Talk:George Washington Custis Lee

Lee's Family Life?

The article is deficient in not discussing its subject's personal history. Did he marry and have children? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.20.226.163 (talk) 04:06, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

(Surrender) on Palm Sunday April 9, 1865

I added, "On Palm Sunday April 9, 1865". - Brad Watson, Miami 71.196.11.183 (talk) 20:42, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

His grandfather - George Washington Custis - was the step-grandson and adopted son of George Washington.

I added: His grandfather - George Washington Custis - was the step-grandson and adopted son of George Washington. This background is very important! - Brad Watson, Miami 71.196.11.183 (talk) 20:51, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Horace Randal

Assigned to duty as brigadier general, April 8, 1864, by General E. Kirby Smith. Mortally wounded at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, April 30, 1864; died, May 2, 1864. Not duly appointed by Confederate President Jefferson Davis or confirmed by the Confederate States Senate.

What is the relevance of this for Lee? It seems to be part of the old debate over whether Randal could be classified as a general, in particular whether he was the youngest general of the war. Valetude (talk) 10:12, 21 November 2021 (UTC)

If I backtracked that correctly the note was there before Horace Randal had his own article. ...GELongstreet (talk) 10:51, 21 November 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for that, GE. But I still don't see how it relates to Lee. If nobody minds, perhaps I could delete it presently. Valetude (talk) 13:29, 21 November 2021 (UTC)

I suppose it wasn't related to Lee but simply to Randal's inclusion in that list of generals, especially as there was no article for more info abaout the rank issues yet. In case of cases ask @Donner60: who added said note. ..GELongstreet (talk) 13:44, 21 November 2021 (UTC)

@GELongstreet: Sorry for not responding sooner; I have been more busy in real life than I wish to be for the past few months and have been almost entirely offline.

You are correct. When I added the note about Randal in 2011, there was no article about him. Perhaps more to the point, each of the names of the other officers mentioned were preceded by their grade as a general officer. Randal also was identified as a brigadier general without clarification. In fact he was not appointed or confirmed as a general officer but was simply one of the officers assigned to duty as brigadier generals by E. Kirby Smith. I thought that distinction was worth mentioning since he was the only officer mentioned whose actual grade was colonel. Some time after I added the note, and wrote the article about Randal, someone removed the identification of the general officers by grade in this article. I can't think of a reason for this; maybe someone thought they were just unnecessary but I think they had been identified as such specifically to show here the future Confederate generals who were also members of Lee's West Point class. Without those grade designations, a reader now needs to look at each of the articles and discern the reason why those members of the class are mentioned in connection with Lee. Those familiar with Civil War generals might pick it up without further designation or explanation but other readers might need to look up each article to pick up the pattern.

Without the identification of the grades of the others as general officers as the article now reads, the note about Randal might seem superfluous, at least if one considers all of the officers mentioned simply to be high ranking Civil War (Confederate) officers. So I had what I considered a reason for the footnote when it was added, i.e., to note that Randal was the only officer in the list who was not appointed a general by Jefferson Davis or confirmed by the Confederate Senate despite his identification in the article simply as a brigadier general. I think it could still be informative and relevant to point out that Randal's official status was different from the other officers named but perhaps that could be a matter of opinion when the others are no longer specifically identified as having been general officers.

Some sources do list Randal as a general but Ezra J. Warner does not include him in Generals in Gray. Bruce S. Allardice has a sketch about him on pages 192-193 in More Generals in Gray.. He notes that Randal was mortally wounded just two weeks after he was assigned to duty as a brigadier general by E. Kirby Smith, and died two days later. John and David Eicher, in Civil War High Commands at page 608, include Randal in the list of "might have beens." As explained in the book at page 587, these include officers who were appointed or nominated as generals, and possibly even served as such, but were never confirmed or commissioned. Others were "acting" generals because of important assignments but were not actual generals.

Good to hear from you, as always. Donner60 (talk) 02:58, 11 December 2021 (UTC)