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

Seidule’s personal connection to the myth of the Lost Cause literally begins with his birth, which fell on July 3, 1962, 99 years after Confederate forces under the command of Robert E. Lee suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg. In the Virginia of Seidule’s youth, the Confederacy was a subject of reverence, Lee personified the virtues of the Confederate cause, and Gettysburg was the pivotal moment in Lee’s career, and thus of the Confederacy itself. By the summer of 1863, Lee had won many victories in Virginia, and believed that inflicting a similar defeat in the northern United States would force the government in Washington to recognize the independence of the Confederacy. His forces unexpectedly ran into the main US force under the command of General George Meade in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On the third day of battle, July 3, Lee ordered a frontal assault against the center of Meade’s position. In what was later named “Pickett’s Charge” after divisional commander George Pickett, Confederate forces suffered grievous losses and failed to break Meade’s position. The remnants of Lee’s army retreated and never again attempted an invasion of the northern US.