‘Live by Principles’ of Generals Lee and Grant

(The following letter to the editor was published in the Lexington News-Gazette on April 9, 2025, the 160th anniversary of Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General Ulysses Grant at Appomattox Court House.)

[Kamron Spivey (center) stands with reenactors demonstrating Generals Lee and Grant’s interaction at the McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia. Photo: April 9, 2025]

To the Editor,

Your April 2, 2025, editorial on Appomattox Courthouse is a good reminder of today’s historic anniversary. But let’s focus on the true meaning of Appomattox, and leave the racial turmoil behind.

When Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses Grant, he took the first of many defining steps towards reconciliation: a principle by which he devoted the last five years of his life.

Grant, for his part, demonstrated an equally admirable character; both during the surrender, and especially after, when he threatened to resign if the federal government pursued treason charges against Confederate officers.

Grant and Lee understood the adversities and sufferings of Americans better than anyone. And because of that, they understood the need to forgive and forget, to rebuild society as one nation.

Unfortunately, that reconciliatory principle — the one virtue which spared the South from years of guerrilla warfare — has been completely forsaken in the last decade.

Political partisans on both sides attack each other and harp on the actions of past administrations. A torrent of “racial reckonings” have deconstructed our nuanced understanding of history: demolishing statues, closing museum exhibits, and branding all-things “Confederacy” with a scornful iron.

These reactionary decisions, much like other national issues, have agitated the country and prompted a sudden swing of the pendulum, an unavoidable over-correction.

Needless to say, we Americans need to pause for this anniversary, and really understand the significance of Appomattox. If you cannot physically visit the site, do yourself and your community a favor: read about Generals Lee and Grant; live by their principles. Our nation needs them as much now as we did in 1865.

Sincerely,

Kamron M. Spivey
Fancy Hill, Virginia