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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Robert E. Lee

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception


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Confederate General ... great defender of the southern states - will undergo a retrospective of the true man seperated from the myth of 150 years. 

Complex and tormented he would have preferred to sit out the war and not wage combat against the US Army he fought alongside in the Mexican War.

He was the consumate general, although anguished over the secession of southern states, he made the difficult decision to join the cause "and never looked back."  He was honourable and loyal - hallmarks of his gentrified Virginian upbringing and West Point training.  In his late 50s during the war, his dark hair turned stark white within months. 

He was incredibly smart, able to understand complex military operations of his army, the enemy and terrain.  A careful planner he read his opponent's minds and anticipated the unfolding campaign by reading maps.  He understood he was outnumbered and maximised his troops' impact.

A morally complex figure he was wholly embraced by Christian hero-worshippers but did not embrace religion until later in life.  After his death the lost-cause movement turned Lee into a symbolic chivalrous diety - what he was was fascinating and important and much more interesting than the myth around him.

http://watch.thirteen.org/video/1653201518/

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