Robert E. Lee On This Day in History

This Day in History: Civil War General Robert E. Lee addressed his troops for the last time on this day in 1865, a day after surrendering to Union Forces. While it is popular to portray Lee as a racist figure, a closer look him reveals a gentleman and a true American. "Lee was cut from Virginia aristocracy. His extended family members included a president, a chief justice of the United States, and signers of the Declaration of Independence. His father, Colonel Henry Lee, also known as 'Light-Horse Harry,' had served as a cavalry leader during the Revolutionary War and gone on to become one of the war’s heroes, winning praise from General George Washington."
https://www.biography.com/military-figure/robert-e-lee

Robert E. Lee had a distaste for slavery. "There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. It is idle to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the colored race."

Lee freed his slaves early on. "In fact, it is a curious commentary on the motives connected with the war, that while Lee had set his slaves free, [Union General Ulysses S] Grant is said to have continued in the ownership of slaves until they were emancipated by the government of the United States." ~Thomas Nelson Page
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/08/robert-e-lees-views-on-slavery.html

See also When Blacks Owned Slaves, by Calvin Dill Wilson 1905
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2017/02/when-blacks-owned-slaves-by-calvin-dill.html

You may also be interested in 220 Books on the American Civil War on DVDrom 1861-1865

For a list of all of my disks, ebooks (Amazon and PDF) click here

The Great Robert E. Lee