Louis Weichmann

[L Verge]

It surprises me, Pamela, that you are not interested in understanding Robert E. Lee. He is such an integral part of U.S. history (especially the Civil War period) that one can get a much better perspective on the whole picture of our country at that time by knowing about Lee the man and military leader.

As an aside regarding his violation of his vow of loyalty to the U.S., I can only surmise that he - and millions of others - no longer considered the U.S. to be the same country that they had vowed to defend. They had lost faith in the principles as they were being interpreted by the new administration, just as I see many citizens today having lost faith in how government is being handled.

Back to the New York Daily Tribune: I knew that it was Horace Greeley's newspaper, but very little else about it. From its founding in 1842 until 1866, it was the political mouthpiece of the waning Whigs and the upcoming Republicans. Abolition was one of its driving forces. I was surprised to find out that it was anti-Lincoln, however, in the 1864 election. It had become the mouthpiece for the Radical Republicans. It was also anti-Irish. Karl Marx was also one of its contributors during the 1850s. Rick Brown may be able to fill us in on some more juicy details about this newspaper's history??