Wednesday, January 19, 2011

On This Day...

1419 - French city of Rouen surrenders to Henry V in Hundred Years War.
1736 James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.
1793 - French King Louis XVI sentenced to death.
1861 - Georgia becomes 5th state to secede.
1915 - 1st German Zeppelin attack over Great Britain.

Also, on this date in 1807 Robert Edward Lee was born.

Robert E. Lee for many, many reason is one man that I greatly respect. Not only did he serve his country with respect and honor he took his duty as a soldier in the army to the highest extent. He loved his family and his God even more.

When he turned in his resignation to the US Army at the start of the War Between the States it was not something he did lightly, rather according to his wife he agonized & prayed over the decision before refusing Lincoln and siding with his state since he believed "My loyalty to Virginia ought to take precedence over that which is due the federal Government".

At the end of the war when he realized that there was no way in which he could win the war & seeing that it was not an honorable thing to turn to guerrilla warfare Lee surrendered at Appomattox, thus starting a whole 'nother faze in not only American history but in his life as well.

Not able to return to the family home of Arlington thanks to it being used by the US Government he accepted the position as president of then Washington Collage where he lived out the remainder of his life with his wife Mary Ann Custis Lee.

Lee never regretted fighting for the South, rather he regretted that it came to him having to pick which side of his country he was going to fight for. As with many other families in that trying time he not only fought old friends, but family members as well.

Lee was a man that friend & family alike respected & honored. In a time when he could have been bitter, he rather set an example for his fellow officers, by setting down his gun when he realized he had reached a point of no getting out. (Not that everyone followed it, but he did set the standard.)

Robert E. Lee was and is a man to be respected, as a God honoring and country loving person.