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

Despite being best-known for leading armies against the United States, Robert E. Lee is one of the most revered military figures in American history. As Seidule documents in his book, Lee is the central object of veneration in the Lost Cause, honored as both an extraordinary military commander and the ultimate embodiment of Southern dignity and virtue. Although the cult of Lee gained steam after his death in 1870, and projected onto him practically superhuman qualities, much of his biography is a romantic narrative. Lee was born to the planter class of Virginia, one of the “First Families” of Virginia. His father, Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, fought in the Revolutionary War and received a personal commendation for bravery from George Washington. He attended West Point and famously finished all four years without receiving a single demerit, or violation of the code of conduct. Lee’s admirers happily point out that Ulysses S. Grant, the US general who accepted Lee’s surrender, received scores of demerits and graduated in the middle of his class, whereas Lee graduated second. Lee then married Mary Custis, the step-great-granddaughter of George Washington, thus making himself a part of America’s closest equivalent to a royal family. Joining the army corps of engineers, he served with distinction in the Mexican War and was one of the most widely respected men in the army. He served as superintendent of West Point, and in 1859 was charged with suppressing the radical abolitionist John Brown’s attack on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, part of his plan to trigger a widespread uprising led by enslaved people.

Initially opposed to secession, Lee changed his mind when his native Virginia became the 8th state to join the Confederacy. He assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia and proved himself the most capable of Confederate generals, with victories including Second Bull Run (or Second Manassas), the Seven Days Campaign, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. His desire to inflict a decisive defeat on US Army forces in the North proved his undoing, leading to a bloody stalemate at Antietam (or Sharpsburg) in 1862 and Gettysburg in 1863. For nearly two years after the defeat at Gettysburg, he maintained a bloody war of attrition before US forces under General Ulysses S. Grant surrounded his forces and compelled his surrender in April 1865. Spared of any punishment, he accepted the presidency of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia and served there until his death in 1870. It would later be named Washington and Lee University in his honor. To this day he remains a widely respected figure for his military leadership and decision to surrender, and not just in the South.