LEE & JACKSON - CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS

Every year in January, all across the South and to some extent in Western and Northern states and in Europe and other countries, the birthdays, lives and accomplishments of Confederate generals Robert Edward Lee and Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson are celebrated. In Georgia the annual statewide birthday celebration for Lee was held on January 18th at Jefferson Davis State Park at Irwinville Georgia.

    

Lee Was Born January 19th 1807 and Jackson on January 21st 1824 . Both became legendary Confederate Generals. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are regarded by military historians as two of America's greatest military leaders and greatest battlefield duo. If Jackson had survived the battle of Chancellorsville , it is possible that the South would have prevailed at Gettysburg and won the War for Southern Independence aka Civil War.

   

Lee and Jackson were two of the finest Christian gentlemen America has ever produced. Both their character and their conduct were beyond reproach. Unlike his Northern counterpart, Ulysses S. Grant, General Lee never sanctioned or condoned Slavery. and according to historians Jackson treated the few slaves he owned like family. In addition, unlike Abraham Lincoln and U.S. Grant, there is no record of either Lee or Jackson ever speaking disparagingly of the black race. Furthermore, it is well established that Jackson regularly conducted a Sunday School class for black children. This was a ministry he took very seriously. As a result he was dearly loved and appreciated by the children and their parents. Both Jackson and Lee supported the abolition of slavery. In fact, Lee called slavery “a moral and political evil.” He also said “the best men in the South” opposed it and welcomed its demise. Jackson said he wished to see “the shackles struck from every slave”. 

   

Lee had to make a decision to either defend the Union or the Constitution. He made the correct decision to defend the Constitution. He knew that Lincoln ’s decision to invade the South was unconstitutional, criminal, and immoral. There were 10 causes of Southern secession. States Rights was one of the primary issues in combination with an unfair sectional tariff that forced the South to pay 75-85 % of the cost of operating the Federal Government.

  

Instead of allowing a politically correct culture to sully the memory of Lee and Jackson, all Americans should hold them in a place of highest honor and respect. Anything less is a disservice to history and disgrace to the principals of truth and integrity. What a shame that so many of America ’s youth are being robbed of knowing and studying the virtue and integrity of these great Generals. On August 9th 1960 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated his often expressed admiration for General Lee. He stated that Americans need to understand that at the time of the War Between the States the issue of the legality of secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. General Lee was in his estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. Eisenhower said from deep conviction “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.”

James W. King

SCV Camp 141 Commander

Albany Georgia