The General believes in the enforcement of law and order--His moral
influence in the college--Playful humour shown in his letters--His
opinion of negro labour--Mr. Davis’s trial--Letter to Mrs. Fitzhugh
Lee--Intercourse with Faculty
Virginia was at this time still under military rule. The
“reconstruction” days were not over. My father had himself accepted the
political situation after the war, and had advised every one who had
sought his advice to do the same. The following incident and letters
will show his acquiescence in the law of the land, and ready submission
to the authorities. In a street disturbance that spring a student had
been shot by a negro, and it was reported that, in case of the
young man’s death, the murderer would be summarily dealt with by his
college-mates. Captain Wagner, the military commissioner, wrote to
General Lee informing him of these reports. He received the following
reply:
“Washington College, Lexington, Virginia, May 4, 1868.
“Captain Wagner, Commissioner District, Lexington, Virginia.
“Sir: Upon investigation of the reports which you communicated to me
yesterday afternoon, I can find no foundation for the apprehension that
the students of Washington college contemplate any attack upon the man
confined in jail for shooting Mr. ---- Friday night. On the contrary, I
have been assured by members of the faculty and individual students that
they have heard no suggestion of the kind, and they believe that no such
intention has been entertained or now exists. I think, therefore, the
reports made to you are groundless.
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“R. E. Lee.”
However, in order to take all precautions and provide against any
disturbance, he wrote as follows to the president of the Young Men’s
Christian Association, whom he knew well and trusted, and who was a man
of much influence with his fellow-students:
“Mr. G. B. Strickler,
“President Young Men’s Christian Association, Washington College.
“I have just been informed by Captain Wagner, Military Commissioner of
this district, that from information received by him, he had reason to
apprehend that, should the wound received by Mr. ---- Friday night prove
fatal, the students of Washington College contemplate taking from the
jail the man who shot him and inflicting upon him summary punishment. I
cannot believe that any such act is intended or would be allowed by
the students of Washington College, thought it is possible that such
an intention may have been spoken of amongst them. I think it only
necessary to call the attention of the students to the report to prevent
such an occurrence. I feel convinced that none would countenance such
outrage against law and order, but that all will cheerfully submit to
the administration of justice by the legal authorities. As the readiest
way of communicating with the students, at this hour, on Sunday, I have
concluded to address you this letter that through the members of the
Young Men’s Christian Association the students generally may be informed
of the apprehension entertained by the military authorities; and I
earnestly invoke the students to abstain from an violation of law, and
to unite in preserving quiet and order on this and every occasion.
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“R. E. Lee.”
The young man recovered, there was no disturbance of any kind, nor
was it believed that there would have been, after this appeal from the
president, even if the wound had proved fatal.
“Nor was it a moral influence alone that he exerted in the college.
He was equally careful of the intellectual interests. He watched the
progress of every class, attended all the examinations, and strove
constantly to stimulate both professors and students to the highest
attainments. The whole college, in a word, felt his influence as an
ever-present motive, and his character was quietly but irresistibly
impressed upon it, not only in the general working of all its
departments, but in all the details of each. Of this influence General
Lee, modest as he was, was perfectly aware, and, like a prudent ruler,
he husbanded it with wise economy. He preferred to confine his direct
interposition to purely personal acts, and rarely--and then only on
critical occasions--did he step forward to present himself before the
whole body of students in the full dignity of his presidential office.
On these occasions, which in the latter years hardly ever occurred, he
would quietly post an address to the students, in which, appealing only
to the highest principals of conduct, he sought to dissuade them
from threatened evil. The addresses, which the boys designated as his
‘general orders,’ were always of immediate efficacy. No single case ever
occurred in which they failed of instant and complete effect; and no
student would have been tolerated by his fellow-students who would have
dared to disregard such an appeal from General Lee.” [Professor Joynes
in “University Monthly”.]
My father had recovered form the spell of sickness of the previous
summer at the Old Sweet Springs, which had weakened and depressed him
until about the time he attended my brother’s wedding. That marriage
had been a great joy to him. His trip there and back, and his visits to
“Brandon” and “Hickory Hill,” the change of climate and scene, seeing
old friends and new places, had all contributed to benefit his health
and spirits. I remember this Christmas of 1867 he seemed particularly
bright and cheerful. I give a letter he wrote me after I had left for my
home which reflects his playful humour and good spirits:
“Lexington, Virginia, January 23, 1868.
“My Dear Robert: I inclose a letter which has just arrived in the
mail. It seems to be from a nice young lady, judging from the style
and address. I hope she is the right one and that her response is
favourable. Put in a good crop, and recollect you may have two to feed
after the harvest. We are doing what we can in this region to supply the
springs and streams that form the lowland rivers. It is still raining,
though the snow and ice have not left us. After your departure, Mr.
Gordon brought to me a letter from Fitzhugh to your mother which had
come in the Sunday mail and was overlooked among the papers. I am sorry
it had not been found before you left, as you would have known their
plans. Tell them I am sorry not to have seen them. We miss you very
much. ‘Life’ has it all her own way now, and expends her energy in
regulating her brother and putting your mother’s drawers and presses to
rights. It’s her only vent, and furnishes exercise for body and mind.
There is to be a great fete in your mother’s room to-day. The Grace
Church Sewing Society is to meet there at 10 A. M.--that is, if the
members are impervious to water. I charged the two Mildreds to be seated
with their white aprons on and with scissors and thimbles in hand. I
hope they may have a refreshing time. Good-bye.
“Your father,
“R. E. Lee.
“Robert E. Lee.”
The second Mildred mentioned here was my father’s niece, daughter of
Charles Carter Lee. She was living with my father at this time, going to
school, and was, like her cousin the other Mildred, not very fond of her
needle. His nickname for her was “Powhattie,” derived, I presume, from
her native County of Powhatan. He was very fond of teasing her in his
playful way. Indeed, we all enjoyed that attention from him. He never
teased any one whom he did not especially like.
To his new daughter I find the following letter, written at this time,
in which he shows his affection and admiration for her:
“Lexington, Virginia, March 10, 1868.
“My Beautiful Daughter: I have been wishing to write to you for a long
time, but have supposed that you would be so engrossed with my sons,
with their plans and their projects, that you could not lend an ear to
your papa. But now I must tell you how much I have thought of you, how
much I want to see you, and how greatly I was disappointed at your not
getting to see us at the time you proposed. You must not postpone your
visit too long, or you may not find us here. Our winter, which has been
long and cold, I hope now is over. The gardeners are busy, the grass is
growing green, and the atmosphere warm and inspiring. I presume under
its genial influence you and Fitzhugh are busy improving your new home.
I hope everything is agreeable, and that you are becoming more and more
interested in making those around you happy. That is the true way to
secure your own happiness for which my poor prayers are daily offered to
the throne of the Most High. I have been summoned to Richmond the third
Thursday in this month, as a witness in the trial against Mr. Davis; and
though that will be a painful errand for me, I hope that it will give me
the pleasure of seeing you. I will endeavour to get down some day to
the White House, if it is only to spend Sunday with you. I hope that you
will be able to pay some attention to your poor brother Robert. Do not
let his elder brother monopolise you altogether. You will have to take
care of both till you can find some one like yourself to take Romancoke
in hand. Do you think Miss Anne Banister will consent? Mildred, you
know, is the only one of the girls who has been with us this winter. She
has consequently had her hands full, and considers herself now a great
character. She rules her brother and my nephews with an iron rod, and
scatters her advice broadcast among the young men of the college. I hope
that it may yield an abundant harvest. The young mothers of Lexington
ought to be extremely grateful to her for her suggestions to them as
to the proper mode of rearing their children, and though she finds
many unable to appreciate her system, she is nothing daunted by the
obtuseness of vision, but takes advantage of every opportunity
to enlighten them as to its benefits. Mary and Agnes are still in
Baltimore, and are now at the house of Mrs. Charles Howard. Agnes
expects, I believe, to return to the Peters near Ellicott City, and then
go over to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to visit the Goldsboroughs and
other friends. I hardly think either of them will get back before June.
I have recently received a very pretty picture from a young lady of
Baltimore, Miss Mary Jones, whom I met last summer at the White Sulphur
Springs. In one of my morning rides to the Beaver-dam Falls, near the
Sweet Springs, I found her at the foot of the falls making a sketch of
the scene, and on her return home she finished it and has sent it to me.
It is beautifully painted and is a faithful representation of the Falls.
I think you will be pleased with it when you come up, and agree with me
in the opinion that it is the principal ornament of our parlour. I am
sorry to inform you that your poor mama ahs been suffering more than
usual lately from her rheumatic pains. She took cold in some way, which
produced a recurrence of her former pangs, though she is in a measure
now relieved. We often wish for you and Fitzhugh. My only pleasure is in
my solitary evening rides, which give me abundant opportunity for quiet
thought. With a great deal of love to your husband, I am your sincerely
attached father,
“R. E. Lee.”
“Mrs. William H. Fitzhugh Lee.”
The next letter I find is a reply to one of mine, in which I evidently
had been confiding to him my agricultural woes:
“Lexington, Virginia, March 12, 1868.
“My Dear Rob: I am sorry to learn from your letter of the 1st that the
winter has been so hard on your wheat. I hope, however, the present good
weather is shedding its influence upon it, and that it will turn out
better than it promises. You must, however, take a lesson from the last
season. What you do cultivate, do well. Improve and prepare the land in
the best manner; your labour will be less, and your profits more. Your
flat lands were always uncertain in wet winters. The uplands were more
sure. Is it not possible that some unbidden guest may have been feasting
on your corn? Six hundred bushels are are a large deficit in casting up
your account for the year. But you must make it up by economy and good
management. A farmer’s motto should be TOIL AND TRUST. I am glad that
you have got your lime and sown your oats and clover. Do you use the
drill or sow broadcast? I shall try to get down to see you if I go to
Richmond, for I am anxious to know how you are progressing and to see if
in any way I can aid you. Whenever I can, you must let me know. You must
still think about your house and make up your mind as to the site and
kind, and collect the material. I can help you to any kind of plan, and
with some ready money to pay the mechanics. I have presently had a visit
from Dr. Oliver, of Scotland, who is examining lands for immigrants
from his country. He seems to be a sensible and judicious man. From his
account, I do not think the Scotch and English would suit your part of
the country. It would require time from them to become acclimated, and
they would probably get dissatisfied, especially as there is so much
mountainous region where they could be accommodated. I think you will
have to look to the Germans; perhaps the Hollanders, as a class, would
be the most useful. When the railroad shall have been completed to West
Point, I think there will be no difficulty in getting the whites among
you. I would try to get some of our own young men in your employ. I rode
out the other day to Mr. Andrew Cameron’s and went into the field where
he was plowing. I took great pleasure in following the plows around the
circuit. He had four in operation. Three of them were held by his former
comrades in the army, who are regularly employed by him, and, he says,
much to his satisfaction and profit. People have got to work now. It is
creditable to them to do so; their bodies and their minds are benefited
by it, and those who can and will work will be advanced by it. You will
never prosper with blacks, and it is abhorrent to a reflecting mind to
be supporting and cherishing those who are plotting and working for your
injury, and all of whose sympathies and associations are antagonistic to
yours. I wish them no evil in the world--on the contrary, will do them
every good in my power, and know that they are misled by those to
whom they have given their confidence; but our material, social, and
political interests are naturally with the whites. Mr. Davis’ trial
was fixed for the last of this month. If Judge Chase’s presence is
essential, I do not see how it can take place, unless that of Mr.
Johnson is to be postponed. I suppose that will be decided to-day or
to-morrow, and then I shall know what to expect. I shall not go to
Richmond unless necessary, as it is always inconvenient for me to leave
home, and I am not at all well. Your poor mother is also more ailing
than she is ordinarily, in consequence of a cold she has taken. But it
is passing away, I trust. I must leave you to her and Mildred for all
local and domestic news. Custis and the boys are well, and ‘Powhattie,’
I hope has got rid of the chills. We hear regularly from Mary and
Agnes, who seem to be enjoying themselves, and I do not think from their
programme that they will get back to us till summer. All unite in much
love, and I am always, Your father,
“R. E. Lee.”
This same month he writes a long letter to his daughter Agnes, who
was visiting friends in Baltimore. The Annette, Mildred, and Mary he
mentions in this letter were the daughters of Charles Henry Carter, of
“Goodwood,” Maryland, a first cousin of my father:
“Lexington, Virginia, March 28, 1868.
“My Precious Agnes: I was so glad to receive your letter, to learn that
you were well and enjoying yourself among pleasant friends. I hope that
you will soon get through all your visits and come home. Your uncle
Smith says you girls ought to marry his sons, as you both find it so
agreeable to be from home, and you could then live a true Bohemian life
and have a happy time generally. But I do not agree with him; I shall
not give my consent, so you must choose elsewhere. I have written to
Annette telling her of my alarm for her. Now that Mildred is engaged,
and she sees how much Mary is in love, I fear she will pick up an Adonis
next, so that she had better run away to the mountains at once. I
am glad that you saw Mr. Davis. It is a terrible thing to have this
prosecution hanging over him, and to be unable to fix his thoughts on
a course of life or apply his hands to the support of his family. But I
hope a kind Providence will shield and guide him. You must remember me
to all my friends, the Taggarts, Glenns, McKims, Marshalls, etc.... As
to the young ladies you mention, you must tell them that I want to see
them very much, and hope that they will all come to the mountains this
summer, and not pass us by in Lexington. When you go to ‘Goodwood’ and
the Eastern Shore, do the same there for me, and present me to all by
name. Tell sweet Sallie Warwick I think she ought to come to Lexington,
if only to show those babies; but in truth the want to see her more
than them, so she may leave them with Major Poor [her husband], if she
chooses. You must see everybody you wish and enjoy yourself as much as
you can, and then come home. I told Mildred to tell you if you wanted
any funds you must let me know and where to send them. I do not know
whether she delivered my message. She has become very imperious, and may
not think you require any. She has been much exercised of late on the
score of servants, but hopes to get some relief on the 1st proximo from
the promised change of Miss Mary Dixon to Miss Eliza Cyrus. I hope her
expectations may be realised. Little Mildred has had a return of her
chills. It has been a sharp attack, and thought it has been arrested,
when I left her this morning I feared she might have a relapse, as this
is her regular day. She was looking remarkably well before it came on,
better than she had ever done, but every cold terminates in this way,
however slight it may be. Colds have been quite prevalent, and there
have been two deaths among the cadets from pneumonia. Fortunately so far
the students have escaped. I am relieved of mine I hope, and your poor
mother is, I hope, better. The storm seems to have subsided, and I trust
the bright weather may ameliorate her pains. Custis, Mildred, and the
boys are well, as are most of our friends in Lexington.... Fitzhugh
writes that everything is blooming at the ‘White House,’ and that his
wheat is splendid. I am in hopes that it is all due to the presence
of my fair daughter. Rob says that things at Romancoke are not so
prosperous--you see, there is no Mrs. R. E. Lee, Jr., there, and that
may make the difference. Cannot you persuade some of those pretty girls
in Baltimore to take compassion on a poor bachelor? I will give them a
plan for a house if they will build it.... All would unite with me in
love if they knew I was writing. You ought to be here to enjoy the birds
Captain O. C. H. sends us. With much love for yourself, and my poor
prayers for your happiness, I am, Your devoted father,
“R. E. Lee.”
A few days afterward he writes to his son Fitzhugh, who was now
established very happily in his new house, and warns him not to depend
entirely on sentiment, but to arrange for something material. He
also speaks of Mr. Davis and his trial, which was continually being
postponed, and in the end was dismissed, and gives him some good advice
about importing cattle:
“Lexington, Virginia, March 30, 1868.
“My Dear Fitzhugh: I was very glad to receive your letter of the 19th,
and as you are aware of the order of the court postponing Mr. Davis’s
trial till the 14th proximo, I presume that you have not been expecting
me down. I see it stated in the Washington ‘Star’ that the trial is
again postponed till May 4th, but I have seen as yet no order from the
court. Mr. and Mrs. Davis went from Baltimore to New York on Tuesday
last, and were to go on to Canada. He said that he did not know what he
should do or what he could turn his hand to for support. As long as this
trial is hanging over him, of course, he can do nothing. He can apply
his mind to nothing, nor could he acquire the confidence of the business
community in anything he might undertake, from the apprehension of his
being interrupted in the midst of it. Agnes and Mary saw them as they
passed through Baltimore. They say Mr. Davis was well, though he had
changed a great deal since they saw him last. I am very glad that you
are so pleased with your house. I think it must be my daughter that
gives it such a charm. I am sure that she will make everything look
bright to me. It is a good thing that the wheat is doing so well, for I
am not sure ‘that the flame you are so rich in will light a fire in the
kitchen, nor the little god turn the spit, spit, spit.’ Some material
element is necessary to make it burn brightly and furnish some good
dishes for the table. Shad are good in their way, but they do not run
up the Pamunkey all the year. I am glad that you are making arrangements
for some cows, and think you are right in getting those of the best
breed. It used to be thought that cows from the North would not prosper
in that lower country, and indeed cows from the upper part of Virginia
did not succeed well, but were apt to become sick and die; and that the
surest process to improve the stock was to purchase calves of good breed
and cross on the native stock. You must, therefore, be careful and
not invest too much. We have had a cold winter, and March has been
particularly harsh. Still, vegetation is progressing and the wheat
around Lexington looks beautiful. My garden is advancing in a small way.
Pease, spinach, and onions look promising, but my hot-bed plants are
poor. The new house, about which you inquire, is in statu quo before
winter. I believe the money is wanting and the workmen cannot proceed.
We require some of that latter article here, as elsewhere, and have but
little.... I heard of you in Richmond the other day, but did not learn
whether my daughter was with you. I wish you would send her up to her
papa when you go away. With much love,
“Your devoted father, R. E. Lee.”
A month later he writes me, telling me that he expects to be in Richmond
the following week, and will try to get down to see us; also telling of
his garden, and horse, and, as he always did, encouraging, cheering me,
and offering help:
“Lexington, Virginia, April 25, 1868.
“My Dear Rob: Your letter of the 21st is just received. I am very glad
that your wheat is improving in appearance, and hope that at harvest it
will yield a fair return for your care and labour. Your corn I am sure
will be more remunerative than the crop of last year, and I trust that
at the end of the year you will find you have advanced in the field of
agriculture. Your mule and provender was a heavy loss. You must make it
up. Replace the first by a good one and I will pay for it. I hope the
warm sun will bring forward the grass to supply the latter. Should I go
to Richmond, next week, as I now expect, I will be prepared to pay for
the mule, and if I do not I will send you a check for the amount. I
am sorry to hear that you have not been well. You must get out of that
too.... You must refresh yourself when you can by going up to the White
House to see your brother and sister. Take a good look at the latter for
me.... In our garden nothing is up but the hardy plans, pease, potatoes,
spinach, onions, etc.... Beets, carrots, salsify, etc., have been sown a
long time, but are not up, and I cannot put in the beans, squash, etc.,
or set out the hot-bed plants. But we can wait. I have not been as well
this winter as usual, and have been confined of late. I have taken up
Traveller, however, who is as rough as a bear, and have had two or
three rides on him, in the mud, which I think has benefited me. Mildred
sometimes accompanies me. Your mother, I am glad to say, is better.
She has less pain than when I last wrote, and is more active on her
crutches.... Good-bye, my dear son. If I go to Richmond I will try to
get to see you.
“Affectionately your father,
“R. E. Lee.”
“R. E. Lee, Jr.”
My father came to Richmond, summoned to attend the trial of Mr. Davis,
but when he arrived he found that it was again postponed. So he went
to the White House and spent several days. I came up from Romancoke and
stayed with him till he left. It was a great pleasure to him to meet his
sons and to see his new daughter in her new home. After his return to
Lexington he wrote to her this letter:
“Lexington, Viriginia, May 29, 1868.
“My Dear Daughter: I have been enjoying the memory, ever since my
return, my visit to the Pamunkey, and whenever I have thought of
writing to you the pleasure I experienced in your company and in that of
Fitzhugh and Robert absorbed the moment I could devote to a letter, and
other calls made me postpone it. But I have thought of you often, and
always with renewed pleasure; and I rejoice at your having around
you more comforts and within your reach more pleasures than I had
anticipated. I pray that both may be increased and be long continued.
There is one thing I regret--that you are so far from us. I know the
difficulty of farmers and their wives leaving home. Their success, and
in a measure their pleasure, depend upon their daily attention to their
affairs, and it is almost an impossibility for us old people to get to
you. Yet I trust we may meet this summer some time, and whenever you
can you must come and see us. Our small house will never be so full that
there will not be room for you, or so empty that you will not be most
cordially welcome. Letters received from Mary and Agnes report them
still on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where they were detained by
the sickness of Agnes. They expected, however, to be able to return to
Baltimore last Tuesday, 26th, where, after a few days’ sojourn, they
were to go to Mrs. Washington Peter’s. I fear, however, that Agnes might
not have been well enough, as she had had an attack of bilious fever
and was much prostrated. Should you find yourself in danger of becoming
sick, you must come right up to your papa. I know you will pine, but
I would rather you should suffer in that way than burn with fever, and
while on that subject I will tell you something that may be of comfort:
you may reasonably expect Fitzhugh soon to follow, so you will not
suffer long. I wish to take your mama to the Warm Springs, and to the
Hot or Healing, if she will go, to try to obtain for her some relief;
but we will not leave home till the last of June or first of July. I am
so much occupied that I feel that I ought never to go away, and every
absence accumulates my work. I had a pleasant visit of three days,
to Lynchburg, attending the Episcopal Convention, and I have not yet
brought up my correspondence, etc. I fear, too, I shall have to go to
Richmond next week, as everything seems to portend the certainty of Mr.
Davis’s trial. God grant that, like the impeachment of Mr. Johnson, it
may be dismissed. If I do go, I fear I shall have no time to visit
you. The examinations of the senior classes of the college are now
in progress, and after their completion the examination of the
undergraduates will commence, and will not terminate till the 15th of
June, and the commencement exercises them begin and end on the 18th.
So you see how necessary it is for me to be here and that I shall be
obliged to hasten back as soon as permitted. I wanted, if possible, to
pass one day at ‘Shirley’--I have not been there for ten years. It was
the loved home of my mother, and a spot where I have passed many happy
days in early life, and one that probably I may never visit again. But
I do not know that I shall be able. We are all as usual, and all would
send much love if they knew I was writing. Mildred is very happing in
the company of Miss Charlotte Haxall, and Custis retains his serenity of
character. Our young members of the family are looking forward to their
return to Powhatan as soon as the college exercises close, which I hope
will bring some relief to me also. I see that you have been much visited
of late, but you know that no one wants to see you as much as I do. Tell
Fitzhugh that his old friend, Miss Helen Peters, has come to Lexington,
from New York, to pass the summer. She is now Mrs. Taylor and has
brought with her two babies. She is as cordial and affectionate as ever.
Give much love to Fitzhugh and Rob, and believe me always your devoted
father,
“R. E. Lee.
“Mrs. Wm. H. Fitzhugh Lee.”
My father was back at the college in full time for the “final
examinations.” He always made it a point to be present, and took his
full share of sitting in the rooms while the students were working on
their papers. When occasion offered, somewhat to the surprise of the
learned faculty, he showed himself thoroughly conversant with each and
every department. Even with Greek he seems somewhat familiar, and would
question the students as to their knowledge of this language, much to
their astonishment.
The commencement exercises of the college began about June 1st and
lasted a week. At this time, the town was crowded with visitors, and
my father had his house full, generally of young girls, friends of my
sisters who came to assist at the “final ball,” the great social event
connected with this college exercise. He seemed to enjoy their society
as much as the young men did, though he could not devote so much time to
them as the boys did, and I know that the girls enjoyed his society
more than they did that of their college adorers. On the occasion of an
entertainment at his house, in going amongst his guests, he approached
a young lady, a great belle, completely surrounded by her
admirers--students, cadets, and some old “Confeds.” He stopped and began
to rally her on her conquests, saying:
“You can do as you please to these other young gentlemen, but you must
not treat any of my OLD SOLDIERS badly.”
Those who have never known him cannot imagine the charm of his manner,
the brightness of his smile, and the pleasant way he had of speaking,
especially to young people and little children. His rebukes to the young
were administered in the kindest, gentlest way, almost persuasively, but
he could be stern when the occasion demanded. Colonel William Preston
Johnston, a member of his faculty and a very dear and trusted friend,
says:
“In his intercourse with his faculty he was courteous, kind, and often
rather playful in manner. We all thought he deferred entirely too much
to the expression of opinion on the part of the faculty, when we would
have preferred that he should simply indicate his own views or desire.
One characteristic of General Lee I noted then and have often recalled:
I never saw him take an ungraceful posture. No matter how long or
fatiguing a faculty meeting might be, he always preserved an attitude in
which dignity, decorum, and grace were united. He was a very well built
man, with rounded body and limbs, and seemed without the slightest
affectation of effort to sit or stand or walk just as a gentleman
should. He was never in a hurry, and all his gestures were easy and
significant. He was always an agreeable companion. There was a good
deal of bonhomie and pleasantry in his conversation. He was not
exactly witty, nor was he very humorous, though he gave a light turn to
table-talk and enjoyed exceedingly any pleasantry or fun, even. He
often made a quaint or slightly caustic remark, but he took care that it
should not be too trenchant. On reading his letters one discovers this
playful spirit in many of them, as, for instance, in his letter to the
spiritualist who asked his opinion of Von Moltke and the French war.
He wrote in reply a most courteous letter in which he said that ‘the
question was one about which military critics would differ, that his own
judgement about such matters was poor at best, and that inasmuch as
they had the power to consult (through their mediums) Caesar, Alexander,
Napoleon, Wellington, and all of the other great captains who had ever
lived, he could not think of obtruding his opinion in such company.’
General Lee did not talk politics, but he felt very deeply the condition
of the country, and expressed to me several times in strong terms his
disapproval of the course of the dominant party.”
There is a story told of my father which points to his playful manner
here alluded to. At a certain faculty meeting they were joking Mr.
Harris, who so long and so ably filled the chair of Latin, about his
walking up the aisle of the Presbyterian church with the stem of his
pipe protruding from his pocket. Mr. Harris took out the offending
stem and began cutting it shorter. My father, who had been enjoying the
incident, said:
“No, Mr. Harris, don’t do that; next time leave it at home.”
Sometimes he deemed it advisable to be a little stern. One of the
young professors went off for a few days without asking the president’s
permission. On his return the General met him very stiffly, saying:
“Mr. ----, I congratulate you on your return to your friends and duties.
I was not aware of your absence until I heard it by chance.”
Mr. ---- told this on himself, and added that it was the last time he
ever went away without a formal leave of absence. His particularity
in little things has often been commented on. He applied it to all his
affairs. Dr. Kirkpatrick, Professor of Moral Philosophy, came into the
president’s office and asked for a certain paper. My father told him
where it could be found. After a while, turning to the doctor he said:
“Did you find the paper?”
“Yes, General,” replied the Doctor.
“Did you return it to the place where you found it?”
“Yes, General.”
At another time he asked Professor Harris to look at a catalogue on the
table. The Professor took up a new one, wrapped ready for the mail, and
was about to tear the cover off, when my father, hastily handing him one
already opened, said:
“Take this, if you please.”
My mother used to say that he could go, in the dar, and lay his hand on
any article of his clothing, or upon any particular paper, after he had
once arranged them, provided they had not been disturbed. One of his
“quaint or slightly caustic remarks,” alluded to by Colonel Johnston,
I recall as told to me. He met a lady friend down in the town, who
bitterly complained that she could get nothing to eat in Lexington
suitable for Lent--no fish, no oysters, etc.
“Mrs. ----,” the General replied, “I would not trouble myself so much
about special dishes; I suppose if we try to abstain from SPECIAL SINS
that is all that will be expected of us.”