A Letter from the executive director
I entered Washington and Lee University in the tumultuous fall of 2020, when Robert E. Lee had allegedly become a blight to the institution’s reputation. Many faculty and student leaders called for renaming the school, while President William Dudley declared that Lee “led the Confederate army in defending slavery and has come to symbolize the defense of racial oppression that we unequivocally reject.”
For an incoming freshman, it was hardly the time to defend an individual who had become the target of such loud condemnation. Yet, knowing little about the institution’s history, I felt compelled to investigate a simple question: Why is our university named after Robert E. Lee?
I started by reading Liberty Hall Volunteers by Professor Bean, followed by General Lee’s College by Professor Crenshaw. (Both books were then sold in the university bookstore, though today’s students and visitors will find neither mention of the Liberty Hall Volunteers nor Bean’s book on display.)
These histories, among others, inspired me to dig deeper. I began frequenting the university archives, whose staff and collections proved invaluable. I studied faculty minutes, trustees’ papers, presidential reports, and Lee’s correspondence, gradually piecing together a history which the university refused to discuss.
What I discovered left me in profound admiration for President Lee, who I came to understand was the most important individual in the university’s history. Without him, it is highly unlikely that I or you would have ever heard of this Lexington institution.
Thus began my campaign to Retain the Name of Washington and Lee University — an effort which would have been impossible without The Generals Redoubt’s ideological and financial support.
That campaign now seems like ancient history. An administration has come and gone, along with thousands of students. Just yesterday, I was interviewed by two students researching the movement for a class project —studying as history an experience that played such a formative role in my own education.
Yet the need to educate our community about Lee’s presidency remains as pressing as ever. If the university will not teach students about his remarkable contributions, and how they continue to shape the character of W&L, it falls to us to do so.
That brings me to October 15 — what I believe is the most important day in our university’s history.
On this day in 1870, Robert E. Lee was laid to rest in the chapel he had built. That same day, the trustees of Washington College resolved to rename the institution Washington and Lee University, establish Founders Day, erect physical monuments and memorials in Lee’s honor, and preserve his office in perpetuity.
I had the privilege of transcribing those trustees’ minutes as a freshman, and I return to them each year. For they answer the very question that first inspired my research.
The trustees certainly admired Lee’s Confederate military service. “For such gallantry,” they wrote, “we extolled him deservedly and without stint.” However, that was not why they chose to immortalize his name. They continued:
“But there is more true heroism in pursuing the unambitious paths of peace than in the clangor and the red artillery of war: And we love Gen. Lee chiefly for the victories won by him in the classic shades of Washington College and, to our seeming, the lowliest but loveliest leaf in the thickly garlanded chaplet of his Fame is that which records his heroic devotion to Duty.”
Washington and Lee University bears Lee’s name not for his military service, his views on race, or his ownership of enslaved people. Rather, we honor him for that “lowliest but loveliest leaf” — his pioneering reforms in higher education, his demonstrated devotion to honor and personal character, his commitment to national reconciliation, and his vision for America’s future.
Today, 156 years later, we have a responsibility to preserve and share that legacy.
That is why, in honor of President Lee, a generous group of alumni has pledged a $200,000 MATCH to The Generals Redoubt’s Annual Fund. From now through January 31, 2027, every gift toward that amount will be doubled, helping us support students, develop educational programming, and advance President Lee’s vision for the institution bearing his name.
I hope you will consider joining us in this important work. Your support makes all the difference.
Thank you, and Go Generals!
Kamron M. Spivey, ‘24
Executive Director
The Generals Redoubt