Defending Robert E. Lee

Among the controversy surrounding Confederate statues and their removal, there is the famous general Robert E. Lee whose statue in Charlottesville was the cause of the Unite to Right rally two weeks ago, which ended in riots and national outrage. In places like Duke, New Orleans, Baltimore and Austin, Texas his statue has been removed. And in places like Charlottesville, Arkansas, Washington, Pennsylvania, Richmond, Maryland, Florida, and Dallas he still stands.

            In this push to remove Confederate statues, Lee has been a center of focus and one of the first to reach the chopping block because he was, after all, the highest-ranking Confederate general and the face of the Confederacy. However, many people who want him gone do not know who Lee really was and why he did what he did.

            It�s time for a history lesson.

            Robert E. Lee was one of the most brilliant military strategists and generals of all time. You�re probably thinking to yourself right now, �But didn�t he lose? He can�t be that great then.�

            Well you would be right. He did lose the Civil War. But keep in mind who he was up against and the forces he had at his disposal. Lee commanded a mostly untrained, rag-tag militia style army against the Union�s military might. Also, keep in mind that the Union had way more resources than the South did seeing as they could travel faster because of extensive railroad systems and they had industries to make weapons and equipment. The South didn�t have that. The South had cotton. With a lack of supplies available, a joke of an army, and the inability to move quickly, I�d say that Lee did a good job keeping the Confederacy�s head above water until 1865. He even scored some victories at Bull Run and Chancellorsville.

            Now I know that military records do not matter in this argument over whether his monuments stay up or not. It�s important to note that Lee was actually one of the top military generals in the Union before the Civil War. He helped win the Mexican War and was a superintendent at West Point. The big question is, �Why did Lee join the Confederacy?�

            It�s simple. He lived in Virginia and he didn�t want to fight against his own state. If he had lived in the North he would have sided with the Union. In fact, Lee was against secession and while he did own slaves, he only did so for five years because it was spelled out in his father�s will. He was to inherit the slaves and then release them after five years. Lee was also against slavery which he mentioned in a letter in 1856. It read, �There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil.�

            He also predicted slavery�s demise as a result of Christian influence rather than political controversy in that letter. That would prove to be wrong since Abraham Lincoln�s election caused the secession of South Carolina and the inevitable Civil War to follow.

            At the most, Robert E. Lee chose the wrong side to fight on in the Civil War and because of that many people today have a negative view of him. But if you look into the man, he really only chose to side with the Confederacy because he lived in a state that seceded from the Union. It was not an easy decision for him and it devastated the Union because they were left without a leader.

            In my opinion, Lee represents the historical ignorance of our generation. People see a statue of General Lee and see �Confederate� in front of it and immediately become enraged. If they picked up a history book they would learn pretty fast that Robert E. Lee was actually pretty reasonable and in whose situation, I probably would have done the same. It�s ironic that liberals are so against labeling but they did just that with General Lee.

            On the whole subject of Confederate statues, I�m still conflicted. Many confederate statues were put up during the era of Jim Crow and were built as a symbol of power. That makes me support their removal. But the least we can do is research the thing that we are taking down and make an educated decision and not just protest on sheer emotion. That�s all for this week.

A protest at the statue of Lee in Dallas a few years ago.