At our meeting of the Wise Guys on August 21,2017
and then again on September 12, 2017 we dealt with the well-publicized violent
demonstration in Charlottesville Virginia. The incident was initiated by a City
Council vote to remove a statue of General Robert E. Lee from Robert E. Lee
Park. A group of over 100 white nationalists carried torches in Charlottesville
protesting the removal of the Lee monument as an affront to their notion of
white supremacy. Their shouting of anti-Semitic slogans was chilling,
reminiscent of similar demonstrations in WW2 Germany. A group of antifascists
opposed the neo-Nazis in what became a lethal confrontation. To the white
nationalists, Lee was a beloved confederate icon who came to represent a
supporter of their effort to support and preserve the white race .To the
antifascists, recall of Lee represented a clarion call for racism and bigotry.
These opposing views of the warring factions were generated by different
memories of identical historical events, consequent to different myths. The role of myth making is central to
understanding of these issues.
Myths are generally
concerned with a return to a lost paradise, wherein heroes roamed the earth in
search of eternity. Such a paradise is contained within the Lost Cause Myth,
generated by a defeated South. It heroes consisted of its brave soldiers, loyal civilians and
sainted generals such as Lee and Stonewall Jackson. These men are regarded as stalwart brave,
noble leaders, truly iconic characters who were doomed to oblivion, but for the
persistent memory of slavery. The fact
that many in the North bought into the Myth of the Lost Cause is evidence that
the issues resonated with northern beliefs of white superiority.
After the defeat of
the confederacy, the South was left bereft of its meaning and hope for the future.
With the efforts of Lee and Jubal Early, history was rewritten in the form of
the Lost Cause Myth. The myth represented a counter narrative whose purpose was
to come to terms with an unacceptable reality, i.e. a defeated South. In so doing the effort was intended to create
space for living within the boundaries of the newly created reality. According to the myth the South was defeated not
due to military failure, but to being outmanned and outgunned. The outcome of
the conflict was therefore rigged and inevitable. But the myth cannot out trump
the reality of a system bankrupt of moral authority.
According to this Southern generated myth, Lee
struggled with whether his ties to the South took precedence over those to the United
States. . Unfortunately for him and the country, he chose to ignore his close ties
to the North and elected go with the South. His choice to go with the south was
a tragedy to himself and to the country of his birth, The fact that most of the
South and many in the North continue to honor Lee as an American hero points to
the enduring quality of the Lost Cause Myth.
However, consideration
of the facts justifies rejection of the myth and consequently of Lee as s
national hero. Lee could rightly be held responsible for the loss of the
war. The original strategy for defeating
the North was the assumption of a defensive strategy aimed at preserving
southern strength and impressing on the North the difficulty and inadvisability
of continued warfare. With Lee’s
leadership, the South assumed an offensive posture, resulting in excessive loss
of manpower and eventual defeat. As for Grant, the victorious general, the Myth
generally ignores him, or regards him as a butcher without military skill.
Although Lee claimed
to be a son of the South, he lived most of his adult life in the in Arlington,
which was part of Washington D.C. until retrocession to Virginia in 1847. Of especial significance was Lee’s close
relationship to the founding fathers, especially George Washington. He was
related to a revolutionary war hero Light Horse Harry. He was not only a
distant blood relative of Washington but was married to the daughter of the stepson
of the first president. Most ironically,
his family owned Mount Vernon and leased it to Washington until its ownership
passed on the Washington family. Finally he admitted that all he was he owed to
the United Sates of America. Why his
ties to the United States were not enduring remains a mystery to this day. Lee was and remains a hero to many on both
sides of the Mason-Dixon line, but as a hero he is tainted with the moniker of
traitor.
The Lost Cause Myth is
concerned not only with Lee but also with broader issues related to the war
itself. The Myth argues that the cause of the Civil War was not slavery but
preservation of the southern away of life, i.e. moonlight and magnolias. The
black slaves were viewed as gentle people, unable to survive independently and
thus grateful for the opportunity to serve their masters. . Slavery was looked upon not as an evil but as
a special form of benevolence for an inferior race. However, beneath the
picture of beauty and serenity was the dark reality of human bondage with its
attendant abuse and cruelty.
With time the Myth has been fading into
obscurity. Nonetheless, remnants hang over our society like a bad dream. Occasionally, we awaken to old animosities and
new violence. The Black Lives Matter slogan is an expression arising from Lost Cause
championing of white supremacy. Ironically, many in the North bought into the post
war myth. complicating the resolution of sectional differences up to this today. It may be that an additional century is required
before these ideas are finally abandoned and hope for a united society can be
rekindled.
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Posted by Arthur Banner
