Thou shalt not bear false witness Priest William Nelson Pendleton
As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
In the emotions of war, peace, surrender and victory, there are the realities leading up to it, the emotions of the time concluding it, and then a half a generation later, the cold icy examination of the cadaver or history with all of it's rotten stench, which brings a conclusion, that many in the moment had no idea how cowardly or inept they would perceive those actions of the moment.
All reading this, remember the great American victory by God's Grace in Gulf War I, and yet in how poignant that exultation was, General Schwartkopf is in the grave and his books are passed over as nothing, for the Gulf War was a nothing event in the grand scheme of American and world history.
There is a festering reality though in all of America's great wars, and in this expose' the Civil War is to be addressed for it's historical and modern consequences upon the America corpse of the 21st century.
Again most have suffered through Ken Burns fiction of the Civil War, which was based on the absolute racism of two disgruntled and cowardly Confederates named Jubal Early and WN Pendleton, who took it upon themselves years after the war, when the cold examination was beginning of the facts, that they were one of the major causes in blame for the South losing that war.
Early concocted the Lost Cause scenario which excused the North of butchery of the South, and the North being too strong and the fiction that the South had lost the war before it began. That scenario excuses a Jubal Early in failing time and again on the battlefield for the South in losing, and that racist scenario after the war allows a WN Pendleton to preserve the gods of the Confederacy in Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, and shifting the blame to the most accomplished general of the Civil War, who later advocated peace in reconciliation in General James Longstreet of the 1st Corp of the Army of Northern Virginia.
In this expose' General Pendleton who served with the Washington battery of artillery during the Civil War, and who adored General Lee, embarked upon a fundraising tour after the war to construct a memorial Church for Robert E. Lee.
It was here that the Lost Cause began in shifting blame to General Longstreet from General Lee, and the focus was Gettysburg, where Jubal Early was in command and did not even engage in battle as Longstreet's forces were alone in the fight.
The focus of Pendleton was the opening of the battle at Gettysburg on the second day, creating a fiction that General Longstreet had disobeyed orders from General Lee in not attacking.
General W. N. Pendleton led off when making a lec- turing tour through the South for a memorial church for General Lee. He claims that he made a reconnoissance on the afternoon of the 1st of July, and that upon his reporting it. General Lee ordered General Longstreet to attack at sunrise the next day. He did not venture to charge that the Second and Third Corps, that were on the field and had had a good night's rest, were part of the command ordered for the early battle, for the commanders, both Virginians, and not under the political ban, could have brought confusing evidence against him ; nor did he intend to put General Lee in the anomalous position, inferentially, of ordering part of the First Corps — that should march through the night and all night — to make the battle alone.
The proof of the lies of General Pendleton are in the response from General Fairfax of General Lee's staff, who was at Gettysburg, told Pendleton he was wrong, in the company of Robert Lee's son, and Pendleton walked out the door, and began spreading the smears against General Longstreet all through the South.
" My dear General Longstreet, — . . . The winter after the death of General Lee I was in Lexington, visiting my sons at the V. M. I. General Pendleton called to see me at the hotel. General Custis Lee was in my room when he came in. After General Lee left. General Pendleton asked me if General Longstreet was not ordered to attack on the 2d of July at Gettysburg at six o'clock in the morning, and did not attack until four o'clock in the evening. I told him it was not possible. When he left me I was under the impression I had convinced him of his mis- taken idea.
General John FairfaxUnited Confederate States of America
The question of why General Pendleton would be so driven to create a scapegoat at Gettysburg, has the foundation in July of the following year when the war was coming to a close and General Lee had been flushed from Petersburg, abandoned Richmond and was being pushed across Virginia, as General Lee was attempting a break out, to join his forces with General Joseph Johnston further south.
In the following correspondence General Grant writes to General Lee asking for surrender. General Lee responds that the situation is not hopeless and he has no intent of surrender. It is important to note in the following quotes between letters, that General Longstreet is there, reviews Grant's correspondence and informs General Lee, NOT YET, as it is not time to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia, as they may be able yet to push through as Grant has not cut off their front lines yet.
General E. E. Lee, Commanding Confederate States Army : General, — The results of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the Confederate army known as the Army of Northern Virginia. ^* Very respectfully, your obedient servant, ^^U. S. Grant, " Lieutenant- General, Commanding Armies of the United States^ I was sitting at his side when the note was delivered. He read it and handed it to me without referring to its contents. After reading it I gave it back, saying, " Not yet." General Lee wrote in reply, — ^' April 7, 1865. General, — I have received your note of this day. Though not entertaining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender. ^^R. E. Lee,
One begins to comprehend in this a scenario of the reality of the Civil War. General Longstreet was considered the most dangerous commander in the Confederate army. No one in the North wanted to deal with him, because the North always was beaten severely when they came up against this American Napoleon.
Now consider the reality of this, in Jubal Early had lost key battles, had fled like a coward after the war to Mexico and Canada, and into this WN Pendleton was engaged in something in July of 1865 which was beginning to haunt him as the Veterans all knew the facts of what had taken place, in who was pushing General Lee to surrender. It was General Pendleton who was holding military conference meetings with other like minded generals of surrender, and who then were too cowardly to present their letter of surrender to General Lee, went to General Longstreet and expected him to tell Lee to surrender.
In the exchange between Pendleton and Longstreet, it is telling and amusing, because when Pendleton suggests that Longstreet bring the subject up to Lee, Longstreet informs Pendleton that under the articles of war, any subordinate bringing such a subject up to a commander should be shot.
General Longstreet rebuffed Pendleton at the last, and stated if General Lee did not know when to surrender, that General Lee never would know when to surrender.
In the forenoon. General Pendleton came to me and reported the proceedings of the self-constituted council of war of the night before, and stated that he had been requested to make the report and ask to have me bear it to General Lee, in the name of the members of the council. Much surprised, I turned and asked if he did not know that the Articles of War provided that officers or soldiers who asked commanding officers to surrender should be shot, and said, — 'If General Lee doesn't know when to surrender until I tell him, he will never know.'
General Armistead Lindsay (A.L.) Long was a witness of the scene when Pendleton finally did approach General Lee, but in the exchange, General Lee stated that it was not in the least any time to surrender as the Army of Northern Virginia had a great deal of fight yet in them.
General Lee was quite kind to General Pendleton in realizing he was dealing with a man who was not up to the caliber of a Longstreet or Morgan who were still in the field guarding the Confederate front and rear.
General Lee understood if Lee began the exchange, that Grant would know it was weakness and terms for surrender would be that much more harsh on the Confederates.
General Lee was lying on the ground, no others heard the conversation between him and myself. He received my commu- nication with the reply, ' Oh, no, I trust that it has not come to that,' and added, ^General, we have yet too many bold men to think of laying down our arms. The enemy do not fight with spirit^ while our boys still do. Besides, if I were to say a word to the Federal commander, he would regard it as such a confession of weakness as to make it the condition of demanding an unconditional surrender, a proposal to which I will never listen.
There is something in collusion in this on the surface it appears, because General Long reports that a flag of truce appeared after the Pendleton meeting with Lee, and coming from General Grant.
General Long though plainly states that it was Pendleton who gave up the South and that General Longstreet was leading others who were not ready to give up the fight as of that date.
That is a damning witness, and it spurs on the reality of why General Pendleton was parading around the South taking donations for a memorial for Robert E. Lee, after Lee's death with the smear that it was General Longstreet who lost the war at Gettysburg, when the fact is, it was Early who was writing about the Lost Cause and Pendleton who was pushing General Lee to unconditional surrender, which were both themes of the Ken Burns racist propaganda of the Civil War series.
"An event occurred on the 7th," says General Longstreet, which must not be omitted from the narrative. Per- ceiving the difficulties that surrounded the army, and be- lieving its extrication hopeless, a number of the principal officers, from a feeling of affection and sympathy for the commander-in-chief, and with a wish to lighten his re- sponsibility and soften the pain of defeat, volunteered to inform him that, in their opinion, the struggle had reached a point where further resistance was hopeless, and that the contest should be terminated and negotiations opened for a surrender of the army. The delivery of this opinion was confided to General Pendleton, who, both by his character and devotion to General Lee, was well qualified for such an office. The names of Longstreet and some others, who did not coincide in the opinion of their asso- ciates, did not appear in the list presented by Pendleton."* A little after nightfall a flag of truce appeared under torchlight in front of Mahone's line bearing a note to General Lee :
* Memoirs of General Lee, A. L. Long.
With all of the high minded excuses for what Pendleton and others had engaged in, General Longstreet after suffering their post war smears, correctly calls this group PATHETIC. When one examines the reality that Generals in Morgan and Longstreet still had their commands, while others had lost them, and General Pendleton was with the artillery, but apparently had lost his command in not being up to the task, it is a grievous sore for those still in the field defending and fighting, and having worked tirelessly for years in not just fighting a war, but in dealing with moral and the great enemy of war in feeding and clothing an army.
General Longstreet from Tennessee to the last days of Virginia, had absolutely no succor for his troops or horses from Richmond. His supply wagons were constantly in the field foraging and making equipment for his Soldiers. That is why General Longstreet had a Corp at the end of the war, because he was busy husbanding that Corp of Soldiers for years.
The delicate affection that prompted the -knights of later days to offer to relieve our grand commander of his official obligations and take upon themselves responsibility to disarm us and turn us over to the enemy is somewhat pathetic, but when to it are applied the stern rules of a soldier's duty upon a field of emergency, when the com- mander most needs steady hands and brave hearts, their proceeding would not stand the test of a military tri- bunal. The interesting part of the interview is that in it our great leader left a sufficient testimonial of his regard as a legacy to the soldiers of his column of the right. Though commanders of other columns were in mutinous conduct towards him, he had confidence that we were firm and steady in waiting to execute his last command.
This history might not seem important, but it weighs heavily on today's problems in America, as the same groups of liars and thieves have been the ones profiting in all the wars, writing history to suit their promotions, and blaming others and removing the competition who actually did the work.
No truer mirror image has been that, than the God-given victory of Donald Trump. No one who God worked through has been rewarded by Donald Trump or the Trump Transition. They have either been smeared as in Mike Flynn or passed over for a Mike Pence, as this is the reality of a revolution. The people who do the suffering for it, never gain power. It is the swindlers who appear on the eve of victory and lock the doors to the victors, and then spend the rest of the resources in sending out minders and mogs to rewrite the story and make them the heroes.
That is what the Lost Cause was and is. The Truth of History is far different. That history is still there and not expunged, but the masses have been brainwashed and accept a false narrative of the Civil War, as Wikipedia posts sentences about the "controversial James Longstreet". Donald Trump will face the same smears as Mike Pence rewrites the history with the media about the controversial Donald Trump.
Ever wonder why a history rewriter from the pulpit was honored by the federals with is own military camp?
William Nelson Pendleton was an American teacher, Episcopal priest, and soldier. He served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War, noted for his position as Gen. Robert E. Lee's chief of artillery for most of the conflict. After the war, Pendleton returned to his priestly duties and also wrote religious materials. Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is named in his honor
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