Lee and Grant | Southern Spokesman | Virginia Historical Society

After the war, Lee revived a failing Washington College. As its president he expanded the curriculum to include engineering, the sciences, business, and law—disciplines needed to rebuild the defeated South. His greatest contribution, however, was in preaching reconciliation to literally millions of southerners who looked to Lexington for guidance during the difficult period of Reconstruction. Lee wrote hundreds of letters in response to inquiries, and his statements as to how to respond to the dictates of Congress made their way into newspapers, North and South, which carried his influence far and wide.

Robert E. Lee after the War

"I think it the duty of every citizen, in the present condition of the Country, to do all in his power to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony, and in no way to oppose the policy of the State or General Government directed to that object."

—Robert E. Lee to Rector John W. Brockenbrough, Washington College, 24 August 1865

Washington College

"I accepted the presidency of the college in the hopes that I might be of some service to the country & the rising generation. . . . "

—Robert E. Lee, Lexington, to Rooney Lee, 30 October 1865

"My own opinion is that, at this time, [African Americans] cannot vote intelligently. . . . What the future may prove, how intelligent they may become, . . . I cannot say more than you can."

—Robert E. Lee, testimony before Congress, February 1866

"Your great and wise example of retirement and peace, obedience to government and law we are all pursuing and following. . . . All your old men here are peacefully at work trying to build up their shattered fortunes, and the Country, its peace and prosperity."

—Former Gen. Nathaniel H. Harris, Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Robert E. Lee, 6 June 1866

"He thinks it is the duty of the people to accept the situation fully, as the only chance left of preserving what remains to us, and that every man not actually disfranchised should not only take the necessary steps to prepare himself to vote, but to prepare all his friends, white and colored, to vote, and to vote rightly."

—"General Lee–The Convention," Richmond Dispatch, 23 March 1867

Notables at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

"The idea that the Southern people are hostile to the negroes, and would oppress them, if it were in their power to do so, is entirely unfounded. . . . The Great want of the South is peace."

—Robert E. Lee, White Sulphur Springs, to William S. Rosecrans, 26 August 1868

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Images: Mathew Brady, Robert E. Lee, April 1865 (Virginia Historical Society); Michael Miley, Washington College (Virginia Historical Society); Color postcard after a photograph by Michael Miley, Lee on Traveller (Virginia Historical Society); Nathaniel Harris to Robert E. Lee, 6 June 1866 (Washington and Lee University); Richmond Dispatch, 23 March 1867 (Washington and Lee University); Boude and Miley, Notables at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, 1869 (Virginia Historical Society)