This is an IHeart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, including your

story, send them to our American Stories.com.

And one of our favorite subjects, American History.

So much has been said about this legendary general in between the years of 1861 and 1865,

yet very little is known about this major American historical figure after his

surrender. And we're telling this story because on this day in 1807, General Robert E. Lee was born.

Here to tell the story is Gettysburg National Park Ranger Matt Atkinson.

What I'm hoping to do, among others, besides give you a timeline as to what Robert E. Lee did in the

post-war years, which I think is one of obviously the most often overlooked portion of his life, because,

I mean, the Civil War is always going to be first and foremost foremost the other main theme I'm going to try to get across

Through his own personal example Robert E Lee tries to

To reconcile the nation and what I think a lot of us as Americans today have forgotten is that how far apart this country was in 1865. I think it is the view of a lot of

people that least surrenders at Appomattox and bam, you know, oh, we'll just forget about it.

You know, okay, you know, we'll just go, we'll just hold hands and we'll just reunite and we'll just

continue on down that path again that it takes the country decades some would say

a century some would say not even yet for the for the country to really reunite

I would probably put the country seriously coming back together in the same vein in the Spanish-American War when we all had a common enemy once again instead of each other.

But that would be roughly 30 years after the end of the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee does not live that long.

He's only going to live for five years.

But you think about who symbolized the Confederacy coming out of the Civil War

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