Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause, Seidule - B

      The author is a professor emeritus of history at West Point, a retired  Brigadier General and an author of four official West Point histories.  For decades, he "believed the Confederates and Lee were romantic warriors for a doomed but noble cause." The author was raised in Virginia, and attended Washington and Lee University.  He came of age, and lived, in a world where Lee was a "deity."  Although history has shown that the South seceded to protect slavery, the Lost Cause myth is built around the gallant defense of everything else: tariffs, states rights, nullification, etcetera, anything but slavery. It also promotes the idea of happy slaves in need of protection and posits that the North overwhelmed the South only because of its size. 

      He attended college in Lexington VA, a town where both Lee and Stonewall Jackson are buried. The University features the Lee Chapel,  "the St. Peter's Basilica of the Lost Cause religion." The chapel is not consecrated, has no Christian imagery and features a statue of Lee lying in repose on the altar.  After accepting an ROTC scholarship,  the author went on active duty and spent most of his time at Forts Bragg and Benning, both named after Confederate officers. The Army has always insisted the forts are named after 'historic names' and are not a political/historical statement. While teaching at West Point, he came to realize that Lee was the most memorialized name at the school. The consecration of Lee at the school began in the 1930's, ran through the 70's, and in almost each and every instance, the statue, plaque, barracks, road, or prize was in response to a specific event in the advancement of civil rights. The last example was a major increase in Black students after the 1968 assassination of Dr. King which led to the dedication of the largest dormitory at West Point - the Lee barracks.

        His verdict on Lee is treason to preserve slavery. After thirty-six years in the US army, he levied war against the US, the Constitution's definition of treason. Prior to his resignation, he was opposed to disunion, believed secession to be revolution and supported a perpetual union. However, he did state that he would follow Virginia if necessary. "Lee chose the Confederacy because of his abiding belief in slavery." His wealth came from marrying Mary Custis, the only child of Washington's adopted son. Their wealth derived from owning approximately 200 slaves. He supervised the whipping of three slaves who had escaped and been recaptured. He believed in slavery and fought to maintain it. After the war though, he encouraged his soldiers to reconcile, signed the amnesty oath and requested a pardon. He died in 1870.

       One must agree with just about everything Gen. Seidule says. Lee violated his oath. He was a slaver, and one who on at least one occasion turned to violence. He believed in slavery, and in his last years, was bitter about the South's loss and the prospects for the future. However, he is not guilty of everything done in his name in the last 150 years, nor is he responsible for his "deification" that the general so ardently pushes back against. Clearly, the monuments must go. For Black cadets to live in a barracks named after Lee is wrong. For soldiers of color to serve at Ft. Lee or Hood or any of the 9 forts named after Confederates is wrong. 

       I am a northerner and recently I learned that my great-grandfather was in the Union Army. But my opinions were formed long ago. I condemn the South, its war and its quarter of a millennium treatment of Africans. However, I believe any assessment of Lee must be made by the standards of the mid-19th century and not today. I do not believe Lee was wrong to choose Virginia. At that time, people's first identity was to their home state. Furthermore and most importantly, the Union was still believed by many to be consensual and not irrevocable. And let's not forget that our country has never produced a more capable field commander. That said, this book has forced me to continue to reconsider this era of our history.