both Jackson and Lee emphatically supported the abolition of slavery … To think that Lee and Jackson (and the vast majority of Confederate soldiers) would fight and die to preserve an institution they considered evil and abhorrent is the height of absurdity.
January is often referred to as “Generals Month” as no less than four famous Confederate Generals claimed January as their birth month: James Longstreet (Jan. 8, 1821), Robert E. Lee (Jan. 19, 1807), Thomas Jonathan Jackson (Jan. 21, 1824), and George Pickett (Jan. 28, 1825). Two of these men, Lee and Jackson, are particularly noteworthy. This is especially true, as this year will mark General Lee’s two hundredth birthday.
Without question, Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson were two of the greatest military leaders of all time. Even more, the Lee and Jackson tandem is regarded by many military historians as having formed perhaps the greatest battlefield duo in the history of warfare. If Jackson had survived the battle of Chancellorsville, it is very possible that the South would have prevailed at Gettysburg and perhaps would even have won the War Between The States.
In fact, it was Lord Roberts, commander-in-chief of the British armies in the early Twentieth Century, who said, “In my opinion, Stonewall Jackson was one of the greatest natural military geniuses the world ever saw. I will go even further than that-as a campaigner in the field, he never had a superior. In some respects, I doubt whether he ever had an equal.”
While the strategies and circumstances of the War Of Northern Aggression can (and will) be debated by professionals and laymen alike, one fact is undeniable: Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson were two of the finest Christian gentlemen this country has ever produced. Both their character and their conduct were beyond reproach.
Unlike his northern counterpart, Ulysses S. Grant, General Lee never sanctioned or condoned slavery. Upon inheriting slaves from his deceased father-in-law, Lee immediately freed them. And according to historians, Jackson enjoyed a familial relationship with those few slaves which were in his home. In addition, unlike Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Grant, neither Lee nor Jackson ever spoke disparagingly of the black race.
As those who are familiar with history know, General Grant and his wife held personal slaves before and during the War Between The States, and even Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not free them. They were not freed until the Thirteenth Amendment was passed after the conclusion of the war. Grant’s excuse for not freeing his slaves was that “good help is so hard to come by these days.”
Furthermore, it is well established that Jackson regularly conducted a Sunday School class for black children. This was a ministry he took very seriously. As a result, he was dearly loved and appreciated by the children and their parents.
In addition, both Jackson and Lee emphatically supported the abolition of slavery. In fact, Lee called slavery “a moral and political evil.” He also said “the best men in the South” opposed it and welcomed its demise. Jackson said he wished to see “the shackles struck from every slave.”
To think that Lee and Jackson (and the vast majority of Confederate soldiers) would fight and die to preserve an institution they considered evil and abhorrent is the height of absurdity. It is equally repugnant to impugn and denigrate the memory of these remarkable Christian gentlemen.
In fact, after refusing Abraham Lincoln’s offer to command the Union Army in 1861, Robert E. Lee wrote to his sister on April 20 of that year to explain his decision. In the letter he wrote, “With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the army and save in defense of my native state, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed . . .”
Lee’s decision to resign his commission with the Union Army must have been the most difficult decision of his life. Remember that Lee’s direct ancestors had fought in America’s War For Independence. His father, “Light Horse Harry” Henry Lee, was a Revolutionary War hero, Governor of Virginia, and member of Congress. In addition, members of his family were signatories to the Declaration of Independence.
Remember, too, that not only did Robert E. Lee graduate from West Point at the top of his class, he is yet today the only cadet to graduate from that prestigious academy without a single demerit.
However, Lee knew that what Lincoln was about to do was both immoral and unconstitutional. As a man of honor and integrity, the only thing Lee could do was that which his father had done: fight for freedom and independence. And that is exactly what he did.
Instead of allowing a politically correct culture to sully the memory of Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson, all Americans should hold them in a place of highest honor and respect. Anything less is a disservice to history and a disgrace to the principles of truth and integrity.
Accordingly, it was more than appropriate that the late President Gerald Ford, on August 5, 1975, signed Senate Joint Resolution 23, “restoring posthumously the long overdue, full rights of citizenship to General Robert E. Lee.” According to President Ford, “This legislation corrects a 110-year oversight of American history.” He further said, “General Lee’s character has been an example to succeeding generations . . .”
The significance of General Lee’s (and Thomas Jackson’s) life cannot be overvalued. While the character and influence of most of us will barely be remembered two hundred days after our departure, the sterling character of these men has endured for two hundred years. What a shame that so many of America’s youth are being robbed of knowing and studying the virtue and integrity of the great General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
Dr. Chuck BaldwinPreacher, pastor, author and Radio Talk Show host.
You’ll find the Chuck Baldwin Radio Talk Show home page at
www.ChuckBaldwinLive.com
One of the saddest articles I have ever read. But then again, I know what Father Dave does not. Father Dave knows the myth, the purposely Orwellian deception about the Southern leaders and Southern cause.
Luckily, for Father Dave, he can find out real history, mostly by reading what Lee’s own account books shows — in his own handwriting. After 150 years, someone in the Lee family released the account books, written by none other than Lee himself.
http://leepapers.blogspot.com/
http://deathofsoutherngod.blogspot.com/
Turns out, Lee tortured slave girls — AND was obsessed with certain specific girls, who he paid drastically higher bounties for their capture and punishment. That’s not conjecture, that’s validated by his OWN handwritten account books.
Furthermore, Father Dave is fooled by the cherry picked sentence from ONE letter by Lee to his wife. It’s true that Lee said slavery was an evil — but read the next sentence. SLavery is GOOD for the slaves, bad for whites. SLavery and the torture of slavery (!) was necessary, Lee, wrote, because pain was needed for their instruction. The letter goes on to DEFEND slavery in a diabolical and almost pathological way. Slavery was ordained of GOD, and so any man that even spoke out against slavery (it was illegal to speak against slavery, even from the pulpit, in the South) was against GOD.
Plus, Father Dave could not know Lee “stole” much of this letter almost verbatim, written and published a few years before he used it to mollify his wife. Daniel Webster wrote much the same words, in the same order, several years earlier, and no doubt Lee read the books containing them. Lee is writing to his wife, who grew up with these slaves, and who now, under Lee, were being tortured when Lee was upset. Apparently, the slaves went to Mrs Lee to complain, and she had questioned Lee about his cruelty. The letter to her, Lee is essentially saying “Dear, don’t worry, God ordained slavery, and these slaves are lucky to be here, rather than be in Africa. God intended they learn their place, and pain is needed for their instruction. God will end slavery in HIS time — perhaps 2000 years. We can pray for an end to slavery, but meantime, we have to do God’s will, which is for slavery. We can not know why, that is just God’s will.”
Funny thing is, Lee didn’t believe a word of it. Not only did he need to copy this from another source, Lee never mentioned such nonsense again, after the Civil War. Before he surrendered, he peppered his letters with justifications for slavery and the pain inflicted. But after he surrendered, he never mentioned it again. So did he REALLY believe God wanted slavery and the torture of slaves who ran away? If so, he never said that. He just didn’t bring that up.