The Undeniable Marble Man
What makes Robert E Lee the "Marble Man?"
Is it his military genius? Or his lack of human flaws? (He once said "I like whiskey. I always did and that is why I never drink it" )
How did he promote officers? (Again he said "I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself" )
Many books have been written about Lee. The first ones contributed to the idea of Lee being the "Marble Man." After all, the two most familiar characters of the Civil War period are Abraham Lincoln and Robert E Lee. Then came the revisionist historians or, if you will, the liberal historians. They thought they could chip away at Lee's iconic reputation. In 1977 Thomas L. Connelly’s "The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society" presented a far different image of the great general that remains quite controversial. Then we got Alan Nolan's 1991 book "Lee Considered: General Robert E. Lee and Civil War History." A book that I firmly believe defied logic.
The book that I am convinced got it right came in 1998. That would be "Confederate Tide Rising: Robert E. Lee and the Making of Southern Strategy, 1861-1862." In this wonderful book written by Joseph Harsh we learn why the Civil War lasted as long as it did - Ill give you one guess - Robert E Lee! The book also contends that the Confederacy had a strategy for winning the war, a strategy that Lee helped to develop. It involved invading the north and getting England (one of the south's leading buyers of cotton) to intervene on the side of the Confederacy. We also learn of the Indian tribes that aligned with the Confederacy. You see, the south did have a foreign policy and allies. They may have been inferior to the north in industrial production, basic war materials and manpower but they had the one thing the north lacked - Robert E Lee - and Lee had audacity. The audacity to knock the Union Army back on it's heels and invade the north, not once, but twice.
After the war an insurance company offered Lee (when he was flat broke) a salary just for using his name. Lee told them I don't accept payment for services not rendered.
It was Lee who convinced other southern leaders to accept defeat graciously when others wanted to resort to guerilla warfare.
In the end Lee was provided a salary and place to live by a then struggling school that offered him Presidency of the University and is today known as Washington & Lee University.
"Lee also endorsed a lasting tradition of student self-governance, putting the students in charge of the honor system that the faculty had previously overseen. "As a general principle you should not force young men to do their duty," Lee said, "but let them do it voluntarily and thereby develop their characters." That principle remains part of the foundation for a campus culture that fosters honor, integrity, and civility."
https://www.wlu.edu/the-w-l-story/university-history/
"Confederate Tide Rising is one of the most significant evaluations of Civil War strategy to be published in the past fifty years. It contributes critically to our understanding of the war, and it will influence the course of Civil War scholarship for decades to comes. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this book."--Richard J. Sommers, U.S. Army Military History Institute
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