Mr. SPEAKER: It is not my purpose at this time to make any extended
remarks upon the life and public services of the late Gen. WILLIAM H.F.
LEE. Other gentlemen of the House, more intimately acquainted with Gen.
LEE in his lifetime, are better prepared to do justice to his memory
than I am. But having enjoyed a very pleasant acquaintance with the
deceased during his four years' service as a member of this body, I
desire to express the great respect which I entertained for him as a
gentleman of high character and of noble, manly qualities. Descended
from one of the most highly honored families in the State in which he
had his birth, he was liberally educated, and at an early age entered
the Army as a second lieutenant and served as such until 1859, when he
resigned his commission and returned to the peaceful pursuits of civil
life. In 1861 he followed his illustrious father, and entered the
service of the Confederate States as a captain of cavalry. That he was a
brave and gallant soldier there can be no doubt, for his military
history shows that he rose step by step from the rank of a captain to
that of a major-general of cavalry. In 1865 he surrendered with his
father at Appomattox, and renewed his allegiance and devotion, as I am
glad to believe, to the Government of the United States.
I can but wish, Mr. Speaker, that such honored names as those of Gen.
WILLIAM H.F. LEE and his distinguished father had never been led into
rebellion against the Government of their country. But they felt it to
be their duty to follow the fortunes of their State, and let us to-day,
while mourning the departure of our deceased friend, rejoice that the
surrender at Appomattox has been followed by a restored Union, and that
our reunited, undivided country is now one of the strongest, most
powerful, and prosperous of all the nations of the earth.
As a Representative in this body, while he was not inclined to
participate actively in the discussion of public and political
questions, still Gen. LEE took great interest in all that pertained to
the public welfare, and especially in that which, in his judgment, was
in the interest of his immediate constituents. He was an able, faithful,
and efficient Representative as well as a noble, manly man, and in all
my intercourse with men I never met a more genial, warm-hearted,
pleasant gentleman than the distinguished citizen to whose memory we pay
tribute to-day. I well remember his kindly greetings, and I am sure all
of us who knew Gen. LEE deeply regret his loss as a member of this body,
to which he was for a third time elected by his confiding constituents,
and extend to his sorrowing bereaved family our warm heartfelt
sympathies.