American Experience: Robert E Lee

For years, Robert E. Lee has been lionized by Southerners who still haven't gotten over the Civil War. The reviewers who didn't like this film rush to state that after the war, Lee "calmed his former officers" so that they wouldn't attempt to continue the war and he worked to help Southerners move forward. Well, that's all nice Pollyannish-thinking but here is a bit of reality -- at the conclusion of the war, the US government would have been totally justified in arresting Lee and Davis and the rest of his cabinet and all of the Confederate generals and trying them for treason and hanging them. It was only because there were wise heads in the US government who wanted the country to be re-united as the United States that this did not happen. Lee took an oath when he went to West Point and when he became an Army officer that he would defend the United States. For a man who was so interested in the concept of "honor" turning his back on that oath and resigning his commission so that he could become part of the rebel army that was leading the rebellion against the US government was a highly dishonorable act on his part.Would the same people posting on here be sympathetic to any American general today if he suddenly resigned his commission and decided to take up arms against the US government in Iraq or Afghanistan because he felt that what the US government was doing was wrong?? I think not.There is a strain of Southerner who will never get over the fact -- the shame -- that for all of their displays of "patriotism" via flagwaving and "support our troops" signs and their disproportionate numbers in the US military today -- that their region still bears the residual shame of having rebelled against the duly elected government of the United States on the pretext of wanting to protect states' rights when in actuality what they wanted to protect was their ability to own black human beings as slaves.Why do you think at the end of his life Lee stated that he wished he'd never joined the military? It wasn't because he wasn't "good" at leading men in battle or because he wasn't brave and unfraid to face death -- it was the fact that he couldn't forgive himself for having compromised his honor and integrity by going back on his given word -- his oath -- and throwing his lot in with the people who wanted to perpetuate slavery.As to the poster who quoted from Lee's letter asking that the Confederate Army be allowed to admit black soldiers to their ranks -- please see that letter for what it really says. Lee was desparate for more men, plus he wanted to deprive the Union Army of black troops. The illogic of this letter lies in the fact that from a realistic standpoint what possible reason would a slave have had to fight for the South and the white Southern establishment that had kept them enslaved for decades? Lee's letter was based on practicality and necessity -- he knew the South could not win -- the region had neither the manpower, the materiel, the money, etc that it would take to win the war. His request to use black troops sprang not from any compassion for slaves or wanting to render them freemen, it was the result of a military commander accessing his situation and looking for a solution -- if only temporary.This film finally shows Lee warts and all. Lee was always conscious of the fact that his father Lighthorse Harry Lee -- a hero of the Revolutionary War left his family impoverished by his actions later in life. It's the reason that the Lee family lost their family home and the reason that Mary Custis' father looked askance at Lee when he was wooing her. Ultimately, Lee himself left his family in worse condition than they'd been previously. Their home at Arlington was confiscated by the US government and turned into a cemetery so that if Lee ever returned there -- he would always have to look at what the war had cost -- thousands of dead on both sides. I'm certain it weighed on him and certainly embittered him to see the beautiful Arlington turned into a place of perpetual death and mourning.Yes, Lee retired to Washington and Lee University and basically kept quiet for very good reasons -- he'd dishonored himself, he'd hurt his family, he'd betrayed his country, and he was lucky in the end to not hang for treasonous actions against the US government. If Lee had taken a more courageous and difficult path -- one in which he'd refused to break his oath to defend the US government and if he had publicly declared the fact that he opposed the secession of his home state Virginia perhaps -- because he was a hero in Virginia -- he'd have kept Virginia in the Union and deprived the Southern states from the the most important state -- the one that the south needed because of Virginia's wealth, armament foundry, other industry, railroads, and ports. That's the road he didn't take -- the one that ultimately may have prevented the war. No wonder he kept quiet.The bigotry and racism in this country today goes directly back to the Civil War and the fact that instead of the US government treating the South as the defeated mess that it was, the government allowed the southern states and their people to put their lives back together without being forced to drop the myths to which they cling and to abolish their silly racist-inspired need to fly their dispicable Confederate flag -- the flag of traitors.This video bio of Lee is the first one to show his character flaws and weaknesses that led him to make a decision that was disastrous for him personally and professionally. If you want to see the Lee myth exposed, buy this film.

I'll preface with I do not hold Lee in the high esteem as some of my fellow Virginians. This documentary portrayed him as a brave soldier, but also clearly showed his contradictions and flaws. Personally, I think he was a traitor, but the film was kinder and probably a little more objective than I am. And while it glossed over some of what I consider to be Lee's flaws, it was not a lost cause apology either.My unanswered questions concern how a man who up in an era and place where personal honor was paramount, yet he betrayed his oath and somehow rationalized that he was doing the right thing.Still, I gave this five stars for being balanced and informative. It did not change my opinion of Lee, but at least I learned about his service before he betrayed his country, and was impressed by his bravery and qualities that he ultimately tarnished. In my opinion this biography is evidence that history can be neutral and objective.

I am satisfied with the documentary, it gave a nice overview of the confederate general, primarily a good look into his life before the Civil War which was a peasant surprise. But unlike the Ulysses S. Grant doc. I bought with Lee's I felt it was too short and didn't detail some of the events Lee saw (if I remember right, like the complete absence of his participation of capturing John Brown's raid in Harper's Ferry is the biggest part I found wrong with the program) and raised to get to the war.Overall, I still enjoyed it and I would recommend this to teachers to give an overview of the man or anyone who wants to know about the general. Well made, but as I said it was to short of program compared to Grant's and a few glaring missing pieces of his life, those is what didn't make it a 5 star.

You get a good idea of what Lee was like. He appears a little more heroic than what many biographers see him as, but most Civil War historians have been pretty kind to Lee.

Very insightful documentary about a man who is often misunderstood. great dvd for people who are interested in the civil war. Being a Southerner myself I really enjoyed it very much, found out facts about Robert E. Lee they didn't teach in history class. Really a great dvd!

This was the poorest documentary of anyone or anything I have ever seen. I have at least 10 other dvds about Robert E Lee and they are all very similar. This one must have been done my liberal yankees because it is full of twists to try and make him look bad in any way they can. Definitely do not recommend.

I love this

It is incomplete in the description of battles of Fredericksburg and Gettysburg with no mention of General Longstreet who advised against Picketts charge