Happy 200th General Lee

What more can be said of this great man that has not already been said? His impeccable moral character, his courage, his brilliant military career, his patriotism, his loyalty, his humility, his love for his family, Virginia, and his God, his Christian faith . . . all have been eloquently written about in thousands of books, newspapers, journals, & magazines since his death in 1870. Lee towers above his critics today and the small minded and cold-souled men who try to impugn him only magnify his goodness and superior character and morality.

Robert E. Lee was born 200 years ago this day at the Lee ancestral mansion, Stratford Hall, and drew his first breath in the same room in which were born two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee. He had married Mary Custis, the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, who was the adopted grandson of George Washington. Lee’s strong ties to the Union, and its founding, were both by blood and by choice. The depth of Lee’s love for, and loyalty to, the Union is something many students of Lee fail to give due consideration. It makes his decision to acquiesce to Virginia’s secession all the more remarkable. Consider: By the age of 54, Colonel Robert E. Lee had fought with honor and distinction in the Mexican War, served as Superintendent of West Point, quelled a domestic insurrection at Harper’s Ferry, and was a highly respected officer and engi­neer. Lee’s military prowess was well recognized. General Winfield Scott credited the United States’ victory over Mexico to the “skill, valor and undaunted energy of Robert E. Lee” and once referred to him as, “the greatest military genius in America.”

Though loyal to the Union, readers should carefully reflect on the fact that Virginia had been a political entity for more than two hundred years, and that Lee’s roots in Virginia could be traced to the year 1640. The United States had only been a reality for about 80 years. His decision to cut his ties to the Union, though agonizing, was clearly the right one for him. It was, in the words of biographer Douglas Southall Freeman, “the decision Lee was born to make.”

Perhaps it was Douglas Southall Freeman who best and most succintly described the essential Lee:

"Robert Lee was one of the small company of great men in whom there is no inconsistency to be explained, no enigma to be solved. What he seemed, he was. He was - a wholly human gentleman, the essential elements of whose positive character were two and only two, simplicity and spirituality." ~ Douglas Southall Freeman

And how did Lee attain such strength of character? The same way you and I can: through faith in Christ. Freeman, again, on the "secret" of Lee's strength:

"Had his life been epitomized in one sentence of the Book he read so often, it would have been in the words, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." ~ Douglas Southall Freeman

I will be paying my respects to General Lee in the Lee family crypt some time later today. The Year of Lee continues. God bless his memory.