LEE’S DECISION
BY
DOUG MAYNARD
SCC INSTRUCTOR
20 TRAMMELL AVE.
CANTON, NC 28716
828-648-5500
Early in 1861, Colonel Robert Edward Lee, in command of the United States Second Cavalry, had been ordered to return to Washington, D. C. from fighting Apache and Comanche Indians near the Rio Grande border of Old Mexico.
Lee, now fifty-four years old, was exhausted from his long trip and the danger and humiliation of being kicked out of San Antonio by Texas confederates. Texas rebels had just taken over all that state’s federal forts, and since Lee had been wearing the beautiful blue “Yankee” uniform that he had worn proudly for thirty-five years, his life had been threatened, his possessions taken, and he had been forced to finish his long trip in civilian attire.
As he entered General Winfield Scott’s office in new President Lincoln’s Washington DC, Lee considered the imponderable decision he knew he now would have to make.
“Old Fuss and Feathers” Scott was now over three hundred pounds and considered
“ancient”, but he was the most experienced military man alive and had been Lee’s mentor in the army since the war with Mexico almost fifteen years ago.
Lee knew that Scott was about to offer him the very thing he had hardly dared hope for in his long distinguished career—total command of all US Army forces—just like his all-time hero and real father figure, George Washington!
George Washington was of course THE great hero of all of America. Honoring his memory was the only thing remaining that southern “FIRE EATERS” and the Yankee “ABOLITIONISTS” could still agree on since South Carolina and the others had moved on federal installations. Washington was the nation’s hero, but to Robert E Lee he was more than that.
Washington was almost a living presence in the house and area of Virginia where Lee was born. His very home itself had come from Washington’s family and personal effects of the greatest American hero throughout the residence reminded Lee of stories of the American Revolution and his father’s relationship with Washington.
Page 2
Doug Maynard
20 Trammell Ave
Canton, NC 28716
828-648-5500
SCC Instructor
Lee’s real father was the Revolutionary War hero “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, friend of the great Washington himself, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the man who originated the funeral quote about Washington being FIRST IN WAR, FIRST IN PEACE AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN.
Lee’s poor father, who had suffered much worse defeats after the revolution than he ever
had during it, had been forced to abandon his family and his country in debt and disgrace, and “Light Horse Harry” had died far away when Lee had been only eleven years old.
At that young age, Robert had immediately assumed the role of “the man of the family” and had tended to his invalid mother until he left for the US Military Academy in 1825 when he was eighteen. Of course now we all know that he also spent the rest of his life tending to his invalid wife. Honor and Duty came first!
Lee used the magnificent example of Washington as his role model as he determined to reclaim his family name and honor through a life dedicated to duty, honor, and country, just as they said at West Point.
As a cadet at the US Military Academy, Lee had been so perfect that even the other cadets called him “The Marble Model” in honor of his devotion to professionalism and his obvious qualities as a leader and a gentleman.
Lee had survived the insurrection against Federal installations in Texas, and as he walked into the office of his greatest friend in the army, he knew his job would be to put down any further loss of property and face by leading his mighty force against the rebels who had just started to build their army near Montgomery, Alabama, the capitol of the new confederacy.
Lee had stated often and plainly his opposition to both slavery and succession, and he knew Scott would expect him to follow the lead of Scott, himself a Virginian, and other Virginians such as Lee’s friend George Thomas, who stood like a “rock” for the union and the US flag.
Yet Lee had paced the floor all the previous night trying to weigh his options, and his heart throbbed in his forehead as he continued to wipe his worried brow.
Page three
Doug Maynard
20 Trammell Ave.
Canton, NC 28716
SCC Instructor
Should he honor his oath to the United States Army, or as a Virginian, should he join the rebels threatening the very flag he had spent his whole adult life protecting and which had almost cost him his life in Texas? What did “DUTY, HONOR, COUNTY require?
Of course, looking back now, we all know that Lee decided to accept the command of the mighty Union army, and along with Scott, Thomas, and the many other loyal Virginians, he went on to crush the rebellion in just three months- just as everyone said they would.
Although it was a minor thing, now hardly even mentioned in the history books, the short civil unrest and rebellion thrust Lee into the presidency over Lincoln in the election of 1864, and today you can visit the Lee Memorial in Washington, DC. It’s right beside the Memorial to his hero, George Washington.
Ex-president Lee made the correct decision.
Tags: alternative history, American Civil War, american history, history, lincoln, robert e lee, trivia, us army
