With dignity, sense of purpose, Lee
continued to lead after Civil War

Even in defeat, Robert E. Lee was looked upon as the leader of the South. With the war still raging in the spring of 1865, discussion in the high command revolved around how to continue the Confederate war effort.

There was talk of dissolving the army and resorting to guerilla warfare against the north. Such an approach of unconventional warfare could have prolonged the killing for decades.

Lee and Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston advised against such a tactic, choosing surrender as a more honorable means to bring about peace.

With his role in the war over, Lee vowed to be a force for reconciliation. In his closing message to the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee told his veterans to “go home and help to build up the shattered fortunes of our old state.”

Lee could not return to his beloved Arlington so he lived in a borrowed house in Richmond. In late spring 1865, Lee was attending a church service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Minister Charles Minnergerode was about to conduct Holy Communion when a well-dressed black man, sitting in the section reserved for blacks, walked up to the communion table.

Such an occurrence had never happened before and many whites in the congregation were stunned. The antebellum custom was that whites received communion first and then blacks. This was the pre-war social custom that all Southerners were used to following.

The whites in the congregation froze not knowing what to do as their life-long custom had been suddenly altered. Even Minnergerode was taken aback, not knowing whether to continue with the customary communion or not.

The black man knelt at the altar in front of the minister while the rest of the congregation stood in shocked silence.

Lee rose from his pew and walked to the altar. Although he showed the effect of four years of war and his recent defeat, Lee still had a soldier's posture as he walked to the altar.

Demonstrating his quiet dignity and sense of purpose, Lee knelt down next to the black man ready to partake of communion.

Seeing Lee’s example, the rest of the congregation followed the old general’s lead and knelt at the altar. Although it would come excruciatingly slow, change was coming to the south. An action, such as Lee kneeling at the altar with a black man was one small step in the right direction.

Lee continued to lead by example until his death. He was charged with treason after the Civil War, and although he applied for amnesty, he never received a pardon. Lee accepted a position to serve as president of Washington College in Lexington, Va., and served as the institution’s president until he died of a stroke.