Sunday, December 10, 2023

Robert E. Lee and Me; A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause

By BGEN Ty Seidule, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Professor Emeritus of History; 
U.S. Military Academy at West Point


 By T. R. Shaw Jr.

            It’s not often a book is both current and historical, but General Seidule’s book on the history of the Civil War, growing up Southern, and his change of heart on a legendary military figure manages to encompass both.

 

            Seidule recently retired as head of the History Department at West Point, but his journey as a young Virginian who idolized Robert E. Lee, graduated from Washington and Lee University, and then became an Army historian, has lead him to a lifetime of study of military leaders and the truths behind them, especially those who were on both sides of the Civil War. 

 

As the title suggests, he comes to an epiphany on Lee as a flawed leader who betrayed his nation and is responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any other individual in history.

 

            With his background and knowledge of the Union and Confederacy, Seidule was appointed to the commission which renamed many of our Southern military bases, originally named for Confederate leaders who “betrayed” our nation but who were originally honored as an appeasement to the division of the times, and part of the healing as he explains.

 

            The book goes far beyond common knowledge of the Civil War and goes into great detail on why the Civil War was only, and completely about Slavery.  He talks about the myth of a Romantic South in popular culture in works like Gone with the Wind, and Song of the South, and how genteel Southern life has been presented, portrayed and preserved.   He reveals the truths behind Southern Leaders as traitors, many who were trained, including Lee, at West Point and then took up arms against their own countrymen and committed brutal and atrocious acts towards fellow humans. 

 

For many, it’s a very controversial, hard-hitting, and despised book, but it’s based in historical facts, accumulated over a long career of research and study.   Some of the truths he exposes about the Civil War are hard and uncomfortable to read.  He goes into detail on aspects of human behavior many find unconscionable, and hence has attracted many “haters” to his message.  

 

As a historian myself and one who thought I knew a lot about the Civil War, it was a huge learning experience from a perspective I have never seen.   I first became aware of Seidule when he did one of the 5-minute educational videos for the Conservative website, Prager University,  Was the Civil War About Slavery?  At the time, it was a very controversial, but important act.  He literally, put his career on the line.

 

He discusses the reaction to that video and how it sparked his desire to tell his story about Lee and the truths of the great conflict.  I found it doing history research when Seidule was a colonel at West Point and head of the history department.  He retired a few years later as a brigadier general and helped transform West Point’s understanding of their alumni and former leaders, which has lead to many educational and physical changes at the hallowed institution.  I was impressed and viewed it as the most concise explanation I’d ever seen on the Civil War and I began to learn more about Seidule and followed his cause closely.

 

I admire Seidule for his courage to take on this emotional and divisive issue.  Many today in this era of “wokeness” decry such enlightenment as “rewriting” history, when it fact, he is clarifying it. 

 

For example, he points out that Fort Benning, which is one of our largest and highest level infantry training sites, was named for Confederate General Henry Benning, who never wore the American uniform and slaughtered vast numbers of American soldiers.  It is now named Fort Moore, honoring West Point graduate General Hal Moore, one of the most highly decorated infantrymen and his wife who are buried on the base. 

 

Likewise, Fort Bragg was originally named for Braxton Bragg who switched sides in the war and took up arms against American’s, it is now Fort Liberty. 

 

Regardless of you position on political correctness, the book is a great read and highly enlightening.  His story of personal transformation as a youngster who grew up viewing Lee as a near deity and someone to emulate, changed with the truth.  As a Virginian he admits his original ambition in life was to become a “Virginia Gentleman” like Lee.

 

In the end, Seidule states, he is proud to have worn the blue uniform of his nation; the UNITED States of America, and points out that America is the only nation in the world who fought a war to abolish Slavery, freeing more than 4 million men, women, and children from chattel slavery.  For that, we should be proud as a nation.

 

Whether you study history or current affairs, this book is a must read for our times and well worth your attention.  You may not like much of it, and may disagree with the points, but it is definitely an education in a misunderstood era in our history which is still haunting us in the 21st Century.




T. R. Shaw Jr. is a Battle Creek, Michigan author, historian and community leader.  He is a retired U.S. Navy officer and funeral director.  He serves on several boards and military organizations and is presently a community college trustee.  www.trshawjr.com