Robert E. Lee: The Hero of South and North
by E. Merrill Root
18 Jan 2003, The New American
To understand any man, it is well first to study his likeness
as re-corded in photography, which is the artistry of the sun.
Lee's
face, so seen, is sensitive, nobly proud, delicately chiseled, spare and fine
like a sword blade. The forehead is high and clear; the nose straight and
strong; the lips fine and firm. But it is the eyes that are most notable; eyes
that seem to look straight into the heart of things; eyes of a patrician
rectitude and a high courage. And his head is carried with a proud grace. There
is no arrogance here, no bravado and no pose, only the natural integrity of a
man living nobly with his own soul as healthy men live with the sun in heaven.
Lee's roots went deep into American history. His father,
Light-Horse Harry Lee, had been one of Washington's finest officers; he himself
had married Martha Washington's great-granddaughter. He had fought gallantly in
the Mexican War. He was a colonel in the American Army. He was regarded as the
soldier of the future in that Army, the obvious successor to General Winfield
Scott. He loved his country, and his own personal hero was George Washington.
Also Lee was against slavery. He was an emancipationist; he
had long ago liberated his own slaves; he said that, if it were in his power, he
would free every slave in the South -- if that would prevent war. He was
critical of the South, writing in a letter to Custis Lee, December 14, 1860:
"I am not pleased with the course of the 'Cotton States.'... In addition to
their selfish, dictatorial bearing, the threats that they throw against the
'Border States'" are wrong. He
even spoke of secession from the Union as "anarchy."
Contrast Lee, in all of this, with William Tecumseh Sherman,
who was, of course, to become a famous Union general, and who marched from
Atlanta to the sea. Sherman hated Abolition. He wrote on July 10, 1860:
"Two such races [white and black] cannot live in harmony save as master and
slave." Lee, on the contrary, was against slavery and against secession; it
seemed as if he was an instrument of Providence to lead the armies of the Union
to victory.
But it was not to be. Lee sought audience with General Scott
and resigned his commission in the United States Army, choosing rather to enter
the Confederate ranks. And why?
Because, he said, "I cannot take up arms against my own state." He
said, "[A] Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets ... has
no charm for me." His criterion of choice was the decision of his beloved
Virginia. Robert E. Lee explained: "I will still follow my native state
with my sword, and if need be with my life.... These are my principles, and I
must follow them."
Revered as one of the greatest military leaders of all time,
Robert E. Lee maintained a humble spirit which impressed those in both the North
and South. Confirmed by a history as a true Southern gentleman, this brilliant
look at Lee’s character is both informative and inspirational.
