Old letters from Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee reveal the commander of the confederate army during the American Civil War opposed symbols, such as the monuments to Confederate figures that protesters are calling to be removed — and in some cases, removing themselves.
Lee fought to preserve the institution of slavery, but one letter written after the Civil War in 1866, addressed to Gen. Thomas L. Rosser shows Lee opposed the erection of Confederate monuments, symbols he said would keep division alive.
Lee’s letters said that while he would be grateful for such a gesture, these symbols would slow the country instead of “accelerating its accomplishment; & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour.”
Years later, when invited to a Gettysburg memorial, Lee declined.
He said it was wiser “not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife.”
However, Lee made clear his support for the preservation of Confederate soldiers’ graves.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is among the latest voices calling for the removal of a monument of Lee that sits along Richmond’s Monument Avenue.
