Thursday, January 19, 2012
A Person I Admire, By Dixie And Daddy
A Person I Admire
By Dixie Townsend
Nine Years Old
Rocky Mount Telegram
March 3, 2006
"The person I admire is Robert E. Lee, the general of the
Confederate Army. He's my Dad's favorite person. Mr. Lee
was an excellent horseman. He, and his horse Traveller,
led the Confederate soldiers to fight against the Yankees.
His four daughters admired his courage, bravery and his
Southern accent. Later in life, Lee's hair turned white. His
beard was always trimmed neatly. He presented a commanding
appearance, straight, alert and intelligence. He was never known
to smoke, drink alcoholic beverages or use profane language.
General Lee was an American hero. Perhaps one day, I can be like him."
Fourth grade,
Tarboro-Edgecombe Academy,
Jamie Baker, teacher
| Lee, (By Dixie Townsend, Nine Years Old) ======== General Robert Edward Lee |
Edward Lee, in my estimation, was the greatest man this nation has ever produced. He graduated from the United States Military Academy without a single demerit, a feat that has been unequaled to this day. He also was second in his class and achieved the coveted cadet rank of Adjutant. He served over thirty years in the United States Army and General Winfield Scott stated that Lee's exploit before the Battle of Contreras in Mexico was "the greatest feat of physical and moral courage" he had ever known. General Scott marked him for high command and thought the cost would be cheap if the United States could absolutely insure Lee's life at the cost of five million dollars a year. He proclaimed that Lee "was the very best soldier I ever saw in the field."
In 1856, as dark clouds loomed, Lee stated that "There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil."
When war finally came General Scott offered him command of the Union Army, but Lee , after pacing the floor all night, decided he could not fight against his own people. Lee's final written words to General Scott were "Save in defense of my native state, I never desire again to draw my sword."
After leading the Army of Northern Virginia to many victories against overwhelming odds, he surrendered and asked his men to go home and be good citizens. A while later he was offered $50,000 for the use of his name by a northern insurance company, but Lee politely informed them "Sirs, my name is the heritage of my parents. It is all I have, and it is not for sale." He also stated that concerning his previous actions "I could have taken no other course without dishonor, and if it were all to be done over again, I should act in precisely the same manner."
In 1868, the New York Herald proposed nominating Lee for President, but Lee by then President of Washington College where he had but one rule and that was "every man must be a gentleman."
Theodore Roosevelt characterized Lee as "the very greatest of all the great captains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth." Winston Churchill stated that Lee was "one of the noblest Americans who ever lived."
In closing, I think the words of General/President Eisenhower would be appropriate concerning a question as to why he kept a picture of Lee in his office. He stated that Lee "was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history......From deep conviction I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee's calibre would be unconquerable in spirit and soul."
Brock Townsend
"If any American father were asked which of our great men he would most want his own son to resemble, the father, if he were wise, would be compelled to answer, 'Robert E. Lee.'" '
Benjamin Andrews, President Brown University, 1880.
======== My General Lee Picture I looked for years until I found one that I thought truly looked like General Lee and when I saw this one, I immediately bought it. I believe he used the picture of Lee standing on the porch at his home in Richmond after his return for the likeness. Very similar. BT |
NC Governor Charles Brantley Aycock’s on Lee's Birthday
North Carolina’s Legal Holiday Observes Lee’s Birthday January 19th
The Spirit That Was In Lee:
North Carolina Governor Charles Brantley Aycock’s (1901-1905) Address on Lee’s Birthday:
“That day was not unlike most January nineteenths until Aycock rose top speak. He had been sitting reminiscent, with a far-away look in his eyes after greeting the men in gray. As a small boy he had seen his own brother and kinsmen come back after Appomattox. He had heard of how the bravest had given all they had and hoped to be in the cause.
As he sat through the preliminary exercises, his mind going back to the early years of the sixties. Before him were the remnant of that mighty army---men broken by the wheel of life, some wearing the scars of honorable service, the snow that never melts fallen upon all their heads.
Governor Aycock had not spoken half a dozen sentences before the little chapel was transformed. The simple seats seemed cushioned chairs and the men in gray who sat upon them seemed no longer bruised and bent under the stress of war and burden of age. They seemed to stand out as they rushed the Bloody Angle at Gettysburg or charged with Jackson up the Valley. His Voices had carried him to heights where mortals do not dwell. He was telling of the deathless deeds of the men of the South.
His hearers felt themselves on holy ground and listening to the melody of an eloquence to which hitherto they had been strangers. There was a holy hush, as if an angel wing had fluttered over the place. Almost inspired, Aycock traced the march and counter-march of the men of Lee’s and Jackson’s armies as they ascended the glory-mountains of sacrifice. He pictured their return, foot-sore and ragged, to poverty and struggle. But they had never bent the knee!
Neither want nor hardship broke their spirits. They had in their hearts something glorious and imperishable. It was the spirit that was in Lee. Aycock held that little company in hushed ecstasy as he limned the nobility of Robert E. Lee in words so eloquent as to defy reproduction. “We can only ourselves catch a few rays of light from the sunshine of his face” was his peroration.
There was no applause. There are times when applause seems out of place, a sort of cheap substitute for deep emotions. This was such a time. His audience felt as if they had ascended to mountain tops and beheld the light that never was on sea or land, separated with a strange glow in their hearts. It has never faded. Not one who heard that master tribute will ever lose its benediction.
A score and more years have passed, but I never ride by the little chapel that in my memory it is not illumined by the lasting glow and glory with which Aycock’s eloquence filled it that January afternoon. I drove back to the Capitol with the Governor. He was silent. My heart had been stirred too deep for words. It seemed that conversation would be a sacrilege and would break a spell I hope will abide with me until I greet him on the other shore.
As I have reflected on that perfect tribute, it has seemed to me to be paralleled by only one other address. The difference between Aycock’s address at the Confederate Home and Lincoln’s at Gettysburg, is that Aycock’s audience was so thrilled that nobody could put pencil to paper. At Gettysburg, the audience that heard Lincoln was little impressed, and was disappointed with its brevity. Unfortunately Aycock’s [spoken words] were lost. It lives only in the hearts of the few privileged to hear it. But to those few, it is forever an inspiration. If I could but give you the hint of its beauty and majesty, you would feel that you had been admitted to heavenly places.”
(Charles Brantley Aycock, Historical Address, Hon. Josephus Daniels, NC Historical Review, 1924, pp. 261-262)
NC Governor Charles Brantley Aycock’s on Lee's Birthday
Christie: 55% of NJ thinks he’ll be VP & 68% don’t!
MSNBC doesn’t make sense to Chris Christie, either. The outspoken Republican governor on Wednesday mocked a network graphic insisting that 55 percent of New Jersey residents think he’ll be Vice President and 68 percent don’t. (So, 123 percent?) An amused Christie quipped, “That sounds like Democratic math!” [See video below. MP3 here.]
A sheepish Joe Scarborough admitted, “Now, see, I’m not really good in math, but I don’t” think that makes much sense. Christie joked, “55 To 68?…I can’t count that high. It’s over 100, though, I know that much.” It appears as though the graphic department for Morning Joe is just as math-challenged as Chris Matthews.
Hannah at 16: Can anyone ID?
My Aunt sent this to me and our other relatives to try and identity this uniform that a cousin is wearing. Possibly WW II era or just after. Have no idea about her other than she is of German descent.
Attached is a picture of Hanna at age 16. Does anyone know what branch of service she was in or was she in some sort of ROTC? If I can get more info I will put her picture in the Military album.
Miami Strip Club Sorry About Putting MLK Jr. on Its Flyer
Jeffrey Darnell Paul had a dream. A very, very poorly thought out dream. He dreamed that it would be totally OK to put Martin Luther King Jr.'s image on a flyer promoting a party at a Miami strip club. Turns out he was a bit surprised when most people with some common sense thought it was more of a nightmare.
Paul, a flyer designer and owner of South Side Grafix and a DJ known as Big Boy, makes flyers for The Office, a strip club at 250 Northeast 183rd Street. He was trusted to put together a graphic promoting the club's party on Sunday night that was scheduled to end at 6 a.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This is what he came up with:
Nothing short of total repudiation of our entrenched systems can rescue America.
Bazz
Following his second-place finish in the New Hampshire GOP primary, when Ron Paul stood before the television cameras to address the crowd, he didn’t crow about his personal victory or denigrate his opponents. Instead, he told supporters that “we are dangerous to the status quo of the country,” and spoke about the power of ideas.
“I think the Intellectual Revolution that’s going on now to restore liberty in this country is well on its way, and there’s no way they’re going to stop the momentum that we have started,” Ron Paul said.
In fact, Gerald Celente has been championing the call for an “Intellectual Revolution” for years. In 2009 he secured the domain www.IntellectualRevolution.com, and in an April 2009 Trend Alert he wrote:
“I am calling for an ‘Intellectual Revolution.’ This is a revolution about thinking – not manning the barricades. It’s about brain power – not brute force.
Miss Effie, Rembrandt, and Me
Miss Effie
It begins each morning. By the time I’ve finished sipping my first cup of steaming, jet-black coffee, it’s in full swing – the vacation I take each morning. Without leaving the comforts of home, I can feel the heat from Arizona’s dry-hot deserts, dangle my feet in the placid, cool waters of Florida’s Suwannee River, and rub the gritty sand of Georgia’s Jekyll Island between my fingers. I can also gaze upon the majesty of Colorado’s Cross Mountain, and taste the salt-sea spray of the crashing, plunging waves along California’s Pacific Coast Highway. And keeping me company during my travels is the mournful howl of an old hound.