Robert E. Lee is remembered as the “Marble Man,” or the “Marble Model”. A man so defined by his devotion to duty, personal virtue, and upright character as to seem chiselled from stone rather than made of flesh and blood. In this episode, Will examines that myth of Robert E Lee, discussing how his upbringing and career turned him into the last great flower of the Virginia gentry, a man who perfectly defined the terms “Christian Soldier” and “Virginia gentleman”.
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0:23 Old Virginia’s Old-World Ideal
5:07 The Marble Man’s Human Complexity
7:14 The Lee Family of Virginia: A Dynasty in Ruin
12:15 How Lee Learned Duty and Self-Control
14:37 The Making of the Marble Model
18:21 Lee’s Faith and Christian Code
25:18 Choosing Virginia
28:05 Leading the Army of Northern Virginia
34:46 Lee’s Restraint in War and Defeat
40:43 How Lee Rebuilt Virginia After the Confederacy
44:28 Teaching Young Men Duty at Washington College
47:14 A Quiet Act of Christian Fellowship
50:22 The Making of Lee’s Myth
56:11 Recovering the Human Lee
59:00 Lee’s Enduring Legacy
1:04:03 The Limits of Chivalry
Sources Referenced in this Episode:
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Armes, Ethel, Stratford Hall: The Great House of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4wxAAfl
Burt, Nathaniel, First Families: The Making of an American Aristocracy, https://amzn.to/4r0KLYG
Cole, Ryan, Light-Horse Harry Lee: The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Hero, https://amzn.to/4wiZOy3
Connelly, Thomas L., The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Idea, https://amzn.to/4ywRf4j
Crocker, H. W., III, Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Management, https://amzn.to/4gvXpds
Dabney, Virginius, Virginia: The New Dominion, https://amzn.to/46gVW69
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Fleming, Thomas, A Disease in the Public Mind: A New Understanding of Why We Fought the Civil War, https://amzn.to/4yzbiix
Flood, Charles Bracelen, Lee: The Last Years, https://amzn.to/4gDcA4I
Freeman, Douglas Southall, R. E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4gkaqrx
Hendrick, Burton J., The Lees of Virginia, https://amzn.to/4xshjNe
Lee, Cazenove Gardner, Jr., Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees, https://amzn.to/4q7GiTI
Longacre, Edward G., Fitz Lee: A Military Biography of Major General Fitzhugh Lee, https://amzn.to/4xkLNAu
Nagel, Paul C., The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family, https://amzn.to/4wUxkfi
Nichols, James L., General Fitzhugh Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/4qeURoz
Royster, Charles, Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American Revolution, https://amzn.to/3TKWspX
Sanborn, Margaret, Robert E. Lee: A Portrait, https://amzn.to/3SA6EkN
Thomas, Emory M., Robert E. Lee: A Biography, https://amzn.to/46qVL8c
Transcript
