Robert E. Lee opposed the construction of statues and memorials commemorating the Southern cause in the aftermath of the Civil War. Jonathan Horn, author of the biography “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee’s Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History,” wrote “that after Lee became president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, in 1865, he received many proposals for memorials, but turned them down.”

“Lee believed countries that erased visible signs of civil war recovered from conflicts quicker,” Horn wrote.

As President of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, Lee refused to allow the flag of the Confederacy to fly over the college.

According to the Southern historian and proud Mississippian Shelby Foote, Lee refused to participate in fund-raisers to build statues to the Confederacy.

Lee ordered that he not be buried in his Confederate uniform and that no signs of the Confederacy be present at his funeral. His family and friends honored his wishes.

I stand with Robert E. Lee. He wanted the flag of the Confederacy buried so the country could heal. It’s about time we took his advice.

Joe Erickson

Durango