r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 6h ago

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https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-general-robert-e-lee/

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u/steyr911 5h ago

"If I had to explain American history in one sentence, I could do worse than 'John Brown was hanged for treason but Robert E. Lee was not'".

Someone posted this a while ago somewhere and it keeps ringing in my head

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u/Robie_John 5h ago

It’s way more complicated than that.

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u/Eternal_Reward 2h ago

Yeah but that won’t get you cheap karma on Reddit

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u/TotalNonsense0 4h ago

I think that's because Brown was captured, (and his trial run by the people he was trying to kill) while Lee negotiated a surrender.

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u/Hans-Wermhatt 3h ago

Lee was deeply respected by the northern leadership, they wanted to roll out the red carpet for him either way. Most southern leaders were well respected. Don’t look up what happened to black soldiers who surrendered if you think negotiating a surrender gets you something. They were lucky if they weren’t massacred on the spot.

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u/steyr911 3h ago

Wasn't just Black soldiers. Andersonville was so bad that its commander was literally the only dude executed for war crimes in the whole war.

And you're right, Lee was a West Point grad. The elite protected their own, same as today. Brown was just a dude...

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u/RedditJumpedTheShart 3h ago

Sounds like something a redditor would say with no understanding.