from Chris
Today is Lee-Jackson Day in Virginia. As a state holiday, it’s formally observed on the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. The actual day is today, though, because it falls between the birthdays of two of the Confederacy’s most famous generals, Robert E. Lee (Jan. 19) and Stonewall Jackson (Jan. 21).
For years, the day went observed without much controversy, but its gathered more and more criticism in recent years because of Lee’s and Jackson’s associations with the Confederacy. That is, both men took up arms against the United States to support a government that embraced slavery–not necessarily paragons of virtue in today’s modern age.
At least that’s the way critics look at it. Supporters, however, talk about Southern heritage and the sacrifice of their ancestors and the positive virtues of Lee and Jackson as God-fearing men. Many of the criticisms leveled against them come from our modern perspectives and don’t consider them in the context of their own time. Today we know slavery to be a terrible thing, but in 1861 when the Civil War broke out, it was still legal in much of the United States. That changes the discussion in important ways, which makes it a sketchy thing to pass judgement on people who lived in different times from our own.
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to speak at Lee-Jackson Day ceremonies in Lexington, Virginia, where Lee and Jackson are both buried. Earlier this week, I offered a few thoughts about my experience at Emerging Civil War, if you’re interested in more information.