In The Marble Man, his 1977 revisionist take on Robert E. Lee, Thomas L. Connelly paints a portrait of the Confederacy’s greatest commander as something other than the unassuming, God-fearing Virginia gentleman depicted by previous biographers. In Connelly’s estimation, Lee’s “legendary reserve” was a façade of sorts, the result of a conscious effort to suppress from public view his less savory personality traits, which included an “aggressive nature,” a “combative spirit,” and constant feelings of “frustration, self-doubt, and … failure.”
National ArchivesRobert E. Lee in 1866
According to Connelly, Lee continued to draw “the marble mantle … tightly around his inner feelings” after the Civil War. Even so, Connelly identified an “intense” urge in Lee to join the steadily growing list of former Union and Confederate generals who were publishing, or working on, memoirs of their wartime service. If not for ill health (Lee died in 1870, at 63, shortly after suffering a stroke) and the demands of his job as president of Washington College, Connelly was convinced Lee would have done so, going so far as to describe Lee’s unwritten memoir of the war as his “unfulfilled dream.”
In this issue’s cover story, “Robert E. Lee’s Unwritten History,” Stephen Cushman offers a different take on why Lee never wrote a detailed account of his Civil War experiences—something he believes can’t be explained by arguments (made by Connelly and since repeated by others) that the ex-general’s failing health or busy schedule prevented him from picking up the pen. While we may never know exactly why Lee left no memoir, Cushman’s theory is persuasive. What do you think? You can send your comments on this or other articles in the issue to [email protected]. We’d love to read them.
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Lastly, thanks to all of our readers who took part in our recent Civil War travel survey, which we conducted online in May. You can view the results in “Profile of a Civil War Traveler.” We think you’ll find them both interesting and useful, whether you’re a novice traveler or a seasoned battlefield stomper.
Related topics: Robert E. Lee
