Robert Edward Lee 罗伯特·爱德华·李

 

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.

 

The son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III and a top graduate of the United States Military Academy, Robert E. Lee distinguished himself as an exceptional officer and combat engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican-American War, served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, and married Mary Custis.

 

When Virginia declared its secession from the Union in April 1861, Lee chose to follow his home state, despite his personal desire for the Union to stay intact and despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln had offered Lee command of the Union Army. During the Civil War, Lee originally served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. He soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning numerous battles against larger Union armies. His abilities as a tactician have been praised by many military historians. His strategic vision was more doubtful, and both of his invasions of the North ended in defeat. Union General Ulysses S. Grant's campaigns bore down on Lee in 1864 and 1865, and despite inflicting heavy casualties, Lee was unable to force back Grant. Lee would ultimately surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. By this time, Lee had been promoted to the commanding officer of all Confederate forces; the remaining armies soon capitulated after Lee's surrender. Lee rejected the starting of a guerrilla campaign against the North and called for reconciliation between the North and South.

 

After the war, as President of what is now Washington and Lee University, Lee supported President Andrew Johnson's program of Reconstruction and intersectional friendship, while opposing the Radical Republican proposals to give freed slaves the vote and take the vote away from ex-Confederates. He urged them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the nation's political life. Lee became the great Southern hero of the War, a postwar icon of the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" to some. But his popularity grew even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. He remains an iconic figure of American military leadership.

 

 

Legacy

Among Southerners, Lee came to be even more revered after his surrender than he had been during the war, when Stonewall Jackson had been the great Confederate hero. In an address before the Southern Historical Society in Atlanta, Georgia in 1874, Benjamin Harvey Hill described Lee as:

... a foe without hate; a friend without treachery; a soldier without cruelty; a victor without oppression, and a victim without murmuring. He was a public officer without vices; a private citizen without wrong; a neighbour without reproach; a Christian without hypocrisy, and a man without guile. He was a Caesar, without his ambition; Frederick, without his tyranny; Napoleon, without his selfishness, and Washington, without his reward.

 

His reputation continued to grow, and by 1900 his followers had spread into the North, signaling a national apotheosis. Today, among the devotees of the Lost Cause, General Lee is referred to as "The Marble Man".

"According to my notion of military history there is as much instruction both in strategy and in tactics to be gleaned from General Lee's operations of 1862 as there is to be found in Napoleon's campaigns of 1796."

Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley

 

Lee's admirers have pointed to his character and devotion to duty, and his brilliant tactical successes in battle after battle against a stronger foe. Military historians continue to pay attention to his battlefield tactics and maneuvering, though many think he should have designed better strategic plans for the Confederacy. However, it should be noted that he was not given full direction of the Southern war effort until late in the conflict.

 

Civil War–era letters

On September 29, 2007, General Lee's three Civil War–era letters were sold for $61,000 at auction by Thomas Willcox, much less than the record of $630,000 for a Lee item in 2002. The auction included more than 400 documents of Lee's from the estate of the parents of Willcox that had been in the family for generations. South Carolina sued to stop the sale on the grounds that the letters were official documents and therefore property of the state, but the court ruled in favor of Willcox.

 

Citizenship restored

On January 30, 1975, Senate Joint Resolution 23, A joint resolution to restore posthumously full rights of citizenship to General R. E. Lee was introduced into the Senate by Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (I-VA). The resolution was to restore the U.S. citizenship to Robert E. Lee effective June 13, 1865. This resolution was the result of a five year campaign to posthumously restore Robert E. Lee's U.S. citizenship.

 

 

Congressional summary

   January 30, 1975 - S. J. Res. 23 introduced.

   March 19, 1975 - Reported to Senate from the Committee on the Judiciary, S. Rept. 94-44.

   April 10, 1975 - Passed/agreed to in Senate: Measure passed Senate.

   June 24, 1975 - Reported to House from the Committee on the Judiciary, H. Rept. 94–324.

   July 22, 1975 - Passed/agreed to in House: Measure passed House, roll call #415 Vote: 407 Yea 10 Nay

   July 22, 1975 - Cleared for White House

 

On July 24, 1975, after passing the Senate and House of Representatives, the resolution was presented to President Gerald Ford. The resolution, S.J. Res. 23, was signed on August 5, 1975, by the President and became Public Law 94-67 (89 Stat. 380). The signing took place at a ceremony at Arlington House, Arlington, Virginia. The house was formerly known as the Custis-Lee Mansion, and was the home of General Lee. The ceremony was attended by a dozen of Lee's descendants, including Robert E. Lee V, the general's great-great-grandson. Also attending were: Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr., and congressmen M. Caldwell Butler, Herbert E. Harris II, David E. Satterfield III, Thomas N. Downing, and Robert W. Daniel, Jr.

 

President Ford signing and speech

   July 24, 1975 Measure presented to President.

   August 5, 1975 Signed by President.

   August 5, 1975 Public law 94-67

Before signing President Ford spoke at 2:12 p.m. at the signing ceremony:

“   I am very pleased to sign Senate Joint Resolution 23, restoring posthumously the long overdue, full rights of citizenship to General Robert E. Lee. This legislation corrects a 110-year oversight of American history. It is significant that it is signed at this place.

 

Lee's dedication to his native State of Virginia charted his course for the bitter Civil War years, causing him to reluctantly resign from a distinguished career in the United States Army and to serve as General of the Army of Northern Virginia. He, thus, forfeited his rights to U.S. citizenship.

 

Once the war was over, he firmly felt the wounds of the North and South must be bound up. He sought to show by example that the citizens of the South must dedicate their efforts to rebuilding that region of the country as a strong and vital part of the American Union.

 

In 1865, Robert E. Lee wrote to a former Confederate soldier concerning his signing the Oath of Allegiance, and I quote: "This war, being at an end, the Southern States having laid down their arms, and the questions at issue between them and the Northern States having been decided, I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony...."

 

As a soldier, General Lee left his mark on military strategy. As a man, he stood as the symbol of valor and of duty. As an educator, he appealed to reason and learning to achieve understanding and to build a stronger nation. The course he chose after the war became a symbol to all those who had marched with him in the bitter years towards Appomattox.

 

General Lee's character has been an example to succeeding generations, making the restoration of his citizenship an event in which every American can take pride.

In approving this Joint Resolution, Congress removed the legal obstacle to citizenship which resulted from General Lee's Civil War service. "Although more than a century late, I am delighted to sign this resolution and to complete the full restoration of General Lee's citizenship."

 

 

Monuments, memorials and commemorations

Monuments

Since it was built in 1884, the most prominent monument in New Orleans has been a 60-foot (18 m)-tall monument to General Lee. A sixteen and a half foot statue of Lee stands tall upon a towering column of white marble in the middle of Lee Circle. The statue of Lee, which weighs more than 7,000 pounds, faces the North. Lee Circle is situated along New Orleans' famous St. Charles Avenue. The New Orleans streetcars roll past Lee Circle and New Orleans' best Mardi Gras parades go around Lee Circle (the spot is so popular that bleachers are set up annually around the perimeter for Mardi Gras). Around the corner from Lee Circle is New Orleans' Confederate Museum, which contains the second largest collection of Confederate memorabilia in the world. In a tribute to Lee Circle (which had formerly been known as Tivoli Circle), former Confederate soldier George Washington Cable wrote:

"In Tivoli Circle, New Orleans, from the centre and apex of its green flowery mound, an immense column of pure white marble rises in the ... majesty of Grecian proportions high up above the city's house-tops into the dazzling sunshine ... On its dizzy top stands the bronze figure of one of the worlds greatest captains. He is alone. Not one of his mighty lieutenants stand behind, beside or below him. His arms are folded on that breast that never knew fear, and his calm, dauntless gaze meets the morning sun as it rises, like the new prosperity of the land he loved and serve so masterly, above the far distant battle fields where so many thousands of his gray veterans lie in the sleep of fallen heroes." (Silent South, 1885, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine)

 

   A large equestrian statue of Lee by French sculptor Jean Antonin Mercié is the centerpiece of Richmond, Virginia's famous Monument Avenue, which boasts four other statues to famous Confederates. This monument to Lee was unveiled on May 29, 1890. Over 100,000 people attended this dedication.

 

   Robert E. Lee is also featured in the carving on Stone Mountain.

   Robert E. Lee is shown mounted on Traveller in Gettysburg National Military Park on top of the Virginia Monument

   A large double equestrian statue of Lee and Jackson in Baltimore's Wyman Park, directly across from the Baltimore Museum of Art, was dedicated in 1948. Designed by Laura Gardin Fraser, Robert E. Lee is depicted astride his horse Traveller next to Stonewall Jackson who is mounted on "Little Sorrel." Architect John Russell Pope created the base, which was dedicated on the anniversary of the eve of the Battle of Chancellorsville.

 

Ship

   In 1862, the newly formed Confederate Navy purchased a 642-ton iron-hulled side-wheel gunboat, built in at Glasgow, Scotland, and gave her the name of CCS Robert E. Lee in honor of this Confederate General. During the next year, she became one of the South's most famous Confederate blockade runners, successfully making more than twenty runs through the Union blockade.

 

Holidays

The birthday of Robert E. Lee is celebrated or commemorated:

   In Virginia as part of Lee-Jackson Day, which is celebrated on the Friday preceding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day which is the third Monday in January.

   In Texas as part of Confederate Heroes Day on January 19, Lee's actual birthday.

   In Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

   In Georgia on the day after Thanksgiving.

   In Florida, as a legal and public holiday, on January 19.

 

Geographic features

   Robert Lee, Texas

   The Leesville half of Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina.

   Lee's Summit, Missouri - According to one theory, the town was named after Lee, since incorporation took place shortly after the war and the majority of citizens migrated from the Southern states.

  Fort Lee in Prince George County, Virginia.

   Lee County, Alabama; Lee County, Arkansas; Lee County, Florida; Lee County, Kentucky; Lee County, Mississippi; Lee County, North Carolina; Lee County, South Carolina; Lee County, Texas.

   Lee Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana—one of the city's major streets, it is located near the Louisiana State University. Robert E. Lee High School is located on the street.

   Lee Highway, a National Auto Trail in the United States connecting New York City and San Francisco, California via the South and Southwest.

   Lee Avenue, in Manassas, Virginia, was named after Robert E. Lee and intersects with Grant Avenue in front of the old Prince William County Courthouse. Grant Avenue was named after General Ulysses S. Grant.

   Robert E. Lee Memorial Park, Baltimore County, Maryland

   Robert E. Lee is on the carving on Stone Mountain in Georgia

   Robert E. Lee Blvd. in New Orleans

   Lee Circle, New Orleans, with doric column surmounted by a statue of Lee

Schools and universities

   Robert E. Lee Academy, Bishopville, South Carolina

   Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia

   Lee College, Baytown, Texas

   Several high schools and middle schools. See Robert E. Lee High School (disambiguation).

   Lee High School, Houston, Texas

   Lee-Davis High School, Mechanicsville, Virginia

   Southern Lee High School, Sanford, North Carolina

   Lee County High School, Sanford, North Carolina

   Robert E. Lee High School, Baytown, Texas

   Upson-Lee High School, Thomaston, Georgia

   Washington-Lee High School, Arlington, Virginia

   Robert E. Lee Junior High School, Monroe, Louisiana

   Robert E. Lee Junior High School, San Angelo, Texas

   Robert E. Lee High School, Jacksonville, Florida

   Robert E. Lee Middle School, Orlando, Florida

   Robert E. Lee High School, Springfield, Virginia

   Robert E. Lee High School, Staunton, Virginia

   Several elementary schools. See Robert E. Lee Elementary School (disambiguation).

 

Memorials

   Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, also known as the Custis-Lee Mansion and located in present-day Arlington National Cemetery, is maintained by the National Park Service as a memorial to Lee.

   The Virginia State Memorial at Gettysburg Battlefield is topped by an equestrian statue of Lee by Frederick William Sievers, facing roughly in the direction of Pickett's Charge.

   Lee is one of the figures depicted in bas-relief carved into Stone Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia. Accompanying him on horseback in the relief are Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis.

   An equestrian statue of Lee is located in Robert E. Lee Park, in Dallas, Texas.

   Lee's portrayal on a mural on Richmond's Flood Wall on the James River, considered offensive by some, was removed in the late 1990s, but currently is back on the flood wall.

   In 1900, Lee was one of the first 29 individuals selected for the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (the first Hall of Fame in the United States), designed by Stanford White, on the Bronx, New York, campus of New York University, now a part of Bronx Community College.

   On September 21, 1955, the United States Postal Service released a 30¢ Liberty Issue postage stamp honoring Lee.

   A statue of Lee is on display at the main mall of The University of Texas at Austin.

Robert E Lee, VirginiaMonument, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Frederick William Sievers, sculptor, 1917

 

 

Vehicles

   The USS Robert E. Lee, a George Washington class ballistic missile submarine built in 1958, was named for Lee.

   The Mississippi River steamboat, Robert E. Lee, was named for Lee after the Civil War. It was the participant in an 1870 St. Louis – New Orleans race with the Natchez VI, which was featured in a Currier and Ives lithograph. The Robert E. Lee won the race. The steamboat also inspired a song Waiting for the Robert E. Lee (Lewis Muir-L. Wolfe Gilbert).

   The Commonwealth of Virginia issues an optional license plate honoring Lee, making reference to him as 'The Virginia Gentleman'.

   The M3 Lee tank.

 

 

In other media

Robert E. Lee serves as a main character in the Shaara novels The Killer Angels, Gods and Generals, and The Last Full Measure, as well as the film adaptations of The Killer Angels and Gods and Generals. He is played by Martin Sheen in the former and his descendent Robert Duvall in the latter. Lee is portrayed as a hero in the historical children's novel Lee and Grant at Appomattox by MacKinlay Kantor. He is a major character in Harry Turtledove's alternate history novel, The Guns of the South, in which he ends up as President of a victorious Confederacy.

 

On September 18, 1960, the American actor George Macready portrayed Lee in the episode "Johnny Yuma at Appomattox" of the ABC television series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams in the title role.

 

The Dodge Charger featured in the CBS television series The Dukes of Hazzard was named The General Lee.