Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Last week saw the removal of an historic Richmond, Virginia icon. A statue, a monument to what a man could be, if he would. The statue itself was an impeccable work of art. This was a showplace of a boulevard that had showcased other works of art. This monument spoke of a unique time in America’s history.

General Robert E. Lee had lived his life as the emulation of virtue. His family had been very prominent in the founding of our free republic. When he and his wife took possession of three large plantations which contained populations of human slaves, General Lee legally freed these people. But this is not remembered.

General Lee is the only cadet yet to have graduated from West Point with not even one demerit. He is yet studied by tacticians as a genius of warfare. He was also an engineer.

The cause for which he fought has been “spun” and there is scarcely a child alive in America today of any age that has not been heinously lied to regarding this...