Robert E. Lee – American

During the April 6, 1865 Battle of Sailor’s Creek, Private Samuel Vaughn of Company B, 18th Va Infantry was among those who made his escape from Marshall’s Crossroads when Confederate lines collapsed.  Vaughan made his way through the woods for several miles eventually reaching his very own home, near the Lockett Farm.  He was joyously welcomed by his family and hurried to change into civilian clothes and eat.  Afterwards he went to sit on his front porch watching the Union armies pass on their way to the High Bridge, following Lee’s retreating army through Farmville.

A Union officer, capturing straggler Confederates, saw Vaughan and his small children. He recognized in Vaughan the look of a soldier. He asked him if the house was his.  Vaughan answered ‘yes’.

The Union officer then asked Vaughan if he was a Confederate soldier involved in the recent battle, adding quickly, that if Vaughan said ‘no’, that the Union officer would ride away and say nothing more, but that if he said ‘yes’, Vaughan would have to submit to captivity, leaving his family to live life as a prisoner of war.

Vaughan looked about his home and then longingly into the faces of his wife and children.  He breathed heavily, sighing and finally turned to the Union officer.  Said Vaughan, “For four years I’ve served with Robert E. Lee.  I was in every major battle.  I never deserted General Lee and I can’t do so now.  Yes, I am one of Robert E. Lee’s soldiers.”  Vaughn went to a POW camp.

Such was the influence of Robert E. Lee on the common soldier. His personal life was inspiring and even today provides lessons for us all:

• As a citizen, during the challenges of the post-war period, Lee advocated patience and reconciliation urging the veterans of the Confederate armies to help rebuild their communities;
• As an educator, he assumed the Presidency of a financially strapped Washington College, established new and modern courses of study, and focused on developing young men to be good citizens, Christians and leaders in rebuilding an economically devastated South;
• As a father, Lee communicated with his children often, advocating personal discipline, duty and responsibility. Stern at times, he was also tender and affectionate to their feelings;
• As a veteran, he wanted to document the heroic struggle of the Army of Northern Virginia to achieve Southern Independence and ensure the sacrifices of his men would not be forgotten or misinterpreted in history. In a letter to Jubal Early, Lee wrote, “My only object is to transmit, if possible, the truth to posterity, and do justice to our brave Soldiers.”

Lee has inspired and influenced generations of America’s military and political leaders.

President Harry Truman was a great admirer, noting Lee and Stonewall Jackson were “all down in his head as ‘the heroes’.” Some years after young Captain Truman returned home from World War I, he presented his mother with a small miniature portrait of Lee. It was on her dresser until the day she died. Writing to his 11-year-old daughter in 1935, after visiting the Gettysburg battlefield, Truman said:

“I stood on the spot where General Robert E. Lee stood while the famous and immortal Pickett made his charge…I wondered what ‘Marse Robert’ thought when the [remnants] of those brave battalions came straggling back across the field. I picked two little flowers from the foot of the Virginia Monument which stands on the spot where Lee stood and I am sending them to you. They will remind you of how a great man takes a terrible defeat…Lee didn’t blame anybody. He accepted the responsibility…”

Is there any doubt that Lee’s leadership influenced this future President of the United States who proudly displayed a sign saying ‘The Buck Stops Here’?

Our nation’s greatest World War II commander and future President Dwight D. Eisenhower likewise admired Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Among the portraits in his Oval Office was one of Robert E. Lee. Eisenhower is quoted as saying, “From boyhood, I was raised to respect the word ‘Confederate’ — very highly, I might add”. He called Lee “a great and noble character…He remained always a pure soul that today makes us better people.”

Eisenhower’s response to a Dr. Leon Scott of New York who questioned why Eisenhower would have a portrait of Lee in the Oval Office is worth reading in its entirety:

“Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War Between the States the issue of Secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.

“General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his belief in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.

“From deep conviction I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s caliber would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.

“Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.

“Sincerely, Dwight D. Eisenhower”

Such was the influence of Robert E. Lee on two of the greatest leaders of the United States.

Lee, Jackson and our Confederate veterans not only personify our Southern military traditions; they are also a proud part of our American heritage. In Teddy Roosevelt’s words, our Civil War veterans provide “a heritage of honor for the whole country.”

We must do more to educate others to this simple fact.

Colonel Greg Eanes is a regional military historian authoring books on the battles of Sailor’s Creek, the Staunton River Bridge, Virginia’s Black Confederates and several non-Civil War studies. A 34 1/2 year veteran intelligence officer, he’s participated in five overseas campaigns to include combat operations in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He carried a personal Confederate Battle Flag on each deployment in memory of his Confederate grandfathers. He is a member of the Sons of Union Veterans, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Military Order of the Stars and Bars. He holds a Masters in Military History from American Military University and is a graduate of the Air War College.