Lee Deification of Robert E Lee

[C. Kelp]

Even though he did not want such a burden, upon his death he made a perfect poster child for the South, and not without some merit.

are you saying that he was a willing participant in his own deification, or that whether he liked it or not he embodied what was best about the south and was used , and that there was some merit that he represented the best of the south ?
or something altogether different ?

 

[unionblue]

please explain , i do not follow this part.

Lee regretted his military education.

"The greatest mistake of my life was taking a military education."

Whenever his students at Washington College and those of the neighboring Virginia Military Institute marched together, Lee made a point of staying out of step.

Lee never looked to profit on his fame as a great Confederate general. An insurance firm offered him $50,000 just for the use of his name. He turned it down.

Congress refused to pardon him or restore his citizenship, but he did not complain.

He told others not to hate or dwell on defeat or hold hard feelings, but to obey the law and to become good citizens of the United States once more.

"The 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 every one to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony."

Lee did not seek or want "deification." He wanted to move on with his life and did the greatest work of his life, not on the battlefield, but in his help in the restoring of his nation, the United States.

Unionblue

 

[unionblue]

are you saying that he was a willing participant in his own deification,

No.

or that whether he liked it or not he embodied what was best about the south and was used , and that there was some merit that he represented the best of the south ?

Yes.

or something altogether different ?

Nope.

Unionblue

 

[diane]

i'm not trying to be a smart-aleck , i'm sincere. do you think it may be that he was a broken man and preferred not to have to describe himself but leave it to others ?

I don't know. I don't see Lee as broken - he was prepared for the consequences of doing his duty and accepted the verdict of war. It may have been more not wanting to get into it with other generals - both sides - which was beginning to happen. It may have been he felt his father was a successful rebel whereas he was not - didn't live up to the standard he felt the Revolutionaries had set. That may have been why he concentrated on fixing up his father's memoirs - where did I go wrong and Dad go right? It may have been post-war depression, too - he definitely had that as did most of the veterans. And, it may simply have been something he found he just couldn't do after all.

 

[C. Kelp]

Lee regretted his military education.

"The greatest mistake of my life was taking a military education."

Whenever his students at Washington College and those of the neighboring Virginia Military Institute marched together, Lee made a point of staying out of step.

did not know this.

Lee never looked to profit on his fame as a great Confederate general. An insurance firm offered him $50,000 just for the use of his name. He turned it down.

Congress refused to pardon him or restore his citizenship, but he did not complain.

i think this is where he demonstrates his character .

He told others not to hate or dwell on defeat or hold hard feelings, but to obey the law and to become goog citizens of the United States once more.

"The 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 every one to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony."

Lee did not seek or want "deification." He wanted to move on with his life and did the greatest work of his life, not on the battlefield, but in his help in the restoring of his nation, the United States.

isn't this really all he did in regards to help ?
where is the quote from ?
i tried reading lee's memoirs, but long is such a sycophant , it was unreadable to me.

 

[unionblue]

did not know this.

i think this is where he demonstrates his character .

isn't this really all he did in regards to help ?

I don't know what else Lee could have done. He kept quiet, advised others to accept the results of the war and to help rebuild and become good citizens. Here is a quote from him that I think further demonstrates my point:

"I have thought, from the time of the cessation of hostilities, that silence and patience on the part of the South was the true course; and I think so still. Controversy of all kinds will, in my opinion, only serve to continue excitement and passion, and will prevent the public mind from the acknowledgment and acceptance of the truth. These considerations have kept me from replying to accusations made against myself, and induced me to recommend the same to others."

The above was in a letter to from Lee to Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, Feb. 23, 1866

where is the quote from ?

The quote you show in your above post was in a letter from Lee to a Josiah Tattnall dated Sept. 7, 1865. Tattnall was a former captain in the Confederate army.

i tried reading lee's memoirs, but long is such a sycophant , it was unreadable to me.

You might want to look at the book, Reading The Man: A Portrait Of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters, by Elizabeth Brown Pryor. It's a good read, very informative.

Unionblue

 

[EricAJacobson]

Lee did not seek or want "deification." He wanted to move on with his life and did the greatest work of his life, not on the battlefield, but in his help in the restoring of his nation, the United States.

Unionblue

I think this is one of the best posts I have ever seen, because it is absolutely correct.

 

[Aussie Billy Sherman]

Lee regretted his military education.

"The greatest mistake of my life was taking a military education."

Whenever his students at Washington College and those of the neighboring Virginia Military Institute marched together, Lee made a point of staying out of step.

Lee never looked to profit on his fame as a great Confederate general. An insurance firm offered him $50,000 just for the use of his name. He turned it down.

Congress refused to pardon him or restore his citizenship, but he did not complain.

He told others not to hate or dwell on defeat or hold hard feelings, but to obey the law and to become goog citizens of the United States once more.

"The 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 every one to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony."

Lee did not seek or want "deification." He wanted to move on with his life and did the greatest work of his life, not on the battlefield, but in his help in the restoring of his nation, the United States.

Unionblue

Wasn't Lee privately very sore about the end result of the war and not so much wanting to come together?

 

[unionblue]

Wasn't Lee privately very sore about the end result of the war and not so much wanting to come together?

Let me get back to you on this one. I want a source I can quote and not just from my memory.

 

[ole]

IN the interest of the fact that this thread keeps getting bogged down/grounded on discussions involving Treason & Pardons of Lee & Davis, I thought that I would share two of my favourite commentaries on the topic:

https://cwcrossroads.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/salmon-p-chase-on-treason-and-secession/


https://cwcrossroads.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/lee-davis-oaths-and-pardons/​

Bee: we'll run off to the very next rat hole that opens up

 

[ole]

Wasn't Lee privately very sore about the end result of the war and not so much wanting to come together?

of course he was. He was a soldier and what soldier likes to lose.? But he handled the loss magnanimously. Unity became his goal.

 

[diane]

Wasn't Lee privately very sore about the end result of the war and not so much wanting to come together?

You might be thinking of the quote by Fletcher Stockdale, related by R L Dabney:

"Governor, if I had foreseen the use these people desired to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox, no, sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in this right hand."

This was supposedly said after the interesting meeting at White Sulpher Springs after everyone had left and Lee and Stockdale were alone. It doesn't sound like Lee and was related by Dabney in The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney long after Lee was dead.

Literally a few days before he died he wrote this to Col Charles Marshall:

"The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow, and our desires so impatient; the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope."

 

[C. Kelp]

"The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow, and our desires so impatient; the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope."

what do you think he meant by that ?

 

[C. Kelp]

@unionblue
"I have thought, from the time of the cessation of hostilities, that silence and patience on the part of the South was the true course; and I think so still. Controversy of all kinds will, in my opinion, only serve to continue excitement and passion, and will prevent the public mind from the acknowledgment and acceptance of the truth. These considerations have kept me from replying to accusations made against myself, and induced me to recommend the same to others."

this makes a lot of sense to me if you are saying that he thought it best to not speak at all to avoid stirring anyone's pot, and so speed reunion. also looking at it this way would indicate that it was a big help in that direction. i would be interested if there are any books that might reveal how hard or easy it was for him to hold his tongue. thanks for the tip on "Reading the Man : ", does it discuss this at all ?

 

[diane]

what do you think he meant by that ?

Exactly what he said.

 

[C. Kelp]

that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope."

i am slow sometimes. ebb is the retreating of the tide or wave. it dose not precede . discouraged of what ? hope what ? forgiveness , you'll get what you wanted in the long run, or that things will always work out the way they are supposed to in a benevolent manner ?
sorry i just don't get what he is driving at.

 

[diane]

i am slow sometimes. ebb is the retreating of the tide or wave. it dose not precede . discouraged of what ? hope what ? forgiveness , you'll get what you wanted in the long run, or that things will always work out the way they are supposed to in a benevolent manner ?
sorry i just don't get what he is driving at.

The quote is preceded by this:

"My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them, or indisposed me to serve them; nor in spite of failures, which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge; or of the present aspect of affairs; do I despair of the future."

When Lee wrote this, he was less than a few days away from the stroke that killed him and was aware he was headed out. Lt Col Charles Marshall, who was the grand-nephew of Chief Justice John Marshall, had some strong opinions after the war. He had been Lee's adjutant general and had written his farewell address. After the war he taught at a university in Indiana. But...he had some adjustment problems!

 

[unionblue]

@unionblue
"I have thought, from the time of the cessation of hostilities, that silence and patience on the part of the South was the true course; and I think so still. Controversy of all kinds will, in my opinion, only serve to continue excitement and passion, and will prevent the public mind from the acknowledgment and acceptance of the truth. These considerations have kept me from replying to accusations made against myself, and induced me to recommend the same to others."

this makes a lot of sense to me if you are saying that he thought it best to not speak at all to avoid stirring anyone's pot, and so speed reunion. also looking at it this way would indicate that it was a big help in that direction. i would be interested if there are any books that might reveal how hard or easy it was for him to hold his tongue. thanks for the tip on "Reading the Man : ", does it discuss this at all ?

C. Kelp,

Thank you for your kind words, and the book, Reading The Man, does discuss how hard it was for Lee to control his temper and his thoughts after the war.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[C. Kelp]

after thinking on this a little bit this is my conclusion on lee so far.
as far as being deified , lee comes across as less than jesus or moses and more like aaron .

 

[Rebforever]

after thinking on this a little bit this is my conclusion on lee so far.
as far as being deified , lee comes across as less than jesus or moses and more like aaron .

I don't know where this deification thing comes from but there is one thing for sure, Robert E. Lee was one of the greatest Generals of the World and of the ages. IMO.