Robert E. Lee
From Turtledove
| Robert E. Lee | |
| |
| Historical Figure | |
| Timeline: | OTL |
| Nationality: | United States (Confederate States, 1861-65) |
| Religion: | Episcopalian |
| Date of Birth: | 1807 |
| Date of Death: | 1870 |
| Cause of Death: | Stroke complicated by pneumonia |
| Occupation: | Soldier |
| Spouse: | Mary Custis Lee |
| Children: | Seven |
| Affiliations: | United States Army (until 1861)
Confederate States Army (1861-1865) |
| Timeline: | The Guns of the South |
| Nationality: | Confederate States |
| Date of Birth: | 1807 |
| Date of Death: | Unrevealed |
| Occupation: | Solider, Politician |
| Affiliations: | Confederate Party |
| Timeline: | "Must and Shall" |
| Date of Birth: | 1807 |
| Date of Death: | c. 1865 |
| Cause of Death: | Execution by hanging |
| Timeline: | Southern Victory |
| Appearance(s): | American Front (sole appearance; countless posthumous references throughout) |
| Date of Birth: | 1807 |
| Date of Death: | Unrevealed |
Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was a Confederate general. He is often remembered as a brilliant strategist, and credited with many of the C.S.A.'s successes against the more populous and more industrialized U.S.A.
Although Robert E. Lee did represent the C.S.A., it appears that he did not support slavery - and he did manumit his personal slaves (rather, those of his wife) which involved a considerable financial loss. But slavery or not, Lee's basic loyalty was to his state, Virginia, rather than to the Union as a whole - the kind of loyalty common among many early 19th Century Americans. When Virginia chose to seceede, it was a forgone conclusion that Lee would take an active part in that secession.
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[edit] Robert E. Lee in The Guns of the South
Robert E. Lee was in poor spirits by 1864, having suffered a major defeat at Gettysburg the year before. However, hope for the Confederacy arrived with the mysterious stranger Andries Rhoodie, a man who presented Lee with a new type of "repeating" rifle, called the AK-47. With this new weapon, Lee led the Confederacy to victory.
The first conflict using AK-47s was C.S. General Jeb Stuart's cavalry stopping a raid by U.S. General Hugh Kilpatrick. Although the U.S. forces had maneuvered in an attempt to allow Kilpatrick to slip by, the Rivington Men provided intelligence to prevent the Confederates from being deceived. This puzzled Lee, since neither he nor Stuart received any indication of this.
Lee decided to confront Rhoodie on the source of his intelligence. Rhoodie at first hesitated then shared the truth with Lee. He and his men were from the year 2014, and had come back in time to secure victory for the South. Rhoodie told Lee that substantial racial strife had come from emancipation and the South's defeat. Lee had his doubts; although he was a slave-holder, he was no great fan of the institution.
Rhoodie also provided Lee with an appreciation of U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant's opening moves of the 1864 campaign. This proved helpful to Lee in blocking Grant in the battle of the Wilderness. Past this, the course of history diverged from that of the Rivington Men's future. However, Lee succeeded in defeating Grant again at Bealeton which allowed him to capture Washington City and negotiate an armistice with President Abraham Lincoln.
Although the fighting had stopped, the Second American Revolution was by no means over. Confederate President Jefferson Davis and President Lincoln agreed to a peace conference, with each side naming three commissioners. Davis named Lee as one of his commissioners since he wanted at least one military man at the table. A peace treaty was negotiated whereby the Confederacy abandoned claims to West Virginia and Maryland, while the United States ceded the Indian Territory. Also, at Lee's suggestion, state-wide referendum were to be held to determine the status of Kentucky and Missouri.
The U.S. agreed to the referendum but required an Election Commissioner from each side to be responsible for the conduct of the vote. Davis, once again, appointed Lee while Lincoln appointed General Grant. While the vote was generally fair, there was one incidence of gun running involving the Rivington Men. This was resolved to each side's satisfaction and on the appointed day the vote was held. Kentucky elected to join the C.S. while Missouri voted to remain with the U.S.
As Davis's term came to an end, he insisted Lee run for president. When Rhoodie attempted to assert himself over Lee so as to insure the continuation of slavery, Lee would have none of it, harshly rebuffing Rhoodie's presumptuous attitude. Rhoodie's men then supported veteran calvalry general and ardent slavery-supporter Nathan Bedford Forrest. Lee and Forrest shared a deep emnity during the election of 1868, but Lee won.
On the day of Lee's inauguration, Rhoodie's men attempted to assassinate Lee. While Lee survived, his wife Mary Custis Lee, his newly-inaugurated Vice President Albert Gallatin Brown, and General Jubal Early were killed. This action united Lee and Forrest, and the C.S. army did battle with the time-travelers. Through captured history texts, Lee learned the truth: that the group were merely racists who wanted to insure the subjugation of blacks by altering history. He also learned that history had taken a dim view of the Confederate cause. This knowledge steeled Lee's resolve to end slavery in the C.S.
[edit] Robert E. Lee in "Must and Shall"
As a key general in the military of the Confederate States, Robert E. Lee was targeted for retribution by United States President Hannibal Hamlin following the assassination of his predecessor Abraham Lincoln while the latter was inspecting the redoubts around Washington, DC in July 12, 1864 and the defeat of the Confederate States in 1865. Along with other key Confederate politicians and military officials including Jefferson Davis and Joseph Johnston, Lee was said to have been hung "higher than Haman" on the gallows. The hanging of Lee and of the other Confederate leaders made them into martyrs in the eyes of the Southern population, and contributed substantially to making the South into a permanently sullen and unreconciled occupied territory, kept inside the US only by brute military force, into the 1940s (when some Southrons sought the help of Nazi Germany) and later on.
[edit] Robert E. Lee in Southern Victory
In 1861, Robert E. Lee's small army was defeated in West Virginia, allowing the United States to admit that state, and he was recalled to Richmond. In the spring of 1862, he became the Army of Northern Virginia's commander when his predecessor, Joseph Johnston, was wounded outside Richmond during the Peninsula Campaign. Lee repulsed the Union Army of the Potomac under General George McClellan. The following summer, he defeated an overland invasion of Virginia led by General John Pope at Manassas Junction.
In the fall of 1862, he launched an ambitious invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Aided by failures of US Intelligence to find his columns and by McClellan's timidity and incompetence, he defeated the Army of the Potomac at Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, and advanced on the city of Philadelphia unopposed. (Twenty years later, this campaign would inspire German officer Alfred von Schlieffen to plan the campaign which Germany eventually used to open the Western Front during the Great War in 1914.) This campaign obtained for the Confederacy British and French recognition and forced US President Abraham Lincoln to extend US recognition as well--in other words, it won the war for the Confederates.
In future generations, Lee would be honored when his name and likeness were used for the Order of Lee medal, the second-highest honor bestowed by the Confederate Army after the Confederate Cross.
[edit] Literary Comment
In The Center Cannot Hold, Jake Featherston counts a person named "Lee" as one of the country's great presidents. However, in the countless references to General Lee throughout the series, neither before nor after this moment is Robert E. Lee explicitly stated to have served as president. A small debate has arisen as to whether or not Robert E. Lee was indeed the Lee Featherston referred to.
[edit] Trivia
Traveller, the horse Lee rode during his time as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, became a famous war hero in his own right.
In OTL, Lee shared communion with a black man in an Episcopalian church several months after he surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. The man had entered the church unnoticed and advanced to the communion table. White parishioners were shocked and remained in their seats until Lee joined the man at the table, at which point the rest of the congregation followed suit. Had Lee not done so, an ugly racist incident would very likely have ensued.
Like many Confederate generals, Lee abstained from liquor and tobacco. In this he was joined by Thomas Jackson, Jeb Stuart, and Nathan Bedford Forrest among others, as well as by Abraham Lincoln.
Lee's wife, Mary Custis Lee, was a blood relative of George Washington's wife Martha.
Lee's father was a cavalry general in Washington's arm during the American Revolution, and his uncle, Richard Henry Lee, along with John Adams, introduced a motion to declare independence to the Continental Congress, leading to the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
On at least two occasions, Lee was asked and agreed to preside at funeral services despite his not being a clergyman.
In OTL, Lee was President of Washington University, which was renamed Washington and Lee University shortly after his death.
| Office | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jefferson Davis | President of the Confederate States (The Guns of the South) 1869-1873? | Succeeded by unknown |
| Office | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joseph Johnston | Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia 1862 | Succeeded by Thomas Jackson |
