PART I.

_LEE'S EARLY LIFE_.

I.--Introduction

II.--The Lees of Virginia

III.--General "Light-Horse Harry" Lee

IV.--Stratford

V.--Lee's Early Manhood and Career in the United States Army

VI.--Lee and Scott

VII.--Lee resigns

VIII.--His Reception at Richmond

IX.--Lee in 1861

X.--The War begins

XI.--Lee's Advance into Western Virginia

XII.--Lee's Last Interview with Bishop Meade

PART II.

_IN FRONT OF RICHMOND_.

I.--Plan of the Federal Campaign

II.--Johnston is wounded

III.--Lee assigned to the Command--his Family at the White House

IV.--Lee resolves to attack

V.--Stuart's "Ride around McClellan"

PART III.

_ON THE CHICKAHOMINY_.

I.--The Two Armies

II.--Lee's Plan of Assault

III.--The Battle of the Chickahominy

IV.--The Retreat

V.--Richmond in Danger--Lee's Views

VI.--Lee and McClellan--their Identity of Opinion

PART IV.

_THE WAR ADVANCES NORTHWARD_.

I.--Lee's Protest

II.--Lee's Manoeuvres

III.--Lee advances from the Rapidan

IV.--Jackson flanks General Pope

V.--Lee follows

VI.--The Second Battle of Manassas

PART V.

_LEE INVADES MARYLAND_.

I.--His Designs

II.--Lee in Maryland

III.--Movements of the Two Armies

IV.--The Prelude to Sharpsburg

V.--The Battle of Sharpsburg

VI.--Lee and McClellan--their Merits in the Maryland Campaign

VII.--Lee and his Men

VIII.--Lee passes the Blue Ridge

IX.--Lee concentrates at Fredericksburg

X.--The Battle of Fredericksburg

XI.--Final Movements of 1862

XII.--The Year of Battles

XIII.--Lee in December, 1862

PART VI.

_CHANCELLORSVILLE AND GETTYSBURG_.

I.--Advance of General Hooker

II--The Wilderness

III.--Lee's Determination

IV.--Jackson's Attack and Fall

V.--The Battle of Chancellorsville

VI.--Flank Movement of General Sedgwick

VII.--Lee's Generalship and Personal Demeanor during the Campaign

VIII.--Personal Relations of Lee and Jackson

IX.--Circumstances leading to the Invasion of Pennsylvania

X.--Lee's Plans and Objects

XI.--The Cavalry-fight at Fleetwood

XII.--The March to Gettysburg

XIII.--Lee in Pennsylvania

XIV.--Concentration at Gettysburg

XV.--The First Day's Fight at Gettysburg

XVI.--The Two Armies in Position

XVII.--The Second Day

XVIII.--The Last Charge at Gettysburg

XIX.--Lee after the Charge

XX.--Lee's Retreat across the Potomac

XXI.--Across the Blue Ridge again

PART VII.

_LAST CAMPAIGNS OF THE YEAR_ 1863.

I.--The Cavalry of Lee's Army

II.--Lee flanks General Meade

III.--A Race between Two Armies

IV.--The Fight at Buckland

V.--The Advance to Mine Run

VI.--Lee in the Autumn and Winter of 1863

PART VIII.

_LEE'S LAST CAMPAIGNS AND LAST DAYS_.

I.--General Grant crosses the Rapidan

II.--The First Collision in the Wilderness

III.--The Battle of the 6th of May

IV.--The 12th of May

V.--From Spottsylvania to the Chickahominy

VI.--First Battles at Petersburg

VII.--The Siege of Richmond begun

VIII.--Lee threatens Washington

IX.--The Mine Explosion

X.--End of the Campaign of 1864

XI.--Lee in the Winter of 1864-'65

XII.--The Situation at the Beginning of 1865

XIII.--Lee attacks the Federal Centre

XIV.--The Southern Lines broken

XV.--Lee evacuates Petersburg

XVI.--The Retreat and Surrender

XVII.--Lee returns to Richmond

XVIII.--General Lee after the War

XIX.--General Lee's Last Years and Death

_APPENDIX_.

I.--The Funeral of General Lee

II.--Tributes to General Lee

A LIFE

OF

GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE.

PART I.

_LEE'S EARLY LIFE_,

I.

INTRODUCTION.

The name of Lee is beloved and respected throughout the world. Men of

all parties and opinions unite in this sentiment, not only those who

thought and fought with him, but those most violently opposed to his

political views and career. It is natural that his own people should

love and honor him as their great leader and defender in a struggle of

intense bitterness--that his old enemies should share this profound

regard and admiration is due solely to the character of the

individual. His military genius will always be conceded, and his

figure remain a conspicuous landmark in history; but this does not

account for the fact that his very enemies love the man. His private

character is the origin of this sentiment. The people of the North, no

less than the people of the South, feel that Lee was truly great; and

the harshest critic has been able to find nothing to detract from this

view of him. The soldier was great, but the man himself was greater.

No one was ever simpler, truer, or more honest. Those who knew him

best loved him the most. Reserved and silent, with a bearing of almost

austere dignity, he impressed many persons as cold and unsympathetic,

and his true character was long in revealing itself to the world.

To-day all men know what his friends knew during his life--that under

the grave exterior of the soldier, oppressed with care and anxiety,

beat a warm and kindly heart, full of an even extraordinary gentleness

and sweetness; that the man himself was not cold, or stiff, or

harsh, but patient, forbearing, charitable under many trials of his

equanimity, and magnanimous without effort, from the native impulse of

his heart. Friend and foe thus to-day regard him with much the same

sentiment, as a genuinely honest man, incapable of duplicity in

thought or deed, wholly good and sincere, inspired always under all

temptations by that _prisca fides_ which purifies and ennobles, and

resolutely bent, in the dark hour, as in the bright, on the full

performance of his duty. "Duty is the sublimest word in our language,"

he wrote to his son; and, if we add that other august maxim, "Human

virtue should be equal to human calamity," we shall have in a few

words a summary of the principles which inspired Lee.

The crowning grace of this man, who was thus not only great but good,

was the humility and trust in God, which lay at the foundation of his

character. Upon this point we shall quote the words of a gentleman of

commanding intellect, a bitter opponent of the South in the war:

"Lee is worthy of all praise. As a man, he was fearless among men. As

a soldier, he had no superior and no equal. In the course of Nature my

career on earth may soon terminate. God grant that, When the day of

my death shall come, I may look up to Heaven with that confidence and

faith which the life and character of Robert E. Lee gave him. He

died trusting in God as a good man, with a good life, and a pure

conscience."

He had lived, as he died, with this supreme trust in an overruling and

merciful Providence; and this sentiment, pervading his whole being,

was the origin of that august calmness with which he greeted the most

crushing disasters of his military career. His faith and humble trust

sustained him after the war, when the woes of the South wellnigh

broke his great spirit; and he calmly expired, as a weary child falls

asleep, knowing that its father is near.

Of this eminent soldier and man whose character offers so great

an example, a memoir is attempted in this volume. The work will

necessarily be "popular" rather than full and elaborate, as the public

and private correspondence of Lee are not at this time accessible.

These will throw a fuller light on the subject; but sufficient

material is at the disposal of the writer to enable him to present an

accurate likeness of Lee, and to narrate clearly the incidents of his

career. In doing so, the aim of the author is to measure out full

justice to all--not to arouse old enmities, which should be allowed to

slumber, but to treat his subject with the judicial moderation of the

student of history.

A few words will terminate this preface. The volume before the reader

was begun in 1866. The writer first, however, informed General Lee

of his design, and had the honor to receive from him in reply the

assurance that the work "would not interfere with any he might have in

contemplation; he had not written a line of any work as yet, and might

never do so; but, should he write a history of the campaigns of the

Army of Northern Virginia, the proposed work would be rather an

assistance than a hinderance."

As the writer had offered promptly to discontinue the work if it were

not agreeable to General Lee, this reply was regarded in the light of

an assurance that he did not disapprove of it. The composition was,

however, interrupted, and the work laid aside. It is now resumed and

completed at a time when the death of the illustrious soldier adds a

new and absorbing interest to whatever is connected with his character

or career.

II.

THE LEES OF VIRGINIA.

The Lees of Virginia spring from an ancient and respectable family of

Essex, in England.

Of some members of the family, both in the Old World and the New, a

brief account will be given. The origin of an individual explains much

that is striking and peculiar in his own character; and it will be

found that General Lee inherited many of the traits of his ancestors,

especially of some eminent personages of his name in Virginia.

The family pedigree is traced back by Lee, in the life of his father,

to Launcelot Lee, of London, in France, who accompanied William the

Conqueror to England. After the battle of Hastings, which subjected

England to the sway of the Normans, Launcelot Lee, like others, was

rewarded by lands wrested from the subdued Saxons. His estate lay in

Essex, and this is all that is known concerning him. Lionel Lee is the

next member of the family of whom mention is made. He lived during the

reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, and, when the king went on his third

crusade, in the year 1192, Lionel Lee raised a company of gentlemen,

and marched with him to the Holy Land. His career there was

distinguished; he displayed special gallantry at the siege of Acre,

and for this he received a solid proof of King Richard's approbation.

On his return he was made first Earl of Litchfield; the king presented

him with the estate of "Ditchley," which became the name afterward of

an estate of the Lees in Virginia; and, when he died, the armor which

he had worn in the Holy Land was placed in the department of "Horse

Armory" in the great Tower of London.

The name of Richard Lee is next mentioned as one of the followers of

the Earl of Surrey in his expedition across the Scottish border in

1542. Two of the family about this period were "Knights Companions

of the Garter," and their banners, with the Lee arms above, were

suspended in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The coat-of-arms

was a shield "band sinister battled and embattled," the crest a closed

visor surmounted by a squirrel holding a nut. The motto, which may be

thought characteristic of one of General Lee's traits as a soldier,

was, "_Non incautus futuri_"

Such are the brief notices given of the family in England. They seem

to have been persons of high character, and often of distinction. When

Richard Lee came to Virginia, and founded the family anew there, as

Launcelot, the first Lee, had founded it in England, he brought over

in his veins some of the best and most valiant blood of the great

Norman race.

This Richard Lee, the _princeps_ of the family in Virginia, was,

it seems, like the rest of his kindred, strongly Cavalier in his

sentiments; indeed, the Lees seem always to have been Cavalier. The

reader will recall the stately old representative of the family in

Scott's "Woodstock"--Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley--who is seen stalking

proudly through the great apartments of the palace, in his laced

doublet, slashed boots, and velvet cloak, scowling darkly at the

Puritan intruders. Sir Henry was not a fanciful person, but a real

individual; and the political views attributed to him were those of

the Lee family, who remained faithful to the royal cause in all its

hours of adversity.

It will be seen that Richard Lee, the first of the Virginia Lees, was

an ardent monarchist. He came over during the reign of Charles I., but

returned to England, bequeathing all his lands to his servants; he

subsequently came back to Virginia, however, and lived and died there.

In his will he styles himself "Richard Lee, of Strafford Langton, in

the County of Essex, Esquire." It is not certainly known whether he

sought refuge in Virginia after the failure of the king's cause, or

was tempted to emigrate with a view to better his fortunes in the New

World. Either may have been the impelling motive. Great numbers of

Cavaliers "came over" after the overthrow of Charles at Naseby; but a

large emigration had already taken place, and took place afterward,

induced by the salubrity of the country, the ease of living, and

the cheapness and fertility of the lands on the great rivers, where

families impoverished or of failing fortunes in England might "make

new settlements" and build on a new foundation. This would amply

account for the removal of Richard Lee to Virginia, and for the

ambition he seems to have been inspired with, to build and improve,

without attributing to him any apprehension of probable punishment for

his political course. Very many families had the first-named motives,

and commenced to build great manor-houses, which were never finished,

or were too costly for any one of their descendants to possess. The

abolition of primogeniture, despite the opposition of Pendleton and

others, overthrew all this; and the Lees, like other families, now

possess few of the broad acres which their ancestors acquired.

To return, however, to Richard Lee. He had already visited Virginia in

some official capacity under the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley,

and had been so much pleased with the soil and climate of the country,

that he, as we have said, emigrated finally, and cast his lot in the

new land. He brought a number of followers and servants, and, coming

over to Westmoreland County, in the Northern Neck of Virginia,

"took up" extensive tracts of land there, and set about building

manor-houses upon them.

Among these, it is stated, was the original "Stratford" House,

afterward destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt, however, and became the

birthplace of Richard Henry Lee, and afterward of General Robert E.

Lee. We shall speak of it more in detail after finishing, in a few

words, our notice of Richard Lee, its founder, and the founder of the

Lee family in Virginia. He is described as a person of great force of

character and many virtues--as "a man of good stature, comely visage,

enterprising genius, sound head, vigorous spirit, and generous

nature." This may be suspected to partake of the nature of epitaph;

but, of his courage and energy, the proof remains in the action taken

by him in connection with Charles II. Inheriting, it would seem, in

full measure, the royalist and Cavalier sentiments of his family, he

united with Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor, in the irregular

proclamation of Charles II. in Virginia, a year or two before his

reinstallment on the English throne. He had already, it is reported on

the authority of well-supported tradition, made a voyage across the

Atlantic to Breda, where Charles II. was then in exile, and offered

to erect his standard in Virginia, and proclaim him king there. This

proposition the young monarch declined, shrinking, with excellent good

sense, from a renewal, under less favorable circumstances, of the

struggle which terminated at Worcester. Lee was, therefore, compelled

to return without having succeeded in his enterprise; but he had made,

it seems, a very strong impression in favor of Virginia upon the

somewhat frivolous young monarch. When he came to his throne again,

Charles II. graciously wore a coronation-robe of Virginia silk, and

Virginia, who had proved so faithful to him in the hour of his need,

was authorized, by royal decree, to rank thenceforward, in the British

empire, with England, Scotland, and Ireland, and bear upon her shield

the motto, "_En dat Virginia quartam._"

Richard Lee returned, after his unsuccessful mission, to the Northern

Neck, and addressed himself thenceforward to the management of his

private fortunes and the affairs of the colony. He had now become

possessed of very extensive estates between the Potomac and

Rappahannock Rivers and elsewhere. Besides Stratford, he owned

plantations called "Mocke Neck," "Mathotick," "Paper-Maker's Neck,"

"War Captain's Neck," "Bishop's Neck," and "Paradise," with four

thousand acres besides, on the Potomac, lands in Maryland, three

islands in Chesapeake Bay, an interest in several trading-vessels, and

innumerable indented and other servants. He became a member of the

King's Council, and lived in great elegance and comfort. That he was a

man of high character, and of notable piety for an age of free living

and worldly tendencies, his will shows. In that document he bequeaths

his soul "to that good and gracious God that gave it me, and to my

blessed Redeemer, Jesus Christ, assuredly trusting, in and by His

meritorious death and passion, to receive salvation."

The attention of the reader has been particularly called to the

character and career of Richard Lee, not only because he was the

founder of the family in Virginia, but because the traits of the

individual reappear very prominently in the great soldier whose life

is the subject of this volume. The coolness, courage, energy,

and aptitude for great affairs, which marked Richard Lee in the

seventeenth century, were unmistakably present in the character of

Robert E. Lee in the nineteenth century.

We shall conclude our notice of the family by calling attention to

that great group of celebrated men who illustrated the name in the

days of the Revolution, and exhibited the family characteristics as

clearly. These were Richard Henry Lee, of Chantilly, the famous orator

and statesman, who moved in the American Congress the Declaration of

Independence; Francis Lightfoot Lee, a scholar of elegant attainments

and high literary accomplishments, who signed, with his more renowned

brother, the Declaration; William Lee, who became Sheriff of London,

and ably seconded the cause of the colonies; and Arthur Lee,

diplomatist and representative of America abroad, where he displayed,

as his diplomatic correspondence indicates, untiring energy and

devotion to the interests of the colonies. The last of these brothers

was Philip Ludwell Lee, whose daughter Matilda married her second

cousin, General Henry Lee. This gentleman, afterward famous as

"Light-Horse Harry" Lee, married a second time, and from this union

sprung the subject of this memoir.

III.

GENERAL "LIGHT-HORSE HARRY" LEE.

This celebrated soldier, who so largely occupied the public eye in the

Revolution, is worthy of notice, both as an eminent member of the Lee

family, and as the father of General Robert E. Lee.

He was born in 1756, in the county of Westmoreland--which boasts of

being the birthplace of Washington, Monroe, Richard Henry Lee, General

Henry Lee, and General Robert E. Lee, Presidents, statesmen, and

soldiers--and, after graduating at Princeton College, entered the

army, in 1776, as captain of cavalry, an arm of the service afterward

adopted by his more celebrated descendant, in the United States army.

He soon displayed military ability of high order, and, for the capture

of Paulus's Hook, received a gold medal from Congress. In 1781 he

marched with his "Legion" to join Greene in the Carolinas, carrying

with him the high esteem of Washington, who had witnessed his skilful

and daring operations in the Jerseys. His career in the arduous

campaigns of the South against Cornwallis, and the efficient commander

of his cavalry arm. Colonel Tarleton, may be best understood from

General Greene's dispatches, and from his own memoirs of the

operations of the army, which are written with as much modesty as

ability. From these it is apparent that the small body of the "Legion"

cavalry, under its active and daring commander, was the "eye and ear"

of Greene's army, whose movements it accompanied everywhere, preceding

its advances and covering its retreats. Few pages of military history

are more stirring than those in Lee's "Memoirs" describing Greene's

retrograde movement to the Dan; and this alone, if the hard work at

the Eutaws and elsewhere were left out, would place Lee's fame as a

cavalry officer upon a lasting basis. The distinguished soldier under

whose eye the Virginian operated did full justice to his courage and

capacity. "I believe," wrote Greene, "that few officers, either in

Europe or America, are held in so high a position of admiration as you

are. Everybody knows I have the highest opinion of you as an officer,

and you know I love you as a friend. No man, in the progress of the

campaign, had equal merit with yourself." The officer who wrote those

lines was not a courtier nor a diplomatist, but a blunt and honest

soldier who had seen Lee's bearing in the most arduous straits,

and was capable of appreciating military ability. Add Washington's

expression of his "love and thanks," in a letter written in 1789,

and the light in which he was regarded by his contemporaries will be

understood.

His "Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department" is a valuable

military history and a very interesting book. The movements of Greene

in face of Cornwallis are described with a precision which renders the

narrative valuable to military students, and a picturesqueness which

rivets the attention of the general reader. From these memoirs a

very clear conception of the writer's character may be derived, and

everywhere in them is felt the presence of a cool and dashing nature,

a man gifted with the _mens aequa in arduis_, whom no reverse of

fortune could cast down. The fairness and courtesy of the writer

toward his opponents is an attractive characteristic of the work,[1]

which is written with a simplicity and directness of style highly

agreeable to readers of judgment.[2]

[Footnote 1: See his observations upon the source of his successes

over Tarleton, full of the generous spirit of a great soldier. He

attributes them in no degree to his own military ability, but to the

superior character of his large, thorough-bred horses, which rode over

Tarleton's inferior stock. He does not state that the famous "Legion"

numbered only two hundred and fifty men, and that Tarleton commanded a

much larger force of the best cavalry of the British army.]

[Footnote 2: A new edition of this work, preceded by a life of the

author, was published by General Robert E. Lee in 1869.]

After the war General Henry Lee served a term in Congress; was then

elected Governor of Virginia; returned in 1799 to Congress; and, in

his oration upon the death of Washington, employed the well-known

phrase, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of

his countrymen." He died in Georgia, in the year 1818, having made a

journey thither for the benefit of his health.

General Henry Lee was married twice; first, as we have said, to his

cousin Matilda, through whom he came into possession of the old family

estate of Stratford; and a second time, June 18,1793, to Miss Anne

Hill Carter, a daughter of Charles Carter, Esq., of "Shirley," on

James River.

The children of this second marriage were three sons and two

daughters--Charles Carter, _Robert Edward_, Smith, Ann, and Mildred.

[Illustration: "STRATFORD HOUSE." The Birthplace of Gen. Lee.]

IV.

STRATFORD.

Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford, in Westmoreland County,

Virginia, on the 19th of January, 1807.[1]

[Footnote 1: The date of General Lee's birth has been often given

incorrectly. The authority for that here adopted is the entry in the

family Bible, in the handwriting of his mother.]

Before passing to Lee's public career, and the narrative of the stormy

scenes of his after-life, let us pause a moment and bestow a glance

upon this ancient mansion, which is still standing--a silent and

melancholy relic of the past--in the remote "Northern Neck." As the

birthplace of a great man, it would demand attention; but it has other

claims still, as a venerable memorial of the past and its eminent

personages, one of the few remaining monuments of a state of society

that has disappeared or is disappearing.

The original Stratford House is supposed, as we have said, to have

been built by Richard Lee, the first of the family in the New World.

Whoever may have been its founder, it was destroyed in the time of

Thomas Lee, an eminent representative of the name, early in the

eighteenth century. Thomas Lee was a member of the King's Council, a

gentleman of great popularity; and, when it was known that his house

had been burned, contributions were everywhere made to rebuild it. The

Governor, the merchants of the colony, and even Queen Anne in person,

united in this subscription; the house speedily rose again, at a

cost of about eighty thousand dollars; and this is the edifice still

standing in Westmoreland. The sum expended in its construction must

not be estimated in the light of to-day. At that time the greater part

of the heavy work in house-building was performed by servants of the

manor; it is fair, indeed, to say that the larger part of the work

thus cost nothing in money; and thus the eighty thousand dollars

represented only the English brick, the carvings, furniture, and

decorations.

The construction of such an edifice had at that day a distinct object.

These great old manor-houses, lost in the depths of the country, were

intended to become the headquarters of the family in all time.

In their large apartments the eldest son was to uphold the name.

Generation after generation was to pass, and some one of the old name

still live there; and though all this has passed away now, and

may appear a worn-out superstition, and, though some persons may

stigmatize it as contributing to the sentiment of "aristocracy," the

strongest opponents of that old system may pardon in us the expression

of some regret that this love of the hearthstone and old family

memories should have disappeared. The great man whose character is

sought to be delineated in this volume never lost to the last this

home and family sentiment. He knew the kinships of every one, and

loved the old country-houses of the old Virginia families--plain and

honest people, attached, like himself, to the Virginia soil. We pass

to a brief description of the old house in which Lee was born.

Stratford, the old home of the Lees, but to-day the property of

others, stands on a picturesque bluff on the southern bank of the

Potomac, and is a house of very considerable size. It is built in the

form of the letter H. The walls are several feet in thickness; in the

centre is a saloon thirty feet in size; and surmounting each wing is a

pavilion with balustrades, above which rise clusters of chimneys. The

front door is reached by a broad flight of steps, and the grounds are

handsome, and variegated by the bright foliage of oaks, cedars, and

maple-trees. Here and there in the extensive lawn rises a slender and

ghostly old Lombardy poplar--a tree once a great favorite in Virginia,

but now seen only here and there, the relic of a past generation.

Within, the Stratford House is as antique as without, and, with its

halls, corridors, wainscoting, and ancient mouldings, takes the

visitor back to the era of powder and silk stockings. Such was the

mansion to which General Harry Lee came to live after the Revolution,

and the sight of the old home must have been dear to the soldier's

heart. Here had flourished three generations of Lees, dispensing a

profuse and open-handed hospitality. In each generation some one of

the family had distinguished himself, and attracted the "best company"

to Stratford; the old walls had rung with merriment; the great door

was wide open; everybody was welcome; and one could see there a good

illustration of a long-passed manner of living, which had at least the

merit of being hearty, open-handed, and picturesque. General Harry

Lee, the careless soldier, partook of the family tendency to

hospitality; he kept open house, entertained all comers, and hence,

doubtless, sprung the pecuniary embarrassments embittering an old age

which his eminent public services should have rendered serene and

happy.

Our notice of Stratford may appear unduly long to some readers, but it

is not without a distinct reference to the subject of this volume. In

this quiet old mansion--and in the very apartment where Richard Henry

and Francis Lightfoot Lee first saw the light--Robert E. Lee was born.

The eyes of the child fell first upon the old apartments, the great

grounds, the homely scenes around the old country-house--upon the tall

Lombardy poplars and the oaks, through which passed the wind bearing

to his ears the murmur of the Potomac.

He left the old home of his family before it could have had any very

great effect upon him, it would seem; but it is impossible to estimate

these first influences, to decide the depth of the impression which

the child's heart is capable of receiving. The bright eyes of young

Robert Lee must have seen much around him to interest him and shape

his first views. Critics charged him with family pride sometimes;

if he possessed that virtue or failing, the fact was not strange.

Stratford opened before his childish eyes a memorial of the old

splendor of the Lees. He saw around him old portraits, old plate, and

old furniture, telling plainly of the ancient origin and high position

of his family. Old parchments contained histories of the deeds of his

race; old genealogical trees traced their line far back into the past;

old servants, grown gray in the house, waited upon the child; and, in

a corner of one of the great apartments, an old soldier, gray, too,

and shattered in health, once the friend of Washington and Greene, was

writing the history of the battles in which he had drawn his sword for

his native land.

Amid these scenes and surroundings passed the first years of Robert

E. Lee. They must have made their impression upon his character at

a period when the mind takes every new influence, and grows in

accordance with it; and, to the last, the man remained simple, hearty,

proud, courteous--the _country Virginian_ in all the texture of his

character. He always rejoiced to visit the country; loved horses; was

an excellent rider; was fond of plain country talk, jests, humorous

anecdote, and chit-chat--was the plain country gentleman, in a word,

preferring grass and trees and streams to all the cities and crowds in

the world. In the last year of his life he said to a lady: "My visits

to Florida and the White Sulphur have not benefited me much; but it

did me good to go to the White House, and see _the mules walking

round, and the corn growing_."

We notice a last result of the child's residence now, or visits

afterward to the country, and the sports in which he indulged--the

superb physical health and strength which remained unshaken afterward

by all the hardships of war. Lee, to the last, was a marvel of sound

physical development; his frame was as solid as oak, and stood the

strain of exhausting marches, loss of sleep, hunger, thirst, heat, and

cold, without failing him.

When he died, it was care which crushed his heart; his health was

perfect.

V.

LEE'S EARLY MANHOOD AND CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY.

Of Lee's childhood we have no memorials, except the words of his

father, long afterward.

"_Robert was always good_," wrote General Henry Lee.[1]

[Footnote 1: To C.C. Lee, February 9, 1817.]

That is all; but the words indicate much--that the good man was

"always good." It will be seen that, when he went to West Point, he

never received a demerit. The good boy was the good young officer, and

became, in due time, the good commander-in-chief.

In the year 1811 General Henry Lee left Stratford, and removed with

his family to Alexandria, actuated, it seems, by the desire of

affording his children facilities for gaining their education. After

his death, in 1818, Mrs. Lee continued to reside in Alexandria; was

a communicant of Christ Church; and her children were taught the

Episcopal catechism by young William Meade, eventually Bishop of

Virginia. We shall see how Bishop Meade, long afterward, recalled

those early days, when he and his pupil, young Robert Lee, were

equally unknown--how, when about to die, just as the war began

in earnest, he sent for the boy he had once instructed, now the

gray-haired soldier, and, when he came to the bedside, exclaimed: "God

bless you, Robert! I can't call you 'general'--I have heard you your

catechism too often!"

Alexandria continued to be the residence of the family until the young

man was eighteen years of age, when it was necessary for him to make

choice of a profession; and, following the bent of his temperament, he

chose the army. Application was made for his appointment from Virginia

as a cadet at West Point. He obtained the appointment, and, in 1825,

at the age of eighteen, entered the Military Academy. His progress in

his studies was steady, and it is said that, during his stay at West

Point, he was never reprimanded, nor marked with a "demerit." He

graduated, in July, 1829, second in his class, and was assigned to

duty, with the rank of lieutenant, in the corps of Engineers.

[Illustration: R.E. LEE, AS A YOUNG OFFICER New York D Apololay & Co.]

He is described, by those who saw him at this time, as a young man of

great personal beauty; and this is probably not an exaggeration, as he

remained to the last distinguished for the elegance and dignity of

his person. He had not yet lost what the cares of command afterward

banished--his gayety and _abandon_--and was noted, it is said, for the

sweetness of his smile and the cordiality of his manners. The person

who gave the writer these details added, "He was a perfect gentleman."

Three years after graduating at West Point--in the year 1832--he

married Mary Custis, daughter of Mr. George Washington Parke Custis,

of Arlington, the adopted son of General Washington; and by this

marriage he came into possession of the estate of Arlington and the

White House--points afterward well known in the war.

The life of Lee up to the beginning of the great conflict of 1861-'65

is of moderate interest only, and we shall not dwell at length upon

it. He was employed on the coast defences, in New York and Virginia;

and, in 1835, in running the boundary line between the States of Ohio

and Michigan. In September, 1836, he was promoted to the rank of first

lieutenant; in July, 1838, to a captaincy; in 1844 he became a member

of the Board of Visitors to the Military Academy; in 1845 he was a

member of the Board of Engineers; and in 1846, when the Mexican War

broke out, was assigned to duty as chief engineer of the Central Army

of Mexico, in which capacity he served to the end of the war.

Up to the date of the Mexican War, Captain Lee had attracted no public

attention, but had impressed the military authorities, including

General Winfield Scott, with a favorable opinion of his ability as a

topographical engineer. For this department of military science he

exhibited endowments of the first class--what other faculties of the

soldier he possessed, it remained for events to show. This opportunity

was now given him in the Mexican War; and the efficient character of

his services may be seen in Scott's Autobiography, where "Captain Lee,

of the Engineers," is mentioned in every report, and everywhere with

commendation. From the beginning of operations, the young officer

seems to have been summoned to the councils of war, and General Scott

particularly mentions that held at Vera Cruz--so serious an affair,

that "a death-bed discussion could hardly have been more solemn."

The passages in which the lieutenant-general mentions Lee are too

numerous, and not of sufficient interest to quote, but two entries

will exhibit the general tenor of this "honorable mention." After

Cerro Gordo, Scott writes, in his official report of the battle: "I am

compelled to make special mention of Captain R.E. Lee, engineer. This

officer greatly distinguished himself at the siege of Vera Cruz; was

again indefatigable during these operations, in reconnoissance as

daring, as laborious, and of the utmost value." After Chapultepec, he

wrote: "Captain Lee, so constantly distinguished, also bore important

orders for me (September 13th), until he fainted from a wound, and the

loss of two nights' sleep at the batteries."

We may add here the statement of the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, that he

"had heard General Scott more than once say that his success in Mexico

was largely due to the skill, valor, and undaunted energy of Robert E.

Lee."

For these services Lee received steady promotion. For meritorious

conduct at Cerro Gordo, he was made brevet major; for the same at

Contreras and Cherubusco, brevet lieutenant-colonel; and,

after Chapultepec, he received the additional brevet of

colonel--distinctions fairly earned by energy and courage.

When the war ended, Lee returned to his former duties in the Engineer

Corps of the U.S.A., and was placed in charge of the works, then

in process of construction, at Fort Carroll, near Baltimore. His

assignment to the duty of thus superintending the military defences

of Hampton Roads, New York Bay, and the approaches to Baltimore, in

succession, would seem to indicate that his abilities as engineer were

highly esteemed. Of his possession of such ability there can be no

doubt. The young officer was not only thoroughly trained in this high

department of military science, but had for his duties unmistakable

natural endowments. This fact was clearly indicated on many occasions

in the Confederate struggle--his eye for positions never failed him.

It is certain that, had Lee never commanded troops in the field, he

would have left behind him the reputation of an excellent engineer.

In 1855 he was called for the first time to command men, for his

duties hitherto had been those of military engineer, astronomer, or

staff-officer. The act of Congress directing that two new cavalry

regiments should be raised excited an ardent desire in the officers of

the army to receive appointments in them, and Lee was transferred from

his place of engineer to the post of lieutenant-colonel in the Second

Cavalry, one of the regiments in question. The extraordinary number

of names of officers in this regiment who afterward became famous

is worthy of notice. The colonel was Albert Sydney Johnston; the

lieutenant-colonel, R.E. Lee; the senior major, William J. Hardee; the

junior major, George H. Thomas; the senior captain, Earl Yan Dorn;

the next ranking captain, Kirby Smith; the lieutenants, Hood, Fields,

Cosby, Major, Fitzhugh Lee, Johnson, Palmer, and Stoneman, all of

whom became general officers afterward on the Southern side, with the

exception of Thomas, and the three last named, who became prominent

generals in the Federal army. It is rare that such a constellation of

famous names is found in the list of officers of a single regiment.

The explanation is, nevertheless simple. Positions in the new

regiments were eagerly coveted by the best soldiers of the army, and,

in appointing the officers, those of conspicuous ability only were

selected. The Second Regiment of cavalry thus became the _corps

d'élite_ of the United States Army; and, after Albert Sydney Johnston,

Robert E. Lee was the ranking officer.

Lee proceeded with his regiment to Texas, remaining there for several

years on frontier duty, and does not reappear again until 1859.

Such was the early career in the army of the soldier soon to

become famous on a greater theatre--that of a thoroughly-trained,

hard-working, and conscientious officer. With the single exception

of his brief record in the Mexican War, his life had been passed in

official duties, unconnected with active military operations. He

was undoubtedly what is called a "rising man," but he had had no

opportunity to display the greatest faculties of the soldier. The

time was coming now when he was to be tested, and the measure of his

faculties taken in one of the greatest wars which darken the pages of

history.

A single incident of public importance marks the life of Lee between

1855 and 1861. This was what is known to the world as the "John Brown

raid"--an incident of the year 1859, and preluding the approaching

storm. This occurrence is too well known to require a minute account

in these pages, and we shall accordingly pass over it briefly,

indicating simply the part borne in the affair by Lee. He was in

Washington at the time--the fall of 1859--on a visit to his family,

then residing at Arlington, near the city, when intelligence came that

a party of desperadoes had attacked and captured Harper's Ferry, with

the avowed intent of arming and inciting to insurrection the slaves

of the neighborhood and entire State. Lee was immediately, thereupon,

directed by President Buchanan to proceed to the point of danger and

arrest the rioters. He did so promptly; found upon his arrival that

Brown and his confederates had shut themselves up in an engine-house

of the town, with a number of their prisoners. Brown was summoned to

surrender, to be delivered over to the authorities for civil trial--he

refused; and Lee then proceeded to assault, with a force of marines,

the stronghold to which Brown had retreated. The doors were driven in,

Brown firing upon the assailants and killing or wounding two; but he

and his men were cut down and captured; they were turned over to the

Virginia authorities, and Lee, having performed the duty assigned him

returned to Washington, and soon afterward to Texas.

He remained there, commanding the department, until the early spring

of 1861. He was then recalled to Washington at the moment when the

conflict between the North and the South was about to commence.

VI.

LEE AND SCOTT.

Lee found the country burning as with fever, and the air hot with

contending passions. The animosity, long smouldering between the two

sections, was about to burst into the flame of civil war; all men were

taking sides; the war of discussion on the floor of Congress was

about to yield to the clash of bayonets and the roar of cannon on the

battle-field.

Any enumeration of the causes which led to this unhappy state of

affairs would be worse than useless in a volume like the present. Even

less desirable would be a discussion of the respective blame to be

attached to each of the great opponents in inaugurating the bitter and

long-continued struggle. Such a discussion would lead to nothing, and

would probably leave every reader of the same opinion as before. It

would also be the repetition of a worn-out and wearisome story. These

events are known of all men; for the political history of the United

States, from 1820, when the slavery agitation began, on the question

of the Missouri restriction, to 1861, when it ended in civil

convulsion, has been discussed, rediscussed, and discussed again, in

every journal, great and small, in the whole country. The person who

is not familiar, therefore, with the main points at issue, must be

ignorant beyond the power of any writer to enlighten him. We need

only say that the election of Abraham Lincoln, the nominee of the

Republican party, had determined the Gulf States to leave the Union.

South Carolina accordingly seceded, on the 20th of December, 1860; and

by the 1st of February, 1861, she had been followed by Mississippi,

Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The struggle thus

approached. Military movements began at many points, like those

distant flashes of lightning and vague mutterings which herald the

tempest. Early in February Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was

elected President of the Confederate States, at Montgomery. On the

13th of April Fort Sumter surrendered to General Beauregard, and

on the next day, April 14, 1861, President Lincoln issued his

proclamation declaring the Gulf States in rebellion, and calling upon

the States which had not seceded for seventy-five thousand men to

enforce the Federal authority.

Tip to this time the older State of Virginia had persistently resisted

secession. Her refusal to array herself against the General Government

had been based upon an unconquerable repugnance, it seemed, for the

dissolution of that Union which she had so long loved; from real

attachment to the flag which she had done so much to make honorable,

and from a natural indisposition to rush headlong into a conflict

whose whole fury would burst upon and desolate her own soil. The

proclamation of President Lincoln, however, decided her course. The

convention had obdurately refused, week after week, to pass the

ordinance of secession. Now the naked question was, whether Virginia

should fight with or against her sisters of the Gulf States. She was

directed to furnish her quota of the seventy-five thousand troops

called for by President Lincoln, and must decide at once. On the 17th

of April, 1861, accordingly, an ordinance of secession passed the

Virginia Convention, and that Commonwealth cast her fortunes for weal

or woe with the Southern Confederacy.

Such is a brief and rapid summary of the important public events which

had preceded, or immediately followed, Lee's return to Washington in

March, 1861. A grave, and to him a very solemn, question demanded

instant decision. Which side should he espouse--the side of the United

States or that of the South? To choose either caused him acute pain.

The attachment of the soldier to his flag is greater than the civilian

can realize, and Lee had before him the brightest military prospects.

The brief record which we have presented of his military career in

Mexico conveys a very inadequate idea of the position which he had

secured in the army. He was regarded by the authorities at Washington,

and by the country at large, as the ablest and most promising of

all the rising class of army officers. Upon General Winfield Scott,

Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Army, he had made an impression

which is the most striking proof of his great merit. General Scott was

enthusiastic in his expressions of admiration for the young Virginian;

and with the death of that general, which his great age rendered a

probable event at any moment, Lee was sure to become a candidate for

the highest promotion in the service. To this his great ability gave

him a title at the earliest possible moment; and other considerations

operated to advance his fortunes. He was conceded by all to be a

person of the highest moral character; was the descendant of an

influential and distinguished family, which had rendered important

services to the country in the Revolution; his father had been the

friend of Washington, and had achieved the first glories of arms, and

the ample estates derived from his wife gave him that worldly prestige

which has a direct influence upon the fortunes of an individual.

Colonel Lee could thus look forward, without the imputation of

presumption, to positions of the highest responsibility and honor

under the Government. With the death of Scott, and other aged officers

of the army, the place of commander-in-chief would fall to the most

deserving of the younger generation; and of this generation there was

no one so able and prominent as Lee.[1]

[Footnote 1: "General Scott stated his purpose to recommend Lee as his

successor in the chief command of the army."--_Hon. Reverdy Johnson_.]

The personal relations of Lee with General Scott constituted another

powerful temptation to decide him against going over to the Southern

side. We have referred to the great admiration which the old soldier

felt for the young officer. He is said to have exclaimed on one

occasion: "It would be better for every officer in the army, including

myself, to die than Robert Lee." There seems no doubt of the fact that

Scott looked to Lee as his ultimate successor in the supreme command,

for which his character and military ability peculiarly fitted him.

Warm personal regard gave additional strength to his feelings in

Lee's favor; and the consciousness of this regard on the part of his

superior made it still more difficult for Lee to come to a decision.

VII.

LEE RESIGNS.

It is known that General Scott used every argument to persuade Lee not

to resign. To retain him in the service, he had been appointed, on his

arrival at Washington, a full colonel, and in 1860 his name had been

sent in, with others, by Scott, as a proper person to fill the vacancy

caused by the death of Brigadier-General Jessup. To these tempting

intimations that rapid promotion would attend his adherence to the

United States flag, Scott added personal appeals, which, coming from

him, must have been almost irresistible.

"For God's sake, don't resign, Lee!" the lieutenant-general is said

to have exclaimed. And, in the protracted interviews which took place

between the two officers, every possible argument was urged by the

elder to decide Lee to remain firm.

The attempt was in vain. Lee's attachment to the flag he had so long

fought under, and his personal affection for General Scott, were

great, but his attachment to his native State was still more powerful.

By birth a Virginian, he declared that he owed his first duty to her

and his own people. If she summoned him, he must obey the summons. As

long as she remained in the Union he might remain in the United States

Army. When she seceded from the Union, and took part with the Gulf

States, he must follow her fortunes, and do his part in defending her.

The struggle had been bitter, but brief. "My husband has wept tears of

blood," Mrs. Lee wrote to a friend, "over this terrible war; but he

must, as a man and a Virginian, share the destiny of his State, which

has solemnly pronounced for independence."

The secession of Virginia, by a vote of the convention assembled

at Richmond, decided Lee in his course. He no longer hesitated. To

General Scott's urgent appeals not to send in his resignation, he

replied: "I am compelled to. I cannot consult my own feelings in this

matter." He accordingly wrote to General Scott from Arlington, on

the 20th of April, enclosing his resignation. The letter was in the

following words:

GENERAL: Since my interview with you, on the 18th instant, I have

felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the army.

I therefore tender my resignation, which I request you will

recommend for acceptance. It would have been presented at once but

for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a service

to which I have devoted all the best years of my life, and all the

ability I possessed.

During the whole of that time--more than a quarter of a century--I

have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors, and the

most cordial friendship from my comrades. To no one, general, have

I been as much indebted as to yourself for uniform kindness and

consideration, and it has always been my ardent desire to merit

your approbation. I shall carry to the grave the most grateful

recollections of your kind consideration, and your name and fame

will always be dear to me.

Save in defence of my native State, I never desire again to draw

my sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for the

continuance of your happiness and prosperity, and believe me, most

truly yours,

R.E. LEE. LIEUTENANT-GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT, _Commanding United

States Army_.

In this letter, full of dignity and grave courtesy, Lee vainly

attempts to hide the acute pain he felt at parting from his friend and

abandoning the old service. Another letter, written on the same day,

expresses the same sentiment of painful regret:

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, _April 20,1861_.

MY DEAR SISTER: I am grieved at my inability to see you ... I have

been waiting "for a more convenient season," which has brought to

many before me deep and lasting regret. Now we are in a state of

war which will yield to nothing. The whole South is in a state of

revolution, into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been

drawn, and, _though I recognize no necessity for this state of

things_, and would have forborne and pleaded to the end for

redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own person I

had to meet the question, _whether I should take part against my

native State_. With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling

of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able

to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my

children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission

in the army, and, save in defence of my native State, with the

sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I

may never be called on to draw my sword.

I know you will blame me, but you must think as kindly of me as

you can, and believe that I have endeavored to do what I thought

right. To show you the feeling and struggle it has cost me, I send

a copy of my letter to General Scott, which accompanied my letter

of resignation. I have no time for more.... May God guard and

protect you and yours, and shower upon you every blessing, is the

prayer of your devoted brother,

R.E. LEE.

The expression used in this letter--"though I recognize no necessity

for this state of things"--conveys very clearly the political

sentiments of the writer. He did not regard the election of a

Republican President, even by a strictly sectional vote, as sufficient

ground for a dissolution of the Union. It may be added here, that

such, we believe, was the opinion of a large number of Southern

officers at that time. Accustomed to look to the flag as that which

they were called upon to defend against all comers, they were loath to

admit the force of the reasoning which justified secession, and called

upon them to abandon it. Their final action seems to have been taken

from the same considerations which controlled the course of Lee. Their

States called them, and they obeyed.

In resigning his commission and going over to the South, Lee

sacrificed his private fortunes, in addition to all his hopes of

future promotion in the United States Army. His beautiful home,

Arlington, situated upon the heights opposite Washington, must be

abandoned forever, and fall into the hands of the enemy. This old

mansion was a model of peaceful loveliness and attraction. "All

around here," says a writer, describing the place, "Arlington Heights

presents a lovely picture of rural beauty. The 'General Lee house,'

as some term it, stands on a grassy lot, surrounded with a grove of

stately trees and underwood, except in front, where is a verdant

sloping ground for a few rods, when it descends into a valley,

spreading away in beautiful and broad expanse to the lovely Potomac.

This part of the splendid estate is apparently a highly-cultivated

meadow, the grass waving in the gentle breeze, like the undulating

bosom of Old Atlantic. To the south, north, and west, the grounds are

beautifully diversified into hill and valley, and richly stored with

oak, willow, and maple, though the oak is the principal wood. The view

from the height is a charming picture. Washington, Georgetown, and the

intermediate Potomac, are all before you in the foreground."

In this old mansion crowning the grassy hill, the young officer had

passed the happiest moments of his life. All around him were spots

associated with his hours of purest enjoyment. Each object in the

house--the old furniture and very table-sets--recalled the memory of

Washington, and were dear to him. Here were many pieces of the "Martha

Washington china," portions of the porcelain set presented to Mrs.

Washington by Lafayette and others--in the centre of each piece the

monogram "M.W." with golden rays diverging to the names of the old

thirteen States. Here were also fifty pieces, remnants of the set

of one thousand, procured from China by the Cincinnati Society, and

presented to Washington--articles of elaborate decoration in blue and

gold, "with the coat-of-arms of the society, held by Fame, with a blue

ribbon, from which is suspended the eagle of the order, with a green

wreath about its neck, and on its breast a shield representing the

inauguration of the order." Add to these the tea-table used by

Washington and one of his bookcases; old portraits, antique furniture,

and other memorials of the Lee family from Stratford--let the reader

imagine the old mansion stored with these priceless relics, and he

will understand with what anguish Lee must have contemplated what came

duly to pass, the destruction, by rude hands, of objects so dear to

him. That he must have foreseen the fate of his home is certain. To

take sides with Virginia was to give up Arlington to its fate.

There is no proof, however, that this sacrifice of his personal

fortunes had any effect upon him. If he could decide to change his

flag, and dissolve every tie which bound him to the old service, he

could sacrifice all else without much regret. No one will be found to

say that the hope of rank or emolument in the South influenced him.

The character and whole career of the man contradict the idea. His

ground of action may be summed up in a single sentence. He went with

his State because he believed it was his duty to do so, and because,

to ascertain what was his duty, and perform it, was the cardinal maxim

of his life.

VIII.

HIS RECEPTION AT RICHMOND.

No sooner had intelligence of Lee's resignation of his commission

in the United States Army reached Richmond, than Governor Letcher

appointed him major-general of the military forces of Virginia. The

appointment was confirmed by the convention, rather by acclamation

than formal vote; and on the 23d of April, Lee, who had meanwhile

left Washington and repaired to Richmond, was honored by a formal

presentation to the convention.

The address of President Janney was eloquent, and deserves to be

preserved. Lee stood in the middle aisle, and the president, rising,

said:

"MAJOR-GENERAL LEE: In the name of the people of our native State,

here represented, I bid you a cordial and heart-felt welcome to

this hall, in which we may almost yet hear the echoes of the

voices of the statesmen, the soldiers, and sages of by-gone days,

who have borne your name, and whose blood now flows in your veins.

"We met in the month of February last, charged with the solemn

duty of protecting the rights, the honor, and the interests of the

people of this Commonwealth. We differed for a time as to the best

means of accomplishing that object, but there never was, at any

moment, a shade of difference among us as to the great object

itself; and now, Virginia having taken her position, as far as

the power of this convention extends, we stand animated by one

impulse, governed by one desire and one determination, and that

is, that she shall be defended, and that no spot of her soil shall

be polluted by the foot of an invader.

"When the necessity became apparent of having a leader for our

forces, all hearts and all eyes, by the impulse of an instinct

which is a surer guide than reason itself, turned to the old

county of Westmoreland. We knew how prolific she had been in other

days of heroes and statesmen. We knew she had given birth to the

Father of his Country, to Richard Henry Lee, to Monroe, and last,

though not least, to your own gallant father, and we knew well, by

your deeds, that her productive power was not yet exhausted.

"Sir, we watched with the most profound and intense interest the

triumphal march of the army led by General Scott, to which you

were attached, from Vera Cruz to the capital of Mexico. We read of

the sanguinary conflicts and the blood-stained fields, in all

of which victory perched upon our own banners. We knew of the

unfading lustre that was shed upon the American arms by that

campaign, and we know, also, what your modesty has always

disclaimed, that no small share of the glory of those achievements

was due to your valor and your military genius.

"Sir, one of the proudest recollections of my life will be the

honor that I yesterday had of submitting to this body confirmation

of the nomination, made by the Governor of this State, of you

as commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of this

Commonwealth. I rose to put the question, and when I asked if this

body would advise and consent to that appointment, there rushed

from the hearts to the tongues of all the members an affirmative

response, which told with an emphasis that could leave no doubt

of the feeling whence it emanated. I put the negative of the

question, for form's sake, but there was an unbroken silence.

"Sir, we have, by this unanimous vote, expressed our convictions

that you are at this day, among the living citizens of Virginia,

'first in war.' We pray to God most fervently that you may so

conduct the operations committed to your Charge that it may soon

be said of you that you are 'first in peace,' and when that time

comes you will have earned the still prouder distinction of being

'first in the hearts of your countrymen.'"

The president concluded by saying that Virginia on that day intrusted

her spotless sword to Lee's keeping, and Lee responded as follows:

"MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: Profoundly impressed

with the solemnity of the occasion, for which I must say I was not

prepared, I accept the position assigned me by your partiality. I

would have much preferred had your choice fallen upon an abler man.

Trusting in Almighty God, an approving conscience, and the aid of my

fellow-citizens, I devote myself to the service of my native State, in

whose behalf alone will I ever again draw my sword."

Such were the modest and dignified expressions of Lee in accepting the

great trust. The reply is brief and simple, but these are very great

merits on such an occasion. No portion of the address contains a

phrase or word denunciatory of the Federal Government, or of the

motives of the opponents of Virginia; and this moderation and absence

of all rancor characterized the utterances of Lee, both oral and

written, throughout the war. He spoke, doubtless, as he felt, and

uttered no expression of heated animosity, because he cherished no

such sentiment. His heart was bleeding still from the cruel trial it

had undergone in abruptly tearing away from the old service to embark

upon civil war; with the emotions of the present occasion, excited by

the great ovation in his honor, no bitterness mingled--or at least, if

there were such bitterness in his heart, he did not permit it to rise

to his lips. He accepted the trust confided to him in terms of dignity

and moderation, worthy of Washington; exchanged grave salutations with

the members of the convention; and then, retiring from the hall where

he had solemnly consecrated his life to his native Commonwealth,

proceeded at once to energetic work to get the State in a posture of

defence.

The sentiment of the country in reference to Lee was even warmer than

that of the convention. For weeks, reports had been rife that he had

determined to adhere to the Federal Government in the approaching

struggle. Such an event, it was felt by all, would be a public

calamity to Virginia; and the general joy may be imagined when it was

known that Lee had resigned and come to fight with his own people. He

assumed command, therefore, of all the Virginia forces, in the

midst of universal public rejoicing; and the fact gave strength

and consistency to the general determination to resist the Federal

Government to the last.

IX.

LEE IN 1861.

At this time--April, 1861--General Lee was fifty-four years of age,

and may be said to have been in the ripe vigor of every faculty.

Physically and intellectually he was "at his best," and in the bloom

of manhood. His figure was erect, and he bore himself with the brief,

somewhat stiff air of command derived from his military education

and service in the army. This air of the professional soldier, which

characterized generally the graduates of West Point, was replaced

afterward by a grave dignity, the result of high command and great

responsibilities. In April, 1861, however, he was rather the ordinary

army officer in bearing than the commander-in-chief.

He had always been remarkable for his manly beauty, both of face and

figure, and the cares of great command had not yet whitened his hair.

There was not a gray hair in his head, and his mustache was dark and

heavy. The rest of his face was clean-shaven, and his cheeks had that

fresh, ruddy hue which indicates high physical health. This was not at

that time or afterward the result of high living. Of all the prominent

personages of his epoch. Lee was, perhaps, the most temperate. He

rarely drank even so much as a single glass of wine, and it was a

matter of general notoriety in the army afterward, that he cared not

what he ate. The ruddy appearance which characterized him from first

to last was the result of the most perfectly-developed physical

health, which no species of indulgence had ever impaired. He used no

tobacco then or afterward, in any shape--that seductive weed which has

been called "the soldier's comfort"--and seemed, indeed, superior

to all those small vices which assail men of his profession. Grave,

silent, with a military composure of bearing which amounted at times,

as we have said, to stiffness, he resembled a machine in the shape of

a man. At least this was the impression which he produced upon those

who saw him in public at this time.

The writer's design, here, is to indicate the personal appearance and

bearing of General Lee on the threshold of the war. It may be said, by

way of summing up all, that he was a full-blooded "West-Pointer" in

appearance; the _militaire_ as distinguished from the civilian; and

no doubt impressed those who held official interviews with him as a

personage of marked reserve. The truth and frankness of the man under

all circumstances, and his great, warm heart, full of honesty and

unassuming simplicity, became known only in the progress of the war.

How simple and true and honest he was, will appear from a letter to

his son, G.W. Custis Lee, written some time before:

"You must study," he wrote, "to be frank with the world; frankness

is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do on

every occasion, and take it for granted you mean to do right. If a

friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable; if not,

tell him plainly why you cannot: you will wrong him and wrong yourself

by equivocation of any kind. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend

or keep one; the man who requires you to do so, is dearly purchased at

a sacrifice. Deal kindly, but firmly, with all your classmates; you

will find it the policy which wears best. Above all, do not appear to

others what you are not. If you have any fault to find with any one,

tell him, not others, of what you complain; there is no more dangerous

experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's

face and another behind his back. We should live, act, and say,

nothing to the injury of any one. It is not only best as a matter of

principle, but it is the path to peace and honor.

"In regard to duty, let me, in conclusion of this hasty letter, inform

you that, nearly a hundred years ago, there was a day of remarkable

gloom and darkness--still known as 'the dark day'--a day when the

light of the sun was slowly extinguished, as if by an eclipse. The

Legislature of Connecticut was in session, and, as its members saw the

unexpected and unaccountable darkness coming on, they shared in the

general awe and terror. It was supposed by many that the last day--the

day of judgment--had come. Some one, in the consternation of the hour,

moved an adjournment. Then there arose an old Puritan legislator,

Davenport, of Stamford, and said that, if the last day had come, he

desired to be found at his place doing his duty, and, therefore, moved

that candles be brought in, so that the House could proceed with

its duty. There was quietness in that man's mind, the quietness of

heavenly wisdom and inflexible willingness to obey present duty. Duty,

then, is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all

things, like the old Puritan. You cannot do more, you should never

wish to do less. Never let me and your mother wear one gray hair for

any lack of duty on your part."

The maxims of this letter indicate the noble and conscientious

character of the man who wrote it. "Frankness is the child of honesty

and courage." "Say just what you mean to do on every occasion." "Never

do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one." "Duty is the sublimest

word in our language ... do your duty in all things ... you cannot do

more." That he lived up to these great maxims, amid all the troubled

scenes and hot passions of a stormy epoch, is Lee's greatest glory.

His fame as a soldier, great as it is, yields to the true glory of

having placed duty before his eyes always as the supreme object of

life. He resigned his commission from a sense of duty to his native

State; made this same duty his sole aim in every portion of his

subsequent career; and, when all had failed, and the cause he had

fought for was overthrown, it was the consciousness of having

performed conscientiously, and to his utmost, his whole duty, which

took the sting from defeat, and gave him that noble calmness which the

whole world saw and admired. "Human virtue should be equal to human

calamity," were his august words when all was lost, and men's minds

were sinking under the accumulated agony of defeat and despair.

Those words could only have been uttered by a man who made duty the

paramount object of living--the performance of it, the true glory and

crown of virtuous manhood. It may be objected by some critics that

he mistook his duty in espousing the Southern cause. Doubtless many

persons will urge that objection, and declare that the words here

written are senseless panegyric. But that will not affect the truth or

detract from Lee's great character. He performed at least what in his

inmost soul _he_ considered his duty, and, from the beginning of his

career, when all was so bright, to its termination, when all was so

dark, it will be found that his controlling sentiment was, first,

last, and all the time, this performance of duty. The old Puritan,

whose example he admired so much, was not more calm and resolute.

When "the last day" of the cause he fought for came--in the spring of

1865--it was plain to all who saw the man, standing unmoved in the

midst of the general disaster, that his sole desire was to be "found

at his place, and doing his duty."

From this species of digression upon the moral constituents of the

individual, we pass to the record of that career which made the great

fame of the soldier. The war had already begun when Lee took command

of the provisional forces of Virginia, and the collisions in various

portions of the Gulf States between the Federal and State authorities

were followed by overt acts in Virginia, which all felt would be the

real battle-ground of the war. The North entered upon the struggle

with very great ardor and enthusiasm. The call for volunteers to

enforce obedience to the Federal authority was tumultuously responded

to throughout the entire North, and troops were hurried forward to

Washington, which soon became an enormous camp. The war began in

Virginia with the evacuation and attempted destruction of the works at

Harper's Ferry, by the Federal officer in command there. This was on

the 19th of April, and on the next day reinforcements were thrown into

Fortress Monroe; and the navy-yard at Norfolk, with the shipping, set

on fire and abandoned.

Lee thus found the Commonwealth in a state of war, and all his

energies were immediately concentrated upon the work of placing her

in a condition of defence. He established his headquarters in the

custom-house at Richmond; orderlies were seen coming and going; bustle

reigned throughout the building, and by night, as well as by day,

General Lee labored incessantly to organize the means of resistance.

From the first moment, all had felt that Virginia, from her

geographical position, adjoining the Federal frontier and facing the

Federal capital, would become the arena of the earliest, longest, and

most determined struggle. Her large territory and moral influence, as

the oldest of the Southern States, also made her the chief object of

the Federal hostility. It was felt that if Virginia were occupied, and

her people reduced under the Federal authority again, the Southern

cause would be deprived of a large amount of its prestige and

strength. The authorities of the Gulf States accordingly hurried

forward to Richmond all available troops; and from all parts of

Virginia the volunteer regiments, which had sprung up like magic,

were in like manner forwarded by railway to the capital. Every train

brought additions to this great mass of raw war material; large camps

rose around Richmond, chief among which was that named "Camp Lee;" and

the work of drilling and moulding this crude material for the great

work before it was ardently proceeded with under the supervision of

Lee.

An Executive Board, or Military Council, had been formed, consisting

of Governor Letcher and other prominent officials; but these gentlemen

had the good sense to intrust the main work of organizing an army to

Lee. As yet the great question at Richmond was to place Virginia in a

state of defence--to prepare that Commonwealth for the hour of trial,

by enrolling her own people. It will be remembered that Lee held no

commission from the Confederate States; he was major-general of the

Provisional Army of Virginia, and to place this Provisional Army in

a condition to take the field was the first duty before him. It was

difficult, not from want of ardor in the population, but from the want

of the commonest material necessary in time of war. There were

few arms, and but small supplies of ammunition. While the Federal

Government entered upon the war with the amplest resources, the South

found herself almost entirely destitute of the munitions essential

to her protection. All was to be organized and put at once into

operation--the quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and other

departments. Transportation, supplies of rations, arms, ammunition,

all were to be collected immediately. The material existed, or could

be supplied, as the sequel clearly showed; but as yet there was

almost nothing. And it was chiefly to the work of organizing these

departments, first of all, that General Lee and the Military Council

addressed themselves with the utmost energy.

The result was, that the State found herself very soon in a condition

to offer a determined resistance. The troops at the various camps of

instruction were successively sent to the field; others took their

places, and the work of drilling the raw material into soldiers went

on; supplies were collected, transportation found, workshops for the

construction of arms and ammunition sprung up; small-arms, cannon,

cartridges, fixed and other ammunition, were produced in quantities;

and, in a time which now seems wholly inadequate for such a result,

the Commonwealth of Virginia was ready to take the field against the

Federal Government.

X.

THE WAR BEGINS.

Early in May, Virginia became formally a member of the Southern

Confederacy, and the troops which she had raised a portion of the

Confederate States Army. When Richmond became the capital

soon afterward, and the Southern Congress assembled, five

brigadier-generals were appointed, Generals Cooper, Albert S.

Johnston, Lee, J.E. Johnston, and Beauregard. Large forces had been

meanwhile raised throughout the South; Virginia became the centre

of all eyes, as the scene of the main struggle; and early in June

occurred at Bethel, in Lower Virginia, the first prominent affair, in

which General Butler, with about four thousand men, was repulsed and

forced to retire.

The affair at Bethel, which was of small importance, was followed

by movements in Northern and Western Virginia--the battles at Rich

Mountain and Carrick's Ford; Johnston's movements in the Valley; and

the advance of the main Federal army on the force under Beauregard,

which resulted in the first battle of Manassas. In these events,

General Lee bore no part, and we need not speak of them further than

to present a summary of the results. The Federal design had been to

penetrate Virginia in three columns. One was to advance from the

northwest under General McClellan; a second, under General Patterson,

was to take possession of the Valley; and a third, under General

McDowell, was to drive Beauregard back from Manassas on Richmond. Only

one of these columns--that of McClellan--succeeded in its undertaking.

Johnston held Patterson in check in the Valley until the advance upon

Manassas; then by a flank march the Confederate general hastened to

the assistance of Beauregard. The battle of Manassas followed on

Sunday, the 21st of July. After an unsuccessful attempt to force the

Confederate right, General McDowell assailed their left, making for

that purpose a long _détour_--and at first carried all before him.

Reënforcements were hurried forward, however, and the Confederates

fought with the energy of men defending their own soil. The obstinate

stand made by Evans, Bee, Bartow, Jackson, and their brave associates,

turned the fortunes of the day, and, when reënforcements subsequently

reached the field under General Kirby Smith and General Early, the

Federal troops retreated in great disorder toward Washington.

XI.

LEE'S ADVANCE INTO WESTERN VIRGINIA.

General Lee nowhere appears, as we have seen, in these first great

movements and conflicts. He was without any specific command, and

remained at Richmond, engaged in placing that city in a state of

defence. The works which he constructed proved subsequently of great

importance to the city, and a Northern officer writes of Lee: "While

the fortifications of Richmond stand, his name will evoke admiration;

the art of war is unacquainted with any defence so admirable."

Lee's first appearance in the war, as commander of troops in the

field, took place in the fall of 1861, when he was sent to operate

against the forces under General Rosecrans in the fastnesses of

Western Virginia. This indecisive and unimportant movement has been

the subject of various comment; the official reports were burned in

the conflagration at Richmond, or captured, and the elaborate plans

drawn up by Lee of his intended movement against General Reynolds,

at Cheat Mountain, have in the same manner disappeared. Under these

circumstances, and as the present writer had no personal knowledge of

the subject, it seems best to simply quote the brief statement which

follows. It is derived from an officer of high rank and character,

whose statement is only second in value to that of General Lee

himself:

"After General Garnett's death, General Lee was sent by the

President to ascertain what could be done in the trans-Alleghany

region, and to endeavor to harmonize our movements, etc., in that

part of the State. He was not ordered to take command of the

troops, nor did he do so, during the whole time he was there.

"Soon after his arrival he came to the decided conclusion that

_that_ was not the line from which to make an offensive movement.

The country, although not hostile, was not friendly; supplies

could not be obtained; the enemy had possession of the Baltimore

and Ohio Railroad, from which, and the Ohio River as a base, he

could operate with great advantage against us, and our only chance

was to drive him from the railroad, take possession, and use it

ourselves. We had not the means of doing this, and consequently

could only try to hold as much country as possible, and occupy as

large a force of the enemy as could be kept in front of us. The

movement against Cheat Mountain, which failed, was undertaken with

a view of causing the enemy to contract his lines, and enable

us to unite the troops under Generals Jackson (of Georgia) and

Loring. After the failure of this movement on our part, General

Rosecrans, feeling secure, strengthened his lines in that part of

the country, and went with a part of his forces to the Kanawha,

driving our forces across the Gauley. General Lee then went to

that line of operations, to endeavor to unite the troops under

Generals Floyd and Wise, and stop the movements under Rosecrans.

General Loring, with a part of his force from Valley Mountain,

joined the forces at Sewell Mountain. Rosecrans's movement was

stopped, and, the season for operations in that country being

over, General Lee was ordered to Richmond, and soon afterward sent

to South Carolina, to meet the movement of the enemy from Port

Royal, etc. He remained in South Carolina until shortly before the

commencement of the campaign before Richmond, in 1862."

The months spent by General Lee in superintending the coast defences

of South Carolina and Georgia, present nothing of interest, and we

shall therefore pass to the spring of 1862, when he returned to

Richmond. His services as engineer had been highly appreciated by the

people of the South, and a writer of the period said: "The time will

yet come when his superior abilities will be vindicated, both to his

own renown and the glory of his country." The time was now at hand

when these abilities, if the individual possessed them, were to have

an opportunity to display themselves.

XII.

LEE'S LAST INTERVIEW WITH BISHOP MEADE.

A touching incident of Lee's life belongs to this time--the early

spring of 1862. Bishop Meade, the venerable head of the Episcopal

Church in Virginia, lay at the point of death, in the city of

Richmond. When General Lee was informed of the fact, he exhibited

lively emotion, for the good bishop, as we have said in the

commencement of this narrative, had taught him his catechism when he

was a boy in Alexandria. On the day before the bishop's death. General

Lee called in the morning to see him, but such was the state of

prostration under which the sick man labored, that only a few of his

most intimate friends were permitted to have access to his chamber. In

the evening General Lee called again, and his name was announced

to Bishop Meade. As soon as he heard it, he said faintly, for

his breathing had become much oppressed, and he spoke with great

difficulty: "I must see him, if only for a few moments."

General Lee was accordingly introduced, and approached the dying man,

with evidences of great emotion in his countenance. Taking the thin

hand in his own, he said:

"How do you feel, bishop?"

"Almost gone," replied Bishop Meade, in a voice so weak that it was

almost inaudible; "but I wanted to see you once more."

He paused for an instant, breathing heavily, and looking at Lee with

deep feeling.

"God bless you! God bless you, Robert!" he faltered out, "and fit you

for your high and responsible duties. I can't call you 'general'--I

must call you 'Robert;' I have heard you your catechism too often."

General Lee pressed the feeble hand, and tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Yes, bishop--very often," he said, in reply to the last words uttered

by the bishop.

A brief conversation followed, Bishop Meade making inquiries in

reference to Mrs. Lee, who was his own relative, and other members

of the family. "He also," says the highly-respectable clergyman who

furnishes these particulars, "put some pertinent questions to General

Lee about the state of public affairs and of the army, showing the

most lively interest in the success of our cause."

It now became necessary to terminate an interview which, in the feeble

condition of the aged man, could not be prolonged. Much exhausted, and

laboring under deep emotion, Bishop Meade shook the general by the

hand, and said:

"Heaven bless you! Heaven bless you! and give you wisdom for your

important and arduous duties!"

These were the last words uttered during the interview. General Lee

pressed the dying man's hand, released it, stood for several minutes

by the bedside motionless and in perfect silence, and then went out of

the room.

On the next morning Bishop Meade expired.

[Illustration: Environs of Richmond.]