"Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee"

[L Verge]

Read the longer link from the Stratford Hall lecture, however, and you will see the various questions that historians have about both interpretations of what happened. As I stated, we can only surmise what was in the minds of both Lee and the unidentified black man. The interpretation of Col. Broun is all that made it into print - and that's what he "believed" to have been the motive of both parties. We have no evidence of what either man, himself, made of the situation.

I would like to think that Lee was tired, admitted defeat, and was sending a message that life was changing and people had to change with it. Others who do not respect the memory of Lee will judge his actions as one more act of defiance. I think Grant would have done much the same thing - I happen to admire Ulysses S. Grant also.