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Very powerful letter. While it is directed to the Governor of Virginia its message is important and it provides a valuable historical perspective for the country.
An Open Letter to Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe
Posted from zulablaw.wordpress.comPosted in these groups: 
American History
American History
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 3
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I stopped reading the article as soon as the writer started making it a personal attack.
However, crediting a man that took up arms against his country shows neither integrity nor honor, as the writer claims.
However, crediting a man that took up arms against his country shows neither integrity nor honor, as the writer claims.
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LTC Marc King
MSG Hutchinson: In this day and age a "personal attack" is hardly the measure of how we are conducting business in this country. It has become tray sheik to attack... full frontal, flank attack... back stabber... but I digress. Once again it is important to put Lee and many others into the context of the times...
"The commanding general of the Union Army, Winfield Scott, told Lincoln he wanted Lee for a top command. Lee accepted a promotion to colonel on March 28.[86] He had earlier been asked by one of his lieutenants if he intended to fight for the Confederacy or the Union, to which Lee replied, "I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty."[87] Meanwhile, Lee ignored an offer of command from the Confederate States of America. After Lincoln's call for troops to put down the rebellion, it was obvious that Virginia would quickly secede. Lee on April 18 was offered by presidential advisor Francis P. Blair a role as major general to command the defense of Washington. He replied:
Mr. Blair, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state?[88]
Lee resigned from the U.S. Army on April 20 and took up command of the Virginia state forces on April 23.[22] While historians have usually called his decision inevitable ("the answer he was born to make", wrote one; another called it a "no-brainer") given the ties to family and state, an 1871 letter from his eldest daughter, Mary Custis Lee, to a biographer described Lee as "worn and harassed" yet calm as he deliberated alone in his office. Aside from Mary, a secessionist, his family was overwhelmingly pro-Union. While Lee's immediate family followed him to the Confederacy, others, such as cousins and fellow officers Samuel Phillips and John Fitzgerald Lee, remained loyal to the Union, as did 40 percent of Virginian officers"
This does not look a man who set out to be disloyal. He resigned his Union commission before joining with his state... not the Confederacy at first but his state. We are seldom these days defined by our state affiliation think more in terms of our national association but that was not the times that Lee lived in. And I believe that is the point of this discussion. I do not believe the War of Southern Secession was right but it happened and we should take our lessons from it... don't bury it... study it, understand it and its root causes because if you don't think Civil War could happen again you are not a student of history or the evening news. Thanks for your thoughts!
"The commanding general of the Union Army, Winfield Scott, told Lincoln he wanted Lee for a top command. Lee accepted a promotion to colonel on March 28.[86] He had earlier been asked by one of his lieutenants if he intended to fight for the Confederacy or the Union, to which Lee replied, "I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty."[87] Meanwhile, Lee ignored an offer of command from the Confederate States of America. After Lincoln's call for troops to put down the rebellion, it was obvious that Virginia would quickly secede. Lee on April 18 was offered by presidential advisor Francis P. Blair a role as major general to command the defense of Washington. He replied:
Mr. Blair, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four millions of slaves in the South I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon Virginia, my native state?[88]
Lee resigned from the U.S. Army on April 20 and took up command of the Virginia state forces on April 23.[22] While historians have usually called his decision inevitable ("the answer he was born to make", wrote one; another called it a "no-brainer") given the ties to family and state, an 1871 letter from his eldest daughter, Mary Custis Lee, to a biographer described Lee as "worn and harassed" yet calm as he deliberated alone in his office. Aside from Mary, a secessionist, his family was overwhelmingly pro-Union. While Lee's immediate family followed him to the Confederacy, others, such as cousins and fellow officers Samuel Phillips and John Fitzgerald Lee, remained loyal to the Union, as did 40 percent of Virginian officers"
This does not look a man who set out to be disloyal. He resigned his Union commission before joining with his state... not the Confederacy at first but his state. We are seldom these days defined by our state affiliation think more in terms of our national association but that was not the times that Lee lived in. And I believe that is the point of this discussion. I do not believe the War of Southern Secession was right but it happened and we should take our lessons from it... don't bury it... study it, understand it and its root causes because if you don't think Civil War could happen again you are not a student of history or the evening news. Thanks for your thoughts!
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MSG Stan Hutchison
LTC Marc King - You make a very well-thought-out response. Thank you.
Now, I do not mean to ignore history, nor the "context" of the times. I do however, believe we as a nation should not honor those who rose up against the Union. Let them that wish to do so, do so on their own private property, not public.
As to the possibility of there being another "Civil War," I fear there is just such a possibility, however it would not be state against state, rather a horrible mixture of anarchy and terrorism, much as we are seeing today, only much more so. I also believe such could end this grand experiment we call the USA.
Now, I do not mean to ignore history, nor the "context" of the times. I do however, believe we as a nation should not honor those who rose up against the Union. Let them that wish to do so, do so on their own private property, not public.
As to the possibility of there being another "Civil War," I fear there is just such a possibility, however it would not be state against state, rather a horrible mixture of anarchy and terrorism, much as we are seeing today, only much more so. I also believe such could end this grand experiment we call the USA.
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LTC Marc King
Thanks for the posting of the missive by Sherwin W. Dillard, Jr.
However, I find its message directed more towards attacking Governor McAuliffe and contains many half-truths.
I, too, as is Sherwin Dillard, am not a native-born Virginian; but after serving 30 years in the Army, I am now a Virginia citizen. My ancestors fought, bled, and died during that terrible United States Civil War, on both sides, from Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.
I very recently visited Lexington and the University of Washington & Lee, and stood at General Lee’s grave (and the grave of his horse Traveler). That location (and the chapel) is impressive, tranquil, and respectful.
But, General s Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were not saints; and we should not venerate them as saints. I greatly respect the tales of yore, oft retold by men separated by 150 years from those events, of Lee’s and Jackson’s good deeds and military successes. I especially admire General Lee's role in ending the war, and post-bellum reconciliation. However, there are several major missteps in their lives that cannot be easily reconciled. We can forgive, but we should not forget: In 1861, Lee & Jackson broke their oaths of office to serve and protect the Constitution of our United States; and they chose a path which defended the continued state institution enslaving men, women, and children.
When statues and icons of Lee and Jackson are treated as near-religious icons, attracting and rallying throngs of hate-filled and violent-prone men and women of the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacists, unorganized militias, and anarchists, from not only outside the community, but outside the state , Virginia's leaders should rightfully question: why do we have that statue there today, in 2017? If a clear majority of citizens in Charlottesville want to remove a carved stone from a downtown park to a museum, and to rename that park, why should outsiders take actions to block the will of the people?
Is the reverence and honors bestowed upon General Lee at the University of Washington & Lee insufficient to preserve Lee’s memory and legacy?
No, Dillard’s meandering letter, rather than providing a thoughtful and logical argument to retain Confederate monuments prominently displayed (as the Daughters of the Confederacy intended in the period 1892 through the early 1900’s), instead directly attacks Governor McAuliffe, and his parents, masked by cherry-picked and out-of-context Bible passages.
For example, Dillard quotes: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set”.
In context, Proverbs 22:28 refers to the boundary stones which separates and identify landowners property lines. One might as easily respond back with words from Exodus 8: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them."
Indeed, Sherwin Dillard’s diatribes, leans toward extremism – if this previous post attributed to Dillard provides an example.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1260635/posts
Thanks for the posting of the missive by Sherwin W. Dillard, Jr.
However, I find its message directed more towards attacking Governor McAuliffe and contains many half-truths.
I, too, as is Sherwin Dillard, am not a native-born Virginian; but after serving 30 years in the Army, I am now a Virginia citizen. My ancestors fought, bled, and died during that terrible United States Civil War, on both sides, from Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.
I very recently visited Lexington and the University of Washington & Lee, and stood at General Lee’s grave (and the grave of his horse Traveler). That location (and the chapel) is impressive, tranquil, and respectful.
But, General s Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were not saints; and we should not venerate them as saints. I greatly respect the tales of yore, oft retold by men separated by 150 years from those events, of Lee’s and Jackson’s good deeds and military successes. I especially admire General Lee's role in ending the war, and post-bellum reconciliation. However, there are several major missteps in their lives that cannot be easily reconciled. We can forgive, but we should not forget: In 1861, Lee & Jackson broke their oaths of office to serve and protect the Constitution of our United States; and they chose a path which defended the continued state institution enslaving men, women, and children.
When statues and icons of Lee and Jackson are treated as near-religious icons, attracting and rallying throngs of hate-filled and violent-prone men and women of the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacists, unorganized militias, and anarchists, from not only outside the community, but outside the state , Virginia's leaders should rightfully question: why do we have that statue there today, in 2017? If a clear majority of citizens in Charlottesville want to remove a carved stone from a downtown park to a museum, and to rename that park, why should outsiders take actions to block the will of the people?
Is the reverence and honors bestowed upon General Lee at the University of Washington & Lee insufficient to preserve Lee’s memory and legacy?
No, Dillard’s meandering letter, rather than providing a thoughtful and logical argument to retain Confederate monuments prominently displayed (as the Daughters of the Confederacy intended in the period 1892 through the early 1900’s), instead directly attacks Governor McAuliffe, and his parents, masked by cherry-picked and out-of-context Bible passages.
For example, Dillard quotes: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set”.
In context, Proverbs 22:28 refers to the boundary stones which separates and identify landowners property lines. One might as easily respond back with words from Exodus 8: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them."
Indeed, Sherwin Dillard’s diatribes, leans toward extremism – if this previous post attributed to Dillard provides an example.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1260635/posts
Before God, you vote with bloody hands
The Democratic Party and its presidential candidates for 20 years have embraced Sodomy, infanticide and Socialism. Jamming scissors into the base of babies skulls at the moment of birth and suctioning out their brains (Partial-Birth Abortion) is something John Kerry has repeatedly voted to continue. While this may well be Kerrian, Christ plunged no blades into babies, thus the crime cannot be called CHRIST-ian. Nor is the defender of abortion...
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LTC Marc King
Another well thought out response. Thanks Colonel. I agree, in part with the over adulation of some regarding these historical figures... I do however think that where there is a battlefield and men died on both sides of the conflict, that battlefield is a special place, a hallowed place and the monuments and statues on those site should not be denigrated or destroyed for the sake of political correctness. I can see the argument for removing them from the courthouse square or village green But the battlefields should and must be left alone. My Maryland congressman wants the statue of Lee removed from the Antietam National Battlefield. This is a man who has never served the nation in uniform and has no perspective on the pain and suffering of soldiers. He pontificates on the floor of the House and now thinks he want to be the President in 2020. His call for removal of the statue is a political act with no real introspection on the battle that took place there, the men who died and what the battle meant to preservation of the Union. This is the mindless, political babble that I fundamentally object too. And its the same mentality and internal decay that ultimately brought the Roman Empire to its knees.
I don't defend all the things that the author says and I do not live in VA. I live in MD with unique challenges of its own. The attacks on the Governor, another presidential hopeful in 2020, might certainly be over the top... but that seems to be the world we live in.
One last comment.
I would like to state for the record that I am an American Jew and the Nazi movement in this country does not scare me. I certainly do not like to see this kind of activity in America; but I am not scared or cowed by this. Unlike my ancestors who failed to heed history, did not believe the signs that were all around them and thought that their neighbors would never do to them what was done... I live in the United Sates of America. I embrace the 2d Amendment of the Constitution for the preservation of my family and my friends. And I believe that if this ever went beyond the shouting of slogans and torch light precessions that I as a citizen of this country would have right to defend myself... and I am prepared to do that.
Thanks again for the stimulating analyst and most of all for knowing your Bible... something we could all do better with.
I don't defend all the things that the author says and I do not live in VA. I live in MD with unique challenges of its own. The attacks on the Governor, another presidential hopeful in 2020, might certainly be over the top... but that seems to be the world we live in.
One last comment.
I would like to state for the record that I am an American Jew and the Nazi movement in this country does not scare me. I certainly do not like to see this kind of activity in America; but I am not scared or cowed by this. Unlike my ancestors who failed to heed history, did not believe the signs that were all around them and thought that their neighbors would never do to them what was done... I live in the United Sates of America. I embrace the 2d Amendment of the Constitution for the preservation of my family and my friends. And I believe that if this ever went beyond the shouting of slogans and torch light precessions that I as a citizen of this country would have right to defend myself... and I am prepared to do that.
Thanks again for the stimulating analyst and most of all for knowing your Bible... something we could all do better with.
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COL Korey Jackson
LTC Marc King ,
I appreciate your comments.
If you are referring to the statue of Robert E. Lee that was erected privately, on private land, adjacent to the Antietam National Battlefield on then-private land by a gentleman claiming to be a descendant of Robert E. Lee, in our very recent past of 2003 - and Congressman Delaney's statements that the statue should be removed from National Park lands: that does at least give the appearance of political motivation, and the issue(s) seem a little bizarre, and perhaps an unnecessary controversy.
It seems to me that today's Americans' thoughts and efforts would be better placed on helping recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey, and withstanding and recovering from Hurricane Irma, and the proper response to North Korea's provocations, rather than creating arguments over a few tons of concrete and iron placed on an over 150-year-old battlefield that (to my knowledge) isn't really hurting anybody.
In the meantime, if given a few spare moments, I really should tend to the small family graveyard behind my property, taking special care for those with CSA markers. The occupants loved and were loved, and deserve appropriate peace and respect.
I appreciate your comments.
If you are referring to the statue of Robert E. Lee that was erected privately, on private land, adjacent to the Antietam National Battlefield on then-private land by a gentleman claiming to be a descendant of Robert E. Lee, in our very recent past of 2003 - and Congressman Delaney's statements that the statue should be removed from National Park lands: that does at least give the appearance of political motivation, and the issue(s) seem a little bizarre, and perhaps an unnecessary controversy.
It seems to me that today's Americans' thoughts and efforts would be better placed on helping recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey, and withstanding and recovering from Hurricane Irma, and the proper response to North Korea's provocations, rather than creating arguments over a few tons of concrete and iron placed on an over 150-year-old battlefield that (to my knowledge) isn't really hurting anybody.
In the meantime, if given a few spare moments, I really should tend to the small family graveyard behind my property, taking special care for those with CSA markers. The occupants loved and were loved, and deserve appropriate peace and respect.
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LTC Marc King
COL Korey Jackson - At that is the essence of the entire debate. No one thinks that secession from the Union was right or just... (keep that in mind for those in CA who are contemplating such a move) but it was what they believed in the context of the times and now the context of history. You are spot on with your comments on what we should as a nation be doing vs. what we are doing. Your perspective is greatly appreciated and as for those CSA markers... they are veterans of a "cause" and should be treated with honor and respect and it seem their caretaker is an honorable man!
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It's filled with fallacies and revisionist history, not the Malcolm gladwell podcast
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LTC Marc King
SGT (Join to see) - Again; this is at a different time and place different than today. That is not on Jackson its on the people of the town. No one is trying to obfuscate the fact that racism was a component in post Civil War society. I think the point trying to be made is that despite his feeling about states rights and slavery issue Jackson was not feared by his former slaves... in fact they venerated him or so it seems. If there is evidence to the contrary please provided it. I am open to having my opinion changed.
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LTC Marc King
SGT (Join to see) - OK, again I don't think I get your point here. That is what the letter said... Is there a counterpoint or some additional information that says he did not break the law by teaching Negros in Sunday School?
Thanks for participating.
Thanks for participating.
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SGT (Join to see)
There is only contemporaneous evidence that one ex slave even close to venerated him, that slave still called him master
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