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THE HEART OF LEE 
 
THE 
 
 Heart of Lee 
 
 By 
 WAYNE WHIPPLE 
 
 Author of ''The Story-Life of Washington,'* 
 
 ''The Heart of Lincoln;' "The Heart of 
 
 Washington ;* etc. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
Copyright, 191 8, by 
 George W. Jacobs & Company 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Printed in U. S. A. 
 
 OCT 19 1918 
 
 ■©a.A50;}892 
 
» 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 I 
 
 The Heart of Chivalry . 
 
 7 
 
 II 
 
 The Heart of " Light-Horsi 
 Harry" 
 
 14 
 
 III 
 
 His Mother's Son 
 
 . 27 
 
 IV 
 
 Cadet to Captain 
 
 ► 36 
 
 V 
 
 In Mexico with Scott 
 
 56 
 
 VI 
 
 " From Pillar to Post " . 
 
 75 
 
 VII 
 
 Loyal Even in Rebellion 
 
 III 
 
 nil 
 
 On the Mount . . . , 
 
 . 186 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 THE HEAET OF CHIVALEY 
 
 Fair Land of Chivalry, the Old Do- 
 main! ... 
 
 Yet hast thou scenes of beauty richly 
 fraught 
 
 With all that wakes the glow of lofty 
 thought. 
 
 — Mrs. Henians, 
 
 Into the great stone house at " Strat- 
 ford '* in Westmoreland, the Virginia 
 county in which Washington was born, 
 an infant came on the 19th of January, 
 1807. He appeared in no way different 
 from nearly every other white baby 
 boy born in the Old Dominion, but his 
 antecedents and surroundings were 
 unique — for an American child, at least. 
 
 " Stratford House," in whose spa- 
 cious chambers this boy, named Robert 
 7 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Edward Lee, first saw the light, was a 
 combination of mansion, i)alace, castle 
 and stockade. Built with the thick 
 stone walls of a fortress, it served as a 
 sort of palatial block-house to protect 
 its inmates — and all the peoj)le for 
 many miles around, if sufficient warn- 
 ing were given — in case of attack. 
 
 The first house, named for the ances- 
 tral estate of the Lees in England, and 
 built by Richard, the first Lee who 
 emigrated to Virginia, had been burned 
 to the ground. His grandson Thomas 
 determined to build a mansion which 
 would " endure unto many genera- 
 tions." To help in doing this, Queen 
 Caroline of England sent him, as to an 
 absent knight, a handsome largess from 
 her private purse. The Lees had been 
 friends at the English court for five or 
 six centuries. Here are a few of the 
 noble names in the annals of chivalry: 
 
 Launcelot fought under William the 
 8 
 
THE HEART OF CHIVALRY 
 
 Conqueror at Hastings; Lionel went 
 with Richard Lion-heart in the Third 
 Crusade; and Sir Henry was made a 
 Knight of the Garter by Queen Eliza- 
 beth. 
 
 So little Robert, when he was old 
 enough to run about the mansion, then 
 a century old, heard, along with ancient 
 tales of the "Knights of the Table 
 Round," similar stories of the doughty 
 deeds of his own forbears. A favorite 
 place for such recitals was the flat 
 arbored roof, where musicians had 
 used to play while the " First Families 
 of Virginia " promenaded and listened, 
 and Colonial youths made love to ladies 
 fair. 
 
 No wonder this diminutive scion of 
 the purest and best of English chivalry 
 — that of Walter Raleigh and Philip 
 Sidney — grew up to consider all that 
 sort of thing a family affair. Still, it 
 needed even more than the flower of 
 9 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 English knighthood to produce that 
 consummate flower of the chivahy of 
 the Old Dominion, Robert E. Lee. 
 
 The Lees were among the leaders 
 who remained loyal to the House of 
 Stuart through the Civil War of the 
 " Roundheads " and " Cavaliers " of 
 England. When Charles the First was 
 beheaded, Colonel Richard Lee emi- 
 grated to the new province of Virginia, 
 which Sir Walter Raleigh and other 
 knightly adventurers had settled and 
 named in honor of " Our Dread Souver- 
 eign Ladye, Good Queen Bess." 
 
 His son Richard, the second of the 
 name in America, was the friend and 
 adviser of Governor Spotswood, the 
 great-grandfather of Anne Carter, who 
 became the wife of Henry Lee and the 
 mother of Robert; and this little boy of 
 " Stratford," traced back, through her 
 and this provincial governor, to Robert 
 Bruce, the Scottish conqueror. 
 10 
 
THE HEART OF CHIVALRY 
 
 Under the roof-garden of " Stratford 
 House " were born these heroes of 
 Colonial days: 
 
 Richard Henry Lee, called " the 
 Cicero of the Revolution," who made the 
 historic motion in the Continental Con- 
 gress, that all the American colonies 
 assert their independence; Francis 
 Lightfoot, who, with his brother Rich- 
 ard Henry, signed the Declaration of 
 Independence; and Arthur, a younger 
 brother, who represented the struggling 
 colonies at four courts of Europe, and, 
 with Benjamin Franklin, helped bring 
 about the French Alliance which 
 enabled Washington, with his worn-out 
 army, to win the independence of the 
 LTnited States. 
 
 These three brothers were cousins of 
 Henry Lee, the " Light-horse Harry " 
 of the Revolution, the father of Robert 
 E. Lee. It was, therefore, a matter of 
 course that the Lees were admitted to 
 11 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 be leaders among " the First Families 
 of Virginia" — that charmed circle which 
 even the Washingtons entered through 
 jMajor Lawrence Washington's mar- 
 riage to a daughter of the Fairfaxes, 
 and through Colonel George Washing- 
 ton's wedding the widow of the wealthi- 
 est of the Custises. 
 
 Through many intermarriages among 
 the " F. F. V.'s," Robert E. Lee was 
 connected with nearly all the leading 
 families of the Old Dominion and 
 Maryland. If any one had a right to 
 indulge in family pride it was he — but 
 he seemed wholly indifferent to distinc- 
 tions of birth. When he was a white- 
 haired general, writing from the front 
 to his wife, he expressed the following 
 wish concerning a gentleman's proposal 
 to trace out and publish a book showing 
 his family tree: 
 
 " I am very much obliged to Mr. 
 Blank for the trouble he has taken in 
 13 
 
THE HEART OF CHIVALRY 
 
 relation to the Lee genealogy. I have 
 no desire to have it published, and do 
 not think it would afford sufficient in- 
 terest beyond the immediate family to 
 compensate for the expense. I think 
 the money had better be applied to 
 relieving the j)Oor." 
 
 He was passionately^ devoted to the 
 memory of his father, and to every 
 member of his own family, but he 
 thought more of the good he could do 
 for those around him than of the ad- 
 ventures of those who lived centuries 
 ago. For a modern knight, pure and 
 simple, like Robert E. Lee to boast of 
 his ancestry is as unthinkable to those 
 who knew him as of Sir Galahad prat- 
 ing of his pedigree! 
 
 la 
 
II 
 
 THE HEART OF 
 "LIGHT-HORSE HARRY" 
 
 Thou art my father, and thy gain is mine. 
 
 — Matthew Arnold. 
 
 One reason assigned for Washing- 
 ton's partiality to Harry Lee can never 
 be proven — that the young man was the 
 son of his first love, a young lady older 
 than himself, to whom he referred in a 
 letter to another youth as " the Low- 
 land Beautj^" But the identity of the 
 object of this boyish love is shrouded 
 in a mystery somewhat like that which 
 surrounds " Junius " or " the Man in 
 the Iron Mask." 
 
 Wliatever may have been the reason, 
 it was well observed by many of General 
 14 
 
" LIGHT-HORSE HARRY " 
 
 Washington's friends that he showed a 
 special fondness for the versatile young 
 officer of the Revolution. To " Light- 
 horse Harrj^'s " bravery and brilliancy 
 Avere added his rare force and skill as 
 an author, debater and orator. These 
 seemed to intensify the admiration and 
 love of the fatherly General and Presi- 
 dent, as in the case of his deep affection 
 for Alexander Hamilton which stood 
 the long strain of that young official's 
 temperamental touchiness and his un- 
 reasonable jealousy of Jefferson. 
 
 But Harry Lee made no such draft 
 upon the friendship of his chief. He 
 was an agreeable companion withal, 
 both kind of heart and witty in con- 
 versation, which the First President en- 
 joyed with all the gusto of a seasoned 
 epicure. As he had no children of his 
 own, it is rather pleasant to think of 
 " Light-horse Harry " as the son of the 
 lady he had loved and lost. Nor should 
 15 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 it excite wonder if that father-hearted, 
 childless man recognized the sonship of 
 young Lee as truer than that of his 
 wife's grandson, who became his by an 
 adoption enforced by the death of his 
 ste]3son, this boy's father. WTiether or 
 not Washington could bring himself to 
 believe it, George Washington Parke 
 Custis was a commonplace young 
 gentleman whose sole claim to popular 
 interest lay in the fact that he was the 
 adopted son of the Father of his Coun- 
 try, and finally inherited the larger 
 share of the great estate of his grand- 
 father, who was Martha Washington's 
 first husband. 
 
 Although the master of Mount Ver- 
 non may never have acknowledged, even 
 to himself, the true spiritual kinship of 
 Henry Lee, that bright young officer 
 was a man after his own heart. After 
 being graduated from Princeton he 
 joined the army in the Summer of 1777,^ 
 16 
 
"LIGHT-HORSE HARRY" 
 
 along with Lafayette, another young 
 man Washington soon learned to love. 
 The French marquis was also a great 
 admirer of Harry Lee — was it not, in 
 i:)art at least, to gain more favor with 
 the great commander? 
 
 Although the General's paternal in- 
 terest in Lee was manifest in the field, 
 there was no partiality shown in the 
 matter of promotion until the young 
 student had won his spurs. Washing- 
 ton did not have long to wait for this. 
 At Valley Forge, already a captain of 
 dragoons, Lee had also won the title 
 which clung to him always — " Light- 
 horse HaiTy." 
 
 A British foraging party of two- 
 hundred horse attacked a stable and 
 warehouse which Captain Lee had to 
 guard with only a few men. There is a 
 note of boyish exulting in his report, to 
 the chief, of this skirmish: 
 
 " So well directed was the [our] op- 
 17 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 position that we drove them from the 
 stables and saved every horse. We 
 have got the arms, some cloaks, etc., of 
 their wounded. Their enterprise was 
 certainly daring, though the issue was 
 very ignominious. I had not a soldier 
 for each window." 
 
 Irving, in his " Life of Washington," 
 goes on to relate: 
 
 " Washington, whose heart evidently 
 warmed more and more to this young 
 Virginian officer, the son of his * Low- 
 land Beauty,' not content with notic- 
 ing his exploit in general orders, wrote 
 a note to him on the subject, ex- 
 pressed with unusual familiarity and 
 warmth. . . . 
 
 " In effect, Washington, not long 
 afterwards, strongly recommended Lee 
 for the command of two troojDS of 
 horse, with the rank of major, to act as 
 an independent j)artisan corps. . . . 
 
 " It was a high gratification to Wash- 
 18 
 
"LIGHT-HORSE HARRY" 
 
 ington when Congress made this ap- 
 pomtment; accompanying it with en- 
 comiums on Lee as a brave and prudent 
 officer who had rendered essential serv- 
 ice to the country and acquired dis- 
 tinguished honor to himself and to the 
 corps he commanded." 
 
 " Light-horse Harry " was one of the 
 heroes with " Mad Anthony " Wayne 
 at Stony Point, where he was reported 
 for bravery with the new rank of Major. 
 Then came Paulus Hook, where he was 
 in command, performing a feat so dar- 
 ing that he received another meed of 
 praise from Congress, by whose order 
 a medal was struck in commemoration 
 of his brave exploit. General Wash- 
 ington, proud and happy, sent his young 
 friend another letter of congratulation. 
 
 Colonel Lee spent the later years of 
 
 the war in the South, as leader of his 
 
 own company, called " Lee's Legion," 
 
 under the immediate command of Gen- 
 
 19 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 eral Nathanael Greene, who wrote of 
 him to the president of Congress that, 
 as chief commander for the Southern 
 States, he was " more indebted to this 
 officer than any other for the advantages 
 gained over the enemy in the last cam- 
 paign." 
 
 After the Revolution Colonel Henry 
 Lee entered upon a political career 
 quite as brilliant as his military achieve- 
 ments. He was a delegate to the con- 
 vention which met to approve the Con- 
 stitution, and took an active part in its 
 deliberations. From 1792 to 1795 he 
 was Governor of Virginia. While act- 
 ing in this capacity, President Wash- 
 ington appointed him to lead the fif- 
 teen thousand militia sent to quell 
 the " Whisky Insurrection " in certain 
 counties of western Pennsylvania, and 
 accompanied him from Philadelphia, 
 then the national capital, to Bedford, 
 in the southwestern part of that State. 
 20 
 
" LIGHT-HORSE HARRY " 
 
 After the First President retired to 
 his long-yearned-for "vine-and-figtree" 
 at Mount Vernon, ex-Governor liee 
 was his most frequent guest. It was 
 observed that Harry Lee could " say 
 things " to the ex-President which 
 would never be tolerated from any one 
 else. Mrs. Washington would flush 
 and purse her lips at these liberties until 
 she noticed, with some surprise, that 
 " the General " did not mind them. 
 Still, this vivacious visitor kept the good 
 lady of Mount Vernon in a constant 
 state of nervous excitement. 
 
 One day, at table, the host mentioned 
 that he was in need of a span of carriage 
 horses. 
 
 " I have a fine pair, General,'* Lee 
 promptly replied, " but you cannot get 
 them." 
 
 "Why not?" Washington asked, 
 surprised. 
 
 " Because you will never pay more 
 21 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 than half price for anything, and I must 
 have full j)rice for my horses." 
 
 This left-handed compliment to the 
 GeneraFs shrewdness in a horse-trade 
 made Mrs. Washington laugh nerv- 
 ously. A parrot, X3erched near her, 
 joined in the immoderate merriment. 
 This set General Washington laughing 
 too, and he responded without resenting 
 his guest's salh^ : 
 
 " Ah, Lee, you are a funny fellow. 
 See, that bird is laughing at you! " 
 
 Ex-Governor Lee was elected to the 
 national House of Representatives in 
 1799. General Washington died in 
 December of that year. There was a 
 special fitness in George Washington's 
 
 " Brother at once and son " 
 
 being chosen to deliver the eulogy in 
 honor of the Father of his Country be- 
 fore both Houses of Congress. The 
 actual words which Henry Lee pro- 
 22 
 
"LIGHT-HORSE HARRY" 
 
 nounced for the first time on this great 
 occasion were: 
 
 " First in war, first in peace and 
 first in the hearts of his fellow- 
 citizens/' 
 
 but the last word has been changed by 
 popular authority to " countrymen." 
 
 Henry Lee first married his cousin 
 Matilda Ludwell Lee, through whom 
 " Stratford " came into his possession. 
 IMatilda and her children having died, 
 he married, as his second wife, Anne 
 Carter of " Shirley," a sightly estate 
 on James River. Robert Edward, born 
 in 1807, was five years old when war 
 was declared against Great Britain, and 
 his father was made a Major-General. 
 But before General Henry Lee could 
 enter this war he was badly injured 
 while defending from an angry mob his 
 friend who was a newspaper editor in 
 Baltmiore. So he had to go to the 
 23 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 West Indies in search of health in- 
 stead of going again into his country's 
 service. 
 
 In this place of his banishment, Gen- 
 eral Lee — no longer the " Light-horse " 
 or the " Light-heart Harry " of other 
 days — penned his " Memoirs of the 
 War in the Southern Department." 
 
 Meanwhile he kept on writing faith- 
 fully and fondly to his wife and " the 
 little ones at home," asking especially 
 what his boys — Charles Carter, Sydney 
 Smith, and Robert EdAvard — were do- 
 ing; if they were learning to ride horse- 
 back and to shoot straight. He also 
 tried to impress truths upon them, 
 of religion, morality and learning. 
 " Fame," he charged them, " in arms 
 and art, is nought unless betrothed to 
 virtue." 
 
 Once he wrote to his wife: " Robert 
 was always good, and will be confirmed 
 in his happy turn of mind by his ever- 
 24. 
 
"LIGHT-HORSE HARRY" 
 
 watchful and affectionate mother. Does 
 he strengthen his native tendency?" 
 
 After nearly five years of this sad 
 separation, the devoted father, at last 
 giving up hope of recovery, started 
 home to die, as Lawrence Washington 
 journeyed back from Barbados, sixty 
 years before. On the way General Lee 
 became so ill that he begged to be put 
 ashore on Cumberland Island, off the 
 coast of Georgia, where the family of 
 his old friend. General Greene, still 
 lived. The general's daughter did all 
 she could to relieve his sufferings, which 
 at times were so excruciating as almost 
 to rob him of his reason. 
 
 A skillful surgeon, who was called to 
 see him, urged him to undergo a certain 
 operation, in the desperate hope of sav- 
 ing his life. General Henry Lee's an- 
 swer was an illustration of the " ruling 
 passion strong in death: " 
 
 " My dear sir, were the great Wash- 
 25 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 ingtoii alive and here, joining you in 
 advocating it, I would still resist! " 
 
 He did not live long after this. 
 " Light-horse Harry " was denied even 
 the boon of gathering his family around 
 liis dying bed. In almost his last utter- 
 ance he breathed the dear name of 
 Washington. He was buried in the 
 garden near the grave of General 
 Greene. His son Robert was only 
 eleven, the age of little George Wash- 
 ington when he lost his father, and was 
 left to be the stand-by " of his mother, 
 and she was a widow." 
 
 26 
 
Ill 
 
 HIS MOTHEE'S SON 
 
 With a hand as gentle as woman's. 
 
 — Longfellow. 
 
 Because of the frequent intermar- 
 riages among the " First Families," 
 most of the " gentry " of the Old Do- 
 minion were so related that " a Virginia 
 cousin " became the common phrase 
 for a distant connection. Through this 
 custom the people of influence in the 
 State were merged into a great family, 
 so that the initials " F. F. V." might 
 have stood for the one First Family of 
 Virginia. Of the first five Presidents 
 of the United States, four of them — 
 Washington, Jefferson, Madison and 
 Monroe — all resided in Virginia, within 
 driving distance of one another! 
 27 
 
' THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Therefore, Virginia had a certain 
 right to ask herself: 
 
 " Was not the Father of his Country 
 and leading Federalist one of US? 
 And the original Democrat with his 
 
 * Jeffersonian Simplicity ' — was he not 
 ours? Who was ' the Father of the 
 Constitution ' but our ' great, little 
 Madison? ' And James Monroe — did 
 he not absorb the Monroe Doctrine, of 
 
 * America for Americans ! ' from the 
 very breast of Mother Virginia? " 
 
 Then why should not the Mother of 
 Presidents and the Father of his Coun- 
 try be conscious of a good claim to be 
 both head and heart of the United 
 States of America? 
 
 On all these accounts "Old Virginia" 
 considered herself the organizer and 
 builder, as well as the founder of the 
 nation, by a hereditary, divine and con- 
 stitutional right. 
 
 When Robert E. Lee was born into 
 28 
 
HIS MOTHER'S SON 
 
 this great Virginia family, Thomas Jef- 
 ferson of " Monticello " occupied the 
 President's chair. James Madison of 
 " Montpellier " and James Monroe of 
 " Oak Hill " — all nearer together than 
 " Stratford," his father's estate, and 
 " Shirley," his mother's home — were 
 yet to take the helm of state and be 
 among his earlier recollections. Robert 
 was only five when the War of 1812 was 
 declared. As soon as he could under- 
 stand, he heard British infringements 
 on American rights discussed with deep 
 earnestness, and often with bitterness, 
 for the Second War for Independence 
 was but the continuing of the old 
 struggle for liberty. " Boarding our 
 ships and impressing sailors into the 
 service of England, to make them help 
 fight her battles with Napoleon, is as 
 wicked and unlawful as to break in and 
 rob our homes," they said in his hear- 
 ing^ — " for a man's house is his castle ! " 
 29 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 " Stratford House " was filled with 
 family portraits and Colonial furniture, 
 each having its own history and signifi- 
 cance. The servants loved to take the 
 dear, earnest little fellow up to the roof, 
 and sit under one of the canopies there 
 to tell him about all the brave gentle- 
 men who were " raised on the place," 
 while the boy's father told him of the 
 noble knights, " without fear and with- 
 out reproach," who bore the name of 
 Lee, with the banner of the Cross, and 
 waged war against the Turk, to wrest 
 from him the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 Much as the tales of Christian 
 chivalry appealed to the little boy, he 
 liked still better to hear of the exploits 
 of his own handsome father and his 
 cousin Richard Henry, with Washing- 
 ton, in the Revolution. 
 
 When Robert was four. General 
 Henry Lee removed to Alexandria, be- 
 tween Mount Vernon and the national 
 80 
 
HIS MOTHER'S SON 
 
 capital, to educate his growing children. 
 Here the family attended old Christ 
 Church, held doubly sacred because 
 Washington had worshiped there. Be- 
 sides returning often to " Stratford," 
 the Lee boy sometimes went wqth his 
 mother to visit Grandfather Carter at 
 " Shirley." 
 
 After General Henry Lee had gone 
 to the West Indies, hoping against hope, 
 to recover his health, the lad's heart fol- 
 lowed the absent father, alone in a dis- 
 tant land. This love for his father and 
 his boyish devotion to Virginia's great- 
 est son, Washington, were soon blended 
 into a passionate patriotism as the 
 devout lad grew to manhood. All this, 
 in its fervent intensity, was poured out 
 upon his native State, of which his 
 father had been a soldier, leader, states- 
 man and governor — especially after 
 that sainted exemplar had taken his 
 journey to — 
 
 81 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 " The undiscover'd country from whose 
 bourn 
 No traveler returns." 
 
 When the tender letters ceased to 
 come, and the little ones were told, in 
 a solemn hush, that they could never see 
 their blessed father's face again, eleven- 
 year-old Robert took it uj)on himself to 
 comfort and care for his invalid mother. 
 One of the cousins related of him about 
 this time: 
 
 " I remember Robert well as a boy 
 at school to Mr. Leary at the Alexan- 
 dria Academy, and afterward at the 
 school of Mr. Hallowell, when his 
 mother lived next door. I recollect his 
 correct deportment at school and else- 
 where, and his attention to his studies. 
 
 " What impressed me most in my 
 youthful days Avas his devotion to his 
 mother, who was for many years an 
 invalid. . . . He was her house- 
 keeper, relieved her of all domestic 
 32 
 
HIS MOTHER^S SON 
 
 cares, looked after the horses, rode out 
 m the carriage with her, and did the 
 marketing." 
 
 Another cousin told of young Robert 
 while he was going to school next door, 
 hoping to fit himself, if possible, to enter 
 West Point: 
 
 " Wlien he was going to Mr. Hal- 
 lowelFs school he would come out at 
 twelve o'clock, have their carriage 
 gotten, and go with his mother to ride, 
 doing and saying everything to amuse 
 her. When she was sick in bed, he 
 mixed every dose of medicine she took, 
 and nursed her night and day." 
 
 Robert was his mother's fourth child. 
 His eldest brother, named Charles 
 Carter, for his mother's father, was at 
 Harvard College. Sydney Smith Lee 
 was in the Naval Academy at Annap- 
 olis. Anne, the sister older than him- 
 self, was already a partial invalid, and 
 away from home much of the time. 
 33 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 The youngest child, Mildred, was too 
 small to be of assistance to him. 
 
 As the handsome youth grew taller 
 and stronger, his mother became more 
 feeble and helpless. IVIost of his time 
 out of school was devoted to her. The 
 neighbors used to tell how he carried 
 her in his arms to and from the old- 
 fashioned family coach. Having placed 
 her within, he arranged the cushions — 
 always chatting gaily and doing his 
 best to cheer and entertain her. Thus 
 Robert became almost his mother's only 
 happiness. 
 
 Feeling that the family could not 
 afford to let him go to college, as his 
 brother Carter had done, and since 
 Smith was now in the Navy, Robert 
 determined to be a soldier, like his father 
 and the venerated Washington. Carter 
 was already a practising lawyer, so a 
 friend of the family remarked that Mrs. 
 Lee should be proud and happy to have 
 34 
 
HIS MOTHER'S SON 
 
 one son in the State, one in the Navy, 
 and the third in the Army. 
 
 The feeble, dependent mother was too 
 unselfish to wish to spoil her noble son's 
 career, so she encouraged him in his 
 ambition to be like his brave father; then 
 he took the necessary steps for entrance 
 at the United States Military Academy. 
 
 When her tall stand-by had gone 
 away to the West Point Academy, the 
 heroic little mother exclaimed, with a 
 hopeless sigh: 
 
 " How can I do without Robert? He 
 is both son and daughter to me! " 
 
 85 
 
IV 
 
 CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 The sex was ever to a soldier kind. 
 
 —Pope. 
 
 The 3^outh of eighteen who registered 
 at West Point Military Academy in the 
 Summer of 1825 had — thanks to his o\Ym 
 ambition and thoroughness — more than 
 usual preparation. The entrance re- 
 quirements were quite simple, hardly 
 more than " Reading, Writing and 
 Arithmetic," but he had studied Latin 
 and Greek, besides mathematics and 
 drawing. 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Hallowell, the strict 
 Quaker master who had conducted 
 Kobert Lee's recent studies, has left on 
 36 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 record that " he was never behindhand 
 in his studies, never failed in a single 
 recitation, was perfectly observant of 
 the regulations of the institution; was 
 gentlemanly, unobtrusive, and respect- 
 ful in his deportment to teachers and 
 fellow-students." 
 
 Also that he did with " a finish and 
 neatness everything he undertook. One 
 of the branches of mathematics he 
 studied with me was conic sections, in 
 which some of the diagrams were very 
 complicated. He drew the diagram on 
 a slate; and although he well knew the 
 one he was drawing would have to be 
 removed to make room for another, he 
 drew each one with as much accuracy 
 and finish, lettering and all, as if it were 
 to be engraved and printed." 
 
 No one realized then that this mani- 
 festation of the courteous, good-tem- 
 pered young man was but the budding 
 of genius. 
 
 87 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 At that time, drunkenness and other 
 dissipation were found among the 
 cadets. The story of Robert Lee's 
 course there is one of uniformly correct 
 dei)ortment, for he passed through the 
 whole four years without a single 
 demerit. He did not drink with his 
 friends, though nearly every one in 
 those days thought conviviality was 
 necessary in the society of gentlemen. 
 He did not even smoke. When a 
 fellow-student proposed the least in- 
 fraction of the rules, he declined with a 
 smile so frank and kind as to disarm the 
 natural resentment which such refusals 
 generally arouse among young men. 
 
 Robert E. Lee's conduct at the Mili- 
 tary Academy was so exemi)lary that 
 if it had not revealed the heart of a true 
 gentleman, other young men would have 
 shrugged and called him a " prig " or 
 a " snob " — the contemptuous epithets 
 too often misapplied. 
 88 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 Though there was no trace of super- 
 ciliousness in his manner. Cadet Lee did 
 not wear his heart on his sleeve. Joseph 
 E. Johnston, afterward the great Con- 
 federate general, said of their life to- 
 gether at West Point: 
 
 " We had the same associates, who 
 thought as I did, that no other youth or 
 man so united the qualities that win 
 warm friendship and command respect. 
 For he was full of sympathy and kind- 
 ness; genial and fond of gay conversa- 
 tion, and even of fun, that made him the 
 most agreeable of companions, while the 
 correctness of his demeanor and lan- 
 guage, and attention to all duties, both 
 personal and official, and a dignity as 
 much a part of himself as the elegance 
 of his person, gave him a superiority 
 that every one acknowledged in his 
 heart." 
 
 " He was the only one of all the men 
 I have known who could laugh at the 
 80 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 faults and follies of others so as to make 
 them ashamed without touching their 
 affections." 
 
 Another West Point cadet has said 
 of him since: 
 
 " He never * ran the sentinel post,' 
 did not go off the limits to the * Benny 
 Havens ' of his day, nor put ' dummies ' 
 in his bed to deceive the officer in charge 
 as he made his inspection after * taps,' 
 and at the parades stood steady in line. 
 It was a pleasure to look down the 
 barrel of his gun, for it was bright and 
 clean, and its stock was rubbed so as to 
 resemble polished mahogany." 
 
 One of Lee's few intimates at the 
 Academy was young Jefferson Davis, 
 with whom he was later to be so closely 
 associated. The most popular place of 
 " stolen waters " for the cadets was 
 " Buttermilk Falls," about two miles 
 away, where they used to go and indulge 
 in certain refreshments, liquid and 
 40 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 otherwise, purveyed by one Benny 
 Havens, who has become famous in the 
 annals of West Point. Young Lee, 
 Joseph and Albert Sidney Johnston re- 
 fused to join in any of these clandestine 
 visits to " Benny Havens, Oh " — but 
 Jefferson Davis is said to have gone 
 repeatedly, and to have been court- 
 martialed once for drinking there. 
 While trying to escape a second arrest, 
 Cadet Davis fell over a cliff sixty feet 
 high and was seriously hurt. 
 
 In 1828, Robert Lee took the usual 
 vacation of several months at home. 
 His mother had every reason to be 
 proud of her handsome soldier boy. 
 She must have known then that she had 
 not long to live, but she went with him 
 just the same to visit friends and rela- 
 tives, making the most of her oppor- 
 tunities. This mid-course furlough is 
 the happiest time in the life of many a 
 cadet — indeed, General Grant said, 
 4tl 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 after he had been President of the 
 United States, that this visit to his home 
 and friends, from West Point, was the 
 best time he ever enjoyed, because of 
 the interest every one, especially the 
 young ladies, take in youth dressed in 
 gold lace and gilt buttons. A cousin 
 of young Lee's describes his appearance 
 during this furlough: 
 
 " The first time I remember being 
 struck with his manly beauty and at- 
 tractiveness of manner was when he 
 returned home during his course at 
 West Point. He came with his mother 
 and family on a visit to my father's. 
 He was dressed in his cadet uniform of 
 West Point gray with bullet buttons, 
 and every one was filled with admira- 
 tion of his fine appearance and lovely 
 manners." 
 
 Among the places visited by the 
 young cadet was stately " Arlington," 
 where he met the charming Miss Custis 
 42 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 Avhoni he had known ever since she was 
 a " sweet little girl." " Mary of Arling- 
 ton " would have been more hard- 
 hearted than human if she could have 
 resisted the tender glances of this sol- 
 dier " youth with his heart in his 
 eyes " — such an earnest young man with 
 such a full heart and such deep eyes ! 
 
 Robert Lee had a special reason to 
 remember this time as the happiest in 
 his life, w^hen he returned to the Mili- 
 tary Academy for the final year, the 
 accepted lover of the daughter of 
 Washington's adopted son, the grand- 
 daughter of Martha Washington and 
 sole heiress of the great Custis estates — 
 but family and estates were of small 
 moment in Robert Lee's e^^es compared 
 with the love of the " dearest little girl 
 in the world." 
 
 On his return he received that 
 coveted honor among cadets — the aj)- 
 pointment as Adjutant of the Battalion. 
 43 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 His standing as a student was second in 
 a class of forty-six. 
 
 The motto on the shield of the 
 Academy was, " Duty, Honor, Coun- 
 try," — these three, but the " greatest of 
 these " was Duty in the eyes of Robert 
 E. Lee — not that he loved Honor or 
 Country less, but Duty more. 
 
 The first duty to which Lieutenant 
 Lee was assigned was in the Engineer 
 Corps, at Fort — usually called " Fort- 
 ress " — Monroe, Virginia. Soon after 
 his arrival there, he was summoned to 
 " Ravensworth," a great estate in Fair- 
 fax County, where his mother lay dying. 
 He cared for her tenderly, never leav- 
 ing her bedside till the end came. 
 
 JMuch as he revered the memory of 
 his father, he said, m later life, in almost 
 the very words of Abraham Lincoln: 
 
 " All I am I owe to my mother." 
 
 Still, after both father and mother 
 had " passed into the skies," Lieutenant 
 44 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 Lee did not spend his time in repining. 
 He was already too devout a Christian 
 to rebel against the decree of his real 
 and loving Father above. Besides, life 
 in him was young, and hope and faith 
 were fresh and strong. He seemed to 
 have developed an in tenser affection for 
 his living kindred and friends. A near 
 relative wrote of a visit from him soon 
 after his mother died: 
 
 " I remember being for some time 
 with him at my grandfather Ran- 
 dolph's. . . . I think it was the Fall 
 after he graduated. The house was 
 filled with the yomig people of the 
 family, of both sexes. He was very 
 nmch matured since I had seen him, 
 si)lendid looking, as full of fun, and 
 particularly of teasing, as any of us. 
 
 " Although we all admired him for 
 
 his remarkable beauty and attractive 
 
 manners, I did not see anything in him 
 
 tliat prepared me for his so far out- 
 
 45 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 stripping all his comi^eers. The first 
 time this idea presented itself to me was 
 after my marriage. We were all seated 
 romid the table at night, Robert read- 
 ing. I looked up and my eye fell upon 
 his face in perfect repose, and the 
 thought at once passed through my 
 mind: 
 
 " * You certainly look more like a 
 great man than any one I have ever 
 seen.' 
 
 " The same idea presented itself to 
 me as I looked at him in Christ Church, 
 Alexandria, during the same visit." 
 
 Robert E. Lee's past had gone with 
 the life of his beautiful, devoted mother. 
 His future was to be interwoven with 
 that of Mary Custis, to whom he was 
 married two years after his graduation, 
 in the lordly mansion at Arlington, 
 overlooking the Potomac and the city 
 of Washington. 
 
 Here is the modest newsj^aper ac- 
 46 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 count of that event, on which a Sunday 
 paper today would lavish column after 
 column: " Married, June 30, 1831, at 
 Arlington House, by the Rev. IMr. 
 Keith, Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, of 
 the United States Corps of Engineers, 
 to Miss Mary A. R. Custis, daughter 
 of G. W. P. Custis, Esq." 
 
 In spite of the brevity of this an- 
 nouncement there was a gay and bril- 
 liant company in the spacious rooms of 
 Arlington that happy night, among the 
 portraits of patriots and heroes, quaint 
 Colonial furniture and other relics from 
 Mount Vernon — of Martha Washing- 
 ton, the bride's great-grandmother, as 
 well as of the Father of his Country. 
 
 It was not the fashion in those days 
 to go away on wedding journeys, so the 
 young bride and groom spent the rest 
 of the lieutenant's leave of absence in 
 nuptial festivities among their near rela- 
 tives and friends. Then the hajjpy 
 47 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 benedict returned to Old Point Com- 
 fort to help fortify Hampton Roads. 
 
 At the end of four years Lieutenant 
 Lee was commissioned to aid in marking 
 out a boundary line between Ohio and 
 Michigan. After this he was employed 
 as a clerk in the engineering depart- 
 ment at Washington. He was now 
 enabled to live at Arlington, where that 
 courtly gentleman, his father-in-law, 
 was glad to keep his only daughter as 
 long as possible. 
 
 Lee was promoted to the First-Lieu- 
 tenancy in 1836, During these early 
 years of their married life three chil- 
 dren were born. The first was named 
 George Washington Custis Lee for his 
 mother's father. The happy young 
 father told of taking this baby boy out 
 to play in the snow. The little fellow 
 dropped behind, and Lieutenant Lee, 
 looking back, saw him with shoulders 
 squared and chin up, mimicking his 
 48 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 movements, even to stretching his little 
 fat legs in an attempt to step in his 
 footprints. 
 
 " When I saw this," said the fond 
 father, " I said to myself, * It behooves 
 me to walk very straight, when this 
 fellow is already following in my 
 tracks!'" 
 
 Those were happy years in the life of 
 the young couple. Lieutenant Lee was 
 also fortunate in his associates in the 
 national capital. Among the officers 
 of his " mess " there, was a lieutenant 
 familiarly called " Colonel " Joseph E. 
 Johnston. 
 
 Two years later, as Captain Lee, he 
 was ordered to St. Louis to perform a 
 great engineering feat. The Missis- 
 sippi, in its " unvexed " course, had a 
 vexatious way of changing its channel 
 without much warning, to the keen 
 annoyance of those who were doing 
 business on its banks. Just at this time 
 49 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 the experts apprehended that the river 
 was about to turn aside and go through 
 Illinois, thus leaving St. Louis and 
 many miles of river front in Missouri 
 high and dry. 
 
 So the little Eden at Arlington was 
 broken up when Benedict Lee was sent 
 to the then " Far West " to put the 
 "Father of Waters" in a "strait- 
 jacket! " He went right to work, but 
 the authorities of the town, impatient 
 at what they considered slow work, and 
 believing the thing an impossibility, 
 withdrew their part of the appropria- 
 tion to pay for such a job. As Captain 
 Lee had received no further instructions 
 from the government, he kept on as 
 though nothing had happened, saying 
 calmly: 
 
 " They can do as they like with their 
 own, but I was sent here to do certain 
 work, and I shall do it." 
 
 Riots broke out in St. Louis, and a 
 50 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 mob of superstitious people thought 
 that young army captain was " flying 
 in the face of Providence " in presum- 
 ing to divert the course of one of the 
 greatest rivers in the world from the 
 way it wanted to go. So they threat- 
 ened to drive away the ridiculous cap- 
 tain and his crew. But the work was 
 finished and Captain Lee was found to 
 have rendered a great service not only 
 to St. Louis and Missouri, but also to 
 the whole country, by improving the 
 navigation of the Upper Mississippi. 
 
 Lee's correspondence at this time re- 
 veals his kindness and humor. In a let- 
 ter to a cousin in Alexandria, he put his 
 son Fitzhugh, whom he had nicknamed 
 " Rooney," against all comers in the 
 baby race: 
 
 " I wish you could undeceive her 
 (*my cousin Philippa') on a certain 
 point, for, as I understand, she is labor- 
 ing under a grievous error. Tell her 
 51 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 that it is farthest from my wish to de- 
 tract from any of the little Lees, but as 
 to her little boy being equal to * Mr. 
 Rooney ' — it is a thing not even to be 
 supposed, much less believed, although 
 we live in a credulous country where 
 people stick at nothing, from a coon 
 story to a sea-serpent! " 
 
 To Mrs. Lee he wrote: 
 
 " You do not know how I miss you 
 and the children, my dear Mary. In 
 the woods I feel sympathy with the 
 trees and birds, in whose company I 
 take delight, but experience no pleasure 
 in a strange crowd. I hope you are all 
 well and will continue so ; and therefore 
 must again urge you to be very prudent 
 and careful of those dear children. If 
 I could only get a squeeze at that little 
 fellow turning up his sweet mouth to 
 *keezeBaba!'" 
 
 Here is another letter showing the 
 heart-hungry officer's deep love of cliild- 
 52 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 hood, though not of his own flesh and 
 blood: 
 
 " A few evenings since, feeling lone- 
 some, ... I got a horse and took 
 a ride. On returning through the lower 
 part of the town, I saw a number of 
 little girls all dressed up in their white 
 frocks and pantalets, their hair plaited 
 and tied up with ribbons, running and 
 chasing each other in all directions. I 
 counted twenty-three nearly the same 
 size. As I drew up my horse to admire 
 the spectacle, a man appeared at the 
 door with the twenty-fourth in his arms. 
 
 " * My friend,' said I, * are all these 
 your children? ' 
 
 " * Yes,' he said, * there are nine more 
 in the house, and this is the youngest.' 
 
 " Upon further inquiry, however, I 
 found that they were only temporarily 
 his, and that they had been invited to a 
 party at his house. He said, however, 
 he had been admiring them before I 
 53 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 came up, and just wished that he had a 
 million of dollars and that they were 
 his in reality. 
 
 " I do not think the eldest exceeded 
 seven or eight years old. It was the 
 prettiest sight I have seen in the West, 
 and perhaps in my life." 
 
 Recalled to Washington in 1840, 
 Captain Lee had two more years with 
 his precious little family — there were 
 four children then — Custis, Mary, Fitz- 
 hugh and Annie — before he was sent, 
 in 1842, to Fort Hamilton, opposite 
 Staten Island, to improve the defenses 
 of New York Harbor. The years he 
 spent here were memorable and happy 
 because he was able to have his wife and 
 children with him. 
 
 One day while crossing " the Nar- 
 rows " he saved a poor little black-and- 
 tan terrier from drowning, and took her 
 home to the children. This dog lived 
 long enough to show her gratitude to 
 54i 
 
CADET TO CAPTAIN 
 
 the kind officer who had rescued her, by 
 leaving him her dear little puppy, which 
 the family named " Spec." Once after 
 the wife and children had all gone home 
 to Arlington for a visit, Captain Lee 
 wrote to them from the fort: 
 
 " I am very solitary, and my only 
 company is my dog and cats. But 
 ' SiDcc ' has become so jealous now that 
 he will hardly let me look at the cats. 
 lie seems to be afraid that I am going 
 off from him, and never lets me stir 
 without him. Lies down in the office 
 from eight to four without moving. 
 . . . I catch him sometimes sitting 
 up looking at me so intently that I am 
 for a moment startled." 
 
 $5 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 Who does i* the wars more than his cap- 
 tain can 
 Becomes his captain's captain. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Foe years Texas had been struggling 
 for independence and separation from 
 Mexico. Its people succeeded in elect- 
 ing a separate government, and as a 
 republic it aj)plied for admission to 
 the United States. This roused the 
 stronger opposition of the jealous re- 
 public of Mexico. Then came the 
 annexation of Texas by the United 
 States in 1845. This precipitated war 
 with Mexico, which was declared by the 
 United States government in May, 
 5Q 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 1846. Both commanders-in-chief in 
 this war were Virginians. The two 
 men, Winfield Scott and Zachary 
 Taylor, Avere exactly oj^posite in their 
 natures and habits. General Taylor 
 cared little for forms and precedents. 
 He was so blmit and impetuous in 
 action that he was nicknamed " Old 
 Rough-and-Ready." 
 
 General Scott was equally, if not 
 even more, capable as a commander. 
 He was a man of heroic size, but showed 
 himself to be a martinet for forms and 
 regulations. He had the eye of a 
 matinee idol for a dramatic situation, 
 and a self-conscious way of announcing 
 trivial personal matters as if they con- 
 cerned every one as much as himself. 
 So they called General Scott, with all 
 his ability and success, " Old Fuss-and- 
 Feathers." 
 
 Lee, of course, being a successful 
 engineer and military man, had to be 
 51 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Math the army of the United States 
 when it was ready to enter Mexico from 
 the North. This was to be the young 
 captain's first exj)erience in the field. 
 While they were waiting on the border, 
 he wrote to his wife, mider date of 
 October 11th, 1846, on the Rio Grande: 
 
 " We have met with no resistance yet. 
 The Mexicans who were guarding the 
 passage retired on our approach. 
 There has been a great whetting of 
 knives, grinding of swords, and sharp- 
 ening of bayonets since we reached the 
 river." 
 
 The father-heart dwelt ever upon 
 those at home. He wrote to his two 
 older sons — Custis was thirteen then, 
 and Fitzhugh, nine — from the camp at 
 Saltillo: 
 
 " I have frequently thought that if 
 
 I had one of you on each side of me, 
 
 riding on ponies, such as I could get 
 
 you, I would be comparatively happy. 
 
 58 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 '' I have three horses. ' Creole ' is 
 my pet ; she is a golden dun, active as a 
 deer, and carries me over all the ditches 
 and gullies that I have met with; nor 
 has she ever yet hesitated at anything 
 that I have put her at; she is full- 
 blooded and considered the j)rettiest 
 thing in the army; though young, she 
 has so far stood the campaign as well 
 as any horses of the division." 
 
 He planned to write to his wife next 
 day, as his Christmas celebration, but 
 word came in the morning that the 
 Mexicans were coming. So he wrote 
 later: 
 
 " The troops stood to their arms and 
 I lay on the grass with my sorrel mare 
 saddled by my side, and telescope 
 directed to the pass of the mountain 
 through which the road approached. 
 The Mexicans, however, did not make 
 their appearance. 
 
 " Many regrets were expressed at 
 59 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Santa Anna's having spoiled our Christ- 
 mas dinner for which ample prepara- 
 tions had been made. The little roasters 
 remained tied to the tent-pins, wonder- 
 ing at their deferred fate, and the head- 
 less turkeys retained their plumage im- 
 scathed. Finding the enemy did not 
 come, preparations were again made 
 for dinner. 
 
 " We have had many happy Christ- 
 mases together. It is the first time we 
 have been entirely separated at this holy 
 time since our marriage. I hope it does 
 not interfere with your happiness, sur- 
 rounded as you are, by father, mother, 
 children, and dear friends. I therefore 
 trust you are well and happy, and that 
 this is the last time I shall be absent 
 from you during my life." 
 
 Referring to the black-and-tan dog 
 he had been told was pining for his 
 absent master, Captain Lee added: 
 
 " Can't you cure poor * Spec?' Cheer 
 60 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT " 
 
 him up; take him to walk with you — 
 and tell the children to cheer hmi up." 
 
 General Taylor j)ractically ended the 
 war in northern Mexico by defeating 
 twenty thousand Mexicans with five 
 thousand Americans at Buena Vista. 
 This left a large contingent, including 
 Captain Lee's, free to meet forces 
 gathering for the southern campaign 
 under General Scott. These met at 
 Tampico and proceeded from there to 
 Vera Cruz, far down on the Gulf coast, 
 which city was chosen as the next scene 
 of action. On his way down the coast 
 the Captain wrote a long letter to Custis 
 and Fitzhugh, of which this is part: 
 
 *' Ship Massachusetts, off Lobos, 
 " February 27th, 1847, 
 
 "My dear Boys: 
 
 " There were six thousand sol- 
 diers in Tampico, . . . We only 
 remained there one day. I have a nice 
 61 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 stateroom on board this ship. Joe 
 Johnston [afterward the great Con- 
 federate general, who had been a fellow- 
 cadet at West Point] and myself oc- 
 cupy it, but my poor Joe is so sick all 
 the time, I can do nothing with him. 
 
 " I left * Jem ' to come on with the 
 horses, as I was afraid they would not 
 be properly cared for. ... I took 
 every precaution for their comfort, pro- 
 vided them with bran, oats, etc., and had 
 slings made to pass under them and be 
 attached to the coverings above, so that, 
 if in the heavy sea they should slip or 
 be thrown off their feet, they would not 
 fall. ... 
 
 " I do not think we shall remain here 
 more than one day longer. General 
 Worth's and General Twiggs's divisions 
 have arrived, which include the regulars, 
 and I suppose the volunteers will be 
 coming every day. We shall probably 
 go on the first [March] down the coast, 
 select a place for debarkation, and make 
 all the arrangements preparatory to the 
 arrival of the troops. I shall have 
 plenty to do there, and am anxious for 
 62 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 the time to come, and hope all may be 
 successful." . . . 
 
 At Vera Cruz Cai)tain Robert E. Lee 
 became a member of " the Little Cab- 
 inet," the name given to his staff and 
 advisers by General Scott, who made 
 no secret that he expected that a man 
 of such stately presence and heroic 
 achievements must in time be elected by 
 a gi'ateful people. President of the 
 United States. Among those around 
 him were Lieutenants George B. Mc- 
 Clellan, also of the Engineer Corps, 
 and P. G. T. Beauregard, and many 
 other officers who became great gen- 
 erals at a later day. 
 
 First they determined to lay siege to 
 the city, and Engineer Lee was busy, 
 day and night, for weeks. Then a joint 
 attack upon it by the Army and Navy 
 was decided upon. It was during these 
 preparations that Robert met his 
 63 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 brother, Sydney Smith Lee of the 
 Navy. Of the bombardment which fol- 
 lowed, the Captain wrote, referring to 
 his brother's conduct in it: 
 
 " The first day this battery opened, 
 Smith served one of the guns. I had 
 constructed the battery and was there 
 to direct the fire. No matter where I 
 turned, my eyes reverted to him, and I 
 stood by his gun whenever I was not 
 wanted elsewhere. 
 
 " Oh, I felt awfully, and at a loss 
 what I should have done had he been 
 cut down before me! I thank God he 
 was saved. He preserved his usual 
 cheerfulness, and I could see his white 
 teeth through all the smoke and din of 
 the fire. I had placed three 32 and 
 three 68-pound guns in position. . . . 
 The fire was terrific and the shells 
 thrown from our battery were constant 
 and regular discharges, so beautiful in 
 their flight and so destructive in their 
 64 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 fall. It was awful ! My heart bled for 
 the inhabitants. The soldiers I did not 
 care so much for, but it was terrible to 
 think of the women and children." 
 
 From this vicinity he wrote home 
 about " Spec," the forlorn rat-terrier: 
 
 " Tell him I wish he was here with 
 me. He would have been of great 
 service in telling me when I was coming 
 upon the Mexicans. When I was 
 reconnoitering around Vera Cruz, their 
 dogs frequently told me, by barking, 
 when I was approaching them too 
 nearly." 
 
 After the taking of Vera Cruz, Gen- 
 eral Scott began the invasion of the 
 country — to " conquer a peace," as he 
 pompously announced, " in the Halls 
 of the Montezumas." But at Cerro 
 Gordo the Americans were met by 
 Santa Anna, with his Mexican hosts. 
 Scott's report of the battle which ensued 
 contained this honorable mention: 
 65 
 
THE HEART OF LEE^ 
 
 " Reconnaissances were pushed in 
 search of some practicable route other 
 than the winding, zigzag road among 
 the spurs of the mountains, with heavy 
 [Mexican] batteries at every turn. The 
 reconnaissances were conducted with 
 vigor under Captain Lee at the head of 
 a body of pioneers, and at the end of the 
 third day a possible way for light bat- 
 teries was accomplished without alarm- 
 ing the enemy, giving the possibility of 
 turning the extreme left of his line of 
 defense and capturing his whole army, 
 except the reserve that lay a mile or two 
 up the road. Santa Anna said that he 
 had not believed that a goat could have 
 approached him in that direction. 
 Hence the surprise and the results were 
 the greater." 
 
 After this battle Lee ^vrote to his 
 eldest son: 
 
 " I thought of you, my dear Custis, 
 on the 18th [April, 1847] in the battle, 
 6d 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 and wondered, when the musket balls 
 and grape were whistling over my head 
 in a perfect shower, where I could put 
 you, if with me, to be safe. I was truly 
 thankful you were at school, I hope 
 learning to be goad and wise. You 
 have no idea what a horrible place a 
 battlefield is!" 
 
 From Cerro Gordo General Scott 
 advanced toward the Mexican capital, 
 stopping to win battles at Contreras, 
 Churubusco, Molino del Rey and 
 Chapultepec. At Contreras there was 
 a great lava-bed called the Pedregal. 
 This has been described as " a vast sur- 
 face of volcanic rocks and scoriae, path- 
 less, precipitous, broken into every pos- 
 sible form, presenting sharp ridges and 
 deep fissures, exceedingly difficult for 
 the passage, even in the daylight, for 
 infantry, cavalry or single horsemen." 
 
 This great tract was flanked by a 
 swamp in such a way as to form what 
 67 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 the Mexicans believed to be an impene- 
 trable wall in front of Contreras, which 
 was defended, also, by their army. 
 General Scott detailed seven officers to 
 see if the Pedregal could be crossed at 
 night. They reported that the place 
 was absolutely impassable, night or 
 day. 
 
 Then Captain Lee offered to lead a 
 detachment across that gruesome waste. 
 This he did, through storm and dark- 
 ness, " without light, without a com- 
 panion or guide — scarcely a step could 
 be taken without fear of death." 
 
 Some time afterward. General Scott 
 had occasion to testify of this exploit: 
 
 ** Captain Lee, of the Engineers, 
 came to me from Contreras with a mes- 
 sage. ... I think about the same 
 time — midnight — he, having passed over 
 the difficult ground by daylight, found 
 it just possible to return on foot and 
 alone to St. Augustine in the dark — 
 68 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 the greatest feat of physical and moral 
 courage performed by any individual, 
 to my knowledge, pending the cam- 
 paign." 
 
 It would seem that nearly every re- 
 port of the commander-in-chief in 
 Mexico contained some allusion to 
 Captain Lee's bravery and efficiency, 
 showing that " he was as famous for 
 felicitous execution as for science and 
 daring." 
 
 The dispatch reporting the battle of 
 Chapultepec stated that he " was con- 
 stantly conspicuous, bearing important 
 orders from me till he fainted from a 
 wound and the loss of two nights' sleep 
 at the batteries." 
 
 At the end of the campaign General 
 Scott entered the beautiful City of 
 Mexico in triumph, riding like a royal 
 knight at the head of his army through 
 the crowded streets to the " Halls of 
 the Montezumas." The victorious com- 
 69 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 mander was not too engrossed in his 
 own great achievements to forget to 
 deal out well-earned praise, in the 
 course of which he stated that his own 
 " success in Mexico was largely due to 
 the skill, valor and undaunted courage 
 of Robert E. Lee, . . . the great- 
 est military genius in America." 
 
 In six months Captain Lee had been 
 brevet major, brevet lieutenant-colonel 
 and brevet colonel. He could well 
 afford, then, to write to the once un- 
 favorable George Washington Parke 
 Custis, who had expressed a fear that 
 his son-in-law might not receive prefer- 
 ments in proportion to his merits: 
 
 " I hope my friends will give them- 
 selves no annoyance on my account, or 
 any concern about the distribution of 
 favors. I know how those things are 
 awarded at Washington, and how the 
 President will be besieged by clamorous 
 claimants. I do not wish to be num- 
 70 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 bered among them. Such as he can 
 conscientiously bestow I shall grate- 
 fully receive, and have no doubt that 
 those will exceed my deserts." 
 
 A bitter disappointment awaited 
 poor, vain, kind-hearted General Scott. 
 Instead of being nominated for the 
 presidency, he was haled before an un- 
 friendly " court of inquiry " — for polit- 
 ical effect. Colonel Lee wrote of this 
 indignity to his brother Smith: 
 
 " General Scott, whose skill and 
 service have crushed the enemy and 
 conquered a peace, can now be dis- 
 missed and turned out as an old horse 
 to die!" 
 
 It was "Old Rough-and-Ready," 
 after all, who was rewarded, against his 
 own wish, with the presidency of the 
 United States of America, and " Old 
 Fuss-and-Feathers," who so ardently 
 desired and expected it, was treated 
 with derision by the ungrateful people 
 71 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 of the country. This was not a mere 
 matter of political intrigue, but of nick- 
 names. For General Scott really had 
 greater ability than General Taylor. 
 
 There was a long wait, after the sur- 
 render of the Mexican capital, before 
 the terms of peace could be agreed upon 
 so that the army could be permitted to 
 go home. Colonel Lee, much as he 
 yearned to be with his family after years 
 of separation, made the best of this 
 delay, and improved the time in every 
 way he could. In the long list of now- 
 familiar names of those who won their 
 spurs in Mexico were: 
 
 Albert Sidney Johnston, with a 
 Texas regiment ; Braxton Bragg, Rich- 
 ard S. Ewell, Edward Kirby Smith, 
 A. P. and D. H. Hill, Jubal Early, 
 Simon B. Buckner, James Longstreet, 
 and, last, but by no means least, Jeffer- 
 son Davis, who was in command of a 
 Mississippi regiment. He married a 
 72 
 
IN MEXICO WITH SCOTT 
 
 daughter of General, afterward Presi- 
 dent, Zachary Taylor. 
 
 Joseph E. Johnston wrote of the 
 tender heart of his friend Lee : 
 
 " I saw strong evidence of the sym- 
 pathy of his nature the morning after 
 the first engagement of our troops in 
 the valley of Mexico. I had lost a 
 cherished young relative in that action. 
 Meeting me, he suddenly saw in my 
 face the effect of that loss, burst into 
 tears, and expressed his deep sympathy 
 in words as tenderly as his lovely wife 
 would have done." 
 
 Colonel Robert E. Lee returned from 
 Mexico in the Spring of 1848, at the 
 age of forty-one, " crowned with honors 
 and covered with brevets." In one re- 
 spect, at least, his home-coming was 
 like that of Ulysses, for he was first 
 recognized, as he rode up to the mansion 
 at Arlington, by his faithful dog. Poor 
 old " Spec," an object of deep solicitude 
 73 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 in several of his master's letters, was 
 almost delirious with joy, remembering 
 his long-absent friend. 
 
 Of his home-coming Colonel Lee 
 wrote from Arlington to his brother, 
 now a captain in the Navy: 
 
 " Here I am, once again, my dear 
 Smith, perfectly surrounded by Mary 
 and her precious children, who seem to 
 devote themselves to staring at the fur- 
 rows in my face and the white hairs in 
 my head. It is not surprising that I 
 am hardly recognizable to some of the 
 young eyes around me, and am per- 
 fectly unknown to the youngest. But 
 some of the older ones gaze with aston- 
 ishment and wonder at me, and seem at 
 a loss to reconcile what they see with 
 what was pictured in their imaginations. 
 I find them, too, much grown, and all 
 well, and I have much cause for thank- 
 fulness and gratitude to that good God 
 who has once more united us." 
 74 
 
VI 
 
 <*FEOM PILLAE TO POST»» 
 
 The soldier's virtue rather makes choice 
 
 of loss 
 Than gain which darkens him. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Although Colonel Lee had then 
 lived out two-thirds of his days and was 
 already laughing about his white hairs, 
 he was still a young man, in the meas- 
 ure of experience. He hoped to spend 
 the rest of his days in peace and at home, 
 leading the agreeable, useful life of the 
 Virginia " gentleman farmer." 
 
 Unconscious as Colonel Lee was of 
 that likeness, there were a number of 
 points of resemblance between himself 
 and Colonel Washington. The real 
 resemblances were more than such ex- 
 ternals as that both lived in beautiful 
 75 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 mansions with pillared jiorticoes over- 
 looking the Potomac — each sightly 
 estate having fallen to his lot by in- 
 heritance and the marrying of a wealthy 
 wife; or that the wife of Colonel Lee 
 was the granddaughter of the " agree- 
 able consort " of Colonel Washington — 
 for the Knight of the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury also had won his spurs, like the hero 
 of the Colonial period, by the loftiest 
 physical and moral courage. 
 
 The inner likeness between the Mas- 
 ter of Mount Vernon and the Man of 
 Arlington shone out through their later 
 careers, when Washington became the 
 leader of what would have been the War 
 of the Rebellion, if it had failed, while 
 Lee became commander-in-chief of a 
 revolution which would now be known 
 as the Third War for American Inde- 
 pendence if it had not proved a " Lost 
 Cause." 
 
 Lee was as far in advance of his own 
 7Q 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 age as Franklin was of his time. In 
 matters of the heart he was of the 
 quality of Lincoln without the great 
 Emancipator's eccentricity — and " sav- 
 ing humor." In face and form, Lee 
 was singularly blessed, j)ossessing the 
 rare and manly expression of his inward 
 beauty and grace, as he became the Sir 
 Galahad of a higher quest than that of 
 the Holy Grail. His heart was so 
 clean and free from any " lurking 
 root of bitterness " that, as he passed 
 through the furnace of affliction, he 
 grew more and more into the likeness 
 of the " Man of Sorrows." If ever a 
 son of man beheld the Son of Man 
 in His truth and beauty, it was Robert 
 Edward Lee. A New England writer, 
 descended from William Bradford, 
 the Puritan leader of Plymouth, after 
 an earnest study into the life of 
 " Lee the American," wrote of him: 
 " Lee had one intimate friend — God." 
 77 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 It was this intimacy shining out, even 
 in his earlier years, that made Robert's 
 very presence, unconsciously, a con- 
 victing vi^itness against an elderly " man 
 of the world " whose guest he was, so 
 that the old roue followed the youth to 
 his room, confessed his sins and prom- 
 ised to amend his life. It was his 
 manifest modesty in religious expres- 
 sion, which in another man would have 
 sounded like cant or religiosity, that 
 was accepted from him in sincerity and 
 truth. 
 
 In spite of his rueful pleasantries 
 about growing old, Colonel Lee was 
 now in the prime and vigor of his man- 
 hood. Not quite six feet in height, he 
 was so erect without and upright within 
 that he seemed much taller. His wa\y, 
 jet-black hair was just tinged with 
 gray. His deep hazel -brown eyes were 
 bright and full of animal spirits and 
 humor. His ruddy complexion was 
 78 
 
'' FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 indicative of correct life and good 
 health. 
 
 As his own father had been solicitous 
 about him, so he saw to it that his boys 
 learned to shoot, ride, swun, and skate. 
 He called them by pet names: Custis 
 was " Boo," and Fitzhugh, " Rooney.'* 
 
 Colonel Lee was one of a commission 
 of engineers in Florida the year follow- 
 ing his return from Mexico, to inspect 
 the fortifications along the coast and 
 designate sites for new defences there. 
 
 Next he was ordered to build Fort 
 Carroll, on Soller's Point, eight miles 
 below Baltimore. This kept him busy 
 three years. Then, in 1852, he was ap- 
 pointed Superintendent of West Point 
 Military Academy. This position was 
 not to his liking, but a good soldier 
 obeys orders. During the three years 
 of his administration there, his brother 
 Smith's son, Fitzhugh Lee, and his own 
 son, Custis, were among the graduates. 
 79 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 "Little Phil" Sheridan and " Jeb " 
 Stuart were cadets at this time. 
 
 In 1854, while Franklin Pierce was 
 President and Jefferson Davis Secre- 
 tary of War, two regiments of cavalry 
 were added to the regular army. Al- 
 bert Sidney Johnston was made Colonel 
 of the Second Cavalry, with Robert 
 E. Lee, Lieutenant-Colonel. After 
 twenty-five years in the Engineer 
 Corps, Colonel Lee was sorry to leave 
 a department in which he had succeeded 
 so thoroughly — but again he obeyed 
 orders. He was exceedingly fond of 
 horses, and this went far to reconcile 
 him to the change. 
 
 In the absence of Colonel Johnston, 
 Lee took command of the Second at 
 Louisville, Kentucky. The regiment 
 was removed to Jefferson Barracks, a 
 few miles below St. Louis, where, as 
 Captain Lee, he had accomplished such 
 marvels of river engineering. At " the 
 80 
 
/'FROM PILLAR TO POST" 
 
 Barracks " he rendered great service in 
 drilling and organizing recruits. 
 
 From St. Louis Lee was sent in com- 
 mand of a detachment to Camp Cooper 
 on Brazos River, Texas, to keep the 
 Indians within bounds, on a wide tract, 
 from the Rio Grande on the south, to 
 the Arkansas river on the north, which 
 has been described as an " extensive 
 territory occupied exclusively by wild 
 animals and Comanche Indians " — 
 ferocious beasts having been mentioned 
 as beings superior to those horrible 
 savages! From this point Lee wrote, 
 on the 12th of April, 1856: 
 
 *' We are on the Comanche Reserve, 
 with the Indian camps below us on the 
 river belonging to Catumseh's band, 
 whom the Government is endeavoring 
 to humanize. It will be uphill work, I 
 fear. Catumseh has been to see me, 
 and we have had a little talk, very 
 tedious on his part, and very sententious 
 81 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 on mine. I hailed him as a friend as 
 long as his conduct and that of his tribe 
 deserved it, but would meet him as an 
 enemy the first moment he failed to 
 keep his word. The rest of the tribe 
 (about a thousand, it is said) live north 
 of us, and are hostile. Yesterday I re- 
 turned his visit, and remained a short 
 time at his lodge. He informed me 
 that he had six wives. They are riding 
 in and out of their camp all day, their 
 paint and ornaments rendering them 
 more hideous than nature made them, 
 and the whole race is extremely uninter- 
 esting." 
 
 To the ordinary settler in the South- 
 west, calling a devilish Comanche 
 merely " uninteresting " was " damning 
 him with faint praise." He wrote of 
 them that Fall: 
 
 " Those people give a world of 
 trouble to man and horse, and, poor 
 creatures I they are not worth it." 
 82 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 While out pursuing some savage 
 renegades, he wrote to his wife: 
 
 " I hope your father continued well 
 and enjoyed his usual celebration of the 
 Fourth of July; mine was spent, after 
 a march of thirty miles on one of the 
 branches of the Brazos, under my 
 blanket, elevated on four sticks driven 
 in the ground, as a sunshade. The sun 
 was fiery hot, the atmosphere like the 
 heat of a hot-air furnace, the water 
 salt — still my feelings for my country 
 were as ardent, my faith in her future as 
 true, and my hopes for her advancement 
 as unabated as they would have been 
 under better circumstances." 
 
 For a man who stood ready to give 
 his life for his country, whenever it 
 would do the least good, this was an 
 unusual witness to his absolute loyalty. 
 Could Nathan Hale have said more? 
 
 Lee soon had to proceed to Ringgold 
 Barracks as a member of a court- 
 83 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 martial. He went there on horseback 
 and the journey lasted twenty-seven 
 daj'-s. On September 1st, 1856, the day 
 he left Camp Cooper, he wrote to Mrs. 
 Lee, whose father had been concerned 
 about his being promoted to a brigadier- 
 generalcy recently left vacant: 
 
 " Do not give yourself any anxiety 
 about the appointment of the brigadier. 
 If it is on my account that you feel an 
 interest in it, I beg you will discard it 
 from your thoughts. You will be sure 
 to be disappointed; nor is it right to 
 indulge improper and useless hopes. 
 It, besides, looks like presumption to 
 expect it." 
 
 While at Ringgold Barracks, he com- 
 mented in a letter home on something 
 he had read in " a stray number of the 
 New York Times" and added : 
 
 *' In the same paper there are ill- 
 natured strictures upon our regiment. 
 They may suit themselves in everything 
 8^ 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 relating to my services, and whenever 
 they tell me they are no longer required, 
 they will not be obtruded on them." 
 
 From this place Colonel Lee passed 
 on to Fort Brown, Texas. In spite of 
 the earnest wish he had expressed years 
 before, he had to spend Christmas away 
 from his family. He wrote to Mrs. 
 Lee on the 29th of December, 1856: 
 
 " The steamer has arrived from New 
 Orleans, bringing full files of papers 
 and general intelligence from the 
 * States.' I enjoyed the former very 
 much. . . . We are now assured 
 that the Government is in operation, 
 and the Union in existence. Not that 
 I had any fears to the contrary, but it 
 is satisfactory always to have facts to 
 go on. . . . 
 
 ". . . In this enlightened age there 
 
 are few, I believe, but will acloiowledge 
 
 that slavery is a moral and political evil 
 
 in any country. ... I think it, 
 
 85 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 however, is a greater evil to the white 
 than to the black race. . . . Their 
 emancipation will sooner result from a 
 mild and melting influence than from 
 the storms and contests of fiery con- 
 troversy. . . . 
 
 " I hope you had a joyous Christmas 
 at Arlington. . . . Mine was grate- 
 fully but silently passed. I endeavored 
 to find some little presents for the chil- 
 dren in the garrison, and succeeded 
 better than I had anticipated. 
 
 " The stores are very barren of such 
 things here, but by taking the week 
 beforehand in my daily walks I picked 
 up, little by little, something for all. 
 Tell Mildred I got a beautiful Dutch 
 doll for little Emma Jones — one of 
 those crying babies that can open and 
 shut their eyes, turn their head, etc. 
 For the other two little girls. Puss 
 Shirley and Mary Sewell, I found hand- 
 some French teapots to match cups 
 86 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 given them by Mrs. Waite; then by 
 means of knives and books I satisfied 
 the boys. 
 
 " After dispensing my presents I 
 went to Church; the discourse was on 
 the birth of our Saviour. It was not 
 as simply or touchingiy told as in the 
 Bible. By previous invitation I dined 
 with Major Thomas at 2 p. m. on roast 
 turkey, and plum pudding. I had pro- 
 vided a pretty singing bird for the little 
 girl, and passed the afternoon in my 
 room. God bless you all." 
 
 Mrs. Lee had already become an 
 invalid. The tender husband, thou- 
 sands of miles away, attempted in a 
 letter to comfort and advise her: 
 
 " Systematically pursue the best 
 course to recover your lost health. I 
 pray and trust your efforts and the 
 prayers of those who love you may be 
 favorably answered. Do not worry 
 yourself about things you cannot help, 
 87 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 but be content to do what you can for 
 the well-being of what properly belongs 
 to you. Commit the rest to those who 
 are responsible, and though it is the part 
 of benevolence to aid all we can and 
 sympathize with all who are in need, it 
 is the part of wisdom to attend to our 
 own affairs. Lay nothing too much to 
 heart. Desire nothing too eagerly, nor 
 think that all things can be perfectly 
 accomplished according to our own 
 notions." 
 
 Not liking to write gloomy letters 
 home, on his return to Camp Cooper, 
 Colonel Lee seized upon cats as an in- 
 teresting subject, for Grandfather 
 Custis was a connoisseur in those pets. 
 To his youngest daughter, he wrote : 
 
 " You must be a great personage 
 now — sixty pounds ! I wish I had you 
 here in all your ponderosity. I want 
 to see you so much ! Can you not pack 
 up and come to the Comanche country? 
 88 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 I would get you such a fine cat you 
 would never look at * Tom ' again. 
 Did I tell you * Jim Nooks/ Mrs. 
 Waite's cat, was dead? He died of 
 apoj)lexy. I foretold his end. Coffee 
 and cream for breakfast, pound cake 
 for lunch, turtle and oysters for dinner, 
 buttered toast for tea, and Mexican 
 rats, taken raw, for supper. He grew 
 enormously and ended in a spasm. His 
 beauty could not save him. . . . 
 But I saw * cats as is cats ' in Tarassa, 
 while the stage was changing mules. I 
 left the wildcat on the Rio Grande. 
 He was too savage ; had grown as large 
 as a small-sized dog, had to be caged, 
 and would strike at anything that came 
 within his reach. His cage had to be 
 strong, and consequently heavy, so I 
 could not bring it." 
 
 While he could humor his father-in- 
 law's taste for cats. Colonel Lee wrote 
 of other matters when occasion de- 
 89 
 
THE HExlRT OF LEE 
 
 manded. During this long absence his 
 son Fitzhugh was graduated at Har- 
 vard, in 1857. Although " Rooney," 
 as this young man was called at home, 
 had not gone through West Point, Gen- 
 eral Scott secured for him an appoint- 
 ment as Second-Lieutenant in the army. 
 When the father heard of this he wrote : 
 
 " You are now in a position to ac- 
 quire military credit, and to prepare 
 the road for promotion and future ad- 
 vancement. ... I hope you will 
 be always distinguished for your avoid- 
 ance of the universal balm, whiskey, 
 and every immorality. Nor need you 
 fear to be ruled out of the society that 
 indulges in it, for you will rather acquire 
 their esteem and respect, as all venerate, 
 if they do not practise, virtue." 
 
 A while later he wrote to the son, also 
 in the Far West, on his way to the 
 Pacific: 
 
 " I cannot express the gratification I 
 90 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 felt at the encomiums passed upon your 
 soldiership, zeal, and devotion to your 
 duty. But I was more pleased at the 
 report of j^our conduct. That went 
 nearer to my heart, and was of infinite 
 comfort to me. Hold on to your purity 
 and virtue. They will proudly sustain 
 you in all trials and difficulties, and 
 cheer you in every calamity. 
 
 " I was sorry to see from your letter 
 to your mother that you smoke occa- 
 sionally. It is dangerous to meddle 
 with. You have in store much better 
 employment for your mouth. Reserve 
 it, * Roon,' for its legitimate pleasure. 
 Do not poison and corrupt it with stale 
 vapors, or tarnish your beard with their 
 stench." 
 
 Colonel Joseph E. Johnston, being 
 called to Washington to take command 
 of an expedition to Utah, Lieut.-CoL 
 Lee was left in charge at Camp Cooper. 
 He did not remain long chief in com- 
 91 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 mand, for his distinguished father-in- 
 law died on the 10th of October, 1857. 
 As the adopted son of the Father of his 
 Country, he had been venerated. He 
 was a " gentleman of the old school,'' 
 wealthy and hospitable. He bequeathed 
 to his only daughter, Mrs. Robert E. 
 Lee, the parts of Mount Vernon left to 
 him in Washington's will, besides prop- 
 erties which had descended to him from 
 his grandfather. 
 
 Under these circumstances there 
 seems to have been no difficulty in ob- 
 taining a long leave of absence for 
 Colonel Lee from his Texas post. 
 
 Among Mr. Custis's bequests were a 
 large number of slaves who were to be 
 set free after five years from the tes- 
 tator's death. The mansion at Arling- 
 ton was left to Mrs. Lee during her life, 
 to go at her death to the grandfather's 
 namesake, her eldest son, George 
 Washington Custis Lee. With char- 
 92 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 acteristic devotion, the young man when 
 he heard of it in California, before his 
 father could prevent it, deeded that 
 grand estate to Robert E. Lee, who 
 promptly but delicately declined to ac- 
 cept the gift. 
 
 Colonel Lee remained in the East un- 
 til the Summer of 1859, and then re- 
 turned to his post in Texas. He was 
 recalled from there early in October of 
 that year. He was " relieved " in a 
 double sense, for the duties among the 
 Comanches were irksome, though he 
 performed them with faithfulness and 
 without complaint. 
 
 Directly after Colonel Lee's return 
 to Arlington, Secretary of War Floyd 
 called on him to lead a detachment of 
 marines to Harper's Ferry, where John 
 Brown, a violent abolitionist and re- 
 ligious fanatic who had been engaged in 
 antislavery skirmishes and killings in 
 Kansas, had induced a number of 
 93 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 negroes and white men to join him, and 
 had taken possession of the United 
 States Arsenal in that village, expecting 
 slaves and antislavery whites would 
 flock to him there. 
 
 Colonel Lee and his men surrounded 
 the arsenal, where he found that Brown 
 had taken several citizens of Harper's 
 Ferry prisoners and was holding them 
 as hostages against an attack. Lee sent 
 Lieut. J. E. B. Stuart, who had vol- 
 unteered to accompany him, with a flag 
 of truce to call for the surrender of John 
 Brown and his fellow conspirators. 
 
 Brown refused, and demanded per- 
 mission for his men to march out with 
 their arms. This absurd proposal was 
 emphatically refused by Colonel Lee. 
 Then Brown threatened to kill his pris- 
 oners, leading citizens of the town, 
 among whom was Colonel Lewis Wash- 
 ington, a grand-nephew of the first 
 President, who shouted out: 
 94 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 " Never mind us — fire! '' 
 
 Stuart then raised liis hand, giving 
 the preconcerted signal, and Lee's 
 marines rushed into the arsenal and 
 forced the door of the engine room be- 
 fore Brown's men could slay the white 
 prisoners. 
 
 In February of the next year, Colo- 
 nel Lee returned again to Texas as 
 commander and wasted many weeks 
 trying to catch a cunning Mexican 
 bandit, named Cortinas. While he was 
 there it was expected that he would be 
 elevated to the rank of Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral. Instead of this Secretary Floyd 
 promoted his cousin, Joseph E. Johns- 
 ton, over Lee and others who ranked 
 Johnston. Colonel Lee, instead of 
 being indignant at this, wrote: 
 
 " I rejoice in the good fortune that 
 has come to my old friend, Joe Johns- 
 ton, for while I should not like, of 
 course, that this should be taken as a 
 95 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 precedent in the service, yet so far as 
 he is concerned, he is in every way 
 worthy of promotion, and I am glad 
 that he has received it." 
 
 Extreme abolitionists in the North 
 " made a martyr " of John Brown. 
 Some of them expressed themselves in 
 speeches which were so downright 
 sacrilegious that they shocked and en- 
 raged the South. A novel, " Uncle 
 Tom's Cabin," written by Harriet 
 Beecher Stowe, had been published 
 serially years before, in " The National 
 Era." The story was afterward printed 
 in book form and a half-million copies 
 were sold. That fiction inflamed the 
 mind of the North against slavery. 
 This also was bitterly resented by the 
 Southern people who believed slavery 
 to be unjust though there were cer- 
 tain ministers who favored it as a 
 " divine institution," because Noah had 
 cursed his son Canaan, the father of the 
 96 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 black people of Africa. Of course, 
 Robert E. Lee looked upon these 
 clerical advocates of slavery with dis- 
 favor. It was such mistaken champions 
 of slavery, in Church, in State, as well 
 as among the people, who confused the 
 mind of the North so that millions of 
 people to this day believe that the South 
 entered the Civil War to perpetuate it. 
 
 Colonel Lee, now returned in com- 
 mand of the Department of Texas, with 
 headquarters at San Antonio, looked on 
 in sorrow as he read in tardily received 
 newspapers and the long-delayed letters 
 of the coming break. To one of his 
 sons he wrote from his department 
 headquarters : 
 
 " My little personal troubles sink into 
 insignificance when I contemplate the 
 condition of the country, and I feel as 
 if I could easily lay down my life for 
 its safety. But I also feel that it would 
 bring little good." 
 
 97 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Not long after this, he wrote agam: 
 " Major Nichols thinks the Union 
 will be dissolved in six weeks. If I 
 thought so, I would return to you now. 
 I hope, however, the wisdom and 
 patriotism of the country will devise 
 some way of saving it, and that a kind 
 Providence has not turned the current 
 of His blessings from us. . . . 
 
 ". . . Feeling the aggressions of 
 the North, resenting their denial of 
 equal rights to ovir citizens, ... I 
 am not pleased with the course of the 
 ' Cotton States,' as they term them- 
 selves. In addition to their selfish, 
 dictatorial bearing, the threats they 
 throw out against the * Border States,* 
 as they call them, if they will not join 
 them, argues little for the benefit or 
 peace of Virginia, should she deter- 
 mine to coalesce with them. While I 
 wish to do what is right, I am un- 
 willing to do what is wrong, either at 
 98 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 the bidding of the South or the 
 North." 
 
 During the years of Lee's banish- 
 ment the famous " Dred Scott " de- 
 cision was rendered, in 1857, by Chief - 
 Justice Taney of the United States 
 Supreme Court. This recognized the 
 property rights of slaveholders as up- 
 held by the Constitution. For the 
 North to consider it fair to enter any 
 Southern State, to force slaveholders to 
 free their slaves, was considered about 
 as rank a piece of injustice as if soldiers 
 from Georgia or a group of Southern 
 States, which have taken an advanced 
 stand on prohibition, should enter Penn- 
 sylvania, with an armed force, to coerce 
 its inhabitants to enact prohibition and 
 practise temperance! The people of 
 Pennsylvania would fight to the bitter 
 end against such an invasion of their 
 rights — not because they believe in 
 drunkenness but in their right to deal 
 99 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 with such a question in their own way 
 and at their own convenience. It may 
 be properl}^ objected that this com- 
 parison may not be parallel, yet by its 
 recognition of slaves as property and of 
 slavery as an institution, the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States was more in 
 favor of the South than with the Key- 
 stone State in this assumed case. 
 
 W^ile Lee was in Texas, Abraham 
 Lincoln rose like Saul, head and shoul- 
 ders above the people, and went up and 
 down the State of Illinois debating with 
 Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and pro- 
 claiming that the country could not 
 exist, " half slave and half free." Many 
 an enlightened Southern man agi'eed 
 with Mr. Lincoln and Colonel Lee that 
 slavery was a cancer in the body politic, 
 but he believed in the right of the South 
 to its own opinion as to how the black 
 ulcer should be removed. Was he to 
 blame for believing that this could be 
 100 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 done better by Southern legislation un- 
 der a Constitution (like that adopted by 
 the Confederate States) so that it 
 should not be ruinous, nor a disaster to 
 the country? Lincoln's election, by a 
 minority of the Northern people, was 
 regarded ominous to the South. The 
 whole country began to realize that the 
 *' irrepressible conflict " was at hand. 
 
 The fires of secession were now at 
 white heat. South Carolina went out 
 of the Union, with colors flying, Decem- 
 ber 20th, 1860. By the 1st of Feb- 
 ruary, 1861, Georgia, Mississippi, 
 Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and 
 Texas — six other States in the so-called 
 "Cotton Belt"— had followed. On 
 February 4th, delegates from all these 
 States except Texas, met in Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama, to organize a con- 
 federation of States. Lee's friend, 
 Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, was 
 elected President. These delegates be- 
 101 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 lieved that the Southern States were 
 driven out of the Union by the tyranny 
 of the North. 
 
 Instead of slavery being the " chief 
 corner stone " of the Confederacy, these 
 delegates recognized it as an inherited 
 evil and provided for its gTadual up- 
 rooting. It had been made a " stone 
 of stumbling" to both North and 
 South. 
 
 In February, 1861, Robert E. Lee 
 was instructed to " report to the com- 
 mander-in-chief at Washington." This 
 order was significant. The Virginia 
 Colonel reached the national capital the 
 first of March, just in time to witness 
 Abraham Lincoln's inauguration. 
 
 If ever a man was between two fires 
 it was Robert E. Lee, during the six 
 weeks he spent at home — those first 
 crucial days of Lincoln's administra- 
 tion. The familiar Scriptural query 
 and command, " Choose ye whom ye 
 102 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 will serve ! " rang in his ears with haunt- 
 ing iteration. 
 
 " My country, right or wrong," was 
 Captain Decatur's motto. " Right or 
 wrong? " No, Duty never demands 
 that a man do wrong. 
 
 No one can say with truth that 
 Robert E. Lee was not a great lover of 
 his country. His devotion to Virginia 
 was akin to his love for his own family. 
 His father, who had been her governor, 
 had thus expressed the intensity of his 
 love for her: " Virginia is my country, 
 her will I obey, however lamentable the 
 fate to which it may subject me." 
 
 No one was more far-seeing in those 
 trying times than Colonel Lee. He 
 saw that his beloved State, with Arling- 
 ton, and the estates of his kindred all 
 over the " Old Dominion," would be 
 laid low by invasion of the armies of the 
 North. He felt that a decision akin to 
 that of Washington was now forced 
 103 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 upon hini. He afterward said of this 
 crisis : 
 
 " We had, I was satisfied, sacred 
 principles to maintain, and rights to 
 defend, for which we were in duty 
 bound to do our best, even if we per- 
 ished in the endeavor. . . . You 
 cannot barter manhood for peace, nor 
 the right of self-government for life or 
 property. . . . Let us then oppose 
 constancy to adversity, fortitude to 
 suffering, and courage to danger, with 
 the firm assurance that He who gave 
 freedom to our fathers will bless the 
 efforts of their children to preserve it." 
 
 " I had no other guide, nor had I any 
 other object than the defence of those 
 principles of American liberty upon 
 which the constitutions of the several 
 States were originally founded; and 
 unless they are strictly observed, I fear 
 there will be an end to republican gov- 
 ernment in this country." 
 104. 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 The " Cotton States " already in 
 secession, recognizing the leadership of 
 Virginia, sent a commission to Rich- 
 mond to urge that State to go with them 
 and make her capital theirs. 
 
 The firing on Fort Smnter, on the 
 13th of April, and President Lincoln's 
 call for troops to invade the South pre- 
 cipitated Virginia's action. No doubt 
 old General Scott was aware of the 
 struggle going on in the heart of Lee 
 and suggested to the new administra- 
 tion that a word in time might save the 
 greatest military genius of the coimtry 
 for Northern arms. At all events, 
 President Lincoln sent Francis P. Blair 
 to offer Robert E. Lee the chief com- 
 mand of the United States Army, 
 thinking this would appeal to his ambi- 
 tion as well as the common instinct of 
 self-preservation. 
 
 But Colonel Lee replied simply to 
 Mr. Blair: " If I owned four million 
 105 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 slaves, I would cheerfully sacrifice them 
 to the preservation of the Union, but to 
 lift my hand against my own State and 
 people is impossible." 
 
 Blair reported his failure to tempt 
 Lee, but General Scott could not give 
 it up yet. He seized upon an occasion 
 to persuade his former friend to accept 
 the highly flattering offer. Colonel 
 Lee, though he saw rule on one hand 
 and ruin on the other, replied to his old 
 general that he must resign : 
 
 " I am compelled to ; I cannot consult 
 my own feelings in the matter." 
 
 Virginia, on the 17th of April, passed 
 the ordinance of secession. The inter- 
 view with Scott was on the 18th. All 
 that day and the next — the day the 
 Massachusetts troops passed through 
 Baltimore on their way to invade the 
 Southern States, of which Virginia 
 would be the first to be attacked — 
 Robert E. Lee pondered over the step 
 106 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 which he feared was inevitable. If he 
 could not consult his ambition, his finan- 
 cial welfare, or even his personal 
 preference, what could he consider? 
 
 ''Duty, then, is the suhlimest word 
 in our language/' he had written to his 
 own son. Duty to what — to whom? He 
 went up to his room and walked the 
 floor for hours. The duty to his family 
 was plain. The duty to his State — that 
 larger famil}^ embracing his kindred, 
 the family traditions, was not that the 
 higher obligation? . . . 
 
 Soldiers were already on their way 
 from the North. The President had 
 called for them to march against the 
 South. They would begin to attack, 
 burn, frighten, insult in Virginia — and 
 Arlington, his o^^^l home, would be a 
 " shining mark " singled out for bay- 
 onet and torch. Should he — could 
 he — lead such men in an invasion of his 
 native State? They might spare 
 107 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Arlington and Stratford House for his 
 sake, if he were their commander-in- 
 chief. And "White House" on the 
 Pamunkey, one of the homes of his wife, 
 where George and Martha Washington 
 were married — they might let that house 
 stand for its century-old associations. 
 But there were the homes associated 
 with the memory of his mother — " Shir- 
 ley," where she was born, " Ravens- 
 worth," where she died — and the estates 
 of his kindred, neighbors and friends — 
 could he lead a Northern army to drive 
 out his own people and destroy their 
 homes? Monstrous! Did the invaders' 
 uniforms make their quarrel just? If 
 a squad of police turned housebreakers 
 should he give them right of way in his 
 own house? 
 
 Yes, the State is greater than the 
 family. He had no right to save him- 
 self and his, and betray the State. But 
 the whole Country — is that not, in the 
 108 
 
" FROM PILLAR TO POST " 
 
 same way, greater than the State? 
 "Ay, there's the rub!" . . . 
 
 But that "Rail-Splitter" with the 
 motlej^ crew he called his Cabinet, 
 backed by abolitionists and other haters 
 of the South — did they constitute the 
 country of Washington, Jefferson, 
 Madison, Monroe, and many other 
 Fathers — his Country? " No, a thou- 
 sand times no! " 
 
 It would do no good to die for such. 
 But his blessed little invalid wife, his 
 darling children. What kind of a man 
 would he be not to stand up for and 
 defend them? Were not the other 
 wives and children of Virginia — of the 
 whole South — just as dear to their hus- 
 bands and fathers and friends? 
 
 There was a long silence. Then a 
 pleading voice was heard, ia prayer — 
 God is above all — over Country, over 
 State, over family. What does the 
 Word say? Ah, here it is ! St. Paul's 
 109 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 First Letter to Timothy, fifth chapter, 
 eighth verse: 
 
 " But if any provide not for his own, 
 and specially for those of his own house, 
 he hath denied the faith, and is worse 
 than an infidel." 
 
 How clear it was! How could he 
 have doubted. God had spoken peace 
 to his soul in the stormy tempest. He 
 went to his desk and wrote to the Hon. 
 Simon Cameron, Secretary of War: 
 
 " Sib: — I have the honor to tender 
 the resignation of my commission as 
 Colonel of the First Regiment of 
 Cavalry. 
 
 " Very respectfully, 
 
 your obedient servant, 
 " R. E. Lee/' 
 
 Then he went down stairs, with a calm 
 smile on his noble face, and said gently 
 to his anxious wife: 
 
 " Well, Mary, the question is settled." 
 110 
 
VII 
 
 LOYAL EVEN IN REBELLION 
 
 Yet I argue not 
 Agfainst Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a 
 
 jot 
 Of heart or hope; but still bear up and 
 
 steer 
 Right onward. 
 
 — Milton. 
 
 As soon as he felt that he had reached 
 the right decision in that upper room 
 alone with God, Robert E. Lee's heart 
 was fixed. He seems never again to 
 have entertained any question as to the 
 rightness of his course. Even after the 
 Cause seemed lost he never wavered, 
 but firmly said that if he had to decide 
 again he would do exactly as he did 
 before. But he had not decided for 
 111 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 any one else. Every other man's duty 
 was to be decided in the same way, be- 
 tween himself and God. Yet Robert 
 E. Lee recognized that God could 
 s]3eak through others. That is why he 
 was criticized for listening to the views 
 of subordinates in his conduct of the 
 war. Many of them were men of God ; 
 might He not speak through them in 
 matters not revealed to himself? Lee 
 was different from any other general in 
 this kind of open-mindedness. But 
 when he was conscious of wisdom from 
 on high he was as confident in disre- 
 garding the advice of his best generals 
 as Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 He wrote that very day, April 20th, 
 '61, to his brother in the Navy,, who 
 followed him and fought on the Con- 
 federate side: 
 
 " The question . . • has in my 
 mind been decided. ... I wished 
 to wait until the ordinance of secession 
 112 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 should be acted upon by the people of 
 Virginia; but war seems to have com- 
 menced, and I am liable at any time to 
 be ordered on duty which I could not 
 conscientiously perform. To save me 
 from such a position, and to prevent 
 the necessity of resigning under orders, 
 I had to act at once and before I could 
 see you again on the subject as I had 
 wished. 
 
 " I am now a private citizen, and have 
 no other ambition than to remain at 
 home. Save in defense of my native 
 State, I have no desire ever again to 
 draw my sword." 
 
 The same day he wrote to General 
 Scott: " Since my interview with you 
 . . . I have felt that I ought not to 
 retain my commission in the Army. I 
 therefore tender my resignation, which 
 I request you will recommend for ac- 
 ceptance. It would have been pre- 
 sented at once but for the struggle it 
 113 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 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." 
 
 To his sister, Mrs. Marshall of Balti- 
 more, who shared her husband's loyalty 
 to the Union, he also wrote: " I am 
 grieved at my inability to see you. I 
 have been waiting for a * more con- 
 venient season.' We are now 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 strug- 
 gle, has been draAvn; 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 
 114 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 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 know you will blame me; but you 
 must think of me as vou can, and be- 
 lieve that I have endeavored to do what 
 I thought right. To show you the feel- 
 ing and the struggle it has cost me, I 
 send you a copy of my letter of resigna- 
 tion. I have no time for more." 
 
 It has been argued that Lee was a 
 double-dyed traitor because he used the 
 education he had received at West 
 Point in his defensive struggle against 
 the armies of the United States govern- 
 ment. Such an idea seems not to have 
 entered his head when he was con- 
 fronted with the sublime heart-question 
 of the Duty to God, family. State and 
 the country, as he saw it with the eye 
 of his sublime faith. 
 
 If he had thought merely of the pe- 
 115 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 cuniary cost of his education, he would 
 have known that Virginia had paid her 
 full quota for that. But it would never 
 have struck Robert E. Lee that but few 
 who have been educated at West Point 
 have rendered so large and valuable 
 return to the country as he had, in 
 his twenty-five years of loyal service. 
 
 Besides, West Point could make the- 
 oretic generals, like McClellan, " and 
 others " turned out in job lots by that 
 Academy, but only God could build a 
 general like Lee. Did Brienne, the 
 French military school, produce Na- 
 poleon Bonaparte? Yet that was more 
 likely than that West Point could have 
 been the making of Robert E. Lee. A 
 great general, like a great poet, " is 
 born, not made." Lee's genius was 
 manifest in his inspired deviations from 
 the academic in field tactics. He was 
 far above the military martinet, he was 
 the man of God. 
 
 116 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 Two days later Lee left Arlington 
 for Richmond where his presence was 
 greatly desired. It was after a sad 
 parting from the loved ones where he 
 had " no other ambition " than to stay. 
 Much as he feared the horrors of the 
 war, he did not realize that his eyes 
 M^ere beholding his beautiful home for 
 the last time. Governor Letcher of 
 Virginia had summoned him to the 
 State capital where he was immediately 
 appointed IMajor-General and Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the forces of Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 He was received by the convention 
 still in session. The president of that 
 body closed an address to him with 
 these words: 
 
 " Yesterday your mother, Virginia, 
 placed her sword in your hand, upon 
 the implied condition, which we know 
 you will keep to the letter and in spirit, 
 that you will draw it only in defense, 
 117 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 and that you will fall with it in 
 your hand rather than that the ob- 
 ject for which it was placed there 
 shall fail." 
 
 This nomination, the unanimity of 
 it, the modesty of the recipient wei^e 
 almost a repetition of the honor paid to 
 Colonel George Washington in Inde- 
 pendence Hall, Philadelphia, on a 
 similar occasion. 
 
 General Lee replied clearly and very 
 briefly : 
 
 " 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 pre- 
 ferred that your choice had fallen upon 
 an abler man. 
 
 " Trusting in Almighty God, and an 
 approving conscience, and the aid of my 
 fellow-citizens, I devote myself to the 
 118 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 service of my native State, in whose 
 behalf alone will I ever again draw my 
 sword." 
 
 Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-Presi- 
 dent of the newly formed Confederacy, 
 described him as he appeared on this 
 occasion: 
 
 " As he stood there, fresh and ruddy 
 as a David from the sheepfold, in the 
 prime of his manly beauty, and the 
 embodiment of a line of heroic and 
 patriotic fathers, and worthy mothers, 
 it was thus I first saw Robert E. Lee. 
 
 " I had preconceived ideas of the 
 rough soldier with no time for the 
 graces of life, and by companionship 
 almost compelled to the vices of his 
 profession. I did not know then that 
 he used no stimulants, was free even 
 from the use of tobacco, and that he 
 was absolutely stainless in his private 
 life. I did not know then, as I do now, 
 that he had been a model youth and 
 119 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 young man; but I had before me the 
 most manly and enth-e gentleman I ever 
 saw." 
 
 Instead of feeling any elation over 
 the honors conferred upon him by the 
 State, or recognizing any aj)proval but 
 that of Heaven, Lee sent this message 
 to his eldest son : 
 
 " Tell Custis he must consult his own 
 judgment, reason and conscience as to 
 the course he may take. I do not wish 
 him to be guided by my wishes or ex- 
 ample. If I have done wrong, let him 
 do better. The present is a momentous 
 question which every man must settle 
 for himself and upon principle." 
 
 At other times he had told his boy: 
 " There is a true glory and a true 
 honor, the glory of duty done; and the 
 honor of the integrity of principle." 
 . . . " I know that wherever you 
 are placed you will do your duty. That 
 is all the pleasure, all the comfort, 
 120 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 all the glory we can enjoy in this 
 world." 
 
 The letters of the anxious husband 
 reveal that he knew, in his heart of 
 hearts, that the struggle would be fear- 
 ful and long. During the first week 
 after leaving Arlington he wrote to 
 Mrs. Lee that he was " glad to hear all 
 is well and as yet peaceful. I fear the 
 latter state will not continue long. I 
 think, therefore, you had better pre- 
 pare all things for removal from Ar- 
 lington — that is, plate, pictures, etc., 
 and be prepared at any moment. 
 Where to go is the difficulty. 
 
 " When the war commences no place 
 will be exempt, in my opinion; indeed, 
 all the avenues into the State will be 
 the scenes of military operations. I 
 wrote to Robert that I could not con- 
 sent to take boys from their schools and 
 young men from their colleges, and put 
 them in the ranks at the beginning of 
 121 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 the Avar, when they are not needed. 
 The war may last ten years. Where are 
 our ranks to be filled from then? '* 
 
 A few days later he repeated the 
 warning to his wife: 
 
 " I am very anxious about you. You 
 have to move, and make arrangements 
 to go to some point of safety which you 
 must select. . . . War is inevitable 
 and there is no telling when it will burst 
 around you. Virginia yesterday, I 
 understand, joined the Confederate 
 States. What policy they may adopt 
 I cannot conjecture." 
 
 Still the distracted wife could not 
 bear to leave. Her husband wrote 
 again on the 8th of May from Rich- 
 mond: " I received yesterday your 
 letter of the 5th. I grieve at the 
 anxiety that drives you from your 
 home. I can appreciate your feelings 
 on the occasion, and pray that you may 
 receive comfort and strength in the 
 122 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 difficulties that surround you. When I 
 reflect upon the calamity pending over 
 the country, my own sorrows sink into 
 insignificance." 
 
 Five days later he wrote her again: 
 " Do not put faith in rumors of adjust- 
 ment. I see no prospect for it. It can- 
 not be while passions on both sides are 
 so infuriated. Make your plans for 
 several years of war. ... I agree 
 with you in thinking that the inflamma- 
 tory articles in the papers do us much 
 harm. I object particularly to those in 
 Southern papers, as I wish them to take 
 a firm, dignified course, free from 
 bravado and boasting. The times are 
 indeed calamitous. The brightness of 
 God's countenance seems turned from 
 us. ... It may not always be so 
 dark, and He may in time pardon our 
 sins and take us under His protection." 
 
 June 9th he wrote to her again in- 
 forming her of the removal of the Con- 
 123 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 federate capital from Montgomery to 
 Richmond: " You may be aware that 
 the Confederate government is estab- 
 lished here. Yesterday I turned over 
 to it the military and naval forces of the 
 State, in accordance with the proclama- 
 tion of the governor, under an agree- 
 ment between the State and the Con- 
 federate States. I do not know what 
 my position will be. I should like to 
 retire to private life, so that I could be 
 with you and the children, but if I can 
 be of service to the State or her cause, 
 I must continue. ]\Ir. Davis and all 
 his Cabinet are here." 
 
 On the 24th of May, about a month 
 after Lee left home, detachments of the 
 Northern army occupied the heights 
 about Washington. 
 
 General McDowell, in command, 
 
 wi'ote to Mrs. Lee, and treated the 
 
 family with the highest courtesy, only 
 
 regretting the military measures which 
 
 124. 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 required the temporary approj)riation 
 of Arlington as headquarters. Later, 
 in the war, after General Lee came to 
 be considered an arch-rebel, Arlington 
 was looted and Washington relics and 
 other articles were carried off and kept 
 in one of the government departments 
 in the capital, and the beautiful 
 estate, built by Washington's adopted 
 son, was turned into a soldiers' ceme- 
 tery. 
 
 Mrs. Lee clung to her home, soon to 
 belong to her eldest son who bore her 
 father's name, with the heroic devotion 
 of a true wife and mother, but she soon 
 had the deep sorrow of parting with 
 it forever. She visited relatives at 
 ** Ravens worth " before retiring to 
 " White House," her estate on the 
 Pamunkey, where Washington had 
 wooed and wed her grandmother. 
 
 Virginia soon became the stamping- 
 ground of the awful game of " red-and- 
 125 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 black," and Mrs. Lee was forced even 
 to leave the home of the Washingtons 
 at the mercy of the enemy. She had 
 fastened on the front door of " Wliite 
 House" this placard: 
 
 " Northern Soldiers Who Profess 
 to Reverence Washington : 
 Forbear to desecrate the home 
 of his first married life — the 
 property of his wife, now 
 owned by her descendants. 
 
 (Signed) "A granddaughter of 
 Mrs. Washington" 
 
 General McClellan appropriated 
 " White House " for his headquarters, 
 and one of his staff wrote under that 
 war-hunted woman's appeal: 
 
 " A Northern officer has protected 
 your property in sight of the enemy." 
 But Mary Custis Lee had bitter occa- 
 sion to reflect that — 
 126 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 " An habitation giddy and unsure 
 Hath he that buildeth on the vulgar heart." 
 
 After McClellan changed his base of 
 ox^erations, some one burned that his- 
 toric house! 
 
 General Lee may have comforted 
 himself with the Scripture that ** the 
 tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," 
 and mingled with his sorrow for his 
 wife the sincere compassion of his heart 
 for those Avicked enough to wish to do a 
 deed like that. He was too magnani- 
 mous to blame such an act upon the 
 North, or hold it against General Mc- 
 Clellan. 
 
 After turning over his command to 
 the Confederacy, Lee remained in 
 Richmond, with the courtesy title of 
 Brigadier- General, then the highest 
 rank in the new Confederate service. 
 He continued his labors, through his 
 devotion to President Davis, as per- 
 127 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 sonal adviser, while preparing Southern 
 men for the defense of their homes and 
 States. A friend reported of his work 
 up to the last of IMay — five weeks after 
 taking command of the Virginia forces : 
 
 " Lee had organized, equipped, and 
 sent to the field more than thirty thou- 
 sand men, and various regiments were 
 in a forward state of preparation." 
 
 On the 28th of May his duties took 
 him up to Manassas, where the battles 
 of Bull Run were fought later. Being 
 within a few miles of " Ravensworth," 
 where his mother died, and where his 
 wife was then staying, he wrote a note 
 to her in which he showed his delicate 
 consideration for those under whose 
 roof his family had found a brief 
 shelter: 
 
 " I reached here, dearest Mary, this 
 
 afternoon. I am very much occupied 
 
 in examining matters, and have to go 
 
 out to look over the ground. Cousin 
 
 128 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 John tempts me strongly to go down, 
 but I never visit, for many reasons. If 
 for no other, to i)revent compromising 
 the house, for my visit would certainly 
 be known. , . . 
 
 " I am decidedly of the opinion that 
 it would be better for you to leave, on 
 your account and Cousin Anna's. . . . 
 If you prefer, go to Richmond. . . . 
 Otherwise, go to the upper country. 
 . . . I fear I cannot be with you 
 anywhere." 
 
 How well this military " power be- 
 hind the throne," and Mentor of gen- 
 erals in command, did his work was soon 
 demonstrated at Manassas, where, in 
 what is known at the North as " the 
 First Battle of Bull Run," Beaure- 
 gard — on a very hot day, July 21st, 
 1861 — drove the Federals under Mc- 
 Dowell back to Washington. 
 
 It is stated that the reason the Con- 
 federates failed to follow up their vic- 
 129 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 tory and capture Washington when 
 they might have done so, was because, 
 at this time, the Southern leaders were 
 fighting only in defense of their rights 
 and homes. 
 
 Soon after the battle of Manassas, 
 General Lee wrote: 
 
 " It was indeed a glorious victory and 
 has lightened the pressure on us amaz- 
 ingly. Do not grieve for the brave 
 dead, but sorrow for those left behind— 
 friends, relatives and families. The 
 former are at rest; the latter must suf- 
 fer. The battle will be repeated there 
 in greater force. I hope God will again 
 smile on us and strengthen our hearts 
 and arms. I wished to participate in 
 the former struggle, and am mortified 
 at my absence. But the President 
 thought it more important that I 
 should be here. 
 
 ** I could not have done as well as has 
 been done, but I could have helped and 
 130 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 taken part in a struggle for my home 
 and neighborhood. So the work is 
 done, I care not by whom it is done. I 
 leave tomorrow for the army in western 
 Virginia." 
 
 In that part of the Old Dominion 
 many of the inliabitants were in sym- 
 pathy with the North and therefore 
 aided the invaders, commanded by 
 "Little Mac," as General George B. 
 McClellan was called. 
 
 Soon after his arrival General Lee 
 wrote from Valley Mountain, Septem- 
 ber 1st, 1861, to his wife: 
 
 " We have had a great deal of sick- 
 ness among the soldiers, and those now 
 on the sick list would form an army. 
 The measles is still among them, but I 
 hope is dying out. The constant cold 
 rains, mud, etc., with no shelter or tents, 
 have aggravated it. All these draw- 
 backs, with impassable roads, have par- 
 alyzed our efforts." 
 131 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Two weeks later, he wrote again: " I 
 had hoped to surprise the enemy's 
 works on the morning of the 12 th, both 
 at Cheat Mountain and on Valley 
 River. I had taken every precaution to 
 insure success, and counted on it; but 
 the Ruler of the Universe willed other- 
 wise, and sent a storm to disconcert the 
 well-laid plan. We are no worse off 
 now than before, except for the dis- 
 closure of our plan. . . • 
 
 " We met with one heavy loss which 
 grieves me deeply: Colonel Washing- 
 ton accompanied Fitzhugh [their son] 
 on a reconnoitering expedition. . . . 
 The first they knew there was a volley 
 from a concealed party within a few 
 yards of them. Three balls passed 
 through the Colonel's body, three struck 
 his horse, and the horse of one of the 
 men was killed. Fitz mounted the 
 Colonel's horse and brought him off. I 
 am much grieved," 
 
 132 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 A quarrel between two commanders 
 in this campaign must have discouraged 
 Lee more than the stormy elements and 
 bottomless mud. Winter came on and 
 put an end to the work, and the Con- 
 federate government decided to aban- 
 don that region. The Union people 
 there soon withdrew and formed the 
 State of West Virginia. 
 
 The newspapers attacked Lee as an 
 unsuccessful general, greatly overrated 
 because of his " historical name," " fam- 
 ily connections" and "showy presence." 
 They sneered at his " West Point 
 tactics," nicknamed him " Evacuating 
 Lee," and said all he knew was to " dig 
 entrenchments." 
 
 Lee bore all these unjust taunts in 
 silence. He could never defend him- 
 self, especially at another's expense. 
 The only selfishness he ever betrayed 
 was in taking blame belonging to 
 others ! President Davis afterward de- 
 13d 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 scribed the baffled, abused officer's re- 
 turn: ** Lee came back, carrying the 
 weight of defeat, and unappreciated by 
 the people whom he served, for they 
 could not Imow, as I knew, that, if his 
 orders and plans had been carried out, 
 the result would have been victory 
 rather than defeat. . . . 
 
 " Yet through all this, with a 
 magnanimity rarely equaled, he stood 
 in silence without defending himself or 
 allowing others to defend him." 
 
 General Lee spent that Winter in 
 the South, strengthening the defenses 
 and fortifying the coast so that the 
 enemy could do but little damage be- 
 fore the close of the war. On his 
 return, in March, 1862, he saw his wife 
 and daughters for the first time since 
 he parted from them at Arlington 
 nearly a year before. He arranged for 
 them to follow him to Richmond as soon 
 as McClellan's advance rendered it 
 184 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 necessary for them to leave their coun- 
 try home. He became, at once, Pres- 
 ident Davis's military adviser. He was 
 restive and anxious for active service in 
 the field, and it is said that he seriously 
 considered enlisting in his son Custis's 
 new command as a " high private." 
 
 No sooner had General Lee returned 
 to Richmond, than his youngest son, 
 Robert Junior, determined to leave the 
 University and enter the service as a 
 private soldier. The father consented 
 to the inevitable, and wrote to the boy's 
 mother: 
 
 " I went with him to get his overcoat, 
 blankets, etc. . . . God grant that 
 it may be for his good. I told him of 
 the exemption granted by the Secre- 
 tary of War to the professors and 
 students of the University, but he ex- 
 pressed no desire to take advantage of 
 it. ... I hope our son will make 
 a good soldier." 
 
 185 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 After the disastrous Northern defeat 
 at the first battle of Manassas, (Bull 
 Run) President Lincoln, finding 75,000 
 soldiers wholly inadequate, issued a call 
 for 500,000 men to carry on the war in 
 the South. These responded promptly. 
 General McClellan was now in com- 
 mand of the (Federal) Army of the 
 Potomac, and " On to Richmond " be- 
 came the Northern war-cry. McClel- 
 lan and an army of 150,000 men, count- 
 ing available reinforcements, had come 
 up the " Peninsula," between the York 
 and the James rivers, to Fair Oaks and 
 Seven Pines within a few miles of the 
 Confederate capital on the East, so that, 
 " oft in the stilly night," the Federal 
 pickets could hear the bells of Rich- 
 mond. 
 
 General " Joe " Johnston, who had 
 
 been Lee's friend at West Point and in 
 
 Mexico, was in command of the defense 
 
 of Richmond in which he had been ably 
 
 136 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 seconded by General Thomas J. — 
 popularly loiown as " Stonewall " — 
 Jackson, because at Manassas, General 
 Bee, seeing him at his post, pointed to 
 him saying: " There stands Jackson 
 like a stone wall! " These daring gen- 
 erals, with their brave soldiers, had 
 alarmed the North to such an extent 
 that many governors made stirring ap- 
 peals for volunteers to save the country. 
 The battle of Seven Pines and Fair 
 Oaks lasted several days. President 
 Davis and his military adviser, General 
 Lee, rode out on June 1st, 1862, to 
 watch the fighting. About sunset that 
 evening. General Johnston was shot out 
 of his saddle and badly wounded. The 
 command was assumed by General G. 
 W. Smith, next in rank. On the way 
 back to Richmond, Jefferson Davis, as 
 commander-in-chief of the Confederate 
 Army and Navy, appointed Lee com- 
 mander of the Army of Northern Vir- 
 137 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 ginia. Lee did not assume control next 
 day but left General Smith in actual 
 charge, the new commander merely 
 endorsing and carrying out his sub- 
 ordinate's instructions. 
 
 An officer in Longstreet's Corps 
 asked Colonel Ives of President Davis's 
 staff whether Lee was possessed with 
 audacity enough to command in such a 
 crisis. According to Alexander, Ives 
 ** reined up his horse, stopped in the 
 road and said, * Alexander, if there is 
 one man in either army, Confederate or 
 Federal, head and shoulders above 
 every other in audacity, it is General 
 Lee. His name might be Audacity/ " 
 
 The new commander called his gen- 
 erals together, and his meeting with 
 them is said to have had somewhat the 
 same effect as that of Napoleon with 
 his officers at the opening of the Italian 
 campaign. But there must have been 
 a wide difference in one respect, for 
 188 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 grizzled old General Auguereau came 
 out from the presence of yoimg Bona- 
 parte, hissing between his teeth: " That 
 little devil makes me tremble all over! " 
 Napoleon's power over men was 
 largely hypnotic — and his manner often 
 insulting. He had a wonderful brain; 
 he w as a genius in strategy — but a mon- 
 strosity, rather than a man. His in- 
 fluence was strange and uncanny ; while 
 Lee won the hearts of his generals as a 
 man of character and a warm-hearted 
 Christian gentleman. Yet in military 
 genius, in bold, creative, opportune 
 strokes, the best military authorities 
 declare that Robert E. Lee, more than 
 any other English speaking general, 
 resembled Napoleon Bonaparte. Lee 
 was a gentleman like Washington, with 
 a heart like Lincoln's, and a strategic 
 brain like Napoleon's. The Southern 
 generals soon felt that the mild-man- 
 nered gentleman before them was their 
 189 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 master. General " Stonewall " Jack- 
 son, Lee's second in command, soon 
 learned to know Lee so well that when 
 he heard his chief criticized for being 
 too deliberate, he said: " He is cautious. 
 He ought to be, but he is not slow. Lee 
 is a phenomenon. He is the only man 
 I would follow blindfold." 
 
 General Lee's youngest son, Robert 
 E., Junior, has related an incident 
 which occurred at this time: 
 
 " The day after the battle of Cold 
 Harbor, during the * Seven Days ' 
 fighting around Richmond, was the first 
 time I met my father after I had joined 
 General Jackson. The tremendous 
 work * Stonewall's ' men had performed, 
 including the rapid march from the 
 Valley of Virginia, the short rations, 
 the bad water, and the great heat, had 
 begun to tell upon us, and I was pretty 
 well worn out. On this particular 
 morning my battery had not moved 
 140 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 from its bivouac ground of the previous 
 night, but was parked in an open field 
 all ready, waiting orders. Most of the 
 men were lying down, many sleeping, 
 myself among the latter number. To 
 get some shade and be out of the wa\% 
 I had crawled under a caisson, and was 
 busy making up many lost hours of 
 rest. 
 
 " Suddenly I was rudely awakened 
 by a comrade prodding me with a 
 sponge -staff and told . . . that 
 some one wished to see me. Half 
 awake, I staggered out, and found my- 
 self face to face with General Lee and 
 his staff. Their fresh uniforms, bright 
 equipments and well-groomed horses 
 contrasted so forcibly with the war- 
 worn appearance of our command that 
 I was completely dazed. 
 
 " It took me a moment or two to 
 realize what it all meant, but when I 
 saw my father's loving eyes and smile, 
 141 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 it became clear to me that he had ridden 
 by to see if I was safe and to ask how 
 I was getting along. 
 
 " I well remember how curiously 
 those with him gazed at me, and I am 
 sure that it must have struck them as 
 very odd that such a dirty, ragged, 
 unkempt youth could have been the son 
 of this grand-looking, victorious com- 
 mander." 
 
 It must have seemed very strange, 
 also, that the commanding general did 
 not provide an officer's rank for his 
 son, but Robert E. Lee knew it was 
 kinder to the son to let him win his 
 spurs and earn his own rank than to 
 have premature " greatness thrust 
 upon '* him. 
 
 In the strenuous time to which 
 Private Robert E. Lee referred, Gen- 
 eral Jackson, with only 15,000 men, had 
 been moving with such celerity through 
 the Shenandoah Vallej^ that they were 
 142 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 called " Jackson's Foot Cavaliy." 
 They had been sent to meet three gen- 
 erals on their way to aid McClellan, 
 who alread}^ had over 100,000 men 
 ready to take Richmond. Jackson had 
 prevented the three approaching detach- 
 ments from getting together and had 
 fought them separately, nearly destroy- 
 ing those contingents numbering nearly 
 three times his own compan\\ 
 
 Knowing McClellan's habit of over- 
 estimating the strength of the force he 
 was to meet, Lee's first move was to 
 send a large detachment as if to rein- 
 force Jackson, possibly in attacking 
 Washington, though this audacious 
 move left him with only 25,000 men 
 between the Federal army and Rich- 
 mond. 
 
 McClellan, as Lee believed he would, 
 
 telegraphed President Lincoln that 
 
 Lee was confronting him with 200,000 
 
 men — about twice the number of his 
 
 143 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 own forces. A general, to be success- 
 ful, must understand his antagonist 
 and anticipate the moves he will make. 
 So Lee's next move was to find out 
 just the strength of McClellan's right 
 wing and how it was disposed. 
 
 There was another well-known 
 " Bible Christian " soldier among the 
 men of Lee's army — General J. E. B. 
 (nicknamed "Jeb") Stuart. He 
 started out from Richmond, on the 11th 
 of June, with 1,200 cavalry, and made 
 a detour, breaking down the feeble op- 
 position they encountered, destroying 
 Federal supplies and railroad com- 
 munications, besides noting the lay of 
 the land as he hurried along. Finding 
 that he was pursued and that he could 
 not return by the way he had come, 
 Stuart rode on, night and day, and 
 made the circuit of McClellan's entire 
 army, with the loss of only one man! 
 
 This was one of the most brilliant cav- 
 144 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 airy exploits in histoiy, and it reflected 
 as much discredit upon McClellan as 
 credit upon " Jeb " Stuart and Lee. 
 
 The new commander, at a great loss 
 of men, crushed McClellan's right, as 
 he intended, in a series of engage- 
 ments — from Gaines's Mill to Malvern 
 Hill, called the "Seven Days Bat- 
 tles " — by which McClellan was driven 
 down the James and found refuge 
 within range of the Federal gunboats 
 at Harrison's Landing. 
 
 Thus, in less than one month. Gen- 
 eral Lee had driven McClellan's great 
 army out of his intrenchments, and, for 
 a time at least, had raised the siege of 
 Richmond. 
 
 Nothing but defensive warfare was 
 expected of General Lee, but he saw 
 that the offensive was the best de- 
 fensive — and it proved " offensive " 
 enough to the Northern people. 
 
 McClellan and his army were recalled 
 145 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 to Washington, for Lee's surx3rising 
 evolutions had thoroughly alarmed the 
 authorities there. Old General Halleck, 
 now Commander-in-Chief of the Fed- 
 eral armies, decided to send out General 
 Pope, who had been successful in the 
 West, with the remnant commands of 
 three Generals, Fremont, Banks and 
 McDowell. 
 
 Being assigned to complete a difficult 
 task in which so accomplished a general 
 as McClellan had failed, seems to have 
 turned poor Pope's head. He issued 
 boastful orders from his " head- 
 quarters in the saddle," announcing 
 that such obsolete terms as " base of 
 supplies " and " lines of retreat " were 
 to be dropped forthwith from " the 
 bright lexicon " of his heroic deeds! 
 
 The Southern commander, amused 
 
 and disgusted, wrote to Mrs. Lee: 
 
 " Tell Rob to catch Pope, and also to 
 
 bring his cousin, Louis Marshall, who, 
 
 146 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 I am told, is on his staff. I could for- 
 give the latter fighting against us, but 
 not his joining Pope! " 
 
 Young Marshall was Lee's Balti- 
 more sister's son, whose father was a 
 Union man. Another time, on hearing 
 that his Federal nephew was looking 
 wretched, he wrote: " I am sorry he is 
 in such bad company, but I suppose he 
 could not help it." 
 
 More than a year before. General 
 Lee had predicted that another engage- 
 ment, in greater numbers, would have to 
 be fought at Manassas. The fulfilment 
 of his prophecy was at hand, but in- 
 stead of being detained in Richmond 
 as before, Lee was now chief in com- 
 mand. 
 
 To meet Pope and his three contin- 
 gents made it necessary to bring to- 
 gether with himself, both Jackson and 
 Longstreet. There was much sparring 
 and fencing, before the great engage- 
 147 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 nient, during which the commander on 
 each side learned, by accident, the 
 other's plan of camj)aign. Lee here 
 resorted to Washington's strategic spe- 
 cialty of changing his scheme so that 
 Pope's discovery, instead of being a 
 revelation, proved only a delusion. 
 
 General Pope showed real ability 
 along some lines, but seemed quite 
 lacking in others. Instead of prevent- 
 ing the junction of Jackson Avith Long- 
 street by fighting them separately, he 
 sent a dispatch to Halleck in Washing- 
 ton that he was going to " bag the 
 whole crowd." Instead of keeping Lee 
 from getting through Thoroughfare 
 Gap, as he should have done at all 
 hazards, he allowed him to come, cut 
 off his " base of supplies " and the three 
 coalesced to " bag " the bragging " bag- 
 ger." 
 
 " They fought like brave men, long 
 and well," but it was too late. Pope 
 148 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 battled valiantly, but he had blundered 
 in the planning. Even while his men 
 were following their obsolete " lines of 
 retreat " toward Washington, Pope 
 was telegraphing Halleck that they 
 were Avinning the victory, and promis- 
 ing that he would do great things on the 
 morrow. When he found no chance 
 to fight next daj^ Pope retired to 
 Washington, and resigned his com- 
 mand. 
 
 As after the first defeat at Bull Run 
 President Lincoln now issued another 
 call for volunteers, and men came 
 marching southward from all directions 
 to the refrain: 
 
 " We are coming, Father Abraham, 
 Three hundred thousand more." 
 
 Lee now decided to carry his offen- 
 sive-defensive into the North. Virginia 
 had been forced by position and circum- 
 stances to bear the terrible burden of 
 U9 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 the war. So he issued a proclamation 
 to the lovers of right and liberty in 
 Jlaryland, hoping thus to gain posses- 
 sion of Baltimore and attack Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Singing " Dixie " and " Maryland, 
 My Maryland," the Confederate army 
 crossed into Maryland at Harper's 
 Ferry. In that part of the State, as in 
 Western Virginia, the Union sentiment 
 prevailed, and the people were not in- 
 clined to rally round the banner of the 
 " Southern Cross." 
 
 Lee's men were half-starved, bare- 
 footed and ragged. The JNIarylanders 
 refused to give or even to sell them the 
 fruits wasting on the ground, or any 
 other provisions. To enforce his strict 
 rule against foraging, Lee ordered a 
 soldier shot for stealing a pig. 
 
 To feed and clothe his army, Lee 
 detached " Stonewall " Jackson to cap- 
 ture Harper's Ferry, which he did after 
 150 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 a sharp encounter, on the 15th of Sep- 
 tember, thus procuring food, clothing 
 and arms. What the Army of North- 
 ern Virginia most needed now was 
 horses. 
 
 After Pope's defeat at Bull Run 
 General McClellan was again placed 
 in command of the Army of the Poto- 
 mac, for President Lincoln hoped he 
 might strive with " a fervor now acute " 
 and " haply compensate for old de- 
 lay." 
 
 McClellan might have intercepted 
 Lee before he could enter Maryland. 
 Though his progress was more rapid 
 than ever before, he did not reach Har- 
 per's Ferry in time to save it from the 
 Confederates. They were now well 
 fed, clothed and equipped to meet him 
 near Sharpsburg, at Antietam Creek, 
 by the name of which the North called 
 the battle that ensued. 
 
 It was a terrible conflict — the bloodi- 
 151 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 est for the time it lasted, according to 
 most authorities, in the war between the 
 States. The slain lay in long heaj)s of 
 blue and gray, like windrows in a new- 
 mown hay-field. 
 
 Young Robert Lee writes of meeting 
 his father in this battle: 
 
 " As one of the Army of Northern 
 Virginia, I occasionally saw the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief . . . but ... at 
 the battle of Sharpsburg . . . our 
 battery had been severely handled, los- 
 ing many men and horses. . . . 
 
 " General Lee was dismounted. . . . 
 I went up to my father . . . and 
 said : 
 
 " ' General, are you going to send us 
 in again? ' 
 
 " * Yes, my son,' he replied with a 
 smile ; * you must all do what you can 
 to drive these people back.' . . . 
 
 " He was much on foot during this 
 part of the campaign, and moved about 
 152 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 either in an ambulance, or on horse- 
 back, with a courier leading his horse. 
 An accident, which temporarily dis- 
 abled him, happened before he left Vir- 
 ginia. He had dismounted and was 
 sitting on a fallen log, with the bridle 
 reins hung over his arm. * Traveler,' 
 becoming frightened at something, sud- 
 denly dashed away, threw him violently 
 to the ground, spraining both hands 
 and breaking a small bone in one of 
 them." 
 
 It was many weeks before General 
 Lee could use his hands, or sign his 
 name, but he never blamed the horse, 
 for " Traveler " and he were friends. 
 The master would whisper affection- 
 ately in the horse's ear, and the intelli- 
 gent animal would nod his head as if 
 he understood every word. 
 
 The battle of Sharpsburg, or An- 
 tietam, was counted a triumph by the 
 North, because Lee's invasion of Mary- 
 153 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 land was stopped, so President Lincoln 
 issued his Emancipation Proclamation, 
 which he had held back for a Northern 
 victory. Lee was not driven back from 
 Maryland, however, for he waited five 
 weeks before crossing the Potomac into 
 Virginia, hoping that McClellan would 
 give him another chance to fight him. 
 But that general was either too timid 
 or too tired. During this time " Jeb " 
 Stuart repeated his former feat of rid- 
 ing around the entire Federal army, 
 this time capturing 1,000 horses greatly 
 needed for the Southern cavalry and 
 artillery service. It was this raid, after 
 getting full supplies at Harper's Ferry, 
 that enabled Lee to win the great bat- 
 tles which followed. 
 
 McClellan's failure to follow up the 
 drawn battle at Sharpsburg (Antie- 
 tam) and his allowing Stuart to ride 
 around his army again, raised popular 
 clamor at the North to such a pitch that 
 I54t 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 he was permanently removed from the 
 command. 
 
 General Burnside was now appointed 
 to command the Army of the Potomac 
 in place of McClellan. He recom- 
 mended making a dash for Richmond 
 by way of Fredericksburg. 
 
 Lee and Jackson had separated 
 again, " Stonewall " having been sent 
 back to the Valley of Virginia. While 
 in camp near Winchester, an officer 
 received his orders, in regular form, 
 from the commander-in-chief and left 
 to attend to their execution. Return- 
 ing unexpectedly, he was surprised and 
 pained to find General Lee kneeling 
 beside his little bed, sobbing as if his 
 heart were breaking, holding in his hand 
 a letter which told of the death of his 
 daughter Annie in North Carolina. He 
 had received the letter earlier but con- 
 trolled himself for the routine work of 
 the morning, and now at last, he was 
 155 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 alone to talk it over with his most inti- 
 mate Friend. 
 
 Lee, having learned of the Federal 
 design, intrenched himself on the hills 
 around Fredericksburg, which he de- 
 fended with 78,000 men against Burn- 
 side with 116,000. The Federals began 
 the attack on the 11th of December, 
 1862, and after a terrific conflict, were 
 defeated with great loss, on the 13th. 
 The Southern commander wrote on the 
 16th: 
 
 " This morning they were all safe on 
 the north side of the Rappahannock. 
 They went as they came — in the night. 
 They suffered heavily as far as the bat- 
 tle went, but it did not go far enough 
 to satisfy me. Our loss was compara- 
 tively slight, and I think will not exceed 
 two thousand." 
 
 On the 25th — another Christmas 
 away from home — Lee wrote to his 
 daughter: 
 
 156 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 " I cannot tell you how I long to see 
 you when a little quiet occurs. My 
 thoughts revert to you, your sisters and 
 your mother, my heart aches for our 
 reunion. Your brothers I see occa- 
 sionally. ... I have no news, 
 confined constantly to camp, and my 
 thoughts occupied with its necessities 
 and duties. I am, however, happy in 
 the knowledge that General Burnside 
 and army will not eat their promised 
 Christmas dimier in Richmond to- 
 day. . . . 
 
 " What should have become of us 
 without His crowning help and protec- 
 tion? Oh, if our people would only 
 recognize it and cease from vain self- 
 boasting and adulation, how strong 
 would be my belief in final success and 
 happiness to our country ! " 
 
 It was while at Fredericksburg that 
 General Lee freed all the slaves left 
 to him as executor of the estate of his 
 157 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 father-in-law, George Washington 
 Parke Custis, as provided in the will, 
 five years before. 
 
 General Burnside also was removed 
 after his defeat at Fredericksburg, and 
 General Joseph — popularly known as 
 " Fighting Joe " — Hooker was ap- 
 pointed to lead the Army of the Po- 
 tomac. The two armies remained fac- 
 ing each other all that " long and dreaiy 
 Winter." On the dav after Wash- 
 ington's Birthday, General Lee wrote 
 home from " Camp Fredericksburg:" 
 
 " The weather is now very hard upon 
 our poor bushmen. This morning the 
 whole country was covered with a 
 mantle of snow fully a foot deep, . . . 
 and our poor horses were enveloped. 
 We have dug them out, . . . but 
 it will be terrible, and the roads im- 
 passable. ... I fear our short, 
 rations for man and horse will have to 
 be curtailed. 
 
 158 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 " Our enemies have their troubles 
 too. They are very strong immediately 
 in front. ... I owe Mr. F. J. 
 Hooker no thanks for keeping me here. 
 He ought to have made up his mind 
 long ago what to do." 
 
 The engagement at Chancellorsville, 
 fought a few miles north of Fredericks- 
 burg, May 1st to 4th, 1863, was Lee's 
 greatest battle. So great was the con- 
 fidence of the David and Jonathan of 
 the Southern Cause, by this time, that 
 when " Stonewall " Jackson sent to 
 Lee for orders the commanding general 
 replied: " Say to General Jackson that 
 he knows just as well what to do with 
 the enemy as I do." 
 
 Captain Robert E. Lee has written 
 of the general grief over the loss of 
 General Jackson, who had thoughtlessly 
 gone in front of the firing line and was 
 shot by his own men: " The joy of our 
 victory at Chancellorsville was sad- 
 159 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 denecl by the death of * Stonewall ' 
 Jackson. His loss was the heaviest 
 blow the Army of Northern Virginia 
 ever sustained. To Jackson's note tell- 
 ing him he was wounded, my father 
 replied: 
 
 "... * Could I have directed 
 events, I should have chosen, for the 
 good of the country, to have been dis- 
 abled in your stead. I congratulate you 
 on the victory, which is due to your 
 energy.' 
 
 " Jackson said, when this was read 
 to him: * Better that ten Jacksons 
 should fall than one Lee ! ' 
 
 " Afterward, when it was reported 
 that Jackson was doing well, General 
 Lee playfully sent him word: 
 
 " ' You are better off than I am, for 
 while you have only lost your left, I 
 have lost my right arm.' 
 
 " Then, hearing that he was worse, 
 he said: 
 
 160 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 " * Tell him that I am praying for 
 him as I believe I have never prayed 
 for myself.' " 
 
 The night after the Northern defeat 
 at Chancellorsville was, according to 
 President Lincoln's secretary-histori- 
 ans, the darkest of all in the terrible 
 war. Abraham Lincoln spent his time 
 walking the floor, tm^ning his ashy-pale 
 face toward Heaven and crying out: 
 " O what will the country say! " 
 
 Lincoln, like Lee, was a firm believer 
 in j)rayer. He was speaking a little 
 later of an experience he had in con- 
 nection Avith this awful defeat. After 
 Lee started North again and was in- 
 vading Pennsylvania, President Lin- 
 coln said: 
 
 " OjDpressed by the gravity of our 
 affairs, I went to my room one day, 
 locked the door, and, getting down on 
 my knees before Almighty God, I 
 prayed to Him mightily for victory at 
 161 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Gettysburg. I told Him this was His 
 war, and our cause His cause, but we 
 couldn't stand another Fredericksburg 
 or Chancellorsville. I then and there 
 made a solemn vow to Almighty God 
 that if He would stand by our boys at 
 Gettysburg I would stand by Him." 
 
 To the Army of Northern Virginia, 
 which had noAV become a great praying 
 band, the loss of " Stonewall " Jackson 
 was more than a calamity; it was a 
 " dispensation of Providence." This 
 made them more anxious about their be- 
 loved commander. When General Lee 
 would ride along in front to inspire 
 his men they pointed their guns down 
 and shouted — their deep bass sounding 
 like the voice of thunder: 
 
 "Go back, Lee!" "Lee to the 
 rear! " 
 
 They refused to fire a shot until their 
 general had retired to a place of safety, 
 which, to their minds, was the only 
 162 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 " point of vantage " for him. The Com- 
 mander-in-Chief exclaimed, after one of 
 these remonstrances: " I wish some one 
 would tell me my proper place in battle. 
 I am always told I should not be where 
 lam!" 
 
 On the 9th of June, General Lee's 
 son Fitzhugh was wounded in a skir- 
 mish; he was sent to " Hickory Hill," 
 an estate about twenty miles from Rich- 
 mond, to recover. His wound was heal- 
 ing when a group of Northern cavalry- 
 men came and carried him away before 
 the eyes of his astonished wife and rela- 
 tives. He was removed, at mortal risk, 
 to " Fortress " Monroe. General Lee 
 wrote to his indignant and distressed 
 daughter-in-law : 
 
 " You must not be sick while Fitz- 
 hugh is away, or he will be more restless 
 under his separation. Get strong and 
 hearty by his return. . . . 
 
 " I can appreciate your distress. . . . 
 163 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 I deeply sympathize with it, and in the 
 lone hours of the night, I groan in sor- 
 row at his captivity and separation from 
 3'ou. . . . 
 
 " I can see no harm that can result 
 from Fitzhugh's capture, except his 
 detention. . . . He will be in the 
 hands of old army officers and surgeons, 
 most of whom are men of j)rinciple and 
 humanity. . . . Nothing would do 
 him more harm than for him to learn 
 that you were sick and sad. How could 
 he get well? So cheer up and prove 
 your fortitude and patriotism." 
 
 But the daughter-in-law grew ill and 
 worse, and when the word came to her 
 husband that she was dying, he applied 
 to General Butler, now in command 
 there, to let him go to her for forty- 
 eight hours, for his brother Custis, of 
 equal rank, had offered to take Fitz- 
 hugh's place as a hostage. This request 
 was curtly denied, and the wife died 
 164 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 calling for her captive husband. Gen- 
 eral Lee wrote of this to his wife: 
 
 " I grieve for our lost darling as a 
 father only can grieve for a daughter, 
 and my sorrow is heightened by the 
 thought of the anguish her death will 
 cause our dear son, and the poign- 
 ancy it will give to the bars of his 
 prison." 
 
 Even then there was no word of bit- 
 terness against Butler, the most hated 
 Northern general in all the South, be- 
 cause of his infamous " Woman Order," 
 which was taken as an insult to the 
 ladies of New Orleans, and other " high 
 crimes and misdemeanors " in Southern 
 eyes. 
 
 In June, 1863, Lee was again in the 
 North, this time in Pennsylvania. In 
 his " General Orders " issued June 
 27th, 1863, he announced: 
 
 " The commanding general consid- 
 ers that no greater disgrace could befall 
 165 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 the army, and through it our whole 
 people, than the j)erpetration of the 
 barbarous outrages upon the mnocent 
 and defenseless, and the wanton de- 
 struction of jDrivate property, that have 
 marked the course of the enemy in our 
 countrJ^ ... It must be remem- 
 bered that we make war only uj)on 
 armed men, and that we cannot take 
 vengeance for the wrongs our i)eople 
 have suffered without lowering our- 
 selves in the eyes of all whose abhor- 
 rence has been excited by the atrocities 
 of our enemy, and offending against 
 Him to whom vengeance belongeth, and 
 without whose favor and support our 
 efforts must all prove in vain." 
 
 The story of Gettysburg, the greatest 
 conflict that ever took place on the 
 American continent, and counted 
 among the ** fifteen decisive battles " of 
 history, is too well known to be repeated 
 here. It was called " the high- water 
 166 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 mark " of the Civil War and was fought 
 on a field containing twenty-five 
 square miles, around Gettysburg, a lit- 
 tle to\Mi in southwestern Peimsylvania, 
 near the Maryland line, July 1st, 2nd 
 and 3d, 1863. 
 
 Hooker had given place to General 
 JNIeade, the fifth commanding general 
 the North had sent against Lee, who 
 had beaten four. Everything seemed 
 to favor the Southern arms, except that 
 General James Longstreet was second 
 in command, in " Stonewall " Jackson's 
 place. The Army of Northern Virginia 
 never fought with more signal bravery. 
 Pickett's charge was one of the most 
 heroic in all history — outvying in num- 
 bers and ratio of loss the Charge of the 
 Light Brigade at Balaklava. 
 
 The engagement was precipitated on 
 
 the first day before Lee was ready, and 
 
 there was much sparring and struggling 
 
 for position. That night there was a 
 
 167 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 him after Montereau — " It was not 
 fifty little boats I needed — only twenty 
 — only twenty! " The difference was 
 in Napoleon's belief in his fate — Lee's, 
 in his faith. The Confederate general, 
 however, admitted, privately to a 
 friend, years after the war: 
 
 " If I had had ' Stonewall ' Jackson 
 at Gettysburg, I would have won that 
 battle, and a victory there would have 
 given us Washington and Baltimore, 
 and would have established the inde- 
 pendence of the country." 
 
 Long after the war a Northern 
 Grand Army man told of meeting Lee 
 in the field of Gettysburg under cir- 
 cumstances which revealed to him the 
 true heart of the Southern commander: 
 
 " I had been a most bitter anti- South 
 man, and fought and cursed the Con- 
 federates desperately. I could see 
 nothing good in any of them. The last 
 day of the fight I was badly wounded. 
 170 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 A ball shattered my left leg. I lay on 
 the ground not far from Cemetery 
 Ridge, and as General Lee ordered his 
 retreat, he and his olSicers rode near 
 me. 
 
 " As they came along I recognized 
 him, and, though faint from exposure 
 and loss of blood, I raised up my hands, 
 looked Lee in the face, and shouted as 
 loud as I could — ' Hurrah for the 
 Union!' 
 
 " The General heard me, looked, 
 stojDped his horse, dismounted and 
 came toward me. I confess I at first 
 thought he meant to kill me. But as he 
 came up he looked down at me with 
 such a sad expression upon his face that 
 all fear left me, and I wondered what 
 he was about. He extended his hand 
 to me, grasping mine firmly, and look- 
 ing right into my eyes, said : 
 
 " * My son, I hope you will soon be 
 well.' 
 
 171 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 " If I live a thousand years I shall 
 never forget the expression on General 
 Lee's face. There he was, defeated, 
 retiring from a field that had cost him 
 and his cause almost their last hope, 
 and yet he stopped to say words like 
 these to a wounded soldier of the op- 
 position who had taunted him as he 
 passed by ! As soon as the General had 
 left me I cried myself to sleep there on 
 the bloody ground." 
 
 That look of General Lee's produced 
 the same result as that of his Lord who 
 only " looked on Peter," and he 
 
 " Did quail and fall . . . 
 And went out speechless from the face 
 
 of all 
 And filled the silence, weeping^ bitterly." 
 
 Lee's feeling toward the Boys in 
 
 Blue was like that of Lincoln for Boys 
 
 in Gray. He never expressed himself 
 
 unkindly against the enemy. He re- 
 
 172 
 
LOYAL m REBELLION 
 
 ferred to them as " those people," and 
 the worst thing he said against them 
 was, ** I wish they would stay at home 
 and attend to their ovm affairs, and let 
 us do the same 1 " 
 
 No one knew better than Lee, as he 
 marched down from Gettysburg, that 
 the Cause was now losing ground. 
 Could Longstreet have been right after 
 all? Sincerely feeling that a younger 
 man might retrieve the great loss and 
 yet win the Cause, he tendered his 
 resignation as commander. But Presi- 
 dent Davis refused to receive it, saying 
 it would be an impossibility to find a 
 general " more fit to command or who 
 would possess more of the confidence 
 of the army." 
 
 The brave fellows were barefooted 
 once more, and ragged and hungry. It 
 was a bitter experience for Lee to 
 return to war-ridden, impoverished Vir- 
 ginia for another Winter. He had 
 173 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 " If I live a thousand years I shall 
 never forget the expression on General 
 Lee's face. There he was, defeated, 
 retiring from a field that had cost him 
 and his cause almost their last hope, 
 and yet he stopped to say words like 
 these to a wounded soldier of the op- 
 position who had taunted him as he 
 passed by ! As soon as the General had 
 left me I cried myself to sleep there on 
 the bloody ground." 
 
 That look of General Lee's produced 
 the same result as that of his Lord who 
 only " looked on Peter," and he 
 
 " Did quail and fall . . . 
 And went out speechless from the face 
 
 of all 
 And filled the silence, weeping bitterly." 
 
 Lee's feeling toward the Boys in 
 
 Blue was like that of Lincoln for Boys 
 
 in Gray. He never expressed himself 
 
 unkindly against the enemy. He re- 
 
 172 
 
LOYAL LST REBELLION 
 
 f erred to them as " those people," and 
 the worst thing he said against them 
 was, " I wish they would stay at home 
 and attend to their o^vn affairs, and let 
 us do the same ! " 
 
 No one knew better than Lee, as he 
 marched down from Gettysburg, that 
 the Cause was now losing gi'ound. 
 Could Longstreet have been right after 
 all? Sincerely feeling that a younger 
 man might retrieve the great loss and 
 yet win the Cause, he tendered his 
 resignation as commander. But Presi- 
 dent Davis refused to receive it, saying 
 it would be an impossibility to find a 
 general " more fit to command or who 
 would possess more of the confidence 
 of the army." 
 
 The brave fellows were barefooted 
 once more, and ragged and hungry. It 
 was a bitter experience for Lee to 
 return to war-ridden, impoverished Vir- 
 ginia for another Winter. He had 
 178 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 twice left that destitute State partly for 
 the sake of its devoted people who suf- 
 fered most of all in being unable to 
 give necessary assistance to him and 
 his gallant army. 
 
 Lee wrote to his wife and daughters 
 to get them to double their already 
 great exertions in knitting stockings 
 for the men. In the winter of 1863-4 
 Lee and his heroes suffered similar 
 privations to those of Washington's 
 terrible Winter at Valley Forge. Cap- 
 tain Robert Lee wrote of this season of 
 suffering: " There was at this time a 
 great revival of religion in the army. 
 IMy father became very much interested 
 in it, and did all he could to promote in 
 his camps all sacred exercises." 
 
 His son Fitzhugh was released in 
 April, 1864, through an exchange of 
 prisoners. General Grant came that 
 Spring from his triumphs in the 
 West — the sixth general to take com- 
 174 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 niand of the Army of the Potomac. 
 His policy was to wear out and starve 
 the Confederates. He had a splendidly 
 equipped army, sometimes several times 
 the number of Lee's ragged followers, 
 and even then he kept sending for re- 
 inforcements, w^hich were always on the 
 way from the North. 
 
 Others than General Lee had begun 
 to see " the beginning of the end," 
 for the fact was, the South was not 
 only bankrupt, but had no more men 
 to fill up its sadly thinning ranks. 
 Yet the Chief gave no sign of waver- 
 ing. 
 
 " It becomes no man to nurse despair 
 But in the teeth of clenched antagonisms 
 To follow up the worthiest till he die." 
 
 His faith in God and the righteous 
 
 Cause was still strong. It led him, like 
 
 Moses, through the Wilderness against 
 
 Grant, but, at the battle of Spottsylva- 
 
 175 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Ilia General " Jeb " Stuart, his Chief 
 of Cavalry, and strong brother and 
 helper in the Christ-life, was slain. 
 
 Soon after this General Lee was 
 seriously ill on the North Anna, and it 
 was feared that he also might be taken 
 from the leadership of the army. But 
 he grew better soon and went on fight- 
 ing with grim determination, his invin- 
 cibles, only half as many men as Grant, 
 making the dear-bought Federal vic- 
 tories cost double their oa^ti great 
 losses. No commander ever loved his 
 men more than Lee, and no general 
 ever had a greater right to love them. 
 He had said that he had the best army 
 in the world, and it was doubly hard to 
 lose his men now. 
 
 There was a terrible struggle around 
 Petersburg, which Grant mined and 
 blew up, but even in that sudden, 
 ghastly conflict, known as the " Battle 
 of the Crater," Grant, after many 
 176 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 months of preparation, lost more men 
 than Lee. There was a long, hard 
 siege, and the few starving Confederates 
 were overwhelmed by a mighty army 
 from the North. 
 
 Meanwhile Sheridan was sent into 
 the Valley to drive out General Early, 
 who had threatened and frightened 
 Washington. Sheridan, carrying out 
 Grant's policy, burned two thousand 
 barns filled with grain, seventy mills of 
 flour and wheat, and drove away almost 
 all the cattle and other live stock that 
 was left. To the poor Virginians Grant 
 seemed a butcher, and Sheridan, a 
 demon — especially when he reported to 
 his chief: " A crow flying across the 
 Valley will have to carry its own ra- 
 tions." 
 
 Before Petersburg fell, Lee warned 
 
 President Davis to make his escape 
 
 from Richmond. Even then they 
 
 planned to meet farther South. But 
 
 177 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 Grant and Sheridan were able with un- 
 limited resources to surround Lee, and 
 the long, stern chase ended at Appo- 
 mattox, about fifty miles west of Rich- 
 mond. 
 
 Lee's army had been marching along 
 Appomattox Creek like a company of 
 military tramps, munching parched 
 corn. Thanks to Grant and Sheridan, 
 there was nothing to eat in the country, 
 and now they had captured the train of 
 supplies which had been sent, for Lee's 
 desperate need, to Appomattox Court 
 House. 
 
 A Southern corps commander ap- 
 proached his leader to intimate that it 
 would be a physical impossibility for the 
 men to march more than a day or two 
 longer without rations, and suggested 
 the terrible alternative — surrender or 
 starve. 
 
 Robert E. Lee's deep hazel eyes 
 flashed as he replied: " Surrender! I 
 178 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 have too many good fighting men for 
 that!" 
 
 The quemlous general backed out of 
 his commander's presence abashed. 
 Then another proposed that they dis- 
 band and escape to the mountains and 
 by guerrilla warfare, badger the enemy 
 for many years. Lee thought of the 
 families of his faithful Christian sol- 
 diers longing for them to come home 
 even as his own dear ones wished to see 
 his face again. It was a terrible alter- 
 native. 
 
 As they marched along, Lee riding 
 " Traveler," he pondered earnestly. 
 They saw his lips move and knew he 
 was talking with his best Friend. 
 
 What should he do? " Is His mercy 
 clean gone forever?" Had the " Friend 
 that sticketh closer than a brother " 
 failed, and forsaken him after all? Had 
 He not promised Joshua in the wilder- 
 ness — " As I was with Moses, so I will 
 179 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 be with thee; I will not fail thee nor for- 
 sake thee? " 
 
 The white, sad face seemed uncon- 
 scious of those near him. 
 
 . . . Worse than death? Worse 
 than a thousand deaths! How blest 
 and happy " Jeb " and " Stonewall " 
 are now! 
 
 " How easily I could get rid of this 
 and be at rest! I have only to ride 
 along the line and all would be over. 
 But it is our duty to live. What will 
 become of the women and children of 
 the South if we are not here to protect 
 them? . . ." 
 
 They laughed and jeered at Him, 
 taunting Him with failure. " The 
 servant is not greater than his 
 Lord." . . . 
 
 He looked around. The men seemed 
 
 dispirited and out of sorts. Even 
 
 " Traveler " stepped less proudly than 
 
 usual. He thought of the humilia- 
 
 180 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 tion — of the pride of family, of the 
 State, and of the whole South. It had 
 done all that it could — and lost — 
 failed! . . . 
 
 " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 
 do?" 
 
 They found themselves headed off — 
 Grant had intercepted a letter sent to 
 Davis outlining their plan of escape. 
 They were surrounded. 
 
 Grant had written to discuss a sur- 
 render — to " save further effusion of 
 blood," he suggested. As soon as Lee 
 saw how completely they were hemmed 
 in, he said: 
 
 " There is nothing left but to go to 
 General Grant, and I would rather die 
 a thousand deaths." 
 
 A member of his staff, unconscious of 
 all that had been passing in the mind 
 of the chief, exclaimed: " O General, 
 181 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 what will history say of the surrender 
 of the army in the field? " 
 
 " Yes," said the General, " I know 
 they Avill say hard things of us; they 
 will not understand how we were over* 
 whelmed by numbers, but that is not the 
 question, Colonel. The question is, 
 * Is it right to surrender this army? ' If 
 it is right, then I will take all the re- 
 sponsibility." 
 
 Once more Robert E. Lee looked 
 Duty squarely in the face and sent a 
 note to General Grant asking an inter- 
 view. The two commanders with their 
 staffs, met at the McLean house at Ap- 
 pomattox. General Lee, the tall, hand- 
 some, courteous gentleman of the old 
 school, wore a new gray uniform, with 
 a handsome sword and sash. General 
 Grant, short, thin and stooped, with a 
 soldier's blouse and trousers spattered 
 with mud, was without sword, sash or 
 spurs. Noticing Lee's observance of 
 182 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 the military proprieties, he was at once 
 reminded of the occasion when the two 
 met in the Mexican war, and Colonel 
 Lee had said to him: " I feel it my duty, 
 Captain Grant, to call your attention 
 to General Scott's order that an officer 
 reporting at headquarters should be in 
 full uniform." 
 
 General Grant told a friend after- 
 ward that he felt uncomfortable that 
 day lest General Lee should recall that 
 reproof and think he now intended to 
 retaliate, so he explained that he had 
 not seen his headquarters' baggage for 
 several days. 
 
 But General Lee did not even re- 
 member having seen Grant in the 
 Mexican War. As soon as the pre- 
 liminary courtesies were exchanged, 
 General Lee, perhaps reminded of 
 Grant's stipulations of " Unconditional 
 Surrender" to General Buckner, said: 
 
 " General, I am here to ascertain the 
 183 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 terms upon which you will accept the 
 surrender of the Army of Northern 
 Virginia; but it is due to proper candor 
 and frankness that I should say at once 
 that I am not willing to discuss, even, 
 any terms incompatible with preserving 
 the honor of my army, which I am de- 
 termined to maintain at all hazards, and 
 to the last extremity." 
 
 Grant hastened to reply, " I have no 
 idea of proposing dishonorable terms. 
 General, but I should like to know what 
 terms you would consider satisfactory." 
 
 The conditions were generous, as be- 
 came two Christian generals — even 
 more liberal, Lee said, than the noble 
 terms of General Washington to Corn- 
 wallis. Nothing was said about Gen- 
 eral Lee tendering his sword. Twenty- 
 five thousand rations were dealt out to 
 the starving Confederates, who were 
 told to keep their horses to use on their 
 farms. When the good, gray general 
 184} 
 
LOYAL IN REBELLION 
 
 came out to his anxious soldiers, they 
 received him with " the rebel yell." He 
 told them the terms were to men and 
 friends who had met reverses like 
 heroes. Then he added, with a slight 
 tremor in his voice: 
 
 " Men, we have fought through the 
 war together. I have done my best for 
 you. My heart is too full to say more." 
 
 185 
 
VIII 
 
 ON THE MOUNT 
 
 And bear unmoved the wrongs of base 
 
 mankind, 
 The last and hardest conquest of the mind. 
 
 —Pope. 
 
 Robert E. Lee mounted "Traveler" 
 and rode away down the Valley of 
 Humiliation. His head was bowed, 
 his eyes on the ground. His lips no 
 longer moved. Some of his men fol- 
 lowed him in pitying silence. As he 
 had been thinking only of them, their 
 sorrow now was all for him. Their 
 hearts also were " too full to say more," 
 but they crowded around to press his 
 hand and flash their symj)athy up into 
 186 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 his sorrowing face. Of those heroes 
 and martyrs of the " Lost Cause " it is 
 written: 
 
 " Hunger and thirst could not de- 
 press them. Cold could not chill them. 
 Every hardship became a joke. Never 
 was such a triumph of spirit over 
 matter. . . . One by one Death 
 challenged them. One by one they 
 smiled in his grim visage and refused to 
 be dismayed." 
 
 " Human virtue ought to be equal to 
 human calamity," Lee himself had said. 
 Was he not proving it now in the 
 supreme test? But he was not thinking 
 of himself. Is the Cause lost — the 
 Cause he would give his life for so 
 gladly? Had he not given a thousand 
 lives for it in spirit? What is it his 
 Friend is saying to him? " He that 
 loseth his life for my sake shall find it." 
 Did Robert E. Lee learn, through this 
 awful experience, that there is some- 
 187 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 thing better than dying for country? 
 His patriotism had now become the Re- 
 ligion of Comitry. 
 
 The next day, April 10th, he pub- 
 lished his last order, which in the nature 
 of things took the form of a valedictory: 
 
 " After four years of arduous service, 
 marked by unsurpassed courage and 
 fortitude, the Army of Northern Vir- 
 ginia has been compelled to yield to 
 overwhelming numbers and resources. 
 I need not tell the survivors of so many 
 hard- fought battles, who have remained 
 stedfast to the last, that I have con- 
 sented to this result from no distrust of 
 them; but feeling that valor and devo- 
 tion could accomplish nothing that 
 could compensate for the loss that 
 would have attended the continuation 
 of the contest, I have determined to 
 avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose 
 past services have endeared them to 
 their countrymen. By the terms of the 
 188 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 agreement, officers and men can return 
 to their homes, and remain there till 
 exchanged. 
 
 " You will take with you the satisfac- 
 tion that proceeds from the conscious- 
 ness of duty faithfully performed ; and I 
 earnestly pray that a merciful God will 
 extend to you His blessing and protec- 
 tion. With an unceasing admiration 
 for your constancy and devotion to your 
 country, and a grateful remembrance of 
 your kind and generous consideration 
 of myself, I bid you an affectionate 
 farewell." 
 
 After this good-bye, Robert E. Lee 
 turned and rode away toward Rich- 
 mond, leaving them behind him, " sor- 
 rowing most of all for the words which 
 he spake," in " that they should see his 
 face no more." A few others, going his 
 way, joined him and rode on in silence. 
 At last he was to be permitted to live at 
 home with his loved ones, a private 
 189 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 citizen. But no, after sacrificing to his 
 high sense of duty the beautiful Vir- 
 ginia estates that were theirs, he and 
 his invalid wife with their devoted chil- 
 dren had no home! 
 
 Anyway, he was at last a private 
 citizen. Citizen? No, only a paroled 
 prisoner denied the franchise and other 
 rights and rites of citizenship — like a 
 common criminal? No, more like an 
 uncommon criminal — the brutal mur- 
 derer of many men ! There were cruel, 
 unseeing ones at the North who had said 
 hanging was too good for him. A 
 ribald song sounded in his ears. It 
 pained him the more because it was a 
 leer against " Jeff " Davis — that sin- 
 cere Christian gentleman. The fact 
 that they might hang him did not par- 
 ticularly concern Robert E. Lee — ex- 
 cept for the sake of his suffering family 
 and friends. That might be the easiest 
 way, after all, to witness for the Cause. 
 190 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 Yes, Lowell was right, in " The Present 
 Crisis:" 
 
 " Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong for- 
 ever on the throne — 
 
 Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, 
 behind the dim unknown, 
 
 Standeth God within the shadow, keeping 
 watch above His own." 
 
 In contrast with such lofty sentiment, 
 the shallow, spiteful spirit of the worst 
 element at the North sickened Lee. 
 How little they know what spirit we — 
 men like President Davis — are of! 
 
 The little squad in tattered gray ar- 
 rived on the bank of the James, oppo- 
 site Richmond. The bridges had long 
 since been destroyed by his own order — 
 to convert the river into a moat like that 
 of a great castle. Lee's home-coming 
 was described by an eye-witness: 
 
 " Next morning a small group of 
 horsemen appeared on the further side 
 191 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 of the pontoons. By some strange in- 
 tuition it was known that General Lee 
 was among them, and a crowd collected 
 all along the route he would take, silent 
 and bareheaded. There was no excite- 
 ment, no hurrahing; but as the great 
 chief passed, a deep, loving murmur, 
 greater than these, rose from the very 
 hearts of the crowd. Taking off his 
 hat and simply bowing his head, the 
 man great in adversity passed silently 
 to his own door; it closed upon him, and 
 his people had seen him for the last 
 time in his battle harness." 
 
 Richmond had fallen, and some sec- 
 tions of it had been burned by the in- 
 habitants before leaving the city. Grant 
 had refused to enter there in triumph. 
 Instead, he had said: " I felt like any- 
 thing rather than rejoicing at the down- 
 fall of a foe who had fought so long and 
 so valiantly, and had suffered so much 
 for a cause." 
 
 192 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 So, when the Northern soldiers be- 
 gan firing cannon to celebrate the sur- 
 render, their chief stopped the salutes 
 with this message: " The war is over, 
 the rebels are again our countrymen, 
 and the best way of showing our rejoic- 
 ing will be to abstain from all such 
 demonstration." 
 
 When many Southern people heard 
 of these and later kindnesses to their be- 
 loved leader, they ceased calling Grant 
 a " butcher." His terrible measures 
 were more like those of a surgeon in the 
 last extremity. It was a signal proof 
 of Lee's relation to the South, that, as 
 soon as he gave up, the war was ended. 
 
 General Chamberlain, who received 
 the surrender of the Confederate arms 
 and colors — as " a tribute of brave men 
 to brave men, and a part of the cement- 
 ing of the Union " — referred to the 
 silence with which it was achieved: 
 
 " General Gordon, . . . facing 
 193 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 his own command, gives word for his 
 successive brigades to pass us . . . 
 honor answering honor. 
 
 " On our part, not a sound of trum- 
 pet nor roll of drum ; not a cheer, not a 
 word or whisper of vaingiorying, nor 
 motion of men; . . . but an awed 
 stillness, rather, and breath-holding as 
 if it were at the passing of the dead." 
 
 In the White House, during the 
 meeting of the President with his Cab- 
 inet, the news of Lee's surrender was 
 received. " At the suggestion of Mr. 
 Lincoln, they all dropped on their 
 knees and offered, in silence and in 
 tears, their heartfelt acloiowledgments 
 to the Almighty." 
 
 On the night of the day on which 
 General Lee returned to Richmond, a 
 crowd of people gathered around the 
 Executive Mansion, with a band, to 
 serenade the President and hear what 
 he would say. He congratulated them 
 194 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 because the cruel war was over, and sug- 
 gested mild and friendly measures to 
 win the South again to its primal al- 
 legiance. As he closed his remarks and 
 was going in, he turned back and called 
 out to the band: 
 
 " Play ' Dixie/ boys— play ' Dixie! ' 
 You know we have a right to it now." 
 Those were the last words Abraham 
 Lincoln spoke in public. 
 
 Three days later, the President was 
 murdered at Ford's Theatre, by an irre- 
 sponsible, crack-brained actor. John 
 Wilkes Booth did not represent the 
 South in that act any more than Charles 
 J. Guiteau stood for the Republican 
 party when he shot President Garfield. 
 
 That madman's freak inflamed the 
 North, and did much to embitter again 
 the mollified spirit, all through the 
 trying months and years of so-called 
 Reconstruction. 
 
 One Sunday night General Lee 
 195 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 was pained by hearing the minister bit- 
 terly denounce the North from his 
 puli)it. After the service he took the 
 rector to task. " Doctor," said he, 
 " there is a good old Book which says, 
 * Love your enemies.' Do you think 
 your remarks this evening were quite in 
 the spirit of that teaching? " The pas- 
 tor was astonished to hear a soldier who 
 had " suffered many things " at the 
 hands of the North speak without re- 
 sentment. At another time the Gen- 
 eral explained his attitude more fully: 
 " I have fought against the people of 
 the North because I believed they were 
 seeking to wrest from the South dearest 
 rights. But I have never cherished 
 bitter or vindictive feelings, and have 
 never seen the day when I did not pray 
 for them." 
 
 One cannot help asking, Wliy should 
 a man who placed such implicit confi- 
 dence in God be permitted to suffer de- 
 196 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 feat? His relations with the Aknighty 
 were even closer and more personal than 
 Cromwell's — more like the intimacy of 
 Moses, whom he also resembled in meek- 
 ness and modesty. Some of his orders 
 to his men read like the charges of 
 Moses to the children of Israel in the 
 wilderness. Once, in speaking about 
 prayer, a minister in his army said of 
 the commander: " He grasped my 
 hand as, with voice and eye that be- 
 trayed deep emotion, he assured me 
 that it was not only his comfort, but his 
 only comfort, and declared the simple 
 and absolute trust that he had in God 
 and God alone." 
 
 Lee talked with God as a dutiful son 
 with his father. He realized that, while 
 God responds to prayer. He is not 
 bound always to answer in the affirma- 
 tive. He must sometimes withhold for 
 the good of His child. " Special Provi- 
 dence " with him did not mean special 
 197 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 petting. His Heavenly Father did not 
 grant every request as a human parent 
 does when spoiling his child. Robert 
 E. Lee, as with his prototype, Moses, 
 was " choosing rather to suffer affliction 
 with the people of God. . . . By 
 faith he forsook Egypt. . . . He 
 endured, as seeing Him who is invis- 
 ible." 
 
 Like Moses, he also recognized the 
 voice of God when it said No, as well 
 as when it answered in the affirmative. 
 Therefore he accepted defeat, as he had 
 welcomed victory, as the will of God. 
 He recognized that God's dealings were 
 not with him alone but with the whole 
 South — yes, with the whole country, for 
 he had prayed daily for the North. He 
 knew that President Lincoln and many 
 thousands of devout men and women 
 among " those people," as he called 
 them, were praying also to the same 
 God. Not only did Lee believe that 
 198 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 slavery was wrong but that it was even 
 worse for the white race than for 
 the negroes themselves. He had come 
 to realize the rank inconsistency of 
 linking — manacling — Southern liberty 
 with Southern slavery. The principles 
 he believed in and had given thousands 
 of loved and precious lives for had fallen 
 upon evil times and into evil company. 
 
 Therefore he recognized the hand of 
 God in the final defeat of the Southern 
 armies. From that hour he was never 
 impatient or querulous about what hap- 
 pened. The same sublime sense of 
 Duty that prompted his acceptance of 
 the sword now controlled him in sur- 
 rendering it. Then whatever came to 
 him he patiently ** endured as seeing 
 Him who is invisible.'* 
 
 He read in his Bible that Moses, who 
 
 had hoped all things, believed all things, 
 
 endured all things for forty years, was 
 
 not allowed to enter the Land of Prom- 
 
 199 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 ise, but he was permitted to see it from 
 afar. He knew also that the " Captain 
 of his Salvation " he was trying so faith- 
 fully to follow, had suffered things in- 
 finitely worse than death in apparent 
 failure. And Abraham Lincoln's as- 
 sassination on the eve of the triumph of 
 all his hopes — would not God overrule 
 even that for the good of the greater 
 country — the Promised Land of his own 
 love and of Lincoln's? 
 
 There can be no doubt whatever that 
 Robert E. Lee, with his God-given in- 
 sight into the future, saw in the removal 
 of Lincoln from the work of bringing 
 the South, with all its noble chivalry, 
 back to its earlier loyalty to the greater 
 and better United States, had left so 
 much the more for him to do. It was a 
 work which he alone could do, as the 
 beloved of the Southern people. Lee 
 was permitted to do what Lincoln might 
 have done if he had lived. 
 200 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 Therefore, he looked upon his per- 
 sonal trials as trivial. Great as Robert 
 E. Lee's life had been — even as the rival 
 of Napoleon in military genius — he was 
 now armed and equipped in spirit for 
 the grandest triumph of all. As "he 
 that ruleth his spirit is better than he 
 that taketh a city," he snatched from the 
 jaws of defeat one of the sublimest 
 triumphs ever compassed by one man. 
 
 Of course, he was too modest to see 
 himself as anything other than a " poor 
 old Confederate," as he ruefully called 
 himself when people crowded round to 
 honor him. All he meant to do was 
 to retire to some quiet spot to pray 
 for his beloved South, to love his ene- 
 mies and to bless those who persecuted 
 him. 
 
 Many stories are told of different 
 
 propositions made to him, all looking to 
 
 his OA^n comfort and that of his family. 
 
 An English admirer offered him a fine 
 
 201 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 estate, with an income of $15,000 a 
 year, if he would only accept it and live 
 abroad. Lee wrote: " The thought of 
 abandoning the country and all that 
 must be left in it is abhorrent to my feel- 
 ings, and I prefer to struggle for its 
 restoration and share its fate than give 
 up all as lost, and Virginia has need for 
 all her sons." 
 
 He was tendered the presidency of 
 an insurance company with a salary of 
 $50,000 a year. He declined this, say- 
 ing he knew nothing about the business. 
 " But, General," said the insurance 
 man, " you will not be expected to do 
 any work; what we wish is the use of 
 your name." 
 
 " Don't you think," answered Lee, 
 significantly, " that if my name is worth 
 $50,000 a year, I ought to take good 
 care of it? " 
 
 The appeal that came closest to his 
 heart was that of an old Confederate 
 202 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 soldier who called on him in Richmond 
 with this eager proj^osal: 
 
 " General, I'm one of your soldiers, 
 and I've come here as the representative 
 of four of my comrades who are too 
 ragged and dirty to venture to see 
 you. 
 
 " We're all Virginians, General, from 
 Roanoke County, and they sent me here 
 to see you on a little business. They've 
 got our President in prison, and now" — 
 here the poor fellow gasped — " they— 
 talk — about — arresting — you! General, 
 we can't — we'll never stand and see that ! 
 Now, we five men have got about 250 
 acres of land in Roanoke — ^very good 
 land, too, sir — and if you'll come up 
 there and live, I've come to offer you all 
 of it, and we will do all the work for you 
 as your field hands, and you'll have very 
 little trouble managing it with us to 
 help you. And, General, there are 
 near about a hundred of us left in old 
 203 
 
THE HEART OF LEE^ 
 
 Roanoke, and they could never take you 
 there, for we could hide you in the hol- 
 lows of the mountains and the last man 
 of us would die before we'd let 'em get 
 you! '' 
 
 Robert E. Lee's deep ej^es were wet 
 when he gratefully declined the offer, 
 and took care that the ragged envoy, 
 better dressed than Avhen he came, was 
 loaded with grateful remembrances for 
 the other four who had offered to lay 
 down their lives for him if need be. 
 
 In spite of all these requests and ap- 
 peals, Lee's mind was fixed upon a quiet 
 retreat, as he wrote to a friend: " I am 
 looking for some little quiet house in 
 the woods where I can procure shelter 
 and my daily bread, if permitted by the 
 victor." 
 
 " The victor " now took the form 
 
 of President (elected Vice-President) 
 
 Johnson, (a Southern man!) and of a 
 
 grand jury in beloved Virginia, which 
 
 204 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 indicted Robert E. Lee and Jefferson 
 Davis for treason. This jury was com- 
 posed of negroes and low whites who 
 acted under the direction of a malignant 
 mind. Lee regarded this action with 
 supreme indifference, once making this 
 remark: " I have heard of the indict- 
 ment by the grand jurj^ of Norfolk, and 
 have made up my mind to let the 
 authorities take their course. I have no 
 wish to avoid any trial the Government 
 may order, and I cannot flee." 
 
 But the President's proclamation 
 granting freedom to all the South but 
 Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and all 
 officers in the army above a certain rank, 
 would involve others in expense and 
 danger, and was contrary to the terms 
 of the surrender at Appomattox. So 
 he wrote to General Grant: 
 
 " I had supposed that the officers and 
 men of the Army of Northern Virginia 
 were by the terms of their surrender 
 205 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 protected by the United States Gov- 
 ernment so long as they conformed to 
 its conditions. 
 
 " I am ready to meet any charges 
 that may be preferred against me, and 
 do not wish to avoid trial; but if I am 
 correct as to the protection granted by 
 my parole, and am not to be prosecuted, 
 I desire to comply with the President's 
 proclamation, and therefore enclose the 
 required application, which I request, 
 in that event, may be acted upon." 
 
 In this letter he sent his application 
 " for the benefits and full restoration of 
 all rights and privileges extended," in- 
 cluding those of ordinary citizenship. 
 In doing this he was setting an example 
 consistent with his urging, in every ^vay 
 he could, that " all should unite in an 
 honest effort to obliterate the effects of 
 the war and restore the blessings of 
 peace." 
 
 To the eternal credit of General 
 206 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 Grant be it said that he wrote his official 
 indignation to Secretary-of-War Stan- 
 ton, and added, in a note to President 
 Johnson : 
 
 " I have made certain terms with Lee, 
 the best and only terms. If I had told 
 him and his army that their liberty 
 would be invaded, that they would be 
 open to arrest, trial and execution for 
 treason, Lee would never have surren- 
 dered, and we should have lost many 
 lives in destroying him. 
 
 " Now, my terms of surrender were 
 according to military law, and so long 
 as General Lee observes his parole, I 
 will never consent to his arrest. I will 
 resign the command of the army rather 
 than execute any order directing me to 
 arrest Lee or any of his commanders so 
 long as they obey the laws." (This is 
 a reminder of the very spirit which Rob- 
 ert E. Lee manifested in resigning his 
 command, four years before.) 
 207 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 The indictment against General Lee 
 was quashed, but President Johnson 
 paid no attention to his application for 
 pardon, so Robert E. Lee went to and 
 fro, himself a " Man without a Coun- 
 try," yet urging other men to become 
 citizens of that country ! 
 
 Before he could move to the modest 
 little place where he could live in retire- 
 ment, General Lee was offered the 
 presidency of Washington College, an 
 institution then more than one hundred 
 years old. " The war had practically 
 closed its doors, its buildings were 
 pillaged and defaced and its library 
 scattered." It had now only four pro- 
 fessors. Even the small salary of the 
 president would depend mostly on his 
 own efforts and influence. Yet as soon 
 as Lee was convinced that the incum- 
 bency of a disfranchised prisoner-at- 
 large would not be an incumbrance, he 
 gladly accepted the position, for this 
 208 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 stated reason: " I have a self-imposed 
 task which I must accomplish. I have 
 led the men of the South in battle, I 
 have seen many of them die on the field ; 
 I shall devote my remaining energies to 
 training young men to do their duty in 
 life." 
 
 Here was an aged, white-haired man 
 entering upon a new career instead of 
 retiring to rest after an arduous, event- 
 ful life in which he had been making 
 history. He was doing all this, too, 
 without any preparation for such work 
 since the school-days of his boyhood in 
 Alexandria, and the few years he was 
 superintendent at West Point. But he 
 was well fitted to follow the great 
 Teacher, as an educator of the heart. 
 His meekness is disclosed in a few lines 
 from a letter written at this time: 
 " Life is indeed gliding away, and I 
 have nothing good to show for mine that 
 is past. I pray I may be spared to 
 209 
 
THE HEART OF LEE' 
 
 accomplish something for the benefit of 
 mankind and the honor of God." 
 
 This was true in a way of which the 
 self-depreciating writer did not dream. 
 Great as his achievements had been, 
 those yet to come were more than great, 
 they were sublime. 
 
 Nothing could have been more mod- 
 est than the elderly, full-bearded man 
 riding alone up into the western moun- 
 tains on the old white horse which had 
 carried him through the thick of many 
 a fray. His love of his horse never 
 grew old. One Summer, while he was 
 absent, the master wrote back: " How 
 is ' Traveler? ' Tell him I miss him 
 dreadfully, and have repented of our 
 separation but once — and that is, the 
 whole time since we parted! " 
 
 Once, as he mounted " Traveler," 
 
 while taking leave of some ladies, he saw 
 
 one of them reaching out to pluck a 
 
 white hair from the horse's mane. 
 
 210 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 Wishing to spare the animal the least 
 hurt, General Lee doffed his hat, bent 
 his own white head low before the lady, 
 and said, with a beseeching smile, 
 " Please, madam, take one of mine in- 
 stead!" 
 
 The General was inaugurated Presi- 
 dent of Washington College on October 
 2nd, 1865, with simple ceremonies, and 
 started, in every way possible, to build 
 up the college. His renown soon at- 
 tracted students and endowments. In- 
 stead of the military regvilations one 
 would expect from a man who had spent 
 nearly forty years in the army service, 
 he announced: " We have but one rule 
 here, that every student be a gentle- 
 man." 
 
 The young men believed that if there 
 had been a chair for instruction in that 
 popular study, their president was the 
 best possible teacher! Far from being 
 a martinet in matters of etiquet or con- 
 211 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 vention. President Lee once remarked: 
 " I always respect persons and care lit- 
 tle for precedent." 
 
 He was called to Washington in 
 March, 1866, to testify before the Con- 
 gressional committee on Reconstruc- 
 tion. Although he considered the Gov- 
 ernment policy a hideous blunder, he 
 won the admiration of the whole coim- 
 try by his fairness, candor and fine feel- 
 ing. After returning home, his daugh- 
 ter remarked upon his new hat. He 
 replied with a laugh : " You do not like 
 my hat? Why, there were a thousand 
 people on Pennsylvania Avenue in 
 Washington the other day admiring this 
 hat ! " This illustrated the enthusiasm 
 he encountered wherever he went. In 
 the South, whether in city or countrj^ 
 they cheered him, greatly to his em- 
 barrassment. 
 
 The president of the struggling col- 
 lege was forced to refuse a friend who 
 212 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 offered him a salary of $20,000 a year, 
 as president of a substantial company. 
 " I would like to make some money for 
 Mrs. Lee," he said, " as she has not 
 much left, if it does not require me to 
 leave the college." But President Lee 
 considered it his duty to give the college 
 all of himself at about one-tenth the 
 additional salary he had declined. 
 
 One Summer, while he was away for 
 his health, the trustees of the college, in 
 consideration of the sacrifices he was 
 making, and knowing that nearly the 
 whole of Sirs. Lee's great fortune had 
 been swept away by the war, voted to 
 present him with a house and settle 
 an annuity of $3,000 a year on his 
 family. 
 
 Lee emphatically declined this. In 
 thanking the board, he wrote: "I am 
 unwilling that my family should become 
 a tax to the college, but desire that all 
 its funds should be devoted to the pur- 
 213 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 poses of education. I feel sure that, in 
 case a competency should not be left to 
 my wife, her children would never suffer 
 her to want." 
 
 In spite of his limited resources he 
 helped his sons establish themselves on 
 farms, encouraged them to work hard 
 at manual toil, telling them that the land 
 would soon reward their labors, and that 
 the future of the State and the nation 
 depended on the industry and thrift of 
 the farmers. His far-seeing eye had 
 already beheld what the New South was 
 yet to be. 
 
 General Lee was invited to become a 
 candidate for governor of Virginia — 
 probably the only civil office he had 
 ever cared to hold, because his father, 
 "Light-Horse Harry," had filled it. 
 But he refused even to consider it. He 
 still felt the apparent disgrace of dis- 
 franchisement, as if he were, in very 
 deed, a criminal ! Besides, it would im- 
 214 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 pair his influence with the people of the 
 South if he went into time-serving 
 politics. 
 
 Many men, official and military. 
 North as well as South, tried to get ex- 
 pressions of approval from him, but he 
 politely declined to be drawn into any 
 controversy. He carefully abstained 
 from making any remarks or criticism 
 even about those who had been bitterly 
 hostile to him. Having occasion to be 
 in Washington, in 1869, soon after Gen- 
 eral Grant's inauguration, he called 
 upon him but considerately refused to 
 ask the President to visit Washington 
 College, as had been suggested, lest it 
 embarrass that official, or be made an 
 occasion for hostile remark. 
 
 A young professor in the college 
 harshly criticized Grant one day, and 
 President Lee said severely: 
 
 "Sir, if you ever presume to speak 
 disrespectfully of General Grant in my 
 215 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 presence, either you or I will sever his 
 connection with this college." 
 
 To a Southern lady who inveighed 
 against the national order of things, 
 he replied earnestly: "Madam, don't 
 bring up your sons to detest the United 
 States Government. Recollect that we 
 form one country now. Abandon all 
 these local animosities, and make your 
 sons Americans! " 
 
 One day the college president was 
 seen at the gate talking in a friendly 
 manner with a poor old man to whom he 
 gave some money and sent on his way 
 rejoicing. The observer asked who the 
 stranger was. 
 
 " One of our old soldiers," said the 
 General. 
 
 " To whose command did he belong?" 
 
 " Oh — ^he was one of those who 
 
 fought against us," said Lee gently, 
 
 " but we are all one now, and must make 
 
 no difference in our treatment of them." 
 
 216 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 Perhaps there was never a better ex- 
 ample of meekness under trying circum- 
 stances than the simple story of a sopho- 
 more who had been called before the 
 president to be impressed with the fact 
 that he must mend his ways or become 
 a failure in life. 
 
 '* But, General, you failed! " an- 
 swered the youth (who, no doubt, re- 
 gretted that thoughtless remark all 
 through his after life). The great man 
 of his day and generation answered 
 without the least resentment: " I hope 
 that you may be more fortunate than I." 
 
 Because he said least about what he 
 felt most deeply, there can be no doubt 
 that Robert E. Lee suffered keenly un- 
 der his disfranchisement. The story of 
 " The Man without a Country " had ap- 
 peared early in the war, and such a tale 
 must have made an abiding appeal to a 
 man who loved Country so much. 
 217 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 General Zachary Taylor, another 
 great military man of the South, had 
 been elected to the presidency without 
 ever having voted in his life. Here, 
 now, was Robert E. Lee — far greater 
 as a man and as a general — who, by his 
 own personal influence, had done more 
 for the country than any other living 
 man in bringing back the Southern 
 States into the Union, yet he was not 
 allowed even to cast his vote which had 
 now become the privilege of the most 
 vicious and ignorant negro! 
 
 In his habit of self-depreciation Lee 
 felt all this as keenly as though his home 
 and property had been confiscated and 
 he himself exiled from the country of 
 his birth. No wonder that he yearned 
 for the Home he so firmly believed was 
 prepared for him by the Friend who 
 had gone before him into the Beyond. 
 
 This was all the more heartbreaking 
 in that he was too considerate to speak 
 218 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 even to his wife of his unutterable 
 loss. His health had not been good 
 after that illness in the Wilderness. He 
 had never seemed quite so strong after 
 the mental anguish before Appomattox. 
 His famous physical heroism in the war 
 was mere indifference beside the moral 
 courage which carried him through the 
 spiritual agony that followed. It was 
 like an internal wound that proved to be 
 mortal, of which no one knew until after 
 he was gone. 
 
 The dagger of his disfranchisement 
 was driven deeper into his own heart by 
 the exasperating experiences of his be- 
 loved South under the ill-advised 
 measures of " Reconstruction," often 
 executed by Southern villains of the 
 deepest dye. Unable to cry out against 
 it, lest it add to the anguish of those he 
 loved best, he bore it all in smiling 
 silence. In his age and feebleness, as 
 he witnessed the needless wranglings 
 219 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 and recriminations, how he longed, Hke 
 the homesick Scot in a foreign land, for 
 his " Ain Comitrie!" 
 
 Early in 1870 his strength finally 
 gave way and he consented to go South 
 with his daughter Agnes in quest of 
 health. They visited his father's "Light- 
 Horse Harry's," grave on Cumberland 
 Island, and that of his daughter Annie, 
 over whose death he had wept so bitterly 
 in the little tent not far from Fred- 
 ericksburg. 
 
 Everywhere he went he received an 
 ovation, but he could in no wise under- 
 stand the love that all the people bore 
 him. He returned, hoping against 
 hope that his health had improved, and 
 opened the college as usual that Fall. 
 Coming home one evening after a trj^- 
 ing day at his regular work, followed 
 by a three-hour vestry meeting, he be- 
 came unconscious at the supper table. 
 After lingering for two weeks, he 
 220 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 passed away on the morning of October 
 12th. During his delirium he seemed 
 to have gone back into his greatest 
 battle — Chancellorsville — where he lost 
 his " right arm," " Stonewall " Jack- 
 son, whose last words there had been: 
 " Tell A. P. Hill to prepare for action." 
 General Lee's last command was, " Tell 
 A. P. Hill he must come up " — then 
 the David and Jonathan of the Con- 
 federacy met and embraced in their 
 " Ain Countrie." They now lie near 
 each other in their home town of Lex- 
 ington. 
 
 Robert E. Lee's name is linked with 
 that of his father's friend in the title of 
 the college he did so much to make — 
 Washington and Lee University. He 
 did not die literally a " Man without a 
 Country," for Andrew Johnson had, on 
 his last Christmas in the presidential 
 office, extended a formal pardon to 
 Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and 
 221 
 
THE HEART OF LEE 
 
 other men of high rank and achieve- 
 ment from whom it had been withheld. 
 But, except in foohsh form, it was far 
 beyond the poor power of such a man 
 as " Andy " Johnson to withhold citi- 
 zenship from, or grant it to, such a man 
 as Robert E. Lee! By his simple re- 
 fusal to perform an official act, Presi- 
 dent Johnson had foolishly deprived the 
 country of a legal right to have and to 
 hold a citizen who was even then prov- 
 ing himself a most dutiful son — the 
 greatest man living within her borders 
 since the tragic death of Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Only three men have possessed the 
 country in such a lofty and lawful pro- 
 prietorship: Washington, the father, 
 Lincoln, the saver, and Lee, the re- 
 deemer of his country. 
 
 As George Washington, by force of 
 the personal love of all the people, was 
 able to join the States together in a 
 222 
 
ON THE MOUNT 
 
 mutual bond, called the Constitution of 
 the United States; and as Abraham 
 Lincoln, who, like Samson of old, con- 
 quered more people in his seemingly 
 disastrous death than all those he had 
 won during his lifetime; so Robert 
 E. Lee, through the pure and lofty 
 loyalty of his life, brought back into 
 one the eleven States that had se- 
 ceded against his will, and* locked them 
 into a firm and eternal Union, from 
 which " they shall go no more out for- 
 ever." 
 
 What, then, did the eye of his sublime 
 faith see from the Mount of Vision? 
 Better, far better than the Promised 
 Land of Moses, Robert E. Lee beheld 
 from afar — not " the Lost Cause," but 
 his " Paradise Regained " — yet to be, 
 in the highest and noblest sense, his 
 " Ain Countrie." 
 
 " He hath showed thee, O Man, 
 what is good; and what doth the Lord 
 223 
 
THE HEART OF LEE^. 
 
 require of thee, but to do justly, to love 
 mercy, and to walk humbly with thy 
 God? " 
 
 224. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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