The General on his beautiful Horse, Traveller.

A nice studio portrait:




One of his most famous photos. I did this in pencil for my final exam in Art class in High School:



General Lee w; his Son, General George Washington Custis Lee, and Colonel Walter H. Taylor:

Robert E. Lee when he was in Texas:


A great painting of Lee and of the most beloved Sons of the South:


Lee's Wife and daughters:
Mary Curtis, & Agnes--third daughter Annie has no known existing photo:

They don't make them like him anymore.

A lot can be seen in the way the Union troops treated him at Appomattox. A true American gentleman and hero. His tactics are still studied by militaries throughout the world.

I'm afraid his most honorable reputations are being sullied by today's liberal professors and history rewriters.

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Amen to all of that. I remember part of a story of one of his exploits as an Engineering officer during the War with Mexico. I need to refresh but, what I gathered from that story, was he was NOT, short on bravery.

To this day, he is my most favorite General of all time.

I have a picture of Lee hanging in my office.

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Not to get too off topic, but what do you guys think about Longstreet? I want to start studying him next, but I have heard some of the material on him is biased, blaming him for losing the war for the Confederacy.

Sometime in the new year, im going to be buying a couple Lee prints from Don Stivors, Dale Galleon and Don Troiani--all will have Lee in them.
This is one of Troianis works im looking at:

And another:

This one looks great to and is by an artist ive never heard of before, Bradley Schmehl.

Paul Strain is good too:

These are the Stivers
Lees, I like:

The other:


On a separate note, I like this Don Stivers print about British Major John Andre after he was captured during Operation? Gustavus:

Longstreet will forever be tied to the Confederate loss at Gettysburg, whether deserved or not, for failure to attack a position early in the morning as ordered by Lee and disagreement with Lee about Pickett's Charge.

Still he is considered by most to be one the best generals of the American Civil War.

He lived to the ripe old age of 82 even though he had been severely wounded in the war.

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That's the impression I got. Having Lee at the head, the daring Jackson on the right, and the (what I consider from what I have read thus far) cautious, practical Longstreet on the left you have a pretty solid structure. I didn't even mention Pickett or Jeb Stuart yet...

You are correct. However, the decision to continue past Day 1 was a poor one on Lee's part, Lee bears ultimate responsibility in the loss at Gettysburg. Gen Ewell, of Lee's subordinates, would be the most responsible for the loss IMO.

Longstreet had many successful campaigns, Antietam and Fredericksburg being two of them.

It should be noted Longstreet and Lee debated the coming campaigns over the winter and Longstreet was against an offensive approach, Lee overruled him and took the offensive. Some have speculated this was the motivation for Longstreet's delays, I think that's a reach. He did indeed delay, but by only a few hours, not most of the day.

After the war, Lee admitted Longstreet was one of the first Generals to comprehend that technological changes no longer gave the advantage to the aggressor, but to the defender.

It's an interesting what if to ask what if Lee had agreed with Longstreet and played the role of the defender in 1863. It could be argued the South would have won the war by attrition of public support in the North, a great "what if."

Bragg was the one the South would have been better off without.

I'm replacing a broken General Lee coffee mug for my FIL, he's accustomed to "coffee with Bobby Lee every morning" in his words. He considers General Lee the second greatest man every, behind Jesus.

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Dave

I named my son Robert Edward, Lee and my father,
were/are my heroes.


''Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things.
You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.''

''Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.''

''I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.''
Robert E. Lee

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with a smile.

A couple of years ago I was telling someone about how boring I find driving long distances, and anything a little over a hundred miles is a long distance to me. He told me about E-Books and loaned me one that was told from Traveler's point of view...It was a great story with somebody like James Earl Jones reading the part of the horse. I think the name of the E-Book was simply Traveler. I turned it on shortly after leaving the house and hitting the interstate, next thing I knew I was approaching my destination after nearly 300 miles of driving.

It was instilled in me by both parents as I was growing up, to be proud of all parts of my heritage. They be, American, Southern and Texan. As a kid, I had a buckskin outfit, cowboy hat, and when we went to Little Rock, Arkansas, I had my 1st Reb Kepi. As a teen, I had the Battle flag on my wall above my bed surrounded w/ swimsuit posters featuring Kathy Ireland.

Guess ill go out that way minus Kathy Ireland. :-(

I remember reading, somewhere, that he was the only person to ever make it through West Point, without getting a single demerit. Amazing.

He was a far better general than anyone else, during the Civil War.

His troops practically deified him.

I also remember reading that the Arlington Nation Cemetery is on land taken from R. E. Lee, during or right after the war.

The story I read was that it was used as a National Cemetery specifically so he could never recover the land that was basically stolen from him.

On a personal level General Lee was by all accounts a most honorable and respected gentleman. But don't forget he made a choice to accept the leadership of the Confederate forces after first being offered command of the Union army. His loyalty to his state of Virginia was stronger than his loyalty to the United States, despite his oath of office as a commissioned officer in which he pledged his loyalty to the United States of America, not the Confederate States of America. As such he became an enemy of this country. You might not be aware that the U.S. Army War College is currently considering the removal of his official portrait from the college, along with that of General "Stonewall" Jackson, on the basis of them being enemies of this country and who took up arms against the United States.

Should we remove this too?

In this day and time... I'm not surprised.

I think one of the biggest "what if's" of the war is what if Jackson had not been fatally wounded at Chancellorsville. It is quite possible that Gettysburg could have turned out much different.

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If we keep removing the threads of our country's history...

What will be left?

I took a detour off rt 3 this morning and drove through Chancellorsville on my way to town. My wife and I were talking about that very subject.

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Dave

Great post "ringo" on a truly great man!

Gettysburg, my favorite topic! The many modern theories made in hindsight about who lost that battle have made it a mind boggling subject. After the battle was fought and as beloved as General Lee was in the south, there was no way he was going to be made the scapegoat. Longstreet, who was himself one of the best generals to have ever lived, quickly became the prime target for the failure and carried that unfair title to the day he died. Longstreet was well aware that the plan for the third day's assault was doomed which of course is easy to see today as we look back at it. Here's my opinion of were the fault should rest;

July 1, 1863, the first day at Gettysburg. General Lee and the CSA forces definitely had the upper hand. Union forces met the CSA assault on the west and north of the town but the CSA quickly drove all of them back through the town and up onto Culp's Hill and Cemetery Ridge. It was then that Lee gave Lt. General Richard Ewell the "discretionary order" to "take that hill if possible." Ewell sent Maj. General Edward Johnson, commander of Ewell's third division to take Culp's Hill. The whole plan was carried out weakly in my opinion and to make a long story short, the hill remained in Federal hands at the end of the day. Meade could not have stayed in Gettysburg if Culp's Hill had ended up being occupied by CSA forces.

To end my post quickly, right there is where the fault for the CSA loss at Gettysburg is - Lee's "discretionary order" and Ewell's failure to secure Culp's Hill. IF Lee would have concentrated his forces right then and there and taken Culp's Hill and flank it on the CSA left the first day (which they could have if done in full force), the great battle of Gettysburg would have been over and Union troops would have had to retreat towards Washington to protect it. That would have sent shock waves through the north and we would be reading history much differently today!

I came back to this thread just to add this point > After studying the war and in particular Gettysburg for many years, I believe the CSA lost Gettysburg at Chancellorsville. IF the beloved and more than capable Thomas Jackson hadn't been handed his fate by members of the 18th N.C.I. at Chancellorsville, he more than likely would have been present at Gettysburg. If Lee would have given the order, no matter how vague, to "take that hill if possible" to Jackson at Gettysburg instead of his replacement Ewell, Gettysburg would have fallen to the CSA and Washington would have been under a tremendous threat. In turn, the people of the north would have had a much different view of the war and I believe it would have pressured the north to the bargaining table. These are all of course "big ifs" and just my opinion.

They are wanting to remove their portraits to appease a tiny group--all in the name of being pc. Patton even kept a portrait of Rommel, as well as a few other Generals he was up against. I read somewhere years ago, that that was even frowned upon then.

Don't give them any other ideas.

Thank you sir, as well as this mighty fine post. Im hoping to find more time to do so real research on some of these Gents and to add some real info about General Lee. Others I want to do are, Stuart, Longstreet, Jackson, the Hill Brothers, and especially now--about Forrest.

Ive never liked revisionist history and dislike it even more now.

Something id especially want to do, is a good posting about the fighting that took place between the 4th Alabama and the 69th New York at: Marye's Heights. I looked at a new so-called ""history book" for high-school aged kids. No mention of that battle at all--when I remember reading in the 7th grade--from the then current history book we were issued. That book couldnt spend more than a few lines written about that battle-when they were talking about the Battles of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania. I remember being intrigued reading how our boys respected a "game" enemy when they stood up and cheered the 69th for their bravery. Nothing like that mentioned these days.









A fine painting by Mort Kunstler on that subject including Sergeant Kirkland: the: Angel of Marye's Heights:


Another of Sergeant Richard Kirkland (aka) the Angel of Marye's Heights."

Sergeant Kirkland's grave:






A photo of our dead behind the stone wall at Marye's Heights:

The: Fightin' 69th.




Sorry I get carried away--back to General Lee.

I am very much inclined to agree with you. General Ewell was no General Jackson, or even Longstreet. Had General Lee given Jackson a "discretionary order" to take that hill, the hill would have been taken.

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What would have happened of we had pressed the Yankees after the victory at 1st Bull Run? The whole Yankee army was in in a panic running full speed back to Washington chasing their Commanders the roads we choked with DC citizens who had come to watch the Battle. The South failed to take advantage of one of the Greatest opportunities of the War.

Or what would have happened if that fool Pillow had held the River Forts in Tennessee? Or if Bragg had never been given a Command?

It would have been a complete rout and destruction of their Army just like happened to Napoleon in Russia after the Russians counterattacked, chased him to the river and destroyed most of his Army there.

There is nothing at all wrong with honoring leaders of the CSA, as a reflection of the history and culture of the South, but revering them as "American" heroes is another matter. If the Army War College posted portraits of Lee and others in admiration of their leadership and soldierly abilities, that of course makes sense (if you ever have the chance to visit the US Military Academy at West Point, there are statues of some of the great generals in human history in the Board Room (I don't recall what the official name of this room is, where the Superintendent presides over the Academy leadership) but this is not acclaiming them as anything more than that, i.e., their military greatness. If the Army War College's intention is displaying portraits of generals who were heroes to this county's conflicts, then there is no place for Lee, Jackson, Longstreet or any of the others who fought against the Union.

You will not find, in a similar vein, any monuments to Benedict Arnold at West Point or in Washington, D.C. despite the fact that he was a hero early in the Revolution. Once he became a traitor to the cause, and served the British, he no longer deserved the honor of being considered an American hero.

I could maybe agree with this, but if they are removed a bunch of US Army bases, named earlier in the thread, need name changes as well. No cherry picking, all in or go home.

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Dave

I just wanted to thank you Gents before I forgot to do so? for giving General Lee a 5 Star rating.

I always heard the only bad things that could be said about Robert E Lee was he received demerits while attending West Point. It's a mute point because everyone does but he received very few.


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He must have been a very humble man. In most pictures where he is in uniform he wears the rank of Colonel as shown by the three stars on his lapel. The rank insignia of a Confederate General is three stars inside a wreath with the middle star being larger than the other two.

Of course, I'm sure that any soldier in his command would know who he was if he displayed no rank at all.

Another thing I really admire about him, one of many) was that his personal Chef--was a black Gent by the last name of Lee. General Lee promoted him to Sergeant, made him his personal Chef--all the other Generals loved his cooking as well, and Lee made sure that his chef got paid the same wages as Sergeants got paid. Sergeant Lee, loved general Lee and made sure the rest of his life-that others knew how he felt about his General. Sergeant Lee after the war, went to College and graduated and he became a Minister who had his own Church--which was popular with both blacks and whites.
For Sergeant Lee:

I think it's well-accepted that Lee was one of the greatest generals. What's a bit strange about his reputation is that he fought against the USA, as did many other CSA combatants who have been honored in one way or another.

This is a bit odd. Shelby Foote providedwhat I consider to be the best explanation of this. He called it the Great Compromise.

"The Civil War, there's a great compromise, as it's called. It consists of Southerners admitting freely that it's probably best that the Union wasn't divided, and the North admits rather freely that the South fought bravely for a cause in which it believed. That is a great compromise and we live with that and that works for us. We are now able to look at the war with some coolness, which we couldn't do before now, and, incidentally, I very much doubt whether a history such as mine could have been written much before 100 years had elapsed. It took all that time for things to cool down."

Things seem to work out better when supporters of the Union as well as the Confederacy recognize the compromise. The Civil War was a terrible event and the compromise certainly made living with the aftermath easier.

I suppose us southern Americans may disagree with you because we believe citizens of the Confederate States of America were just as American as citizens of the United States of America. Confederate Americans believed they were defending their homeland from outside aggressors. They may have been rebels, but they weren't traitors to their homeland.

Benedict Arnold was a traitor who was influenced by the whims of his 18 year old bride for personal gain and glory. Big difference.

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The Civil War, a three volume set by IMHO number one authority on the Civil War of the middle to late 20th Century, Shelby Foote. He said his two favorite people associated with the American Civil War were Lincoln and Forrest.

From Memphis TN, like me. His name was always listed in the phonebook. Imagine calling him up to discuss Longstreet or Forrest, he'd answer questions you'd pose if he had time. Sadly he passed away a few years ago. If you wanted to learn about the various major players of the American Civil War that set would be my choice. I understand it takes months, years to read. Far longer than my attention span.

If you don't know who he is this may help remind you.



He was the best part of the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War.

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Thank you for the reminder. Ive read books by him before and fully agree that he is most likely the best authority on the Civil War.

Unquestionably, Robert E. Lee and his place in the history of war is secure. His tactics have been studied and praised by many great generals that lived and fought long after his passing. I have to respectfully disagree that he was an enemy of the United States solely because he commanded the Confederate army. The Civil War or the War of Northern Aggression as it is still known in many locales today, was basically a war about states rights as set out in the Constitution of the United States. Slavery might have provided the impetus but was really peripheral to the main issue, as there were as many, if not more, slaves in the north as there were in the south at the time of the outbreak of the war. A real unbiased study of history contemporary with the times will verify this fact.

To think that this is a dated concept...states rights versus overarching federal control...is naive, as it continues to this day. Without tripping a hidden wire controlling the claymore of forbidden political discourse, suffice it to say that currently there are several states exploring the process of secession and several portions of states wanting to secede from the balance of their state, northern California being a prime example. The impetus behind these efforts remains the same after more than 150 years, the right of the individual states to govern to the best advantage of their citizens. The past does not bode well for this concept, but it is a noble one nevertheless.

Robert E. Lee was a great general and a great American and his sacrifice and those who followed him into battle is no less than any other American who has made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve and protect this great nation and the principles it was founded upon.

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DUTY HONOR COUNTRY.... West Point

"To preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"..... oath of office

To quote Meatloaf, Two out of three ain't bad...

Just wanted to say that I agree with Faulkner's post above: We were all Americans then. We are all Americans now. In the Civil War, there were occasions where brothers fought against one another. That they were enemies in war does not change the fact of their brotherhood.

In my heart, I honor the heroes and the common soldiers, those who survived and those who died, from both sides in that awful war.

Is it strange that Lee is seen as a symbol of what was good about the south more than anyone? Including Jefferson Davis?

And let's not forget that Jeb Stuart focused on capturing a convoy of supply wagons rather than the tactical portion of his orders. He finally showed up at the end of the second day of the battle.

Shelby Foote was definitely the best part of Ken Burn's "Civil War". With the cadence of his slow southern drawl he should have narrated the whole thing. I could listen to him tell stories about the civil war all day.

Shelby Foote was a guest on C-Span's Brian Lamb's Booknotes show several years ago. I don't know if that episode is still available but it's well worth watching if so. The topic was his Civil War trilogy but there was quite a bit about his personal life. He was an interesting, but very private individual.

I know a little about the privacy based on a trip to a tobacco shop in Memphis where he got his pipe tobacco. I'm a pipe smoker and my wife and I were visiting my daughter while she was a student at UT Pharmacy School in Memphis. For some reason I didn't take enough tobacco and went to the closest shop to get some. It was downtown (can't remember the name).

I went in the shop and couldn't find my normal blend and decided to get a few ounces of one of the house blends. Asked for the most popular and was told it was Shiloh. Originally being from about 40 miles from where the battle of Shiloh took place, I asked about the name.

The tobacconist told me it was named in honor of Shelby Foote. SF wrote a fiction (but realistic) book about the battle. The blend was mixed to meet his taste. The man told me that SF used to come in about once a month but health issues had prevented him from coming to the shop for a couple of years.

Shelby's house/condo was located on the bluffs of the MS River about a mile or so from the shop. The man said Shelby would call and he would bring the tobacco to him. Shelby always be looking out the window and I can't remember but he would either take the tobacco through the window or crack the door. The guy said he always wanted to talk with him but about all he ever got was a few words when Shelby used to go to the shop. I don't think he was much of a socializer. I enjoyed Shiloh the book more than Shiloh the pipe tobacco.

P.S. I found a link to the C-Span interview. The interview is a little over 3 hours long. I think there are short clips available.
If interested, Google Shelby Foote C-Span Interview.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Foote

You can read the states' declarations of secession. They clearly state the reason for secession is to preserve slavery. That's the state's right they were fighting to defend.

There were NOT more slaves in the north than the south. Not even close.
What makes you think this? Remember "free states"?

The Confederate congress passed conscription acts drafting every male age 18-45 into the confederate army. Perhaps ironically, this put them at odds with some of the states, who refused to prosecute their citizens for avoiding the draft. The Confederation was not pro state's rights.

Well, that's the thing. Robert E. Lee chose to put loyalty to Virginia above loyalty to the nation. So although he was unarguably a great general he is not a national hero.

Well, I live in Florida, another state (quite a few miles from Virginia)
of the United States of America. He is my hero too. Ergo, he is a
national hero.

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with a smile.

It's not really appropriate to judge 19th century actions with 21st century standards. In that day and time citizens of the United States didn't really consider themselves as "Americans" as much as they referred to themselves by their home state. They were Virginians, Mississippians, Ohioans, and Pennsylvanians.

It wasn't until after the war, and more specifically, near the Spanish American War that being an American became more commonplace.

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My family was dirt poor when. Lincoln called for Troops to put down the rebellion. Its amazing how that one move by some man in Washington destroyed this Country. None of my family owned slaves. But the answered Lincoln's call for troops. By joining their fellow Southerns in taking up arms to defend their homes. The Southerns were just fulfilling the prophecies of Thomas Jefferson. Every Generation needs a revolution. From time to time the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants alike.

And how did the Yankees view slavery? It s kinda of funny how Lincoln only freed the Slaves in the Confederate States.

For 30 years maybe Congress fought over the issues that would start the War. And they may have kept fighting in Congress if Locoln hadnt defied the Constitution.

Doesn't matter...19th century action vs. 21st century ethics/ How 'bout this; General Lee was a devout Christian, an extremeley selfless man. He was a great father, a loyal and devoted husband, a scholar, a great General, loved his soldiers and was loyal to his causes to a fault. No matter the uniform, no matter the century; the world would be a better place with more men like him. As red14 posted above:

''Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things.
You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.''

''Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one.''

''I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.''
Robert E. Lee

Think hard about the totality of these tenets. I have had the first two framed and hung on my office wall for years. We would all do well to strive to live by these.

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War Eagle!!!

One would be advised caution before judging southerners as traitors, viewing the behavior today of some regarding the Constitution.

Lest we forget there were a great number of Texans who supported the CSA in hopes of the re establishment of the Republic of Texas.

In the end, the process (if I may be excused for using such a clinical term for the valiant actions and tragic deaths of so many) forged the most powerful republic in the history of mankind.

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Halfway and one more step