Robert E. Lee's 200th Birthday
By: Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
1064 West Mill Drive
Kennesaw, Georgia 30152
Phone: 770 428 0978
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.
http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/750473.htm
At that signing, President Ford said, quote,
"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"
unquote.
Some people are declaring 2007, "The Year of
Lee."
Please share the following story with your
children and local school teachers. The story of Robert E. Lee
should be taught in our nation's schools as America prepares to
remember his 200th birthday on Friday, January 19, 2007.
A portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee, painted by
well known "Depression-Era" artist Ernest L. Ipsen, was presented
to to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York
on General Lee's birthday---January 19, 1931.
Mrs. L.M. Bashinsky, President of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy, presented the painting and it was
unveiled by two great grandsons of Robert E. Lee, Edward Ely, 111
and Robert Edward Lee De Butts.
What is your city, county or state planning for
Robert E. Lee's "Bicentennial" birthday?
The late Franklin D. Roosevelt, America's 32nd
president, spoke at the unveiling of the Robert E. Lee Memorial
Statue in Dallas, Texas, on June 12, 1936 and said, quote,
"I am happy to take part in this unveiling
of the statue of Lee. All over the United States we recognize
him, as a great general. But also, all over the United States, I
believe we recognize him as something much more than that. We
recognize Robert E. Lee as one of our greatest American
Christians and one of our greatest American gentlemen."
unquote.
Who was Robert E. Lee?
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 said, "All the South has ever
desired was that the Union as established by our forefathers,
should be preserved, and that the government, as originally
organized, should be administered in purity and truth."
Tell your children that Robert E. Lee was born
at Stratford Hall, Westmoreland County, Virginia, on January 19,
1807. The winter was cold and the fire places were little help for
his mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, who was also suffering from a
severe cold.
Ann Lee named her son "Robert Edward" after her
two brothers.
Robert E. Lee's love for his country
undoubtedly came from his close association with those who had
lived during the American Revolution. His father, "Light Horse"
Harry Lee, was a Revolutionary War hero, Governor of Virginia and
a member of the House of Representatives.
Lee was educated in the schools of Alexandria,
Virginia. In 1825, he received an appointment to the United States
Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated in 1829,
second in his class and without a single demerit.
Lee was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant of the
United States Engineer Corps. His first assignment was at Cockspur
Island, Georgia to supervise the construction of Fort Pulaski.
Robert E. Lee wed Mary Anna Randolph Custis on
June 30, 1831.
Robert and Mary grew up together. Mary was the
daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha
Dandridge Custis Washington. George and Martha Washington raised
him as their own son.
Mary was the only child; therefore, she
inherited Arlington House, located across the Potomac River from
Washington, D.C. where she and Robert E. Lee raised seven
children.
In 1836, Lee was appointed 1st Lieutenant. In
1838, with the rank of Captain, Robert E. Lee fought in the War
with Mexico. His service in the war began under Gen. Wool but he
was later reassigned to the staff of Gen. Winfield Scott. Gen.
Scott wrote that
Lee was "the best soldier I ever saw in the
field."
Robert E. Lee was appointed Superintendent of
the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1852.
Lee had served in the United States Army for
nearly 32 years when he was offered command of the Federal Army at
the outset of the War Between the States.
In a letter to his sister on April 20, 1861,
Robert E. Lee said, quote:
"With all my devotion to the Union and the
feeling of loyalty and duty as 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 therefore, have resigned my
commission in the army and save in the defense of my native
state, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be
needed"
unquote.
Gen. Lee and his family left "Arlington House"
at the beginning of the War Between the States. Lee served as
advisor to President Jefferson Davis, and then commanded the
legendary Army of Northern Virginia beginning on June 1, 1862.
After four years of death and destruction, Gen.
Robert E. Lee met Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse
in Virginia on April 9, 1865, that ended their battles.
Robert E. Lee was called Marse Robert, Uncle
Robert and Marble Man.
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."
In the fall of 1865, Robert E. Lee was offered
and accepted the position of president of troubled Washington
College in Lexington, Virginia. The school was later renamed
Washington and Lee College in his honor.
Gen. Robert E. Lee died of a heart attack at
his Washington College home at 9:30 on the morning of October 12,
1870.
Lee is buried at the school's Chapel near his
family and favorite horse "Traveller."
A prolific writer, Lee wrote his most famous
quote to his son Custis in 1852: "Duty is the sublimest word in
our language."
Sir Winston Churchill once remarked, "Lee
was the noblest American who had ever lived and one of the
greatest commanders known to the annals of war."
Lest We Forget An Great American Hero!
