Sic Semper Proditores

The statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia was finally removed.

And some people have a problem with that.

Lee has been memorialized by Southerners and by conservatives in other parts of the country as an honorable, religious gentleman who fought for the lost cause of his people, despite his opposition to succession and his description of slavery as "a moral, political evil."  Donald Trump, in condemning the removal of the statue, called Lee a brilliant general who, had he been alive today, would have won the war in Afghanistan.

Umm, yeah.  Lee participated in armed insurrection against the government. And despite his feelings about slavery, he continued to own slaves and treat them rather badly.  And oh yes, he lost the Civil War.  He may have fended off McClellan, Burnside and Hooker, and he may have escaped Meade's pursuit from Gettysburg, but he met his match with Ulysses S. Grant, the greatest American general not named Dwight D. Eisenhower.   

As Andrew Jackson told the people of South Carolina when they nullified a tariff law in 1832, "Disunion by armed force is treason.  Are you ready to incur its guilt?"

Thirty-four years ago, I wrote a letter to my local paper making the same points.  It was the first of many letters of mine that would published in the newspaper.  I got an anonymous hate letter in response.  But it turns out that I was actually well ahead of my time.

Now they ought to find something to full the space on that pedestal.

How about a Buffalo Soldier? 😊