Photographs and autographs in demand--The General’s interest in young
people--His happy home life--Labours at Washington College--He gains
financial aid for it--Worsley’s translation of Homer dedicated to
him--Tributes from other English scholars
The people of Virginia and of the entire South were continually giving
evidence of their intense love for General Lee. From all nations, even
from the Northern States, came to him marks of admiration and respect.
Just at this time he received many applications for his photograph with
autograph attached. I believe there were none of the little things in
life so irksome to him as having his picture taken in any way, but, when
able to comply, he could not refuse to do what was asked of him by those
who were willing and anxious to do so much for him.
In the following letter the photographs referred to had been sent to him
for his signature, from a supply that my mother generally kept on hand.
She was often asked for them by those who very considerately desired to
save my father the trouble:
“Lexington, November 21, 1865.
“My Dear Mary: I have just received your letter of the 17th, and return
the photographs with my signatures. I wrote to you by the boat of
yesterday morning. I also sent you a packet of letters by Captain
Wilkinson [commander of the canal packet], which also ought to have
reached you to-day. I have nothing to add to my former letters, and only
write now that you may receive the photos before you leave. I answered
Agnes’ letter immediately, and inclosed her several letters. I was in
hopes she had made up her mind to eschew weddings and stick to her pap.
I do not think she can help little Sallie. Besides, she will not take
the oath--how can she get married? The wedding party from this place
go down in the boat to-night to Lynchburg--Miss Williamson and Captain
Eoff. They are to be married in church at eight P. M. and embark at
eleven. I wish them a pleasant passage and am glad I am not of the
party. The scenery along the river will no doubt be cheering and
agreeable. I think the repairs of the house will be completed this week;
should the furniture arrive, it will be habitable next. The weather
is still beautiful, which is in our favour. I am glad Caroline is so
promising. I have engaged no servant here yet, nor have I found one to
my liking, we can get some of some kind, and do better when we can. I
have heard nothing of the wedding at ‘Belmead,’ and do not think Preston
will go. Mrs. Cocke is very well, but the furniture she intends for your
room is not yet completed. It will be more comfortable and agreeable to
you to go at once to the house on your arrival. But if there is anything
to make it more desirable for you to come before the house is ready,
you must come to the hotel. If we could only get comfortable weather in
December, it would be better not to go into the house until it is dry,
the paint hard, etc. It will require all this week to get the wood done;
then it must be scoured, etc., and the furniture properly arranged. Tell
Rob he will soon be well. He must cheer up and come and see his papa.
Give my love to Mrs. Cocke, Miss Mary, etc., etc. Tell Agnes, if she
thinks Sallie is IN EXTREMIS, to go to her. I do not want her to pass
away, but it is a great disappointment to me not to have her with me. I
am getting very old and infirm now, and she had better come to her papa
and take care of him.
“Most affectionately yours, R. E. Lee.
“Mrs. M. C. Lee.”
My father was always greatly interested in the love affairs of his
relatives, friends, and acquaintances. His letters during the war show
this in very many ways. One would suppose that the general commanding an
army in active operations could not find the time even to think of such
trifles, much less to write about them; but he knew of very many such
affairs among his officers and even his men, and would on occasion refer
to them before the parties themselves, very much to their surprise and
discomfiture. Bishop Peterkin, of West Virginia, who served on the
staff of General Pendleton, tells me of the following instances, in
illustration of this characteristic:
“It was in the winter of 1863-4, when we were camped near Orange Court
House, that, meeting the General after I had come back from a short
visit to Richmond, he asked after my father, and then said, ‘Did you see
Miss ----?’ and I replied, ‘No, sir; I did not.’ Then again, ‘Did you
see Miss ----?’ and when I still replied ‘No,’ he added, with a smile,
‘How exceedingly busy you must have been.’
“Again--at the cavalry review at Brandy Station, on June 8, 1863--we had
galloped all around the lines, when the General took his post for the
‘march past,’ and all the staff in attendance grouped themselves about
him. There being no special orders about our positions, I got pretty
near the General. I noticed that several times he turned and looked
toward an ambulance near us, filled with young girls. At At last, after
regiments and brigades had gone by, the Horse Artillery came up. The
General turned and, finding me near him, said, ‘Go and tell that young
lady with the blue ribbon in her hat that such-and-such a battery is
coming.’
“I rode up and saluted the young lady. There was great surprise shown by
the entire party, as I was not known to any of them, and when I came out
with my message there was a universal shout, while the General looked
on with a merry twinkle in his eye. It was evidently the following up on
his part of some joke which he had with the young lady about an officer
in this battery.”
My mother had arranged to start for Lexington on November 28th, via
the canal, but for some reason was prevented on that day. In his next
letter, my father, who was most anxious that she should make the journey
before the bad weather set in, expresses his disappointment at not
finding her on the packet on the expected morning.
“Lexington, Virginia, November 20, 1865.
“My Dear Mary: I am much disappointed that you did not arrive on the
boat last night, and as you had determined when you wrote Saturday, the
25th, to take the boat as it passed Tuesday, I fear you were prevented
either by the indisposition of yourself or of Robert’s. I shall,
however, hope that it was owing to some less distressing cause. Our
room is all ready and looks remarkably nice. Mrs. Cocke, in her great
kindness, seems to have provided everything for it that you require, and
you will have nothing to do but to take possession. The ladies have also
arranged the other rooms as far as the furniture will allow. They have
put down the carpets in the parlour, dining-room, and two chambers
upstairs, and have put furniture in one room. They have also put up
the curtains in the rooms downstairs, and put a table and chairs in
the dining-room. We have, therefore, everything which is required for
living, as soon as the crockery, etc., arrives from ‘Derwent,’ of which
as yet I have heard nothing. Neither has the furniture from Baltimore
arrived, and the season is so far advanced that we may be deprived of
that all winter. But with what we now have, if we can get that from
‘Derwent,’ we shall do very well. There is some report of the packets
between this place and Lynchburg being withdrawn from the line, which
renders me more uneasy about your journey up. This is a bright and
beautiful morning, and there is no indication of a change of weather,
but the season is very uncertain, and snow and ice may be upon us any
day. I think you had better come now the first opportunity. Do not take
the boat which passes ‘Bremo’ Saturday. It reaches Lynchburg Sunday
morning, arriving here Monday night. You would in that case have to lie
at the wharf at Lynchburg all day Sunday. I have heard of Agnes’ arrival
in Richmond, and shall be happy to have ‘Precious Life’ write me again.
I have engaged a man for the balance of the year, who professes to know
everything. He can at least make up fires, and go on errands, and attend
to the yard and stable. I have heard nothing of Jimmy. Give my kind
regards to all at ‘Bremo.’ Custis is well and went to the boat to meet
you this morning. The boat stops one and one-quarter miles from town.
Remain aboard until we come.
“Most affectionately yours, R. E. Lee.
“P.S.--Since writing the foregoing I have received your letter of the
28th. I shall expect you Saturday morning. R. E. L.
“Mrs. M. C. Lee.”
At this time the packet-boat from Lynchburg to Lexington, via the James
River and Kanawha Canal, was the easiest way of reaching Lexington from
the outside world. It was indeed the only way, except by stage from
Goshen, twenty-one miles distant, a station of the Chesapeake & Ohio R.
R. The canal ran from Lynchburg to Richmond, and just after the war did
a large business. The boats were very uncertain in their schedules, and
my father was therefore very particular in his directions to my mother,
to insure her as far as he could a comfortable journey [my father was
not aware, when he wrote such explicit directions about the route, that
Colonel Ellis had again put his boat at my mother’s service].
We did get off at last, and after a very comfortable trip arrived at
Lexington on the morning of December 2d. My father, on Traveller, was
there to meet us, and, putting us all in a carriage, escorted us to our
new home. On arriving, we found awaiting us a delicious breakfast sent
by Mrs. Nelson, the wife of Professor Nelson. The house was in good
order--thanks to the ladies of Lexington--but rather bare of furniture,
except my mother’s rooms. Mrs. Cocke had completely furnished them, and
her loving thoughtfulness had not forgotten the smallest detail. Mrs.
Margaret J. Preston, the talented and well-known poetess, had drawn the
designs for the furniture, and a one-armed Confederate soldier had made
it all. A handsomely carved grand piano, presented by Stieff, the famous
maker of Baltimore, stood alone in the parlour. The floors were covered
with the carpets rescued from Arlington--much too large and folded
under to suit the reduced size of the rooms. Some of the bedrooms were
partially furnished, and the dining-room had enough in it to make us
very comfortable. We were all very grateful and happy--glad to get
home--the only one we had had for four long years.
My father appeared bright and even gay. He was happy in seeing us all,
and in knowing that my mother was comfortably established near to him.
He showed us over the house, and pointed with evident satisfaction to
the goodly array of pickles, preserves, and brandy-peaches which our
kind neighbors had placed in the store-room. Indeed, for days and weeks
afterward supplies came pouring in to my mother from the people in the
town and country, even from the poor mountaineers, who, anxious to
“do something to help General Lee,” brought in hand-bags of walnuts,
potatoes, and game. Such kindness--delicate and considerate always--as
was shown to my father’s family by the people, both of the town and the
country around, not only then but to this day, has never been surpassed
in any community. It was a tribute of love and sympathy from honest and
tender hearts to the man who had done all that he could do for them.
My father was much interested in all the arrangements of the house, even
to the least thing. He would laugh merrily over the difficulties that
appalled the rest of us. Our servants were few and unskilled, but his
patience and self-control never failed. The silver of the family had
been sent to Lexington for safe-keeping early in the war. When General
Hunger raided the Valley of Virginia and advanced upon Lexington, to
remove temptation out of his way, this silver, in two large chests,
had been intrusted to the care of the old and faithful sergeant at the
Virginia Military Institute, and he had buried it in some safe place
known only to himself. I was sent out with him to dig it up and bring it
in. We found it safe and sound, but black with mould and damp, useless
for the time being, so my father opened his camp-chest and we used
his forks, spoons, plates, etc., while his camp-stools supplied the
deficiency in seats. He often teased my sisters about their experiments
in cookery and household arts, encouraging them to renewed efforts after
lamentable failures. When they succeeded in a dish for the table, or
completed any garment with their own hands, he was lavish with his
praise. He would say:
“You are all very helpless; I don’t know what you will do when I am
gone,” and “If you want to be missed by your friends--be useful.”
He at once set to work to improve all around him, laid out a vegetable
garden, planted roses and shrubs, set out fruit and yard trees, made new
walks and repaired the stables, so that in a short time we were quite
comfortable and very happy. He at last had a home of his own, with his
wife and daughters around him, and though it was not the little farm in
the quiet country for which he had so longed, it was very near to it,
and it gave rest to himself and those he loved most dearly.
His duties as president of Washington College were far from light. His
time was fully occupied, and his new position did not relieve him from
responsibility, care and anxiety. He took pains to become acquainted
with each student personally, to be really his guide and friend. Their
success gratified and pleased him, and their failures, in any degree,
pained and grieved him, and their failures, in any degree, pained and
grieved him. He felt that he was responsible for their well-doing and
progress, and he worked very hard to make them good students and useful
men.
The grounds and buildings of the college soon began to show his care,
attention, and good taste. In all his life, wherever he happened to
be, he immediately set to work to better his surroundings. The sites
selected for his headquarter camps during the war, if occupied for
more than a day, showed his tasteful touch. When superintendent at West
Point, the improvements suggested and planned by him were going on for
the three years he remained there. Very soon after he assumed charge of
Arlington, the place showed, in its improved condition, the effects of
his energetic industry. The college at Lexington was a splendid field
for the exercise of his abilities in this line. The neighbouring
Virginia Military Institute soon followed the example he had set, and
after a year the municipal authorities of Lexington were aroused to the
necessity of bettering their streets and sidewalks, and its inhabitants
realised the need of improving and beautifying their homes. He managed
a very large correspondence, answering every letter when possible, the
greater proportion with his own hand. To the members of his own family
who were away he wrote regularly, and was their best correspondent on
home matters, telling in his charming way all the sayings and doings of
the household and the neighbours.
My sister Agnes had gone to the wedding of Miss Warwick direct from
“Bremo,” and was in Richmond when my father sent her two of the first
letters he wrote after the arrival of my mother in Lexington:
“Lexington, Virginia, December 5, 1865.
“My Worrying Little Agnes: your letter of the 1st received to-night. I
have autographed the photographs and send a gross of the latter and a
lock of hair. Present my love to the recipients and thank them for their
favours. Sally is going to marry a widower. I think I ought to know, as
she refused my son, and I do not wish to know his name. I wonder if she
knows how many children he has. Tell Mr. Warwick I am sorry for him. I
do not know what he will do without his sweet daughter. Nor do I know
what I will do without her, either. Your mother has written--Mildred,
too--and I presume has told you all domestic news. Custis is promenading
the floor, Rob reading the papers, and Mildred packing her dress. Your
mamma is up to her eyes in news and I am crabbed as usual. I miss you
very much and hope this is the last wedding you will attend. Good-bye.
Love to everybody.
“Your affectionate father, R. E. Lee.
“Miss Agnes Lee.”
The other is dated nearly a month later, and from this it appears that
the wedding so often referred to is about to take place:
“Lexington, Virginia, January 3, 1866.
“My Precious Little Agnes: I sat down to give my dear little Sally--for
she is dear to me in the broadest, highest sense of the word--the
benefit of Jeremy Taylor’s opinion on hasty marriages. But, on
reflection, I fear it would be words lost, for your mother says her
experience has taught her that when a young woman makes up her mind to
get married, you might as well let her alone. You must, therefore, just
thank her for the pretty inkstand, and say that I’ll need no reminder
of her, but I do not know when I shall make up my mind to stain it with
ink. I was very glad to receive your letter of the 26th, and to think
that you were mindful of us. I know you do not wish to be away, though
you are striving to get as far away as possible. When you reach Norfolk,
you will be so convenient to New York, whence steamers depart almost
daily for Europe. Let us know when you sail. But I do not write to
restrain your movements, though you know how solitary I am without you.
I inclose...which, with what I gave Mildred, I hope will answer your
purpose. Send me or bring me the photographs I asked for. I like them of
the last edition; they seem to take with the little school-girls, and I
have nothing else to give them. I hope you will have a safe and pleasant
trip. Tell Mr. Warwick I shall sorrow with him to-night--though I
believe Mrs. Lee is right. Remember me to all friends, and believe me,
“Your devoted father, R. E. Lee.
“Miss Agnes Lee.”
The latter part of January my father was sent by the board of trustees
to Richmond to converse with the Committee on Education of the Virginia
Legislature, then in session, as to some funds of the State held by
Washington College. His mission was, I believe, successful, and great
material aid was gained. He remained no long than was absolutely
necessary, and, returning to his duties at Lexington, encountered a
severe snow-storm. The difficulties he had to overcome are described in
the following letter to his daughter Agnes, whom he had met in Richmond,
and who had gone from there to visit some friends in Norfolk:
“Lexington, Virginia, January 29, 1866.
“My Precious Little Agnes: I have received your letter of the 17th,
transmitting the photographs, for which I am very much obliged. I
returned the one for Miss Laura Lippett, whom I wish I could see once
again. It would be more agreeable to me than any photograph. I had quite
a successful journey up, notwithstanding the storm. The snow increased
as we approached the mountains, and night had set in before we reached
Staunton. The next morning, before sunrise, in spite of the predictions
of the wise ones, I took passage on the single car which was attached to
the locomotive, and arrived at Goshen about 10 A. M., where, after some
little encouragement, the stage-driver attached his horses to the stage,
and we started slowly through the mountains, breaking the track. On
reaching the Baths, the North River was unfordable, but I was ferried
across in a skiff, with all my bundles (I picked up two more in Staunton
and one at Goshen) and packages, and took a stage detained on the
opposite bank for Lexington, where I arrived in good time. I found all
as well as usual, and disappointed at not seeing you with me, though I
was not expected. I told them how anxious you were to come with me, and
how you wanted to see them, but that you looked so wretchedly I could
not encourage you. I hope you are now in Norfolk, and that the fish and
oysters will fatten you and cure your feet!... But get strong and keep
well, and do not wear yourself out in the pursuit of pleasure. I hope
you will soon join us, and that Lexington may prove to you a happy home.
Your mother is a great sufferer, but is as quiet and uncomplaining as
ever. Mildred is active and cheerful, and Custis and I as silent as our
wont. Major Campbell Brown is here on a visit. I am surprised to find
him such a talker. I am very sorry to find that Preston Cocke has been
obliged to leave on account of his health. I have one comfort: my dear
nephew will never injure himself by studying. Do not be alarmed about
him.... Remember me to Colonel Taylor, all his mother’s family, his
wife, the Bakers, Seldens, etc. I know none of the latter but the
Doctor, for whom I have always had a great esteem. Your mother, brother,
and Mildred send their best love and kindest wishes. I am always,
“Your devoted father, R. E. Lee.
“Miss Agnes Lee.”
It was at Dr. Seldon’s house that my sister was visiting. He had been
very kind in offering assistance to my father and mother. I remember
well the supper given me and several of my comrades when we were coming
back from the surrender, and while the Doctor and his family were
refugees at Liberty, now Bedford City, Va. Stopping there one night,
weary and hungry, while looking for quarters for man and beast, I got a
note asking me and my friends to come to their house. An invitation of
that kind was never refused in those days. We went and were treated as
if we had been sons of the house, the young ladies themselves waiting
on us. In the morning, when we were about to start, they filled our
haversacks with rations, and Mrs. Selden, taking me aside, offered me a
handful of gold pieces saying that she had more and that she could not
bear to think of my father’s son being without as long as she possessed
any.
The love and devotion shown my father by all the people of the South
was deeply appreciated by him. He longed to help them, but was almost
powerless. I think he felt that something could be done in that
direction by teaching and training their youth, and I am sure this
idea greatly influenced him in deciding to accept the presidency of
Washington College. The advantages to the South of a proper education
of her youth were very evident to him. He strongly urged it wherever and
whenever he could. In a letter written at this time to the Reverend G.
W. Leyburn, he speaks very forcibly on the subject:
“So greatly have those interests [educational] been disturbed at the
South, and so much does its future condition depend upon the rising
generation, that I consider the proper education of its youth one of
the most important objects now to be attained, and one from which the
greatest benefits may be expected. Nothing will compensate us for the
depression of the standard of our moral and intellectual culture, and
each State should take the most energetic measures to revive the
schools and colleges, and, if possible, to increase the facilities for
instruction, and to elevate the standard of learning....”
Again, in a letter to General John B. Gordon, written December, 1867, he
says:
“The thorough education of all classes of the people is the most
efficacious means, in my opinion, of promoting the prosperity of the
South. The material interests of its citizens, as well as their moral
and intellectual culture, depend upon its accomplishment. The
text-books of our schools, therefore, should not only be clear,
systematic, and scientific, but they should be acceptable to parents
and pupils in order to enlist the minds of all in the subjects.”
In a letter to a friend in Baltimore he is equally earnest:
“I agree with you fully as to the importance of a more practical course
of instruction in our schools and colleges, which, calling forth the
genius and energies of our people, will tend to develop the resources
and promote the interests of the country.”
In many other letters at this time and later on, especially in one to
Professor Minor, who had been appointed with him upon a board by the
Educational Society of Virginia, did he urge the importance of education
for the present and future safety, welfare, and prosperity of the
country. Among the many tokens of respect and admiration, love, and
sympathy which my father received from all over the world, there was
one that touched him deeply. It was a “Translation of Homer’s Iliad
by Philip Stanhope Worsley, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford,
England,” which the talented young poet and author sent him, through the
General’s nephew, Mr. Edward Lee Childe, of Paris, a special friend of
Mr. Worsley. I copy the latter’s letter to Mr. Childe, as it shows some
of the motives influencing him in the dedication of his work:
“My Dear Friend: You will allow me in dedicating this work to you, to
offer it at the same time as a poor yet not altogether unmeaning tribute
of my reverence for your brave and illustrious uncle, General Lee. He is
the hero, like Hector of the Iliad, of the most glorious cause for which
men fight, and some of the grandest passages in the poem come to me
with yet more affecting power when I remember his lofty character and
undeserved misfortunes. The great names that your country has bequeathed
from its four lurid years of national life as examples to mankind can
never be forgotten, and among these none will be more honoured, while
history endures, by all true hears, than that of your noble relative.
I need not say more, for I know you must be aware how much I feel
the honour of associating my work, however indirectly, with one whose
goodness and genius are alike so admirable. Accept this token of my
deepest sympathy and regard, and believe me,
“Ever most sincerely yours,
“P. S. Worsley.”
On the fly-leaf of the volume he sent my father was written the
following beautiful inscription:
“To General Lee,
The most stainless of living commanders
and, except in fortune, the greatest,
this volume is presented
with the writer’s earnest sympathy
and respectful admiration
‘... oios yap epveto Idiov Ektwp.’
Iliad VI--403.”
and just beneath, by the same hand, the following beautiful verses:
“The grand old bard that never dies,
Receive him in our English tongue!
I send thee, but with weeping eyes,
The story that he sung.
“Thy Troy is fallen,--thy dear land
Is marred beneath the spoiler’s heel--
I cannot trust my trembling hand
To write the things I feel.
“Ah, realm of tears!--but let her bear
This blazon to the end of time:
No nation rose so white and fair,
None fell so pure of crime.
“The widow’s moan, the orphan’s wail,
Come round thee; but in truth be strong!
Eternal Right, though all else fail,
Can never be made Wrong.
“An Angel’s heart, an angel’s mouth,
Not Homer’s, could alone for me
Hymn well the great Confederate South--
Virginia first, and LEE.
“P. S. W.”
His letter of thanks, and the one which he wrote later, when he heard
of the ill health of Mr. Worsley--both of which I give here--show very
plainly how much he was pleased:
“Lexington, Virginia, February 10, 1866.
“Mr. P. S. Worsley.
“My Dear Sir: I have received the copy of your translation of the Iliad
which you so kindly presented to me. Its perusal has been my evening’s
recreation, and I have never more enjoyed the beauty and grandeur of the
poem than as recited by you. The translation is as truthful as powerful,
and faithfully represents the imagery and rhythm of the bold original.
The undeserved compliment in prose and verse, on the first leaves of the
volume, I received as your tribute to the merit of my countrymen, who
struggled for constitutional government.
“With great respect,
“Your obedient servant,
“R. E. Lee.”
“Lexington, Virginia, March 14, 1866.
“My Dear Mr. Worsley: In a letter just received from my nephew, Mr.
Childe, I regret to learn that, at his last accounts from you, you
were greatly indisposed. So great is my interest in your welfare that I
cannot refrain, even at the risk of intruding upon your sickroom, from
expressing my sincere sympathy in your affliction. I trust, however,
that ere this you have recovered and are again in perfect health. Like
many of your tastes and pursuits, I fear you may confine yourself too
closely to your reading. Less mental labour and more of the fresh air
of Heaven might bring to you more comfort, and to your friends more
enjoyment, even in the way in which you now delight them. Should a visit
to this distracted country promise you any recreation, I hope I need not
assure you how happy I should be to see you at Lexington. I can give
you a quiet room, and careful nursing, and a horse that would delight to
carry you over our beautiful mountains. I hope my letter informing you
of the pleasure I derived from the perusal of your translation of
the Iliad, in which I endeavoured to express my thanks for the great
compliment you paid me in its dedication, has informed you of my high
appreciation of the work.
“Wishing you every happiness in this world, and praying that eternal
peace may be your portion in that to come, I am most truly, Your friend
and servant,
“R. E. Lee.”
That winter, my father was accustomed to read aloud in the long evenings
to my mother and sisters “The Grand Old Bard,” equally to his own and
his listeners’ enjoyment.
Two or three years after this, Professor George Long, of England, a
distinguished scholar, sent my father a copy of the second edition of
his “Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.” The first edition of this
translation was pirated by a Northern publisher, who dedicated the
book back to Emerson. This made Long very indignant, and he immediately
brought out a second edition with the following prefatory note:
“...I have never dedicated a book to any man and if I dedicated this, I
should choose the man whose name seemed to me most worthy to be joined
to that of the Roman soldier and philosopher. I might dedicate the book
to the successful general who is now the President of the United States,
with the hope that his integrity and justice will restore peace and
happiness, so far as he can, to those unhappy States which have suffered
so much from war and the unrelenting hostility of wicked men. But as the
Roman poet says,
“‘Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni;’
“And if I dedicated this little book to any man, I would dedicate it
to him who led the Confederate armies against the powerful invader, and
retired from an unequal contest defeated, but not dishonoured; to the
noble Virginian soldier whose talents and virtues place him by the
side of the best and wisest man who sat on the throne of the imperial
Caesars.”
These two nearly similar tributes came from the best cultured thought of
England, and the London Standard, speaking more for the nation at large,
says:
“A country which has given birth to men like him, and those who followed
him, may look the chivalry of Europe in the face without shame; for
the FATHERLANDS OF SIDNEY AND BAYARD NEVER PRODUCED A NOBLER SOLDIER,
GENTLEMAN, AND CHRISTIAN THAN GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE.”
In a letter to his old friend, Mr. H. Tutweiler, of Virginia, Professor
Long sent the following message to my father, which, however, was never
received by him, it having been sent to my mother only after his death:
“I did not answer General Lee’s letter [one of thanks for the book, sent
by Professor Long through Mr. Tutweiler], because I thought that he
is probably troubled with many letters. If you should have occasion to
write to him, I beg you will present to him my most respectful regards,
and my hope that he will leave behind him some commentary to be placed
on the same shelf with Caesar’s. I am afraid he is too modest to do
this. I shall always keep General lee’s letter, and will leave it to
somebody who will cherish the remembrance of a great soldier and a good
man. If I were not detained here by circumstances, I would cross the
Atlantic to see the first and noblest man of our days.”
Another noble English gentleman, who had shown great kindness to the
South and who was a warm admirer of General Lee, was the Honorable A.
W. Beresford Hope. He, I think, was at the head of a number of English
gentlemen who presented the superb statue of “Stonewall” Jackson by
Foley to the State of Virginia. It now stands in the Capitol Square at
Richmond, and is a treasure of which the whole Commonwealth may justly
be proud. Through Mr. Hope, my father received a handsome copy of
the Bible, and, in acknowledgement of Mr. Hope’s letter, he wrote the
following:
“Lexington, Virginia, April 16, 1866.
“Honourable A. W. Beresford Hope, Bedgebury Park, Kent, England
“Sir: I have received within a few days your letter of November 14,
1865, and had hoped that by this time it would have been followed by the
copy of the Holy Scriptures to which you refer, that I might have known
the generous donors, whose names, you state, are inscribed on its pages.
Its failure to reach me will, I fear, deprive me of that pleasure, and
I must ask the favour of you to thank them most heartily for their
kindness in providing me with a book in comparison with which all others
in my eyes are of minor importance, and which in all my perplexities has
never failed to give me light and strength. Your assurance of the esteem
in which I am held by a large portion of the British nation, as well as
by those for whom you speak, is most grateful to my feelings, though I
am aware that I am indebted to their generous natures, and not to my
own merit, for their good opinion. I beg, sir, that you will accept my
sincere thanks for the kind sentiments which you have expressed toward
me, and my unfeigned admiration of your exalted character. I am, with
great respect,
“Your most obedient servant,
“R. E. Lee.”