Robert E. Lee Is Offered Command Of The Union Army

From sonofthesouth.net :

About a month later Lee was summoned to Washington to report to General Scott and reached the capital on the 1st of March, only a few days before the inauguration of Lincoln. He was then just fifty-four years of age, and dating from his cadetship at West Point had been in the military service of the government about thirty-six years. He had reached the exact prime of maturity; in form, features, and general bearing the type of magnificent manhood; educated to thoroughness; cultivated by extensive reading, wide experience, and contact with the great men of the period; with a dauntless bravery tested and improved by military perils in many battles; his skill in war recognized as of the highest order by comrades and commanders; and withal a patriot in whom there was no guile and a man without reproach. Bearing this record and character, Lee appeared at the capital of the country he loved, hoping that wisdom in its counsels would avert coercion and that this policy would lead to reunion. Above all others he was the choice of General Scott for the command of the United States army; and the aged hero seems to have earnestly urged the supreme command upon him. Francis P. Blair also invited him to a conference and said, "I come to you on the part of President Lincoln to ask whether any inducement that he can offer will prevail on you to take command of the Union army." To this alluring offer Lee at once replied courteously but candidly that though "opposed to secession and deprecating war he would take no part in the invasion of the Southern States." His resignation followed at once, and repairing to Virginia, he placed his stainless sword at the service of his imperiled State and accepted the command of her military forces. The commission was presented to him in the presence of the Virginia convention on April 23, 1861, by Mr. Janney, the president of that body, with ceremonies of great impressiveness, and General Lee entered at once upon duties which absorbed his thought and engaged his heart. The position thus assigned confined him at first to a narrowed area, but he diligently organized the military strength of Virginia and surveyed the field over which he foresaw the battles for the Confederacy would be fought. As late as April 25 he wrote, "No earthly act would give me so much pleasure as to restore peace to my country, but I fear it is now out of the power of man, and in God alone must be our trust. I think our policy should be purely on the defensive, to resist aggression and allow time to allay the passions and permit reason to resume her sway."

Thus Robert E. Lee became the only person in recorded history to be offered the command of both armies in a major war.

Comments

[Taobao English]

* be happy together is good enough. I am not asking for things that I could never get.

[Air Jordans]

Life is a struggle, accept it.

[Mark Douglas]

This may come as a shock, but like most Lee "facts" this one about Lee being offered command is possibly a gross exaggeration.

The only other person present at the meeting between Scott and Lee, gave an entirely different version.

Scott never claimed he offered command to Lee, and Lee never claimed that to his family, nor ever wrote about it.

General Thomas, who was at the meeting, shows clearly no such offer was made by Scott.

However, Montgomery Blair met with Lee, earlier that day or the day before, and HE might have sounded out Lee about it. Blair however, never claimed this, nor did Lee.

What we do know for sure, is that Lincoln DID give Lee a promotion to full colonel, as part of a number of promotions Lincoln approved.

Lee immediately accepted this promotion, by the way. Lincoln simply signed the promotion, and never met with Lee. Lee might have seen Lincoln at a reception given a day or two after Lee's promotion.

It's very possible people have twisted Lincoln's promtion of Lee to full colonel, with some sort of offer to command.

There is no proof at all that Lee was offered command. There is proof he was promoted to full colonel.

Would Lincoln liked to have Lee on his side? Of course, Lincoln was desperate for political support anywhere, especially Virginia and Kentucky.

Lee's myths are legion, and it's proper to question them all. For example, we are told endlessly that Lee freed his slaves, and that his slaves so loved him, some stayed on for years despite being free.

That is an absurd myth, totally disproven. Lee was actually a cruel slave master, who regularly tortured his slaves, including young slave women. Lee's slaves detested him, and most ran away, despite the threat of torture and death.

Lee regularly sold the infants born to the slaves Lee inherited, but could not sell.

Lee paid six times the normal bounty for the capture and torture of one young girl, and then apparently sold the girl's infant child, as extra punishment.

But polished up, Lee's myth would have you believe just the opposite.

It could be Lee was offered command -- but since virtually everything else about him has been hyped or just lied about, the command thing could be like that.

Again, there has never been reliable evidence that Lee was offered command. In fact, the only people at the meeting between Scott and Lee, claimed otherwise.

Posted by: Mark Douglas