While watching the battle re-enacting at Jonesboro one year, a family of spectators started a sporadic conversation with me.  Eventually, I asked a common question, "Which side are you on?"  "We are not really on a side," was the reply.  "We think all of them are doing great today."  Those who were portraying the Union army might have been acting like pretty good Yankees and those who were portraying the Confederate army might have been giving a good rendition of the Rebel yell, but my question had not been intended as a literal evaluation of the re-enactors.  I had already found there are people who are as indifferent toward the events of The War Against State Sovereignty as I would be about some war that took place over a hundred years ago in ancient Greece.  So while the comment was exasperating, it did not warrant further distraction from the battle.

   A little latter, one of the ladies mused aloud, "What I've always wondered is why everybody likes General Lee when he lost the war?"  I was dumfounded.  Where was this lady from?  Had she never read a biography on General Lee?  Did she not know anything of the character of our gentleman hero?  I was not oblivious that the world is full of people who thinks "might makes right," but this was ridiculous.  Such mentality makes Hitler a man to be esteemed.  It is the character and cause, not the fate, of a person that makes them great.

   When the battle was over, we parted company.  Without possessing the slightest idea anyone who asked such questions could live in the historical town of Jonesboro, I called after them, "Where are y'all from?"  Their answer struck me speechless.  "We'er from around here.  We live in Jonesboro."  It is a good thing I was too shocked to speak, because I might have exclaimed, "Shame on you!"

   This prevalent view of only victors are worthy of admiration is appalling.  Incase there are others who are wondering why we cherish the memory of the South's greatest general, here are ten brief reasons.

1.  He was a man of duty.  General Lee tried to do his duty in all aspects of his life, regardless of the consequences.  Success and fulfillment of the struggle, while desirable, was not mandatory.  If a man has done his duty and given his best, you can ask no more of him.  "Duty is the sublimest word in our language."  "Do your duty in all things.  You cannot do more.  You should never wish to do less."

2.  He was a man of honour.  "I wish to do what is right," General Lee wrote to his son Curtis.  "I am unwilling to do what is wrong, either at the bidding of the South or of the North."  General Lee did not seek prestige, money, or fame.  His only concern was doing what was honorable regardless of the results.  "I did only what my duty demanded;  I could have taken no other course without dishonour.  And if all were to be done over again, I should act in precisely the same manner."

3.  He was a man of conviction.  General Lee was firm in the assurance of the providence of God.  In the personal loss of a family member or in the death of his country, his trust in God never wavered.  "God disposes.  This ought to satisfy us."

4.  He was a man of compassion.  General Lee's heart melted over the misery and suffering of the Southern people.  His sorrow over the hardships of his soldiers was deep, and anything he could have done to relive them would have gladly been done.  He bestowed compassion on his enemies as well.  During The War when one of his generals exclaimed of the Union soldiers, "I wish those people were all dead!"  General Lee gently chided, "How can you say so, General?  Now I wish they were all at home attending to their own business and leaving us to do the same."

5.  He was a man of principle.  No matter how low and underhanded the Northern army fought, General Lee never stooped to retaliation  He reminded his men, "...We make war only upon armed men..."

6.  He was a man of fidelity.  Faithfulness to discharge his duties controlled General Lee's actions.  "I shall endeavour to do my duty and fight to the last."

7.  He was a man of humility.  General Lee went about his duty wearing a simple grey suit without any insignia of rank. Whenever someone praise him for his efforts in battle, he directed the praise to God and the men who fought with him.  "I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me.  I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God."

8.  He was a man of wisdom.  General Lee feared God which is the beginning of wisdom.

9.  He was a man of forgiveness.  General Lee never harbored bitterness towards the North.  He passed the ultimate test of forgiveness - forgiving those who had not even asked for it.  "I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights.  But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and have never seen the day when I did not pray for them."

10.  He was a gentleman.  All of the qualitys above helped make General Lee  an example of a true gentleman.  During his days as the president of Washington College he told students, "We have but one rule here and that is that every student must be a gentleman."

"Come wealth or want, come good or ill,

Let young and old accept their part,

And bow before the awful will,

And bear it with an honest heart.

Who misses or who wins the prize, -

Go, lose or conquer as you can;

But if you fail or if you rise,

Be each, pray God, a gentleman."*

*Poem from The Real Lincoln by Charles L. C. Minor, Crown Rights Book Co.           Recomended reading:  Call of Duty: The Sterling Nobility Of Robert E. Lee by Steven J. Wilkins.