OPINION: Another View of Robert E. Lee

By Bruce L. Brager

Appomattox Court House

We are just a few weeks from the 150^th anniversary of the effective end of the American Civil War, April 9, 2014, when Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of North Virginia to Federal forces under Ulysses S. Grant.  The general mainstream media is almost totally ignoring the anniversary, but the chance it gives us to examine the degree to which we have learned the lessons of the war.

Slavery is gone, never to return, as least in this country. However, in some ways civil rights seems to be moving backwards. In an irony, considering the party which most strongly advocated civil rights, Republicans in their controlled states are making it harder to vote. They claim to be fighting voter fraud, regardless of the fact that virtually no people have voted illegally in recent years. In this country, just under half of Americans do not bother to vote at all. Many Americans don’t care enough to vote early or to vote in elections at all.

Our dear Supreme Court, showing flashes of the perception which gave us the Dred Scott decision, invalidated parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, helping states limit minority voting. I guess we will just have to rely on the Fifteenth Amendment, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,”  

Secession is dead; though counties trying to secede from states seems to be the newest in thing in some western states – such as in Colorado and in California.          

Federal law trumps state law, according to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution found in Article VI, Paragraph 1. Missouri thinks this does not apply to federal gun laws.

Didn’t you think this ended in April 1865? Lee’s surrender at Appomattox ended a nasty and bloody war. For this alone, it is a good thing.  Lee’s surrender at Appomattox also provided an opportunity for true sectional and racial unity, a chance to live up to the promises of the Declaration of Independence. This chance was blown, needing the “Second Reconstruction” of the 1960s to come close. Elizabeth R. Varon’s new book, Appomattox, points out that Robert E. Lee laid the groundwork, probably intentionally, for the century of little progress on giving true freedom to the freed slaves.

I had always wondered why Lee was so admired. He fought against his country – there no better way of putting things. Every indication is that he was not opposed to slavery, or was at least happy to live with the benefits.  He can probably be described as a white racist. But, sadly, this did not make him unique. Lee’s prestige did, however, make him unique.

Lee ended the war being compared favorably to Ulysses S. Grant, forgetting that Lee lost a greater percentage of men under his command than Grant lost of men under his command.  Lee was by most measures a good general, but with an uncertain understanding of the best national strategy for the South. Actively defeating the North was unlikely, but using the Confederacy’s huge territory, larger than the North east of the Mississippi, provided a real chance to hold out until the North grew tired of the war. Lee preferred to attack and to raid the North. He ended up with the strategic defeat at Antietam, and the clear tactical defeat at Gettysburg.

Lee surrendered his army when they were cut off from any direction they could move with any chance of escape. He was outmaneuvered by Grant. His farewell address told his men the army had been crushed by overwhelming numbers; apparently this came as a surprise. The number of 8,000 was accepted as the final combat strength of the Army of Northern Virginia. Of course, Lee asked Grant for 25,000 rations. The claims of overwhelming odds ignored the sizable number of Confederate soldiers killed or taken prisoner at the battles of Five Forks and Sailor’s Creek, when Grant’s forces sliced large chunks off the Confederate Army like one might slice a holiday ham.  I wonder if anyone even knows how many Southerners deserted this lost cause in the last week.

Lee agreed to stop a bloody war that he could no longer win. He discouraged his men from feeling to fight as partisans. He encouraged the other main Confederate armies to surrender. He deserves credit for all of this, probably major credit. However, as wager, as HoHoVaron makes clear, Lee deserves blame for failing to put his prestige behind true racial and social reform in the South. Lee was by no means alone, but he might have done a lot more to earn his reputation as a symbol of national reconciliation.

A review essay on:

Elizabeth  R. Varon

Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War

New York: Oxford University Press 2014

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Obama Administration Tries to Fend off Attacks over Bergdahl Exchange

The Obama administration has been fending off attacks over its handling of the prisoner swap for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who according to several reports, walked off base in June 2009 and was captured by the Haqqani network, a Taliban-aligned group.

When Bergdahl was released on May 31, President Obama announced the development as a great triumph, as Bergdahl was the only remaining American prisoner of war held in Afghanistan. As more details about Bergdahl came out, however, the initial joy has turned to controversy.

One of the first details to be released was the fact that five senior Taliban leaders had been exchanged for Bergdahl.

Credit: Fox News

Prior to their captures, these men were senior officials in the Taliban. One of them, Mullah Norullah Noori, was a governor of an Afghan province under the Taliban dictatorship of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban, which lasted from 1996-2001.

The men will be required to stay in the country of Qatar for one year; afterwards they will be free to leave. The general consensus among analysts is that the they will rejoin the Taliban insurgency once free.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), wrote a letter Senate Armed Service Committee, which said in part that the men "have American blood on their hands and surely as night follows day they will return to the fight.”  

Attention has new turned to Bergdahl himself. National Security Advisor Susan Rice said on two Sunday morning shows that Bergdahl served “with honor and distinction" and went so far as to suggest he was captured on the battlefield. Republicans have strongly criticized her for those remarks, saying that they are similar to remarks Rice gave in the aftermath of the Benghazi attack. In those remarks she said that the attack was the result of an escalation of protests that stemmed from the anti-Islamic video that sparked protests in Egypt. That premise was proven to be false.

Prior to his capture, Bergdahl had sent an email to his parents, which, according to a Rolling Stone article by the late Michael Hastings, said

"The future is too good to waste on lies. And life is way too short to care for the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I have seen their ideas and I am ashamed to even be american. The horror of the self-righteous arrogance that they thrive in. It is all revolting."

The email also said,

"In the US army you are cut down for being honest... but if you are a conceited brown nosing [expletive] bag you will be allowed to do what ever you want, and you will be handed your higher rank... The system is wrong. I am ashamed to be an american. And the title of US soldier is just the lie of fools...I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live. We don't even care when we hear each other talk about running their children down in the dirt streets with our armored trucks... We make fun of them in front of their faces, and laugh at them for not understanding we are insulting them...I am sorry for everything. The horror that is america is disgusting...There are a few more boxes coming to you guys. Feel free to open them, and use them."

Read the original article here.

Adding to the controversy, Bergdahl's fellow soldiers have criticized him.

Former Sgt. Matt Vierkant said, "I was pissed off then, and I am even more so now with everything going on. Bowe Bergdahl deserted during a time of war, and his fellow Americans lost their lives searching for him."

Sgt. Evan Buetow, Bergdahl's team leader at the time of his disappearance, had this to say about him: "Bergdahl is a deserter, and he's not a hero. He needs to answer for what he did."

In the search for Bergdahl, six soldiers in total were killed by enemy forces.


Republicans in Congress have criticized the Obama administration for what they perceive as setting a precedent for negotiating with terrorist and not coming to Congress first to approve the prisoner swap. Democrats have countered that the nation's duty to never leave a soldier behind and Bergdahl's condition trumped those concerns.

Bergdahl's father, Bob Bergdahl, has also found himself in controversy. Bergdahl reportedly immersed himself in Afghan culture while his son was held captive, learning the native language and studying the customs.

According to the New York Daily News, he sent out a number of tweets with apparently pro-Taliban messages. One tweet read, “working to free all Guantanmo prisoners. God will repay for the death of every Afghan child, ameen!”

Bob Bergdahl's appearance has also caused some controversy. Bergdahl has grown out his beard during his son's captivity. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly commented, saying, “But it is Robert Bergdahl, the father, who is also engendering some controversy. He has learned to speak Pashto, the language of the Taliban, and looks like a Muslim. He is also somewhat sympathetic to Islam, actually thanking Allah right in front of the President.” O'Reilly has faced criticism for those remarks.
In the wake of the controversy, Bergdahl's hometown of Hailey, Idaho, has canceled a rally for Bergdahl, saying that the town "will be unable to safely manage the number of people expected." Most attribute it to the rising backlash against Bergdahl and his possible desertion.

If sufficient evidence is indeed gathered, desertion charges against Bergdahl may be charged in the coming days and weeks.