States and force them at gunpoint back into the Union in order to collect the tax. Abraham Lincoln invaded the South to collect this import tax to satisfy his Northern industrialist supporters that. Slavery was not the issue.

If it had been all about Slavery, why didn't the Emancipation Proclamation free ALL the slaves. The fact is Lincoln only signed it in hopes that the freed slaves would rebel against their southern owners and help the North win the war.

Before you go spouting off about Lee and his unquestioned, morally corrupt loyalty to the Southern cause, maybe you should understand just what THAT cause was.

Submitted by thenatural on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 2:31pm.

Fought over the states rights vs. the precedent of federal law.
End of Civics lesson. Move on.

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