Quotes by General Robert E. Lee
SLAVERY:
"So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery,
I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished."
WHY THE SOUTH FOUGHT:
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union--as established by our forefathers--should be preserved, and that the government--as originally organized--should be administered in purity and truth."
STATES' RIGHTS:
"I consider it as the chief source of stability to our present system; whereas the consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain
precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it."
HISTORY AND THE SOUTH:
"The reputation of individuals is of minor importance [compared] to the opinion posterity may form of the motives which governed the people
of the South in their late struggle for the maintenance of the principles
of the Constitution. I hope, therefore, a true history will be written,
and justice done them."
"If I had foreseen the use those people designed to make of their
victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men and my sword in this right hand."
--Robert E. Lee, spoken to former Governor Stockdale of Texas in 1870.
