Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Dueling Biographies

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by

James A. Bacon
in

I present here two readable accounts of Robert E. Lee, his tenure as president of Washington College, and his claims upon the modern imagination. The first was written by Washington & Lee journalism professor Toni Locy in a piece published in The Nation magazine, and the second by Al Eckes, W&L class of 1964, in an essay distributed by the General’s Redoubt, an ad hoc group of W&L grads formed to preserve Lee’s legacy at the university. The second essay includes a brief refutation of key points in Locy’s piece by Rex Wooldridge, secretary of the General’s Redoubt.

The essays are fascinating on two grounds: first for learning about a little-known phase of Lee’s life during a traumatic time of Virginia’s history, and second for the dueling interpretations of the man from a 21st century perspective. You will likely find much in both essays about the man and his times that you didn’t know before. I urge you to read them in tandem, and then decide for yourself whether Lee is worthy or not of being honored today.

— JAB

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18 responses to “Dueling Biographies”

  1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    Volume IV R.E. Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman is the best source for Lee’s tenure at Washington College. Tony Locy wrote a hit piece, clear and simple. Freeman gives an exhaustive and accounting of Lee’s life after Appomattox. Freeman spent 6,100 hours logging the life of Lee between 1926 and 1933. It won the Pulitzer Prize. I am sorry but what the hell has Tony Locy ever done to advance scholarship? Contempt of court is one of her qualifications.

  2. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead V

    Volume IV R.E. Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman is the best source for Lee’s tenure at Washington College. Tony Locy wrote a hit piece, clear and simple. Freeman gives an exhaustive and accounting of Lee’s life after Appomattox. Freeman spent 6,100 hours logging the life of Lee between 1926 and 1933. It won the Pulitzer Prize. I am sorry but what the hell has Tony Locy ever done to advance scholarship? Contempt of court is one of her qualifications.

  3. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    When I was in high school, an aunt gave me this book: Lee After the War, by Marshall Fishwick. I no longer have the book; it disappeared somewhere down the line. I remember it fondly. The author was a W&L professor.
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2289260.Lee_After_the_War

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead V

      I have read this book. One of the things about the book I remember was how hard Lee had to work to complete his duty as the executor of the Custis Estate. Lee’s father in law left behind a very complicated will. He began his duty as executor in 1858 and did not finish until shortly before his death in 1870. Before he left this world Lee was indeed able to disperse the vast land portfolio to the family members including Arlington. I believe Lee had recovered the family fortune to somewhere around $80,000 by the time he died. A princely sum considering the difficult days of Reconstruction. The irony of it all is that none of this money belonged to him; it was wealth owned by Mrs. Lee, the sons, and daughters. In more ways than one Lee was Washington without the reward.

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    When I was in high school, an aunt gave me this book: Lee After the War, by Marshall Fishwick. I no longer have the book; it disappeared somewhere down the line. I remember it fondly. The author was a W&L professor.
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2289260.Lee_After_the_War

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead V Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead V

      I have read this book. One of the things about the book I remember was how hard Lee had to work to complete his duty as the executor of the Custis Estate. Lee’s father in law left behind a very complicated will. He began his duty as executor in 1858 and did not finish until shortly before his death in 1870. Before he left this world Lee was indeed able to disperse the vast land portfolio to the family members including Arlington. I believe Lee had recovered the family fortune to somewhere around $80,000 by the time he died. A princely sum considering the difficult days of Reconstruction. The irony of it all is that none of this money belonged to him; it was wealth owned by Mrs. Lee, the sons, and daughters. In more ways than one Lee was Washington without the reward.

  5. novalad Avatar
    novalad

    As for Eckes: In broad strokes, he’s right. Lee’s legacy as a reconciliatory figure has been a lasting one, and it’s perhaps for that very reason he’s become a target for erasure from any positive American historical narrative. There can be no workable accommodation with True Evil, of course — not even in the history books. The crusade will continue until tranquility resumes.

    Ask yourselves what seems to be a more critical endeavor in 2020: highlighting how unity can be forged after a crisis, or making damn well sure everyone knows what ought to happen to the person and the legacy of traitors. Knives-out vindictiveness toward national figures — even dead ones — tends to presage violence. Even if it’s a passing fad, it doesn’t map to any vision of domestic tranquility I know.

  6. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    Our Earthly gods have feet of clay. Who knew?

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      On my nightstand is David Blight’s Pulitzer-winning biography of Frederick Douglass. On my wife’s nightstand is “The Good Lord Bird,” which I read last year. I picked up a copy of that because a crew was filming a version of the book on the Veritas School campus outside our windows. We watched Ethan Hawke running around the parking lot in his John Brown get up. Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) will play Douglass.

      The two books could not have more opposed views of Douglass. The biography glosses over certain allegations of adultery, and bends over backwards to defend Douglass from any allegations that he left John Brown in the lurch. “The Good Lord Bird” is admittedly a work of fiction, but it sure isn’t the same Fred Douglass you meet with Blight.

      The movie on the novel is due to air October 4 but if it is true to the book, the portrayal of Douglass isn’t going over well in this atmosphere. Which is true? Which is fair? No idea, but the point that different people see different things in the same history is indisputable.

  7. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    Our Earthly gods have feet of clay. Who knew?

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      On my nightstand is David Blight’s Pulitzer-winning biography of Frederick Douglass. On my wife’s nightstand is “The Good Lord Bird,” which I read last year. I picked up a copy of that because a crew was filming a version of the book on the Veritas School campus outside our windows. We watched Ethan Hawke running around the parking lot in his John Brown get up. Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) will play Douglass.

      The two books could not have more opposed views of Douglass. The biography glosses over certain allegations of adultery, and bends over backwards to defend Douglass from any allegations that he left John Brown in the lurch. “The Good Lord Bird” is admittedly a work of fiction, but it sure isn’t the same Fred Douglass you meet with Blight.

      The movie on the novel is due to air October 4 but if it is true to the book, the portrayal of Douglass isn’t going over well in this atmosphere. Which is true? Which is fair? No idea, but the point that different people see different things in the same history is indisputable.

  8. Bill O'Keefe Avatar
    Bill O’Keefe

    Professor Lucy raises as many issues about herself as she does about Robert E Lee. Her piece reveals a deep seated anger and raises questions about why she attended W&L and why she returned their as a professor of journalism. Her piece is not a scholarly article—there are no references—it is an advocacy attack representing the revisionist history movement that is so active today.
    The correct way to judge Lee is by the standards and mores of the time. That is the only way to gain real perspective. When Lee resigned his US Army commission he said, “Save in the defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword.” But he did as a citizen of Virginia. There can be a legitimate debate of whether or not he should have but there is no real debate about his values, honor and character. When a student asked him about the governing rules at W&L, He said there was only one rule which was to be a gentleman. Among his papers was found his definition “The power which the strong have over the weak, the magistrate over the citizen, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly — the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total absence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in plain light. The gentleman does not needlessly or unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He can not only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be the past.” That is a high standard but he strove to meet it.
    Professor Lucy falls far short.

  9. Bill O'Keefe Avatar
    Bill O’Keefe

    Professor Lucy raises as many issues about herself as she does about Robert E Lee. Her piece reveals a deep seated anger and raises questions about why she attended W&L and why she returned their as a professor of journalism. Her piece is not a scholarly article—there are no references—it is an advocacy attack representing the revisionist history movement that is so active today.
    The correct way to judge Lee is by the standards and mores of the time. That is the only way to gain real perspective. When Lee resigned his US Army commission he said, “Save in the defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword.” But he did as a citizen of Virginia. There can be a legitimate debate of whether or not he should have but there is no real debate about his values, honor and character. When a student asked him about the governing rules at W&L, He said there was only one rule which was to be a gentleman. Among his papers was found his definition “The power which the strong have over the weak, the magistrate over the citizen, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly — the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total absence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in plain light. The gentleman does not needlessly or unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He can not only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be the past.” That is a high standard but he strove to meet it.
    Professor Lucy falls far short.

  10. novalad Avatar
    novalad

    “Only by removing Lee’s name can the university overcome its inability to recruit and retain African American students and faculty.”

    Seriously, is it the name that’s keeping African American students and faculty out of W&L? Let’s take a look at JMU or GMU.

    I get the impulse to align our symbols with the cause de jour, but Locy’s claim is outright fraudulent. Everyone knows it’s a price issue. These people want to take chisels to nameplates for the endorphin rush.

    1. novalad Avatar
      novalad

      I should add, anecdotally, another motivation: Academe want to ground their nominal wokeness in a tangible action, so that if someone else’s sights ever align on their back, they’ll have a degree of cover. An acquaintance at a Michigan school is holding their nose and doing just that, even as they search for a ratline to the private sector. Locy reads as a true believer, but many woke voices in the chorus are not.

  11. novalad Avatar
    novalad

    “Only by removing Lee’s name can the university overcome its inability to recruit and retain African American students and faculty.”

    Seriously, is it the name that’s keeping African American students and faculty out of W&L? Let’s take a look at JMU or GMU.

    I get the impulse to align our symbols with the cause de jour, but Locy’s claim is outright fraudulent. Everyone knows it’s a price issue. These people want to take chisels to nameplates for the endorphin rush.

    1. novalad Avatar
      novalad

      I should add, anecdotally, another motivation: Academe want to ground their nominal wokeness in a tangible action, so that if someone else’s sights ever align on their back, they’ll have a degree of cover. An acquaintance at a Michigan school is holding their nose and doing just that, even as they search for a ratline to the private sector. Locy reads as a true believer, but many woke voices in the chorus are not.

  12. novalad Avatar
    novalad

    As for Eckes: In broad strokes, he’s right. Lee’s legacy as a reconciliatory figure has been a lasting one, and it’s perhaps for that very reason he’s become a target for erasure from any positive American historical narrative. There can be no workable accommodation with True Evil, of course — not even in the history books. The crusade will continue until tranquility resumes.

    Ask yourselves what seems to be a more critical endeavor in 2020: highlighting how unity can be forged after a crisis, or making damn well sure everyone knows what ought to happen to the person and the legacy of traitors. Knives-out vindictiveness toward national figures — even dead ones — tends to presage violence. Even if it’s a passing fad, it doesn’t map to any vision of domestic tranquility I know.

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