Remembering the Contributions of Lee and the Massachusetts 54th
In examining the history related to the American Civil War, there are two significant entities that are worth remembering: General Robert E. Lee, commanding officer of the Confederate Army, and the 54th Massachusetts regiment. These two entities are commemorated in different ways, to assure their remembrance. Through The Public Art of Civil War Commemoration, Thomas J. Brown explains that their memories will continue to be preserved through a variety of different ways because their contribution to their respective sides of the Civil War was extremely important.
General Robert E. Lee is, and will continue to be, one of the most prominent figures of the Civil War. Brown refers to him as "the most important figure in postwar imagination of the Confederacy." (Brown 79) Both Southerners and Northerners view him as one of the most outstanding figures that is studied from the war. One of the main commemorations of General Lee is his enduring perception by Southerners as a "representative of the social order of the Old South" (Brown 79), a Southern hero in other words. For a even a century after the war had ended, Lee was not considered to have been a significant figure to blame for the Confederate defeat, by neither Southerners nor Northerners alike. He instead continued to be revered in the South and also by Northern writers and even British figures as well. "Former British prime minister Winston Churchill summarized the overwhelming verdict almost a century after Appomattox when he declared Lee 'one of the greatest captains known to the annals of war.'" (Brown 83) Also prevalent in Lee's remembrance is his personality and reserve during the actual war. Fo...
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... D.C. Which continues to contribute to the commemoration of this regiment.
Considering American as a whole, General Robert E. Lee seems to be a greater entity than the 54th Massachusetts regiment. This is mainly because Lee is still revered personally by an overwhelming amount of the white Southern population. His character and noble stature are still honored by both older and younger generations in the South. Also, his memory is still prevalent nationally through a very prestigious college named after him: Washington & Lee. The man is so revered by Southern youth, it overwhelming adds to his national importance. I think the 54th Massachusetts regiment is a very important national symbol of racial advancement but it is simply not as beloved by its admirers as General Lee is. This is why General Robert E. Lee continues to be a great entity of American society.
President Abraham Lincoln demanded a decisive victory. He was tired of his military leadership’s inability to decisively engage and defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Allowing the war to drag on was to the Confederacies advantage. Lincoln was so frustrated that he relieved General George B. McClellan for failing to defeat Lee at Antietam, and replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside, who proved to be very conservative in battle against General Lee. Knowing that General Lee was a student of Napoleonic warfare, Burnside feared that Lee always had a large Corps in reserve waiting to flank should he be decisively engaged from the front.
The American Civil war is considered to be one of the most defining moments in American history. It is the war that shaped the social, political and economic structure with a broader prospect of unifying the states and hence leading to this ideal nation of unified states as it is today. In the book “Confederates in the Attic”, the author Tony Horwitz gives an account of his year long exploration through the places where the U.S. Civil War was fought. He took his childhood interest in the Civil War to a new level by traveling around the South in search of Civil War relics, battle fields, and most importantly stories. The title “Confederates in the Attic”: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War carries two meanings in Tony Horwitz’s thoughtful and entertaining exploration of the role of the American Civil War in the modern world of the South. The first meaning alludes to Horwitz’s personal interest in the war. As the grandson of a Russian Jew, Horwitz was raised in the North but early in his childhood developed a fascination with the South’s myth and history. He tells readers that as a child he wrote about the war and even constructed a mural of significant battles in the attic of his own home. The second meaning refers to regional memory, the importance or lack thereof yet attached to this momentous national event. As Horwitz visits the sites throughout the South, he encounters unreconstructed rebels who still hold to outdated beliefs. He also meets groups of “re-enactors,” devotees who attempt to relive the experience of the soldier’s life and death. One of his most disheartening and yet unsurprising realizations is that attitudes towards the war divide along racial lines. Too many whites wrap the memory in nostalgia, refusing...
Lee had supreme confidence in his army, and believed that it could accomplish whatever he asked of it. This confidence sometimes led him to ask too much, such as in the case of Picket’s charge during the battle of Gettysburg. In Lee’s mind he was first and foremost a Christian, and a gentleman. These facts, although not bad, certainly caused Lee to be less aggressive, and to fight the war in a very old-fashioned manner. This was not so with Grant, who seemed to believe in a more modern type of total warfare. Perhaps because this war, as many contend, was the first modern war, it was impossible for the South, and it’s leaders to adapt to the situation.
The famous Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1 to July 3 of 1863 in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle proved to show the most casualties of the entire war and resulted in a crushing defeat of the Confederates. The Battle of Gettysburg is generally considered to be the turning point of the American Civil War. This paper will demonstrate the various reasons as to why the Confederates, led by General Robert E. Lee, were unsuccessful in the Battle of Gettysburg during their invasion of the north. General Lee’s over-confidence, the confederate army’s disorganization and failed coordination, and the shift of intelligence all contributed to the crushing defeat of the confederates at Gettysburg. Following his “flawless” battle at Chancellorsville, General Lee was instilled with absolute confidence in his men and failed to see any deficiencies in his army’s offensive capabilities. Lee was not only over-confident, but also knew less than his opponent during the most crucial stages of the battle. The final contributing factor as to why the confederates were defeated was Alexander’s failure to provide effective artillery bombardment and his failure to advise General Pickett not to make the charge after the ineffective bombardment.
Shaw, William B., et al. A Photographic History of the Civil War. Six Volumes. New York, New York: The Blue and Grey Press, 1987.
There are many different ways in which the war was represented to the public, including drawings, newspaper articles, and detailed stereographs. Stereographs such as John Reekie’s “The Burial Party” invoked mixed feelings from all of those who viewed it. It confronts the deaths caused by the Civil War as well as touches upon the controversial issue over what would happen to the slaves once they had been emancipated. This picture represents the Civil War as a trade-off of lives- fallen soldiers gave their lives so that enslaved black men and women could be given back their own, even if that life wasn’t that different from slavery. In his carefully constructed stereograph “The Burial Party,” John Reekie confronts the uncertainty behind the newly
At the beginning of the Civil War, leaders in the North and South were tasked with selecting the best men possible to lead their troops. Both sides needed to find men of outstanding character in order to succeed in their war efforts. Robert E. Lee showed himself as exactly such a man. President Abraham Lincoln agreed and sought out Lee, an accomplished U.S. military veteran with 32 years of service, to lead the Union troops. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, knew Lee lived in Virginia, a state that had succeeded from the Union. Davis wanted Lee to command the Confederate Army. Ultimately, Robert E. Lee, a man of great character who valued relationships as the crucial element in leadership, honored those around him and displayed
During the War Between the States there were two large-scale, decisive battles fought near the town of Manassas, Virginia. This will be a guided look at the second of those two occurring at the end of August in 1862. There were several great leaders from both sides of the war involved in the 2nd of Manassas, however I am going to focus on the attitudes, maneuvers, and decisions of the four primary generals; General Robert E. Lee, Major General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Major General John Pope, and Major General George B. McClellan, as it was these men who, ultimately, shaped the actions and outcome of the battle. Following the Seven Days Battle, Maj. Gen. McClellan’s armies were camped on the banks of the James River, 20 miles from Richmond1 (Debelius 1998) and Gen Lee had just taken control of the Army of Northern Virginia on June 12 (Hennessy 2005). Maj. Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson was a subordinate commander in the Army of Northern Virginia and Maj. Gen. Pope was inbound to “assist” Maj. Gen. McClellan in securing the area of Northern Virginia for the Union high command. This study will focus on the mind-sets, maneuvers, and decisions these men made throughout the course of the battle that led to the defeat of the Union forces under Maj. Gen. Pope’s leadership.
Both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were men of integrity, determination, passion and great skill. This is where their similarities end as Lee’s empowerment ideology differed from that of Grant’s aristocratic beliefs. Bruce Catton wrote about the two men in the essay, “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”. Catton, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and Civil War Historian, provides a brief character analysis of both men in this essay. The beliefs that Grant embraced as a frontiersman was more admirable than those aristocratic beliefs of Lee, and more men and women of today should understand and follow Grant’s principles.
General George B. McClellan was born to a prestigious upper class family in Pennsylvania. He attended the Military Academy at West Point and graduated second in his class in 1846. He served during the war with Mexico and earned three brevets for gallantry and sound professional service. He resigned his commission but returned early during the Civil War and immediately given a high rank. He led a successful campaign in West Virginia. These events fueled General McClellan’s egotistical and elitist attitudes.
Glory helps give us an understanding of the importance of the Massachusetts 54th. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was placed in a tough position during this film because the decisions he had to make were depicting his friendships that he would lose of gain. The Massachusetts 54th units were mostly made up of former slaves. Throughout the movie, Shaw reminds us of the injustice in America during the Civil War period. Before he left from Boston, Shaw married Anna Kneeland Haggerty. With her he had no family because his duties called. Governor Andrews, a strong abolitionist was the one who commissioned Colonel Shaw in 1863 to command and instruct the Massachusetts 54th.. The reenactors in this prodigious Civil War movie show tremendous amounts of strength and authenticity. Shaw’s great pride and respect towards his country is shown until the very end of the movie where he is shot in the chest three times and dies at Fort Wagner. When Colonel Shaw had pass...
The Civil War is one of the defining wars in the history of this great nation. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle in American history, and a turning point in the four year war. At the time, Gettysburg was a small, quiet town generally unaffected by the war. General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America and General George Meade of the Union converged in Gettysburg, and a conflict quickly arose. After three long days of battle the Union pulled away with a victory, though not an easy one. This essay will outline the six themes of history; in essence the who, what, when, where, why, and who cares of this infamous battle.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial is an ominous depiction of an American squad on patrol alongside a 164 foot mural wall, to show that freedom is not free. The memorial is dedicated to those who served in the Korean War but more importantly those of them who were killed in action, are still missing in action, or were held as prisoners of war. The memorial was created by Frank Gaylord and Louis Nelson. The objective of the memorial is to remind the public of the dedication to the United States of the men and women who served in the Korean War. The memorial was designed to show the trials and tribulations that many of the military personnel faced during the war.
Glatthaar’s essay “Black Glory: The African-American Role in Union Victory” focuses on the important roles of African Americans in the Civil War. Although prominent in the Navy the Army is where blacks needed to make their mark. Originally blacks were a resource for the Confederate Army. They picked up where the white soldiers left off on the home front and behind the lines of battle. A quote from “General in Chief Henry Halleck to Grant, “Every slave withdrawn from the enemy is equivalent to a white man put hors de combat [out of action]” (146) shows acknowledgement of this. Glatthaar expands on how the Union enlisting black soldiers freed up many of the seasoned white soldiers. Many Union soldiers were prejudice and did not view them as equals. “Blacks had to fight Confederates in the front and discrimination in the rear.” (155) This essay supports how over time there grew comradery between black and white soldiers however post war, whites began to minimize the value of their black brothers in arms. What Glatthaar does best is point out that even though their battles were not as glorified in the public eye their efforts began before they took up arms in the war and they were a crucial part of the Union
Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are best known for their careers in leading the Confederate Army. Few people know anything about them beyond battles fought and wars lost. History is written by the victors, and the victors have essentially extinguished all perceived importance of these two fallen leaders. However, both were not only soldiers fighting for a lost cause, but also educators. Both taught many of those who would fight alongside and against them in the war that ripped the United States of America in half. While the two had similar backgrounds and military careers, their careers in education were vastly different.