LEE, ROBERT E.   Term Paper ID:26933 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Life, influences of family & career of Southern General in Civil War.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Life, influences of family & career of Southern General in Civil War. Paper Introduction: By means of an unusual combination of circumstances and personal abilities Robert E. Lee (1807-70), more than any man in American history, earned a simultaneous reputation as a hero and a traitor. On the surface, of course, this is easily explained by the fact that he left the United States army to eventually become the commander of the Confederate forces. But Lee was also a general who did not believe war was a solution to political problems, a hero of the secessionists who held that secession was unconstitutional, the son of a hero of the American Revolution who worked hard to break the country apart, and a born aristocrat who believed that the Union, despite its Jeffersonian ideals of democracy, should be kept intact. It was Lee's fate, however, to be "the best representative of the aristocratic principle in all American history," which meant that he was loyal to the system Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. To Southerners, of course, Leewas a hero and "such a traitor as Washington was"--that is, the potentialmilitary founder of a new nation (Dodd 74). He would have done anything, he said, to preserve the union of thestates except sacrifice his honor which, in Lee's mind--fully attuned tothe ways of his people--meant the "loyalty [that] sprang from blood andbonds [and] in such a context the Union was a mere abstraction" (Thomas189). As Lieutenant-Colonel A.S. Buthis attitude toward secession, military leadership, and the nature of thewar made him even more reticent than he had already been. While governor hehad made a second marriage to Ann Hill Carter, a wealthy woman seventeenyears his junior, but "descended from one of Virginia's foremost clans,"who was to become Robert Lee's mother (Casdorph 12). He used the McCarty money torestore the home, and when his wife and sister-in-law left he was sued forthe return of the money. He resigned his commissionwith the army, and within a few days accepted command of the newly created"military and naval forces of Virginia" (Thomas 189). Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1964.Thomas, Emory M. Following his heroicservice in the Revolution, Lee had an active political career asassemblyman, governor, and Congressional Representative. Lee was in Virginia and was not under active orders at the momentwhen Virginia finally decided to leave the Union. He managed to keep theNorth off balance or at bay throughout the years of bloody struggle andmuch of the length of the war, that he had predicted, was due to his owndetermined and skillful efforts. Robert Edward Lee was born into a society that ran itself onaristocratic principles and adhered to a code of honor that wasdeliberately broken only by those who had no further desire to share in thepower and prestige that went with belonging to Virginia's first families.This was a society that held to the ideal "of government by the wise andthe good, of ordered classes and both social and economic privilege" (Doddvii). Works CitedCasdorph, Paul D. Yet Lee held firmly that the Unionwas not susceptible to dissolution at the wish of any of the states and hebelieved that the long-run best interest of the South was to remain a partof the nation. The qualities in Lee that madehim seem unknowable to Chestnut were undoubtedly intensified by hissituation as war approached and then engulfed him. . Robert E. But his career also progressed despite thesuspicions, and, sometimes, firm knowledge, of Lee's financialunreliability. He hadprogressed in the war through his personal relationship with Washington andhis great abilities and had then assumed his role in politics as oneascending to a birthright. Up to the timeof crisis he had led an exemplary Virginia aristocrat's life, marrying adistant cousin, the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, Mary AnneRandolph Custis, and serving with distinction, and increasing--if not themost brilliant--prospects in the United States army. expressed his most seriousapprehensions of a long and bloody war" (quoted in Thomas 197). He did believe that theNorth had treated the south unfairly and, while he "believed slavery wasevil; he owned slaves and resented criticism of the South's peculiarinstitution" (Thomas 189). Other Virginians, such as his mentor Winfield Scott, managed toserve the Union. His father's disreputable behavior, his half-brother's unforgivablescandal, the sale of the family home, and the genteel poverty in which hewas reared had a strong effect on Robert Lee. As his aide Walter Taylor noted at thetime, Lee "alone, of all those known to me . People on both sides of the conflictlooked forward to a brief war and either a return to normal or theemergence of a new nation. Lee was the son of Henry Lee, better known as "Light-Horse Harry"Lee, a protйgй of George Washington and "one of America's foremostsoldiers" in the War of Independence (Casdorph 11). New York: Norton, 1995. He also understood the nature of the coming war far betterthan any of his fellow Southerners. Blair and Lee's military mentorGeneral Winfield Scott, offered him command of the army that was beingformed in response to the President's call to arms. By means of an unusual combination of circumstances and personalabilities Robert E. On the surface,of course, this is easily explained by the fact that he left the UnitedStates army to eventually become the commander of the Confederate forces.But Lee was also a general who did not believe war was a solution topolitical problems, a hero of the secessionists who held that secession wasunconstitutional, the son of a hero of the American Revolution who workedhard to break the country apart, and a born aristocrat who believed thatthe Union, despite its Jeffersonian ideals of democracy, should be keptintact. It was Lee's fate, however, to be "the best representative of thearistocratic principle in all American history," which meant that he wasloyal to the system that bred him--the oligarchy of the state of Virginia(Dodd 177). Lee: A Biography. . . From the time of his half-brother's disgrace he became "a man whose life had no closets [and] nothingto hide from that moment forward" (Casdorph 24). Since she could not afford to send him tocollege in their reduced circumstances Ann Carter Lee encouraged her son toaccept an appointment to West Point. It was agonizing forLee to decide to leave the army he had served for thirty-two years, thetradition established by his father and other heroes of the Revolution, andfollow his state on what he believed was an unwise course. What was far worse, though, was that Lee hadvery little sense of responsibility about his debts and eventually went todebtors prison until he was forced to declare a form of bankruptcy. The career of Lee's father forms an excellent example of the degreeof security membership in the Virginia aristocracy provided. It was Lee's character,as much as his military abilities, that prompted the immense loyalty of thetroops he was to command in his military career. But, as another acute observer, the famous Civil War diarist MaryChestnut, said of Lee, while admitting his many great qualities, she didnot believe anyone could truly say he knew Lee, who looked "so cold andquiet and grand" (quoted in Thomas 2 ). He held that he could not make war on his own people--and this wasthe basic reason behind his fateful decision. He had always been shybut had steeled himself to a practiced courtesy that never failed him. Lincoln or Lee. Lee entered the military academy atseventeen and graduated, second in his class, in 1829. Once he had made his decision to stick by Virginia andthen the Confederacy Lee never stinted in his work. New York: Paragon House, 1992.Dodd, William E. Lee and Jackson: Confederate Chieftans. Lee (18 7-7 ), more than any man in American history,earned a simultaneous reputation as a hero and a traitor. Lee, though he had only lived there for a few childhood years, alwaysreferred to as "home." In the Virginia world of landed gentry theStratford estate was "the place that linked him to the plantation South"and the loss of an ancestral home was a blow to all the Lees' pride(Casdorph 24). But when Lee spoke about the future he saidthings people did not want to hear. But Lee, like the majority, felt more regional loyaltythan national affinity and, in his case, he undoubtedly felt an evenstronger need to serve the system that his family had conspicuously letdown in the past. This was also theprecise moment when Lincoln, via Francis P. He has none of the small vices, such as smoking, drinking, chewing or swearing, and his bitterest enemy never accused him of any of the greater ones (quoted in Dodd 75). L. He was also an aristocrat who believed firmlyin Virginia's unofficial system of privilege and "did not believe the worldwas ready for democracy" (Thomas 189). I imagine no man has so few enemies, or is so universally esteemed . As a product of this environment Lee believed that honor meantloyalty to its code and, against his better practical instincts, was forcedto accept his state's decision to withdraw from the Union and theConfederacy's decision to pin its highest hopes on his skills as a militaryleader. He was thus forced to sell the home which RobertE. . Fremantle said of Lee, He is a perfect gentleman in every respect. But Lee's family suffered from his poor behavior and by the timeRobert Lee was old enough to embark on a career his mother's formerly largetrust fund was severely depleted by his father's debts, her need to supportthe family, and a poor economy. To Northerners, therefore, Lee became anadmired and hated general whose excellent performance merely increased thedegree of his treachery toward the nation. Harry Lee's father had not left him the bulk of his estate,despite his being the eldest son, and Harry's first wife, his wealthycousin Mathilde Lee, had left the family home, Stratford Hall and itsestate, to her children--allowing her husband only lifetime possession.His father and wife, among others, understood that Harry Lee's problem washis love of land speculation and other financial schemes and his tendencyto "respond to failed financial expectations with still greaterspeculation" (Thomas 24). Yet "hebelieved he had no other option" (Thomas 188). Although Harry Lee escaped total disgrace, his son Henry (from hisfirst marriage) came to be known as "Black-Horse Harry" Lee because of ascandal in which, after his wife had become addicted to morphine, Lee beganan affair with his teenage sister-in-law Elizabeth McCarty, "an heiress inher own right." Elizabeth became his legal ward and moved into StratfordHall, where Harry Lee was in possession. Heescaped complete disgrace because, "after all, he was still a Lee and [he]even became a justice of the peace following his release" (Casdorph 12). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.