Every wartime photograph of Robert E. Lee shows him wearing a uniform coat bearing three stars on his collar; the insignia denoting the rank of colonel in the Confederate Army. Why did Lee prefer the insignia of a Confederate colonel? Lee had finally attained the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army on the eve of the war and some have speculated that Lee wore the three stars as a gesture of Lee’s famous modesty. Another explanation is that three stars had been in the U.S. Army the appropriate insignia for a lieutenant general a rank that only two men had held: Lee’s idol George Washington and his mentor Winfield Scott.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 21:00:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015