Many say you would have welcomed him as a neighbor. “Christian” and “gentleman” were words often used to describe him. I would have liked him because his idea of a good life included endless fried chicken. He appears to have been a man of prayer, praying even for his enemies. If you were sick, it’s likely he would have gladly prayed for you; he was known to pray for sick and injured friends. Though he had reason to be haughty, he admitted he was “nothing but a poor sinner, trusting Christ alone for salvation.”
No less than Franklin Roosevelt said of
him, “We recognize Robert E. Lee as one of our greatest American Christians and
one of our greatest American gentlemen.” But, maybe FDR was just a tool of the
conservatives.
In fact, some of his modern biographers
challenge the old image of Lee, some even questioning whether he can reasonably
be described as a Christian. Though he’s still portrayed as an American hero by
some, others believe he was as racist and pro-slavery as any other Southerner.
Some even insist his military prowess was a myth.
Lee was one of the Lee’s of Virginia.
(Remember the lively song in 1776, “Here a Lee, there a Lee, everywhere a Lee,
a Lee”?) Seems like his claim to be fighting for Virginia, not slavery, might
have some merit. The claim he would have fought for the Union had Virginia not
seceded I’ll leave to the specialists to debate.
But, I’m not going to defend him. Maybe his
statue needs to come down. (I’ve never been a victim of racism, so I won’t deny
those who have been the right to insist anything honoring one who defended
slavery—the ultimate racism—has no place in America.)
Nor am I going to portray him as a devil.
Just as he said of himself, he was “a poor sinner.” He was a creature of his
age. So was my beloved pastor. I was fortunate enough to experience his
ministry from childhood until I moved away to college. He taught me you don’t
have to leave your mind at the door when you come to church; he was scholarly,
caring, patient, funny, and racist. I will regret his racism but won’t deny the
blessing he was to my life.
But let’s not dwell on Lee. Let’s move on. Let’s think about another Civil War
general, Philip Sheridan. He was one of
the Union’s most effective commanders whose leadership helped win several important
campaigns in both the western and eastern theaters of the war. In fact, his performance at Appomattox
effectively trapped the Army of Northern Virginia and forced Lee’s surrender. During the war, Grant would say Sheridan was
“one of the ablest of generals” and after Lee’s surrender would say, “I believe
General Sheridan has no superior as a general, either living or dead, and
perhaps not an equal.”
During Reconstruction, Sheridan was
given oversight of Texas and Louisiana.
He limited the voting rights of former Confederates and insisted black
men should have voting rights and be able to serve on juries. During the same period, he quietly (and
possibly illegally) supported Benito Juarez in ousting the French from Mexico,
helping make possible the nation’s liberation from European control.
After Reconstruction, he was once
again posted in the west where he helped to protect Yellowstone from hunters
who would poach its wildlife and those who would damage its natural
formations. In an era when few would
stand up to the railroad interests, Sheridan joined others in opposing efforts
to bring railroads into Yellowstone and selling off its land to
speculators. He helped save Yellowstone
for later generations to enjoy. The
park’s Mount Sheridan is named after the general.
Five states have counties named for
him; seven states have cities named for him.
A square and statue honor him in New York City. Statues of Sheridan may also be found in
Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, and Washington, D.C and elsewhere, including
Albany, N.Y, where his statue is in front of the state capital building.
Sheridan Road leads into Fort Sill,
near Lawton, Oklahoma, where the general supposedly uttered his best-known
statement, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Oh, yeah, Sheridan was an especially
effective Indian fighter.
That’s a lot of statues to take
down.
You might say Philip Sheridan
helped to end slavery. You might say he
brought shame on America.
You might say Sheridan’s legacy
makes my point
Once Lee’s statues and maybe Sheridan’s
come down , our attention may be drawn to other statues around the nation. I
recently walked through the Texas capital building. There are statues of
Travis, Bowie, and Crockett, among others. These heroes of “the thirteen days
of glory” at the Alamo deserve to be honored; but each was flawed. Should those
statues be removed? No. And that’s not just because I want to return to Texas
one day. They shouldn’t be given the Disney treatment but neither should they
be demonized.
Long before the Treasury Department
announced Andrew Jackson’s image would be taken off the twenty-dollar bill I
thought it was a good idea. I might have replaced it with a picture of
Sequoyah, the visionary who taught the Cherokee how to write. Jackson may have
been the first president born in the fabled log cabin and a champion of the
“common man” but he also betrayed the Cherokees and sent them on “the trail of
tears.”
Since I wrote the shorter draft of this post
for my Facebook page protesters have begun to call for the removal of
Christopher Columbus’s statue from its prominent location in Columbus,
Ohio. Speaking of Ohio, how about Les
Wexner, the state’s wealthiest resident?
Among other businesses, Wexner owns Victoria’s Secret. Should protestors insist Ohio State’s Wexner
Center for the Arts change its name rather than honoring a man who objectifies
women as sex-objects? (Okay, the center
is named for his father, but you get the point.) Wexner is a noted philanthropist; he is generous with his money. He builds hospitals, art museums, and other important works. And, by the way, he's been honored by women's organizations. Still?
I can say nothing good about white supremacists. Nothing. What happened in Virginia was wrong. The violence of the perpetrators only shows the weakness of their case. But tearing down a statue of a Civil War general proves nothing. How you treat your neighbor, your coworker, your classmate, and so on is more important than your attitude toward statues you would have likely walked past without a second glance if there hadn't been a crowd.
Honestly, could any of us name ten heroes
who will never have anyone object to a statue in their honor? I sometimes think we could find those who
would object to a statue of Jesus because of all those poor pigs he caused to
be drowned in the Sea of Galilee. As
I’ve followed the debates on Facebook, it seems I have friends who are able to
find “facts” to support their case for taking the statues down and friends who
are able to find “facts” to support their case for leaving the statues alone.
Now, I’m not naïve; some so-called “heroes”
have nothing to recommend them. I would help pull down a statue of Adolph
Hitler even if he did love dogs. But we still must face the truth: most of those we remember in marble and
bronze are a mix of virtues and vices.
I could go
on but this to stop somewhere—both my post and our attempt to exorcise any hero
who doesn’t live up to our standards of perfection. Your heroes are flawed; my
heroes are flawed. Our heroes are flawed—all of them. But we need heroes. We
need people we can point to and say, “Be like them, only better.”
