God Save The South
"General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our nation....He was thoughtful and demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies, but ingenious, unrelenting, and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or an obstacle" Dwight D. Eisenhower
Growing up, we always got a day off from school for Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee's birthday. I know Mississippi and Alabama still celebrate his birthday with a state holiday.
In Virginia we still celebrate Lee/Jackson Day. It's just not on the official govt calendar. Our hope is that if Trump does actually drain the swamp this time that the parasites will leave northern Virginia and we will Make Virginia Red Again.
ReplyDelete- Thomas Rosser in the Piedmont of Virginia
Historical ignorance is not bliss. Statues need to be replaced as they were not memorials to some percieved racism. They were grave stones/grave markers paid for & placed by groups of southern women who's sons, husbands, brothers & friends never returned from the battlefields & were never located. Typically a statue of their commanding officer was placed to mark where their loved ones fell. Shame on those who desecrated those markers. What's next Arlington cemetary?
DeleteJust for this day. MLK was born 4 days earlier. And, so people know, Lee's distinguished record did not start with the Confederacy.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Mexican War, Lee was Wionfield Scott's trusted engineer; at Cerro Gordo, he beat Santa Anna to the punch and placed the American guns on the heights, thus winning the battle and opening the road to Mexico City. In the 1850s, he was Albert Sidney Johnston's exec in the 2nd (now 5th) Cavalry fighting Comanches. His statue in the TX State House honors him for this and he commanded the US troops that broke John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.
In many ways, he stands as possibly the finest man this continent has produced.
You'd think the cancel culture mob would be all over state holidays for confederates. 'Course those good ol boys would tell the mob where they can put their cancel culture.
ReplyDeleteNemo
I graduated from the W&L School of Law in the 1980's when it was highly regarded. Now, only top 75. Over the weekend I met a first year student - white and male. He said the school is run by leftist women. In fact, he was told to forget an internship with law firms because he is not in one of the DEI protected classes. Sad.
ReplyDeleteI gave up on the school when it put General Lee behind a curtain and tried to destroy his legacy. His tenure as President saved the College after the War of Northern Aggression.
SO much of the era is misunderstood and perverted.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article.
Do you mean m l king?
ReplyDeleteYes.
DeleteGeneral Lee organized farmers and merchants into an Army suited to traditional European fields of peasant attrition, lines of disposables facing recent -- disposable -- arrivals from Europe and Ireland.
ReplyDelete.
I may be the outlier here, but I think he wasted hundreds of thousands of lives.
.
Stepping into the time machine and going back for a second opportunity, my teams would infiltrate and execute northern bankers and their congress-critters.
Every last one of them.
And I might whack Grant and Sherman and Custer for good measure.
In a perfect world, Lincoln doesn't make it to the theater.
The Indians tried those tactics and we all know what happened. And Grant and Sherman (the true strategic genius of the war) used those tactics as much as Lee, Jackson (the true tactical genius of the war), and the rest. As Shelby Foote said, the tactics hadn't caught up with the technology.
DeleteMilitary leaders are always slow to respond to technological change. Increased firepower and Napoleonic tactics! Militaries are traditional organizations. You can't expect such organizations to change quickly. It is praiseworthy when exceptions occur, but it is not the norm. Men get killed. Errors get made. War is hell.
DeleteMy Jr High School in Orlando, FL, was named "Robert E. Lee". This was in the mid 60's. We also flew a confederate flag and sang "Dixie" as our school song.
ReplyDeleteI went to glenridge jr. high 66,7,8 played yall in football.
DeleteAmen to that. That apple did not fall far from the tree. RE Lee's father, who was instrumental soldier and officer during the American Revolution.
ReplyDeleteRobert E. Lee was one of America's finest commanders and would have made a good President. Pity he worked for the wrong (supposedly) side.
ReplyDeleteI may be a Yankee but I know greatness when it occurred.
He fought for the correct side. The Yankees laid the foundation for the political mess we have in DC now.
DeleteThank goodness my country of Winston still realizes the Greatness of this fine Man of the South.
ReplyDeleteRobert E. Lee was a great man. He understood the conflict and did his duty.
ReplyDeleteWe celebrate every year by flying the flag, Coffee in my flag mug and southern fried chicken for dinner. Hopefully one day the lies about MLK will be exposed widely. Hybo
ReplyDelete10-4!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteskybill
Whose the monger?
ReplyDelete"Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less."
ReplyDeleteRobert E. Lee
Duty, then is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more; you should never wish to do less.
ReplyDeleteRobert E. Lee
Well said Jeffery!
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest men the US ever produced. No Yankee officer could hold a candle to him.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in HSV, I still remember that. It was still “ The Heart of Dixie” also. Bear Bryant, Golden Flake and Co-cola.
ReplyDeleteI named my first big bike “Traveller” after Lee’s favorite horse. We never locked our doors. Left the keys in the car. Lead was still in gas and I remember “ gas wars” (12 cents a gallon for regular pumped by a grown man who checked tire pressures, under the hood, and cleaned the windshield.
We need men like Lee, Thomas Jackson, Jeb Stuart…
And Joe Johnston, who died of pneumonia a week after standing bare headed in the rain for Bill Sherman's funeral.
Delete....as they should!
ReplyDeleteGod save the South, God save the South,
ReplyDeleteHer altars and firesides, God save the South!
Now that the war is nigh, now that we arm to die,
Chanting our battle cry, "Freedom or death!"
Chanting our battle cry, "Freedom or death!"
God be our shield, at home or afield,
Stretch Thine arm over us, strengthen and save.
What tho' they're three to one, forward each sire and son,
Strike till the war is won, strike to the grave!
Strike till the war is won, strike to the grave!
God made the right stronger than might,
Millions would trample us down in their pride.
Lay Thou their legions low, roll back the ruthless foe,
Let the proud spoiler know God's on our side.
Let the proud spoiler know God's on our side.
Hark honor's call, summoning all.
Summoning all of us unto the strife.
Sons of the South, awake! Strike till the brand shall break,
Strike for dear Honor's sake, Freedom and Life!
Strike for dear Honor's sake, Freedom and Life!
Rebels before, our fathers of yore.
Rebel's the righteous name Washington bore.
Why, then, be ours the same, the name that he snatched from shame,
Making it first in fame, foremost in war.
Making it first in fame, foremost in war.
War to the hilt, theirs be the guilt,
Who fetter the free man to ransom the slave.
Up then, and undismay'd, sheathe not the battle blade,
Till the last foe is laid low in the grave!
Till the last foe is laid low in the grave!
God save the South, God save the South,
Dry the dim eyes that now follow our path.
Still let the light feet rove safe through the orange grove,
Still keep the land we love safe from Thy wrath.
Still keep the land we love safe from Thy wrath.
God save the South, God save the South,
Her altars and firesides, God save the South!
For the great war is nigh, and we will win or die,
Chanting our battle cry, "Freedom or death!"
Chanting our battle cry, "Freedom or death!"
Well, hell I'll say it, I always thought Lee was one of the greatest generals we ever produced. He was outnumbered by 9 to one at the start of the war. Most rebs had no shoes and only a smattering of cannon captured from the yankees.
ReplyDeleteStill he came within one battle of pulling it off. If he had won Gettysburg he would have broken the north's resolve for good.
Fun fact, the yankees invented the us Army uniform name tag, because of their fear they would die unknown, so afraid of Lee and his rebs were they.
My gr gr grandfather was in Co E, 15th Alabama Inf Regt. under Gen Longstreet, I Corp, ANV.
ReplyDeleteHe was present for many battles, among them, the battle for Little Round Top. He survived the war to surrender with the Regt at Appomattox Court House, only to die at home near Daleville assumedly from wounds he received in fighting in Knoxville, TN
God Bless Robert E. Lee!
Deo Vindice
Bayouwulf
Having lived in Philadelphia for many years, I was able to visit the Union Club in Center City ... (that's Philadelphian for "downtown"). One of the not-so-frequent tours that they offer is a history lesson. Way back in the day, virtually anything manufactured in the United States was produced in Philly. Because the South was a major provider of raw materials for the factories in Philly, a lot of the citizens of that city felt at least some sympathy for the plight of the South. One of the reasons that Union Clubs were established in many of the major cities was to prove to the common working citizens that the Union of the United States mattered.
ReplyDeleteNow for the Gettysburg story: Robert E Lee knew if he could have his army travel north to Harrisburg, PA, then get in the railroad heading east to Philadelphia (a Southern-sympathizing city), he could effectively cut the United States in half. Thankfully this plan never happened.
Thankfully it never happened? You do realize the South was fighting for the concept of freedom and self determination.
DeleteStates Rights...
DeleteGeneral Lee was more dangerous in retreat than in attack. He would post people in the rear to make sure any planed retreat would be safe.
ReplyDeleteTexas did not do away with Confederate Heroes Day. They just added MLK to the same day. Not to bash MLK but he was an adulterer and his flowery words were often very socialist (Marxist). R.E Lee stands as one of the greatest Americans.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest American Generals, and he should be lauded as such - even though he fought for the South.
ReplyDeleteSO what? I applauded the seamen of the Hunley when they were found, exhumed, and given Hero's burials. They too were great Americans that fought for the "wrong" side.
Alabama did the same. You are correct about King. I heard several juicy stories about him, his entourage, marchers, out of state paid communist agitators, etc. and the orgies that took place during marches/protests. I got it from a reporter that was there and had the photos to verify. I have read several accounts that King was with four different women the night before he was killed.
ReplyDeleteIt's a black culture thing. It's in their African DNA.
DeleteA letter, from Booker T Washington concerning Confederate monunments
ReplyDeleteTo Mamie A. Harrison
Rochester N. Y. June 16, 1914
My dear Madam: Replying further to yours of June 6th, I would state that I am going to take up very carefully the matter of the Confederate monument about which you wrote me, and see if I can find some one to give the money that is still needed. I am very much interested in the matter and thank you for writing me. During the summer months people with money are very much away from home and it is hard to reach them, so it may be I may not be able to do anything about it until fall.
“I want to say again how very much we all appreciate the visit of [former Confederate] General George Paul Harrison to Tuskegee. We all realize more and more that men like him are the true friends of our race, and that any monument that will keep the fine character of such heroes before the public will prove helpful to both races in the South.
The true greatness of Robert E. Lee was taught to me by the wonderful Brock Townsend of the Free North Carolina blog. It's still up - please take a look see.
ReplyDeletePhyllis - AKA: Chickenmom
LargeMarge, I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI found an article on historyonthenet.com, "Problems with Robert E Lee's tactics", which I recommend to everyone.
I live outside of Chickamauga, Ga, went though the park on a field trip, only thing I remember is that I went there.
I haven't researched battle tactics of 'The War of Northern Aggression', but if they were like what was portrayed in Mel Gibson's movie "Patriot", then they were outdated, archaic and wasteful of men's lives.
I read somewhere that Stonewall Jackson suggested to Lee that the Confederate Army should adopt guerilla tactics, but Lee refused, perhaps he thought it was dishonorable and cowardly. After the War, Lee returned to Virginia to live out the remainder of his life, Jackson and thousands of men went home to be buried.
There was a head football coach at my high school who served in the U S Marines and served a year in Korea during the Korean War. Best I recollect, his one and only tactic was 'send them up the middle', play after play after play. It didn't take long for the opposing team's coaches to counter that strategy (duh). Yet he remained head coach for years, then became Principal and maybe Superintendent. Go figure.