Welcome to the Hardcore Husky Forums. Folks who are well-known in Cyberland and not that dumb.
PM to HH history experts, YellowSnow, BearsWiin, AZDuck, Tommy etc
dnc
Member Posts: 56,855
in Tug Tavern
Is the truth on the ole general closer to the "kindly Lee" narrative or this article?
Too long to poast
Too long to poast
Comments
-
Neither "side." It was one character.
Your characterization of "side" is Identity Politics 101, and therein lies the problem. -
Chinteresting piece. Will add my thoughts shortly.
-
YellowSnow said:
Chinteresting piece. Will add my thoughts shortly.
-
Nutpicking, IMO.
Lee was a complicated character. Seems like the author just wanted to magnify all of the worst aspects of his character and personality. Everything he said is probably true, and fits some of the other things which we know about General Lee.
Feels more like propaganda than anything else. Shocking news of the week: people treated their slaves like shit. No kidding. -
Fucking whiny bitch author lives in New York City - hates the SEC and ACC...dnc said:Is the truth on the ole general closer to the "kindly Lee" narrative or this article?
Too long to poast
Probably got a smoothie under the table hand job from the maitre de at Club Cry Fag after publication
Totally unreliable biased garbage
-
Full disclaimer: I haven't read any biographies of Lee, so I'm not as familiar with personal views / treatment of slaves as I am, say, with Jefferson or Washington. The arguments he makes about Lee's views on slavery seem accurate- i.e., "it's bad, but hey what can we do about it?" make him pretty similar to Jefferson and Washington in this regard. That he was unquestionably one of the greatest tactical generals we? ever produced as a nation is w/o question, even when had no choice but they take huge gambles that sometimes didn't pay off- e.g., Pickett's Charge. So how we do remember such a brilliant military mind even when he chose the wrong side?
In my mind, the greatest thing Lee ever did for this country was to surrender to Grant once he knew the cause was 100% lost and tell his men to go home. A lot of the Rebs had actually wanted to continue the fight and have the army disappear in the countryside and fight a gorilla war. This would have been a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Recommended reading on this subject in case anyone's interested: https://www.amazon.com/April-1865-Month-Saved-America/dp/0060899689 -
While I hardly consider myself an expert, I studied history in college and love reading about the Civil War, so I'll throw in my two cents:
Both the article and the "kindly Lee" narrative have truth to them. As @AZDuck mentioned, the man, like most people, said and did contradictory things. He'd write letters to wife saying that the institution of slavery was immoral (the text is quoted in the article), but like Jefferson, did his best to justify to himself that it was a necessary evil. (Jefferson once famously said of slavery, "But, as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.") Considering both men's economic survival was tied up in it, that's to be expected.
The author also cites the example of when General Grant proposed prisoner exchanges (but only if black soldiers were treated the same as their white counterparts), Lee shot it down saying, "negroes belonging to our citizens are not considered subjects of exchange and were not included in my proposition.” If you pair that with the fact during Lee's campaign in Pennsylvania he would capture free blacks and force them into service doesn't paint him in a flattering light. However, he would later on (when the South was losing mind you), be open to allowing black soldiers.
I could go on, but I don't want to get into TL:DR territory.
-
-
I want to make sure, unlike most HH posters, that what I say is correct, not make a quick statement. The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement, but you don't make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don't know the facts. It is a very, very important process to me. It is a very important statement. So I don't want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts.
-
Ken Burns basically wrote a love letter to him in video form
But since I wasn't asked - fuck off.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_pZeaMcNk
