April 1865

The History Channel last night ran the special April 1865 showing how that month was crucial for the survival of a united American republic. We can learn a number of lesssons concerning the current conflict with Iraq:

• Lincoln was magnamous in victory. So, were his generals. Both Grant and Sherman (!) gave very generous terms of surrender. The political establishment really wanted to stick it to the south. When some of the establishment wanted to try Lee for treason, Grant threatened to resign. It seems that great men of war can also be great men of peace.

• Robert E. Lee may have single-handedly saved the union because he was a man of principle and honor. When he determined that he should surrender he fought as hard or harder for the peace than he did for war. He wrote a letter to other southerners telling them not to transform the war into a guerilla war like Jefferson Davis wanted. He told them that slavery was over. Then something remarkable happened. In a Richmond Episcopal church a black man went forward to the communion rail. There was tension in the sanctuary. Then an old man kneeled beside the black man. The old man was Robert E. Lee.

If we can be magnamous in victory and if we can be men of principle and honor where actions follows words, then there may be hope in the Middle East.