Whither Thou Goest...

Robert E. Lee
(Source)

In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution is a moral & political evil in any country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. - R. E. Lee

The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forbearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides. - R. E. Lee

I hesitate to add General Lee to my pantheon of heroes. Though I admire the man a great deal, I stop before proclaiming him a "hero." He turned his back on his country and followed his home state of Virginia into secession.

It was not a deed he took lightly or in the heat of passion. In a letter to his son he stated -

I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honour for its preservation. I hope, therefore, that all constitutional means will be exhausted before there is a resort to force. Secession is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitution never exhausted so much labour, wisdom, and forbearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so many guards and securities, if it was intended to be broken by every member of the Confederacy at will. It is intended for 'perpetual Union,' so expressed in the preamble, and for the establishment of a government, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by revolution, or the consent of all the people in convention assembled. It is idle to talk of secession: anarchy would have been established, and not a government, by Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and all the other patriots of the Revolution. … Still, a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my country and for the welfare and progress of mankind. If the Union is dissolved and the Government disrupted, I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people, and, save in defense will draw my sword on none. 

Letter to his son, G. W. Custis Lee (23 January 1861).

But then, he was a man of his time. It is hard to look back to such a time when most people were born, lived, and died within a few miles of where their grandparents were born, lived, and died.

General Lee does not really fall into that category, he went to school in New York, at West Point. He had fought in Mexico, he had been assigned to Texas for some time. He had experience of other places, had known men from other parts of the United States. No, this was not some parochial naif who only knew the land he was born in.

But in those times many people still viewed the country as a collection of states, united to be sure, but a man born in Vermont considered himself a Vermonter first, an American second. While that attitude still exists to some extent in these modern times, Americans are more mobile now. Out of necessity in many cases, you go where the jobs are, or you starve. (Yes, I know, you can live off the government teat and not work, but most folks have a bit more pride than that. Or so I would hope.)

So I can understand why the general resigned his commission in the United States Army (after being offered command of the forces in the field of that army) and went home to Virginia. Before I joined the Air Force I probably would have considered my home state to be paramount in my affections. Not anymore, I have been to too many places, lived in different areas of the country, and the world, and owe my first loyalty to the Constitution of the United States, and by extension to the country at large.

Things though were different back then, and honestly, I do understand the why. I just can't really forgive the man for donning Confederate gray. While he was a brilliant leader and soldier, he fought for the "wrong" side. I can acknowledge his skill and yes, even honor his commitment to his personal loyalty to the home of his birth.

A great leader, a magnificent soldier, but, sadly, not quite a hero to me.

Still though, a man to admire. For which of us is without fault? Loyalties back then were different. Robert E. Lee stayed loyal to his homeland. I cam at least admire, and yes honor, that loyalty.

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God... Ruth 1:16 (KJV)

Virginia, home to Washington and Jefferson, seceded from the Union on the 17th of April, 1861. Three days later, Robert E. Lee, West Point Class of 1829, resigned his commission in the United States Army.

In 1975, Robert E. Lee had his full rights as a citizen of the United States restored to him by a Joint Resolution of Congress. Seems the government had lost the Amnesty Oath that the General had signed in 1865.

Quote sources.