These relative loyalties continued for over 100 years, but diminished beginning with the Spanish-American War era. The individual citizen loyalties were primarily to their respective states (formerly independent colonies) and to the United States of America secondarily. commercial relationships, military defense, etc.). Constitution was basically a contract of association between the original 13 states for their mutual benefit (eg. military officers who resigned to serve the Confederate states were traitors. I disagree strongly with you that those U.S.

Lee and Me is one of the most important books to come out in years about the way we, as a society, remember the Civil War and what we do about it. Lost Causers will object, but Seidule’s journey from their very perspective to where he is now is remarkable. There is much to chew on if one reads Seidule’s work with the same kind of open mind that he himself had as he confronted facts and hard truths. The book has been controversial, especially among Southern partisans and neo-Confederates, but as one friend asked me after reading the book, “Tell me where he’s wrong.” I’ve chewed on that challenge for weeks, which is one of the reasons I’ve not yet written about the book. The entire rest of the book backs up this perspective-one that he, himself, came to gradually, sometimes grudgingly, by looking at the facts and not the myths, legends, and passed-on tales. And they did it for the worst reason possible: to create a nation dedicated to exploit enslaved men, women, and children, forever. Army soldiers than any other enemy, ever. During the bloodiest war in American history, Lee and his comrades killed more U.S. Lee resigned their commissions, abrogating an oath sworn to God to defend the United States. Together, they formed a new “Confederacy,” in contravention of the U.S. Unwilling to accept the results of a fair, democratic election, they illegally seized U.S. Here’s his basic premise, laid out clearly on page 9 of the book:Įleven southern states seceded to protect and expand an African American slave labor system. Following the facts led him to some surprising and, at times, upsetting realizations about the South’s greatest hero. Seidule carried this worldview well into adulthood, but his profession as a military historian-he’s professor emeritus of history at West Point-took him to some places that were, at first, uncomfortable. As a Southerner, Seidule grew up in the shadow of Arlington Manor, immersed in a pro-South view of the world and of the war. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause.

I recently had the chance to read Ty Seidule’s new book Robert E.

Robert e lee and me ty seidule