Lee Lee from young to old

Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Location
Hannover, Germany
When looking at pictures of Robert E. Lee I always had difficulties to see the dashing young officer that he once was when looking at photos of him at older age.
But while in Lexington I bought this amazing flip-over postcard. The eyes indeed stayed the same. I have tried to show the effect but it is strangely difficult to show the effect on photo. Well, I tried. Look at Lee, not at the mess in my bookshelf in the background :D
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I've often found it interesting how young many of the generals were in the Civil War but looked older. Stonewall was 39 when he died, I always thought he looked older than that but war does that to people. I think there was a thread floating around here somewhere that had some photos of Lincoln showing his age as the war went. Post-war photos of Lee show him a tad haggard but who wouldn't be?
 
Lincoln, seeing a picture of Lee, remarked he had a good face - and put the photo in his pocket. My favorite picture of Lee is as an 18 year old cadet at West Point - one of those you never see anywhere! He had dark curly hair, perfect features and totally mischievous dark eyes with a crooked, equally mischievous little smile. No wonder he had a long line of ladies lined up for him...and a long line of dads shaking their heads... Nope, nope, nope - might be too much like Harry! :laugh:
 
Nice! Lee's probably like all of us... when he got older he was looking in the mirror and wondering who that white haired guy was, staring back at him. :smile:
Heh.

It's funny ~ I can't remember what my husband looked like minus the gray hair and the beard. I feel like he's always been the way he is now, even though he was beard-free and dark haired for most of our relationship.

He occasionally mentions missing his 30 year old face, but if he shaved and then dyed his hair, I don't think I would like it!

@FarawayFriend, that is a very cool progression. I like him with the beard better!
 
Nice! Lee's probably like all of us... when he got older he was looking in the mirror and wondering who that white haired guy was, staring back at him. :smile:

I used to interview my dad on his birthday every year. On one of his last birthdays, he said "I feel like a 30-year-old trapped in an old man's body" He lamented the disconnect, and how no one else could recognize his "youth" any longer.
 
My favorite has always been the portrait of Lee as commander of Virginia's military forces, painted in Richmond in April 1861 be Benjamin Franklin Reinhardt, then finished and published in Paris the following spring. He is the "face" of my Robert E. Lee at War" multi-volume series.

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Thanks for showing us, yes, that's a great picture of Lee. I have read about Lee's aggressiveness in war and always have difficulties lonking the mild looking grandfather-/philosopher-like man to the agressive attacker... but in that picture there is something in his eyes and aroumd his lips that let me think he could indeed be good in "taking the aggressive" as he himself put it.

I used to interview my dad on his birthday every year. On one of his last birthdays, he said "I feel like a 30-year-old trapped in an old man's body" He lamented the disconnect, and how no one else could recognize his "youth" any longer.

Bee, I like your post a lot! And I can relate to your Dad so well! Same here. I don't feel very different from being 35, but I'm 35 for 20 years now! I don't even feel bad when looking in the mirror - but giving my year of birth gives me the willies. I always found it ridiculous when some actresses did not tell their year of birth... but I start to understand that now. Hah, when we made the cadet guided tour at VMI @lelliott19 had recommended, the cute 22 year old cadet told things about the Eighties as if they had happened in the last century.... AND THEY DID!!!
Oh my, when we said we remembered quite clearly, he smiled incredulously... and that made me really feel very old...
Sorry for the deviation, but heck, it's my own thread I'm abusing, so what?
 
When looking at pictures of Robert E. Lee I always had difficulties to see the dashing young officer that he once was when looking at photos of him at older age.
But while in Lexington I bought this amazing flip-over postcard. The eyes indeed stayed the same. I have tried to show the effect but it is strangely difficult to show the effect on photo. Well, I tried. Look at Lee, not at the mess in my bookshelf in the background :D
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Fantastic pictures of Lee, thanks for sharing.
Can I ask you a question? Those books in the background are they written in English?
Also, it was a pleasure meeting you and Dirk last weekend at Gettysburg, September to Remember 2016.
 
Bee, I like your post a lot! And I can relate to your Dad so well! Same here. I don't feel very different from being 35, but I'm 35 for 20 years now! I don't even feel bad when looking in the mirror - but giving my year of birth gives me the willies. I always found it ridiculous when some actresses did not tell their year of birth... but I start to understand that now. Hah, when we made the cadet guided tour at VMI @lelliott19 had recommended, the cute 22 year old cadet told things about the Eighties as if they had happened in the last century.... AND THEY DID!!!
Oh my, when we said we remembered quite clearly, he smiled incredulously... and that made me really feel very old...
Sorry for the deviation, but heck, it's my own thread I'm abusing, so what?

Thank you, and the deviation is quite welcomed. Since I have lost a chunk of my sight, I cannot rely on visual evaluation for a person's age, anymore. It is like having a diffusion lens on the world. When I remember people, I remember the timbre of their voices, the animation of their body language, and mostly: their attitude. I say: there sure were a lot of "kids" on the Gettysburg tour:smile: When I admonished the used of Pokémon Go! in certain venues, I was told by a 13-year-old that I was "old and irrelevant". Gawd that stings!

A wonderful thread, and a pleasure to meet you, Andrea.
 
When I remember people, I remember the timbre of their voices, the animation of their body language, and mostly: their attitude.
That's not a bad way to do things actually.

I was told by a 13-year-old that I was "old and irrelevant".
Nope. Never.

It's bizarre that you used that word. I was just having a similar conversation with another woman yesterday, and she used the same term.

We never stop being relevant. Not even in death.
 
Lee’s personae was unique in that it was awe-inspiring without being arrogant, his self-assuredness obvious without there being a hint of condescension. Erasmus Keyes, an officer who served with Lee in the antebellum army as well as commanded a corps in the Army of the Potomac against Lee during The War, said it best: “even though Lee was exempt from every form and degree of snobbery, his sense of superiority and fitness to command” were undeniable. “No man could stand in his presence and not recognize his capacity and acknowledge his moral force.”

Regards,
 
Fantastic pictures of Lee, thanks for sharing.
Can I ask you a question? Those books in the background are they written in English?
Also, it was a pleasure meeting you and Dirk last weekend at Gettysburg, September to Remember 2016.

Thank you, and likewise it was great meeting you!
Some of the books are indeed written in English. Since getting English books has become so simple (before amazon only one big bookstore here cared for books in English, at astronomical prices!) I try to read the original instead of the translation, because in my opinion every translation is a form of interpretation.
Once I was getting used to it I cannot even remember if I read something in German or English, LOL.
 
Thank you, and likewise it was great meeting you!
Some of the books are indeed written in English. Since getting English books has become so simple (before amazon only one big bookstore here cared for books in English, at astronomical prices!) I try to read the original instead of the translation, because in my opinion every translation is a form of interpretation.
Once I was getting used to it I cannot even remember if I read something in German or English, LOL.


Thank you.
 
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