Going to be a beautification out here, which i guess never hit me, but i guess it might in a way. Because i am a big fan of robert e. Lee. What im hoping to do among others, besides give you a time line as to what robert e. Lee did in the postwar years which i think is one of obviously the most often overlooked portion of his life because, i mean, the civil war is always going to be first and foremost. The other main theme of this lecture im going to try to get across to you, if Park Services is big on themes, is that the amount of i wouldnt say that he did a lot of work in theory, but through his own personal example is probably the best way, through his own personal example, robert e. Lee tries to reconcile the nation. And what i think a lot of us as mers tod americans today have forgotten is how far apart this country was in 1865. I think it is the view of a lot of people that lee surrenders and bam, oh, well just forget about it, you know, okay, well just hold hands and reunite, and just continue on down that path again. It takes the country decades, some would say a century, some would say not even yet for the country to really reunite. I would probably put the country seriously coming back together in the same vein in the spanish american war when we all had a common enemy once again instead of each other, but that would be, you know, roughly 30 years after the end of the civil war. Robert e. Lee does not live that long. Hes only going to live for five years. But you think about who symbolized the confederacy coming out of the civil war and who the southerners were going to emulate as they were coming out, and then put yourselves in the shoes of the man himself. I mean, robert e. Lee, everything you do is under a microscope, everything. And you know he hated that, the crowds, everything else. All right, so appmatics is on april 9th of 1865. He surrenders to general grant. I think robert e. Lee is greatly surprised by the terms he gets from u. S. Grant there. Grant could have imposed harsh terms, and i think that ugrant gesture is often overlooked in the reconciliation of the country but i could do a whole lecture on that maybe well do one this summer. Robert e. Lee has to stick around for a few days as an Army Commander and he has to shore up paperwork, and then three days after he surrenders on april 12th, he sets out, riding traveler, his famous horse. Eventually three days later he was going to make his way back to richmond, virginia. And when he gets to richmond, this is the site which he beholds. He did not see this personally because he was down in petersburg, but the confederates set the town on fire when they were evacuated, when richmond fell. You look at the charred ruins, thats the Virginia State capitol, obviously, and the old capitol of the confederacy right in the middle. Three days later on april 15th robert e. Lee is going to pull up at the james river and look across the scene of desolation. As he crosses over hes not going to have a big, you know, cavalcade with him, hes not going to have a lot of people. Hes going to have one staff officer, hes going to have his son. Hes got a wagon thats coming behind him thats stamped u. S. On the side, that served as his headquarters wagon for his personal baggage. Eventually that wagon and lee on horseback and the rest of the party are going to wind their way through those rubble strewn streets of richmond, up main street, and then turned on to franklin street, and literally they will come up in the front of a house at 7 07 franklin street. And believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, that fire that engulfed richmond had come up right to the house next door. But that one had been saved. Now, a crowd gathered, and, you know, theyre wanting to touch lee as if hes an icon, touch his boot. Can you imagine us doing that today, you know. Ever since, well, you know who died in 1977, but lee gets off his horse, he bows gravely to everybody, and then he walks inside that front door right there. And this is the scene which i dont have any record of, and this is the one i always wanted ive always been curious about. When robert e. Lee mounts those steps right there, those eight steps leading into the house, and he walks into that front door, he bows to the crowd graciously, and everything, and he wauklks back in, hes still t his uniform on. That will be the last time i suppose in his official capacity, hell put it back on for these pictures in a day or two, but that will be in his last capacity as a shoulder. I mean, when he walked through that front door, what went through his mind . You ever thought about that . I mean, what did he do, his wife and his children, his daughters, he had four daughters. He had children ranging from 19 to 32 years of age at the time. He came in and they were always, you know, kind of a close family, always somebody that he could turn to and be himself. I wonder what he said to mary . I mean, did he express any regrets . Did he say anything . Did he cry . At some point, every soldier has to look back at what theyve done, and you can go from privates to majors to full generals tor generals to lieutenants to captains, major generals, everybody who looks back on the decisions theyve made, and i wonder when he came home that day what he thought. Now, as hes trying to as hes trying to get his thoughts back together, none other than the famous civil war photographer Matthew Brady is going to call upon him. And im going to go through some of these pictures. Im not going to show you all of them. Im going to show you some of these pictures in just a second. This picture right here, which youve seen cropped and blown up and colorized and uncolorized and sideways, and halfways and so forth. That picture is always chosen for a reason because that face right there, ladies and gentlemen, sums up robert e. Lee at this point in his life. While hes there, you can only imagine, while hes in this franklin street house and right after, going on for the next few weeks, you can only imagine the people that are coming by to call upon lee, i mean, some autograph seekers, some just wanting to see him, old friends, acquaintances, george mee came by. I was reading about up here. And lee doesnt want to see all of these people. Its the last thing he wants to do up here, so one day, custis, which is to your left right up there, custis is going to answer the door and theres going to be a ragged soldier there, and the soldier has his arm in a sling, and he says to custis, i would like to see general lee, and custis says the general is the no receiving at this time. And he said, well, im from texas, and i would like to see the general that i followed on so many campaigns, you know, standing there in his rags, hes probably stinking to high heaven, too, if the truth was known about it. Custis looks him over and says ill see what i can do, and he allows him into the house, and lee is upstairs in the franklin house in some bedroom or office, so they show the soldier in, he sits down, the texan sits down, and a few moments later here come the steps of general robert e. Lee. He must have had his own certain gait as he came down because they recognized it, and so the soldier and the staff officer stood as lee came around the corner. As lee comes around, he bows graciously to the people that are in the room, and then he extends his hand and walks over to that texan, this private. And the texan extends his hand and they embrace in a handshake, and lee looks at him, and the texan looks at him, and the soldier cant say anything. He just cant say anything. Not one word comes out of his mouth. And he eventually as hes Still Holding lees hands, he just burst into tears, this veteran of four years in the war, he burst into tears, and after a few moments, he just walked out the door. Nobody said anything. The eyewitness said lee bowed graciously to the crowd and walked back up the stairs. That is the type of emotion youre dealing with coming out of appomatt torox. Youre talking about a people who have just lost their hopes for a nation, and who defined that, that man right there. Thats why the civil war ends, folks, when robert e. Lee surrenders, because he is the definition of the confederacy. He is the symbol of the confederacy. So Matthew Brady called. And he took these pictures. The only reason that lee sits or stands for these pictures right here, ladies and gentlemen, is because at first he rebuffed brady, but what did brady do . He went to lees boss who was. His wife. His wife. Thats right. His wife. And mrs. Lee told the general to go get dressed. So lee came down with his, you know, his son, his staff officer, he came down the stairs and he says, well, mr. Brady, we are ready for you, and he stood for this. If you look closely, you can actually see the stand behind lee that holds his head in place. Thats how you got him to standstill. Because you keep your head against it. You cant see the rest of it going up his back right there, but he captured these right here. Thats especially my favorite one. This is not the appomattox uniform, though, i used to think that. It marco rubust be one of his f uniforms, it looks in shape, or hardly worn right there. This is actually this is actually ive actually forgot that picture was in this cue, actually, i would have set that up better, but this is actually a previously unreleased photograph of my ancestor. Okay. My friend pat rich actually did that to me as a joke, did that for me as a joke one day, and ive had it on my door ever since. Okay. Whats the situation . On may 29th, 1865, president Andrew Johnson offers a general amnesty to all former confederates who formed the oath of allegiance but excludes all who have held civil office under the confederate government and people in an estate valued over 20,000. On june 7th, 1865, lee is indicted for treason. June 13th, lee encloses in a letter to general grant his application for pardon. Lees position is quote i am ready to meet any charges that may be preferred against me and do not wish to avoid trial but if i am correct as to the protection granted by my parole and am not to be prosecuted i desire to comply with the provision of the president s proclamation. Thats a lot of ps, and therefore enclose the required application. Lee did not sign the oath, though, because he worded this requirement had not reached virginia. What did grant do . He immediately requested that all indictments be squashed and the pardon be granted. What was the result . Prosecutors quietly halted proceedings against robert e. Lee, but did not formally dismiss the charges. No pardon would be forthcoming from president johnson either. Now, this is what we know now. But lee did not know that. So to add to lees woes, he has starting in june of 65, the sword of, you know, what is that demo democlaties over his head but he doesnt know if hes going to be indicted anytime soon. It could be any moment. Lee in asking for this pardon is probably in southerns eyes, the most controversial act of his life. He was in that pardon admitting secession, the creation of the confederacy, and the fighting against the northern invasion were all wrong right there. So by submitting that to say the least, he is not making any friends. However, for tens of thousands, if lee applied for a pardon, what do we say the theme was, personal example, then maybe they should also apply for a pardon. The veterans who did sign were restored their rights, unlike lee, in a manner that the governor would never give the general right there. Captain george wise holding the oath in his hand asked lee, my parole covers it, and i do not think it should be required of me. What would you advise . I would advise you take it, lee responded. General, i feel this is an indignity, if i must swear the thing at a Street Corner i will seek a country where i can preserve my selfrespect. Do not leave virginia lee said in a sad voice, our country needs her young men now. Young wise did take the oath and when he informed his father what he had signed the father exclaimed, you have disgraced the family. The son responded general lee advised me to do it. Oh, that alters the case. Whatever general lee says is all right. I dont care what it is. All right. I want you to think about something right here as i start to read this part of it. Most of you already know or are familiar with civil war know what building this represents, this is actually Washington College in lexington, virginia, right here. I want you to think about something right now, though, as i get into it. If youre robert e. Lee, what would you do after the war . I dont know if theres a right or a wrong answer. Im just pondering, whif youre robert e. Lee, what do you do . Now, the state of the college itself as it had been heavily damaged during the war, the library had been scattered, federal soldiers were used some of the buildings for barracks, the college had been kept open as a prep school, and at the time in 65, it only had four professors as faculty. The trustees were meeting on the night of august 4th, 1865, in order to elect a new president. Right before the vote, a member stood and said that he had heard that ms. Mary lee, daughter of the general, stated the south had stood ready to give lee anything but what he really wanted, which was a way to make an honest living. The idea shown in the room, and a few minutes later, lee had been unanimously elected president. Quote, then there was a pause and silence prevailed for some moments. The board seemed oppressed with the gravity of the situation and seemed to feel that they had acted rashly. End of quote. It seemed very presumptive to elect lee quote the head of a broken down college. Nevertheless, a letter was drafted and judge john brockenrow was sent to urge the general to accept. The judge looked at his clothes and realized he didnt have any befitting to call upon general lee. So you know what he did . He borrowed a suit and so with borrowed money, with a borrowed suit, they obtained transportation, and that is the way brockenbrow called upon general lee who was living at the time west of richmond in a house called derwin at that time to call upon him to be the president of this college. Of course lee, after much urging from friends, is going to accept the presidency on august 31st. This is how lee accepts it, though. Lee pointed out in his letter taking the job that he had not been pardoned yet. He was also explicit in what his political views might be. I think it the duty of every citizen in the present condition of the country to do all in his power to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony and in no way to oppose the policy of the state or general government directed to that object. It is particularly incumbent upon those charged with the strur instruction of the young to set them an example of submission to authority. End of quote. 20 weeks after appomattox, lee was quote healing all dissensions. October 2nd, lee is inaugurated as president , thats fast. Within a month of offering the job. The college opened with 40 students, and another 100 students drifted in by late fall. Once lee meets a student, though, he is able to remember their name, which is a wonderful gift, if youre a good student. By the second year, there are over 400 students and residents, some from outside the south. You know, one of the things that i liked, you know, how i like to go off on tangents, one of the neatest things i have always liked about robert e. Lee, i dont know, we dont write like he did or they did back then, obviously today, but one of the things i really like about lee is how he would put letters together to parents. If he had a student or student acting up or Something Like that, lee would usually write three or four paragraphs and basically how he constructs his sentence is this way, first paragraph, johnny is a fantastic kid, hes smart, hes intelligent, and he can do anything. Second paragraph, unfortunately, hes not living up to his abilities. Third paragraph, im sure you understand, sincerely, respectfully, r. E. Lee right here, and you get the point. Early, the confederate general, the favorite thing out of everything he did during the war was actually to show people lees letter to him demoting him, removing him from command in the shenandoah army. Thats what you would see if you went juba earlys law office after the war right army. But thats what hes got to deal with. Today i would think it would be worth, you know, being flunked out of school just to get a letter from lee. That was just a joke. All right, so he starts, october 3rd october 3rd he signs the oath of allegiance to the United States. The oath was sent to washington where it landed on the desk of Willi William seward. He gave it to a friend as a souvenir and it was found in a bundle of papers, lees amnesty oath 105 years later. Anybody remember what happened during the Ford Administration . He got his pardon, gerald ford. He pardoned everybody else he might as well. Come on, that was kind of funny. Political joke there. Next day lee opened a letter from general pierre gustav. In it he asked what did he lee think he should do. Lee responded said im glad to see no indication in our letter of an intention to leave the country. As you ask my purpose i will state that i have no thought of abandoning her unless compelled to do so. Lee reviewed his own humble efforts to regain United States citizenship and then concluded with this passage which would be quoted by generations. I need not tell you that true patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary at one period to that which it does in another. And the mode of which impels them the desire to do right is precisely the same. The circumstances that govern their actions change and their conduct must conform to the new order of things. History is full of demonstrations of this. Washington himself an example of thisch at one time he fought in the service of the king of great britain. In another he fought with the french at york town under the orders of the congress against him. Hes not been branded by the world in reproach for this but his course has been applauded. Theres your paradox. Thats how robert e. Lee justifies his actions of being in the United States leaving the United States and coming back into the United States. We go into 1866, and by this time, ladies and gentlemen, there are race riots in memphis and new orleans. The nation was heating up with Congressional Elections that would turn into a northern referendum on how to treat the vanquished south. President johnson was at war, quoteunquote, with congress. And congress wished for the south to be made to ratify. During all this turmoil lee counseled everybody to stay calm. To mrs. Jefferson davis he wrote i have thought from the time of the cessation of hostilities that