FREE ESSAY ON LEE'S SURRENDER

LEE'S SURRENDER

Lee's Surrender 
Some people believe that Robert E. Lee did not have that much influence on the South.
They believe that he was a just a great general and that he didn't have much impact on
the Confederate states. These people must have been from the North because General Robert
E. Lee had a great impact on the South during the war, but he had an even greater impact
after the war.
People do not always act in their own interests. The South spent more in loss of lives
than keeping slavery was worth in economic terms. The North spent more fighting the South
than it would have cost to pay for the slave owners for their property. People by large
are guided by leaders. When their leaders march off into a folly, the people often follow
(Alexander 318). 
The smartest thing Lee ever did was surrender at Appomattox and put an end to the
fighting. Before Lee surrendered, he was confronted by Porter Alexander and offered the
idea of guerrilla warfare. Lee forcefully and finally rejected the idea of this. He saved
countless lives of his soldiers by rejecting this idea. Lee made this statement in the
hours before the surrender, It is our duty to live, for what will become of the women and
children of the South if we are not here to support and protect them (Bradford 111).
The South had a great deal of honor and respect for Lee. Everyone knew that Lee had
fought to the very end. He had a great influence over the South, consequently, when Lee
asked his men to be as good as citizens of a united nation as they had been good soldiers
in war, they agreed whole-heartily. His ideas turned many Southerners away from their
feelings of hate and revenge toward cooperation and peace (Alexander 320).
After the war, the South realized that slavery was too expensive. The day after the
surrender, Lee told Grant, The South was now as opposed to human bondage as the North
(Alexander 320). The only real issue between the North and South had been settled.
If Robert. E. Lee wanted to continue fighting the civil war, he could have with much
support. Lee was loved deeply by his soldiers, and they would have fought with him to the
very end. That Lee was beloved by his army it is hardly necessary to say, immensely
beloved, beloved as few generals have ever been (Bradford 82). Lee's army trusted him and
his decisions. They followed his orders and would have followed the order to stay and
fight.
Lee made the South realize that the Civil War was actually a war between brother, not a
war between enemies. If Lee had called for more fighting, the history books would be
telling of more bloodshed and division between the North and the South. 
After the war, Lee turned down offers to become an executive and live the rest of his
life in a wealthy fashion. Instead, he became president of Washington and Lee University.
Here, he taught new Southerners to be Patriotic, loyal citizens of a united nation
(Alexander 320).
Lee did not win the Civil War for the South. He made it possible, though, for the North
to reunite in friendship and unity. He made it possible for the North and South to create
the most successful nation in history. Surely, people can see that he had a much more
profound impact than being just a great general in the worst war in American history.