"Truth is mighty & will eventually prevail": Political Correctness, Neo-Confederates, and Robert E. Lee: An article from Southern Cultures 17:3, The Memory Issue

by Peter S. Carmichael

“Truth is mighty & will eventually prevail”: Political Correctness, Neo-Confederates, and Robert E. Lee Project MUSE Journals Southern Cultures Volume 17, Number 3, Fall 2011 “Truth is mighty & will eventually prevail”: Political Correctness, Neo-Confederates, and Robert E. Lee Southern Cultures Volume 17, Number 3, Fall 2011 E-ISSN: 1534-1488 Print ISSN: 1068-8218 “Truth is mighty & will eventually prevail”Political Correctness, Neo-Confederates, and Robert E. Lee Peter S. Carmichael Click for larger view Ways of knowing are fundamental to the interpretive battles over Confederate history broadly and over Robert E. Lee in particular. Drawing from both the modernist and Victorian perspectives can bring greater complexity to historical inquiry. Robert E. Lee, 1864, photographed by Julian Vannerson, courtesy of the Collections of the Library of Congress. Jefferson Davis sent Robert E. Lee an unusual note after the battle of Gettysburg. The dispatch did not contain any presidential recommendations or requests, only a clipped article from the Charleston Mercury criticizing Lee and his subordinates for failure in Pennsylvania. Why Davis sent this article is impossible to say, and Lee apparently was not interested in the president’s motivations. The General dismissed newspaper criticism of himself as “harmless,” but the Mercury’s condemnation of the army disturbed him

46 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Peter S. Carmichael was Robert C. Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College.