The Civil War rages. A long cultural Cold War seems to be reigniting old prejucides and animosities. Violent extremist on left and right just want to see the world burn. I am a Christian extremist protesting for peace and understanding. I suggest that we listen to the words of wisdom from two old Civil War generals – General U. S. Grant and General Robert E. Lee.
Lee and Grant were opponents in a bloody conflict. They witnessed first hand the carnage of a nation divided. They knew how to wage war, but they also understood how to struggle for peace.
In April of 1865 the United States was a broken nation. Four years of civil war had cost the nation over 620,000 lives, not counting civilian deaths. The war had been especially brutal and hard fought. When Generals Grant and Lee met at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia to negotiate the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, both men understood that the battle was not over. The nation needed to be healed. General Grant offered generous terms of surrender, for which Lee was grateful. When Lee departed the house Union soldiers began to celebrate and jeer at their defeated foe. General Grant halted the celebration and told his officers, “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.” General Grant and his officers then saluted General Lee.
When Grant died in August of 1885 hundreds of former Confederate soldiers and officers traveled to New York City to attend the funeral of their old nemesis. His paulbearers included two Confederate Generals.
A few weeks after Appomattox, Robert E. Lee attended worship at St. Paul’s Church in Richmond. When the Eucharist was being presented a black man walked forward to the altar to receive communion breaking the established segregationist protocol. For several moments the stunned congregation sat in silence. Suddenly, a white-bearded old warrior came forward and knelt at the altar near the black man. That Lord’s Day, the former General of the Confederate forces knelt and received Holy Communion with an African-American. We cannot know what was in the heart of either man. But we know that both men knelt in the presence of Christ. The Table of the Lord brought together the oppressed and the oppressor as brothers.
After the war General Lee consistently advised against erecting Confederate memorials. He suggested that the memories of battlefields be erased from the national consciousness, and even once suggested that the Confederate flag should be folded and put away in a drawer. When asked about his old enemies, he said, “…I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and I have never seen the day when I did not pray for them.”
Grant and Lee witnessed the horrors of war. They knew better than anyone the high price of violence and hate. Maybe that’s why they struggled so for peace after the war. Even so, most Americans ignored the counsel of their revered warriors. Maybe, 150 years later a new generation will hear and understand.
