In an Aug. 5, 1869, response to an invite to a sit-down to plan granite statues to memorialize one of the war’s bloodiest battles, the general panned the whole idea and told the group he wouldn’t even show up.
“My engagements will not permit me to be present, & I believe if there I could not add anything material to the information existing on the subject,” wrote Lee, a Virginian
“I think it wiser moreover not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife & to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered.”
The invitation came from the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association “to attend a meeting of the officers engaged in that battle at Gettysburg, for the purpose of marking upon the ground by enduring memorials of granite the position & movements of the Armies on the field,” according to Lee’s letter.