Robert E. Lee-Stonewall Jackson Day events are planned for Saturday, January 16, 2010, in Lexington, Virginia that includes a Memorial at Lee Chapel featuring Guest Speaker Pastor John Weaver, Past Chaplain in Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. For additional information go to:
leejacksonday.webs.com:
Many more events are planned for Lee’s birthday that includes:
The United Daughters of the Confederacy’s annual Robert E. Lee birthday commemoration held in front of Lee’s statue which is in the Crypt area of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. See upcoming events at:
leecamp.org/ and
The Sons of Confederate Veterans 23rd Annual Robert E. Lee birthday celebration in Milledgeville, Ga. on Saturday, January 23, 2010, beginning with a 10:45 a.m. march from the old governor’s mansion to the one time capitol building of Georgia. See details at:
georgiascv.com/
Do you remember when….
On August 5, 1975, 110 years after Gen. Lee's application, President Gerald Ford signed Joint Resolution 23, restoring the long overdue full rights of citizenship to Gen. Robert E. Lee. Read more at:
ford.utexas.edu
Who was Robert E. Lee?
Robert E. Lee was born on Monday Jan. 19, 1807, at ‘Stratford’ in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The winter was cold and the fireplaces were little help for Robert’s mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee.
Ann Lee named her son ‘Robert Edward’ after two of her brothers.
Robert E. Lee undoubtedly acquired his love of country from those who lived during the American Revolution. His Father, ‘Light Horse’ Harry was a Revolutionary War Hero, served three terms as Governor of Virginia and was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Two members of his family also signed the Declaration of Independence.
Lee was educated at the schools of Alexandria, Va., and he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1825. He graduated in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit.
Robert E. Lee’s first assignment was to Cockspur Island, Georgia, to supervise the construction of Fort Pulaski.
While serving as 2nd Lieutenant of Engineers at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Lee wed Mary Ann Randolph Custis. Mary was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the Grandson of Martha Washington and adopted son of George Washington.
Mary was an only child; therefore, she inherited Arlington House, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., where she and Robert E. Lee raised seven children.
In 1836, Lee was appointed to first Lieutenant. In 1838, with the rank of Captain, Robert E. Lee fought in the War with Mexicoand was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.
Lee was appointed Superintendent of the United States Military Academy in 1852.
General Winfield Scott offered Robert E. Lee command of the Union Army in 1861, but he refused. He said, “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.”
Lee served as adviser to President Jefferson Davis, and then on June 1, 1862, commanded the legendary Army of Northern Virginia.
After four terrible years of death and destruction, Gen. Robert E. Lee met Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia and ended their battles.
Lee was called Marse Robert, Uncle Robert and Marble Man.
In October 1865, Lee was offered and accepted the presidency of troubled Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. The school was later renamed Washington and Lee College in his honor.
Robert E. Lee died of a heart attack at 9:30 AM on the morning of October 12, 1870, at the college and is buried at Lee Chapel with his family and near his favorite horse, Traveller.
Booker T. Washington, America’s great Black-American Educator wrote in 1910, “The first white people in America, certainly the first in the South to exhibit their interest in the reaching of the Negro and saving his soul through the medium of the Sunday-school were Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.”
Let’s not forget those who made our nation great!
Robert E. Lee -- A Remembrance
There are and have been few like him.
General Robert E. Lee died one hundred and thirty-nine years ago on October 12, 1870 (now celebrated as Columbus Day) at the age of sixty-three. We, as a nation, have done with heroes and few remember him. The anniversary of his death will likely go generally unnoticed and unremarked upon. Yet he inspired a nation, or at least a fledgling nation, the Confederate States of America. Those who reminisce about him do so because of his devotion to honor, duty, integrity, for his compassion and for his wisdom. He had those now sadly rare qualities in rare abundance; although I (obviously) never knew him, I miss the likes of him today. When I read a news story dealing with our congresscritters, our president, or His administration, I scratch my balding head and wonder what happened.
The anniversary of General Lee's death having been called to my attention by an article in the Canada Free Press, I read again Rod Cragg's Robert E. Lee, General, A commitment to Valor. I could not find a link to the book on Amazon or even on Google, but somehow I had bought a copy at a used book store in rural Panamá. This article is largely based on it. This song is about General Lee's life.
General Lee's father, "Light-Horse Harry Lee," distinguished himself as a cavalry commander in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1829, Robert E. Lee eventually rose to the rank of Colonel as commander of the U.S. Army's Texas Department in 1860. Although he considered slavery a "moral and political evil," he declined command of U.S. forces when Virginia seceded and resigned from the U.S. Army to take command of Virginia's military forces. He felt that it was his duty to do so; his sense of honor compelled him. "I did only what my duty demanded; I could have taken no other course without dishonor." He valued honor highly, and because of it chose to fight on behalf of his home, Virginia, rather than for the Union. On April 20, 1861, he wrote to the Secretary of War:
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“Duty is the sublimest word in the language. You can never do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less.”—Robert E. Lee
Did you know that Paul Revere, Betsy Ross, Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee were born during the month of January? History can be great fun when parents and grandparents share stories about the past with their children making the study of American history a ‘Family Affair.’
Tuesday, January 19, 2010, is the 203rd birthday of Robert E. Lee, whose memory is still dear in the hearts of many Americans and people throughout God’s good earth.
During Robert E. Lee’s 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Army Commander and grandson of United States President John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee College’s Lee Chapel in Lexington, Virginia. His speech was printed in both Northern and Southern newspapers and is said to had lifted Lee to a renewed respect among the American people.
