aus einem Brief Lees (1856) an seine Frau (Hervorhebungen von mir)
Robert E. Lee letter dated December 27, 1856:
I was much pleased the with President's message. His views of the systematic and progressive efforts of certain people at the North to interfere with and change the domestic institutions of the South are truthfully and faithfully expressed. The consequences of their plans and purposes are also clearly set forth. These people must be aware that their object is both unlawful and foreign to them and to their duty, and that this institution, for which they are irresponsible and non-accountable, can only be changed by them through the agency of a civil and servile war. There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil. It is idle to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the colored race. While my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more deeply engaged for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, physically, and socially. The painful discipline they are undergoing is necessary for their further instruction as a race, and will prepare them, I hope, for better things. How long their servitude may be necessary is known and ordered by a merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild and melting influences of Christianity than from the storm and tempest of fiery controversy. This influence, though slow, is sure. The doctrines and miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years to convert but a small portion of the human race, and even among Christian nations what gross errors still exist! While we see the course of the final abolition of human slavery is still onward, and give it the aid of our prayers, let us leave the progress as well as the results in the hands of Him who, chooses to work by slow influences, and with whom a thousand years are but as a single day. Although the abolitionist must know this, must know that he has neither the right not the power of operating, except by moral means; that to benefit the slave he must not excite angry feelings in the master; that, although he may not approve the mode by which Providence accomplishes its purpose, the results will be the same; and that the reason he gives for interference in matters he has no concern with, holds good for every kind of interference with our neighbor, -still, I fear he will persevere in his evil course. . . . Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom have always proved the most intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others?"
Interessant ist, dass diejenigen, die Lee zu einem Gegner der Sklaverei machen wollen, immer nur den ersten hervorgehobenen Satz zitieren und den Rest auslassen (oder doch wenigstens einen großen Teil davon).
und aus einem Brief an seine Tochter Agnes (29.1.1861) geht hervor, dass der Crittenden-Kompromiss, der u.a. alle Staaten südlich der Linie des Missouri-Kompromisses zu Sklavenstaaten gemachte hätte (auch Kalifornien, wo die Sklaverei verboten war und in allen zukünftigen Territorien südlich der genannten Linie), aus Sicht Lees die Unterstützung jedes Patrioten verdient habe.
Elizabeth Brown Pryor veröffentlichte vor ca. 10 Jahren ein Buch, das auf der privaten Korrespondenz Lees beruhte: Reading the man: A portrait of Robert E Lee through his private letters:
Aus einem Interview anlässlich der Veröffentlichung:
"Lee's wife inherited 196 slaves upon her father's death in 1857. The will stated that the slaves were to be freed within five years, and at the same time large legacies—raised from selling property—should be given to the Lee children. But as the executor of the will, Lee decided that instead of freeing the slaves right away—as they expected—he could continue to own and work them for five years in an effort to make the estates profitable and not have to sell the property.
Lee was considered a hard taskmaster. He also started hiring slaves to other families, sending them away, and breaking up families that had been together on the estate for generations. The slaves resented him, were terrified they would never be freed, and they lost all respect for him. There were many runaways, and at one point several slaves jumped him, claiming they were as free as he. Lee ordered these men to be severely whipped. He also petitioned the court to extend their servitude, but the court ruled against him and Lee did grant them their freedom on Jan. 1, 1863—ironically, the same day that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect."
James Mc Pherson schildert in seinem Buch Battle Cry of Freedom - The Civil War eine Begebenheit, bei der Grant Lee anbot, Gefangene auszutauschen, unter der Bedingung, dass Afroamerikaner genau wie Weiße ausgetauscht würden. Lees Antwort: "negroes belonging to our citizens are not considered subjects of exchange and were not included in my proposition.”
Aus seiner Sicht hat Lee seinen Heimatstaat verteidigt (im Wissen, dass dies nicht unbedingt richtig war!) ... aus Sicht anderer hat er die Konföderation und damit auch die Institution der Sklaverei verteidigt, spätestens nach der Emancipation Proclamation.
Übrigens: Bei genauerer Betrachtung ist Lee auch militärisch nicht so uneingeschränkt positiv, wie er gerne dargestellt wird ... dazu: Alan T. Nolan: Lee Considered, General Robert E. Lee and Civil War History, 1991.
Im Grundsatz ist Nolans These, dass Lee zu häufig die Offensive wählte und damit sehr verschwenderisch mit den Ressourcen (und den Menschenleben) der Konföderation umging. Erst nach der Niederlage von Gettysburg blieb Lee in der Defensive. Nolan ist der Ansicht, die Konföderation hätte sich von Anfang an auf die Verteidigung konzentrieren sollen (Lee unternahm zwei große Vorstöße in den Norden, die beide mit verlustreichen Schlachten endeten: Antietam und Gettysburg. Gettysburg sicher eine Niederlage, Antietam aus meiner Sicht auch. Die größten Erfolge hatten die Konföderierten in der Defensive.