Sir Winston Churchill called General Robert E. Lee, “one of the noblest Americans who ever lived.”
Children will get a school holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday but do young people know that January is also the birthday month for General Robert E. Lee?
Please let me call to your attention that Thursday, January 19, 2023, is the 216th birthday of Robert E. Lee, whose memory is still dear in the hearts of many Americans.
You and he left us memories which are part of the memories bequeathed to the entire nation by all the Americans who fought in the War Between the States
During Robert E. Lee's 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Commander and grandson of US 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.
Booker T. Washington, America's great Black 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.'
During a tour through the South in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt told the aged Confederate Veterans in Richmond, Virginia, 'Here I greet you in the shadow of the statue of your Commander, General Robert E. Lee. You and he left us memories which are part of the memories bequeathed to the entire nation by all the Americans who fought in the War Between the States.'
Georgia's famous Stone Mountain carving of Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee was dedicated on May 9, 1970. William Holmes Borders, a noted African-American theologian and pastor of the Wheat Avenue Baptist Church, was asked to give the invocation. The many dignitaries attending this historic event included United States Vice President Spiro Agnew. Thousands of people bring their families each year to see this memorial to these three great Americans.
Robert E. Lee, a man whose military tactics have been studied worldwide, was an American soldier, Educator, Christian gentlemen, husband and father.
Robert E. Lee’s Father, 'Light Horse' Harry was a hero of the revolution and served three terms as governor of Virginia and as a member of the United States House of Representatives
Robert E. Lee was born on Jan. 19, 1807, at 'Stratford Hall' in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The winter was cold and the fireplaces were little help for Robert's mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, who suffered from a severe cold.
Robert E. Lee’s Father, 'Light Horse' Harry was a hero of the revolution and served three terms as governor of Virginia and as a member of 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, Va., Lee wed Mary Ann Randolph Custis. Robert and Mary had grown up together, Mary was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the Grandson of Martha Washington and adopted son of George Washington.
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Lee was appointed Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1852
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, three boys and four girls.
Army promotions were slow. In 1836, Lee was appointed to first Lieutenant. In 1838, with the rank of Captain, Robert E. Lee fought in the War with Mexico and was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.
Lee was appointed Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1852 and is considered one of the best superintendents in that institution's history.
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.”
Robert E. Lee was a great American who should not be forgotten
Lee served as adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and then on June 1, 1862, commanded the legendary Army of Northern Virginia.
After four terrible years of war, Gen. Robert E. Lee met Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia in 1865.
Lee was a man of honor, proud of his name and heritage. After the War Between the States, he was offered $50,000 for the use of his name. His reply was: 'Sirs, my name is the heritage of my parents. It is all I have and it is not for sale.' His refusal came at a time when he had nothing.
In the fall of 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 Washington College.
Robert E. Lee was a great American who should not be forgotten.
