Lee and the Historians in the Age of the Anti-Hero

On May 22, 2008, Robert K. Krick delivered the banner lecture "Lee and the Historians in the Age of the Anti-Hero" According to some recent historians, Gen. Robert E. Lee was not a hero to southerners during the Civil War but only afterward. Robert K. Krick argues to the contrary that he was idolized as a great leader in the midst of the conflict, not just later when the defeated South groped to interpret what had happened. For thirty years, Mr. Krick was chief historian of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He is the author of many books including, most recently, Civil War Weather in Virginia (Introduction by Charles F. Bryan, Jr.) The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.