This pro-Confederate history was widely known as the Lost Cause. One contemporary wrote that, “no man ever took up his pen to write a line about the great conflict without the fear of Jubal Early before his eyes.” Early was determined to create a pro-Confederate history of the Civil War that vindicated the Southern cause. He led Richmond’s Lee Monument Association and co-founded the Southern Historical Society. Each association tried to control the legacy of Lee and his role in the Confederacy.įormer Confederate general, Jubal Early, was the most powerful figure in Lee memorialization. Former soldiers, politicians, and women’s groups immediately formed Lee memorial associations in Lexington and Richmond, Virginia, and New Orleans. As the news spread, families hung black cloth and governments flew flags at half-staff. Lee’s death in 1870 inspired former Confederates to begin creating memorials to Lee. These local groups led post-war efforts to establish Confederate cemeteries and hold remembrance ceremonies like Confederate Memorial Day. All I think that can now be done, is to aid our noble & generous women in their efforts to protect the graves & mark the last resting places of those who have fallen, & wait for better times.” “As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated: my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour. He argued against creating Confederate war monuments on battlefields, which would “keep open the sores of war.” Instead, Lee supported efforts by Ladies Memorial Associations to mark the graves of Confederate casualties. Lee and memorials began in Lee’s lifetime. The complex relationship between Robert E. Arlington House is one of the more dynamic examples of the changing meanings of Robert E. The changes in perspectives of Lee were particularly important in the creation of the Robert E. Between 1865 and the 1930s, memorialists transformed Lee from a Confederate icon to a figure of national unity. Other biographers highlighted Lee’s attempts to restore the Union after the Civil War. For example, some former Confederates argued that Lee was a Confederate to his last breath. The memory of Lee changed over time as each new generation re-wrote the history of Lee and the Confederacy. But the memorials did not all tell the same story of Robert E. Well into the twentieth century, White Southerners created roads, museums, and books to celebrate Lee’s character and accomplishments. Memorials were not just statues and monuments. Lee became one of the most memorialized figures of the former Confederacy. In the years following the Civil War, Robert E. Lee the central hero of the Lost Cause memory of the Civil War. Detail from a memorial print published in 1895.
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