Gods and Generals

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Welcome, Colonel Lee.

Welcome to my home.

Make yourself comfortable

there, colonel.

Allow me to get to the point, sir.

I have been authorized by

President Lincoln himself...

...with the full blessing

of the War Department...

...to offer you full command of the Army

with the rank of major general.

This Army being raised to quell this

rebellion and to preserve the Union.

I assume this Army is to be used

to invade those areas...

...to eliminate the rebellion by force.

Yes, sir, the Federal government

has been challenged by these rebels...

...who have been most effective

in changing...

...the sentiments

of state legislatures...

...challenging our Constitution and

challenging our central government.

The attack on Fort Sumter

cannot be ignored.

General, my home is right there

across the Potomac.

Why, you can see Arlington House

from your front door.

My family is spread all

over this part of Virginia.

If you invade the South, your enemy

territory will be right across that river.

Well, sir, there is no great outcry

for secession in Virginia.

It's not a foregone conclusion that

Virginia or Tennessee or Arkansas...

...or Kentucky will join the rebellion.

My friend, may I humbly submit that

you're mistaken about Virginia.

As you know, the legislature is

convening in Richmond this very day...

...to discuss the very

issue of secession.

Now, perhaps you know their mind

better than they themselves.

And I regret to say the president's

hasty calling up of 75,000 volunteers...

...to subdue the rebellion

in the cotton states...

...has done nothing to ameliorate

the crisis. It has only deepened it.

I trust you're not being

too hasty yourself, colonel.

This is a great opportunity

for you to serve your country.

My country, Mr. Blair?

I never thought I'd see the day

the president of the United States...

...would raise an army

to invade his own country.

No, Mr. Blair, I cannot lead it.

I will not lead it. No.

I'm sorry to hear you say that, sir.

I fear you're making

a most dreadful mistake.

Sir, please convey my deep sense of

honor and gratitude to the president...

...but I must decline his offer.

Please tell him.

Please be clear. I have

never taken my duties lightly...

...but I have no greater duty

than to my home, to Virginia.

Thank you, sir.

Gentlemen, if you are going

to succeed at this institution...

...you have one common goal:

To learn your lessons.

If you are placing

your energies elsewhere...

...you will not succeed either with me

or in your careers as military officers.

I had hoped you'd see that with a

proper grasp of the artillery principles...

...I've laid before you today,

you would learn to apply...

...these principles with great

effectiveness in your field experiences.

But since you seem unable

to grasp these principles...

...I'm forced to conclude I must repeat

this lesson tomorrow, word for word.

Word for word.

Major, listen to them. The leaders

of our intellectual future...

...screaming for the destruction

of our nation!

Sir, President Lincoln is raising

the troops.

I will not stay in a place where my

students dishonor their country's flag.

Major, I'm leaving

for Pennsylvania tomorrow.

War is the sum of all evils.

But if I know myself,

all I am and all I have...

...is at the service of my

home, my country.

Your country, Thomas?

Your country, my country. It's all one.

All one, Thomas. All one.

So that in the midst of the searching

of souls and the gnashing of teeth...

...the delegates of this convention...

...harried by the actions of a belligerent

usurper and the radicals of his party...

...have stumbled into secession.

Now God knows, I and many

in this room have resisted it.

But how could there be union

with a section of the country...

...that wants to impose

its will through coercion?

Now that Virginia confronts the armed

might of the United States...

...we Virginians have determined

that not one spot of her sacred soil...

...be polluted by the foot of an invader.

Now, in the memory of that great

Virginian, George Washington...

...who was first in the hearts

of his countrymen and calling also...

...upon the memory of his own gallant

father, General Light-Horse Harry Lee...

...this convention now calls upon

Robert Edward Lee to take command...

...of the armed forces of

the Citizen Army of Virginia.

Mr. President, gentlemen

of the convention...

...I'm profoundly impressed by the

solemnity of the occasion...

...for which I must say

I was not prepared.

I accept the position assigned me

by your partiality.

I would have much preferred had

your choice fallen on an abler man.

But trusting to Almighty God,

an approving conscience...

...and the aid of my fellow citizens...

...I devote myself to the service

of my native state...

...in whose behalf alone will I

ever again draw my sword.

We must not fear the final result of this

war, but many a loved one will fall...

...and many a heart throb

with anguish...

...before we can breathe the exhilarating

atmosphere of freedom...

...and feel the sweet assurance

of safety and peace once more.

There's nothing in this life more dear

to me than my children...

...except perhaps the memory

of your wonderful father.

When you go to Richmond,

and wherever this war takes you...

...you must not fear for us.

We will be with you wherever you go.

Surely goodness and mercy have

followed me all the days of my life.

Now be on your way,

and God be with you.

Y'all be coming on back, you hear?

We'll be back, Martha.

I won't forget to write you, sister.

I know there are a thousand brothers

leaving a thousand homes...

...and I know we're not

the only ones, Mother.

But I've never felt sadder in my life.

Good morning, major.

This just arrived for you.

Cadet Norris, return to the Institute.

My compliments to Colonel Smith.

I will be at his office

within the half-hour.

Sir.

"You are ordered to report with the

corps of cadets to camp instruction...

...to begin training and organization

of the Provisional Army...

...for the defense of the

Commonwealth of Virginia."

My esposita.

Come, before I leave, we must sit...

...read together, the verse.

Here.

Yes, here. Corinthians...

Second Corinthians, chapter five.

I have been thinking about this verse.

"For we know that if our earthly house

of this Tabernacle were dissolved...

...we have a building of God.

A house not made with hands,

eternal in the heavens."

Oh, Almighty God...

...grant that if it be thy will...

...thou wilt still avert the threatening

danger and bring us peace.

Keep her whom I love in

thy protected care.

And bring us all at last to

the joy of thy eternal kingdom.

"The Lord is my life. My salvation.

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength in my life.

Of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, even mine

enemies and my foes...

...came upon me to eat up my flesh,

they stumbled and fell.

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