Richmond
Yesterday, the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was removed from “Monument Avenue” in Richmond, Virginia. The street in the former capital of the Confederacy, originally had monuments to Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis and Matthew Fontaine Maury; all Confederate heroes. The others are already gone, Lee’s was the last remaining Confederate memorial. The horse mounted statue was removed and dismantled. The only remaining monument there is to trailblazing Black tennis star Arthur Ashe, a Richmond native.
Lee lived for only four years after the end of the Civil War. Even during the War itself, he was aware of the pains in his chest that signaled a failing heart. But in those four years as a defeated leader, he made his views clear about what was best for the future.
The War
In 1869 Lee was invited to join a “conclave” of former Union and Confederate officers at the Gettysburg Battlefield to mark the positions of the opposing forces during the struggle. His response to the invitation was:
Lexington, VA., August 5, 1869.
Dear Sir–Absence from Lexington has prevented my receiving until to-day your letter of the 26th ult., inclosing an invitation from the Gettysburg Battle-field Memorial Association, to attend a meeting of the officers engaged in that battle at Gettysburg, for the purpose of marking upon the ground by enduring memorials of granite the positions and movements of the armies on the field. My engagements will not permit me to be present. I believe if there, I could not add anything material to the information existing on the subject. I think it wiser, moreover, not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered. (bold added)
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
R. E. Lee.
Of course, it was also the scene of his worst defeat, hardly a place he was likely to want to revisit.
Monuments
In addition, he was asked several times to help create or dedicate monuments to the Confederacy. His response to one of his former Generals (Thomas Rosser) expressed his view:
As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated; my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour. All I think that can now be done, is to aid our noble & generous women in their efforts to protect the graves & mark the last resting places of those who have fallen, & wait for better times.
Our Nation Forward
Lee understood that there were obligations in defeat as well as victory. On the night before his final surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, he rejected his subordinates plan to “dissolve” his Army into the mountains to continue the fight. He understood that they were fighting for a goal of legitimacy that was unattainable in what we would now call a “guerilla” movement.
The Civil War ended in June of 1865, one hundred and fifty six years ago. Yet it still reverberates in our current affairs, as the United States struggles with the issues of racial equality and voting rights. It took until yesterday for Richmond to stop memorializing a man who chose his state over his country, slavery over freedom, and the past over the future. However “honorable” some view Lee’s actions, he also could have chosen a different path, one that would have made the United States a stronger nation. He could have made the choice his fellow West Pointer, friend and Virginian, Union General George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga” made. Lee could have continued to serve the Army that was his career, and the nation he swore to defend.
Lee didn’t want memorials. He recognized defeat, and wanted the nation to move on. Like the Confederate battle flags that were NOT allowed at his funeral, Lee saw the nation as burying the War, and succeeding in Peace.
But others who followed Lee in War refused to accept his advice in Peace. The good news: unlike the disaster of Charlottesville four years ago, the removal of Lee’s monument was done without violence or protest. As Lee said, those monuments: “…have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its (the nation’s) accomplishment”. We would be wise to follow that advice now.
For more information about “erasing history” and the Confederate Monuments – click on this link – Erasing History..
