[Illustration: UNVEILING OF LEE MONUMENT
At Richmond, Va., Friday, May 29, 1890.]
THE LIFE
OF
Gen. Robert E. Lee,
FOR CHILDREN,
In Easy Words.
ILLUSTRATED.
MRS. MARY L. WILLIAMSON.
Harrisonburg, Virginia
SPRINKLE PUBLICATIONS
1989
Copyright, 1895,
BY
Mrs. MARY L. WILLIAMSON.
Sprinkle Publications
P. O. Box 1094
Harrisonburg, Va. 22801
PREFACE.
In preparing the “Life of Lee for Children,” for use in the Public
Schools, I beg leave to place before teachers good reasons for employing
it as a supplementary reader.
First, I urge the need of interesting our children in history at an
early age. From observation I find that the minds of children who study
history early expand more rapidly than those who are restricted to the
limits of stories in readers. While teaching pupils to read, why not fix
in their minds the names and deeds of our great men, thereby laying the
foundation of historical knowledge and instilling true patriotism into
their youthful souls?
Secondly, in looking over the lives of our American heroes we find not
one which presents such a picture of moral grandeur as that of Lee.
Place this picture before the little ones and you cannot fail to make
them look upward to noble ideals.
This little book is intended as auxiliary to third readers. I have used
the diacritical marks of Webster, also his syllabication. In compiling
this work I referred chiefly to Gen. Fitzhugh Lee’s “Life of Lee,” and
Rev. J. William Jones’ “Personal Reminiscences of R. E. Lee.”
Mary L. Williamson.
New Market, Va.,
September 28, 1898.
The Sword of Robert Lee.
Words by Moina. Music by Armand.
Forth from its scabbard, pure and bright,
Flashed the sword of Lee!
Far in the front of the deadly fight,
High o’er the brave, in the cause of right,
Its stainless sheen, like a beacon light,
Led us to victory.
Out of its scabbard, where full long
It slumbered peacefully—
Roused from its rest by the battle-song,
Shielding the feeble, smiting the strong,
Guarding the right, and avenging the wrong—
Gleamed the sword of Lee!
Forth from its scabbard, high in air,
Beneath Virginia’s sky,
And they who saw it gleaming there,
And knew who bore it, knelt to swear
That where that sword led they would dare
To follow and to die.
Out of its scabbard! Never hand
Waved sword from stain as free,
Nor purer sword led braver band,
Nor braver bled for a brighter land,
Nor brighter land had a cause as grand,
Nor cause a chief like Lee!
Forth from its scabbard! All in vain!
Forth flashed the sword of Lee!
’Tis shrouded now in its sheath again,
It sleeps the sleep of our noble slain,
Defeated, yet without a stain,
Proudly and peacefully.
CONTENTS.
Chapter Page
I. Birth and Youth. 9
II. A Young Engineer. 18
III. A Cavalry Officer. 28
IV. A Confederate General. 45
V. A Confederate General. (Continued.) 62
VI. A College President. 99
VII. A People’s Hero. 151
GENERAL R. E. LEE’S Farewell Address to His Soldiers. 169
The Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Youth.
Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford, Westmoreland county, Virginia,
on the 19th of January, 1807.
His father, General Henry Lee, had been a great chief in Washington’s
army. They sometimes call him “Light-Horse Harry Lee.” While with
Washington, he was ever in front of the foe, and his troopers were what
they always should be—the eyes and ears of the army.
After the war he was Governor of Virginia, and then a member of
Congress. It was he who said in a speech made before Congress after the
death of Washington, that he was “First in war, first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen.” He also said, “Virginia is my
country; her will I obey, however sad the fate to which it may subject
me.”
The long line of Lees may be traced back to Launcelot Lee, of Loudon, in
France, who went with William the Conqueror upon his expedition to
England; and when Harold had been slain upon the bloody field of
Hastings, Launcelot was given by William the Conqueror an estate in
Essex. From that time the name of Lee is ever an honorable one in the
history of England.
In the time of the first Charles, Richard Lee came to the New World and
found a home in Virginia. He was a man of good stature, sound sense, and
kind heart. From him the noble stock of Virginia Lees began. He was the
great-great-grandfather of Robert, who was much like him in many ways.
Robert’s mother was Anne Hill Carter, who came from one of the best
families of Virginia. She was a good and noble woman, who lived only to
train her children in the right way.
[Illustration: STRATFORD.]
Stratford, the house in which Robert was born, is a fine old mansion,
built in the shape of the letter H, and stands not far from the banks of
the Potomac River and near the birthplace of Washington. Upon the roof
were summer houses, where the band played, while the young folks walked
in the grounds below, and enjoyed the cool air from the river and the
sweet music of the band.
He had two brothers and two sisters. His brothers were named Charles
Carter and Sidney Smith, and his sisters Anne and Mildred.
When Robert was but four years of age his father moved to Alexandria, a
city not very far from the Stratford House, where he could send his boys
to better schools. But he was not able to stay with them and bring them
up to manhood. Shortly after he had moved to Alexandria, he was hurt in
Baltimore by a mob of bad men, and he was never well again.
When Robert was six years old, his father went to the West Indies for
his health. While there he wrote kind letters to his son, Charles Carter
Lee, and spoke with much love of all. Once he said, “Tell me of Anne.
Has she grown tall? Robert was always good.” He wished to know, also, if
his sons rode and shot well, saying that a Virginian’s sons should be
taught to ride, shoot, and tell the truth.
When he had been there five years, and only grew worse, he made up his
mind to return home. But he grew so ill that he was put ashore on
Cumberland Island at the home of a friend. He soon gave up all hope of
life. At times his pain was so great that he would drive his servants
and every one else out of the room. At length an old woman, who had been
Mrs. Greene’s best maid, was sent to nurse him. The first thing General
Lee did when she came into the room was to hurl his boot at her head.
Without a word, she picked up the boot and threw it back at him. A smile
passed over the old chief’s face as he saw how brave she was, and from
that time to the day of his death none but Mom Sarah could wait on him.
Two months after the sick soldier landed he was dead. His body was laid
to rest amid the cedars and flowers of the South, and it has never been
moved to Virginia.
[Illustration: MOM SARAH.]
At this time Robert was only eleven years old. If he was a good boy, it
was his mother who kept him so, for he never knew a father’s care. His
mother once said to a friend, “How can I spare Robert! He is both a son
and a daughter to me.”
About that time the girls and other boys were away from home, and she
had no one but Robert to care for her. He took the keys and “kept house”
for her when she was sick, and also saw to all of her outdoor work. He
would run home from school to ride out with her, so that she might enjoy
the fresh air and sunshine. When she would complain of the cold or
draughts, he would pull out a great jackknife and stuff the cracks with
paper, for the coach was an old one.
So he grew up by her side, a good and noble boy. At first he went to
school to a Mr. Leary, who was ever his firm friend. Then he went to the
school of Mr. Benjamin H. Hallowell, who always spoke of him as a fine
young man.
Robert was fond of hunting, and would sometimes follow the hounds all
day. In this way he gained that great strength which was never known to
fail him in after life.
The old home, in Alexandria, where his mother had lived, was always a
sacred place to him. Years after, one of his friends saw him looking
sadly over the fence of the garden where he used to play. “I am
looking,” he said, “to see if the old snow-ball trees are still here. I
should be sorry to miss them.”
When he was eighteen years old, he went to West Point to learn to be a
soldier. He was there four years, and in that time never got a bad mark
or demerit. His clothes always looked neat and clean, and his gun
bright. In short, he kept the rules of the school and studied so well
that he came out second in his class.
When he came home from West Point, he found his mother’s old coachman,
Nat, very ill. He took him at once to the South and nursed him with
great care. But the spring-time saw the good old slave laid in the grave
by the hand of his kind young master.
[Illustration: UNCLE NAT.]
Not very long after, his dear mother grew quite ill. He sat by her
bedside day and night, and gave her all her food and medicine with his
own hand. But his great care and love could not save her. He was soon
bereft of her to whom he used to say he “owed everything.”
Some one has said, “Much has been written of what the world owes to
‘Mary, the mother of Washington’; but it owes scarcely less to ‘Anne,
the mother of Lee.’”
Gĕn′-er-al, the head of an army.
Ex′-pe-dĭ′-tion, a voyage; a trip, with an aim in view.
Stăt′-ūre, height.
Dråughts (dråfts), currents of air.
Tell what you remember about—
Robert’s father.
Robert’s mother.
The situation of his home.
Robert’s kindness to his mother.
His life at West Point.
[Illustration: {uncaptioned}]