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From my home to yours: Robert E. Lee’s Christmas wish

Amid the crowded holidays, after a contentious election, Robert E. Lee offers us these thoughts:

But what a cruel thing is war:  to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.

I pray that, on this day when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace.”

General Robert E. Lee to his wife, December 25, 1862[1]

Robert E. Lee (Currier & Ives, Library of Congress)
Robert E. Lee (Library of Congress)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

I’ll be back with a new blog post in two weeks.

[1] Thomas Nelson Page, Robert E. Lee, Man and Soldier (New York:  1912), 330-331.

David Connon

David Connon has spent nearly two decades researching dissenters in Iowa: Grinnell residents who helped on the Underground Railroad, and their polar opposites, Iowa Confederates. He shares some of these stories with audiences across the state through the Humanities Iowa Speakers Bureau. He worked as an interpreter at Living History Farms for eleven seasons. Connon is a member of Sons of Union Veterans, an associate member of Sons of Confederate Veterans, and a member of the Des Moines Civil War Round Table. His articles have appeared in Iowa Heritage Illustrated, Iowa History Journal, Illinois Magazine, and local newspapers in both states.
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