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

With all that he has learned, Seidule reevaluates the figure of Lee whom he had revered his whole life. He begins with a brief biography of Lee, noting that his father squandered the family’s finances and left while Robert was a young child. He was a standout student at West Point, famously graduating without a single demerit—although he was not the only to do so. After graduating second in his class, he went on to a storied career in the Army corps of engineers, particularly during the Mexican War. Having earned a sterling reputation among his peers, he reluctantly accepted the post of superintendent of West Point. He returned to active service in 1859 to suppress John Brown’s efforts to stage an uprising among enslaved people. When Virginia seceded, Lee made the fateful choice to defend state rather than country. As commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee won several battles against vastly superior forces, although his penchant for going on the offensive ultimately undid him at Antietam in 1862 and Gettysburg in 1863. His skill at holding the army together even after a series of setbacks helped to prolong the war and the consequent destruction of Southern infrastructure.