Love that portrait
To the editor:
I have been in the County Commission chambers in the old Lee County Courthouse and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the distinguished portrait of Confederate General Robert E. Lee there on many occasions.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, and having moved to Cape Coral at the age of 11 I have spent practically my whole life, outside of receiving my B.A. degree from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, in Lee County.
I am a retired teacher having taught for 20 years in the Lee County School System and a number of years in the private sector (including Christ Lutheran School in Cape Coral and Crestwell in Fort Myers).
The Civil War, as horrible as it was, is a very deep part of the history of our young country. General Robert E. Lee attended West Point along with Ulysses S. Grant, Jeb Stuart and George Armstrong Custer. He came in second academically in his class with zero demerits indicating flawless character.
The south had agriculture and the north had most of the manufacturing. Outmanned and outgunned, the south was primarily interested in state’s rights. In that war of northern aggression President Lincoln’s quote in his inaugural address was, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so and I have no inclination to do so.”
Robert E. Lee freed his slaves (which he never purchased; they were inherited) in 1862. Ulysses S. Grant kept his slaves until after the 13th Amendment in December of 1865.
A little known fact about Abraham Lincoln is that as a lawyer he represented the manufacturing elites of the day. These manufacturing companies were the primary source for the funding of his election. Apparently, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I feel honored as a long-time resident and a Lee County professional to say to my County Commissioners, “Leave the portrait that I love, the portrait of a noble and courageous general of the south exactly where it is now in the commission chambers where it belongs and is proudly displayed.
Phyllis Marino
Fort Myers