A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee | Page 2

Reserved and
silent, with a bearing of almost austere dignity, he impressed many
persons as cold and unsympathetic, and his true character was long in
revealing itself to the world. To-day all men know what his friends
knew during his life--that under the grave exterior of the soldier,
oppressed with care and anxiety, beat a warm and kindly heart, full of
an even extraordinary gentleness and sweetness; that the man himself
was not cold, or stiff, or harsh, but patient, forbearing, charitable under
many trials of his equanimity, and magnanimous without effort, from
the native impulse of his heart. Friend and foe thus to-day regard him
with much the same sentiment, as a genuinely honest man, incapable of
duplicity in thought or deed, wholly good and sincere, inspired always
under all temptations by that prisca fides which purifies and ennobles,
and resolutely bent, in the dark hour, as in the bright, on the full

performance of his duty. "Duty is the sublimest word in our language,"
he wrote to his son; and, if we add that other august maxim, "Human
virtue should be equal to human calamity," we shall have in a few
words a summary of the principles which inspired Lee.
The crowning grace of this man, who was thus not only great but good,
was the humility and trust in God, which lay at the foundation of his
character. Upon this point we shall quote the words of a gentleman of
commanding intellect, a bitter opponent of the South in the war:
"Lee is worthy of all praise. As a man, he was fearless among men. As
a soldier, he had no superior and no equal. In the course of Nature my
career on earth may soon terminate. God grant that, When the day of
my death shall come, I may look up to Heaven with that confidence and
faith which the life and character of Robert E. Lee gave him. He died
trusting in God as a good man, with a good life, and a pure
conscience."
He had lived, as he died, with this supreme trust in an overruling and
merciful Providence; and this sentiment, pervading his whole being,
was the origin of that august calmness with which he greeted the most
crushing disasters of his military career. His faith and humble trust
sustained him after the war, when the woes of the South wellnigh broke
his great spirit; and he calmly expired, as a weary child falls asleep,
knowing that its father is near.
Of this eminent soldier and man whose character offers so great an
example, a memoir is attempted in this volume. The work will
necessarily be "popular" rather than full and elaborate, as the public
and private correspondence of Lee are not at this time accessible. These
will throw a fuller light on the subject; but sufficient material is at the
disposal of the writer to enable him to present an accurate likeness of
Lee, and to narrate clearly the incidents of his career. In doing so, the
aim of the author is to measure out full justice to all--not to arouse old
enmities, which should be allowed to slumber, but to treat his subject
with the judicial moderation of the student of history.
A few words will terminate this preface. The volume before the reader
was begun in 1866. The writer first, however, informed General Lee of
his design, and had the honor to receive from him in reply the
assurance that the work "would not interfere with any he might have in
contemplation; he had not written a line of any work as yet, and might

never do so; but, should he write a history of the campaigns of the
Army of Northern Virginia, the proposed work would be rather an
assistance than a hinderance."
As the writer had offered promptly to discontinue the work if it were
not agreeable to General Lee, this reply was regarded in the light of an
assurance that he did not disapprove of it. The composition was,
however, interrupted, and the work laid aside. It is now resumed and
completed at a time when the death of the illustrious soldier adds a new
and absorbing interest to whatever is connected with his character or
career.

II.
THE LEES OF VIRGINIA.
The Lees of Virginia spring from an ancient and respectable family of
Essex, in England.
Of some members of the family, both in the Old World and the New, a
brief account will be given. The origin of an individual explains much
that is striking and peculiar in his own character; and it will be found
that General Lee inherited many of the traits of his ancestors, especially
of some eminent personages of his name in Virginia.
The family pedigree is traced back by Lee,