The American Spectator

hero than he would Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the Japanese General recently memorialized by Clint Eastwood in Letters from Iwo Jima . Great generals, yes, fine human beings, maybe so, great Americans , no. br> — C.J. Evans /p>

I am writing concerning the article asking why Robert E. Lee is no longer revered as he once was. As an American whose has an ancestor who came to this country in 1574 and has numerous ancestors who fought primarily in the North during the American Civil War let me offer reasons why Lee is no longer given the respect he once was.

First, he was a traitor. Regardless of the high intellectual arguments about state’s rights the truth is he fought for these rights using Slavery as the reason for secession. I must confess to throwing snowballs at a statue of his in a Park near where we live thinking that because of his treachery and beliefs many more people died than would have had he offered his services to the Union where they belonged.

Also, as a student of modern history, one can’t help thinking what would have happened if we had let the South succeed. No rational person believes that everything would have been peaceful between the two “countries.” We would have fought with them all the way across the continent, in much the same way that Pakistan and India fight over the Kashmiri region or European countries have fought with each other over a multitude of reasons. It would have been never ending. This country would never have been united and there would have been further fractionation over every little disagreement once the precedent had been made for secession. Again, examine India where every state wants its independence and autonomy, and the violence that is engendered through these fights. Or more recently examine the former Yugoslavia.

While anyone who has read about Lee would not deny that he was a complex man and even an honorable man I do not believe that he deserves the American Hero label any more than Aaron Burr. I believe that his previous popularity had more to do with his military genius, his fighting on even in the face of what became certain defeat, and his charisma which lasted for a long while after his death.

p>I think it is a strange and indeed a specious argument that people are uncomfortable with Lee’s religious sensibilities in a time when everyone expressed themselves in Christian terms, especially President Lincoln. br> — M.J.M. Spano