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OR a year or more before our Civil War,
the citizens and visitors in Washington
were often attracted by a solitary horse
man on the streets of the capital. He
was known as one of the handsomest
of our prominent men; he rode with
superb grace, and was as modest in
manner as he was elegant in form and
action. This man was Robert E. Lee,
F
then lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment of
Cavalry, who, after having served with his regi
ment in Texas for a considerable time, was called
to Washington in 1859 to join the staff of Gen.
Winfield Scott. It was his usual custom to ride on
horse-back from his magnificent estate, and palatial
mansion, known as Arlington, on the southern side
of the Potomac, to the headquarters of the army,
and return in the evening.
“That he attracted attention on the streets of the
capital, was not a source of gratification to him, as
he was one of the most unpretentious of gentlemen,
and rarely rode through the great thoroughfares. ’ ’—
Col. A. K. McClure, in “Sketches of Prominent
Men.”
Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford, West
moreland county, Virginia, January 19, 1807. His
father, “Light Horse Harry” Lee, of Revolution
ary fame, was General Washington's firm friend
and military adviser; and while quelling a riot in
Baltimore, in 1814, he received a wound from which
he never entirely recovered.
Four years later, while returning from the West
Indies, he was taken violently ill in Georgia, and
died. His remains were buried on Cumberland Is
land. In speaking of the friendship between these
two distinguished families, it is perhaps unknown
to the general reader that R. E. Lee’s grandmother,
Lucy Grymes, the famous “lowland beauty,” was
General Washington’s first love.
For some reason, which she afterwards regret
ted, she rejected him, and he was soon happily mar
ried to the handsome Widow Custis.
To the latter’s granddaughter, Mary Randolph
Custis, R. E. Lee was married in 1832. Seven chil
dren blessed their union, three of whom survive,
and reside at Lexington, Va. The eldest son, George
Washington Custis Lee, succeeded his late distin
guished father in the presidency of the Washington
and Lee University, at Lexington, which position he
still holds. In the late 50’s Robert E. Lee was re
garded as the most accomplished of the young sol
diers of the army. Besides being the ranking gradu
ate in a class of forty-two at West Point, he had
won distinction on several battlefields in Mexico.
So, when the storm of civil strife burst upon
the country, it was the opinion of leading men of
the army, that he would be chosen commender of
the Union forces. It was known that he was op
posed to secession, as a short time before his resig
nation from the army he wrote a letter to his son,
in which he expressed himself as follows:
“Secession is nothing but revolution. The fram
ers of our constitution never exhausted so much
labor, wisdom and forbearance in its formation, and
surrounded it with so many guards and securities,
if it was intended to be broken by every member
of the Confederacy at will.”
After the open declaration of war, by the firing
on Fort Sumter, Francis P. Blair was chosen by the
President and secretary of war to hold an inter
view with Lee, and make him an offer of the com
mand of the Union Army, to which Lee replied
with much feeling: “Mr. Blair, if I owned the
four million slaves of the South, I would sacrifice
them all to the Union, but how can I draw my
sword upon Virginia, my native state?”
The night before he wrote his letter of resigna
tion to .Gen. Winfield Scott, commander of the
army, it was evident from his countenance that he
was undergoing a struggle with his feelings.
He desired to be alone, and repaired to an upper
chamber, while his wife below could hear him
2<O®ERT EDW/IRD ZEE
By Mrs. Harriet Parks Miller.
The Golden Age for January 23, 1908.
pacing the floor, and pouring forth his soul in
prayer for divine guidance.
He came down at 2 a. m. looking calm and com
posed, and said to his wife, “Well, Mary, the path
of duty is now plain before me, I will at once send
my resignation to Gen. Scott,” whereupon he wrote
the letter which decided his future course, as touch
ing his military career, and on the 22nd of April,
1861, he left his palatial home at Arlington, never
to return to it as his own.
On the 23rd he was appointed Major General,
with chief command of the Virginia forces.
This office he filled until the Confederate capital
was moved from Montgomery, Ala., to Richmond.
Despite Lee’s avowed aversion to going into active
field duty, President Davis was persistent in his
expressions of the South’s great need of his
military accomplishments. His first field service
began in West Virginia, where very little of note
took place.
At the battle of “Seven Pines,” in which Joseph
E. Johnston was severely wounded, Lee was ap
pointed to succeed him, and afterward directed the
movements of the Confederate Army in Virginia,
to the close of the war.
That he was ever in deep sympathy with his men
in the hardships of camp life the following shows.
The winter of 62-63 was severe; as early as
December, a number of the Federal pickets froze
to death while standing guard on the Rappahan
nock. The Confederates were miserably clothed,
and Lee made a personal appeal to the War Depart
ment in behalf of several thousand of his men who
were barefooted, but the plea was unheeded.
So broad was' his sympathy during this trying
time, that he refused the offer of a comfortable
house in which to establish his headquarters, choos
ing instead, what is known as a tent-house, differ
ing but little in comfort from those in which the
privates slept; and when the neighboring citizens
sent him delicacies to eat, he invariably sent them
to the sick of the hospitals. He refused stimulat
ing drinks, and did not use tobacco in any form.
It was often said of him, that he preferred the
hardships of the thorough soldier, to the self in
dulgent comforts of peace, and while his position
demanded commanding-dignity, at times, he enjoyed
hours of relaxation exceedingly delightful to those
around him; for instance, while camping near
Fredericksburg, he frequently visited the homes of
two pleasant families, in one of which, was a
sunny haired little girl who became very much
attached to him, and always ran to receive her
accustomed kiss.
One day she asked him to lean forward as she had
a secret to tell him. and when he did so, she
whispered. “I want to kiss General Stonewall
Jackson too.”
When Lee, half amused, made known her sweet,
childish desire, Jackson blushed like a timid
maiden. The sublime friendship which existed
between these distinguished Confederate generals
continued unbroken, till the tragedy at Chancellors
ville.
Jackson believed that an abler military leader
than Lee, had never lived, and his heart thrilled
with delight in carrying out his orders.
Only a few months before his death he was heard
to remark.
“Lee is the only man whom I would follow
blindfolded! ’ ’
He was rightfully regarded among the greatest
defensive generals of the 19th century, and until
his army was weakened by death, desertion, and
lack of supplies, he was never defeated in any of
the many battles fought along this line.
McClure said of him, “Tn but one battle of the
war were his limitations exhibited, and that was
at Gettysburg.”
“It was the first campaign in which he was com
pelled to be strategically and tactically aggressive,
and his great opportunity was lost the first day of
the battle, when he failed to dislodge the shattered
Union forces from Cemetery Hill, and take posses
sion of Round Top, and Culp’s Hill.”
He further adds: “It has always been a sur
prise to those who closely studied the character of
Gen. Lee, that he insisted upon Pickett’s bloody and
disastrous charge, even against the earnest protest
of Longstreet.
“It was now an accepted historical fact that the
Gettysburg campaign was a blunder, and that the
failure of Lee to take possession of the whole
field on the first day, led to the decisive battle of
the war, in which the fate of the Confederacy
was irrevocably sealed.
“But it is easy to criticise a commander after a
battle has been fought, and all the opportunities
known to the critic, many of which were unknown
to the commander at the time, have passed.”
It was generally known that Lee fought at
Gettysburg against his own convictions, for he was
averse to going into the enemy’s country to fight a
superior force, thereby weakening his own lines.
Col. McClure visited President Davis in his
Mississippi home, ten years after the war, and
during an interesting interview, Davis unconsciously
revealed much that exonerated Lee in this battle.
After a lapse of 44 years, the bitterness of
civil strife is well nigh obiliterated, and around the
little Pennsylvania hamlet, known as Gettysburg,
among whose hills was fought the life-and-death
struggle, between the Southern hosts, and Northern
legions, which forever sealed the doom of the
Confederacy, there linger only to Southern hearts,
a sad historic memory.
By act of Confederate Congress, February 5,
1865, Lee was made Commander-in-Chief, which
placed him beyond all possible interference of the
Executive but the advancement came too late.
Just here I deem it due President Davis to say
that those who knew him best thought that he
often erred through honest convictions.
Tn conclusion, McClure said: “When the final
surrender came at Appomattox, Lee appeared be
fore Grant in his best uniform, with his finest
sword at his side, ready to perform this last sad
duty for the ‘Lost Cause,’ with all the dignity of
a soldier, and a gentleman.
“Grant was in fatigue uniform, and without his
sword, which at once indicated to Lee that the
delivery of his sword was not expected.
“The surrender accomplished, he asked for rations
for his starving troops, to which a generous re
sponse was given. Arlington, his beautiful home,
having boon confiscated by the Federal Government,
he quietly retired to an unpretentious residence in
Richmond. ’ ’
Several handsome homes were tendered him as
gifts from wealthy friends, all of which he kindly
refused.
At a public gathering in Richmond, soon after
the memorable surrender, his youngest daughter
Mildred, was heard to remark, that her father’s
proud spirit would not allow him to accept charity,
but he would accept service.
The Presidency of Washington and Lee Universi
ty was soon offered him, which position he held till
the fall of 1870, when he was stricken with
paralysis, and after lingering several days in an
unconscious condition, he died on the 12th of
October.
Like Stonewall Jackson, he requested, “Bury
me at Lexington in the beautiful valley of
Virginia. ”
It is said that his room in the College building
remains exactly as he left it, including his easy
shoes in the corner, and little scraps of paper in
and around his desk, on which he at times would
record a thought.
Os the South’s many heroes, none were so
universally loved as Robert E. Lee, to whose
hundred and first birthday anniversary the Nation
pays sublime tribute!
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