Americans are, sadly, getting used to the woke mob’s attempts at erasing the country’s history, but Virginia’s Washington & Lee University may have just taken the hysteria over all things “Confederate” to new levels of absurdity.
Washington & Lee University is named, in part, for Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Lee is actually enshrined at the campus chapel that once bore his name before it was changed to the less triggering “University Chapel & Chapel Galleries.”
(Video: YouTube)
As any student at the university will tell you, Traveller, the courageous 16-hand gray American Saddlebred horse General Lee rode in the Civil War, has been an icon of campus culture for ages.
Like his owner, Traveller is buried at the university, but thanks to his Confederate connections, two markers that once honored the beloved animal have been removed, including his gravestone, which was replaced “with a version omitting the original references to Lee and the United Daughters of the Confederacy,” according to The College Fix.
“and the horse you rode in on.” It appears that Washington and Lee University is not only cancelling Lee but even his horse. https://t.co/CyWXu5uhzy Traveler was originally put down for untreatable tetanus but will now be put down again by equally untreatable cancel culture.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 8, 2023
Also removed was a plaque that marked Traveller’s last home. Taken down on July 16 in response to “community concerns,” the plaque, as of August 7, has yet to be replaced.
“The last home of Traveller,” it originally read. “Through war and peace the faithful, devoted and beloved horse of General Robert Lee. Placed by the Virginia Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy.”
In an email to The College Fix, Kamron Spivey, president of Students for Historical Preservation, lamented the cancellation of General Lee’s longtime companion.
“Traveller was a beloved part of the campus story,” Spivey said. “People like to hear tales about animals because they do no wrong. That is how Traveller has been immortalized in campus history.”
“He was a faithful horse whose beauty and loyalty Robert E. Lee said would inspire poets,” he added. “Until this month, very few people seemed bothered by the horse.”
The private university’s move to erase history began in June 2021, when the board of trustees announced it wanted to be absolutely sure no one would think it was actually proud of their institution’s namesake.
“In the midst of the nationwide protests and search for racial justice, the Board of Trustees received requests from students, faculty and alumni calling for changes in the university, including renaming the institution itself and altering the design of its diploma,” the trustees stated at the time.
Ultimately, the trustees decided to keep the name of the university and, instead, go after the “campus symbols.”
“We have reviewed campus symbols, names and practices, and we are making changes to remove doubt about our separation from the Confederacy and the Lost Cause,” they stated.
Traveller inspired campus traditions, including placing apples — because “horses like apples,” according to Spivey — and pennies at his gravestone.
The pennies, Spivey said, “are sort of a shot at Lincoln and the Union, placing the coin tails-up so that Lincoln is essentially kissing the grave of a horse.”
The campus’s party bus, which is credited with saving students’ lives, is even named the “Traveller Safe Ride Program.”
(Video: YouTube)
After receiving “a number of questions about the decision to relocate four historical plaques,” the university released another statement in July.
“Four historical plaques relocated on campus this week are being installed along with other historically significant plaques in a new exhibit, located in University Chapel, titled ‘The Power of Memory: Remembering Robert E. Lee,'” the university said. “The four plaques relocated include one from Payne Hall indicating where Lee took his oath of office as president of Washington College, another from Payne Hall identifying the room that served as Lee’s office from 1865-1868, and two dedicated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to commemorate Lee’s horse Traveller located on the side of the Lee House garage and at Traveller’s gravesite outside the chapel.”
“As the Board of Trustees emphasized in its messages to the University community in June 2021 and September 2022, W&L is an educational institution and, as such, its campus is not a museum or an appropriate repository for Confederate artifacts,” the statement continued. “In keeping with this principle, over a year ago, the Board determined that these plaques should be relocated to educational exhibitions.”
“Traveller’s remains, at the location next to University Chapel, are untouched and a new marker to memorialize him has been installed at the same location,” the university said. “The other related plaques and interpretive signage at the site will also be updated.”
Spivey wasn’t impressed.
The recent moves by the college, he said, are “yet another of the university administration’s attempt[s] to completely ignore the civil war and Robert E. Lee.”
“Due to a misappreciation of Lee’s contributions and positive legacy as an educator, university officials think any reference to the man is detracting from student enrollment. Rather than confront the issue directly, they are trying to secretly hide their history from the world,” he stated.
“[T]he university should keep the original markers,” Spivey argued. “If the goal is to contextualize a historic site, there is no better place than the original location they were erected.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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