![]() In the end, the very understandable desire for reconciliation among both northerners and southerners after the war was deemed more important than the obligation to punish those who tried to destroy the Republic. In the antiquated language of his indictment, Lee was accused of “not having the fear of God before his eyes, nor weighing the duty of his said allegiance, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil … to subvert, and to stir, move and incite insurrection, rebellion and war against the said United States of America.” Like his fellow citizens, Kelly appears unaware of this history. Somehow, we seem to have erased this event from our collective memory.ĭespite President Andrew Johnson’s commitment to prosecuting the indicted rebels, the charges were eventually dropped in February 1869, after a series of false starts and procedural delays. ![]() Confederate leaders, who placed their allegiance to their states above the federal authority, were charged with treason by the United States government. ![]() It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Lee “gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. Shortly after a rally held by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said in an interview that Robert E. Our amnesia about this episode becomes evident periodically. All told, 39 Confederate leaders would be indicted for treason by Underwood’s court. The actual indictment went missing for 72 years and many scholars remain unaware that it has been found. Lee faced death by hanging, if found guilty of the charges.Īmericans today might not know about Lee’s indictment by the Norfolk grand jury. Lee for treason, charging him with “wickedly, maliciously, and traitorously” carrying on war against the Constitution and the “peace and dignity” of the United States of America. On June 7, 1865, Underwood’s grand jury indicted Robert E. Lee would not be protected from prosecution by his agreement with Ulysses S. Underwood urged the grand jurors to send a message to their countrymen that future rebellions would not be tolerated, stating, “It is for you to teach them that those who sow the wind must reap the whirlwind that clemency and mercy to them would be cruelty and murder to the innocent and unborn.” He then concluded his remarks by advising that Robert E. He defined treason as “wholesale murder” that “embraces in its sweep all the crimes of the Decalogue.” This horrific act, Underwood declared, had murdered tens of thousands of young Americans during the recent war, “by the slaughter on the battlefields, and by starvation in the most loathsome dungeons.” He was outraged that the men most responsible for the rebellion – “with hands dripping with the blood of our slaughtered innocents and martyred President” – were yet still at large. Underwood demanded justice, while providing instructions to a federal grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Judge John C. Only the hunger for reconciliation saved him.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |