Remembering Robert E. Lee
Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
American-Historical Writer
Author of book When America Stood for God, Family and Country
member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
1064 West Mill Drive
Kennesaw, Georgia 30152
Phone: 770 428 0978
Cell Phone: 770 330 9792
“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.
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:
http://leejacksonday.webs.com/
Many 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:
http://www.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:
http://www.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:
http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/750473.htm
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 Mexico and 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!
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