The Religious Life of Robert E. Lee

Abstract

The phrase “Robert E. Lee, the Christian soldier” has long defined the Virginian's place not only in the Lost Cause pantheon but also in American culture more widely. Countless books have explored virtually every aspect of Lee as soldier, but R. David Cox provides the most serious and comprehensive study to date of Lee and religion. As the former rector at the R. E. Lee Memorial Chapel on the Washington and Lee University campus in Lexington, Virginia, the author presents a sympathetic, well-written, and critical portrait. A strength of the book is its careful treatment of Episcopalianism, which formed the context for Lee's religious life even though he was not officially confirmed in the faith until just a few years before the Civil War. Early on, Lee acquired a strong sense of Christian duty while showing few signs of any great religious fervor. As a young army officer, Lee attended a variety of churches during frequent separations from his growing family. By the time of the Mexican-American War, Lee's letters contained more religious references coupled with admonitions for his sons about morality, discipline, and duty. He came to appreciate the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer; Cox rightly deems Lee's faith more practical than theological and points out that much of what we know about his religious convictions comes from the family's voluminous correspondence. The Lees (and especially his wife, Mary) generally favored the more evangelical wing of Episcopalianism.