The Robert E. Lee Tree is the second largest giant sequoia in the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park, and the eleventh largest giant sequoia in the world. Richard Field, a Confederate lieutenant, named this tree in honor of Robert E. Lee around 1875. In 2020, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks removed references to the name in Park materials, in an effort to promote inclusiveness following the George Floyd protests; however, the name cannot be changed without the approval of Congress or the National Park Service.

Overview

The Robert E. Lee Tree is the second largest giant sequoia in the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park, and the eleventh largest giant sequoia in the world. Richard Field, a Confederate lieutenant, named this tree in honor of Robert E. Lee around 1875. In 2020, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks removed references to the name in Park materials, in an effort to promote inclusiveness following the George Floyd protests; however, the name cannot be changed without the approval of Congress or the National Park Service.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans.”
— Advice to a Confederate widow who expressed animosity towards the northern U.S. after the end of the American Civil War, as quoted in The Life and Campaigns of General Lee (1875) by Edward Lee Childe, p. 331. Also quoted in "Will Confederate Heritage Advocates Take Robert E. Lee’s Advice?" (July 2014), by Brooks D. Simpson, Crossroads, WordPress. This quote is sometimes paraphrased as: "Madam, do not train up your children in hostility to the government of the United States. Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans."
“I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.”
— As quoted in The American Soul: An Appreciation of the Four Greatest Americans and their Lessons for Present Americans (1920) by Charles Sherwood Farriss, p. 63
“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.”
— As quoted in Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977) by Laurence J. Peter, p. 175
“The questions which for years were in dispute between the State and General Government, and which unhappily were not decided by the dictates of reason, but referred to the decision of war, having been decided against us, it is the part of wisdom to acquiesce in the result, and of candor to recognize the fact.”
— Letter to former Virginia governor John Letcher (28 August 1865), as quoted in Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of Gen. Robert E. Lee (1875) by John William Jones, p. 203
“My engagements will not permit me to be present, and I believe if there I could not add anything material to the information existing on the subject. I think it wiser, moreover, not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the example of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered.”
— Letter regarding war monuments (1869), as quoted in Personal reminiscences, anecdotes, and letters of gen. Robert E. Lee (1874), by John William Jones, p. 234. Also quoted in "Renounce the battle flag: Don't whitewash history" (26 June 2015), by Petula Dvorak, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C. This quote is also given as: "I think it wisest not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the example of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered."
“So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I have rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be great for the interests of the south. So fully am I satisfied with this, as regards Virginia especially, that I would cheerfully have lost all I have lost by the war, and have suffered all I have suffered, to have this object attained.”
— Statement to John Leyburn (1 May 1870), as quoted in R. E. Lee: A Biography (1934) by Douglas Southall Freeman.

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Robert E. Lee across IJR

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