Just wrapped up this biography by Charles Flood of the final years of the great American Robert E. Lee. Lee would live just five years after the Army of Virginia's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. I did not know he had suffered a heart attack at Fredericksburg in 1863, and it would indeed be heart disease that stole his strength and took his life in 1870.
His post-war life was nothing if not both turbulent and productive. Despised as the traitor who led the rebellion by many in the North, he nonetheless dutifully set an example of conciliation and loyalty to the United States as the fastest route to wholeness for the South under the disgrace of Reconstruction. Indeed, President Johnson's efforts to deal fairly with the South were the prime motivation for his failed impeachment by his Radical Republican enemies.
While Lee struggled with his deep personal sorrow over the losses occasioned by a Civil War he thought entirely avoidable, he tried to set an example of dignity and honor for the millions of Southerners who looked to him for a way forward, both in their personal lives and for their beloved South.
In the five years he had left, Lee -- the former superintendent of West Point -- transformed a small, obscure college in Lexington, Va., into a model institution and a leader in the sciences and engineering. Upon his death, it was renamed Washington and Lee, and of course still prospers in Lexington, right next door to another bastion of Southern tradition, the Virginia Military Institute.
This is a very readable book about a man larger than his times whose decency of spirit shed desperately needed light at the end of our nation's darkest tunnel.

A fantastic book. Yes, post-war Lee was someone very few have taken the time to get to know. And that’s a shame. Given our current climate, I wish more would not reduce him to some sort of racist so they could at some level try to handle such a complicated man.

Then again, I actually do not think Lee would want the statues that people are trying to tear down now. There is the story of the woman with the shot up tree who asked Lee what she should do with it... his answer of “cut it down and forget it” is profound.

I live in the Shenandoah Valley now and it’s impossible not to be interested in the War. I’m reading Rebel Yell, about Jackson. He was unlike anyone I’ve ever read about.

As another little tid bit;Edgar Allen Poe wrote his poem 'Annabel Lee'about Lee's daughter (who he had the hots for)R.E.L. made it perfectly clear that his daughter was not going to have anything to do with that crazy bastard.

Rebel Yell is a marvelous book. Jackson was indeed an enigma. The profile painted in the book of his transformation from an awkward professor that was ridiculed by students to a great military leader is fascinating. He really was someone that was a savant of sorts, out of place in most aspects of life but simply an individual that was destined for one role, that of a military leader unlike almost any seen in the history of warfare.

As we all know;we had superior leaders (with some exceptions of course)What we did not have was financial security.
One can not wage a war on trust.The brits desperatly wanted our cotton + we send them some. alas the union wanted the same bales.They docks were full in New Orleans;some made it to England but a good percentage went up the Mississippi to yankee factories.Read an article on the latest copy of Military Quarterly on the civil war cotton trade.

Bill, thanks much for the information regarding your latest reading. I will add this book to my backlog.

I was concerned that this forum was getting a tad slow. Glad to see some new recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Rebel Yell is a marvelous book. Jackson was indeed an enigma. The profile painted in the book of his transformation from an awkward professor that was ridiculed by students to a great military leader is fascinating. He really was someone that was a savant of sorts, out of place in most aspects of life but simply an individual that was destined for one role, that of a military leader unlike almost any seen in the history of warfare.

Indeed. I wondered if he had aspergers.

His fatalism is beyond anything I’ve heard about in a real person. Many people claim to leave their lives in the hands of God, but he truly did. Commenting that he is as calm on a battlefield as in his bed is something few can say. It presents as arrogance, but for him it was 100% leaving things in God’s hands. His description of how he praises God for every single thing in his life made me exhausted. Doubt never seemed to enter his mind, and when it did was turned quickly.

I’m only half way through, so don’t give away the ending though...;-)

Bax, thanks for the lead on "Rebel Yell." As you know, Jackson lies very near Lee in Lexington. I found it interesting that while Thaddeus Stevens and his Radical Republicans were working to crucify the post-war South with Reconstruction for refusing to grant blacks the vote, SIX Yankee state passed their own ballot measures after the war, also denying blacks the vote. Plenty of hypocrisy to go around, wouldn't you say?
I just finished John Oller's recent and very readable biography of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, in which Lee's own dissolute father, Light Horse Harry Lee, played a key role in the battle against Cornwallis for South Carolina. I had no idea Tories were so numerous and powerful, nursing all these years the gross misconception that they were the exception to the rule during the Revolution.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Bax, thanks for the lead on "Rebel Yell." As you know, Jackson lies very near Lee in Lexington. I found it interesting that while Thaddeus Stevens and his Radical Republicans were working to crucify the post-war South with Reconstruction for refusing to grant blacks the vote, SIX Yankee state passed their own ballot measures after the war, also denying blacks the vote. Plenty of hypocrisy to go around, wouldn't you say?
I just finished John Oller's recent and very readable biography of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, in which Lee's own dissolute father, Light Horse Harry Lee, played a key role in the battle against Cornwallis for South Carolina. I had no idea Tories were so numerous and powerful, nursing all these years the gross misconception that they were the exception to the rule during the Revolution.

I do indeed...although I just moved back to the Valley, I'm VA born and bred (OK, for the first 27 years). My dad is a War fanatic, and I spent a ton of time walking battlefields and relic hunting with him. I think my dad is Lee's #1 fan...after all, my brother's name is Robert E. Lee... no kidding... There's an apocryphal story that I was supposed to be named after Jubal Early - I'm glad my mom interceded...I don't think I'd look good with an ostrich plume...

To your points, I think the complexities of the War, its causes, movements, resolutions, later effects, etc. are well beyond the average modern (read under 30 or so) person's interest to comprehend. It's easy (yet incredibly reductive) to simply say, "the war was fought for slavery - the North won and ended slavery," and leave it at that because to get into the nuance means exposing the hypocrisy you mention, and I think people just aren't interested in the truth. For example, we hear stories of how ex-slaves took up arms to fight, yet when was the military fully desegregated - 1948?? That the War was fought for the sake of restoring humanity to an oppressed people - then AFTER the War those same generals went West and...slaughtered Indians? Huh?? And consider this fact - more men died during the War than slaves were ever brought to the colonies. That's a sad fact all the way around...

To really understand the War, a person has to have the intellectual honesty and ability to table their preconceived notions and really dig into the details - shame not enough do.

I'll check out the Oller book - always looking for interesting stuff to read...

He's not just whistling Dixie....



1865, the US Govt paid over $1M in Indian bounties.

Let that sink in for a minute.

I have a copy of a letter from my aunt,that she copied from the original written to one of my ancestors to his brother. He was a field surgeon at Gettysburg. She gave the original to the Gettysburg museum.It was about 3 pages long + in very eloquente script.He described the battle of Little Round Top + several more but was more telling of the camp conditions.The piles of severed limbs,the stench,etc.At one point in this letter you realized that he was writing 3 months after the battle + they were still treating the wounded.Very interesting.

I wrote two book reports about that book in college.It's a very good book about an awesome person .
You should read books about Nathan Bedford Forrest he was awesome Lee said he was his best General .
My great great great grandfather was General John B Gordon
Who surrendered with General Lee.I have about 500 civil war books they are
Awesome.It's the most interesting part of the
United States history !

As Lee said right before Appomatax ."I would have rather a thousand deaths".

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:

It's easy (yet incredibly reductive) to simply say, "the war was fought for slavery - the North won and ended slavery," and leave it at that because to get into the nuance means exposing the hypocrisy you mention, and I think people just aren't interested in the truth.

That myth was made up after the fact to justify what they had done. Same with the myth of "Honest Abe" the rail splitter who in reality was as big of a crook and tyrant as anyone who has ever held the office.