The War of Words over Robert E. Lee

A Conversation with Ty Seidule from Washington and Lee News on Vimeo.

Washington & Lee University recently hosted a video presentation by Ty Seidule, author of “Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause.” Seidule grew up in Alexandria, where he says he was raised to think of Lee as a god. He certainly doesn’t anymore. In a nutshell, he argues in his book, the No. 1 best seller in Amazon’s books on the history of the Confederacy, that Lee was a traitor to the United States who fought to defend slavery. 

Neely Young and Alfred Eckes present their defense of Lee in a shorter video produced by The Generals Redoubt, a group of W&L alumni dedicated to preserving the Lee name and heritage.

I doubt many people will change their minds. Most viewers will to stake out a position based on their preconceived notions. But both videos are interesting. Seidule provides an account of one man’s journey to wokeness. Young and Eckes do a spirited job of defending Lee: explaining, among other points, the complexities under the laws of 1860 that made it difficult to free slaves, as Lee wished to do, and also why many northerners considered him a hero for his role in reconciling north and south after the Civil War.

I have my prejudices. Although Lee fought for the wrong side, he was a great man whose character and contributions to this country are worth honoring. The idea that he was a “traitor” is based on historical ignorance. The federal government and the states shared co-equal sovereignty; states were not administrative units of the nation as they are today. Abraham Lincoln rallied the north to save the “union” — the union of semi-sovereign states — not a unitary nation state. Lee, like many others, was conflicted over where he owed his primary allegiance.

Still, debates like these are what make the study of history so intriguing.

— JAB