Lee in the Shadow of Washington

Just when you think there is nothing more to say about a major figure in history, a biographer comes along and proves you wrong. After the likes of D.S.Freeman, Thomas Connelly and Emory Thomas amongst several others tackled Robert E. Lee, Richard McCaslin add a valuable contribution to our understanding of the general. Emory Thomas argues that "history needs Lee whole" and there are several reasons for this. Besides being the leading general of the CSA, Lee also served as the beau ideal for at least a century of white Southerners. McCaslin traces Lee's admiration for George Washington and how this hero worship affected Lee's life and persona. McCaslin shows how Lee's regard for Washington shaped his domestic life, his choice of accepting the presidency of Washington College and even his military career. While a bit dry and not particularly accessible to the average reader, the book should be recommended to anyone trying to understand Lee and his role in American history.

This is an unusual book. The title is somewhat misleading, or it was to me anyway. This isn't, in any real sense, a book about Washington. Instead, it's a short biography of Robert E. Lee, which highlights his focus on emulating his idol, George Washington. This is especially interesting in that Lee wound up being, in some ways, the Southern embodiment of Washington's legacy, though of course he didn't win his country's freedom, as Washington did. That contrast in success, and other differences between the two men, is the focus of this brief biography, really almost more of a monograph that studies its subject almost exclusively through this one lens. Lee apparently revered Washington, almost to the point of worshiping him, from an early age. Lee's father was one of Washington's more prominent subordinate generals, in fame if not rank and prominence in the war. Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee was a cavalry general (really the only cavalry leader of any prominence) who led Patriot forces in the South in the latter part of the war. He was a failure in civilian life, being removed as governor of Virginia, spending time in a debtor's prison, and having the distinction of being so much a spendthrift that his wife's family put their property in trust to keep Light-Horse Harry from getting his hands on it. When he died his son Robert was very young, and had only met his father a few times. Robert E. Lee's family rarely spoke much about Light-Horse Harry's disgrace. Instead, they focused on Washington's glory and the reverence that everyone felt must be directed towards his memory. The younger Lee was raised to emulate Washington as closely as he could, and spent most of his life aspiring to a position in society equal to Washington's. This book outlines, in some detail, all of the references the author can find to Washington in things Lee wrote, and discusses in considerable detail his efforts to preserve the physical aspects of Washington's life that fell into Lee's hands through his wife, who was Martha Custis Washington's great-granddaughter by her previous marriage. This is an interesting book that outlines, as I said in considerable detail, an aspect of Robert E. Lee's life and character that has been touched on briefly by other biographers, but not studied with perhaps the attention to detail that it deserves. I think this book is a considerable addition to the scholarship on Robert E. Lee, and think it should be in the library of anyone considering themselves a serious Lee scholar.