Bringing Virginians TogetherBy virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution in the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is hereby officially recognized:
IN HONOR OF GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE
WHEREAS, General Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807 at Stratford Hall Plantation, the son of "Light Horse Harry" Lee and Ann Carter Lee; and
WHEREAS, Robert E. Lee graduated second in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1829 and thereafter enjoyed a distinguished career in the United States Army, exhibiting superior courage, leadership, and tact on the battlefield and as an administrator before resigning from the United States Army April 20, 1861, just three days after the Commonwealth of Virginia's secession from the Union; and
WHEREAS, Robert E. Lee returned to his beloved Old Dominion April 23, 1861 and served for a year as Commander in Chief of Virginia's military forces before returning to the field as Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, the post in which he distinguished himself as one of history's greatest military strategists and one of its most beloved generals; and
WHEREAS, soon after his April 9, 1865 surrender at Appomattox Courthouse ended the most difficult and divisive period in our nation's history, Robert E. Lee dedicated the remainder of his life to reforming higher education in the South by serving as the eighth President of Washington College, now Washington & Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, where he greatly expanded the school's curriculum, increased financial resources, and created an academic atmosphere conducive to reconciliation among young men of Southern and Northern heritage; and
WHEREAS, Robert E. Lee's name evokes thoughts of concepts such as integrity, gallantry, humility, and honor, and he will always be remembered as one of Virginia's finest gentlemen;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, James S. Gilmore, III, do hereby recognize January 12, 2001 as LEE-JACKSON DAY in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.
IN HONOR OF
GENERAL THOMAS "STONEWALL" JACKSON
WHEREAS, General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was born January 21, 1824, in Clarksburg, Virginia, now located in the state of West Virginia; and
WHEREAS, General Jackson began his military career at the United States Military Academy at West Point and continued it in the United States Army until he retired in 1852 after teaching his first year of philosophy and military tactics as a professor at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia; and
WHEREAS, General Jackson left VMI in 1861 to join the Confederate Army and fight for his native Virginia at the outbreak of the Civil War, was quickly promoted from the rank of colonel to the position of brigadier general, and earned his nickname at the First Battle of Bull Run where, according to the South’s Brigadier General Barnard E. Bee, Jackson stood "like a stone wall" against the Union’s advancing troops until Confederate reinforcements arrived; and
WHEREAS, General Jackson’s valor and brilliant stratagems inspired his troops to repeated victories against Union forces that often sizably outnumbered his own, culminating in the Battle of Chancellorsville where, despite being fatally wounded on the second day of fighting, Jackson’s "Stonewall Brigade" teamed with General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to defeat the opposition once again; and
WHEREAS, General Jackson’s military genius and rare ability to motivate men made him a hero of his time and a Virginian icon for all ages;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, James S. Gilmore, III, do hereby recognize January 12, 2001 as LEE—JACKSON DAY in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.
