A Revealing New Biography of Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) on the 200th Anniversary of His Birth
This page indexes a recent presentation in Arlington National Cemetery, at Arlington House, the home of Robert E. Lee, now under the aegis of the US National Park Service. The speaker is Elizabeth Brown Pryor, author of a new book, Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters. After her talk, she entertained questions from the audience. Pryor's book is based on a huge cache of original letters by Lee, of which she had the privilege of first use outside of the Lee family. Pryor not only talks about Lee, but has a lot to say about the estate, and its remarkable metamorphosis from George Washington shrine to national military cemetery.
The full program runs almost 84 minutes. On this page, we extract 32 minutes of material, as 25 short segments, re-ordering the sequence of materials to improve topical consonance. These files are playable with RealPlayer.
Setting: Arlington House (home of Robert E. Lee)
Date: May 19, 2007
Total time of excerpts 32:07
The full program runs almost 84 minutes. On this page, we extract 32 minutes of material, as 25 short segments, re-ordering the sequence of materials to improve topical consonance. These files are playable with RealPlayer.
Setting: Arlington House (home of Robert E. Lee)
Date: May 19, 2007
Total time of excerpts 32:07
The Book and its Author
Matt Penrod, US Parks Service, on book author and historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor
Re-evaluating the classical Lee myth
Inspiration for the book: thousands of unpublished letters
Neglected- and censored?- sources
First person outside family to use these letters- a de facto Lee autobiography
Arlington House
The original Greek Revival home in the US
Creator of Arlington House: George Washington Parke Custis
Custis: grandson-curator of the George Washington legacy, father-in-law of Robert E. Lee
Vignette from Haralson County creation year 1856: surprise visit from US President
Arlington as doomed next-door neighbor to the Union capital
Arlington as Union army post, venue of historical events, site of national military cemetery
Lees lose Arlington, but are eventually compensated
The Civil War
Lee meets, impresses, disappoints Lincoln
The tortured decision to become a Condederate
Lee as new Confederate partisan on the inevitability of war
Lee on military discipline
After the War
Surrender: Lee, Lincoln, and Grant
Finest hour? Escaping execution for treason, diplomatic silence during parole
Dignified public parole, angry private partisan, unrepentant reactionary
Slavery
Matt Penrod, US Park Service, on the shadow and regret of slavery
Headlines from the letters: slavery?
Aside: Some traditional apologetic facts about Lee from HCHS's 1856 Handbook
Origins of "abolitionist" myth as salve to defeat
Lee: facts versus myth and the solidarity of dissemblance
Slavery at Arlington under the Custises and Lees: manumission, insurrection, escape and beating
Lee as cruelly exploitative and unapologetic slave owner