Cockades for General Lee
209 years ago tomorrow, Robert Edward Lee was born in Virginia. He was to become one of the most famous generals of all time, often ranked by historians beside such luminaries as Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Napoleon.
One man observed of Lee: "He was a foe without hate; a friend without treachery; a soldier without cruelty; a victor without oppression, and a victim without murmuring. He was a public officer without vices; a private citizen without wrong; a neighbour without reproach; a Christian without hypocrisy, and a man without guile. He was a Caesar, without his ambition; Frederick, without his tyranny; Napoleon, without his selfishness, and Washington, without his reward."
After his death in 1870, people across the former Confederacy began to talk about raising a monument in his honor. In 1890, their dream was fulfilled and the Lee Monument in Richmond, VA was unveiled.