The life of Robert E. Lee for boys and girls

Front matter

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Preface

This book is written with the hope that through it the life and character of Lee may become more real to the generation of young Americans now growing up. His was a life worthy of study by all young people, particularly those who are Americans.

In the happy day to which we are now come, when the division between the sections, for years past one of sentiment alone, is fast disappearing, the Nation as a whole pays tribute to the lofty character, the sturdy Americanism, and the essential greatness of Robert Edward Lee no less than to that of Abraham Lincoln. If this little book, by making better known the character and purity of motive of Lee and those he represented, may in some degree hasten the time when the last trace of bitterness between the North and South shall have disappeared, the authors will feel that it has well fulfilled its purpose. There is a certain appropriateness in the year of its appearance. As these words are written descendants of the followers of Lee, inspired by the same loyalty to their country which animates the sons of those who followed Grant, are testifying to

X PREFACE

the fact that, in accordance with the precept and example of the leader of the Confederate armies, they have been trained to be Americans. The survivors of the Confederate armies have just borne witness in Washington to their devotion to the flag of the united Nation. And we maydare hope that in the fires of the struggle in which we now engage will be consumed the last obstacle to a perfect union of hearts for all Americans.

The book makes no claim to any great addition to the sum of knowledge in relation to Lee. It is in the main drawn from secondary sources, but a good deal of material touching upon Lee's life is included which appears in no other of his biographies. The works which have been chiefly relied upon are : Jones, Life and Letters of General Robert E. Lee ; R. E. Lee, Jr., Recollectio7is and Letters of General Lee ; F. Lee, General Lee ; Bradford, Lee^ the American; Adams, Lee at Appomattox ; and Dodge, Bird^s-Eye View of the Civil War, Other works which were also of particular value are: Bruce, Robert E. Lee; Vdige, Rooert E, Lee ; Taylor, General Lee ; Trent, Robert E. Lee ; Pollard, Life and Times of Robert E. Lee ; White, Robert E. Lee and the Southerji Confederacy ; Fleming, fefferson Davis at West Point ; Long, Memoir of Robert E. Lee ; and The Centennial History of West Point, In addition

PREFACE

XI several hundred articles bearing on Lee s character and career have been studied carefully and material has been drawn from many of them.

We are under obligations to the Reverend W. McC. White, of Raleigh, North Carolina, for unpublished illustrative material, and we desire to make particular and grateful acknowledgment of the assistance of Mr. Edwin Greenlaw, of the University of North Carolina, who read the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions.

M. T. H.

Chapel Hill, N.C.

June IS, 1917.

Contents

I. Lee's Forbears i

II. Boyhood 9

III. Life at West Point i8

Chapter I

lee's forbears

Lee, in character and personality, was a logical product of his lineage and training, and to be really able to understand him, one must know something of his race and his surroundings.

The Virginia Lees were descended from the Lees of Shropshire, a family of high standing and position and one that had given many men of influence to England before the time when Richard Lee set out for the New World. There was Lancelot Lee, who took part in the battle of Hastings ; and Lionel Lee, who went with Richard Cceur de Lion on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land, and who, for his gallantry at Acre, was made the first Earl of Litchfield ; and Henry Lee, who won from Queen Elizabeth the coveted insignia of the Garter.

Richard Lee, that ancestor of Robert Lee who first came from England to Virginia, was a tall, handsome man, possessed of great ability and strength of character. He settled in the Northern Neck, which was that part of the province lying between the Rappahannock.and Potomac Rivers, and soon became prominent there. He was appointed a member of the Council and also served under Sir William Berkeley as Secretary of the Colony. He was a devoted Royalist and brought all his influence to bear to hold Virginia loyal to the House of Stuart. It is said that, when Cromwell died, it was Richard Lee who induced Berkeley to proclaim Charles II, ** King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland, and Virginia."

Richard's son, also named Richard, succeeded to the high position that his father had held. A member of the Council, he was the intimate friend of Governor Spotswood, who said of him, ** No man in the country bore a fairer reputation for exact justice, honesty, and unexceptional loyalty." It is not improbable that he w^as one of that gallant band of gentlemen who accompanied Spotswood to the crest of the Alleghanies and who there, after laying claim to the great West, formed the Order of Knights of the Golden Horseshoe.

Thomas Lee, the fourth son of Richard, followed in his ancestors' footsteps and became a member of the Council, and was also for a time its president. In this capacity, he served a while as acting governor of the Colony, in which he w^as probably more distinguished than any other man. He was later appointed governor, but died before his commission reached him. He was the father

LEE'S FORBEARS 3

of Richard Henry Lee, who proposed the Declaration of Independence, of Francis Lightfoot Lee, who, along with his brother, signed that immortal document, and of Arthur Lee, who was one of the envoys who secured the aid of France in the Revolution. Thomas Lee lived at ''Stratford" in Westmoreland County, and, having lost his house by fire, he built there the fine old mansion in which the greatest of the Lees was presendy first to see the light. Queen Caroline, from her private purse, sent him a considerable sum for the rebuilding of his home. This estate descended to Thomas's eldest son, Philip Ludwell Lee.

A younger brother of Thomas Lee was Henry Lee, who married a Miss Bland and whose third son, also named Henry, was the famous '' Light Horse Harry" Lee of the Revolution and the father of Robert Edward Lee. It was through his wife, a daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, that ''Stratford" passed into the hands of Robert Lee's father and so became the birthplace of that great man.

"Light Horse Harry" Lee was born in 1756 and was educated at Nassau Hall, Princeton, from which institution he was graduated in 1774. Two years later he was placed in command of a cavalry company which was soon joined to the Continental Army under Washington. Lee was promoted to the rank of major and saw service at Germantown and at Brandywine and in many lesser battles. His daring in capturing a British fort at Paulus Hook (now Jersey City) won for him a resolution of thanks from Congress and a gold medal besides. In 1780 he was made lieutenant-colonel, and the next year he joined General Greene in the Carolinas. It was here, in the section already the scene of the exploits of Marion, Sumter, and Davie, that he won his greatest fame. After his brilliant feats in the Carolinas, his health failing, he returned to Virginia and there married his cousin Matilda Lee. Within a few years his wife and three of their four children had died, and later he married Anne Hill Carter, the daughter of Charles Carter of " Shirley," on James River, one of the most noted estates in Virginia. The Carters had given few illustrious names to Virginia, but they possessed character, culture, and refinement, besides great wealth, and they had intermarried with most of the prominent families of the State. Anne Carter was a great-grand-daughter of Governor Spotswood, and was thus descended from Robert Bruce.

" Light Horse Harry's " years of peace were not less distinguished than those of war. He was a member of the Congress of the Confederation in its closing days ; he served in the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States, where he acted with Washington,

LEE'S FORBEARS 5

Madison, Marshall, and Randolph in securing the assent of the Old Dominion to the new form of government ; and, later still, he was a member of Congress. There, when Washington died, he prepared the memorial address containing the famous words *' first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his fellow citizens." He was a firm advocate of the Union, but was nevertheless a devoted believer in the sovereignty of each individual State, and, when he was defending the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions on the floor of Congress, he said, " Virginia is my country ; her will I obey, however lamentable the fate to which it may subject me " ; and he wrote to James Madison, " No consideration on earth could induce me to act a part however gratifying to me which would be construed into disregard of or of faithlessness to this commonwealth." This firm faith his son inherited.

In 1794 he was appointed by President Washington to the command of the troops sent to Pennsylvania to suppress the so-called ''Whiskey Rebellion." In 1812 he was made a major-general in the United States Army. Unfortunately, soon afterwards he was seriously injured in Baltimore while defending a friend from mob violence and so could not serve in the second war with England. Because of his broken health he went to the West Indies and lived there five years, but his strength continued to fail, and he set out for home. On the voyage he grew rapidly weaker and begged to be landed at Dungeness on Cumberland Island, Georgia, the home of General Nathanael Greene's widow. There he died and was buried, and there his body still rests. He was a man of fiery and impetuous spirit and made warm friends and bitter enemies. He was brave, generous, and the soul of honor, and was a fine type of the active, warm-hearted, able men whom the Old Dominion of that day produced in such numbers.

From this lineage was born Robert Edward Lee, and into what environment?

The Virginia of 1807 was little changed from Colonial Virginia. The life of the community was much the same. Means of transportation were not many and few people went often far from home. The great number of Virginians were farmers ; the plantation was the unit of the community; the negro slave the laborer who produced the staple crop, tobacco, which was almost as important at that time as in the days when it passed as money. The typical life of Virginia was its country life ; a quiet life and an uneventful one, but one full of charm. The members of the leading class were closely bound together by association, by common interest, by friendships of long standing, and by ties of blood. They intermarried until

LEE'S FORBEARS 7

relationships were hard to trace clearly, and this confusion was increased by a pleasing habit of claiming as kindred those who were really only close friends, a habit which gave rise to the term "Virginia cousin," still known in the South as one indicating no close tie of blood. Year in and year out, the gentry of Virginia ruled over their plantations with patriarchal dignity and kindness, bred fine horses, raced and rode them, took part in politics, attended court, hunted and fished, and, not of least importance, danced and paid devoted court to the ladies. Everybody kept open house, paid visits which lasted for days, weeks, and even months at a time, and, in a sense, lived as one great family. It was a life of peace and happiness, but those who lived it were neither careless nor unworthy. America has had no finer type than those men who set the standards of this community. They exalted the State, womanhood, and religion, and practiced in their daily lives truth, courage, manliness, and kindness, and held firmly to the finest traditions of English life. They were untouched by that progress which comes from contact with new people and new ideas, and were conservative from nature and habit, so that the love which their ancestors had felt for the Old Dominion in them became a passion for the State, and service for the State became an honor which no one was too lofty to accept. For the same reason the will of the State commanded instant and absolute obedience.

From this air Robert Edward Lee drew his first breath.

Chapter II Boyhood

Westmoreland County, Virginia, is a little county lying" between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, which was originally cut ofE from Northumberland County. It is not more than thirty miles long and about half as broad, but it has probably produced more great men than any other spot of its size in the United States. George Washington was born there, and James Monroe, as were also the famous Lees — Richard Henry, Francis Lightfoot, Arthur, and " Light Horse Harry." James Madison was born not far away in Prince George County, which adjoins Westmoreland.

Stratford, the Lee home, was one of the most beautiful and interesting of the Colonial mansions of Virginia. Its timbers were of solid hewn oak of great size, and the brick used in the building were brought from England. The walls of the first floor were two and a half feet thick and those above were two feet. The house was meant to be a permanent family home, after the fashion of English houses, and was very stately. It contained seventeen rooms besides the great hall, and on lo ROBERT E. LEE

the roof were two pavilions or summer houses made with the chimneys for columns and connected by a gallery. From them was visible the broad expanse of the stately Potomac, and there at night in the olden time promenaded the ladies and gentlemen, while a band of negro servants played for them. Around the house were great oaks, cedars, and maples, and the drive through the grounds skirted a magnificent grove of the maples. There were, in addition to the house, four large offices, the kitchen, and stables to accommodate perhaps a hundred horses. The buildings cost about eighty thousand dollars at a time when the purchasing power of money was much greater than it is now. The house is still standing.

In this home, on January 19, 1807, was born Robert Edward Lee. The room in which he was born was the same one in which two signers of the Declaration of Independence had first seen the light. All the surroundings were full of tradition, and all suggested culture and refinement, and stood for honor, sincerity, and patriotism. Here was a fit nursery of greatness, and the mind of the small boy, who was surrounded by books, by portraits of soldiers and statesmen, by beautiful silver and china and mahogany, must have been impressed to his future advantage.

It has been seen that all of Lee's half-brothers and sisters save one died early. The one excep-

BOYHOOD II

tion, Henry Lee, was already a grown man when Robert Lee was born. Of his own mother's children, he was the fourth. The others were Algernon Sydney, who died in infancy, Charles Carter, and Sydney Smith, and two girls, Anne and Mildred, both younger than himself.

Charles Carter Lee, after graduation at Harvard, became a lawyer, and was one of the most talented and popular men in Virginia. Sydney entered the navy at fifteen years of age and served with distinction for many years. He commanded Commodore Perry's flagship in the famous expedition to Japan ; was in command for a time of the navy yard at Philadelphia ; and, at the time that Virginia seceded, was commandant of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. True to the traditions of his race, he resigned and entered the Confederate Navy. He was the father of General Fitzhugh Lee, of the Confederate Army, who was later, during the war with Spain, a major-general in the United States Army. Anne married Judge William Marshall, of Baltimore, and Mildred married Edward Vernon Childe, of Massachusetts, and spent most of her later life in Paris.

When Robert was four years old, his father moved with his family to Alexandria that his children might have better opportunities for education; but as the boy grew older he was often at Stratford and spent much time at Shirley on the James River, which was the beautiful home of his mother's father, Charles Carter, a man of lofty character and princely generosity. At both places the past was vividly presented to him, not only by the things which surrounded him, but also by the old family servants who talked to him of its greatness. At both places he found companions in the many visitors, to whom the doors were always open wide, or, on the rare occasions when there were no visitors, in the little darkies, who loved to do ** young master's" bidding, and act either as servants or as play-fellows to him. At both places he took part in the sports and games of rural Virginia : shot partridges, ducks, and geese ; fished, rowed, and sailed ; swam in the summer, and skated in the winter. He spent much time on horseback and became an expert horseman. He roamed freely through the woods and fields and came to have a love for the open which he never lost. In later years he often recalled running the fox on foot all day.

It was not strange that he never lost his love for these two old places. In 1861, after the seizure of Arlington, he wrote his daughter : —

Stratford is endeared to me by many recollections and it has always been the desire of my life to purchase it. And now that we have no other home, and the one we so loved has been so foully polluted, that

BOYHOOD 13

desire is stronger in me than ever. The horse-chestnuts you mention in the garden were planted by my mother. You do not mention the spring, one of the objects of my eariiest recollections. How my heart goes back to those early days.

In 1867, he wrote: —

I wanted, if possible, to pass one day at Shirley. I have not been there for ten years. It was the loved home of my mother and a spot where I have passed many happy days in early life, and one that probably I may never visit again.

It was two years after the Lees moved to Alexandria that General Henry Lee went to the West Indies, that journey from which he never returned to Virginia. When he died, five years later, Robert was only eleven and he never saw his father's grave until 1861. He was at that time in charge of the Confederate defenses of the Southern coast. One who was with him says : '* He went alone to the tomb and after a few moments of silence plucked a flower, and slowly retraced his steps, leaving the lonel}^ grave to the guardianship of the crumbling stone and the spirit of the restless waves that perpetually beat against the shore." A few months before his death, he again visited the grave, this time with his daughter, who covered the mound with flowers.

Although Robert's father went out of his life so early, his mother was left to him. She was his intimate friend, for she was the sort of mother a boy could have for a friend. Her thought of her children, left entirely to her care, was unceasing, and her life was filled with good works. She was a woman of unusual gifts, and, when her two older sons left her, one for Harvard College, the other for the navy, she gave all her attention to the little fellow who was left at home and his two little sisters. His father wrote of him from the West Indies, *' Robert was always good " ; and, striving to keep him so, Mrs. Lee impressed upon him principles and habits of action and thought destined to remain with him throughout his whole life. He was taught industry, self-denial, selfcontrol, truth, religion. He was taught the lessons of honor and pride of race along with modesty and self-efTacement. Patriotism he was born to, and it was fostered in him through his school days at Alexandria. The place was full of associations of " the Father of his Country," and, as Washington became there the hero and the ideal of Lee's boyhood, so he was in many ways the model of his manhood, and study of Washington teaches patriotism.

Robert's first teacher in Alexandria was an Irish gentleman named Leary, under whom the boy made rapid progress. He did particularly well in Latin and Greek, for which he always kept his fondness. He and Leary were always thereafter devoted friends.

BOYHOOD 15

Later, after his appointment to West Point, Lee went to a well-known school in Alexandria conducted by Benjamin Hallowell. This gentleman was a Quaker and a very strict teacher and the boys called his school ''Brimstone Castle.'^ He wrote in later years of his pupil : —

He was a most exemplary student In every respect. He was never behind-time in his studies ; never failed in a single recitation; was perfectly observant of the rules and regulations of the institution; was gentle, manly, unobtrusive, and respectful In all his deportment to teachers and his fellow students. His specialty was finishing up. He imparted a finish and a neatness to everything he undertook.

His mother was an invalid and he spent most of his time when out of school with her. As soon as school was over he hurried home to take her driving and often carried her to the carriage in his arms, placing her comfortably and seeking all the while to amuse her with cheerful conversation. The carriage was old and he would put newspapers up to keep out the wind, and, though the plan may have been, and probably was, a failure in keeping out the air, it amused Mrs. Lee greatly and that, after all, was what her son sought to do. As her strength failed, the boy took other cares upon himself. He went to market, took charge of the keys, and saw to the horses and to all the many details of the home.

It is not a matter for wonder that, when he left for West Point, his mother said : ** How can I do without Robert? He is both son and daughter to me." In spite of his gentleness and tenderness and his affectionate nature, there was in him no lack of manliness. All sports appealed to him, and he had a keen sense of humor accompanied by a great fondness for jokes. These characteristics remained with him always. Like his father, he had a furious temper ; unlike his father, he had almost always absolute control over it. It is told of his father that, as he lay on his death-bed at Dungeness, being waited upon by ** Mom Sarah," an old family servant of the Greenes, he greeted her entrance into the room one day by seizing a boot which lay near the bed and throwing it at her head. She picked the boot up and returned the fire and thereby won such a place in his heart that he would thereafter have no other attendant. It would be hard to picture Robert Lee's throwing a boot at any one's head or having it thrown back.

As Lee grew towards manhood, he began to plan for the future, for, as there was no fortune at his command, he was anxious to be self-supporting. So far as we know, he consulted no one in his choice of a profession, but, guided largely by the fact that his father had been a soldier, chose that as his career. His brother was already

BOYHOOD 17

in the navy, so Lee turned his eyes towards West Point, and, in 1824, applied for an appointment, and received it for the term beginning- in 1825. There is a tradition that the appointment came to him through General Andrew Jackson's influence, but it is scarcely possible that this is true. As has been seen, he at once began special preparation for the new life, and, on July 2, 1825, he entered the United States Military Academy and became a part of that great institution.

Chapter III

The United States Military Academy at West Point was established by act of Congress in 1802, and was opened on July 4 of the same year. Its first superintendent was Colonel Jonathan Williams. As first organized, it was the headquarters of the Engineer Corps of the army, and all the superintendents until 1866 were from that branch of the service. The number of cadets was at first very small, only fifty, increasing to two hundred and six in 1808, and to two hundred and sixty in 18 1 2. The cadets were appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Secretary of War, and Lee was thus appointed by President Monroe, acting upon the advice of John C. Calhoun. It soon came about that the Secretary was much influenced in his choice by the suggestions of members of Congress, and later the number of cadets was made to coincide with the number of Representatives, who then began to name the cadets.

The exact status of the cadets was in doubt until 18 19 when it was decided that they formed a part of the land forces of the United States.

The requirements for entrance at this time were very low — simply that the candidate should be " well versed in reading, writing, and arithmetic," or, as they were commonly called, **the three R's." The age of appointment was between fourteen and twenty-one years, and the applicant had to be at least four feet nine inches in height. These requirements remained unchanged until 1866.

In spite of its establishment in 1802, and its remodeling in 181 2, the real West Point did not begin to exist until fifteen years after the opening. There was neither discipline nor system, and the instruction was most uneven and incomplete. An ofBcer who was there during those first years wrote of it : " The Military Academy was then in its infancy. All order and regulation, either moral or religious, gave way to idleness, dissipation, and irreligion. No control over the conduct of the officers and the cadets was exercised."

In 181 7, with the appointment as superintendent of Major Sylvanus Thayer, a graduate of the class of 18 1 2 and a veteran of the War of 18 12, who had studied abroad, the spirit of West Point was born. He remained as superintendent until 1833 when he had a quarrel with President Jackson and resigned his position. In those sixteen years, he made West Point and earned the just title of ** Father of the United States Military Academy." Under him discipline became steadily more efficient and severe, the teaching more and more thorough, and the course of study longer and better. Colonel Thayer was superintendent during the whole period of Lee's cadetship.

West Point is beautifully situated. On the north and east it is hemmed in by the majestic Hudson River ; on the west and south by the Highlands. The Point itself is a plateau, which since Lee's time has been increased by filling, pardy enclosed by redoubts that date back to the Revolution. The natural scenery was beautiful then as it is to-day, but, when Lee went there, man had done little to help nature. The rough, rocky plateau was almost without trees ; there were no made walks, but only twisting footpaths. A public road of the State of New York ran through the grounds — the State still claiming jurisdiction over the place. On the south there was a rough fence to keep out the cows of a farmer who lived in that direction, and the woods came almost to the Academy grounds. None of the present buildings were then standing. Instead, there were cottages for instructors, the Long Barracks, where lived the regular troops stationed there, the North Barracks, the South Barracks, the Mess Hall, the Academy, and the Hospital.

Even at this time West Point had a fine reputation and thousands applied for appointments who never received them. Many failed on the entrance examinations, simple as they were. Lee had received special preparation from Mr. Hallowell and so was able to pass them without difficulty, and of course the physical examination gave him no trouble at all. Having passed his entrance examinations, which were oral ones, before a board, Lee was admitted on probation until the following January, when the appointment became permanent. Upon his admission, under the law Lee entered the military service of the United States and became entitled to the pay of twenty-eight dollars a month.

As soon as he was admitted to the Academy, he was measured for his uniform. It was not unlike that worn by the cadets of to-day. The coat was of gray cloth with black trimmings and with three rows of gilt buttons in front, and with the skirt, collar, and sleeves also trimmed with them. The collar was so high that it touched the tips of his ears. A gray or white vest with gilt buttons was worn with this. The trousers, of which he was required to have two pairs, were of gray kerseymere with black stripes down the sides. In summer white linen trousers were worn, each cadet having at least four pairs. The trousers were all very baggy and so short that they came well above the shoe-tops, in spite of having straps which went under the feet. The cap was seven inches high. It was made of leather and was ornamented with a plume, a cord, and a gilt medallion with '* U.S." on it. It was so uncomfortable that few cadets wore it except on duty, but it had the advantage of being an easy means of smuggling food into barracks.