Alumni Group Celebrates Founders Day in Off-Campus Events

The Generals Redoubt hosted gatherings to honor Washington, Lee, and Graham.

“Please charge and raise your glasses to honor and salute the gifts of the fathers to our unforgettable and resilient alma mater, Washington and Lee University,” instructed Tom Rideout, ‘63, at The Generals’ Redoubt Founders’ Day reception on Friday, January 19, 2024.

The nearly 60 students, alumni, and community members in attendance then toasted the three figures whom Rideout and others argue were essential to the university’s growth and survival: William Graham, George Washington, and Robert E. Lee.

The reception, held in the Patton Room, marked an occasion which had been officially celebrated by W&L from 1871 until its removal from the university calendar in June 2021. The decision to discontinue Founders’ Day was in conjunction with the Board of Trustees’ vote to keep the university’s name.

Founders’ Day was traditionally held in Lee Chapel, National Historic Landmark on or near Robert E. Lee’s birthday of January 19. The bill of program included remarks from the university president, a notable speaker, and a wreath laying at Lee’s grave beneath the chapel.

The Generals Redoubt (TGR) intends to keep the occasion alive by hosting celebrations each year — and encouraging other alumni groups to do the same. According to Rideout, TGR’s chairman, groups in “about half a dozen cities around the nation will conduct similar celebrations of remembrance” in the coming weeks.

In his remarks for the evening, Rideout quoted extensively from Founders’ Day remarks given by President Dudley in 2017, 2018, and 2020, remarks Rideout felt “capture much of the traditional Founders Day messaging.”

In one passage which Rideout quoted from Dudley’s 2017 remarks, the president explained how Lee had rescued the college: “He saved this institution when its existence was threatened and he proved to be remarkably forward looking. Lee transformed the college into a small university by expanding the classical curriculum with the addition of modern languages and history, mathematics and natural science, journalism, and law.”

Rideout contrasted Dudley’s earlier remarks with what he sees as academia’s current fixation on group identity and outcomes, ideological conformity, and anti-racism. He argued that the classical liberal education as advocated by Washington, Lee, and, until recently, President Dudley, has been supplanted by cultural considerations best exemplified in presentism and cancel culture.

Rideout felt that both Washington and Lee would “would encourage us to take back the lost ground, and urge we unite to finally close out the largely successful journey led by Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement.”

“This goal is to complete the final banishment of left over slavery from our constitutional republic and reconstitute a culture based on character and moral substance, rather than the celebration of selective group grievance and victimization,” Rideout said.

Rideout’s remarks were followed by a brief video presented by Kamron Spivey, ‘24 about the history of Fancy Hill — TGR’s new headquarters outside Lexington, Virginia.

According to Spivey, the Fancy Hill house was built in 1821 and has undergone numerous additions and renovations. Throughout its history, the property had multiple owners and served a variety of purposes.

From the 1820s to 1840s, the site served as a tavern along the road between Fincastle and Staunton. The tavern featured a jail cell and doctor’s office. After the Civil War, Fancy Hill became a classical school.

“Fancy Hill was once a community hub, where practical intellectualism flourished and where friends and neighbors congregated together. The Generals’ Redoubt hopes to restore Fancy Hill to that status,” Spivey said in the video.

Spivey produced the video for a summer internship with TGR. He is also president of Students for Historical Preservation (SHP).

After the video, Tom Rideout directed attendees to toast the university founders. But before doing so, he proposed that the audience toast not only Washington and Lee, but also the Reverend William Graham — a man who, although critical to the university’s history, has not been traditionally celebrated on Founders’ Day.

It was Graham who, as rector of Liberty Hall Academy, solicited Washington’s donation of 100 shares of the James River Company. Graham is buried outside Lee Chapel.

The Friday reception was followed by another event on Saturday, January 20, hosted by TGR at Fancy Hill. Attendees toured the house, and Rideout shared his remarks once more for those unable to attend Friday’s session.