Robert E. Lee and Me – by Ty Seidule – independent book review – Non-fiction, Memoir

The full title of this book is: ROBERT E. LEE AND ME: A SOUTHERNER’S RECKONING WITH THE MYTH OF THE LOST CAUSE. It’s the frank story of the journey the author made from his traditional Southern upbringing to his West Point career and historian’s exploration of the Confederate States of America (the official name of the eleven states that seceded from the union, sparking the American Civil War 1861-65). Awarded four stars on Goodreads.

To save you looking it up, the LOST CAUSE, according to Wikipedia, is defined as,

“a pseudo historical negationist myth that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery.” ¹

Using examples from his own childhood, education, work history and scholarship, Seidule’s narrative documents all the ways in which the Lost Cause is still glorified throughout Southern life, without reference to its determination to continue the institution of slavery in perpetuity. This book helped me understand the pervasive history of racism throughout our country’s history and why so much of it persists more than 150 years after the Civil War ended.

The book’s title refers to what Seidule perceives as the South’s almost religious fixation in honoring Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who ended a successful 30-year military career in the U.S. Army by resigning that commission in 1861 to fight for the Confederacy. Seidule argues compellingly that the zealous affection with which Lee is held and the countless monuments placed to remember him are completely misplaced. Because, instead of being a successful general or Southern patriot, he should chiefly be remembered for both breaking his sworn West Point oath of allegiance² to the United States Government AND committing treason by making war against the U.S. Constitution he had promised to uphold.

Interestingly, the U.S. Constitution specifically defines and limits the offense of treason to only two types of conduct:

1. levying war against the United States

2. adhering to the enemies of the United States, giving them aid and comfort.

Another fascinating fact I learned from this book connects to more recent current affairs. The event that actually triggered the secession was how unhappy Southern Whites were with the results of the 1860 election, when Abraham Lincoln was legally elected. With a campaign platform opposing the expansion of slavery in the country’s western territories. Hmmm, unhappy with the results of a legal and democratic election? Sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?

The new Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander H. Stephens, described the basic ideology of his newly formed nation” as built…

“upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.”³

So much for the argument that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery.

ROBERT E. LEE AND ME a very interesting book, easy to read, and will make you think about and perhaps question some of the facts we were all raised on. And it will certainly shed light on many of the divisions that still exist in this country.

More about the author, Ty Seidule.

NOTE: If you’re interested, you can read what the constitution of the Confederate States says about slavery here.