I have little respect for the brain power of any leftist. I find them to be reactionary, reacting to cranked up perception rather than facts, and in the case of Robert E. Lee their pageantry of idiocy is on full display.
Advice to a Confederate widow – “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.”
“In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral & political evil in any Country.”
“I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interests of the South. So fully am I satisfied of this, as regards Virginia especially, that I would cheerfully have lost all I have lost by the war, and have suffered all I have suffered, to have this object attained.”
“I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.”
“I think it is the duty of every citizen, in the present condition of the Country, to do all in his power to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony. It is particularly incumbent upon those charged with the instruction of the young to set them an example.”
“I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation… Still, a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my country and for the welfare and progress of mankind. If the Union is dissolved and the Government disrupted, I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people, and, save in defense will draw my sword on none.”
~~~~~
I read a hell of a long book about him (can’t find it right now) and he seems like a true and proud American. Which is certainly different than those that are trying to wipe out our history.
Lee was firmly Anti Slave. But the Civil War was not about slaves. Oh why bother anymore?
I remember reading books about Lee and Grant in grade school.
The books weren’t very thick, but I enjoyed reading them.
There was a series of these type books.
I believe I did some drawings for school afterwards.
I didn’t like reading much at the time, but these books stand out in my memory.
It is so saddening, what is going on. 🙁
What a damn shame, they know not what a monster they are creating.
Slavery as the main issue of the Civil War is garbage.
Robert E. Lee was a true patriot.
This uprising is not about fact. It isn’t about righting wrongs. It is false and entirely about shaming whites into being subservient to radicals. No matter their color.
This is a communist takeover. The negroes involved will be left standing at the altar once again after their usefulness has expired.
God this is ugly to watch.
The Left is not trying to right any wrongs. They don’t care about who anybody was. They don’t care what or who they destroy. They want the country in a perpetual state of agitation, never at peace.
They are animals. They don’t want a peaceful society.
Robert E Lee was married to George Washington’s granddaughter. He worked with Grant during the Mexican-American war and became a decorated war hero defending this country He believed slavery was a great evil and his wife broke the law by teaching slaves to read and write. After the civil war he worked with Andrew Johnson’s program of reconstruction. He became very popular with the northern states and the Barracks at West Point were named in his honor in 1962. He was a great man who served this country his entire life in some form or other. His memorial is now being called a blight. No American military veteran should be treated as such. People keep yelling, “You can’t change history.” Sadly you can. This is no better than book burnings. ISIS tried rewriting history by destroying historical artifacts. Is that really who we want to emulate?
As they tear down this “blight” keep these few historical facts in your mind. No military veteran and highly decorated war hero should ever be treated as such. This is not Iraq and that is not a statue of Sadam.
IN ADDITION:: Lee was also very torn about the prospect of the South leaving the Union. His wifes grandfather George Washington was a huge influence on him. He believed that ultimately, states rights trumped the federal government and chose to lead the Southern army. His estate, Arlington, near Washington DC was his home and while away fighting the war, the federal government demanded that Lee himself pay his taxes in person. He sent his wife but the money was not accepted from a woman. When he could not pay the taxes, the government began burying dead Union soldiers on his land. The government is still burying people there today. It is now called Arlington National Cemetery. DO THEY WANT TO TEAR THAT UP ALSO ??
The truth no longer matters.
Wonderful reading!!
That’s why the left want’s to destroy history, they’ve been phucked up for over 200 years.
I recently discovered that my great great grandfather was a Confederate soldier along with 3 of his brothers. My gg grandfather was captured in TN and was a POW for several months before being allowed to return home. One of his brothers died of measles or typhoid fever in VA. Another was AWOL for a few days and returned to his unit (no reason given, but it could have been he simply got separated from his unit in the fighting). The last one was listed as AWOL in late 1864 after about 2.5 years of fighting (but he did return home eventually).
The brother that died was a conscript and wrote letters to his wife including a note for his brother (my gg grandfather) to see that there was enough fodder stored to feed his cows for the winter and that his wife had enough to eat while he was gone to war. A later note asked why my gg grandfather hadn’t replied. He didn’t know that my gg grandfather had joined the army (no record as to whether as a conscript or volunteer) as well a couple of months after he had left for the war. All of them may have been conscripts – the records are not explicit for 3 of them.
I can find nothing to indicate that any of them owned slaves or were considered wealthy at the time. My father still owns about 80 acres of land that was once my gg grandfather’s. Over the years, he apparently became a “prominent” land owner according to his obituary from 1904 and apparently owned several thousands of acres at one point. He was found dead in one of his fields that he was plowing.
Over the years my great grandfather (who inherited some of the land) became land poor (a lot of people did because the government started collecting property taxes and kept increasing the amounts) and had to sell off most of it. My dad bought some of it from his father and this land is all that’s left that is still in the family.
This vile scum that is pushing to destroy memorials to Confederate soldiers might as well be desecrating the graves of my ancestors as far as I’m concerned. Whether one agrees with the “lost cause” they fought for or not, the men that were forced to fight in it (willingly or unwillingly) were courageous enough to sacrifice their very lives if need be in defense of their homes, their families and their sovereignty. That’s more than can be said of the communist rabble trying to destroy our history by removing these monuments.
Don’t try to reason or argue with these people. The rule is that once someone has the racist cooties they cannot wipe them off!
Thanks, Bad_Brad, for your post. You’re right, the truth no longer matters.
There is a book called “Guns of the South”, the plot of which is modern (for the time, the late 1980’s) South African apartheidists use a time machine to bring modern automatic weaponry to the CSA, and naturally the South wins the Civil War. Lee becomes the second CSA President, and his first act is to abolish slavery – much to the horror of his future benefactors, who had hoped that by allowing the South to win the way, slavery would continue well into the 20th century and the Blacks of Africa would know their proper place in the future. When Lee refuses to back down, the South African assassinate him. It was the first time I was exposed to Lee’s actual thoughts and beliefs about slavery.
if the left wasn’t ignorant of history they wouldn’t be in the streets rioting over the people protesting the erasing of history.
who would have thought that the “public education system” would bring down this great country ?
the communist did and they used it to do so !
One of the finest, if not the finest, men this hemisphere has produced.
I developed that opinion after having been required to do a report on him in 5th grade (which I resisted mightily).
And, no, I am not a son of the South and my family (both sides) were staunch Northerners.