Re: In Defense of Robert E. Lee
Today, our nation struggles to recover from $2 billion dollars in destruction and countless lives lost over this past summer—much of it surrounding the destruction of monuments dedicated to important figures in our national past. It is no surprise that with the decline in knowledge about our nation’s history that citizens have pressured the Ft. Myers City Council to remove the Memorial dedicated to the memory of the man for whom our county is named. Gone are the days when mayors and commissioners would pose for pictures at the base of the Robert E. Lee Memorial. Nor do many citizens recall that in recent years our County Commission has both officially recognized Confederate Memorial Day and passed a resolution to protect historical monuments within our county. Unfortunately, with the march of today’s ‘cancel culture’ all that matters is to follow the dictates of an uninformed mob. Due to the blatantly erroneous statements that were made before the Ft. Myers City Council regarding the character of Robert E. Lee, we believe it’s necessary to set the record straight.
It’s been falsely stated that Lee was a cruel slave owner who whipped his slaves and sold apart family members. The truth is Lee freed not only the slaves he inherited from his wife, but also all those from the Custis estate which were not owned by him. He always stood in opposition to the institution. True, as executor he rented slaves from the Custis estate, but he did so in order to raise the funds to pay for their emancipation. He accomplished that goal. Those of his slaves who wished to remove to Liberia even had their transport paid by Lee.
Nor was Lee a ‘traitor.’ He had already dedicated much of his life to the defense of our nation and risked his life in its war against Mexico. Lee always saw himself as following the steps of his Revolutionary War father, “Light-Horse Henry” Lee, and George Washington. He opposed secession but was forced by history to choose. Thank goodness none of us is faced with his choice—to take up arms against one’s one family and neighbors and to invade one’s own state or to hope for peace and vow to protect your loved ones from foreign invasion. Through Lee’s simple word and deed, a murderous guerrilla war following Appomattox was averted. He turned down opportunities to make a fortune off his name as he saw his own properties seized by the federal government, leaving him in dire poverty in 1865. Thanks to an offer from a bankrupt Washington College, he found a respectable home and comfort for his wife by assuming the presidency of the little school. For the next five years as thousands of his officers, former soldiers and southern citizens sought out his guidance, he always advised them that God had decided the contest and their duty now was to be loyal citizens of the United States. Without a doubt, he single-handedly did more than anyone to heal the wounds from a war that cost 750,000 dead and another hundred thousand maimed and disabled. For this he won the undying devotion of our nation and countless Presidents and world leaders. Hardly acts of a traitor!
Lee’s life is a lesson to us in troubled times. For that alone he should not be driven in disgrace from our public square. Drawing inspiration from his ordeal, he continues to inspire generations of Americans to enlist in an army that prides itself on duty, sacrifice, loyalty, and perseverance. We’ve forgotten that in 1964 President Johnson invoked the memory of Lee to successfully pass that year’s momentous Civil Rights Act into law. We’ve forgotten his memory was invoked again during the national turmoil over the Vietnam War. When his “lost” loyalty oath was rediscovered in the National Archives in 1970 there were over 400,000 draft dodgers who had fled to Canada or were in hiding out within America. Congress quickly rushed through a bill restoring Lee’s citizenship. Signed into law by Gerald Ford on July 22, 1975 it offered hope for our future. Shortly afterward, President Carter used this example to pardon hundreds of thousands of Vietnam draft dodgers. Once again Lee helped heal our wounds.
Today should be no different. Many of our members had ancestors who fought in the American Civil War. We respect the views of many Black citizens in Lee County who are offended by the local Robert E. Lee memorial. We ask them to judge the entire man’s life, however, and not just the four years he chose to defend his family and state from what he considered foreign invasion. We ask that they remember that through his acts and deeds he opposed slavery and humanly freed his own slaves. We feel just as closely touched by Lee’s deeds as they—actions on his part freed their ancestors while they maimed and killed some of ours.
Lee’s Christian heritage taught him to forgive his enemies and to forget the divisions of the past. He never drank, smoked, swore or was unkind to any person. He was always a faithful husband and loving father. He was a renowned educator—both at West Point and later at Washington College. We’d like to call upon the citizens of Lee County to remember Lee’s character and his entire life’s lesson—one that all our school children should be educated to. Rather than remove this man from our collective memory, we need to strengthen our remembrance of him.
With the same hope that Lee had for our nation’s future, we urge the collective elective officials of Ft Myers and Lee County to make the right decision for of our community.
WORDS 949
Sincerely,
Brian Bailey, President, Southwest Florida Civil War Roundtable
Naples, FL 34117
Cell: 239-
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