The Writer's Connection, SM
a publication of The Virtual Writing Coach SM


"The Creative Process of Writing is a Liberating and Therapeutic Experience"

www.virtualwritingcoach.com

August, 2010

In This Issue:

1. Preview
2. Publisher's Note
3. A Life of General Robert E. Lee
4. Helpful Hints

1. Preview

The Writer's Connection explores the creative process of writing and the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and actions. We are an interactive community of authors and readers who share ideas to enhance our knowledge, skills, and experiences in writing fiction in any genre, but our emphasis remains mystery and suspense thrillers.

Published monthly, the Newsletter offers writing tips for authors, coaching suggestions, editing, and marketing information.

Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and represent only his ideas on producing your first manuscript, and are provided to the general public. Because we are an interactive community of writers, other viewpoints are welcomed and may be printed in future monthly newsletters with permission from Keith Barton.

2. Publisher's Note

August, 2010

Dear Writer's Connection Subscriber,

This month features the life of General Robert E. Lee and his impact on our nation as one of our greatest generals and tacticians.

3. A Life of General Robert E. Lee

John Esten Cooke has written a wonderful book of General Robert E. Lee that is personal and engaging, yet historical in fact from written correspondence of the day. Lee was perhaps our greatest American General having graduated second in his class at West Point with the distinction of having no demerits his entire four years at “the Point.” Lee’s father, Richard Henry Lee and his brother Francis Lightfoot Lee from the Revolutionary War were born in the very same Stratford House that would serve three generations of Lees. Robert E. Lee’s father married twice, first to his cousin Matilda and later to Miss Anne Hill Carter who bore him three sons: Charles, Carter, and Robert Edward, born January 19th, 1807 at Stratford, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. This biography is about our greatest military tactician, bar none including our present generals who came after him and served in the two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Lee’s exploits are discussed chronologically and contain each tactical move in every skirmish he participated in the War Between the States. It does not cover other Confederate generals except as they appeared beside Lee, most notably Henry Jackson (who later died at Chancellorsville). Jackson knew no fear and was responsible for pushing Union troops back across the James River. Jackson’s death profoundly affected Lee who was despondent for weeks. The battles take place in Northern Virginia in Lee’s efforts to march upon Washington, DC, while simultaneously protecting the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia. Most of the earlier fighting was given to the South’s advantage, primarily due to George McClellan’s reluctance to advance on Lee because of his respect for his fellow soldier at West Point and his insistence on not advancing a frontal assault on Lee. McClellan’s retreat from the James River was out of respect to protect his federal troops from further loss of life. The battle at Chickahominy was a draw because both Generals McClellan and Lee were gentlemen generals who were both great tacticians and Chickahominy was declared a draw.

Much of Lee’s biography, although written in third person narrative, attempts to go inside his head as to his moral code of conduct in battle brought about by his Christian beliefs in taking life only when necessary in his attempt to protect his beloved Richmond from Union attacks. Lincoln was not so kind of his General McClellan who was quickly replaced by the more spirited General George Meade in 1863 and the tide began to shift to Union troops primarily due to their 3:1 troop strength, war materiel (cannons and muskets), and federal inscription that led to reinforcements against a Confederate army that surrendered with only five thousand men on April 9th, 1865 at Appomattox, Virginia to General U.S. Grant.

It was a credit to Lee, the man, who never accepted a home to sleep in, preferring to bed down in a solitary tent, surrounded by only a few officers and his trusted horse, “Traveler.” It is said that during battles Lee never held a weapon, including his sword, until his final surrender at Appomattox. He was impeccably and simply dressed in his gray uniform with three stars on each shoulder, his beard and mustache short and neatly trimmed, his calm demeanor, atop his horse Traveler. He was an inspiration to his troops risking his life constantly in the heat of battle to advance the cause of the Confederacy under President Jefferson Davis who was later tried and convicted as a war criminal. Interesting Lee and his soldiers were paroled after their surrender and not one was convicted of a war crime as long as “they never took up arms against the United States Government.” Lee defeat was devastating and he took it so personally that he fell into a deep melancholy, hardly venturing out of his home in Richmond, Virginia. Although he signed an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the U.S., the oath mysteriously disappeared for 110 years during which time Lee was stripped of his U.S. citizenship until it was restored in July, 1975, by President Ford posthumously to June 13, 1865. Lee’s oath, read in part, written in 1865, to a former Confederate soldier concerning his signing the Oath of Allegiance, that: "This war, being at an end, the Southern States having laid down their arms, and the questions at issue between them and the Northern States having been decided, I believe it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony.”

Lee later accepted the position of President of Washington College (later named Washington and Lee) in Lexington, Virginia. It is interesting that the University today, founded after our two greatest military heroes, George Washington and Robert E. Lee a century apart, has one of the best Law Schools and political science departments of any small liberal arts college in America. His legacy lives today as thousands of students have graduated from the humble beginning when Lee took over in 1865 when only 500 “men of moral character” were accepted for admission.

Lee’s death from a stroke in 1870 profoundly affected our nation during a time of Reconstruction, poverty, and division. Tributes were many but the theme was the same, as evidenced by Judge Hilliard:

“This great popular demonstration is due to General Lee’s life and character. It is not ordered by the Government who ignored him, but rather a tribute to the memory of an illustrious man—good, true, and great. . . . a man with no military rank when he died, but was a true man. General Lee died at the right time. His sun did not go down in the strife of battle, in the midst of the thunder of cannon, dimmed by the druid smoke of war. He survived all this: lived with so much dignity: silent, yet thoughtful; unseduced by the offers of gain or advancement however tempting . . . He did not draw his sword to protect human slavery . . . he did not attempt to overthrow the U.S. Government. He drew his sword to in defense of constitutional liberty. That cause is not dead, but will live forever.”

Helpful Hints:

1. Who do you think our greatest military tactician was and why?

2. Although Lee was first recruited by President Lincoln to lead the Union troops, he refused on grounds his state of Virginia had seceded from the Union. Do you view his refusal as treason or one of moral character and loyalty to his state of Virginia?

3. Although the Tea Party movement is not a movement to secede from the Union, there are parallels between the events leading up to the civil war in 1861 and the Tea Party movement today in favor of states’ rights. Given the events of the U.S. filing suit on the state of Arizona on their illegal immigration legislation, do you envision a test between states’ rights and federal mandates to protect our borders?


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About Keith Barton, Ph.D.

Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist for over thirty years. He is currently enrolled in MentorCoach and is accepting new clients. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina, consultant to Fortune 500 companies in executive development, founded and managed Texas Community Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing group home services to persons with mental retardation, and for the past 13 years founded and runs a clinical practice in Northwest Houston. He writes part - time with the goal of completing one novel a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate interest in helping others become attuned to their creative powers of storytelling.

Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family therapy and health psychology. He has published articles, made presentations and conducted workshops about:

Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self - esteem
Communication skills
Marital/relationship enrichment
Wellness issues
The relationship between psychology and spirituality

Copyright by Virtual Writing Coach (SM) and Keith Barton, 2001 - 2008.