Lee Favorite Robert E. Lee Quotes

I find no reason to believe that Reverend Dabney would lie about Stockdale telling him this, and also cannot think of a reason to doubt Stockdale

They were both implacable foes of Reconstruction, so there is more than ample reason to doubt them.

The entire lost cause myth was a huge lie, so both of them got used to not telling the truth.
 
They were both implacable foes of Reconstruction, so there is more than ample reason to doubt them.

Ummm... I fail to see the problem with being a foe to "Reconstruction" LOL

The entire lost cause myth was a huge lie, so both of them got used to not telling the truth.

I've heard of this phrase "the lost cause myth." I think it must have something to do with the lost cause of twisting the history of the war to make it all about about slavery. I dare not question your familiarity regarding Rev. Dabney or Gov. Stockdale, but my familiarity leads me to conclude they were NOT engaged in such myth-making :D
 
Ummm... I fail to see the problem with being a foe to "Reconstruction" LOL

Of that I have no doubt.

I've heard of this phrase "the lost cause myth." I think it must have something to do with the lost cause of twisting the history of the war to make it all about about slavery. I dare not question your familiarity regarding Rev. Dabney or Gov. Stockdale, but my familiarity leads me to conclude they were NOT engaged in such myth-making :D

I'm positive that's what you believe.

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Lost_Cause_The#
 
Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.

What is your favorite quote?
Lee never said this
Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.

What is your favorite quote?
Never said it!

  • Letter purportedly written to his son, G. W. Custis Lee (5 April 1852); published in The New York Sun (26 November 1864). Although the “Duty Letter” was presumed authentic for many decades and included in many biographies of Lee, it was repudiated in December 1864 by “a source entitled to know.” This repudiation was rediscovered by University of Virginia law professor Charles A. Graves who verified that the letter was inconsistent with Lee's biographical facts and letter-writing style. Lee's son also wrote to Graves that he did not recall ever receiving such a letter. “The Forged Letter of General Robert E. Lee”, Proceedings of the 26th annual meeting of the Virgina State Bar Association 17:176 (1914)
 
Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less.

What is your favorite quote?
Never said it!

  • Letter purportedly written to his son, G. W. Custis Lee (5 April 1852); published in The New York Sun (26 November 1864). Although the “Duty Letter” was presumed authentic for many decades and included in many biographies of Lee, it was repudiated in December 1864 by “a source entitled to know.” This repudiation was rediscovered by University of Virginia law professor Charles A. Graves who verified that the letter was inconsistent with Lee's biographical facts and letter-writing style. Lee's son also wrote to Graves that he did not recall ever receiving such a letter. “The Forged Letter of General Robert E. Lee”, Proceedings of the 26th annual meeting of the Virgina State Bar Association 17:176 (1914)
 
"Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one;"

I can only imagine how horror stricken Lee would have been to have read all that was published in the process of making "The Marble Man" persona after his death. They had to wait for his passing as he would have quashed any activity to promote the romantic image. He was a practible man who had his feet wellgrounded and knew his limitations.
Regards
David
 
After the war, in Lexington, Virginia, Lee called on a lady who lived north of town. She showed him the remains of a tree in her yard. All its limbs had been shot off by Federal artillery fire during Hunter's raid, and its trunk torn by cannonballs. The woman looked at him expectantly as she showed him this memento of what she and her property had endured. Here was a man who would sympathize. Lee finally spoke. "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." (Lee, The Last Years, by Charles Bracelen Flood)
 
"After the surrender of the Southern armies in April, the revolution in the opinions and feelings of the people seemed so complete and the return of the Southern States into the Union of all the states so inevitable, that it became in my opinion the duty of every citizen, the contest being virtually ended, to cease opposition and place himself in a position to serve the country."

--Robert E. Lee in a letter to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, October 3, 1865.
 
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"Those who oppose our purposes are not always to be regarded as our enemies. We usually think and act from our local surroundings. The better rule is to judge our adversaries from their standpoint, not from our own."

--Source: Quoted by A. L. Long in Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, His Military and Personal History, 1886. Long was a Confederate brigadier general.

*These sentiments were found on Lee's desk in Washington College, after he died.
 
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"Mr. President: It is with pain that I announce to your excellency the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia."

--Robert E. Lee in a letter to Confederate president Jefferson Davis, April 12, 1865.

*This was written from Appomattox Court House.
 
Is it true that Lee said or wrote about General William Loring that "There is no room in this army for that man."?

It is often credited to him in some books but I can never seem to find the original source for it. Maybe someone here might know? Thanks!!
 
Is it true that Lee said or wrote about General William Loring that "There is no room in this army for that man."?

It is often credited to him in some books but I can never seem to find the original source for it. Maybe someone here might know? Thanks!!
I thought that was something (or very like it) that he said about George Pickett after Five Forks; I do know, however, that Stonewall Jackson had no liking for Loring after the abortive Romney Campaign in Jan., 1862 and sought to never have him assigned to his force in the Shenandoah Valley again.
 
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