Robert E. Lee is still being dragged down by America’s divisions as we sign up for the Civil War… it is Virginia.
It may be 2017, some 153 years after the end of the Civil War.
But the South’s dashing and brilliant Civil War commander is currently being pulled this way and that.As liberals look to tear down his statue in Virginia and locals fight to try and protect it.
But just which way are we all to turn?
Native Virginian
It was a dilemma that Lee himself wrestled with whether to sign up for the Civil War… it is Virginia.
When he had to choose whether to defend the Union or protect his native Virginia back in 1861.
After much soul-searching in his study right here in Arlington House he came to the only decision he could.
He could not bear arms against his own family and his fellow Virginians.
And he reluctantly had to resign his commission and turn down Abraham Lincoln’s offer to lead the Union forces.
And what was just as heart-wrenching for his wife Mary.
To turn his back on their beloved Arlington House.
American royalty
Lee’s house is the ideal place to start with Virginia.
It has been immaculately restored and is at the heart of the American story.
Lee married into American royalty, or as close to royalty as America gets.
In Mary Washington Custis, a direct descendant of the Father of the Nation, George Washington, himself a Virginian.
His own majestic home Mount Vernon is a must visit.
As is Thomas Jefferson’s beloved Monticello, both of which should be taken on a Virginia History tour.
Living history
In Virginia, you really do feel part of history which is why I’m heading here, to the South, to enlist.
Ben Lomond is an interactive restored Civil War hospital where you can play dress up.
And you are encouraged to touch, smell and listen to the cries of the injured and lame.
I must write home to reassure my loved ones that all will be well.
I must confess that at this juncture that drink had been taken.
And only the best Virginian craft beer.
Letter from America
Brave Civil War soldiers would have done the same.
The difference is that I am on a Battlefields and Brews tour out of Washington.
I don my uniform, cap, those old wire spectacles and the air of a Civil War soldier and sit down at the bureau.
Dear Sarah,
I write home to inform you that I have enlisted.
I will send on my renumeration.
Look after the children until I return.
And trust in God and our just cause,
Your devoted husband,
James Joseph
I pick up my rifle and take aim. The only shots here are for the camera.
On Manassas battlefield, the shots were real and maimed and killed.
Americans all
At the first Battle of Manassas, the first of the four-year war, there were nearly 5,000 casualties and losses.
Half the number for the Patriots over the entire Revolutionary War, Over the entire Civil War three-quarter of a million died.
The American Civil War is often considered to be the first modern war.
The first war where long lines of trenches were dug, a precursor of The Great War.
A war is still being fought in Virginia today 153 years after the last shot but now it’s a war of words.
The statue debate
Virginians treasure their warriors and their statues.
I stand with two ‘Confederate soldiers’ on Manassas battlefield next to commander ‘Stonewall’ Jackson.
And I get the feeling that neither he, nor his friends are for moving.
Visit http://www.virginia.org, http://www.washington.org and fly http://www.aerlingus.com
Visit www.virginia.org and http://www.washington.org
And for a Northern take Easy DC.
And for my American Trilogy… The Promised Land, The story of the Blues and The King of Kings.