My opinion? This would be an outrageous mistake. The South and her people were important enough for us to engage in a bloody civil war to retain. Lincoln’s plan, of course, was for reconstruction and pardons for those who pledged to support to Constitution. It was, essentially, a plan of reconciliation. This nation would be nothing without the North and South together; each half requires the other to survive. And each half makes the other better. The men who fought for the South are as critical to this country’s history as those who fought for the North.
It was obviously imperative for the North to win. And yes, the South’s culture had to change, needed to change. Not only was slavery a scourge on the human condition, it also so anathema to human nature a nation which implements it cannot survive.
We know these things, and yet the South is, and always will be, an important part of us, and the men who fought for her, while wrong in their decision-making, are a key part of our history and are our brothers.
Like many in this great nation of ours, the Scots-Irish side of my family have those who fought and died for both the North and the South. My civil war relatives are buried in Ohio and South Carolina. I’m also proud to note that General Grant is in my family line as well. I think everyone who fought in that horrible, but so necessary war, would agree that Lee and the other Confederate generals should not be swept under the rug, disappeared into some memory hole. We all deserve better than that because we can handle the truth of our history in all its complexity.
Is this a complicated issue? I realize some of you would disagree with my approach on this. I’m very curious to see what you think!
The U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania is considering removing its portraits of Robert E. Lee and other Confederate generals after at least one official questioned why the school honors those who fought against America.
The college is currently conducting an inventory of its paintings and photographs, which feature Confederate generals such as Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The school plans to re-hang the images later in historical themes to tell a story, the Washington Times reports.
College spokeswoman Carol Kerr told the newspaper that at least one official — who was not identified – asked the administration why the school honors generals that were enemies of the U.S. Army.
“There will be a dialogue when we develop the idea of what do we want the hallway to represent,” she said. “[Lee] was certainly not good for the nation. This is the guy we faced on the battlefield whose entire purpose in life was to destroy the nation as it was then conceived. … This is all part of an informed discussion.”
The U.S. Army War College, which opened in Carlisle in 1901 to study the lessons of war, graduates more than 300 officers, foreign students and civilians each year, the Washington Times reports.
Before the college opened, Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. Lee and Jackson are both graduates of the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
The portraits of Lee and Jackson will be replaced with portraits of Ho Chi Minh and Benedict Arnold.
Generals Lee and Jackson did not fight “against America”, they were fighting *for* America, for their vision of what America was and should be (horrible as we see its evils then and today). The Civil War was not so much a war between nations–the Confederacy was an insurrection, and never a truly legitimate nation–as it was the new nation’s first great conflict of visions. The two visions were irreconcilable and could no longer co-exist, one of them had to emerge the victor–but from beginning to end, every actor in the conflict was and is American. We count all of the dead in the Civil War as American dead, and rightly so, because regardless of on which side of the conflict they fought, those men fought to unify our country. No phantom nation called “the Confederacy” has the right to steal the brilliance of Generals Jackson and Lee, and certainly not the valor of all men such as wore the rebel Gray.
Well said Isaac.
IMHO, if US Army War College spokesperson Carol Kerr represents the thinking of the institution, perhaps it is the institution that needs to be replaced. I have never heard a more ridiculous judgment of Lee and Jackson. As West Point graduates they put their lives on the line many times for this country. Their leadership abilities were proven both before and during the War between the States. Yes, it was only after that terrible war did we finally make the transition from loyalty to one’s state to commitment to the nation as a whole. These were honorable men forced to choose and we may regret the choice they made, but no one should dare suggest that they do not deserve a proper place in our history. Our American story is filled with imperfect people trying to do the honorable and right thing. Sometimes the picture is ugly, but we grow and change and get stronger. The Civil War was a long time in coming, and it was brutal. It gave painful birth to a new stronger America. No one has the right to to rewrite that history to suit their small minded ignorance.
This also dismisses the western military tradition of viewing enemy combatants as honorable men performing their duties in uniform as a soldier for their nation. On the battlefield, you fight to the death. When it’s over, the vanquished, whether dead or alive, are to be treated with honor and respect as members of the military profession. Anything less, and we descend into the kind barbarism we see out of the current day islamists
All of the men, women, and children in the South who lost their lives and homes were American. Many were fighting to protect not only their states, but their personal residences and families who were in the path of the razing Union armies. Others, like my teenage great-great-grandfather who had just immigrated from Germany, were drafted into the Confederate Army. Lee and Jackson were Americans leading Americans into battle against other Americans, but not against America. That’s why it’s called a CIVIL war.
Today, the members of our military still hail more from the South than from any other region of the US. http://herit.ag/19JwzED Southern language and culture mirrors that of the American military. (Ex. In the South as well as the military, one addresses a woman as “Ma’am” not “Miss” no matter what her age.) To censor the images of two of our greatest military minds is not only a dangerous view, it is simply not an accurate understanding of our country. Maybe the War College should buy a few history books.
I am a Southerner who is also a minority. I love the culture and heritage of the South. However, I have had mixed emotions about the Civil War or as we were taught in school the “War Between the States” . Growing up in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, you were given so many mixed messages.
A book I read in 2001, “April 1865: The Month that Saved America” by Jay Winik, helped me to come to terms with Robert E. Lee. In his book Mr. Winik describes in great detail the efforts Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, took to try to convince Lee and his generals to become guerrilla warriors. Lee resisted his efforts and instead convinced his generals to surrender as he would at Appomattox. Winik credits Lee’s effort as a turning point in American history saving the country from further bloodshed, allowing the country to become united again and work toward greatness.
Years later, I was driving my young son to my job in downtown New Orleans. At the end of St. Charles Ave, there is a large statute of General Lee. He looked at it and asked me if General Lee was a good man. I told him that General Lee was a good man that had made a bad decision but had in the end, tried to make it right.
If Lee had accepted Lincoln’s offer to lead the Union Army at the start of the Civil War, the war would have ended in 2-3 years avoiding most of the blood shed. However, he failed to recognize the importance of the Union and was in large part responsible for the most casualties suffered by the American Army in any war. However, his decision to lay down his arms when the war was lost saved America. I would want every solider attending the War College to learn the lessons of General Lee. General Lee, in the end, lived the values of West Point and the American military.
Much has been said about this administration firing so many living generals. Now they’re firing dead ones too.