"Wakefield," Westmoreland County, Virginia, was the birthplace of
Washington, and at Stratford in the same county and state, only a few
miles from Wakefield, Robert Edward Lee was born on January 19, 1807.
Seventy-five years had intervened between those events but, except in
the matter of population, Westmoreland County remained much the same as
it had been during Washington's youth. Indians, it is true, no longer
lurked in he surrounding forests or paddled the broad Potomac in their
frail canoes, but the life had much of the same freedom and charm which
had endeared it to Washington. All the streams and woods and haunts
which he had known and loved were known and loved by Lee, not only for
their own sake, but because they were associated with the memory of the
great Commander-in-Chief who had been his father's dearest friend.
It would have been surprising, under such circumstances, if Washington
had not been Lee's hero, but he was more than a hero to the boy. From
his father's lips he had learned to know him, not merely as a famous
personage of history, but as a man and a leader of men. Indeed, his
influence and example were those of a living presence in the household
of "Light Horse Harry;" and thus to young Lee he early became the ideal
of manhood upon which, consciously or unconsciously, he molded his own
character and life. But quite apart from this, the careers of these two
great Virginians were astonishingly alike.
Washington's father had been married twice, and so had Lee's; each was
a son of the second marriage, and each had a number of brothers and
sisters. Washington lost his father when he was only eleven years old,
and Lee was exactly the same age when his father died. Mrs. Washington
had almost the entire care of her son during his early years, and Lee
was under the sole guidance of his mother until he had almost grown to
manhood. Washington repaid his mother's devotion by caring for her
and her affairs with notable fidelity, and Lee's tenderness and
consideration for his mother were such that she was accustomed to remark
that he was both a son and a daughter to her.
Washington's ancestors were notable, if not distinguished, people in
England; while Lee could trace his descent, through his father, to
Lancelot Lee, who fought at the battle of Hastings, and through his
mother to Robert the Bruce of Scotland. Neither man, however, prided
himself in the least on his ancestry. Indeed, neither of them knew
anything of his family history until his own achievements brought the
facts to light.
Washington was a born and bred country boy and so was Lee. Both
delighted in outdoor life, loving horses and animals of all kinds and
each was noted for his skillful riding in a region which was famous
for its horsemanship. There was, however, a vast difference between
Washington's education and that of Lee. The Virginian schools were
very rudimentary in Washington's day; but Lee attended two excellent
institutions of learning, where he had every opportunity, and of this
he availed himself, displaying much the same thoroughness that
characterized Washington's work, and the same manly modesty about any
success that he achieved.
By reason of his father's death and other circumstances Washington was
burdened with responsibility long before he arrived at manhood, making
him far more reserved and serious-minded than most school boys. This was
precisely the case with Lee, for his father's death, the ill health of
his mother and the care of younger children virtually made him the head
of the family, so that he became unusually mature and self-contained
at an early age. Neither boy, however, held aloof from the sports and
pastimes of his schoolmates and both were regarded as quiet, manly
fellows, with no nonsense about them, and with those qualities of
leadership that made each in turn the great military leader of his age.
Never has history recorded a stranger similarity in the circumstances
surrounding the youth of two famous men, but the facts which linked
their careers in later years are even stranger still.