•Y^JLJg-^MVEISgMnnf-

LEE THE AMERICAN

LEE THE AMERICAN

BY

GAMALIEL BRADFORD, JR.

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
(€bt fiibrrrfiot* JB«# Cambribgc
MDCCCCXII

COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY GAMALIEL BRADFORD, JR.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published March 1013

TO
THE YOUNG MEN
BOTH OF THE NORTH AND OF THE SOUTH
WHO CAN MAKE OR UNMAKE
THE FUTURE OF THE
AMERICA
OF WASHINGTON, OF LINCOLN, AND OF LEE

PREFACE
The formal and final biography of Lee should be writ
ten by a competent military specialist, like Henderson.
This book, although it aims to give an intelligible bio
graphical narrative, aims much more to give a clear,
consistent, sympathetic portrait of a great soul. In short,
its purpose is not so much biography as psychography.
Those to whom the latter term is new will find a full
discussion of it, both in general and in relation to Lee,
in the Appendix.
For material I have relied mainly upon the " Official
Records of the Union and Confederate Armies" and the
lives of Lee by Long, Jones, Fitzhugh Lee, and Captain
R. E. Lee. But a complete bibliography of sources
would be practically a bibliography of the war literature
both Northern and Southern. I have endeavored to
give in the Notes my authority for every verbal quota
tion and for all important or disputable statements of
fact. My thanks are due chiefly to the " Atlantic Monthly,"
also to the " South Atlantic Quarterly," and the " Sewa-
nee Review," for their hospitality. This has enabled me
to submit all my chapters to public criticism before giv
ing them the final revision which has certainly not elim
inated all errors, but has, I hope, diminished the number.

viii PREFACE
I wish to thank also the numerous correspondents who
have sent me corrections and suggestions. Some have
been severe. Most have been kindly. All have been
helpful. I trust they will appreciate the result of their
helpfulness as much as I do.

CONTENTS
I. Lee Before the War  3
Lee's descent and indifference to it — his father — his mother
— his childhood — education — West Point — marriage and
Virginia surroundings — life until the Mexican War — service
in Mexico — Scott and others praise him — domestic corre
spondence — professional life during the fifties — superintend
ent at West Point — service on the plains — political and per
sonal details in letters — arrest of John Brown — Lee's per
sonal appearance.
II. The Great Decision  25
Growth of a Lee legend to be deplored — his strong sense of
duty — his views before the war — approach of the struggle —
offered command of U. S. Army — interview with Scott —
resigns his commission — discussion of his course — Rawle on
West Point — general excuse of secession — does not apply to
Lee — his state loyalty — a natural sentiment — has also a
deeper political significance — Lee thus felt he was fighting for
liberty — but also fighting for slavery, the real cause of the
war — Lee did not believe in slavery and this makes tragedy
of his position — absolute constancy to decision once made —
no thought of personal advantage.
III. Lee and Davis  48
Material for study of Davis — his character — an orator —
practical qualities — a nervous sensitive — his general rela
tions with military subordinates — Lee's tact and deference to
Davis — instance of this in offer to resign after Gettysburg —
yet Lee does not hesitate to assert himself, when necessary —
and, in spite of all his tact, finds Davis difficult — Davis's
estimate of Lee — Lee's estimate of Davis — their relations
grow more critical towards the close — Davis's unpopularity —

x CONTENTS
how far he himself was responsible for this — public disposi
tion to set up Lee as dictator — he refuses — friendly relations
between him and Davis consequently preserved to the end.
IV. Lee and the Confederate Government . . 74
Lee takes command of Virginia forces — then enters service of
Confederacy — his subordination to civil power — limits of
this subordination and assertion of authority in various direc
tions — as to retaliation — as to negro military service — his
great influence shown in this and in the desire to make him dic
tator — • could he as such have saved the Confederacy? — Mo
tives of his refusal — not preference of state to national alle
giance — rather, modesty and unwillingness to assume respons
ibility that did not belong to him — also a consciousness of the
uncertain political future of the Confederacy — leaves this
future to God — his attitude towards peace negotiations —
believes to the end that success is possible, if the people will
make sacrifices — loyal and lofty acceptance of the result —
dies a true American.
V. Lee and His Army  100
Lee's relations to his army as showing his character — his or
ganizing ability — his discipline, lenient, but productive of
good results — discipline of officers — tact and sympathetic
suggestion — difficulties as to promotion — disputes of the
officers with each other — largely as to share of blamefor
failure — Lee's example and influence in this regard — personal
relation with officers — no familiarity, but always kindliness
— his accessibility — his relations with the common soldiers
— memory for names and faces — simplicity of his habits —
his army's love for him — cause of this his love for them —
illustrative anecdote.
VI. Lee and Jackson . .... 127
Character of Jackson — a fighter, sensitive and kindly, but
full of devouring energy — and able to inspire others with the
same — was he ambitious? — his religion — did it destroy his
ambition? — what he might have accomplished — his devotion

CONTENTS xi
to Lee — his opinion of Lee — Lee's opinion of Jackson —
their military relations — Jackson's subordination to Lee —
his insubordination to others — his relations to his own in
feriors — his soldiers love him — with his officers some friction
which Lee has to remove — their relations as to generalship —
which deserves the glory? — especially at Chancellorsville —
Lee's superiority in luminousness.
VII. Lee in Battle  153
Amount of Lee's direction in actual conflict — how much had he
of the soldier's passion for fighting? — quality of his courage —
exposure to danger — was he unbalanced in great crises? —
his heroic combativeness at Antietam — his bearing and man
ner in battle — picture of him after defeat — Lee and his sol
diers in battle — triumph — failure, the surrender — Lee and
Grant.
VIII. Lee as a General  170
Difficulty of estimating greatness — especially military great
ness — brief outline of Lee's military career — partial judg
ments in his favor — Southern enthusiasm — partial judg
ments against him — Badeau, Grant — impartial Northern
judgment — recognition of Lee's difficulties — discussion of
mistakes — but enthusiastic praise — foreign judgment —
mistakes again — but high and discriminating commendation
— verdict of expert member of U. S. general staff — summary
of Lee's great qualities — organizing ability — boldness or
rashness? — energy and rapidity — independence — know
ledge of adversaries — his character even more important than
his generalship.
IX. Lee's Social and Domestic Life . . . 196
Lee's manner in general society — his fondness for the society
of women — his jesting and quiet fun — his courtesy and
kindness in business intercourse — had he intimate friend
ships? — a letter of Johnston's — illustrative anecdotes —
domestic relations — with his servants — with his children —
advice and guidance — affection — generosity — playful en-

xii CONTENTS
joyment — Lee and his wife — always isolated — three so
cial motives — with Lee only kindness, human fellowship —
love of children — of animals — still always isolated — one
friend only, God.
X. Lee's Spiritual Life  221
Lee's education — his style as a writer — shows little love for
intellectual pursuits — little taste for aesthetic pleasures —
mild enjoyment of nature — eminently practical — not cold,
however, quick temper, well-controlled — his purity and gen
eral self-control — order and system — New England con
science — reserve of speech — sometimes misinterpreted —
thoroughly democratic — had he ambition? — domesticity and
religion — his religion not sectarian — not dogmatic — essen
tially humble — and largely practical — public worship —
forgiveness and Christian spirit — missionary tendencies —
prayer — Lee's indifference to its inconsistencies — personal
relation to God — God the cardinal fact in his life. ,
XI. Lee After the War  247
Withdraws immediately into private life — attitude towards
U. S. government — refuses to take part in politics — avoids
war topics, but loves and is loved by old soldiers — his few
recorded opinions on the war — avoids all publicity — affec
tionate relations with neighbors and family — refuses lucra
tive positions and accepts presidency of Washington College —
his labors and aims as an educator — management of his
faculty — discipline of students — as to conduct — as to
scholarship — influence in college and through whole South —
greatness in failure — value of this for all times and especially
for twentieth century America.

Appendix . • •••...
Psychography and its difficulties — partiality — from general
prejudices — from the desire for rhetorical effect —from per
sonal sympathy — from laziness — objective difficulties —dif
ficulty of accuracy as to fact — actions — words written and

267

CONTENTS xiii
reported — greater difficulty of deducing motive from action
— still greater difficulty of generalizing motives into qualities
of character — in spite of these difficulties character-study to
be pursued for its fascination — also for its practical value —
choice of great men as subjects — their common humanity
— danger of psychography degenerating into gossip — remedy
for this, love — Lee lovable — his influence and desirability of
extending it.
Notes  285
Index  313

ILLUSTRATIONS

General Robert Edward Lee. {Photogravure).
Frontispiece
From a painting by Theodore Pine (1904), in the possession of
Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va. Now repro
duced for the first time.
Robert E. Lee  10
From a painting, about 1 831, by West (son or nephew of
Benjamin West), in the possession of Washington and Lee
University. The uniform is that of a Second Lieutenant,
Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army. It is the first painting of Lee,
and is said to have been painted shortly after his marriage.
Jefferson Davis  48
From a photograph by W. W. Foster, Richmond, Va.
General Lee on Traveler  100
From a photograph by Miley & Son, Lexington, Va.
Stonewall Jackson  128
Drawn from life, in 1861, near Ball's Bluff, by Dr. Adelbert
Volckof Baltimore.
Reproduced by the courtesy of Mrs. S. B. Herrick.
Mrs. Robert E. Lee  196
From a photograph by Miley & Son, Lexington, Va.
Robert E. Lee  248
From the painting by Pioto in the possession of the Virginia
Military Institute. Now reproduced for the first time.

xvi ILLUSTRATIONS
Facsimile of Lee's Letter accepting the Presi
dency of Washington College .... 256
Reproduced by the courtesy of the University.
Robert E. Lee  258
When president of Washington College. From a photograph
by W. W. Foster, Richmond, Va.
Head from Recumbent Statue of Lee . . . 264
By Edward V. Valentine.
In Lee Memorial Chapel, Washington and Lee University.
From a photograph by Miley & Son, Lexington, Va.

LEE THE AMERICAN

Au reste, dans toutes ces citations je ne pretends pas
endosserles passages que j'emprunte; je m'attache,
comme toujours, afaire valoiret a faire connaitre l'au-
teurque j'analyse, par ses meilleurs cotes, laissant au
lecteur la balance de tout et 1'arbitrage. Sainte-Beuve.

LEE THE AMERICAN

LEE BEFORE THE WAR
THE Lees of Virginia are descended from Richard Lee,
who came to this country toward the middle of the
seventeenth century. Richard's English affiliations have
been the subject of much dispute. Early Virginia gene
alogists derived him from the ancient and honorable
family of Shropshire Lees and thought they had identi
fied him exactly. Grave difficulties were discovered in
this connection and at one time the emigrant seemed
likely to be transferred to the delightful kinship of Sir
Harry Lee of Ditchley and Woodstock. But the au
thorities were still dissatisfied, and have now apparently
returned to the Shropshire origin, though Richard's
precise position in that family is not easily determined.1
On his mother's side Robert Lee, doubtless in com
mon with some hundreds of thousands of others, is said
to have been descended from King Robert Bruce.2
Like many people who have ancestors, Lee displayed
a considerable indifference to them. "General Lee had
never the time or inclination to study genealogy, and
always said he knew nothing beyond his first ancestor,
Colonel Richard Lee, who migrated to America in the

4 LEE THE AMERICAN
reign of Charles I." 3 On having a seal cut he does in
deed, with apology, show some interest about the arms,
"which I have thought, perhaps foolishly enough, might
as well be right as wrong." 4 But when an enterprising
genealogist undertakes a Lee book, the general's com
ment is : "I am very much obliged to Mr.  for the
trouble he has taken in relation to the Lee genealogy.
I have no desire to have it published, and do not think
it would afford sufficient interest beyond the immediate
family to pay for the expense. I think the money had
better be appropriated to relieve the poor." 6
Which does not mean that he was not daily and
hourly conscious with pride that he belonged to the
Virginia Lees, a name writ as large as any in the history
of the country and transmitted to him with an honor
which it was his constant care never to tarnish. From
the first Richard down, the Lees had always been doing
something useful and often something great, and they
were distinguished by the friendship as well as by the
admiration of Washington.
Robert Lee's father, Light Horse Harry, fought the
Revolutionary War beside Washington and Greene.
He was a fiery soldier and a more impetuous spirit than
his son. He took a hot and eager part in politics and
had warm friends and bitter enemies. In his last lin
gering illness his colored nurse did something he did
not like. He flung his boot at her. She flung it back
and won his heart. It is a trivial incident, but it is worth

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 5
a chapter in differentiating the father from the son, who
flung no boots and had none flung at him.
Harry Lee was a scholar and loved literature. He
read Sophocles and Racine and the Greek philosophers
and commented on them in letters far more spirited and
delightful than any of Robert's. The father also wrote
memoirs which the son edited. Partial admirers rate
them with Caesar's. Jefferson, who hated Harry Lee
politically, says of them : " I am glad to see the romance
of Lee removed from the shelf of history to that of fable.
Some small portions of the transactions he relates were
within my own knowledge ; and of these I can say he
has given more falsehood than fact." e
Harry Lee was forty-nine years old in 1807, when
Robert was born. The son was only eleven when his
father died and during much of that time they had not
been together. Therefore the paternal influence is not
likely to have been very great. Nevertheless, Lee cher
ished his father's memory with deep reverence. When
he was in South Carolina in 1861, he wrote, " I had the
gratification at length of visiting my father's grave." 7
And Colonel Long describes the incident simply but
impressively: "He went alone to the tomb, and after a
few moments of silence, plucked a flower and slowly
retraced his steps." 8
Lee's relations with his mother were much more
intimate and prolonged. She appears to have been
a woman of high character and to have taught her son

6 LEE THE AMERICAN
practical as well as moral excellences. She was for
many years an invalid and Robert took much of the care
both of her and of the household, which may have been
useful training in self-sacrifice, but must have cut him
off somewhat from the natural outflow, the fresh spon-
taneousness of boyish spirits. I think he showed the
effect of this all his life.
Of his childish years we know little. He came so late
to greatness that the usual crop of reminiscences does
not seem to have been gathered. Perhaps he did not
furnish good material for reminiscences. Who were his
companions? Did he love them and they him? What
were his hopes and ambitions? Was it to be said of
him, as was said of his father, that " he seems to have
come out of his mother's womb a soldier " ? 9 We get a
rare glimpse of love for sports : " In later days General
Lee has been heard to relate with enthusiasm how as a
boy he had followed the hunt (not infrequently on foot)
for hours over hill and valley without fatigue." 10 Horses
all his life were a delight to him. He himself wrote : " I
know the pleasure of training a handsome horse. I en
joy it as much as any one." n A good observer wrote of
him : " He loved horses, and had good ones, and rode
carefully and safely, but I never liked his seat." 12
On exceptional occasions some touch of boyish mem
ory breaks through habitual reserve. "'Twas seldom
that he allowed his mind to wander to the days of his
childhood and talk of his father and his early associates,

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 7
but when he did he was far more charming than he
thought," says Longstreet,13 with unusually delicate dis
crimination. Thus Lee writes, after the war, to a lady
who had sent him photographs of Stratford, the fine old
Virginia manor house where he was born: "Your pic
ture vividly recalls scenes of my earliest recollections and
happiest days. Though unseen for years, every feature
of the house is familiar to me." And Miss Mason tells
us that shortly before his death he visited Alexandria
and "one of the old neighbors found him gazing wist
fully over the palings of the garden in which he used to
play. ' I am looking,' said he, ' to see if the old snowball
trees are still here. I should have been sorry to miss
them.' " "
We know hardly more of Lee's education than of his
childish adventures and amusements. When he was
thirteen years old, Jefferson wrote of Virginia generally :
"What is her education now? Where is it? The little
we have we import, like beggars, from other states ; or
import their beggars to bestow on us their miserable
crumbs." 1B But Jefferson was especially deploring the
lack of educational institutions. His democratic instincts
could not tolerate the traditions of a country where down
to the time of the Revolution " newspapers and literature
at large were a prescribed commodity," 16 and whose gov
ernor, Sir William Berkeley, said : " I thank God there
are no free schools nor printing and I hope we shall not
have them these hundred years." 17 Young men in Lee's

8 LEE THE AMERICAN
station doubtless received more or less solid instruction
of the classical order. In 1811 the Lees removed to Alex
andria with the special purpose of educating the child
ren. Robert's first teacher was a Mr. Leary, who lived
until after the war, and to whom his pupil wrote in 1866,
with kindly remembrance : " I beg to express the grati
tude I have felt all my life for the affectionate fidelity
which characterized your teaching and conduct towards
me." 18 Later, in preparation for West Point, Lee, still at
Alexandria, attended the school of Mr. Benjamin Hallo
well, where his time was chiefly devoted to mathemat
ics. Hallowell writes that "he was a most exemplary
student in every respect," 19 with other laudatory re
miniscences which had probably lost nothing by the
lapse of time and the growing celebrity of the subject
of them.
In 1825, when he was eighteen years old, Lee entered
West Point. There seems to be general, if rather indefin
ite, testimony to his excellent conduct and standing in
the Academy. He was a good scholar and graduated
high in his class ; but I do not find many anecdotes from
contemporaries that will help us to humanize his life
there. His unquestioned temperance and self-control in
moral matters appear doubly creditable, when we read
the statements made by Colonel Thayer, superintendent
of West Point at that time, to President Adams, as to
the drunkenness and dissipation generally prevalent
among the young men.20

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 9
Lee graduated duly in 1829, immediately received an
appointment in the Engineer Corps, and was stationed
for some years at Old Point Comfort. During this time
he married, at Arlington, in June, 1831, Miss Custis,
Mrs. Washington's great-granddaughter, and through
her he later came into control of an extensive property,
with farms, and mansions, and a considerable number of
slaves. Although we get little account of it, his early
married life must have brought him largely into contact
with all the opulence and gayety and grace of that old
Virginia aristocracy whose faults and virtues Mr. Page
has painted so winningly that the faults seem almost as
attractive as the virtues. Brave, handsome, courtly men,
pure, dainty, loving, high-minded women, danced and
laughed away the time, as they did in the golden world.
" For all its faults, it was, I believe, the purest, sweetest
life ever lived," 21 says Mr. Page. Then the Northern
reader turns to the cold, judicial narrative of Olmsted
and reads of these same chivalrous gentlemen that,
though "honorable, hospitable, and at the bottom of
their hearts kind and charitable, they yet nursed a high,
overweening sense of their importance and dignity." 22
He reads other facts in Olmsted, of a much darker and
grimmer order, and cannot avoid the momentary reflec
tion that the most graceful and charming society in the
world danced and laughed in France also before the
Revolution. It may be, there are some ugly things that
light hearts are dancing over to-day.

io LEE THE AMERICAN
By temperament Lee had none of the vices of that
vanishing world and perhaps not all its good qualities.
I doubt if it ever impressed him very deeply, and his
wandering military life soon withdrew him altogether
from its influence. One reminiscence of this period —
though only a reminiscence, and no doubt colored by the
event, as such usually are — has marked interest in its
anticipation of what was to come. It is given by a re
lative. " I have often said since he entered on his bril
liant career that, although we all admired him for his
remarkable beauty and attractive manners, I did not see
anything in him that prepared me for his so far outstrip
ping all his compeers. The first time this idea presented
itself to me was during one of my visits to Arlington
after my marriage. We were all seated around the table
at night, Robert reading. 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.' " 23 If all
those who look like great men to their female relatives
attained Lee's greatness, what a great world it would be.
Yet this glimpse has a crisp definiteness which makes
one unwilling to pass it over.
During the years preceding the Mexican War, Lee
followed his profession of military engineer in different
parts of the country. Now he was in Washington, in
cidentally messing with Joe Johnston and others after
wards more or less notable. Now he was in Ohio ad-

ROBERT E. LEE

s s

LEE BEFORE THE WAR n
justing the boundary between that state and Michigan ;
or in New York Harbor, supervising the defenses.
Perhaps the most important of his engineering labors
were those at St. Louis, connected with governing and
controlling the course of the Mississippi River. The in
teresting thing here is that at first he met with a good
deal of opposition and abuse. He bore this with entire
equanimity, quietly going on with his work, until his
final success won the approval and admiration of those
who had been most ready to find fault.24 It was the
same indomitable perseverance, without regard to critic
ism, which he showed again and again during the war
and which is most concretely illustrated in the humorous
anecdote told of him in Mexico. He had been ordered
to take some sailors and construct a battery to be
manned by them afterwards. The sailors did not like to
dig dirt, and swore. Even their captain remonstrated.
His men were fighters, not moles. Lee simply showed
his orders and persisted. When the firing began, the
eager mariners found their earthworks exceedingly com
fortable. Their commander went so far as to apologize
to Lee. "Captain, I suppose, after all, your works helped
the boys a good deal. But the fact is, I never did like
this land fighting — it ain't clean." 25
The value of Lee's services during the Mexican War
has perhaps been exaggerated ; but the direct evidence
shows that they were signal and important. He began as
captain, serving with General Wool at the battle of Buena

12 LEE THE AMERICAN
Vista. He then joined General Scott and took part in the
siege of Vera Cruz. He was brevetted major at Cerro
Gordo, lieutenant-colonel at Contreras, and colonel at
Chapultepec. At the latter place he was slightly wounded.
From the beginning to the end of the war he displayed
energy, daring, and resource.
Various anecdotes are told of his personal achieve
ments and adventures, of his scouting expedition with a
Mexican guide before Buena Vista, when Lee's persistent
reconnoissance of the enemy's position turned a vast col
lection of white tents into a Quixotic flock of sheep, of
his nocturnal and storm-beaten exploration of a craggy
lava tract, called the Pedregal, where no other man durst
venture and whence no one believed that he could return
alive. As to this last incident General Scott declared, in formal
legal testimony : " I had dispatched several staff officers
who had, within the space of two hours, returned and
reported to me that each had found it impracticable to
penetrate far into the Pedrigal during the dark. . . .
Captain Lee, having passed over the difficult ground by
daylight, found it just possible to return to San Augustin
in the dark, the greatest feat of physical and moral cour
age performed by any individual, in my knowledge,
pending the campaign." 26 And General P. F. Smith testi
fies to the same effect : " I wish partially to record my
admiration of the conduct of Captain Lee, of the Engin
eers. His reconnoissances. though pushed far beyond

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 13
the bounds of prudence, were conducted with so much
skill that their fruits were of the utmost value — the
soundness of his judgment and personal daring being
equally conspicuous.27
Scott also bears general and repeated witness to the
value of Lee's labors and the excellence of his character.
We have the commander's written praise of "the gallant
and indefatigable Captain Lee," 28 who was " as distin
guished for felicitous execution as for science and dar
ing." 29 We have the more emphatic, if less reliable, re
ported sayings, that Scott's own success in Mexico was
"largely due to the skill, valor, and undaunted energy
of R. E. Lee," 30 that " Lee is the greatest military genius
in America," 31 and that " if I were on my deathbed to
morrow, and the President of the United States should
tell me that a great battle was to be fought for the lib
erty or slavery of the country, and asked my judgment
as to the ability of a commander, I would say, with my
dying breath, let it be Robert E. Lee." 32
Nor was this wholly a matter of Scott's personal par
tiality ; for the comment of other generals is equally laud
atory. Lee's " distinguished merit and gallantry deserve
the highest praise," says Pillow.33 Lee, "in whose skill and
judgment I had the utmost confidence," says Shields.34
" Equally daring and not less meritorious were the serv
ices of Captain Lee," says Pillow again.35
I have dwelt thus minutely on these words of contem
poraries, because they come from men who thought of

14 LEE THE AMERICAN
Lee merely as a promising captain among other cap
tains and did not look back to his dim past through the
purple haze of Chancellorsville and the Wilderness.
With the Mexican War we enter more freely upon
Lee's letters to his wife and children, which from that
time on form the best commentary on his life and charac
ter. He shows a keen appreciation of the beauty and
richness of Mexican landscape: "Jalapa is the most
beautiful country I have seen in Mexico, and will com
pare with any I have seen elsewhere. [Lee had traveled
widely in his own land, but he never visited Europe.]
I wish it was in the United States, and that I was located,
with you and the children around me, in one of its rich,
bright valleys. I can conceive nothing more beautiful in
the way of landscape or mountain scenery. We ascended
upwards of four thousand feet that morning, and when
ever we looked back the rich valley was glittering in
the morning sun and the light morning clouds flitting
around us. On reaching the top, the valley appeared at
intervals between the clouds which were below us, and
high over all towered Orizaba, with its silver cap of
snow." 36
He visits a sacred shrine and blends tropical color with
the formal splendors of Catholic devotion : " The ' Trees
of the Noche Triste,' so called from their blooming
about the period of that event, are now in full bloom.
The flower is a round ellipsoid, and of the most magni
ficent scarlet color I ever saw. I have two of them in my

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 15
cup before me now. I wish I could send them to you.
The holy image was standing on a large silver maguey
plant, with a rich crown on her head and an immense
silver petticoat on. There were no votaries at her shrine,
which was truly magnificent, but neaHhe^ititrance of the
church were the offerings of those whom she had re
lieved. They consist of representations in wax of the
parts of the human body that she had cured of the dis
eases with which they had been affected. And I may say
there were all parts. I saw many heads severed from the
trunks. Whether they represented those she had restored
I could not learn. It would be a difficult feat." 37
The references to politics in these letters are interesting
because they show more vehemence and ardor of expres
sion than, I think, Lee would have permitted himself in
later years. Thus, he writes of the treatment of Trist by
the Administration : " I presume it is perfectly fair, having
made use of his labors, and taken from him all that he had
earned, that he should be kicked off as General Scott
has been, whose skill and science, having crushed the
enemy and conquered a peace, can now be dismissed,
and turned out as an old horse to die." 38 And, again in
connection with Scott : " The great cause of our success
was in our leader. It was his stout heart that cast us on
the shore of Vera Cruz ; his bold self-reliance that forced
us through the pass at Cerro Gordo ; his indomitable
courage that, amidst all the doubts and difficulties that
surrounded us at Puebla, pressed us forward to this cap-

16 LEE THE AMERICAN
ital, and finally brought us within its gates, while others,
who croaked all the way from Brazos, and advised delay
at Puebla, finding themselves at last, contrary to their
expectations, comfortably quartered within the city, find
fault with the way they came there." 39
Also, as to the general question of the war, the cap
tain of forty speaks out with greater frankness than we
find in the letters of the Confederate commander of fifty-
five. "It is rather late in the day to discuss the origin
of the war ; that ought to have been understood before
we engaged in it. It may have been produced by the
act of either party or the force of circumstances. Let the
pedants of diplomacy determine. It is certain that we
are the victors in a regular war, continued, if not brought
on, by their obstinacy and ignorance, and they are
whipped in a manner of which women might be ashamed.
We have the right, by the laws of war, of dictating the
terms of peace and requiring indemnity for our losses
and expenses. Rather than forego that right, except
through a spirit of magnanimity to a crushed foe, I
would fight them ten years, but I would be generous in
exercising it." 40
After the Mexican War, Lee resumed the routine life
of his profession, sojourning in one part of the country
or another, as duty called. He was invited by the Cuban
Junta to become their military leader ; 41 but he declined
because he felt such a position to be hardly compatible
with his training as an officer of the United States Army.

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 17
He was busied for some time with the construction of a
fort in Baltimore. In 1852, he was made superintendent
of the West Point Academy. His diffidence about ac
cepting this position is extremely characteristic : " I learn
with much regret the determination of the Secretary of
War to assign me to that duty, and I fear I cannot
realize his expectations in the management of an Insti
tution requiring more skill and more experience than I
command." 42
I find little direct evidence as to Lee's life at West
Point, but his biographer declares that it was in every
way successful. "The discipline of the Academy was
made more efficient, . . . and a spacious riding-hall
was constructed."43 Colonel Chesney makes similar
statements from personal observation : " The writer
visited West Point during the time of General Lee's
charge and saw the institution very thoroughly, passing
some days there. He is able, therefore, to testify to its
completeness, and the efficiency of the courses of study
and discipline — never more remarkable, he believes,
than at that period." 44 Captain Lee bears witness to
his father's kindness of manner and ready tact in making
the raw students feel at ease and tells one anecdote which
is perfectly in character. Lee was riding one day with
his son, when they caught sight of three cadets who
were evidendy far out of bounds and who at once re
tired still further. After a few moments' silence, Lee
said : " Did you know those young men ? But no, if you

18 LEE THE AMERICAN
did, don't say so. I wish boys would do what is right ;
it would be so much easier for all parties." 45
In 1855 Lee was appointed to a lieutenant-colonelcy
in one of the newly created cavalry regiments and ceased
his connection with West Point. From this time until
the breaking-out of the war his service was mainly in
the Western and Southwestern States, while his family
remained at Arlington.
Many of the letters written during these years have
been printed. As letters they are not especially brilliant
or remarkable. But they are interesting for the study of
Lee, as showing his gentleness, his constant care and
thought for others, and his shrewd and just observation
of everything that was going on about him. Playful
descriptions of scenes and people alternate with deeper
feeling, such as his expression of grief for a child over
whose body he had been asked to read the funeral
service. "I hope I shall not be called on again, for
though I believe that it is far better for the child to be
called by its Heavenly Creator into His presence in its
purity and innocence, unpolluted by sin and uncon-
taminated by the vices of the world, still it so wrings a
parent's heart with anguish that it is painful to see. Yet
I know it was done in mercy to both — mercy to the
child, mercy to the parents." 46
To his own children he writes with gayety and grace.
" Robert .... has been prospecting about the neigh
borhood for cherry trees, and their bloom on the sides of

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 19
the mountains delights his vision every moment. He
revels at dinner in fried chicken and mush. An elegant
school, in his opinion." " And again he passes to sober
advice, useful, if not original : " As you have com- r
menced, I hope you will continue never to exceed your
means. It will save you much anxiety and mortification,
and enable you to maintain your independence of char
acter and feeling. It is easier to make our wishes con
form to our means than our means conform to our
wishes. In fact, we want but little. Our happiness de
pends upon our independence, the success of our opera
tions, prosperity of our plans, health, contentment, and
the esteem of our friends." 4S
Then suddenly, into a life thus organized for compar
ative peace and quiet, burst the thunderbolt of war. It
had not, of course, been unexpected, to Lee any more
than to any one else. To him, more than perhaps to
almost any one else, because of his position and temper
ament, it came full of burden and anguish, unillumined
by hope. He trusts that President Buchanan " will be
able to extinguish fanaticism North and South, cultivate
love for the country and Union, and restore harmony
between the different sections." 49 As the danger comes
nearer, he finds confidence more difficult : " My little
personal troubles sink into insignificance when I contem
plate the condition of the country, and I feel as if I could
easily lay down my life for its safety. But I also feel tbat
would bring but little good." 60

20 LEE THE AMERICAN
In October, 1859, Lee was on furlough at Arlington,
and it must be regarded as exceedingly dramatic, all
things considered, that he should have been the officer
ordered to arrest John Brown. It was not in Lee's nature
to play up to a dramatic situation, however, and his
conduct of the affair was as quiet, as businesslike, as free
from sensational methods, as such a thing could be. He
made his preparations, called on Brown and his followers
to surrender, gave the order to attack, attacked, and in
a few moments all was over. His own account in his
memorandum-book is perfectly dry and quiet : " Tuesday
about sunrise, with twelve marines under the command
of Lieutenant Green, broke in the door of the engine-
house, secured the robbers, and released all of the
[Southern] prisoners unhurt." 61 His testimony before
the Congressional Committee as to the whole affair is in
the same tone : " The result proves that the plan was
the attempt of a fanatic or madman which could only
end in failure ; and its temporary success was owing to
the panic and confusion he succeeded in creating by
magnifying his numbers." 52 Yet a mind so shrewd as
Lee's must have had some suspicion that there were
more fanatics and madmen in the North who might
create panic and confusion beside which Brown's would
be utterly insignificant.
As we pause here for a moment, before entering on
the sudden and astonishing glory of Lee's career, it will
be well to form some conception of his physical qualities

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 21
and personal appearance. The great doers of the world
have not always been handsome or even imposing.
Caesar, when he triumphed, may have had dignity from
habit of command, but there can have been little beauty
in his lean caducity. Napoleon, in later years, was fat
and vulgar, for all the dominating power of his glance.
It pleases us to think that Grant and Lincoln could look
as they did and be what they were. Yet there is unde
niably something appropriate, something satisfying in
the kingly stature and lineaments of Pericles and
Washington. It cannot harm a royal soul to dwell
within a royal body. And not Pericles nor Washington
would seem in this to have been more royal than was
Lee. From the study of photographs I get a more charming
impression of his later years than of his earlier. The face
and figure of the captain are eminently noble, high
bred, dignified ; but with the dignity there is just a sug
gestion of haughtiness, of remoteness. Or do I only see
in the picture what I imagine of the man ? But in the
bearded photographs of later years all trace of such re
moteness has vanished. The dignity is more marked
than ever, but all sweet. The ample, lordly carriage, the
broad brow, the deep, significant, intelligent eyes convey
nothing but the largest tenderness, the profoundest hu
man sympathy, the most perfect love. And again per
haps I only see what I imagine.
The record of actual observers is of more interest than

22 LEE THE AMERICAN
any comment founded on portraits, since Captain Lee
tells us that " my father could never bear to have his
picture taken and there are no likenesses of him that
really give his sweet expression." 63 To begin with, Lee's
was a thoroughly manly beauty and founded all his
life on a magnificent physique. "From infancy to
threescore," says an opponent who loved and admired
him, " he knew no physical malady [this is not strictly
correct] , and the admirable symmetry of his person and
the manly beauty of his countenance were the aids to his
virtue which secured to him tolerance, affection, and
respect from all with whom he mingled." B4 Even towards
the close of the war, when he was nearly sixty, it was his
habit, when the pressure was great, " to retire about ten
or eleven at night, to rise at 3 A.M., breakfast by candle
light and return to the front, spending the entire day on
the lines." B5
In his earlier life he is described by General Hunt as
being " as fine-looking a man as one would wish to see,
of perfect figure and strikingly handsome," 56 and by
General Meigs as " a man then in the vigor of youthful
strength, with a noble and commanding presence, and an
admirable, graceful, and athletic figure." s7 " He had,"
says General Preston, " a finished form, delicate hands ;
was graceful in person." 58 When he became superintend
ent at West Point he is pictured more minutely as " five
feet eleven inches high, weighing 1 75 pounds, hair orig
inally jet black and inclined to curl at the ends ; eyes

LEE BEFORE THE WAR 23
hazel brown, face cleanly shaved, except a mustache ; a
countenance which beamed with gentleness and bene
volence." 5Q
At the time of the war, when more years had passed
over him, Wise portrays him as follows : " His form had
fullness without any appearance of superfluous flesh, and
was as erect as that of a cadet, without the slightest ap
pearance of constraint. His features are too well known
to need description, but no representation of General
Lee which I have ever seen properly conveys the light
and softness of his eye, the tenderness and intelligence
of his mouth, or the indescribable refinement of his face.
One picture gives him a meatiness about the nose ; an
other, hard or coarse lines about the mouth; another,
heaviness about the chin. None of them gives the effect
of his hair and beard. I have seen all the great men of
our times, except Mr. Lincoln, and I have no hesitation
in saying that Robert E. Lee was incomparably the
greatest looking of them all." 60 And Alexander H. Ste
phens, when he saw Lee for the first time and pressed
upon him the question as to Virginia's joining the Con
federacy, beheld a personage well worthy to make a
great decision in a great cause. "As he stood there,
fresh and ruddy as a David from the sheepfold, in the
prime of 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 before me the
most manly and entire gentleman I ever saw." "

24 LEE THE AMERICAN
How many men have we all met who seemed built to
play heroic parts, yet did not and could not play them.
It is well, perhaps, that such a part should occasionally
be played by a man whom nature has moulded for it.

?

II
THE GREAT DECISION
The growth of a Lee legend is greatly to be deplored,
most of all by Lee's warmest admirers. "One may
search in vain for any defect in him," says one of the
latest historians of the war. " Indeed, the perfection of
Lee becomes somewhat oppressive. One would welcome
the discovery of a shortcoming in him, as redeeming
him to humanity." 1 This is unfair, but not unnatural,
when one considers the attitude of Lee's Southern ad
mirers. " He was never behind time at his studies, never
failed in a single recitation, was perfectly observant of
the rules and regulations of the institution," says an old
teacher.2 "Throughout his whole student life he per
formed no act which his pious mother could not have
fully approved," says Long.3 I do not believe this is
true. I hope it is not true. If it is true, it ought to be
concealed, not boasted of. This is the sort of thing that
made Washington odious to the young and remote from
the mature for generations. " In all essential character
istics Lee resembled Washington," says Mr. Rhodes,4
with much justice. But we know that, in spite of ill-
judged idolatry, Washington was not a prig. Neither
was Lee, but a man, of warm flesh and blood, like the
rest of us. No one could have had his large and tender

26 LEE THE AMERICAN
sympathy for human weakness who had not known hu
man weakness himself. Above all, from the common
soldier to the president of the Confederacy comes gen
eral testimony that Lee had charm. Now, no prig ever
had charm. Therefore I refuse to believe that he said —
at any rate, in those words — to Magruder in Mexico :
" I am but doing my duty, and with me, in small mat
ters as well as in large ones, duty must come before
pleasure." 5
After this brief reservation and protest, it must be re
cognized and insisted that few men have guided their
actions more strictly and loftily by conscience than Lee.
That he should ever have boasted about his sense of
duty is unbelievable. That he turned to it and con
sulted it in every crisis, and especially in the profound-
est crisis, of his life, is certain, and whatever we may
think of his judgment, it is impossible to question the
absolute rectitude of his purposes.
During the years of violent controversy which inter
vened between the Mexican War and the secession of
the South, Lee attended quietly to his military duties.
Occasionally in the published letters of this period we
get a glimpse of the interest he must have taken in what
was going on at Washington. But it was then and al
ways his constant conviction that a soldier should not
meddle with politics. Even when he had charge of the
capture of John Brown there was no passion in the mat
ter. The work was done with military precision and

THE GREAT DECISION 27
quiet coolness and the captive was handed over to the
proper civil authorities. " I am glad we did not have to
kill him," Lee remarked afterwards to Mrs. Pickett's
father, "for I believe he is an honest, conscientious old
man." 8
As the struggle of parties and principles grew fiercer,
however, Lee foresaw that sooner or later he should be
forced to choose. Neither party satisfied him. Each
seemed to be unreasonable, selfish, inconsiderate of the
rights and feelings of the other; and he believed that a
larger justice ought to be able to harmonize the oppos
ing claims without actual conflict. In December, i860,
he writes : " Feeling the aggression of the North, re
senting their denial of the equal rights of our citizens to
the common territory of the Commonwealth, etc., I am
not pleased with the course of the ' Cotton States,' as
they term themselves. In addition to their selfish, dicta
torial 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 determine to coalesce with them. While I
wish to do what is right, I am unwilling to do what is
wrong at the bidding of the South or of the North." 7
And again, in January, 1861, "As far as I can judge
from the papers, we are between a state of anarchy and
civil war. May God avert from us both. ... I see that
four states have declared themselves out of the Union.
Four more apparently will follow their example. Then

28 LEE THE AMERICAN
if the border states are dragged into the gulf of revolu
tion, one half of the country will be arrayed against the
other, and I must try and be patient and wait the end,
for I can do nothing to hasten or retard it." 8
The end came quickly. Lincoln was elected. Virginia
was on the point of seceding. War seemed inevitable.
If Lee remained in the United States Army, he would be
forced to fight against all he loved best in the world.
He was fifty years old. For more than thirty years he
had served under the Stars and Stripes. Honor, advance
ment, profit were assured, if he clung to his old alleg
iance. If he abandoned it, what would come to him no
one could tell. It is hard to imagine a man placed in a
situation involving a profounder moral struggle or
greater difficulty of decision. And, though Lee doubt
less did not so think of it, the decision was as important
to the country as to himself. Without assuming, with
some Northern writers, that he might have prevented
Virginia's secession and possibly war, it is not unreason
able to suppose that the course of the war might have
been greatly different, if his military ability had been
saved to the armies of the North.
In April, 1861, Lee was awaiting orders at Arlington.
On the 1 8th of that month he had an interview with
Francis P. Blair, who, with the knowledge of Lincoln and
Cameron, unofficially, but it is said authoritatively, offered
him the command of the United States Army, in the
field. We have Lee's own account of this interview,

THE GREAT DECISION 29
written after the war and agreeing with Blair's. "I never
intimated to any one that I desired the command of the
United States Army, nor did I ever have a conversation
with but one gentleman, the Hon. Francis P. Blair, on
the subject, which was at his invitation and, as I under
stood, at the instance of President Lincoln. After listen
ing to his remarks, I declined the offer he made me to
take command of the army that was to be brought into
the field, stating as candidly and courteously as I could
that though opposed to secession and deprecating war,
I could take no part in an invasion of the Southern
States." 9
Immediately on leaving Blair, Lee went to General
Scott. Unfortunately we have no detailed account of this
most important conversation from either of the princi
pals. " I went directly from the interview with Mr. Blair
to the office of General Scott, told him of the proposition
that had been made to me, and my decision," writes
Lee.10 Long tells us, from a very indirect source, that
General Scott " used every argument to persuade him
to remain in the Union." n " But to all pleading Colonel
Lee returned but one answer, that his sense of duty was
stronger with him than any prospect of advancement,
and replied to the appeal not to resign in the following
words, 'I am compelled to: I cannot consult my own
feelings in the matter.' " 12
The narrative of the only eye and ear witness who
seems to have been actually present, General Townsend,

30 LEE THE AMERICAN
exhibits Lee in a much less favorable aspect. It is so
circumstantial that it must be quoted in full : —
General Scott knew that he [Lee] was at Arlington Heights,
at the house of his father-in-law, Mr. Custis, and one day
asked me if I had seen or heard of him lately. I replied in the
negative, except that he was on leave and at Arlington
Heights. Said the general, "It is time he should show his
hand and if he remains loyal should take an important com
mand." I then suggested that I should write to Lee and ask
him'to call at the general's headquarters. " I wish you would,"
replied the general. The note was written and the next day,
April 19, 1861, Colonel Lee came to the office. The general's
was the front room of the second story. His round table
stood in the centre of the room and I had a desk in one
corner. The aides were in an adjoining room with a doof
opening into the general's. When Lee came in, I was alone in
the room with the general and the door to the aides' room was
closed. I quietly arose, keeping my eye on the general, for it
seemed probable he might wish to be alone with Lee. He,
however, secretly motioned me to keep my seat and I sat
down without Lee having a chance to notice that I had risen.
The general, having invited Lee to be seated, the following
conversation, as nearly as I can remember, took place. Gen.
Scott: "You are at present on leave of absence, Colonel
Lee?" — Col. Lee: "Yes, General, I am staying with my
family at Arlington." — Gen. Scott: "These are times when
every officer in the United States service should fully deter
mine what course he will pursue and frankly declare it. No
one should continue in government employ without being act
ively employed." (No response from Lee.) — Gen. Scott
(after a pause) : "Some of the Southern officers are resigning,

THE GREAT DECISION 31
possibly with the intention of taking part with their States.
They make a fatal mistake. The contest may be long and se
vere, but eventually the issue must be in favor of the Union."
(Another pause and no reply from Lee.) — Gen. Scott (seeing
evidently that Lee showed no disposition to declare himself
loyal or even in doubt) : " I suppose you will go with the rest.
If you purpose to resign, it is proper you should do so at
once ; your present attitude is an equivocal one." — Col. Lee :
"The property belonging to my children, all they possess,
lies in Virginia. They will be ruined, if they do not go with
their State. I cannot raise my hand against my children." 13
I have cited the whole of this account, because it is a
curious instance of what appears to be reliable historical
evidence, yet must, I am convinced, be substantially
false. In the first place, Townsend says April 19. Lee
says explicitly, writing at the time, April 18. Next, Lee
says he told General Scott of the proposition that had
been made him and of his decision. Nothing of the sort
appears in Townsend's story. Further, Lee, writing to
Mrs. Lee a few weeks later, bids his son Custis " consult
his own judgment, reason, and conscience as to the
course he must take," 14 which does not seem to fit well
with the argument that his children would " be ruined,
if they do not go with their State." Finally, a very
slight knowledge of Lee's character makes it impossible
to suppose that, after weeks of careful, prayerful de
liberation and moral conflict in view of the highest
patriotic duties, the man who again and again refused
the offers of a grateful nation to provide for his family

32 LEE THE AMERICAN
and assure them from want, the man who wrote to his
son in the midst of the struggle that "all must be sacri
ficed for the country," 15 could have gone to a personal
friend whom he respected as he did Scott, with nothing
on his lips but the poor, the paltry, the pitiful argument
for deserting his flag and his allegiance that the property
of his children lay in Virginia. It is true that Scott was
a Virginian and Lee had to be careful not to wound his
superior in justifying himself. But no man ever lived
who was capable of handling such a situation with more
tact. If only we had Scott's and Lee's own versions of
what passed between them on that memorable day 1 16
As it is, we merely know that two days later Lee sent
his resignation to Scott, with an affectionate and manly
letter, expressing his regret at separating himself from
the service " to which I have devoted the best years of
my life and all the ability I possessed," and adding,
"save in the defense of my native State I never desire
again to draw my sword." 17 Immediately after this he
was offered and accepted the position of commander-in-
chief of the forces of Virginia.
In considering Lee's conduct at this crisis it is a mis
take to tangle one's self up in the web of metaphysical
casuistry which was woven about the whole constitutional
question by the fine wits of a generation of legal quib-
blers. Cold common sense stands amazed that men
should have been ready to cut each others' throats for
the ingenious subtleties of Webster and Everett any

THE GREAT DECISION 33
more than for those of Calhoun and Davis. It seems as
if mankind would not learn by all the experience of ages
that passion is never at a loss for argument, or appreci
ate the force of Matthew Arnold's despairing comment,
" by such reasoning anything may be made out of any
thing." The technical charge that Lee has to answer, the one
most commonly brought against him, is that, having
accepted his education and support at the hands of the
United States Government and sworn allegiance to it,
he broke his military oath and betrayed his trust. This
charge is said to have been discussed by Lee himself.
" General Lee told Bishop Wilmer of Louisiana that if it
had not been for the instruction he got from Rawle's
text-book at West Point, he would not have joined the
South and left the old army at the breaking-out of the
late war between the States." 18 Surely Lee cannot be
blamed for following the lessons which he believed the
Government itself had taught him. It is unfortunate,
however, that this speech has come through many
mouths. As for Rawle's "View of the Constitution of
the United States of America," although it was undoubt
edly in use during^a portion of the time Lee was in the
Academy, it seems impossible that it can have been
given to him as a text-book.19 Rawle was an ardent sup
porter of the Union. Yet he says, " This right [of seces- ^
sion] must be considered as an ingredient in the com
position of the general government, which, though not

34 LEE THE AMERICAN
expressed, was mutually understood, and the doctrine
heretofore presented to the reader, in regard to the inde
feasible nature of personal allegiance, is so far qualified
in respect to allegiance to the United States." 20 Such
an assertion from such a source is significant of the state
of mind of many Americans in the second quarter of the
century as to the metaphysical tangle of duties, loyalties,
allegiances, to which I referred above, and which was
inevitable in view of the peculiar organization of the
United States Government. In any case, it cannot be
disputed that Lee and those who took the same course
he did were influenced by an imperious conception of
duty as much as Scott, Thomas, and the many others
whose action was most honorably different.
When the decision of Lee and his fellows is surveyed
on simpler, broader grounds, one or two general consid
erations present themselves. In a popular government,
whenever any large, distinct section of the people thinks
that it is permanently oppressed by the remainder, it
will revolt. No theory, no legal argument, no paper con
stitution will ever prevent this. And in a government
made up of long-established, originally independent
units, as imperfectly welded together as were the United
States in i860, such a revolt is peculiarly liable to occur.
It is true that the North then felt, and probably for the
most part feels now, that the South was not oppressed.
The South felt that it was oppressed and did exactly
what the North would have done under the same circum-

THE GREAT DECISION 35
stances. I know of no more constant lover of the Union
than Washington. Yet Washington wrote, "There is
nothing which holds one country or one State to another
but interest." 21
This general justification or explanation of the South
ern revolt does not, however, apply to the case of Lee.
For up to the very hour of Virginia's decision, he clung
to the Union and was opposed to secession, at any rate,
in practice. In January, 1 861, he wrote : "I can antici
pate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolu
tion of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all
the evils we complain of and I am willing to sacrifice
everything but honor for its preservation. . . . Secession
is nothing but revolution. The framers of our Constitu
tion never exhausted so much labor, wisdom, and for
bearance in its formation, and surrounded it with so
many guards and securities, if it was intended to be
broken by every member of the Confederation at will.
It was intended for ' perpetual union,' so expressed in the
preamble " — Lee, of course, here confounds the Con
stitution of the United States with the "Articles of
Confederation " — " and for the establishment of a gov
ernment, not a compact, which can only be dissolved by
revolution or the consent of all the people in convention
assembled. It is idle to talk of secession. Anarchy would
have been established and not a government by Wash
ington, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and the other
patriots of the Revolution." 22

36 LEE THE AMERICAN
Surely neither Webster nor Everett ever spoke for
Federal Union with an ardor more passionate than this.
And after all was over, Lee testified before the Commit
tee on Reconstruction : "I may have said and I may
have believed that the position of the two sections which
they held to each other was brought about by the poli
ticians of the country; that the great masses of the
people, if they understood the real question, would have
avoided it. ... I did believe at the time that it was
an unnecessary condition of affairs and might have been
avoided, if forbearance and wisdom had been practiced
on both sides." 23
It will at once be asked, why, then, did Lee leave the
Union ? Because Virginia left it and he felt that Virginia
was his country. And I cannot see how any citizen of
the old colonial states, with all the memories and tradi
tions of his forefathers in his heart and all the local at
tachments and fellowships that constitute home, can fail
even now to sympathize with such an attitude. "No
consideration on earth could induce me to act a part,
however gratifying to me, which could be construed into
faithlessness to this Commonwealth," 24 wrote Lee's
father to Madison; and at another time he expressed
himself still more strongly : " Virginia is my country ;
her I will obey, however lamentable the fate to which it
may subject me." 25 Longstreet, in describing his own
decision, tells us that "a number of officers of the post
called to persuade me to remain in the Union service.

THE GREAT DECISION 37
Captain Gibbs, of the Mounted Rifles, was the principal
talker, and after a long and pleasant discussion, I asked
him what course he would pursue, if his State should
pass ordinances of secession and call him to its defense.
He confessed that he would obey the call." 26 Hon.
Charles Francis Adams, who has surely done more than
any one else to help Lee on to the national glory which
is his due, said in his Lee Centennial address, " I hope
I should have been filial and unselfish enough myself to
have done as Lee did." 27 Finally, if one may quote
one's own feeling as perhaps representative of many, I
do not hesitate to say that in the certainly most improb
able, but perhaps not wholly impossible, contingency
of a future sectional separation in the country, however
much I might disapprove of such separation and its
causes, I should myself be first, last, and always a son
and subject of New England and of Massachusetts.
There is a deeper principle involved in this attitude
than the mere blind instinct of what the French call
" village-spire patriotism," local attachment to home,
and family, and birthplace. When the Union was first
established, its founders had an intense and wholesome
dread of centralized power, but the state governments
were at that time so strong and the federal so weak that
it was necessary to emphasize the latter in every pos
sible way in order to sustain it at all. In the nature of
the case, however, from the very beginning the federal
government absorbed more and more power to itself and

38 LEE THE AMERICAN
the states tended gradually to lose even the authority
which had originally been left them. In one sense the
Civil War was a protest on the part of the South against
this evolution and an attempt to restore the constitu
tional balance as the men of 1787 had planned it. This
protest had to be met, had to be crushed, or worse, in
calculable evils would have resulted. But the failure of
it much increased the rapidity of the evolution already
in progress. To-day the citizens of the newer states and
many in the older doubtless look upon the state govern
ments as an antiquated survival, especially as this very
attitude deteriorates those governments and everywhere
breeds incompetence and corruption. Such people would
sympathize entirely with the remark of a writer in the
"Outlook" : "Lee's engrossing sentiment for his native
State, mildly commendable though it might have been,
was a pinchbeck thing." 28
This development of national unity, of national feel
ing, is probably inevitable, is in many ways excellent
and admirable ; but it has its very grave dangers and is
in itself certainly much less promising for the future of
popular government than the careful balance of local
and central authority for which the Constitution origin
ally provided. Such, at any rate, was the opinion of
Lee, reiterated in manifold forms all through the war.
He, at least, felt, with the most earnest conviction, that
he was fighting for the ideas of Washington and Jeffer
son, and that in his place they would have done as he

THE GREAT DECISION 39
did. " I had no other guide, nor had I any other object
than the defense of those principles of American liberty
upon which the constitutions of the several States were
originally founded; and unless they are strictly ob
served, I fear there will be an end to Republican gov
ernment in this country." 29 Again, he says in general
orders : " They [the Confederate soldiers] 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 pre
serve it." 30 And at the close of the war he is said to
have expressed the same feeling quite as explicitly and
solemnly : " 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 perished in the
endeavor." 31
As we read these passionate confessions of faith, we
come almost to look upon Lee as one of the great
martyrs of liberty, one of the heroic champions of free
democracy and popular government. And then we re
flect a moment and say to ourselves, was not this man
fighting for negro slavery? It cannot be disputed that
he was. Southern writers may quibble as they please
about slavery not being the cause of the war. Nobody
denies that there were other causes, many of them, causes
lying deep in difference of climate, difference of breed-

40 LEE THE AMERICAN
ing, difference of local temperament. But no one can
seriously maintain that any of those other causes or all
of them together could have led to any sectional quarrel
that might not have been easily settled, if it had not
been for the dark phantom, the terrible midnight incubus
of slavery. As we look back now, we all see that, in the
words attributed to Lincoln, " the people of the North
were as responsible for slavery as the people of the
South," 32 and that honest, noble, pure spirits could ad
vocate it as well as oppose it. We are all ready to sym
pathize with the words which Lincoln actually wrote :
" You think slavery is right and ought to be extended ;
we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. For this,
neither has any just occasion to be angry with the
other." 33 Nay, more, the abolitionists of the sixties went
at their problem gayly, confident that if the negro were
once free, all would be well. Forty years have taught
us better, until some are almost ready to cry out that the
South was right and the North wrong. It is not so. The
future must take care of itself. The nineteenth century
made many mistakes. But it showed once for all that
the modern world can never again have anything to do
with slavery. "I advise Senators to let the humane cur
rent of an advancing and Christian civilization spread
over this continent," said Henry Wilson. Senators and
other persons who fought on the side of slavery had
their backs to the light and their faces turned toward
outer darkness.

THE GREAT DECISION 41
It will immediately be urged that Lee was no advo
cate of slavery. This cannot be denied. It is true that
his attitude towards the negro was distinctly the South
ern attitude, and, it must also be added, that of most
Northerners who live long in the South. " I have always
observed that wherever you find the negro, everything
is going down around him, and wherever you find the
white man, you see everything around him improv
ing." 34 " You will never prosper with the blacks," he
writes to his son after the war, " and it is abhorrent to a
reflecting mind to be supporting and cherishing those
who are plotting and working for your injury and all of
whose sympathies and associations are antagonistic to
yours. I wish them no evil in the world — on the con
trary, will do them every good in my power, and know
that they are misled by those to whom they have given
their confidence ; but our material, social, and political
interests are with the whites." 35 Furthermore, he had no
sympathy with the Northern abolitionists and believed
that they were working in utter ignorance of actual con
ditions as well as with a disposition to meddle where
they had no legal or moral right to interfere. He even
went so far as to write, toward the very close of the war,
that he considered " the relation of master and slave,
controlled by humane laws and influenced by Christ
ianity and an enlightened public sentiment, as the best
that can exist between the white and black races while
intermingled as at present in this country." 36

42 LEE THE AMERICAN
This passage does not' appear in the Southern bio
graphies of Lee, and it can be justly interpreted only as
a partial utterance in view of a most complicated and
difficult problem. For that Lee himself disliked and de
tested slavery there can be no possible doubt. The few
slaves that ever belonged to him personally he set free
long before the war, and he took time in the very thick
of his military duties to arrange at the appointed date
for the emancipation of those who had been left to his
wife by her father. Before the war, also, he expressed
himself on the general subject in the most explicit way :
"In this enlightened age there are few, I believe, but
will acknowledge that slavery, as an institution, is a
moral and political evil in any country." 37 The very let
ter from which I quoted above as to the benefits of the
relation between master and slave was written to urge
gradual abolition as a reward for faithful military serv
ice, and some remarks attributed to Lee after the war
form a valuable comment on his pro-slavery utterance,
especially in view of all that has come and gone in the
last forty years. " The best men of the South have long
desired to do away with the institution and were quite
willing to see it abolished. But with them in relation to
this subject the question has ever been : What will you
do with the freed people ? That is the serious question
to-day. Unless some humane course, based upon wisdom
and Christian principles, is adopted, you do them a great
injustice in setting them free." 38

THE GREAT DECISION 43
Yet, after all, in fighting for the Confederacy Lee was
fighting for slavery, and he must have known perfectly
well that if the South triumphed and maintained its in
dependence, slavery would grow and flourish for another
generation, if not for another century. And it is precisely
this network of moral conditions that makes his heroic
struggle so pathetic, so appealing, so irresistibly human.
For the great tragedies of human life and history come
from the intermingling of good and evil. And Lee is one
of the most striking, one of the noblest tragic figures the
world ever produced. Matthew Arnold says that the
Puritans, fighting for English liberty, put the human
spirit in prison for two hundred years.39 This man, fight
ing, as he believed, for freedom, for independence, for
democracy, was fighting also to rivet the shackles more
firmly on millions of his fellow men. A most striking
passage in Burke's "Conciliation" brings out this con
trast with a prophetic force which no after-comment can
equal : —
There is, however, a circumstance attending these colonies,
which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference
and makes the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty
than in those to the northward. It is, that in Virginia and the
Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is
the case in any part of the world, those who are free are by far
the mos't proud and jealous of their freedom. . . . Not seeing
there, that freedom, as in countries where it is a common
blessing, and as broad and general as the air, may be united
with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior

44 LEE THE AMERICAN
of servitude, liberty looks, amongst them, like something that
is more noble and liberal. I do not mean, Sir, to commend the
superior morality of this sentiment, which has at least as
much pride as virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of
man. The fact is so ; and these people of the Southern colonies
are much more strongly and with a higher and more stubborn
spirit attached to liberty than those to the northward.40
In Lee, no pride, but virtue all ; not liberty for himself
alone, but for others, for every one. And this it is that
makes the tragedy of his career so large, so fatal, so
commanding in its grandeur.
One element which, since Hamlet, we consider pecul
iarly tragic, is, however, wanting in Lee. There is no
trace of irresolution in him, no faltering, no looking
back. We have indirectly from Mrs. Lee her account of
the way in which the first decision was made. "The
night his letter of resignation was to be written, he
asked to be left alone for a time, and while he paced the
chamber above, and was heard frequently to fall upon
his knees and engage in prayer for divine guidance, she
waited and watched and prayed below. At last he came
down, calm, collected, almost cheerful, and said, ' Well,
Mary, the question is settled. Here is my letter of resig
nation and a letter I have written to General Scott.' " 41
The question was settled — finally, and in all his corre
spondence or recorded conversation there is nothing
to indicate regret or even further doubt. " Trusting in
God, an approving conscience, and the aid of my fellow

THE GREAT DECISION 45
citizens," he accepted the command of the armies of Vir
ginia ; and as the war progressed, his zeal for the cause
and loyalty to his high ideals seemed to be ever on the
increase. Not that he showed any bitterness towards the enemy.
Or at least it is only at moments that the unavoidable
horror of war wrings from him a word of reproach or
condemnation, as when he says of the obstruction of
Charleston Harbor, " This achievement, so unworthy of
any nation, is the abortive expression of the malice and
revenge of a people which it wishes to perpetuate by
rendering more hateful a day memorable in their calen
dar," 42 or speaks of the " savage and brutal policy which
he [Milroy] has proclaimed, which leaves us no alterna
tive but success or degradation worse than death, if we
would save the honor of our families from pollution, our
social system from destruction." 43 His general tone in
referring to " those people," as he almost always called
the Northern soldiers, is wholly in the spirit of his own
admirable saying, " the better rule is to judge our adver
saries from their standpoint, not from ours." 44
But over and over again, to his family, to his friends,
to his army, he expresses his pride in the cause he has
adopted, his absolute belief in its nobility and justice,
his unyielding determination to fight for it, so long as
any fighting is possible. " Let each man resolve that the
right of self-government, liberty, and peace shall find in
him a defender," he says to his soldiers in the early

46 LEE THE AMERICAN
days, 46 and commends to them " the sacred cause, dearer
than life itself, of defending the honor and integrity of
the State." 46 At the climax of the struggle, with the
bright hope of success before him, he consoles them for
their dangers : " The country consents to the loss of such
men as these and the gallant soldiers who fell with them,
only to secure the inestimable blessings they died to
obtain." 47 And at the last bitter parting he assures them
that "You will take with you the satisfaction that pro
ceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully per
formed." 48 So, in reviewing his own private conduct,
when all is over, he cannot blame his choice or regret
his decision. " All that the South has ever desired was
that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should
be preserved and that the government as originally or
ganized, should be administered in purity and truth." 49
Or again, more solemnly, " I did only what my duty de
manded. I could have taken no other course without
dishonor. And if it were all to be done over again, I
should act in precisely the same manner." so
Finally, it is to be noted that Lee's conduct from be
ginning to end was absolutely free from all thought of
personal credit or advantage. He declined the highest
standing in his profession for what was, to say the least,
a dim uncertainty. He was fifty-four years old, and such
dreams of glory as he may ever have cherished had
doubtless long faded in the hope of peace. One consider
ation, and one only, the desire to do right, prompted him

THE GREAT DECISION 47
in all he undertook and in all he accomplished. Doubt
less, the same thing might be said of many a private
soldier, North and South both ; but Lee's exalted posi
tion gives his action a typical significance which cannot
attach to that of every one. And when the fearful failure
came, when all things were sinking to wreck and ruin
about him, though his heart was torn for the sufferings
of his people, for his own lot there was nothing but
superb tranquillity, a calm, unyielding, heroic self-control,
which rested upon the consciousness that he had done
what man could do and all the rest was God's. He
might have used the splendid words of Demosthenes :
" I say that if the event had been manifest to the whole
world beforehand, not even then ought Athens to have
forsaken this course, if Athens had any regard for her
glory, or for her past, or for the ages to come." But he
had words of his own, as apt, perhaps as splendid, as
those of Demosthenes, the well-known and often quoted,
" Duty is the sublimest word in the language " ; 51 the less
well-known but not less noble, " There is a true glory
and a true honor, the glory of duty done, the honor of
the integrity of principle " ; B2 best of all the grandly tragic
phrase, addressed to his son, which forms the most pre
fect comment on his own career, " I know that wherever
you may be placed, you will do your duty. That is all
the pleasure, all the comfort, all the glory we can enjoy
in this world." B3

/

Ill
LEE AND DAVIS
It will hardly be disputed that Lee and Davis are by far
the most prominent figures in the history of the Confed
eracy. Stephens and Benjamin, Johnston and Beaure
gard, are not to be named with them. Jackson might
have been a conspicuous third ; but his premature death
left him only a peculiar and separate glory.
Material, of a sort, for the study of Davis's character
is more than abundant. His own work, " The Rise and
Fall of the Confederate Government," is one of the nu
merous books that carefully avoid telling us what we
wish to know. Half of it is ingenious argument on the
abstract dead questions at issue. The other half is a his
tory of military matters which others have told often and
told better. Of administrative complications and diffi
culties, of the internal working of the Confederate Gov
ernment, of personalities at Richmond and the Rich
mond atmosphere, of the inner life and struggles of the
man himself, hardly a word. Happily we have Mrs. Da
vis's " Life " of her husband, which shows him complete,
if not exactly as Mrs. Davis saw him. We have other
biographies of less value, innumerable references in let
ters and memoirs of friends and enemies, and the con
stant comments of the public press. And we have the

LEE AND DAVIS 49
immense mass of correspondence in that national por
trait gallery, the " Official Records," where the great —
and little — men of a generation have drawn their own
likenesses with an art as perfect as it is unconscious.
Davis, then, was a scholar and a thinker, and to some
extent he took the bookish view of life, that it can be
made what we wish it to be. Compromise with men and
things was to be avoided, if possible. He was an orator,
a considerable orator, after the fashion of the mid-nine
teenth century, which bores us now, at any rate in the
reading. The orator in politics, though a naturally re
curring figure in a democratic society, is too apt to be
an unsatisfactory one, — witness Cicero. Davis never
laid aside his robes of rhetoric in public. I doubt if he
did in private. I think he wore them in his soul. His
passion was rhetoric, his patriotism was rhetoric, his wit
was rhetoric, perfectly genuine, there is no doubt of
that, but always falling into a form that would impress
others — and himself. He told Dr. Craven that he could
not " conceive how a man so oppressed with care as Mr.
Lincoln was could have any relish for such pleasant
ries." x There you have the difference between the two.
Doubtless Davis had many excellent practical qual
ities. For one thing, he had pluck, splendid pluck, moral
and physical. It was indeed, I imagine, rather pluck of
the high-strung, nervous order than the cool, collected
calmness of Lee or Grant. There again is the difference
in types. Nevertheless, Davis's pluck is beyond ques-

50 LEE THE AMERICAN
tion. He had consistency, too, knew his ideas and stuck
to them, had persistency. " He was an absolutely frank,
direct, and positive man," said General Breckinridge.2
And he was sincere in his purposes, as well as consist
ent. "As God is my judge, I never spoke from any
other motive [than conviction]," he told Seward.3 Be
yond question he told the truth. He was unselfish, too,
thoughtful of others and ready to make sacrifices for
them. " He displayed more self-abnegation than any
other human being I have ever known," says one of his
aides4 and the statement is abundantly confirmed.
But in everything he was a nervous sensitive, which
is a terrible handicap to a leader of men. He suffered
always with nervous dyspepsia and neuralgia and
"came home from his office fasting, a mere mass of
throbbing nerves and perfectly exhausted." B He shrank
from the sight of every form of suffering, even in imagin
ation. When the "Babes in the Wood" was first read
to him, a grown man, in time of sickness, he would not
endure the horror of it.6 His sympathy with the op
pressed was also intense, "so that," says Mrs. Davis, "it
was a difficult matter to keep order with children and
servants." 7 He was keenly susceptible to the atmo
sphere about him, especially to the moods of people, " ab
normally sensitive to disapproval. Even a child's disap
proval discomposed him." 8 And Mrs. Davis admits that
this sensitiveness and acute feeling of being misjudged
made him reserved and unapproachable. It made him

LEE AND DAVIS 51
touchy as to his dignity, also, and there are stories of
his cherishing a grudge for some insignificant or imag
ined slight and punishing the author of it.9
The same sensitive temperament appears in Davis's
spiritual life. That he should seek and find the hand of
Providence in temporal affairs is surely not to his dis
credit. But I feel that his religion occasionally intrudes
at the wrong time and in the wrong way. When his
enemies represented him as " standing in a corner tell
ing his beads and relying on a miracle to save the
country," 10 I know they exaggerated, but I understand
what they meant.
Altogether, one of those subtle, fine, high-wrought
nervous organizations, which America breeds, a trifle too
fine, consuming in superb self-control too much of what
ought to be active, practical, beneficent energy.
It will easily be imagined that such a temper would
not always get along comfortably with rough, practical,
imperious military men, accustomed to regard civil au
thority with contempt. That Davis had had military
experience himself, both in the field and as Secretary of
War, did not help matters much, since it gready in
creased his own self-confidence. Subordinate officers,
such as Stuart, Longstreet, and Jackson during the latter
part of his career, did not have many direct dealings
with the President. But the independent commanders fall
generally into two classes, those like Bragg, Pemberton,
and Hood, who were more or less unfit for their posi-

52 LEE THE AMERICAN
tions and retained them through Davis's personal favor,
and those who were able and popular but whom Davis
could not endure, like Joseph E. Johnston and Beaure
gard. Albert Sidney Johnston seems to have been both a
favorite and a great soldier, but untimely death blighted
Davis's choice in that instance.
The quarrel with J. E. Johnston shook the whole fabric
of the Confederacy, since the omnipotent editors took
part in it. Johnston was a good general and an honest
man ; but he was surly with a superior and his corres
pondence and his book are querulous. Davis is not
querulous and his references to Johnston are always dig
nified. Mrs. Davis assures us that " in the whole period
of his official relations to General Johnston I never heard
him utter a word in derogation." u She tells us also,
however, that " every shade of feeling that crossed the
minds of those about him was noticed and he could not
bear any one to be inimical to him." 12 Persons of this
temper always exaggerate enmity where it exists and
imagine it where it does not. Another of Mrs. Davis's
priceless observations is as to " the talent for governing
men without humiliating them, which Mr. Davis had in
an eminent degree." 13 Samples of this were doubtless
the indorsement "insubordinate" on one of Johnston's
grumbling letters and the reply to another, "The
language of your letter is, as you say, unusual ; its argu
ment and statement utterly one-sided, and its insinua
tions as unfounded as they are unbecoming." 14 Compare

LEE AND DAVIS 53
also the indorsement on a letter in which Beauregard, a
gentleman, an excellent soldier, and a true patriot, who
had long held independent command, wrote that he was
perfectly ready to serve under Lee : "I did not doubt
the willingness of General Beauregard to serve under
any general who ranked him. The right of General Lee
to command would be derived from his superior rank." 1B
And so we come to the case of Lee, who during the
last years of the war was universally recognized as the
greatest general and most popular man in the Confed
eracy and who held Davis's confidence and intimate
affection from the beginning to the end. " General R. E.
Lee was the only man who was permitted to enter the
Cabinet [meetings] unannounced," says the official who
secured the privacy of those august assemblies.16
How did Lee manage to retain his hold on the Presi
dent? Pollard, who admired Lee, but detested Davis
more, says plainly that the general employed " compli
ment and flattery." 17 This is an abuse of words. One
can no more associate flattery with Lee than with Wash
ington. Lee respected and admired Davis in many ways.
With that fine insight into character which was one of
his strongest points, the general appreciated the Presi
dent's peculiarities and adapted himself to them for the
sake of the cause to which he had devoted his life. Davis
required deference, respect, subordination. Lee felt that
these were military duties and he was ready to accord
them. He defends Davis to others, — "The President

54 LEE THE AMERICAN
from his position being able to survey all the scenes of
action, can better decide than any one else." 18 He defers
again and again to Davis's opinion : " Should you think
proper to concentrate the troops near Richmond, I
should be glad if you would advise me." 19 On many
occasions he expresses a desire for Davis's presence in
the field : " I need not say how glad I should be if your
convenience would permit you to visit the army, that I
might have the benefit of your advice and direction." 20
Those know but little of Lee who see in such passages any
thing but the frank, simple modesty of the man's nature,
or who read a double meaning into expressions like the
following : " While I should feel the greatest satisfaction
in having an interview with you and consultation upon
all subjects of interest, I cannot but feel great uneasiness
for your safety, should you undertake to reach me." 21
The solicitude was perfectly genuine, as we see from
many charming manifestations of it elsewhere. " I can
not express the concern I felt at leaving you in such
feeble health, with so many anxious thoughts for the
welfare of the whole Confederacy weighing upon your
mind." 22 And there is no doubt that such sympathetic
affection held the president more than even the most
exaggerated military deference.
At the same time, it is certain that Davis liked to be
consulted. He had a considerable opinion of his own
military gifts and would probably have preferred the
command of the armies in the field to the presidency,

LEE AND DAVIS 55
although Ropes, the best of judges, tells us that he did
not "show himself the possessor of military ability to
any notable extent," 23 and Grant slyly remarks that " on
several occasions during the war he came to the relief
of the Union armies by his superior military genius." 24
His jealousy of independent command sometimes ap
pears even with regard to Lee. " I have never compre
hended your views and purposes until the receipt of
your letter yesterday and now have to regret that I did
not earlier know all that you have now communicated
to others." 25 Perhaps the most delightful instance of
Davis's confidence in his own talents as a general is the
little indiscretion of Mrs. Davis. " Again and again he
said [before Gettysburg], ' If I could take one wing and
Lee the other, I think we could between us wrest a vic
tory from those people.' " 26 One says these things to
one's wife ; but I doubt if Davis would have wished that
repeated — yet perhaps he would.
With all this in mind, it is easy to understand Lee's
procedure and to see the necessity as well as the wisdom
of it. He was never free. In the early days he writes
almost as Davis's clerk. To the end his most important
communications are occasionally inspired by his superior,
to the very wording. .This subordination is trying at
times to Lee's greatest admirers. Captain Battine says,
" It was the commander-in-chief who had constantly to
stir up the energy of the president." 27 Colonel Hender
son, whose admirable judgment is always to be re-

56 LEE THE AMERICAN
spected, thinks Davis's policy was the cause of the
failure to fight on the North Anna instead of at Fred
ericksburg, and he adds more generally, " A true esti
mate of Lee's genius is impossible, for it can never be
known to what extent his designs were thwarted by the
Confederate Government. Lee served Davis ; Jackson
served Lee, wisest and most helpful of masters." 28 It
seems to me, however, that Lee's genius showed in
overcoming Davis as well as in overcoming the enemy.
One of the most curious instances of Lee's sensitive
deference to the president as his military superior has, so
far as I have discovered, remained unnoticed by all the
historians and biographers. On August 8, 1863, a month
after Gettysburg, Lee wrote the beautiful letter in which
he urged that some one more capable should be put in
his place (italics mine) : —
I know how prone we are to censure and how ready to blame
others for the non-fulfillment of our expectations. This is
unbecoming in a generous people, and I grieve to see its ex
pression. The general remedy for the want of success in a mili
tary commander is his removal. I have been prompted by these
reflections more than once since my return form Pennsyl
vania to propose to Your Excellency the propriety of selecting
another commander for this army. I have seen and heard of
expression of discontent in the public journals at the result of
the expedition. I do not know how far this feeling extends in
the army. My brother officers have been too kind to report it,
and so far the troops have been too generous to exhibit it. It
is fair, however, to suppose that it does exist, and success is so

LEE AND DAVIS 57
necessary to us that nothing should be risked to secure it. I,
therefore, in all sincerity, request Your Excellency to take
measures to supply my place. I do this with the more earnest
ness because no one is more aware than myself of my inabil
ity for the duties of my position. I cannot even accomplish
what I myself desire. How can I fulfill the expectations of
others? M
It has been, I believe, universally assumed by Lee's
biographers that this proposal of resignation was the
result of his devoted patriotism and of temporary dis
couragement caused by press and other criticism of the
Gettysburg failure. Such criticism there doubtless was ;
but it was so restrained by the deep-rooted confidence in
Lee's character and ability that it appears mild in com
parison with the attacks on Davis himself and on other
generals. Without any reflection on Lee's patriotism,
which needs no defense, I think a more important key
to his action is to be found in the first sentence of his
letter : " Your letters of July 28 and August 2 have been
received and I have waited for a leisure hour to reply."
The letter of July 28 apparendy was not printed till 1897
in the supplementary volumes of the " Official Records."
In it Davis writes (italics mine) : —
Misfortune often develops secret foes and still oftener
makes men complain. It is comfortable to hold some one
responsible for one's discomfort. In various quarters there are
mutterings of discontent, and threats of alienation are said to
exist, with preparation for organized opposition. There are
others who, faithful but dissatisfied, find an appropriate remedy

58 LEE THE AMERICAN
in the removal of officers who have not succeeded. They have not
counted the cost of following their advice. Their remedy, to
be good, should furnish substitutes who would be better than
the officers displaced. If a victim would secure the success of
our cause, I would freely offer myself.30
It seems of course absurd to suppose that Davis in
tended any hint here, especially in view of the instant,
cordial, and affectionate negative which he returned to
Lee's suggestion. Yet I think it quite in the character of
the man to feel that it would be a graceful and respectful
thing for a beaten commander to take such a step and
receive presidential clemency. At any rate, if Davis's
remarks were not intended as a hint, they show a gross
lack of tact as addressed to a man in Lee's situation ;
and certainly no one can doubt that Lee's letter was in
the main the response of his sore and fretted humility to
what seemed the implied suggestion of his superior.
It must not, however, for a moment be supposed that
Lee's attitude towards Davis or any one else was in any
way servile. Dignity, not pompous or self-conscious, but
natural, was his unfailing characteristic. "He was one
with whom nobody ever wished or ventured to take a
liberty." 31 Even little slights he could resent in his quiet
way. Davis himself records with much amusement that
he once made some slur at a mistake of the engineers,
and Lee, who had been trained in that service, replied
that he " did not know that engineer officers were more
likely than others to make such mistakes." 32

LEE AND DAVIS 59
Furthermore, Lee never hesitated to urge upon the
president the wants of the army. Over and over again
he writes, pointing out the terrible need of reinforce
ments. " I beg that you will take every practicable
means to reinforce our ranks, which are much reduced,
and which will require to be strengthened to their full
extent to be able to compete with the invigorated force
of the enemy." 33 His tone is roundly decided and ener
getic when he represents the importance of government
action to repress straggling and disorder. " I have the
honor to inclose to you a copy of a letter written on the
7th instant, which may not have reached you, containing
suggestions as to the means of preventing them and pun
ishing the perpetrators. I again respectfully invite your
attention to what I have said in that letter. Some effect
ual means of repressing these outrages should be adopted,
as they are disgraceful to the army and injurious to our
cause." 34 As the difficulty of obtaining supplies became
greater towards the end, although it was notorious that
they were to be had in various parts of the country, Lee
did not hesitate to side with the public at large and de
mand the removal of Davis's favorite, the commissary-
general, Northrop; and I have no doubt that this is
referred to in Davis's remark to Dr. Craven. "Even
Gen.  , otherwise so moderate and conservative, was
finally induced to join this injurious clamor." 3S
In general political questions Lee was very reluctant
to interfere. He did so at times, however. His sugges-

6o LEE THE AMERICAN
tions as to finance and as to the military employment of
negroes are less connected with Davis and belong more
properly to the discussion of his relations with the Con
federate Government. But there were matters on which
he appealed to the president urgently and directly. At
the time of the first invasion of Maryland, he wrote an
earnest letter pointing out the desirability of proposals
for peace. " The present position of affairs, in my opin
ion, places it in the power of the Government of the Con
federate States to propose with propriety to that of the
United States the recognition of our independence." 36
Again, just before the second invasion, he writes to the
same effect with even more energy. " Davis had said
repeatedly that reunion with the North was unthinkable,"
remarks his latest biograpfier. " Lee wrote in effect that
such assertions, which out of respect to the Executive he
charged against the press, were short-sighted in the ex
treme." Lee's language is in no way disrespectful, but
it is very decided. " Nor do I think we should in this
connection make nice distinction between those who de
clare for peace unconditionally and those who advocate
it as a means of restoring the Union, however much we
may prefer the former. . . . When peace is proposed, it
will be time enough to discuss its terms, and it is not
the part of prudence to spurn the proposition in ad
vance." 37
Also, in political matters as affecting military move
ments there was more or less conflict of opinion between

LEE AND DAVIS 61
the president and his leading general. Lee regretted
deeply the absence of Longstreet before Chancellorsville.
Lee was very anxious to be supported by Beauregard
before Gettysburg. There is no doubt that Lee, all
through the war, would have preferred a policy of more
energetic concentration. And if the testimony of Long,
Gordon, and others is to be accepted as against that of
Davis himself, Lee would have abandoned Richmond
toward the close of the struggle, had it not been for the
decided opposition of the president.
In all these differences, however, we must note Lee's
infinite courtesy and tact in the expression of his views.
If he had lectured his superior after the fashion in
which he himself was frequently addressed by Long-
street, the Army of Northern Virginia would have been
looking for a commander at a very early stage. Instead
of this, however decided his opinion, however urgent
his recommendations, the language, without being undig
nified, is such as to soothe Davis's sensitive pride and
save his love of authority. " I earnesdy commend these
considerations to the attention of Your Excellency and
trust that you will be at liberty, in your better judgment,
and with the superior means of information you possess
... to give effect to them, either in the way I have
suggested or in such other manner as may seem to you
more judicious." 38 ,
Yet with all his tact and all his delicacy Lee must
have felt as if he were handling a shy and sensitive

i*\

62 LEE THE AMERICAN
horse, who might kick over the traces at any moment,
with little provocation or none, so touchy was the pre
sident apt to be at even the slightest suggestion. For in
stance, Lee advises that General Whiting should be sent
south. Davis indorses : " Let General Lee order General
Whiting to report here, and it may then be decided
whether he will be sent south or not."39 Lee objects
earnestly to the organization of the military courts, offer
ing to draft a new bill in regard to them. Davis simply
comments : "I do not find in the law referred to any
thing which requires the commanding general to refer
all charges to the military courts." 40 Davis hears gossip
about Lee's expressed opinions and calls him to order
in the sharpest manner. " Rumors assumed to be based
on your views have affected the public mind and it is
reported obstructs [sic] needful legislation. A little
further progress will produce panic. If you can spare
the time, I wish you to come here." 41 But the most de
cided snub of all came in connection with the punish
ment of deserters. Lee felt strongly about this and had
urged upon Davis and upon the War Office the ruinous
effects of executive clemency. Finally, Longstreet calls
attention to the depletion of his command by desertion,
which he asserts is encouraged by constant reprieval.
Lee passes on the complaint with the comment : " De
sertion is increasing in the army, notwithstanding all my
efforts to stop it. I think a rigid execution of the law
is [kindest?] in the end. The great want in our army

LEE AND DAVIS 63
is firm discipline." 42 Seddon refers the matter to Davis
and he calmly notes: "When deserters are arrested,
they should be tried, and if the sentence is remitted, that
is not a proper subject for the criticism of a military
commander." 43 When one reads these things, one is
reminded of Mrs. Davis's delightful remark about " the
talent for governing men without humiliating them,"
and one is almost tempted to reverse it.
That, in spite of these small matters of necessary dis
cipline, Davis had the most unbounded and sincere affec
tion for Lee is not open to a moment's doubt. In the
early days, when Lee was unpopular, the president sup
ported him loyally. When the South Carolinians ob
jected to his being sent to them, Davis said, " If Lee is
not a general, then I have none that I can send you." 44
And no jealousy of later glory or success prevented the
repeated expression of a similar opinion. " General Lee
was one of the greatest soldiers of the age, if not the
very greatest of this or any other country." 45 And the
praise was as discriminating as it was enthusiastic:
" General Lee was not a man of hesitation and they mis
take his character who suppose that caution was his
vice." 46 Admiration of the general was, moreover,
backed up by a solid confidence which is expressed re
peatedly by Davis himself and by others. "The Presi
dent has unbounded confidence in Lee's capacity, modest
as he is," says J. B. Jones, at the very beginning of the
war.47 "General Lee was now fast gaining the con-

64 LEE THE AMERICAN
fidence of all classes ; he had possessed that of the Pre
sident always," writes Mrs. Davis.48 " I am alike happy
in the confidence felt in your ability and your superiority
to outside clamor, when the uninformed assume to direct
the movement of armies in the field," 49 is one among
many passages which show unreserved reliance on the
commander-in-chief. Nor was Davis less keenly aware of Lee's great quali
ties as a man than of his military superiority. This is
made abundantly apparent in both speeches and writ
ings after Lee's death. The president extols his subord
inate's uprightness, his generosity, his utter forgetful-
ness of self and loyal devotion. In the noble eulogy pro
nounced at the Lee Memorial gathering in 1870 there
are many instances of such praise, none more striking
than the account of Lee's attitude towards the attacks
made upon him before his popularity was established:
"Through all this, with a magnanimity rarely equaled,
he stood in silence, without defending himself or allow
ing others to defend him." 50 And besides the general
commendation there is a note of deep personal feeling
which is extremely touching. " He was my friend and
in that word is included all that I can say of any man." 61
I have not met with a single expression on Davis's part
of deliberate criticism or fault-finding, and if he did not
say such things he did not think them, for he was a man
whose thoughts found their way to the surface in some
shape sooner or later.

LEE AND DAVIS 65
With Lee it is different. About many things we shall
never know what he really thought. Undoubtedly he
esteemed and admired Davis ; but the expression of
these feelings does not go beyond kindly cordiality.
Soon after the war he writes to Early : " I have been
much pained to see the attempts made to cast odium
upon Mr. Davis, but do not think they will be successful
with the reflecting or informed part of the country." 52
After Davis's release from captivity, Lee wrote him a
letter which is very charming in its old-fashioned court
esy. "Your release has lifted a load from my heart
which I have no words to tell. . . . That the rest of
your days may be triumphantly happy is the sincere and
earnest wish of your most obedient and faithful friend and
servant." B3 Lee is, of course, even less outspoken in
criticism than in praise of his superior. It is only very
rarely that we catch a trace of dissatisfaction, as in refer
ence to the anxiety of the authorities in regard to Rich
mond : " The general had been heard to say that Rich
mond was the millstone that was dragging down the
army." 54 In the delightful — if not always perfecdy re
liable — memoirs of General Gordon we get perhaps
the most explicit statement of what Lee's feeling about
the president really was. It was at the time when Davis
was said to be unwilling to abandon the capital. Lee
spoke to Gordon in the highest terms of the great quali
ties of Davis's character, praised "the strength of his
convictions, his devotion, his remarkable faith in the

66 LEE THE AMERICAN
possibility of still winning our independence, his uncon
querable will-power. But," he added, " you know that
the president is very tenacious in opinion and pur
poses." BB
The study of the relations of Lee and Davis grows
more interesting, as the history of the Confederacy ap
proaches its tragic close. In 1861, Davis was popular all
through the country. A small faction would have pre
ferred another president, but once he was elected the
support was enthusiastic and general. With difficulties
and reverses, however, there came — naturally — a change
of feeling. In the first place, the Confederacy had seceded
for state rights. Now war powers and state rights did not
go together. Davis was constantly anxious to have law
behind him, so anxious that the "Richmond Whig"
sneered at his desire to get a law to back up every act of
usurpation. But military necessity knows no law and the
states in time grew restive and almost openly rebellious.
More than that, there came — also naturally — a bitter
hostility to Davis himself. " The people are weary of the
flagrant mismanagement of the government," is a mild
specimen of the sort of thing that abounds in the " Rich
mond Examiner." 66 " Jefferson Davis now treats all men
as if they were idiotic insects," says the "Charleston
Mercury." 67 And Edmund Rhett, who had been disposed
to hostility from the beginning, told Mrs. Chesnut that
the president was "conceited, wrong-headed, wrangle-
some, obstinate — a traitor." B8 These little amenities were

LEE AND DAVIS 67
of course to be expected. Lincoln had to meet them. But
the Southern opposition seems to have been more wide
spread than the Northern, and I imagine an election in
the autumn of 1864 would have defeated Davis decis
ively. A moderate view of the state of things appears
in a letter from Forsythe of Mobile to Bragg, January,
1865 : " Men have been taught to look upon the presi
dent as a sort of inexorably self-willed man who will see
the country to the devil before giving up an opinion or
a purpose. . . . We cannot win unless we keep up the
popular heart. Mr. Davis should come down and grapple
with that heart. He has great qualities for gaining the
confidence of the people. There are many who would
leap to his side to fight with and for him and for the
country, if he would step into the arena and make the
place for them." B9
The question now arises, How far was Davis really
responsible for this state of things ? Could another, larger,
abler man have done more than he did, if not have suc
ceeded where he failed ? For there is good evidence that
the South had men and material resources to have kept
up the struggle far longer. "Our resources, fitly and
vigorously employed, are ample," said Lee himself in
February, 1865.60 It was the people who had lost their
courage, lost their interest, lost their hope — and no won
der. But could any people have behaved differently?
Would that people with another leader? "It is not
the great causes, but the great men who have made

68 LEE THE AMERICAN
history," says one of the acutest observers of the human
heart. Such discussion would be futile except for its connec
tion with the character of Davis. In the opinion of his
detractors, the lost cause would have been won in better
hands and Pollard's clever book has spread that opinion
very widely. Pollard, however, though doubtless sincere
enough, was Davis's bitter personal enemy, or at any
rate wrote as such. The dispassionate observer will
hardly agree at once with his positive conclusions. More
interesting is the comment of the diary-keeping war-
clerk, Jones, an infinitely small personage, but with an
eye many-faceted as an insect's. Jones was a hearty
admirer of the president at first, but fault-finding grows
and, what is more important, the fault-finding is based
on facts. Davis, says Jones, "is probably not equal to
the r61e he is called upon to play. He has not the broad
intelligence required for the gigantic measures needed
in such a crisis nor the health and physique for the labors
devolving upon him." 61
It is difficult, I think, not to agree with this moderate
statement, unless the emphasis should be placed rather
on character than on intelligence. Probably the Con
federacy could never have been saved ; but there might
have been a leader who could have done more to save it
than Davis. In the first plaqe, the greatest men gather
able men about them. Professor Hart writes, with jus
tice : " President Davis's cabinet was made up in great

LEE AND DAVIS 69
part of feeble and incapable men." 62 Mrs. Chesnut tells
us that " there is a perfect magazine of discord and dis
union in the Cabinet ! " 63 Jones, who had the best oppor
tunities for observation says : " Never did such litde men
rule a great people." 64 And again, "Of one thing I am
certain, that the people are capable of achieving inde
pendence, if they only had capable men in all depart
ments of the government." 8B Mrs. Chesnut (an admirer
of Davis in the main) lays her finger on the secret of the
matter when she says: "He [Toombs] rides too high a
horse for so despotic a person as Jefferson Davis." 66 And
we get further insight, when we learn that in 1862 Davis
considered making Lee Secretary of War, but thought
better of it.67 Perhaps Lee was of more value in the field
than he would have been in the cabinet ; but it is difficult
to believe that even he could permanently have remained
Davis's secretary.
There are plenty of other indications, besides his choice
of advisers, to show that Davis, able, brilliant, noble fig
ure as he was, was over-parted in the enormous r61e he
had to play. He could not always handle men in a way
to win them, as a great ruler must. In his earlier life we
read that " public sentiment had proclaimed that Jeffer
son Davis is the most arrogant man in the United States
Senate," 68 and Mrs. Davis herself tells us, when she first
meets him, that he " has a way of taking for granted
that everybody agrees with him, when he expresses
an opinion, which offends me." 69 " Gifted with some of

70 LEE THE AMERICAN
the highest attributes of a statesman, he lacked the pli
ancy which enables a man to adapt his measures to the
crisis," says his kinsman, Reuben Davis.70 But the two
most decisive comments on Davis's career that I know
of are made again by Mrs. Davis, certainly with no in
tention of judging her husband and all the more valu
able on that account. " It was because of his supersens
itive temperament and the acute suffering it caused
him, I had deprecated his assuming the civil adminis
tration." 71 Cromwell, Frederick, Napoleon had not a
supersensitive temperament which caused them acute
suffering. And later she writes : " In the greatest effort
of his life Mr. Davis failed, from the predominance of
some of these noble qualities," 72 failed, that is, not by
reason of external impossibility, but from causes within
himself. Pollard could not have said more. Most of us
would hardly say so much. Mrs. Davis certainly did not
intend to, yet she knew the facts better than any one else
in the world.
Whether another ruler than Davis could have saved
the country or not, an immense number of people in the
Confederacy thought that one man could — and that
man was Lee. Everywhere those who most mistrusted
the president looked to Lee with confidence and enthus
iasm. At least as early as June, 1864, it was suggested
that he should be made dictator. This idea became
more and more popular. On January 19, 1865, the "Ex
aminer" expressed itself editorially as follows : "There

LEE AND DAVIS 71
is but one way known to us of curing this evil : it is by
Congress making a law investing General Lee with ab
solute military power to make all appointments and di
rect campaigns. It may, indeed, be said that in this new
position General Lee would have to relieve generals and
appoint others and order movements which perhaps
might not satisfy the strategick acumen of the general
publick; and how, it might be asked, could he satisfy
everybody any more than Mr. Davis ? The difference is
simply that every Confederate would repose implicit
confidence in General Lee, both in his military skill and
in his patriotic determination to employ the ablest men,
whether he liked them or not."
This sort of thing could not be very agreeable to Da
vis, and Mrs. Davis is said by the spiteful Pollard to
have exclaimed : " I think I am the person to advise
Mr. Davis and if I were he, I would die or be hung before
I would submit to the humiliation."73 On January 17,
however, before the editorial appeared in the " Exam
iner," the legislature of Virginia addressed a respectful
appeal to the president to make Lee commander-in-chief
of all the Confederate armies. Davis, knowing his man
well, replied on the 18th that nothing would suit him
better, and on the same day wrote to Lee offering him
the position, thus anticipating the vote of Congress on
the 23d that a commander-in-chief should be appointed
by the president, by and with the consent of the Senate.
It was of course the intention of Congress to take the

72 LEE THE AMERICAN
military control entirely out of Davis's hands. It was ex
pected and hoped that Lee would have agreed to this.
What would have happened if Lee had done so, or
what would have happened if such a change could
have been made at an earlier date, belongs more
properly to a discussion of Lee's general relations to
the Confederate Government and the national policy
as a whole. To have attempted anything of the sort
would have meant revolution ; for Davis would have
fought it to the death. As it was, Lee did not hesitate a
moment. To all suggestions of independent authority he
returned a prompt and absolute No. The position of
commander-in-chief he accepted, but he accepted it only
from the hands of Davis and with the intention of acting
in every way as his subordinate. " I am indebted alone
to the kindness of His Excellency the President for my
nomination to this high and arduous office and wish I
had the ability to fill it to advantage. As I have received
no instructions as to my duties, I do not know what he
desires me to undertake." 74
Thus we see that Lee, from personal loyalty or from a
broad view of policy, or both, was determined to remain
in perfect harmony with his chief to the end. After the
war the general said: "If my opinion is worth any
thing, you can always say that few people could have
done better than Mr. Davis. I knew of none that could
have done as well." 7B And it is pleasant to feel that in
all the conflict and agony of that wretched time these

LEE AND DAVIS 73
two noble figures — both lofty and patriotic, if not equally
so — could work together in the full spirit of Lee's testi
mony before the Grand Jury, as reported by himself to
Davis : " He said that he had always consulted me when
he had the opportunity, both in the field and elsewhere ;
that after discussion, if not before, we had always agreed,
and that therefore he had done, with my consent and
approval, what he might have done if he had not con
sulted me." 7a

IV
LEE AND THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT
VIRGINIA seceded on the seventeenth of April, 1861, one
day previous to Lee's critical interviews with Blair and
Scott. On April 23, Lee was invited to appear before the
state convention and was offered the position of com
mander-in-chief of the Virginia forces. He accepted in a
simple and dignified speech, saying, with a sincerity
which is beyond question, "I would have much preferred
that your choice had fallen upon an abler man." *
The newly appointed general at once made ready to
organize the state troops and prepare for a vigorous de
fense against invasion. But things moved rapidly, and
a.
on April 25, Virginia joined the Confederacy. What Lee
thought of this step and what his opinions at this time
were in regard to the organization and future policy of
the Confederate Government is in no way revealed to us.
But Alexander H. Stephens, the Confederate vice-presi
dent and commissioner to secure Virginia's adhesion,
has given a most striking picture of Lee's perfect will
ingness to sacrifice his own position and prospects to the
best interests of his state.
Stephens had an interview with Lee. " General Lee
heard me quietly, understood the situation at once, and
saw that he alone stood between the Confederacy and

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 75
his State. The members of the convention had seen at
once that Lee was left out of the proposed compact that
was to make Virginia one of the Confederate States, and
I knew that one word, or even a look of dissatisfaction,
from him would terminate the negotiations with which I
was intrusted. . . . General Lee did not hesitate for one
moment, ... he declared that no personal ambition or
emolument should be considered or stand in the way.
. . . Nominally, General Lee lost nothing; but practically,
for the time being, he lost everything. The Government
moved to Richmond, and Mr. Davis directed General
Lee to retain his command of the Virginia troops, which
was really to make him recruiting and drill inspector." 2
In this way Lee worked in more or less subordinate or
inconspicuous positions during the whole first year of
the war, and it was not till the spring of 1862, by the
wounding of Johnston, that he was given a fair chance
to display his military ability.
We have seen that one of the most striking elements
in Lee's attitude towards Davis was the instinct of sub
ordination, of subjection of military to civil authority.
The same thing appears everywhere in the general's
broader relation to the Confederate Government as a
whole. Politics were not his business. Even policy was
not his business. Let others plan and order ; he would
execute. Wellington said to Greville that while "un
questionably Napoleon was the greatest military genius
that ever existed," " he had advantages which no other

76 LEE THE AMERICAN
man ever possessed in the unlimited means at his com
mand and his absolute power and irresponsibility."3
When one turns from Napoleon's dispatches to Lee's,
one is instantly struck with the difference in this regard.
Napoleon says, Go here ; do this ; let these troops be on
this spot at that date. They are there. It is done. Lee
suggests cautiously, insinuates courteously. But his
greatest art is to keep still. It is very rare that he goes
so far as the reported humorous saying, " that he had
got a crick in his neck from looking over his shoulder
towards Richmond." Such military command as is dele
gated to him he will exercise absolutely, but he draws
with watchful care the line between his responsibility and
that of others and is at all times reluctant to overstep it.
An interesting instance of this tendency to disclaim
all interference with the civil authority is Lee's attitude
toward prisoners of war. While they are on the field,
they are in his charge. "He told me that on several
occasions his commissary general had come to him after
a battle and reported that he had not rations enough
both for prisoners and the army, . . . and he had always
given orders that the wants of the prisoners should be
first attended to." 4 Yet even here mark the reservation,
when the question becomes more general (italics mine) :
" While I have no authority in the case, my desire is that
the prisoners shall have equal rations with my men." E
Once in the military prisons, the captives were the care
of the War Department, not Lee's. When he testified

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 77
before the Reconstruction Committee, he was asked,
" Were you not aware that those prisoners were dying
from cold and starvation?" He answered: "I was not.
... As regards myself, I never had any control over
the prisoners except those that were captured on the field
of battle. Those it was my business to send to Richmond
to the provost marshal. In regard to their disposition
afterwards I had no control. I never gave an order about
it." 8 The most curious point in this matter of prisoners
of war is Lee's correspondence with Grant, in October,
1864, as to recaptured slaves.7 It is curious as a piece of
argument in which, given the premises, both sides were
logically right. It is still more curious when we find that
Lee, while appearing to speak his own mind, is in real
ity only a mouthpiece, a department clerk, writing at
the dictation of Seddon, that is, probably, of Davis.
But no matter how submissive a man may be, no mat
ter how rigorously trained in military discipline, he can
not command a great army through a great disastrous
war in a republic and not meddle with things that do
not concern him. What does concern him and what
does not ? It is thus that we see Lee forced to advise
and even to dictate sharply to his superiors, more and
more as the struggle goes on. In matters semi-military
or affecting other military departments, not Lee's own,
this was inevitable. As at the North, the newspapers
were troublesome in telling what they should not, and
Lee begs the Secretary of War to control them. "lam

78 LEE THE AMERICAN
particularly anxious that the newspapers should not give
the enemy notice of our intention." 8 " I beg you will
take the necessary steps to prevent in future the giving
publicity in this way to our strength and position." 9
A commander in the field may do his best to preserve
discipline, but he is terribly hampered when the War
Department permits all sorts of details, furloughs, and
transfers, and is lenient to desertion. Again and again
Lee is forced to protest vigorously against abuses of this
nature. A general may wish to confine himself to his own
sphere of responsibility ; but movements in the northeast
are dependent on movements in the southwest and
strengthening one command means weakening another.
Therefore Lee is brought, as it were against his will, to
make suggestions and requests as to Bragg in Tennessee
and Johnston in Georgia. "I think that every effort
should be made to concentrate as large a force as poss
ible under the best commander to insure the discomfiture
of Grant's army [in the west] ." 10 He writes to Bragg
for more men ; " unless they are sent to me rapidly, it
may be too late." He urges upon Seddon the utmost
activity in general measures of defense : " Whatever in
convenience and even hardship may result from a vigor
ous and thorough preparation for the most complete
defense we can make will be speedily forgotten in the
event of success or amply repaid by the benefit such a
course will confer upon us in the case of misfortune." "

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 79
The best general can do nothing with the best army,
unless it is fed and clothed; and food and clothing —
the accumulation, the transportation, the distribution —
depend upon the energy and capacity of the Govern
ment. Lee loved his army as if they were his children.
He knew they were neither clothed nor fed. He was by
no means satisfied that the people at Richmond were
either energetic or capable. " As far as I can judge, the
proper authorities in Richmond take the necessities of
this army very easily," he writes in February, 1863.12
How could a commander give his best thought to fight
ing, when he saw but one day's food before him ? " We
have rations for the troops to-day and to-morrow. I hope
a new supply arrived last night, but I have not yet
had a report. Every exertion should be made to supply
the depots at Richmond and at other points. All pleasure
travel should cease and everything be devoted to neces
sary wants." 13 Sometimes he feels that other armies are
preferred to his and protests vigorously. " I have under
stood, I do not know with what truth, that the armies of
the West and that in the Department of South Carolina
and Georgia are more bountifully supplied with pro
visions. ... I think that this army deserves as much
consideration as either of those named, and, if it can be
supplied, respectfully ask that it be similarly provided." 14
He is convinced that supplies are to be had and does
not pick — or rather does pick — his words in saying so.
" I know that there are great difficulties in procuring

80 LEE THE AMERICAN
supplies, but I cannot help thinking that with proper
energy, intelligence, and experience on the part of the
Commissary Department, a great deal more could be
accomplished. There is enough in the country, I believe,
if it was properly sought for." 1B And finally, in January,
1865, he takes the matter into his own hands and issues
a personal appeal to the farmers of Virginia, which, for
the time, affords considerable relief.
From the supplying of armies to other things, equally
vital, but quite as much civil as military, the steps are
imperceptible, but taken with an almost logical necessity.
Lee finds his soldiers refused passage on the railways
and insists on their claims being recognized.16 Passports
are given indiscriminately to persons who convey infor
mation to the enemy.17 Lee exerts his authority to con
trol the practice. The illegal traffic in cotton and tobacco
is tolerated by the Government for its own purposes.
Lee gives assistance and advice as to the regulation of
such traffic.18 The greatest difficulty, of all the many
difficulties of the Confederacy, was perhaps that of pro
perly managing its finances. Lee has a word about this
also, writing to urge the authorities to make treasury
notes a legal tender,19 and elsewhere, in connection with
the much desired reduction of the currency, suggesting
payment for certain consignments of wood in Confeder
ate bonds.20
Political even more than military was the nice ques
tion of retaliation, which was made the subject of hot

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 81
dispute by persons in authority and out of it. Critics of
the administration 21 attacked its lenient policy, even to
the point of suggesting that Davis opposed violent
measures because he wished to keep well with the North
in view of possible defeat. In extreme cases Lee does
not hesitate to order prompt retaliatory action. " I have
directed Colonel Mosby, through his adjutants, to hang
an equal number of Custer's men in retaliation for those
executed by him." 22 But as to the general principle he
is thoroughly in sympathy with Davis, both on grounds
of humanity and on grounds of policy. " I differ in my
ideas from most of our people on the subject of retali
ation. Sometimes I know it to be necessary, but it should
not be resorted to at all times, and in our case policy
dictates that it should be avoided whenever possible." 23
Lee here frankly and naturally admits that his inva
sion proclamations, so lauded by Southern writers, were
founded as much on common sense as on lofty principle.
One can admire the noble tone and still more the rigid
enforcement of those proclamations, without forgetting
that Napoleon also said to his soldiers in Vienna, " Let
us treat the poor peasants with kindness and be generous
to this loyal people who have so many claims to our
esteem ; let us not be puffed up by our success, but see
in it another proof of the divine justice which punishes
ingratitude and treachery." 24
Although Lee does not hesitate to go outside of his
own peculiar province in many of these special instances,

82 LEE THE AMERICAN
it is very rare indeed to find him making any general
criticism of the civil authorities. The following remarks
as to the Confederate Congress have, therefore, a pecul
iar interest and significance : " What has our Congress
done to meet the emergency, I may say extremity, in
which we are placed ? As far as I know, concocted bills
to exempt a certain class of men from service, and to
transfer another class in service, out of active service,
where they hope never to do service. Among the thou
sand applications of Kentuckians, Marylanders, Alabam-
ians, and Georgians, etc., to join native regiments out of
this army, who ever heard of their applying to enter
regiments in it, when in face of the enemy? I hope
Congress will define what makes a man a citizen of
a State." 2B
The most striking of all Lee's incursions into the realm
of civil government was his effort, toward the very end
of the war, to have the negroes enlisted as soldiers. The
measure, was, of course, in one sense purely military;
but it affected so intimately the social organization and
the ethical theories on which the whole Confederacy was
founded that the military significance of it was almost
dwarfed by the political. As Pollard justly points out, it
seemed to imply an equality between the two races
which was utterly repugnant to all Southern feeling on
the subject, and nothing shows more clearly Lee's im
mense influence than the fact that he was able to per
suade his countrymen to accept his view. All his argu-

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 83
ments are summed up in a clear and forcible letter to
Hunter,26 — otherwise extremely important as showing
Lee's general position as to slavery, — and in response
to this Congress voted briefly " that the General-in-Chief
be and hereby is invested with the full power to call into
the service of the Confederate Government, to perform
any duty to which he may assign them, so many of the
able-bodied slaves within the Confederate Government
as, in his judgment, the exigencies of the public service
require." 27 The comment of the " Examiner " on this is
intensely interesting as probably summing up the opinion
of hundreds of thousands of Lee's fellow citizens. After
expressing frankly grave doubts as to the expediency of
the measure, the editorial concludes, in words of almost
starding solemnity, " This clothes him with great power,
and loads him with heavy responsibility. If he is willing
to wield that power and shoulder that responsibility, in
the name of God, let him have them." 28
In the name of God, let Lee save us, if he will : no one
else can. There is no doubt that this was the spirit of a
majority of Southerners in February, 1865. There is no
doubt that this was the spirit which led to his being
offered practically the military dictatorship by Congress.
" The ablest officers of the Confederate States," says the
" Examiner," " would, we feel assured, gladly see the
supreme direction of their conduct placed in the hands
of General Lee, and would receive his orders with pleas
ure. All citizens, and more emphatically, all soldiers,

84 LEE THE AMERICAN
now know . . . that the one thing needful to fill the
army with enthusiasm, and to inspire the people for
new effort, is to feel that our military force is to be
wielded by one capable hand and directed by one calm,
clear intelligence." 29 Lee, however, absolutely refused
to violate his subordination to the president in any way,
and according to Pollard " went so far as to declare to
several members of the Richmond Congress that what
ever might be Davis's errors, he was yet constitutionally
the president, and that nothing could tempt himself to
encroach upon prerogatives which the constitution had
bestowed upon its designated head." 30
What could an ambitious, unscrupulous man have ac
complished in that emergency, or even a patriot who
would have been willing to override scruple for the good
of his country ? Would Napoleon or Cromwell have said
to Davis, " You may do what I want or go," have gone
direct to Congress and enforced his will, have swept
fraud and incompetence out of the executive depart
ments, have handled the whole military force like one
great machine and so concentrated it as to accomplish
results which seemed at that late hour impossible? "Of
one thing I am certain," wrote in January, 1865, the
diarist Jones, who had the very best opportunities of
forming an opinion, "that the people are capable of
achieving independence, if they only had capable men
in all departments of the government." 31 In any case
Lee preferred to remain the loyal servant of the civil

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 85'
authority, which was left to work out its political problems
as best it could.
What interests us in our study of Lee's character is
the motive which led him not only to this final refusal,
but to his general attitude of non-interference with the
Confederate Government. It has often been suggested
— and Grant was of this opinion 32 — that he was con
sistent in his state loyalty and cared for Virginia only,
not for the Confederacy as a whole, preferring to do his
fighting to the end upon his native soil. The writer of
the excellent " Nation " review of Long's " Life "
(Cox ?),33 basing his conclusions on the Townsend anec
dote which I have quoted in a previous chapter,34 holds
that Lee had little regard for the Confederate cause from
beginning to end. Some suspicion of the kind was un
doubtedly at the bottom of Pollard's harsh charges.
"The fact was that, although many of General Lee's
views were sound, yet, outside of the Army of Northern
Virginia, and with reference to the general affairs of the
Confederacy, his influence was negative and accom
plished absolutely nothing." 35 Again, " His most notable
defect was that he never had or conveyed any inspira
tion in the war." 36 And Pollard quotes from a Rich
mond paper after the Wilderness, " When will he [Lee]
speak? Has he nothing to say? What does he think
of our affairs ? Should he speak, how the country would
hang upon every word that fell from him ! " 37
I believe that this theory of Lee's lack of interest in

86 LEE THE AMERICAN
the Confederacy is utterly false. Of course he remained
a Virginian and would have followed his state out of the
later union as he had followed her out of the earlier ; but
while Virginia was Confederate, he faithfully merged
his duty to her in the broader loyalty. " They do injus
tice to Lee who believe he fought only for Virginia,"
said Davis. "He was ready to go anywhere for the
good of his country." 38 The cheerful energy which the
general showed when sent to South Carolina in the early
part of the war confirms this, as does passage after pas
sage of his correspondence. " Let it be distinctly under
stood by every one that Charleston and Savannah are
to be defended to the last extremity. If the harbors
are taken, the cities are to be fought street by street,
house by house, so long as we have a foot of ground
to stand upon." 39 A writer in the Southern Historical
Papers asserts that "those whose privilege it was to
hear the great chieftain talk most freely of the cause for
which he fought, bear the most emphatic witness that
it was 'the independence of the South,' 'the triumph
of constitutional freedom,' for which he struggled so
nobly." 40
But by far the most striking and interesting testimony
to Lee's thorough espousal of Confederate nationality
and sober, earnest grasp of the whole problem before
him is his conversation with Imboden near the begin
ning of the struggle. General Imboden declares that his
report is " almost literal," but for our purpose its sub-

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 87
stantial correctness is all-sufficient (italics mine). " Our
people are brave and enthusiastic and are united in de
fense of a just cause. I believe we can succeed in estab
lishing our independence, if the people can be made to
comprehend at the outset that they must endure a longer
war and far greater privations than our forefathers did
in the Revolution of 1776. We will not succeed until the
financial power of the North [the political insight of this
is extremely noteworthy] is completely broken. . . . The
conflict will be mainly in Virginia. She will be the
Flanders of America before this war is over and her
people must be prepared for this. If they resolve at once
to dedicate their lives and all they possess to the cause
of constitutional government and Southern independence
and to suffer without yielding as no other people have
been called upon to suffer in modern times, we shall,
with the blessing of God, succeed in the end ; but when
it will be no man can foretell. I wish I could talk to every
man, woman, and child in the South now and impress
them zvith these views." 41
No. If Lee was modest, it was from genuine modesty.
If he shunned burdens and responsibilities, it was be
cause he truly felt himself unable to undertake them. It
is a most curious point in the man's character, this nice
avoidance of duties that did not belong to him. " Be
content to do what you can for the well-being of what
properly belongs to you," he writes to Mrs. Lee. " Com
mit the rest to those who are responsible." 42 It is in this

88 LEE THE AMERICAN
spirit that he is eager to make clear to the Reconstruction
Committee that the Government's foreign policy was no
concern of his. " I know nothing of the policy of the
government ; I had no hand or part in it ; I merely ex
press my own opinion." 43 Even in military matters he
is careful to draw the sharpest line between his own task
and that of his subordinates : " I think and I work with
all my power to bring my troops to the right place at
the right time ; then I have done my duty." 44 He is so
careful that at times one feels a certain sympathy with
the otherwise negligible Northrop, when he complains :
"There is, in my judgment, no isolation of the responsi
bility in any of the machinery of war." 45
One wonders that a man could be so sensitive about
the limits of responsibility and yet command absolutely
for three years an army of fifty to a hundred thousand
men, lead them again and again to victory, make such
terrible decisions as that of Jackson's movement at
Chancellorsville and the attack at Gettysburg. And then
one reflects that it was probably just this clear sense of
what others ought to do and should be left to do that
made Lee's power. Smaller men fret over executive de
tails or rush readily into what they do not understand.
He knew his own training, his own character, knew his
own work and did it, letting others do theirs, if they
could. It is with this explanation in view that we should
read his remarkable colloquy with B. H. Hill, toward the
close of the war, as reported by Long : —

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 89
"General, I wish you would give us your opinion as to
the propriety of changing the seat of Government and going
farther South."
"That is a political question, Mr. Hill, and you politicians
must determine it. I shall endeavor to take care of the army
and you politicians must make the laws and control the
Government." "Ah, General," said Mr. Hill, "but you will have to change
that rule and form and express political opinions; for if we
establish our independence, the people will make you Mr.
Davis's successor."
"Never, sir," he replied, with a firm dignity that belonged
only to Lee; "that I will never permit. Whatever talents I
may possess (and they are but limited) are military talents,
my education and training are military. I think the military
and civil talents are distinct, if not different, and full duty in
either sphere is about as much as one man can qualify him
self to perform. I shall not do the people the injustice to
accept high civil office, with whose questions it has not been
my business to become familiar."
"Well, but, General, history does not sustain your view.
Caesar and Frederick of Prussia and Bonaparte were great
statesmen as well as great generals."
"And great tyrants," he promptly replied. " I speak of the
proper rule in Republics, where I think we should have
neither military statesmen nor political generals."
"But Washington was both and yet not a tyrant."
With a beautiful smile he responded, "Washington was an
exception to all rules and there was none like him." 46
Probably Lee underestimated his aptitude for civil
government, at any rate in comparison with that of

90 LEE THE AMERICAN
others. The patience, the foresight, above all the tact in
handling men, which made him a great general, would
have made him a great president also. But taking all
things into account, I doubt whether he could have done
more for the Confederacy than he did, or whether even
Washington would have attempted to do more.
Granted, however, that Lee's modesty was the chief
cause of his not interfering further in political action, I
think another consideration must -have influenced him
to some extent. What possible future had the Confeder
ate Government ? It is really remarkable that in all the
mass of Southern — or, for that matter, Northern — his
torical writing so little notice is taken of this vital ques
tion. Supposing the North had given in -and let the
South go free, what would have happened ? Few soldiers
or statesmen seem to have troubled themselves much
about the matter, so far as I can find out. It may be said
that neither did the patriots of the Revolution trouble
themselves about the future. But the case was different.
It was a logical necessity, a natural development for
America to separate from England. Some adjustment
between the colonies was sure to be found; but even
with none they would be better free. For the Confederacy
there would appear to have been but two alternatives.
A great slave empire might have been formed, central
ized for necessary strength, supporting a standing army
of half a million, — not one man more than would have
been required at any moment to face the military power

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 91
of the United States, in disputes that would have arisen
daily over territory, emigration, tariff, and especially
over slavery complications. Or the absurd incompatibil
ity of this with all the ideas for which the South origin
ally went to war would have made itself felt. State rights
would have asserted themselves everywhere. The Con
federate group would have broken into smaller groups,
those again would have dissolved into the original states,
and these, after a probably brief period of dissension and
strife, would have been reabsorbed, with humiliation
and disgust, into the Union from which they had been
rent away. Is it easy to paint any more satisfactory pic
ture of the possible future of the Confederate States of
America ? 47
Such speculation is useless now. It would seem to
have been eminently practical and necessary for the men
who were leading millions of their fellows into such an
abyss of uncertainty. What did Lee think about it? The
answer is not simple ; for his words on the subject
are few and noncommittal. Pollard's accusation, that
" never, at any time of the war, and not even in the
companionship of the most intimate friends, on whom
he might have bestowed his confidence without impru
dence, did he ever express the least opinion as to the
chances of the war," 48 is absurdly exaggerated ; but it is
true that Lee had little to say about the future of the
Confederacy. Before the war, before the issue was
squarely presented, we know that he took much the

92 LEE THE AMERICAN
same view as that I have indicated above. " Secession is
nothing but Revolution." 49 " I can anticipate no greater
calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union.
It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain
of, and I am willing to sacrifice anything but honor for
its preservation."60 Then it seemed to him that either
honor or the Union must be sacrificed and he did not
hesitate. But anarchy, but the accumulation of all evils
must have been clearly before him. Apparently he shut
his eyes to them. Do the immediate duty of the day.
Get independence. "The Confederate States have but
one great object in view, the successful issue of their war
of independence. Everything worth their possessing de
pends on that. Everything should yield to its accom
plishment." 61 Independence once achieved, the rest
would take care of itself. Or those who, unlike Lee, had
the responsibility of civil affairs, would take care of it.
Or God would take care of it. Here is the key to what
in much of Lee's action seems strangely puzzling to
those whose standpoint is somewhat different from his.
Do the plain duty. Let the rest go. God will take care
of it. In this connection a conversation of Lee's with
Bishop Wilmer, is immensely significant.
In what temper of mind he entered this contest, I can speak
with some confidence, from personal interviews with him soon
after the commencement of hostilities.
"Is it your expectation," I asked, "that the issue of this
war will be to perpetuate the institution of slavery?"

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 93
"The future is in the hands of Providence," he replied. " If
the slaves of the South were mine, I would surrender them all
without a struggle to avert this war."
I asked him next upon what his calculations were based in
so unequal a contest, and how he expected to win success;
was he looking to divided counsels in the North, or to foreign
interposition? His answer showed how little he was affected
by the hopes and fears which agitated ordinary minds. "My
reliance is in the help of God."
"Are you sanguine of the result?" I ventured to inquire.
"At present I am not concerned with results. God's will
ought to be our aim, and I am contented that his designs
should be accomplished and not mine." 62
Naturally the good bishop was charmed ; but an or
dinary mind is tempted to hope that it is not incompat
ible with the deepest love and admiration for Lee to
recall the candor and profoundly human truth of Barbe-
Bleue's remark : " C'est en ne sachant jamais ou j'allais
moi-m6me que je suis arrive a conduire les autres."
The object of all war is peace, and with the thousand
doubts and difficulties that were pressing upon him, Lee
must have been anxious from the beginning to arrive at
almost any reasonably satisfactory conclusion of hostil
ities. Here again was a political question, yet one that it
was almost impossible for a commanding general to
avoid. In the earlier part of the war Lee urged a peace
attitude upon Davis, with some apology "in view of its
connection with the situation of military affairs." B3 The
general thought the Northern peace party should be

94 LEE THE AMERICAN
encouraged without fear of that encouragement resulting
in a ree'stablishment of the Union. "We entertain no
such apprehensions, nor doubt that the determination of
our people for a distinct and independent national exist
ence will prove as steadfast under the influence of peace
ful measures as it has shown itself in the midst of war." 54
In this, as in a score of other passages, Lee makes it
perfectly evident that his idea of peace was an ample
acknowledgment of Confederate independence. Yet it
has been maintained, and with reliable testimony, that
towards the close of the struggle he grew ready to accept
some less radical basis of agreement. The apparent con
tradiction is perfectly explicable. Lee believed from first
to last that the people of the South could get free, if they
really wished to. They had the men, they had the re
sources, if they would endure and suffer and sacrifice.
As late as February, 1865, he addressed to Governor
Vance of North Carolina this most remarkable appeal, —
remarkable for its earnestness and enthusiasm of convic
tion in the midst of despair : "So far as the despondency
of the people occasions this sad condition of affairs, I
know of no other means of removing it than by the coun
sel and exhortations of prominent citizens. If they would
explain to the people that the cause is not hopeless ; that
the situation of affairs, though critical, is critical to the ,
enemy as well as to ourselves; that he has drawn his
troops from every other quarter to accomplish his de-l
signs against Richmond and that his defeat now wouldf

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 95
result in leaving nearly our whole territory open to us ;
that this great result can be accomplished if all will
work diligently and zealously ; and that his successes
are far less valuable in fact than in appearance, I think
our sorely tried people would be induced to bear their
sufferings a little longer and regain some of the spirit
that marked the first two years of the war. If they will,
I feel confident that, with the blessing of God, our great
est danger will prove the means of deliverance and
safety." BB
But, alas, the spirit was crushed, the courage was
broken, never to be reanimated again. Lee knew it,
however much he fought the conviction. If the people
were no longerjbehjnd him, what could he do? "Gen
eral Lee says to the men who shirk duty," writes Mrs.
Chesnut, " ' This is the people's wy whpn thpy i\rp>
I stop.' " 66 Or as he himself writes, more solemnly, " Our
people have not been earnest enough, have thought too
much of themselves andjheir ease, and instead__o_f tnm-
ing out to a man, have been content to nurse themselves
and their dimes, and leave the protection of themselves
and families to others." o/~TtTwas this that made him so
hopeless about obtaining supplies that in December,
1864, he is said to have told a committee of Congress
that "he could devise no means of carrying on the
war." B8 It was this that made him so despondent in his
conversation with Hunter, about the same time that the
above letter was written to Vance. " In the whole of this

96 LEE THE AMERICAN
conversation he never said to me that he thought the
chances were over ; but the tone and tenor of his re
marks made that impression on my mind." 59 It was
this, finally, that made him say, as is reported, shortly
after the war was over : " In my earnest belief peace was
practicable two years ago and has been since that time,
whenever the general government should see fit to give
any reasonable chance for the country to escape the con
sequences which the exasperated North seemed ready to
visit upon it." 60
Yet here again, Lee was the soldier, not the president
So long as the civil government said fight, he fought, till
fighting had become, in any reasonable sense, imposs
ible. The distress of mind involved in this is nowhere
more clearly indicated than in the words said to have
been spoken to General Gordon. " General Gordon, I am
a soldier. It is niy duty_to obey orders. It is enough
to turn one's hair gray to spend one day in the Congress.
The members are patriotic and earnest, but they will
neither take.Jjie responsibility pf aH-jcm nor will they
clothe me with authority to act for them. As for Mr.
Davis, he is unwilling to3o anything short of independ
ence and feels that it is useless to try to treat on that
basis." 61 But when at last Davis had left the capital and
practically the control of affairs, the commander of the
Army of Northern Virginia acted his final scene with the
dignity, the sacrifice, the true patriotism which Mr.
Adams has so nobly commemorated.62 Instead of scat-

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 97
tering the desperate remnant of his forces to carry on a
murderous guerilla warfare, Lee recognized the inevit
able, and surrendered his army on conditions certainly
in no way hurtful to its lasting glory. With that sur
render the government of the Confederate States in real
ity ceased to exist.
These studies of Lee in his relations to the civil gov
ernment do not perhaps show him at his best or in the
most splendid manifestation of his genius. Yet hardly
anything in the man's character is grander than the way
in which he instantly adapted himself to new circum
stances and began to work as a loyal and devoted citi
zen, even when the United States still refused him the
rights and privileges of citizenship. The importance of
his influence in this regard, over his friends and family,
over his old soldiers, over every Southern man and
woman cannot be exaggerated. "When he said that
the career of the Confederacy was endejd_L_that the hope
of an independent goyenament-must he_abandoned ; and
that the duty of the future was toabandon thp drt>frm-«f
.a. Confederacy and to rendera new and cheerful alle-
giancejo n rniniW ffnv^rnent, — his utteran££S-ffere
accepted^as-tnur as holy w"r No other human being'
upon earth, no other earthly power could have produced
such acquiescence or could have compelled such prompt
acceptance of the final and irreversible judgment." 63
There was no grudging, no holding back, no hiding of
despair in dark corners, but an instant effort to do, and

98 LEE THE AMERICAN
to urge others to do, everything possible to rebuild the
fair edifice that had been overthrown.
"When I had the privilege, after his death, of exam
ining his private letter-book, I found it literally crowded
with letters advising old soldiers and others to submit to
all authorities and become law-abiding citizens," writes his
biographer.64 " I am sorry," writes Lee himself, " to hear
that our returned soldiers cannot obtain employment.
Tell them they must all set to work, and if they cannot
do what they prefer, do what they can. Virginia wants
all their aid, all their support, and the presence of all her
sons to sustain and recuperate her." 65 " To one who in
quired what fate was in store for us poor Virginians, he
replied, 'You can work for Virginia, to build her up
again, to make her great again. You can teach your
children to love and cherish her.' " 66
If any one urges that this is still the old leaven, after
all, Virginia, always Virginia, we answer, No, this man
was great enough to forget and forget at once, to blend
Virginia even then with a larger nationality. As a mat
ter of policy he expresses this with clear insight : " The
interests of the state are, therefore, the same as those of
the United States. Its prosperity will rise or fall with the
welfare of the country." 67 As a matter of feeling, he ex
presses it with profound and noble emotion, saying to a
lady who cherished more bitterness than he, " Madam,
don-t-bring up your sons to detest- the United States
Government. Recollect that we form one country now.

THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT 99
Abandon all these local animosities and make your sons
Americans." 68
Abandon all these lnr.a.1 animosities and make your sons
Ameriraps. What finer sentence could be inscribed on
the pedestal of Lee's statue than that ? Americans I All
the local animosities forgiven and forgotten, can we not
say that he, too, though dying only five years after the
terrible struggle, died a loyal, a confident, a hopeful
American, and one of the very greatest ?

V
LEE AND HIS ARMY
What we have to study in Lee's relations with his
army, as in other matters, is the character of the man,
how he contrived to hold for three years — and long
after — the absolute devotion of scores of thousands of
soldiers. Other generals have led loyal and enthusiastic
armies from victory to victory. This general held affec
tion and confidence unshaken through defeat, disaster,
and final ruin. And the army that loved him was an army
to be proud of, " the best army," says one of its generous
opponents, " which has existed on this continent." 1
Lee built up his army before he commanded it. Dur
ing the early months of the war he was busy at Rich
mond getting the troops ready for the field, and it was
he more than any one else who transformed a chaotic
afflux of volunteers into the semblance of an organized
force which beat another semblance at the first battle of
Bull Run. Even those who long doubted Lee's ability
as a commander admitted his gift for extracting order
out of conT35iuii. liis""patient industry, his clear .system,
his tact in. s.ronothinp- roiifrf| fpmpprs anrl fraraarrnizintr
wills, that iarred. " In the space of two months," says
Colonel Long, " he was able to equip for the field sixty
regiments of infantry and cavalry, besides numerous

#

V^Ha
_
jfi
.Jn
' J
Ifc
^
/
1 1 ¦ I
/»«
^
% »i
f
Wg
fifr j|
1
JJBr
j&
17
>*¦'
¦
V
r
r
P /
1
¦
¦
^
1
1
F ]
Y|
ri
¦ f J
7
i
^^
•*'.r.
•
*
¦
GENERAL LEE ON TRAVELER
LEE AND HIS ARMY 101
batteries of artillery, making an aggregate of nearly
fifty thousand men."
With this constructive experience behind him, Lee
continued throughout the war to treat his army not as
a mere fighting machine, but as a human body which
must be fed and clothed, or ought to be, for even his
efforts could not accomplish the impossible. He enjoins
upon his subordinate officers care for the well-being of
their men. " Do not let your troops run down, if it can
possibly be avoided by attention to their wants, com
forts, etc., by their respective commanders." 2 His con
stant appeals to the Richmond authorities for provisions,
with graphic statement of the soldiers' sufferings, are
pathetic in their earnestness. Submissive as he was to
superior officials, he resented at once any indication that
his men were being sacrificed to other commands else
where. " I have been mortified to find that when any
scarcity existed, this was the only army in which it is
found necessary to reduce the rations." 3 The best evi
dence of his care is that the soldiers trusted him and
were willing to starve, if he bade them. It is recorded
that a private once wrote saying that he could not do his
work on his rations and asking if the general knew what
they were, as, if he did, it must be that the scarcity was
unavoidable and the men would do the best they could.
Lee made no direct answer, but explained the situation
in a general order. "After that there was not a murmur
in the army." *

102 LEE THE AMERICAN
So with the less pressing but not less serious need of
clothing. Near the end of the war Lee writes that the
men " were greatly exposed in line of battle two days,
had been without meat for three days, and in scanty
clothing took the cold hail and sleet." 5 It was on a pass
age similar to this that Davis noted characteristically,
" these things are too sad to be patiently considered " ;
but I am not aware that he rose up in anger and made
somebody consider them. Frequently Lee is obliged
to allege the utter destitution of his troops as a reason
for not making a forward movement, and in doing so he
expresses his admiration for all they have been able to
accomplish. " Nothing prevented my continuing in his
front but the destitute condition of the men, thousands
of whom are barefooted, a greater number partially shod,
and nearly all without blankets, overcoats, or warm
clothing. I think the sublimest sight of the war was the
cheerfulness and alacrity exhibited by this army in the
pursuit of the enemy under all the trials and privations
to which it was exposed." 6 And it is with the grief of a
mortified parent that he expresses his surprise at finding
some of his followers ready to take advantage of the
necessities of others. "It has also been reported that
some men in this army have been so unmindful of
their obligations to their comrades, and of their own
characters, as to engage in the occupation of purchasing
supplies of food and other things, for the purpose of sell
ing them at exorbitant prices to their fellow soldiers." 7

LEE AND HIS ARMY 103
It was indeed always as a parent, not niexeb/-as a
military superior that T ,ee believed in controlling and
disciplining his army. Xhis attitude led to a certain free
dom of discipline which did not wholly satisfy those
accustomed to European methods. " Two defects as a
general were ascribed to him personally," says a German
critic, " an indifference to discipline and a too kindly
consideration for incompetent officers." 8 And even Davis
remarked that " his habit of avoiding any seeming harsh
ness . . . was probably a defect." 9 Yet if the object of
discipline is to make troops efficient and enthusiastic, it
can hardly be said that Lee failed. An eye-witness, by
no means uncritical and writing on the spot, says : " In
Lee's army everything is reduced down to the smallest
compass and the discipline and obedience of the officers
and men is perfect."10 While Hooker, an enemy who
had felt the results, if he had not watched the processes,
testified : " With a rank and file vastly inferior to our
own, intellectually and physically, that army has, by dis
cipline alone, acquired a character for steadiness and
efficiency, unsurpassed, in my judgment, in ancient or
modern times. We have not been able to rival it, nor
has there been any near approximation to it in the other
rebel armies." n  „
Some good observers, notably Mr. Eggleston, do not
agree with Hooker as to the original quality of Lee's
soldiers. Undoubtedly the best intelligence and educa
tion of the South went right into the ranks ; but this ele-

104 LEE THE AMERICAN
ment was naturally outbalanced by poverty and ignor
ance, and the average Southern soldier was less com
mon-schooled than the Northern, because the same thing
was true of the average Southern citizen. In any case, it
was a popular army, composed of American freemen;
and from the point of view of discipline, Lee, with his
perfect human sympathy, at once seized this fact in all
its bearings. " There is a great difference," he said to
Colonel Long, " between mercenary armies and volunteer
armies, and consequently there must be a difference in
the mode of discipline. The volunteer army is more eas
ily disciplined by encouraging a patriotic spirit than by
a strict enforcement of the articles of war." 12 When Schei-
bert commended the bravery of Jackson's troops at
Chancellorsville, Lee said : " Give me Prussian forma
tions and Prussian discipline, and you would see very
different results." 13
This does not mean that Lee overlooked the absolute
need of severity in dealing with refractory soldiers or was
foolishly averse to it. " You must establish rigid disci
pline," he writes to a subordinate at the very beginning
of the war.14 He insisted everywhere on order and clean
liness. " Colonel," he said to an officer who begged for
a visit, "a dirty camp gives me nausea. If you say your
camps are clean, I will go." 15 He endeavored, as far as
possible, to repress camp vices, especially gambling.
" The general commanding is pained to learn that the
vice of gambling exists and is becoming common in this

LEE AND HIS ARMY 105
army ... it was not supposed that a habit so pernici
ous and demoralizing would be found among men en
gaged in a cause demanding the highest virtue and
purest morality in its supporters." 16 The strictness of his
orders in regard to pillage during his invasions of the
North is well known ; but they were not only strict in
form, they were carried out in fact, as is proved by the
testimony of his enemies, to the lasting glory of both
army and commander. Violation of these orders pro
voked Lee's wrath more than anything except brutal
ity,17 and when he himself detected one soldier in theft,
he ordered him shot immediately. He was equally ready
to inflict the death penalty in cases of desertion, when
they became too frequent, and had again and again to
urge the necessity of rigor upon the Richmond author
ities. " I hope I feel as acutely as any one the pain and
sorrow that such events occasion, and I am sure that no
one would more willingly dispense with them, if they
could be avoided ; but I am convinced that the only way
to prevent them is to visit the offense, when committed,
with the sternest punishment, and leave the offender
without hope of escape, by making the penalty inevit
able." 18
Yet withal he was lenient, perhaps too lenient, and
longed, as a father would, to work by persuasion rather
than by violence. "This is a case," he wrote in one in
stance, "where possible error is better than probable
wrong";19 and doubtiess he applied the rule in many

(io6 LEE THE AMERICAN
/instances When an angry officer wanted to disband a
whole company for cowardice, Lee defended them. " For
the bad behavior of a few, it would not appear just to
punish the whole." 20 And always his method was to get
work done by kindly urgency, by playful rallying, by
sympathetic encouragement, rather than by the spur or
the lash: " General Lee, taking his daily ride about the
lines, came on me while the working parties were dig
ging and spading. His greeting was, 'Good-morning,
my young friend, I feel sorry for you.' 'Why so, Gen
eral ? ' ' Because you have so much to do,' answered the
commander, the gleaming white teeth showing his pleas
ant humor, as he continued his ride. He generally had
some such words to let one know he expected a lot of
work out of him." 21
Discipline of officers is a more delicate matter than
discipline of soldiers and requires an even finer tact,
sympathy, and divination of character. Here also Lee
always remembered that he commanded an army of
American freemen, accustomed to vote and to criticize
everything and everybody. He let them say their say,
asked their advice often, and occasionally followed it.
Yet it is sometimes difficult to reconcile their free and
easy ways with any idea of military subordination. Take,
for example, that hard fighter and true-hearted gende-
man, James Longstreet. I do not wish here to discuss
his conduct at Gettysburg. But when I consider that
conduct in the light of various passages in his letters to

LEE AND HIS ARMY 107'
his chief, I feel myself more in a position to understand
it. What would have happened to Ney or Soult, if he
had addressed the first Napoleon in this wise: "I am
pleased at all times to have any suggestions that you
may make," 22 or again, "There are several little points
upon which you should be posted before the interview,
(¦and I do not see how I can well do this by writing." 23
nLongstreet patronized his great commander as he would
a budding subaltern^ " I wrote a note to General Lee
. . . and cautioned him to make his arrangements to
return that night." 24 With men of this stamp discipline
was not always a simple matter, as appears from some
of the experiences of Jackson.
The summary methods of Jackson did not appeal to
Lee, who, instead of the guardhouse, employed tact as
soothing as it was inexhaustible. The hot-headed Stuart
demands justification against some criticism. Lee writes
to him : " I prefer your acts to speak for themselves, nor
does your character or reputation require bolstering up
by out-of-place expressions of my opinion." 25 It becomes
necessary to dismiss Early from command, in spite of
good service, because he has lost the confidence of his
troops. Lee dismisses him, but states the facts so sym
pathetically that he loses no jot of Early's affection, who
could say after the war, " It is difficult for those who did
not know him personally to understand the wonderful
magnanimity of character which induced^Qeneral Lee
often to take the chances-ot mctming censure nimset

108 LEE THE AMERICAN
rather than run the risk of doing possible injustice to
another." 26 " 
Not that Lee could not rebuke, and sternly. When
the Confederates were flying from Five Forks, he turned
to a general officer and ordered him, with marked em
phasis, to collect and put under guard " all the strag
glers on the field," 27 showing that he meant to include
many of his officers as well as men. On another occa
sion he said to a dilatory commander : " General, I have
sometimes to admonish General Stuart or General Gor
don against being too fast, I shall never have occasion
to find that fault with you." 28
But usually he gave his criticism some turn of sympa
thetic suggestion or even of kindly laughter. It is to be
noted that the success of this method depends upon the
person who uses it, and there are times when one prefers
a straight-out, sharp order, to a would-be pleasant insin
uation. I confess that Lee's amiable reprimands some
times suggest to me Xenophon's remark about Proxenus,
that " he was fit to command the good ; but he could not
instill fear into the soldiers, and it seemed that he had
more consideration for those he commanded than those
he commanded had for him." Proxenus could not have
won the battle of Chancellorsville, however ; and it ap
pears that Lee was feared, for all his mildness. " I believe
all his officers feared him," says Major Ranson. " They
loved him as men are seldom loved, but they feared hinL
too." 29 As to the reprimands, the best-known instance

LEE AND HIS ARMY 109
is that of the officer with the condition of whose lines
Lee was far from satisfied. As they rode together, the
general remarked, " That is a magnificent horse, Gen
eral  , but I should not think him safe for Mrs. 
to ride. He is entirely too spirited for a lady, and I
would urge you by all means to take some of the mettle
out of him before you suffer her to ride him again. And,
by the way, General, I would suggest to you that the
rough paths along these trenches would be admirable
ground over which to tame him." 30 Another interesting
case — made a little suspicious by the profanity — is
that of the staff officer who took the liberty of altering
orders to meet circumstances. Lee made no comment
at the time, but later at dinner he told the story of Gen
eral Twiggs, whose staff were always altering orders,
until he finally remarked to one of them : " Captain,
I know you can prove that you are right, and that my
order was wrong, in fact you gentlemen always are
right, but for God's sake, do wrong sometimes." 31
Among Lee's greatest difficulties in dealing with his
officers was, of course, the question of promotion. Ap
parently every man in the Army of Northern Virginia
felt himself perfectly competent to be commander of it,
except the man who had the honor of filling that office,
and Stuart is said to have remarked sarcastically of th-.
troops in general : " They are pretty good officers now
and after a while will make excellent soldiers too. They
only need reducing to the ranks." 32 " In an army," says

no LEE THE AMERICAN
Dumas in his rollicking fashion, " everybody, from the
second in command to the rawest recruit, desires the
death of somebody." This is quite legitimate. What is
not so is to spend time and temper, not your own, in
complaining, fretting, and repining. Too many high
Confederate officers, J. E. Johnston among others, showed
a sensitiveness and pettiness on the subject, which was
as unbecoming as it was thoroughly human.
Lee himself at all times absolutely disclaimed any
eagerness for advancement. " I think rank of trivial im
portance so that it is sufficient for the individual to exer
cise his command."33 Again and again he offered to
serve wherever and however his superiors thought he
could be useful. To say this is easy. To convince others
of the truth of it is less so. But I am not aware that any
one has ever questioned Lee's sincerity. There was that
about him, in manner and still more in action, which
proved that he thought only of his country and his duty.
Testimony is hardly needed, but Stiles offers a bit, which
is impressive, if somewhat astounding. "I never but
once heard of such a suggestion [that Lee acted from
other than the purest motives], and then it so trans
ported the hearers that military subordination was for
gotten and the colonel who heard it rushed with drawn
sword against the major-general who made it." 84
Nor does there seem to be much disposition to accuse
Lee of favoritism. He certainly had no hand in the ad
vancement of his own sons, who rose steadily by their

LEE AND HIS ARMY in
merit. He refuses a friend's application for a staff posi
tion, because " persons on my staff should have a know
ledge of their duties and an experience of the wants of
the service to enable me to attend to other matters." 35
It is indeed alleged that he was partial to Virginia, not
ably in the case of A. P. Hill; but the charge comes
from sources too prejudiced to deserve much attention.
Even those who complain bitterly of the jealousy and
narrowness of the West Point tradition do not seem to
include Lee in their animosity. Thus Tyler writes to
Price : " I have found myself laboring under the odium
of the little West Pointers in Richmond and their parti
sans. They oppose me in the War Office at all points in
regard to any and every wish." 36 But in the same letter
he says of Lee: "Without parade, haughtiness, or as
sumption, he is elevated in his thought and feeling, and
is worthy of the cause he represents and the army he
commands." 37
One thing is beyond dispute, no personal considera
tion was allowed to enter into his decisions. When he
urged the promotion of a certain officer, it was pointed
out that that officer had been very free in criticizing the
general. " The question is," Lee answered, " not what he
thinks or is pleased to say about me, but what I think
about him." 38
It would be impossible to estimate the time, the
strength, the nervous energy that must have been ex
pended in counseling patience, in soothing injured

112 LEE THE AMERICAN
vanity, in forestalling complaints, and in urging the sac
rifice of personal gain, credit, and advantage to the cause
which all were bound to serve. He writes to one officer
— and the letter is typical : " Recognizing as fully as I
do your merit, patriotism, and devotion to the state, I do
not consider that either rank or position are necessary to
bestow upon you honor, but believe that you will confer
honor on the position. In the present crisis of affairs, I
know that your own feelings, better than any words of
mine, will point out the course for you to pursue to ad
vance the cause in which you are engaged." 39 Without
the power to make promotions himself, and obliged,
even in suggesting, to exercise the utmost consideration
towards a jealous and sensitive superior, Lee, like Wash
ington, was forced to use infinite tact and sympathy in
order to harmonize the claims that conflicted about him.
But he seems to have been more fortunate than Wash
ington in that at least his officers did not conspire and
intrigue against himself.
If they did not quarrel with him, they sometimes quar
reled with each other, however, and so added to his
troubles. Jackson's repeated difficulties with A. P. Hill
will call for more extended discussion in connection with
Lee and Jackson. But among all these high-spirited
young men dissensions and jealousies were almost in
evitable and with little tradition of discipline to re
strain them they were perpetually breaking out, to the
detriment of the service and the extreme discomfort of

LEE AND HIS ARMY 113
the general. An officer of large experience writes: "I
have myself heard a major-general send a message back
to army headquarters by a staff officer of General Lee,
that he did n't see why his division should be expected
to abandon the position they had fought for just to ac
commodate General  , whose troops had fallen back
where his had driven the enemy." i0 In Lee's early days
of command he had to reconcile the animosities of Wise
and Floyd. He did it in words as noble as they are sim
ple : ' You have spoken to me of want of consultation
and concert ; let that pass, till the enemy is driven back,
and then, as far as I can, all shall be arranged. I expect
this of your magnanimity." 41 Later the bellicose A. P.
Hill quarreled with Longstreet over the praise accorded
to their respective commands by newspaper correspond
ents and it is even said that a duel had been arranged ;
but Lee's patience and tact averted such an extremity.42
The most fruitful source of all these differences was
the incurable human disposition to put the blame for
one's failures on somebody else. No doubt Lee's noble
example in constantly refusing to do this himself had a
wide influence on others. It is reported that after the
war he told a publisher that he could not write his mem
oirs, because to do it honesdy would ruin too many
reputations. This does not sound quite genuine ; but we
do know that after Gettysburg he wrote as follows to
Pickett with reference to the latter's official report of the
battle: "You and your men have crowned yourselves

n4 LEE THE AMERICAN
with glory, but we have the enemy to fight, and must
carefully, at this critical moment, guard against dissen
sions which the reflections in your report will create. I
will, therefore, suggest that you destroy both copy and
original." 43 And Pickett did it.
As to his personal relations with his officers, I doubt
if any of them ever felt entirely at ease with him. They
were mostly younger men than he, but even in his early
days he seems to have had few intimate associates, and
age probably softened his natural dignity and gravity
rather than increased it. Not that there was any stiffness
about him or any pretense. I imagine that in his secret
heart he envied the young fellows their careless ways,
their idle jests, their trifling laughter. He liked Stuart's
rollicking nonsense, liked to listen to the Irish banjo-
player, Sweeny. One night when the singing was un
usually uproarious, he stepped out of his tent and noted
with a smile a black jug perched on a boulder : " Gende-
men, am I to thank General Stuart or the jug for this
fine music ? " 44 He liked occasionally to pass a quiet joke
himself. Still, he was no talker, no story-teller, knew
nothing of the fine art of being idle ; and even in the
midst of a hundred thousand men who loved him I think
he was very solitary.
This does not mean that he secluded himself, or kept
apart, absorbed in his own thoughts. He discussed his
plans freely with those in whom he had confidence and
would ask a young officer's opinion of great questions with

LEE AND HIS ARMY 115
a frankness as winning as it was sincere. " Colonel
Long," he said before Gettysburg, " do you think we
had better attack without the cavalry ? If we do, we will
not, if successful, be able to reap the fruits of victory." 4B
Also, he was constantly attentive to the comfort of
those about him. On the retreat from Pennsylvania he
rebuked his aide, Colonel Venable, for telling bad news
too loudly. Venable was high-spirited and did not like
it, nor did a kindly invitation to drink buttermilk en
tirely soothe him. Shortly afterwards the aide, worn
out with running and watching, lay down to sleep in the
mud and rain. When he awoke, he found that the gen
eral had spread his own oilskin over him.46
As to the ease of approaching the commander-in-chief
on matters of business, accounts differ. Grant under
stood that he was "difficult of access to subordinates."
Tyler, in his invaluable letter to Price, giving an ac
count of Lee's army, says the commander is " almost
unapproachable, and yet no man is more simple, or less
ostentatious, hating all pretension." 47 Unapproachable
— yet "the scouts compared him [Jackson] with Lee.
The latter was so genial that it was a pleasure to report
to him." 48 The explanation of these contradictions is
simply that Lee mistrusted his good nature. He knew
that a complainant, once admitted, would waste his time,
his strength, his nerves ; and he trained his aides to do
needed snubbing vicariously. As Colonel Venable writes,
"General Lee had certain wishes which his aides-de-

116 LEE THE AMERICAN
camp knew well they must conform to. They did not
allow any friend of a soldier condemned by a court mar
tial to reach his tent for personal appeal. . . . He said
that with the great responsibilities resting upon him he
could not bear the pain and distress of such applica
tions." 49 And when officers came to find fault in regard
to their promotion, he would turn them over to an aide
with the old-fashioned phrase, " Suage him, Colonel,
suage him." 60
By these methods Lee kept a certain remoteness,
which did not hurt his popularity and helped his dig
nity. Men loved to gaze on him. " It is surprising to
see how eager the men of this army are always to get a
good view of General Lee, for though a person has
seen him a hundred times, yet he never tires looking at
him," is the charmingly naive comment of a correspond
ent of the "Richmond Despatch" in 1863. B1 On the
other hand, the element of distance is most happily sug
gested by the remark of an officer to Mrs. Pickett. " Lee
was a great soldier and a good man, but I never wanted
to put my arms round his neck, as I used to want to do
to Joe Johnston." B2
Yet when occasion brought him into close contact
even with the common soldier, his manner was abso
lutely simple, as of equal to equal, of man to man. Once
in a crowded car a wounded private was struggling to
draw on his coat over a bandaged arm. An officer, see
ing his difficulty, came forward and tenderly assisted

LEE AND HIS ARMY 117
him. B3 It was the commander-in-chief. At another time
Lee had sat down to rest in the shade of a great tree.
A busy surgeon wished to establish his headquarters
there. " Old man, I have chosen that tree for my field-
hospital, and I want you to get out of the way." Then
he discovered his mistake. But Lee gently relieved the
embarrassment of the situation : " There is plenty of
room for both of us, Doctor, until your wounded are
brought." B4 Even when they knew him, the soldiers
sometimes took incredible liberties. On the hottest of
July days one of them left the ranks and approached
the general. The staff tried to stop him, but Lee put
them aside and asked what he wanted. ' Please, Gen
eral, I don't want much, but it 's powerful wet marching
this weather. I was looking for a rag or something to
wipe the sweat out of my eyes." " Will this do?" said
the general, handkerchief in hand. " Yes, my Lordy, that
indeed I " " Well, then, take it with you, and back quick to
ranks ; no straggling this march, you know, my man." 6B
In more serious matters Lee was equally ready to
show the most democratic feeling. A devout Christian
himself, he thought of each man in his army as a soul to
be saved and in every way he could encouraged the mis
sion and revival work which went on all through the war
with ever-increasing activity. Even in the midst of urg
ent duty he would stop and take part in a camp prayer-
meeting, and listen to the exhortations of some ragged
veteran, as a young convert might listen to an apostie.

118 LEE THE AMERICAN
One thing doubtless helped his hold on the soldiers,
as it helped Napoleon's, an extraordinary memory for
names, faces, and characters. The value of this in deal
ing with his officers was, of course, inestimable. " Lee
knew his army man by man almost, and could judge of
the probable results of the movement here announced
by the name of the officer in command." 56 With the pri
vates the advantage gained was less direct but quite as
solid. "I have frequently seen him recognize at once
some old soldier whom he had barely met during the
war, and who would be as surprised as delighted that his
loved commander had not forgotten him." 57 Lee himself
is reported to have said that " he had never been intro
duced to a soldier of the Army of Northern Virginia
whose face and name he could not instantly recall." 68
This I doubt, in view of his not too courteous remark to
Grant, at the time of the surrender, that he had frequently
endeavored to recall his features from their acquaintance
in Mexico, but could never succeed in doing so, and from
another anecdote to the effect that he was extremely
annoyed at not recognizing a man who was introduced
to him after the war. " I was really much ashamed at
not knowing the gentleman yesterday ; I ought to have
recognized him at once. He spent at least an hour in my
quarters in the City of Mexico just after its occupation
by the American army [twenty years previous] ; he made
a very agreeable impression on me, and I ought not to
have forgotten him." B9

LEE AND HIS ARMY 119
What is of most general interest in this matter of Lee's
memory of individuals, is his own assertion that it was
not a special gift, but purely a matter of attention, which
recalls Lord Chesterfield's theory that attention is the
most exquisite element of courtesy. " Want of attention,
which is really want of thought, is either folly or mad
ness. You should not only have attention to everything,
but a quickness of attention, so as to observe, at once,
all the people in the room, their motions, their looks, and
their words, and yet without staring at them, and seem
ing to be an observer." Only, Lee would have com
pleted Chesterfield's idea of courtesy by that other ele
ment of love, which Chesterfield knew nothing about.
Again, like some other great commanders, and unlike
others, Lee won the hearts of his soldiers by living as
they did. He managed the business of his position with
as little fuss and parade as possible. Foreign officers
were struck with the absolute simplicity of his arrange
ments. There were no guards or sentries around his
headquarters, no idle aides-de-camp loitering about. His
staff were crowded together, two and three in a tent, and
none were allowed to carry more baggage than a small
box each. Tyler writes to Price : " Your own headquarters
are more numerous and bulky. He rides with only three
members of his staff and never takes with him an extra
horse or servant, although he is upon the lines usually
from daylight until dark." 60 His dress was always of the
simplest, though neat and tidy, no braid or gilding,

120 LEE THE AMERICAN
nothing but the stars on the collar to indicate his rank.
He was perfectly Spartan as to his abiding-place, almost
never leaving his tent for solid walls ; and he was espe
cially particular that there should be no intrusion upon
peaceful citizens for his comfort. On one occasion Colo
nel Long had established the headquarters in a yard,
but the general insisted on moving, lest they should
annoy the residents. Long, thereupon, rather vexed,
picked out another spot that had little to recommend it ;
but Lee was perfectly contented : " This is better than
the yard. We will not now disturb these good people." 61
At another time Colonel Taylor made everything as
agreeable as possible, but sighed over his chief's indif
ference : "It was entirely too pleasant for him, for he is
never so comfortable as when uncomfortable." 62 This
same Colonel Taylor ventured to rally the general a little
on the subject. It seems that Lee had the best bedroom,
while his aide was obliged to put up with the parlor.
" Ah, you are finely fixed," remarked the great soldier,
as he looked in upon his subordinate. " Could n't you
find any other room ? " " No, but this will do." " He
was struck dumb with amazement at my impudence and
vanished." 63
The table was as simple as the dwelling-place. Neat
tin camp dishes answered for the service and the food
was plain as the tableware. Very frequently there was
actual scarcity ; for the general was not willing to have
special effort made for him when the soldiers were starv-

LEE AND HIS ARMY 121
ing. The dinner often consisted of cabbage boiled with
a little salt. Sweet potatoes and buttermilk were deemed
luxury and when the commander-in-chief offered his
luncheon to a major-general, it was found to consist of
two cold sweet potatoes of which Lee said he was very
fond. Even when better was provided, the general re
fused it, sending delicacies to the hospitals, perhaps not
always to the contentment of his young and hungry
staff. On the last march to Appomattox Mrs. Guild
writes : " When we would camp near a house, they would
prepare their best for General Lee ; but he would sleep
in his tent or on the ground with his staff, and say that
I must go and have what was prepared for him." 64
That Lee was beloved by his army it is hardly neces
sary to say, immensely beloved, beloved as few generals
have ever been. In the first place, officers and soldiers
trusted him. They trusted him in victory, knew that he
would spare their toil and spare their blood as much as
was possible, would make no move for barren glory, but
only for their good and his country's. What is far more,
they trusted him in defeat, knew that he would do every
thing that could be done and would save them from
further damage if human skill could contrive it. They
trusted him after Gettysburg. " We 've not lost confi
dence in the old man, this day's work won't do him any
harm." " Uncle Robert will get us into Washington yet ;
you bet he will." 6B They trusted him in the dark days
of the Wilderness, and in the darker days of Peters-

122 LEE THE AMERICAN
burg. If he could not help them, no one could. Even
the ihard-headed and critical] Longstreet believed that
Lee w^S^e^nianr-rfWe need some such great mind as
General Lee's," he writes from Tennessee.66 When the
final disaster came, the universal trust in the general
was still unshaken. What he decides is right, what he
says is the thing to do must be done. One of the coolest
of Confederate authors writes of the surrender: "Other
men fairly raved with indignation, and declared their
desire to escape or die in the attempt, but not a man
was heard to blame General Lee. . . . On the contrary,
all expressed the greatest sympathy for him and declared
their willingness to submit at once, or fight to the last
man, as he ordered " 67
An army may trust their general without loving him,
however. This army loved him. I have sought far and
wide for expressions of jealousy, of hostility, of luke-
warmness. They are rare indeed. In the early South
Carolina days some disaffection appears. " I do not
know if it prevails elsewhere in the army," writes Gov
ernor Pickens to the president, " but I take the liberty to
inform you that I fear the feelings of General Ripley to
wards General Lee may do injury to the public service.
His habit is to say extreme things even before junior
officers, and this is well calculated to do injury to Gen
eral Lee's command." 68 Occasionally an individual frets
over some disappointment or hindrance, as G. W. Smith
in North Carolina: "What I mean to say is that General

LEE AND HIS ARMY 123
Lee in command of an army at Fredericksburg is not in
the same point of view and evidently does not see things
precisely as they appeared to him when General Johnston
commanded that army";69 or the petulant A. P. Hill,
near the close of the struggle :" It is arrant nonsense
for Lee to say that Grant can't make a night march
without his knowing it. Has not Grant slipped round
him four times already ? " 70
But these mild and scattered notes of discordance are
completely lost in the general chorus of love and loyalty.
The officers, high and low, vie with each other in their
expressions of enthusiasm, none being more complete
and touching in pregnant Brevity than that of Long-
street : *SA11 that we have to be proud of has been ac
complished under your eye and under your orders. Our
affections for you are stronger, if it is possible for them
to be stronger, than our admiration for you." 71 But to
me the simple and almost inarticulate devotion of the
rnmmnn soldiers 'fj f'"1 mr>ro ^panrifyl th^n that of
their superiors. The loving, familiar nicknames, the
quaint anecdotes, the eagerness to see, and to hear,
and to obey, mean more than volumes of eulogy. Curi
ous testimony to the quality of the feeling the soldiers
had is furnished by several independent observers :
" When he appeared in the presence of the troops, he
was sometimes cheered vociferously, but far more fre-
quendy his coming was greeted with a profound silence
which expressed more truly than cheers could have done

124 LEE THE AMERICAN
the well-nigh religious reverence with which the men
regarded his person." 72 This is, I think, a phenomenon
somewhat rare in the psychology of crowds. Another
interesting bit of out-of-the way evidence is furnished by
a writer in the " Richmond Examiner" in August, 1864.
It had been proposed to offer a one hundred dollar bond
to all old soldiers who had served faithfully, but this
correspondent, writing from the army, says : " The sol
diers would prefer a strip of parchment in the shape of
a certificate, setting forth their good conduct and sol
dierly qualities, signed by General R. E. Lee. This
would be indeed a treasure to keep in after years." 7S
Finally, one who knew both general and army well sums
up the matter as follows : "Such was the love and ven
eration of the men for him that they came to look upon
the cause as General Lee's cause, and they fought for it
because they loved him. To them he represented cause,
country, and all." 74
If we seek the origin of this extraordinary personal
devotion, we shall be told that it was magnetism. Doubt
less there was some intangible element in the matter,
something in the man's bearing, something in his words,
something in his lofty and passionate appeals, which won
hearts and held them. A concrete instance of this power
appears in General Alexander's account of his desire to
persuade Lee into keeping up a guerrilla warfare at the
time of the surrender and of the effect of Lee's answer:
" I had not a single word to say in reply. He had an-

LEE AND HIS ARMY 125
swered my suggestion from a moral plane so far above
it that I was ashamed of having made it. With several
friends I had planned to make an escape on seeing a
flag of truce, but that idea was at once abandoned by all
of them on hearing my report." 7B
I think, however, the general explanation of the sol
dier's love for Lee is much simpler, elementary, in fact,
and is contained in the nursery rhyme recording the ad
ventures of Mary and her little lamb. Lee loved his_mep
and trusted them. It is curious to read Wellington's ex
pressions of disgust and contempt for his Peninsular
army, — the soldiers " were detestable for anything but
fighting and the officers were as culpable as the
men," — 76 and then to turn to the words, ever varied, in
which Lee declares over and over his confidence in his
followers and affection for them. After Gettysburg he
says to them : " You have fought a fierce and sanguin
ary battle, which, if not attended with the success that
has hitherto crowned your efforts, was marked by the
same heroic spirit which has commanded the respect of
your enemies, the gratitude of your country, and the ad
miration of mankind." 77 Without rhetoric, writing pri
vately, he says of them, " I need not say to you that the
material of which this army is composed is the best in
the world and if properly disciplined and instructed,
would be able successfully to resist any force that could
be brought against it. Nothing can surpass the gallantry
and intelligence of the main body." 78 And again, " There

126 LEE THE AMERICAN
never were such men in an army before. They will go
anywhere and do anything, if properly led." 79 His sol
diers were his children, and he mourned their loss with
a parental passion of grief: "The loss of our gallant
officers and men throughout the army causes me to
weep tears of blood, and to wish that I could never hear
the sound of a gun again." 80
Is it any wonder that his men loved him, or that their
love grew with the years and after the war they haunted
him with offers of service, offers of protection, offers of
actual food, touching and pathetic, even when they were
mixed with ill-timed drollery. Of all the numerous anec
dotes bearing on this point, one especially is full of tragic
significance. Lee was riding alone through the woods
on his beloved Traveler, when he met an old Confeder
ate. " Oh, General," said the fellow, " it does me so
much good to see you that I 'm going to cheer." The
general protested the utter inappropriateness. But the
man cheered just the same. And as the great soldier
passed slowly out of hearing through the Virginia for
est, it seems to me that his heart and his eyes must have
overflowed at the thought of a great cause lost, of fidel
ity in ruin, and of the thousands and thousands and thou
sands who had cheered him once and in spirit would go
on cheering him forever.

VI
LEE AND JACKSON
JACKSON was a born fighter. In his youth he fought
poverty. He fought for an education at West Point
There he fought his way through against prejudice and
every disadvantage. Fighting in Mexico, he thoroughly
enjoyed himself. As a professor at the Virginia Military
Institute he probably did not. When the war came, it
was a godsend to him ; and he fought with every nerve
in his body till he fell, shot by his own soldiers, at Chan
cellorsville. For pure intellectual power he does not seem to have
been remarkable. He learned what he set out to learn,
by sheer effort. What interested him he mastered. With
out doubt his restless, active mind would have fought
abstract problems, if it had found nothing else to fight.
But I do not imagine he loved thought for itself or had
the calm breadth to study impersonally the great ques
tions of the world and flash sudden, sharp illumination
on them, as did Napoleon.
And Jackson had no personal charm. He was courte
ous, but with a labored courtesy ; he was shy, abrupt,
ungainly, forgetful, and apt to be withdrawn into him
self. His fellow students admired him, but shrank from
him. His pupils laughed at his odd ways and did not

128 LEE THE AMERICAN
always profit by his teaching. This, before his star shone
out. And it is strange to contrast such neglect with the
adoration that pressed close about his later glory. In Mar
tinsburg the ladies " cut every button off his coat, com
menced on his pants, and at one time threatened to leave
him in the uniform of a Georgia colonel — shirt-collar
and spurs." x Nothing similar is recorded of Lee — even
humorously. It must not be supposed that, though unsuccessful in
general society, Jackson lacked warmth or human kind
ness. He was sensitive, emotional, susceptible. He felt
the charm of art in all its forms. He read Shakespeare,
and quoted him in a military dispatch, — " we must burn
no more daylight," 2 — as I cannot imagine Lee doing.
When he was in Europe, he keenly enjoyed painting,
and architecture, and loved to talk of them after his re
turn, entertaining the " Times " correspondent with a
long discussion of English cathedrals, partly, to be sure,
to avoid talk on things military. When in Mexico, he
was charmed by the Mexican girls, so much so that he
fled them, as Dr. Johnson fled Garrick's ballet.3 In his
youth he was even a dancer. When age and religion
came upon him, he used still to indulge for exercise in
an occasional polka, "but," as Mrs. Jackson remarks,
deliciously, "no eye but that of his wife was ever per
mitted to witness this recreation." 4 In his family he was
tender, affectionate, playful, sympathetic. He adored
his little daughter and all children. " His abandon was

STONEWALL JACKSON
(From the original drawing!

LEE AND JACKSON 129
beautiful to see, provided there were only one or two
people to see it. " 6 His letters to his wife are ardent and
devoted, full of an outpouring and self-revelation which
one never finds in the printed letters of Lee.
In short, he was a man with a soul of fire. Action was
his life. To do something, to do high, heroic things, to
do them with set lip and strained nerve and unflinching
determination, — to him this was all the splendor of ex
istence. In his youth he had not learned Latin well and
it was questioned whether he could do it in age. He
said he could. He was set to teach matters that were
strange to him and some doubted whether he could do it.
He said he could. Extempore prayer came to him with
difficulty, and his pastor advised his not attempting it,
if he could not do it. He said he could. " As to the rest,
I knew that what I willed to do, I could do." 6 Such a
statement has its foolish side and takes us back to what
I said above about Jackson's intelligence. Pure intel
ligence sees insurmountable difficulties, too many and
too plain. Jackson, if ever any man, came near to being
pure will.
It seems that his courage, flawless as it was, was cour
age of will rather than of stolid temperament. " He has
told me," says his sister-in-law, " that his first sight of a
mangled and swollen corpse on a Mexican battlefield
filled him with as much sickening dismay as if he had
been a woman." 7 And Dabney writes : " It was not un
usual to see him pale and trembling with excitement at

130 LEE THE AMERICAN
the firing of the first gun of an opening battle." 8 Yet
his power of concentration was so enormous that when
he was thinking out a military problem he forgot bullet
and shell and wounds and death. " This was the true
explanation of that seeming recklessness with which he
sometimes exposed himself on the field of battle." 9
Also he had the magnetic faculty of extending to
others his own furious determination. He could demand
the impossible of them because he performed it himself.
"Come on," he cried in Mexico, "you see there is no
danger." 10 And a shot passed between his legs spread
wide apart. His soldiers marched to death, when he
bade them. What was even worse, they marched at the
double through Virginia mud, without shoes, without
food, without sleep. " Did you order me to advance over
that field, sir?" said an officer to him. "Yes," said Jack
son. "Impossible, sirl My men will be annihilated!
Nothing can live there! They will be annihilated!"
"General  ," said Jackson, "I always endeavor to
take care of my wounded and to bury my dead. You
have heard my order — obey it." u
What was there back of this magnificent, untiring, in
exhaustible will and energy, what long dream of glory,
what splendid hope of imperishable renown ? Or was it
a blind energy, a mere restless thirst for action and ad
venture, unceasing, unquenchable? Something of the
latter there was in it doubtless, of the love of danger for
its pure nerve-thrill, its unrivaled magic of oblivion.

LEE AND JACKSON 131
" Nothing is more certain than that this love of action,
movement, danger, and adventure was a prominent trait
in his organization," says one of his earlier biogra
phers.12 " I envy you men who have been in batde.
How I should like to be in one battle," he remarked in
Mexico ; 13 and he confessed that to be under fire filled
him with a " delicious excitement." 14
Nevertheless, he was far enough from being a mere
common sworder, or even the gay, careless fighter who
does the day's work and never looks beyond it. In his
youth there can be no doubt that he dreamed dreams of
immense advancement, of endless conquest, of triumph
and admiration and success. During the war some one
expressed the belief that Jackson was not ambitious.
"Ambitious!" was the answer. "He is the most am
bitious man in the Confederacy." We have his own
reported words for his feelings at an earlier date. " The
only anxiety I was conscious of during the engagement
was a fear lest I should not meet danger enough to
make my conduct conspicuous." 1B Most striking of all
is Mrs. Preston's picture of him before Wolfe's monu
ment at Quebec. He " swept his arm with a passionate
movement around the plain and exclaimed, quoting
Wolfe's dying words, ' I die content, — ' to die as he died,
who would not be content ? ' " 16
Very little things often throw a fine light on character
and difference of character. On one occasion, as the
troops were marching by, they had been forbidden to

132 LEE THE AMERICAN
cheer, lest the noise might betray them to the enemy.
When Jackson's own brigade passed their general, how
ever, their enthusiasm was too much for any prohibition,
and they cheered loud and long. Jackson smiled as he
listened, and turning to those beside him murmured,
" You see, I can't stop them." 17 Whether Lee had any
ambition or not, it is difficult to imagine him betrayed
into such a naive expression as this. The smile might
have been possible for him, the words never.
So in Jackson's younger days his devouring ardor fed
on worldly hopes. Then religion took possession of
him, not suddenly, but with a gradual, fierce encroach
ment that in the end grasped every fibre of his being.
Like a very similar nature in a different sphere, John
Donne, he examined all creeds first, notably the Catho
lic, but finally settled in an austere and sturdy Calvinism.
Not that his religion was gloomy or bitterly ascetic ; for
it had great depths of love in it and sunny possibilities
of joy. But it was all-absorbing and he fought the fight
of God with the same fury that he gave to the battles of
this world. There must be no weakness, no trifling, no
inconsistency. " He weighed his lightest utterance in
the balance of the sanctuary," writes one who knew him
well. 18 Christians are enjoined to pray. Therefore Jack
son prayed always, even in association with the lightest
act. " I never raise a glass of water to my lips without lift
ing my heart to God in thanks and prayer for the water
of life." 19 They must remember the Sabbath day to keep

LEE AND JACKSON 133
it holy. Therefore Jackson not only refrained from writ
ing letters on Sunday : he would not read a letter on
Sunday ; he even timed the sending of his own letters
so that they should not encumber the mails on Sunday. 20
It was the same with a scrupulous regard for truth.
Every statement, even indifferent, must be exact, or, if
inexact, corrected. And Jackson walked a mile in the
rain to set right an error of inadvertence. 21 The wonder
is that a man of such a temper accomplished anything in
the world at all. I confess that I feel an unsanctified sat
isfaction in seeing the exigencies of war override and
wither this dainty scrupulousness. It is true they cannot
do it always. " Had I fought the battle on Sunday in
stead of on Monday I fear our cause would have suf
fered."22 But then again, the Puritan Lee writes to the
Puritan Jackson (italics mine) : " I had hoped her own
[Maryland's] citizens would have relieved us of that
question, and you must endeavor lo give to the course you
may find it necessary to pursue the appearance of its being
the act of her own citizens." 23 How many leagues the
praying Jackson should have walked in the rain to cor
rect the fighting Jackson's peccadilloes.
And now how did Jackson's ambition and his religion
keep house together? His admirers maintain that re
ligion devoured the other motive completely. " Duty
alone constrained him to forego the happiness and com
forts of his beloved home for the daily hardships of a
soldier's life." 24 But certain of his reported words in the

134 LEE THE AMERICAN
very closing scene make me think that the thirst for
glory was as ardent as ever, even if it had a litde shifted
its form. " I would not agree to the slightest diminution
of my glory there [in heaven], no, not for all the fame
which I have acquired or shall ever win in this world." 2B
It does not sound quite like the chastened spirit of a son
of peace, does it ?
No, the early Jackson and the late Jackson were the
same Jackson. The blare of trumpets, the crash of guns,
the cheers of an adoring army, were a passionate delight
to him and would have been as long as he walked this
fighting world. Only that will, which by itself was
mighty force enough, was doubled and tripled in power'
when it got the will of God behind it. To gratify per
sonal ambition the man might have hesitated at destruc
tion and slaughter. But to do his duty, to carry out the
designs of Providence, — that mission must override all
obstacles and subdue all scruples. In face of it human
agony counted simply as nothing. Henderson, who is re
luctant to find shadows in his idol, questions the authen
ticity of Jackson's interview with his brother-in-law, as
reported by Mrs. Jackson ; but I am perfectiy ready to be
lieve that the hero of the Valley declared for hoisting the
black flag and giving " no quarter to the violators of our
homes and firesides." 26 Certainly it is not denied that
when he was asked how to dispose of the overwhelming
numbers of the enemy, his answer was, " Kill them, sir !
kill every man I " 27 And again, when some one deplored

LEE AND JACKSON 135
the necessity of destroying so many brave men, "No,
shoot them all ; I do not wish them to be brave." 28
Such a tremendous instrument as this might have
gone anywhere and done anything, and if Jackson had
lived, his future defies prevision. " No man had so mag
nificent a prospect before him as General Jackson," wrote
Lawley, the correspondent of the "London Times."
" Whether he desired it or not, he could not have es
caped being Governor of Virginia, and also, in the opin
ion of many competent judges, sooner or later President
of the Confederacy." 29 But this regular method of
ascent would have been slow. When things went wrong,
when politicians intrigued and triumphed, when the
needs of the army were slighted and forgotten for petty
jealousies, Jackson would have been just the one to have
cried out, " Here is man's will, where is God's will ? " —
just the one to have felt God's strength in his own right
arm, to have purged war offices, and turned out con
gresses, and made incompetent presidents feel that they
must give up to those who saw more clearly and judged
more wisely. There would have been no selfishness in
all this, no personal ambition, because it would have
been just doing the will of God. And I can perfectly
imagine Jackson riding such a career and overwhelming
every obstacle in his way except one — Robert E. Lee.
When Jackson and Lee first met does not appear.
Jackson said early in the war that he had known Lee
for twenty-five years. They may have seen something

136 LEE THE AMERICAN
of each other in Mexico. If so, there seems to be no
record of it. At any rate, Jackson thought well of Lee
from the first, and said of him when he was appointed
to command the Virginia forces, " His services I regard
as of more value to us than General Scott could render
as a commander. ... It is understood that General
Lee is to be commander-in-chief. I regard him as a
better officer than General Scott." 30
From the beginning the lieutenant's loyalty to his
chief grew steadily ; not only his loyalty but his personal
admiration and affection. I like the elementary expres
sion of it, showing unconsciously Jackson's sense of
some of his own deficiencies, in his remark to McGuire,
after visiting Lee in the hospital : " General Lee is the
most perfect animal form I ever saw." 31 But illustra
tions on a somewhat broader plane are abundant
enough. " General Lee has always been very kind to
me and I thank him," said Jackson simply, as he lay on
his deathbed. 32 The enthusiasm of that ardent nature
was ever ready to show itself in an almost over-zealous
devotion. Lee once sent word that he should be glad to
talk with his subordinate at his convenience on some
matter of no great urgency. Jackson instantly rode to
headquarters through the most inclement weather. When
Lee expressed surprise at seeing him, the other an
swered: "General Lee's lightest wish is a supreme com
mand to me, and I always take pleasure in prompt
obedience." 33 If we consider what Jackson's nature

LEE AND JACKSON 137
was, it is manifest that he gave the highest possible
proof of loyalty, when it was suggested that he should
return to an individual command in the Valley, and he
answered that he did not desire it, but in every way
preferred a subordinate position near General Lee. 34
Jackson's personal affection for Lee was, of course, in
timately bound up with confidence in his military ability.
Even in the early days, when Jackson had been in vain
demanding reinforcements and word was brought of
Lee's appointment to supreme command, Jackson's com
ment was, "Well, madam, I am reinforced at last." 35
On various occasions, when others doubted Lee's judg
ment or questioned his decisions, Jackson was entirely
in agreement with his chief. For instance, Longstreet
disapproved Lee's determination to fight at Sharpsburg,
and Ropes and other critics have since condemned it.
Jackson, however, though he had no part in it, gave it
his entire and hearty approval.
I do not find anywhere, even in the most private let
ters, a disposition in Jackson to quarrel with Lee's plans
or criticize his arrangements. On the contrary, when
objections are made, he is ready to answer them, and
eagerly, and heartily. " General Lee is equal to any
emergency that may arise. I trust implicitly in his great
ability and superior wisdom." 3B Jackson had plans of
his own and sometimes talked of them. He was asked
why he did not urge them upon Lee. "I have done so,"
was his answer. "And what does he say to them?"

138 LEE THE AMERICAN
" He says nothing. But do not understand that I com
plain of this silence ; it is proper that General Lee should
observe it. He is wise and prudent. He feels that he
bears a fearful responsibility and he is right in declining
a hasty expression of his purpose to a subordinate like
me." 37 Again, some one found fault with Lee's slow
ness. Jackson contradicted warmly : " General Lee is
not slow. No one knows the weight upon his heart, his
great responsibility. He is commander-in-chief and he
knows that if an army is lost, it cannot be replaced. No !
There may be some persons whose good opinion of me
will make them attach some weight to my views, and if
you ever hear that said of General Lee, I beg you will
contradict it in my name. I have known General Lee
for twenty-five years; he is cautious; he ought to be.
But he is not slow." 38 And he concluded with one of
the finest expressions of loyalty ever uttered by a sub
ordinate, and such a subordinate : " Lee is a phenomenon.
He is the only man I could follow blindfold." 39 After

this, who can question the sincerity of the words spoken
on his deathbed : "Better that ten Jacksons should fall
than one Lee ? " 40

And what did Lee think of Jackson ? As always, Lee's
judgments are more difficult to get at. In spite of all
respect and all affection, I cannot but think that his large
humanity shrank a little from Jackson's ardors. When
he told a lady, with gentle playfulness, that General
Jackson, "who was smiling so pleasantly near her, was

LEE AND JACKSON 139
the most cruel and inhuman man she had ever seen," 41
I have no doubt it was ninety-nine parts playfulness, but
perhaps there was one part, one litde part, earnest. Even
after Antietam his military commendation of Jackson
was very restrained, to say the least. " My opinion of the
merits of General Jackson has been greatly enhanced
during this expedition. He is true, honest, and brave, has
a single eye to the good of the service, and spares no
exertions to accomplish his object."42 No superlatives
here. Sharp words of criticism, even, are reported, which,
inexplicable as they sound, seem to come with excellent
authority. " Jackson was by no means so rapid a marcher
as Longstreet and had an unfortunate habit of never
being on time." 43
Yet Lee's deep affection for his great lieutenant and
perfect confidence in him are beyond question. It has
been well pointed out that this was proved practically
by the fact that the commander-in-chief always himself
remained with Longstreet and left Jackson to operate
independently, as if the former were more in need of
personal supervision. Lee's own written words to Jack
son are also — for Lee — very enthusiastic: "Your re
cent successes have been the cause of the liveliest joy in
this army as well as in the country. The admiration ex
cited by your skill and boldness has been constantly
mingled with solicitude for your situation." 44 Jackson's
wound and death and the realization of his loss pro
duced expressions of a warmth so unusual as to be almost

140 LEE THE AMERICAN
startling. " If I had had Stonewall Jackson at Gettys
burg, I should have won that battle." 4B " Such an execu
tive officer the sun never shone on. I have but to show
him my design, and I know that if it can be done it will
be done." 46 The messages sent to the dying general are
as appreciative as they are tender. " You are better off
than I am, for while you have only lost your left, I have
lost my right arm."47 "Tell him that I wrestled in
prayer for him last night, as I never prayed, I believe,
for myself." 48 (Yet if the words are correctly reported,
note even here the most characteristic Lee-like modifica
tion, / believe.) And only those who are familiar with
Lee can appreciate the agony of the partiug outcry,
"'Jackson will not — he cannot die!' General Lee ex
claimed, in a broken voice and waving every one from
him with his hand, ' he cannot die.' " 49
The study of the practical military relations of the two
great commanders is of extreme interest. Lee does not
hesitate to advise Jackson as freely as he would any
other subordinate. " It was to save you the abundance
of hard fighting that I ventured to suggest for your con
sideration not to attack the enemy's strong points, but to
turn his positions at Warrenton, etc., so as to draw him
out of them. I would rather you should have easy fight
ing and heavy victories. I must leave the matter to your
reflection and cool judgment." B0 He even frequendy
gives a sharp order which approaches sternness : " You
must use your discretion and judgment in these matters,

LEE AND JACKSON
and be careful to husband the strength of your command
as much as possible." B1 And again : " Do not let your
troops run down, if it can possibly be avoided by atten
tion to their wants, comforts, etc., by their respective
commanders. This will require your personal atten
tion."62 Jackson seems usually to have accepted all this with
unquestioning submission. It is true that Longstreet is
said once to have accused him of disrespect because he
groaned audibly at one of Lee's decisions.63 But Long-
street was a little too watchful for those groans. Also,
on one occasion, when Lee proposed some redistribution
of artillery, Jackson protested, rather for his soldiers than
for himself : " General D. H. Hill's artillery wants ex
isted at the time he was assigned to my command, and
it is hoped that artillery which belonged to the Army of
the Valley will not be taken to supply his wants." B4 But,
for the most part, the lieutenant writes in the respectful,
affectionate, and trustful tone which he adopted at the
very beginning of the war and maintained until the end :
" I would be more than grateful, could you spare the
time for a short visit here to give me the benefit of your
wisdom and experience in laying out the works, espe
cially those on the heights." BB
Jackson's complete submission to Lee is the more
striking, because, though a theoretical believer in sub
ordination, he was not by nature peculiarly adapted to
working under the orders of others. Some, who knew

i42 . LEE THE AMERICAN
him well, have gone so far as to say that " his genius
never shone under command of another." 56 This is ab
surd enough considering his later battles ; but it seems
to me that some such explanation may be sought for
his comparative inefficiency on the Peninsula, as to which
almost all critics are agreed. It was physical exhaustion,
says Dabney. It was poor staff service, says Henderson.
Is it not possible that, accustomed hitherto to working
with an absolutely free hand, his very desire to be only
an executive and carry out Lee's orders may, for the
time, to some extent, have paralyzed his own initiative ?
However that may be, there is no doubt that Jackson
did not take kindly to dictation from Richmond. It is said
that on one occasion he wrote to the War Office request
ing that he might have fewer orders and more men.57 It
is certain that he complained bitterly to Lee of the custom
of sending him officers without previous consultation. " I
have had much trouble resulting from incompetent officers
being assigned to duty with me, regardless of my wishes.
Those who have assigned them have never taken the re
sponsibility of incurring the odium which results from such
incompetence." 58 And very early in his career he had a
sharp clash with Secretary Benjamin, who had attempted
to interfere in the detail of military arrangements. Jackson
sent in his resignation at once, explaining that his services
could be of no use, if he was to be hampered by remote
and ill-informed control. The fact of the resignation,
which was withdrawn by the kindly offices of Johnston

LEE AND JACKSON 143
and Governor Letcher, is of less interest than the spirit
in which Jackson offered it. When it was represented to
him that the Government had proceeded without under
standing the circumstauces, he replied : " Certainly they
have; but they must be taught not to act so hastily
without a full knowledge of the facts. I can teach them
this lesson now by my resignation and the country will
be no loser by it." B9 Was I wrong in saying that this
man would have ridden over anything and anybody, if
he had thought it his duty? Such summary methods
may have been wise, they may have been effective : they
were certainly very unlike Lee's. I
Now let us turn from Jackson's superiors to his infe
riors. The common soldier loved him. It was not for any
jolly comradeship, not for any fascinating magnetism of
personal charm or heroic eloquence. He was a hard task
master, exacting and severe. "Whatever of personal
magnetism existed in Stonewall Jackson," says his par
tial biographer, "found no utterance in words. Whilst
his soldiers struggled painfully towards Romney in the
teeth of the winter storm, his lips were never opened
save for sharp rebuke or peremptory order." 60 But the
men had confidence in him. He had got them out of
many a difficulty and something in his manner told them
that he would get them out of any difficulty. The sight
of his old uniform and scrawny sorrel horse stirred all
their nerves and made them march and fight as they
could not have done for another man. And then they

144 LEE THE AMERICAN
knew that though he was harsh, he was just. He ex
pected great things of them, but he would do great
things for them. He would slaughter them mercilessly
to win a victory ; but when it was won he would give
them the glory, under God, and would cherish the sur
vivors with a parent's tenderness. "We do not regard
him as a severe disciplinarian," writes one of them, " as
a politician, as a man seeking popularity, — but as a
Christian, a brave man who appreciates the condition of
a common soldier, as a fatherly protector, as one who
endures all hardship in common with his followers, who
never commands others to face danger without putting
himself in the van." 61
But with his officers it was somewhat different. They
did indeed trust his leadership and admire his genius.
How could they help it ? It is said that all the staff offi
cers of the army at large liked him.62 And Mrs. Jackson
declares that his own staff were devoted to him, as they
probably were. Yet even she admits that they resented
his rigid punctuality and early hours. And there is no
doubt that in these particulars and in many others he
asked all that men were capable of and sometimes a
little more. " General Jackson," says one of his staff, " de
manded of his subordinates implicit obedience. He gave
orders in his own peculiar, terse, rapid fashion, and he
did not permit them to be questioned." 63 General Ewell
is said to have remarked that he never "saw one of
Jackson's couriers approach him without expecting an

LEE AND JACKSON 145
order to assault the North Pole." 64 On one occasion he
had given his staff directions to breakfast at dawn and
to be in the saddle immediately after. The general ap
peared at daybreak — and one officer. Jackson lost his
temper. "Major, how is it that this staff never will be
punctual?" When the major attempted some apology
for the others, his chief turned to the servant in a rage.
" Put back that food into the chest, have that chest in
the wagon, and that wagon moving in two minutes."65
Also Jackson had a habit of keeping everything to
himself. This may have been a great military advantage.
It was a source of constant amusement to the soldiers.
Jackson met one of them one day in some place where
he should not have been. "What are you doing here?"
" I don't know." " Where do you come from ? " "I don't
know." When asked the meaning of this extraordinary
ignorance, the man explained, " Orders were that we
should n't know anything till after the next fight." Jack
son laughed and passed on.66
But the officers did not like it. Jackson made his own
plans and took care of his own responsibilities. Even his
most trusted subordinates were often told to go to this
or that place with no explanation of the object of their
going. They went, but they sometimes went without
enthusiasm. And Jackson was no man for councils of
war. Others' judgment might be as good as his, but only
one judgment must settle matters, and his was for the
time to be that one.

146 LEE THE AMERICAN
Hence his officers fretted and he quarreled with some
of the best of them. And when things did not go right,
with him it was the guardhouse instantly. All five regi
mental commanders of the Stonewall Brigade were once
under arrest at the same time.67 The gallant Ashby, just
before his last charge and death, had a sharp bit of fric
tion with his superior. When Gregg lay dying, he sent
to the general to apologize for a letter recently written
" in which he used words that he is now sorry for . . .
He hopes you will forgive him." 68 Jackson forgave him
heartily ; but he could not have deathbed reconciliations
with all of them.
In some of these cases Lee was obliged to interfere,
notably in that of A. P. Hill. Hill was a splendid soldier.
Lee loved him. By a strange coincidence his name was
on the dying lips of Lee and Jackson both. But he was
fiery and impetuous and did not hesitate to criticize
even the commander-in-chief with hearty freedom. He
chafed sorely under Jackson's arbitrary methods. Lee,
in recommending him, foresaw this, and tried to insinu
ate a little caution. " A. P. Hill you will, I think, find
a good officer, with whom you can consult, and, by ad
vising with your division commanders as to your move
ments, much trouble will be saved you in arranging
details, and they can aid more intelligently." 69
It was quite useless. The two fiery tempers clashed im
mediately. Jackson put his subordinate under arrest more
than once. In the "Official Records" we may read the

LEE AND JACKSON 147
painful but very curious correspondence in which the two
laid their grievances before Lee and Lee with patient tact
tried to do justice to both. "If," says Hill, " the charges
preferred against me by General Jackson are true, I do
not deserve to command a division in this army ; if they
are untrue, then General Jackson deserves a rebuke as
notorious as the arrest." 70 It is said that Lee at last
brought the two together, and, "after hearing then-
several statements, walking gravely to and fro, said,
' He who has been the most aggrieved can be the most
magnanimous and make the first overture of peace.'
This wise verdict forever settled their differences." 71
Forever is a long word, but surely no judgment of
Solomon or Sancho Panza could be neater.
Lee's relations with Jackson as to strategy and tactics
are no less interesting than the disciplinary. Some of
Jackson's admirers seem inclined to credit him with Lee's
best generalship, especially with the brilliant and suc
cessful movements which resulted in the victories of the
Second Bull Run and of Chancellorsville. Just how far
each general was responsible for those movements can
never be exactly determined. The conception of flank
attacks would appear to be an elementary device to any
military mind. Lee certainly was sufficientiy prone to
them and urged them upon Jackson at an early stage, as
is shown by a passage quoted above.72 It is in nice and
perfect execution that the difficulty lies, and in the deli
cate adjustment of that execution to the handling of the

148 LEE THE AMERICAN
army as a whole ; and in this Lee and Jackson probably
formed as wonderful a pair of military geniuses as ever
existed.
As to Lee's initiative, it can be easily shown that even
in the first Valley campaign he had, to say the least, a
most sympathetic and prophetic comprehension of Jack
son's action. If Jackson may possibly have conceived the
plan of the Second Bull Run campaign, it was Lee who
designed the tactics of Gaines's Mill, that Jackson failed
to carry out. At a later date, just before Fredericksburg,
when Jackson was again operating in the Valley, Hen
derson, in the absence of authentic data, assumes that
the lieutenant was anxious to realize some flanking con
ception of his own and that Lee assented to it. This may
be so, but a few weeks later still, when the battle was im
minent, Lee expresses himself to a very different effect.
" In previous letters I suggested the advantages that
might be derived by your taking position at Warrenton
or Culpeper, with a view to threaten the rear of the
enemy at Fredericksburg. ... As my previous sugges
tions to you were left to be executed or not at your dis
cretion, you are still at liberty to follow or reject them."73
The case that has aroused most controversy, one of
those delightful problems that can be always discussed
and never settled, is that of Chancellorsville. The facts,
so far as they can be gathered from conflicting accounts,
seem to be as follows. On the night of May i, Hooker
had withdrawn to Chancellorsville. Lee and Jackson met

LEE AND JACKSON 149
and talked over the state of things. Examination had
shown that to attack Hooker's left and centre was out of
the question. On the other hand, reports received from
the cavalry made it appear that the right might be as
sailed with advantage. Lee decided on this and ordered
Jackson to make the movement. Jackson then secured
further information, elaborated his plans accordingly,
and acted on them with Lee's approval.
Evidently this statement leaves many loopholes, but it
is impossible to be more definite, or to say just where
Lee's conception ended and Jackson's began. If we turn
for information to the two principal actors, we shall not
progress much. " I congratulate you upon the victory
which is due to your skill and energy," 74 says Lee ; but this
passing of compliments means no more than Jackson's
general acknowledgment : " All the credit of my successes
belongs to General Lee ; they were his plans and I only
executed his orders." 7B Jackson's special comment is not
more helpful : " Our movement was a great success ; I
think the most successful military movement of my life.
But I expect to receive more credit for it than I deserve.
Most men will think that I planned it all from the first,
but it was not so." 76 — " Ah," we interrupt, "this is mag
nanimous. He is going to give the credit to Lee." — Not
at all ; he is only going to give it to God. Nor does Lee's
letter to Mrs. Jackson make matters much clearer. " I
decided against it [front attack] and stated to General
Jackson we must move on our left as soon as practicable ;

150 LEE THE AMERICAN
and the necessary movement of troops began immedi
ately. In consequence of a report received about this
time from General Fitzhugh Lee, . . . General Jackson,
after some inquiry, undertook to throw his command
entirely in Hooker's rear." 77
What interests me in the controversy is not the de
bated point, which cannot seriously affect the greatness
of either party concerned, but the characteristic reserve
of Lee, as shown in the last sentence above quoted, and
far more in the letter to Dr. Bledsoe, written, says Jones,
in answer to a " direct question whether the flank move
ment at Chancellorsville originated with Jackson or with
himself." Lee's reply is so curious that I quote the im
portant part of it entire.
I have learned from others that the various authors of the
life of Jackson award to him the credit of the success gained
by the Army of Northern Virginia where he was present, and
describe the movements of his corps or command as inde
pendent of the general plan of operations and undertaken
at his own suggestion and upon his own responsibility.
I have the greatest reluctance to say anything that might
be considered as detracting from his well-deserved fame, for
I believe no one was more convinced of his worth or appre
ciated him more highly than myself; yet your knowledge of
military affairs, if you have none of the events themselves,
will teach you that this could not have been so. Every move
ment of an army must be well considered and properly
ordered, and every one who knew General Jackson must know
that he was too good a soldier to violate this fundamental

LEE AND JACKSON 151
principle. In the operations around Chancellorsville, I over
took General Jackson, who had been placed in command of
the advance, as the skirmishers of the approaching armies
met, advanced with the troops to the Federal line of defenses,
and was on the field until their whole army recrossed the
Rappahannock. There is no question as to who was responsible for the oper
ations of the Confederates, or to whom any failure would
have been charged.78
The more I read this letter, the less I understand it
It does not answer Bledsoe's question at all, makes no
attempt to answer it. Instead, it tells us that Jackson did
not rob Lee of the command, or the responsibility, or the
glory. Who ever supposed he did ? And why did Lee
write so? Did he wish to leave Jackson the credit of in
itiative in the matter? It sounds as if he wished the pre
cise contrary, which is quite impossible. Or did he miss
the whole point, which seems equally impossible ? This
letter, like many others, goes far to reconcile me to the
loss of the memoirs that Lee did not write. I feel sure
that with the best intentions in the world he would have
left untold a great deal that we desire to know.
It is hardly necessary to say that in a comparison of
Lee and Jackson the question of just how far either one
originated the military designs which covered both with
glory is not really very essential. I hope that I have
already indicated the difference between them. Perhaps
in their religion it is as significant as in anything. To
both religion was the main issue of life; but in Lee

152 LEE THE AMERICAN
religion never tyrannized ; in Jackson I think it did. Lee
said that " duty was the sublimest word in the language."
Nevertheless, if he had heard Mrs. Jackson's remark that
her husband " ate, as he did everything else, from a sense
of duty," 79 I think he would have smiled and observed
that it might be well occasionally to eat for pure pleas
ure. It would be most unjust to say that Jackson's was
a religion of hell ; but it would be nobly true to say that
Lee's was a religion of heaven. It would be fairer to both
to speak of Jackson's as a devouring fire, of Lee's as a
pure and vivifying light. Indeed, especially in compari
son with Jackson, this idea of light satisfies me better for
Lee than anything else. His soul was tranquil and serene
and broadly luminous, with no dark corner in it for vio
lence or hate.
And, although I speak with humility in such a matter,
may we not say that the military difference between the
two was something the same? It is possible that Jackson
could strike harder, possible even that he could see as
deeply and as jusdy as his great commander. I think
that Lee had the advantage in breadth, in just that one
quality of sweet luminousness. He could draw all men
unto him. What a splendid mastery it must have been
that kept, on the one hand, the perfect friendship and con
fidence of the high-strung, sensitive, and jealous Davis,
and on the other, the unquestioning loyalty, affection,
and admiration of a soul so swift and haughty and
violent as that of Jackson 1

VII
LEE IN BATTLE
Any study of Lee would be incomplete without portrayal
of him in the greatest crises of all. For my purpose it
would have been convenient if some keen-sighted jour
nalist could have accompanied the general in his various
battles and left a stenographic report of where he went
and what he said and what he did. Unfortunately the
many memoir writers who were in a good position to
observe were at the time, for the most part, excellendy
occupied with their own affairs. Therefore I ask in vain
as to Lee's whereabouts and action at certain very
critical moments.
We like to imagine the master mind in a great con
flict controlling everything, down to the minutest detail.
But with vast modern armies this is far from being the
case, even with the elaborate electrical facilities of to
day ; and in Lee's time those facilities were much less
complete. Lee himself indicated this humorously when
he was remonstrated with for running unnecessary risk
and answered : " I wish some one would tell me my
proper place in batde. I am always told I should not be
where I am." l And he expressed it with entire serious
ness when he said, in words in part already quoted :
" My interference in batde would do more harm than

154 LEE THE AMERICAN
good. I have, then, to rely on my brigade and division
commanders. I think and work with all my power to
bring the troops to the right place at the right time ;
then I have done my duty. As soon as I order them for
ward into battle, I leave my army in the hands of God." 2
Some critics hold that Lee was inclined to carry the
principle too far. What impresses me in this, as in other
things, is the nice balance of his gifts. Persons by nature
disposed to direct others almost always seek to direct
in everything. How wise and constant Lee's guidance
was, where he thought it needed, is shown by his son's
remark : " We were always fully instructed as to the best
way to get to Lexington, and, indeed, all the roads of
life were carefully marked out for us by him." 3 Yet the
moment he reached the limit of what he thought was his
province, he drew back and left decision to others whom
he felt to be, by nature or training, better qualified.
The amount of Lee's direction and influence seems to
have varied greatly in different battles. At Fredericks
burg he adopted a central position whence he could
survey the whole field. Colonel Long's remarks in de
scribing this must have given Longstreet exquisite pleas
ure. " In the battle Longstreet had his headquarters at
the same place, so that Lee was able to keep his hand
on the rein of his 'old war-horse' and to direct him
where to apply his strength." i At Antietam critics are
agreed that Lee's management of things was perfect.
" He utilized every available soldier : throughout the day

LEE IN BATTLE 155
he controlled the Confederate operations over the whole
field." 5 On the other hand, in the Peninsular battles,
owing perhaps, to imperfect organization and staff ar
rangements, his hold on the machine was much less
complete ; and at Gettysburg the vast extension^ of his
lines made immediate personal direction almost impos
sible, with results that were disastrous.
It is at Gettysburg that we get one of the most vivid
of the few pictures left us of Lee in the very midst of
the crash and tumult of conflict. This is from the excel
lent pen of General Alexander, who says that the com
mander-in-chief rode up entirely alone, just after Pickett's
charge, " and remained with me for a long time. He
then probably first appreciated the extent of the disaster,
as the disorganized stragglers made their way back past
us. . . . It was certainly a momentous thing to him to
see that superb attack end in such a bloody repulse. But,
whatever his emotions, there was no trace of them in his
calm and self-possessed bearing. I thought at that time
his coming there very imprudent and the absence of all
his staff officers and couriers strange. It could only have
happened by his express intention. I have since thought
it possible that he came, thinking the enemy might follow
in pursuit of Pickett, personally to rally stragglers about
our guns and make a desperate defense. He had the in
stincts of a soldier within him as strongly as any man.
... No soldier could have looked on at Pickett's charge
and not burned to be in it To have a personal part in

156 LEE THE AMERICAN
a close and desperate fight at that moment, would, I
believe, have been at heart a great pleasure to General
Lee and possibly he was looking for one." 6
And I ask myself how much of that born soldier's lust
for battle, keen enjoyment of danger and struggle and
combat, Lee really had. Certainly there is little record of
his speaking of any such feeling. At various times he
expressed a deep sense of all the horrors of war. " You
have no idea of what a horrible sight a battlefield is." 7
And again : " What a cruel thing is war ; to separate and
destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and
happiness God has granted us in this world ; to fill our
hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and
to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world." 8 Yet
we must remember that at the time of his great military
glory Lee was an old man and the fury of hot blood was
tempered in him. I imagine that he found an intense de
light in Mexico, " when the musket balls and grape were
whistling over my head in a perfect shower," 9 and when
he was threading his way alone in night and solitude
through the murky pitfalls of the Pedregal. Even at a
later time one vivid sentence, spoken in the midst of the
slaughter of Fredericksburg, lights the man's true in
stincts, like a flash : " It is well that war i* «o tprrihle.
or else we might grow too fond qf it" 10
As to Lee's personal courage, of course the only point
to be discussed is the peculiar quality of it. Judging from
his character generally and from all that is recorded of

LEE IN BATTLE 157
him, I should not take it to be a temperamental indiffer
ence to danger, a stolid disregard of its very existence,
such as we find perhaps in Grant or Wellington. Though
far from being a highly nervous organization, Lee was
sensitive, imaginative ; and he probably had to accus
tom himself to being under fire and was always per
fectly aware of any elements of peril there might be
about him. By the time the war broke out, however, he
was doubtless as indifferent to bullets as to raindrops,
and went where duty took him without a moment's
thought of the result.
Testimony to his entire coolness in battle is abundant
enough. I do not know of any more striking statement
than Scheibert's. " During the battle of Chancellorsville,
at the very crisis of the struggle, I happened to be stand
ing beside the general under fire and in full view of
a very interesting episode of the fight. I was astonished
when, in spite of the excitement natural to such a scene,
he . . . began to converse with me about popular educa
tion." n A vivid concrete instance of self-possession in
the midst of turmoil is narrated by a Union soldier: "A
prisoner walked up to him and told him a rebel had
stolen his hat In the midst of his orders he stopped and
told the rebel to give back the hat and saw that he done
it, too." 12
I am not aware that Lee was wounded at any time
during the war, or indeed in his life, except slightly at
Chapultepec. His hands were severely injured just before

158 LEE THE AMERICAN
Antietam, but this was by the falling of his horse. He
was, however, constantly under fire. At Antietam A. P.
Hill, who was close to the general, had his horse's fore
legs shot off. On another occasion, when Lee was sitting
with Stuart and his staff, "a shell fell plump in their
midst, burying in the earth with itself one of General
Lee's gauntlets, which lay on the ground only a few feet
from the general himself." 13 In 1864 Lee was inspecting
the lines below Richmond and the number of soldiers
gathered about him drew the enemy's fire rather heavily.
The general ordered the men back out of range and
himself followed at his leisure ; but it was observed that
he stopped to pick up something. A fledgling sparrow
had fallen out of its nest and he took it from the ground
and tenderly replaced it, with the bullets whistling
around him.14
As in this case, Lee was always extremely solicitous
about the unnecessary exposure of his men. Once, when
he was watching the effect of the fire from an advanced
battery, a staff officer rode up to him by the approach
which was least protected. The general reprimanded
him for his carelessness, and when the young man
urged that he could not seek cover himself while his
chief was in the open, Lee answered sharply : " It is my
duty to be here. Go back the way I told you, sir."16 At
another time Lee had placed himself in a very exposed
position, to the horror of all his officers. They could not
prevail upon him to come down, so finally General

LEE IN BATTLE 159
Grade stepped forward and interposed himself between
his commander and the enemy. "Why, Grade," pro
tested Lee, " you will certainly be killed." " It is better,
General, that I should be killed than you. When you
get down, I will." Lee smiled and got down.16
No protest and no entreaty, however, could make the
commander-in-chief protect himself as much as his offi
cers wished. Perhaps the most amusing instance of this
is an experience of Lee and Davis together in the early
days on the Peninsula. They were riding side by side
under fire when Davis realized the danger and urged his
companion to withdraw. Lee returned the compliment.
Then they both forgot all about it, till A. P. Hill rode up
and begged them to go back. They withdrew a few feet,
without mending matters much, till finally Hill reap
peared and insisted that they should betake themselves
to some position out of range.17
When matters became really critical, Lee completely
threw aside all caution. In the terrific battles of the
Wilderness, where at times it seemed as if Grant would
succeed in effecting a permanent break, the Confederate
general repeatedly (on three separate occasions, as it
appears) rushed to the front to rally his men and charge,
like Ney or Murat, at the head of them. " Go back, Gen
eral Lee, go back," shouted the soldiers. But he would
not go back till they had promised to do as much for
him as they could have done with him. And they did as
much. No men could have done more.18

160 LEE THE AMERICAN
It was this occasional fury of combativeness which
made Longstreet assert that the general was sometimes
unbalanced, not by any personal exposure or excitement,
but by critical situations affecting the army as a whole.
Longstreet, defending his own conduct at Gettysburg,
urges that Lee was particularly overwrought at the time
of that battle. In what is, to say the least, peculiar phrase
ology, the lieutenant writes of his commander : " That he
was excited and off his balance was evident on the after
noon of the first, and that he labored under that oppres
sion till blood enough was shed to appease him." 19 The
suggestion that Lee required blood to appease him is
grotesque and his loyal admirers ridicule the idea that
at Gettysburg he was unbalanced. But there is evidence
beside Longstreet's that, once in a fight, he hated to
give it up and perhaps occasionally allowed his ardor to
overcome his discretion. The Prussian officer Scheibert
remarks that, while at Chancellorsville Lee was admir
ably calm, at Gettysburg he was restiess and uneasy.20
General Anderson bears witness that at Gettysburg his
chief was " very much disturbed and depressed." 21 Curi
ous independent testimony to a relation between Lee
and Longstreet just before the final surrender, precisely
similar to what Longstreet depicts at Gettysburg, is
furnished by Captain Ranson in " Harper's Magazine,"
though I confess I cannot quite adjust it to Longstreet's
own narrative. The captain involuntarily overheard a
conversation between the two generals. "I must have

LEE IN BATTLE 161
slept for an hour at least when again I was awakened by
the loud, almost fierce tones of General Lee, saying,
'I tell you, General Longstreet, I will strike that man
[Grant] a blow in the morning.' General Longstreet
again recounted the difficulties, ending as before, ' Gen
eral, you know you have only to give the order and the
attack will be made, but I must tell you that I think it a
useless waste of brave lives.' " 22 Also that excellent critic
Colonel T. L. Livermore proposes to solve the difficult
question, why Lee did not earlier abandon Petersburg,
by accepting Davis's suggestion that the general's too
combative temperament made him reluctant to retire
from an enemy.23
The most heroic picture that is left us of Lee, high-
wrought by the excitement of battle and determined to
fight to the end, is the account, received by Henderson
from a reliable eye-witness, of the chief's decision to re
main north of the Potomac after Antietam. General after
general rode up to the commander's headquarters, all
with the same tale of discouragement and counsel of re
treat. Hood was quite unmanned. " My God ! " cried Lee
to him, with unwonted vehemence, " where is the splen
did division you had this morning?" " They are lying
on the field where you sent them," answered Hood.
Even Jackson did not venture to suggest anything but
withdrawal. There were a few moments of oppressive
silence. Then Lee rose in his stirrups and said : "Gen-
demen, we will not cross the Potomac to-night. You will

162 LEE THE AMERICAN
go to your respective commands, strengthen your lines ;
send two officers from each brigade towards the ford to
collect your stragglers and bring them up. Many have
come in. I have had the proper steps taken to collect all
the men who are in the rear. If McClellan wants to fight
in the morning, I will give him battle. Go!"24 They
went, and in this case at least Lee's glorious audacity
was justified ; for he proved to all the world that Mc
Clellan did not dare attack him again.
However Lee's judgment may have been affected by
the excitement of battle, it made little alteration in his
bearing or manner. Fremantle tells us that the general's
dress was always neat and clean, and adds : " I observed
this during the three days' fight at Gettysburg, when
every one else looked and was extremely dirty." 2B Stress
of conflict sometimes seems to alter men's natures. Odd
stories are told in the war-books of officers quite saintly
in common converse who in battle would swear like re
probates. Conversely, it is said of the great Conde that
in his daily dealings with his soldiers his tongue was
incredibly rough, but the moment he got under fire he
addressed everybody about him with exquisite politeness.
Lee's politeness was always exquisite. It was only very,
very rarely that some untoward incident stirred either
his temper or his speech. " Probablyno man ever com
manded an army and, at the same time, s5*nrtifely
commanded himself as Lee/^jays the cooFblooded
lexanderY'^Tliis mufGing[after Chancellorsville] was

LEE IN BATTLE 163
almost the only occasion on which I ever saw him out
of humor." 28
Nor was it only a question of mere politeness. Lee
was as tender and sympathetic to man and beast in the
fury of combat, in the chaos of defeat, as he could have
been in his own domain at Arlington. After the great
charge on the third day at Gettysburg, an officer rode
up to him lashing an unwilling horse. " Don't whip him,
Captain, don't whip him," protested the general, " I have
just such another foolish beast myself and whipping
doesn't do any good."27 And as the tumult of disaster
increased, the sympathy took larger forms of magna
nimity than mere prevention of cruelty to animals. There
was no fault-finding, no shifting of perhaps deserved
blame to others, nothing but calmness, comfort, cheer
fulness, and confidence. " All this will come right in the
end ; we '11 talk of it afterwards ; but in the mean time
all good men must rally." 28 " Never mind, General. All
this has been my fault. It is I that have lost this fight,
and you must help me out of it the best way you can." 29
So, with incomparable patience, tact, and energy,
the great soldier held his army together after defeat
and kept it in a temper and condition which went far
to justify Meade's reluctance to follow up his success.
Only, to complete the picture, one should turn to General
Imboden's brief sketch, taken after the work was done
and natural human exhaustion and despair claimed some
litde right over even a hero's nerve and brain. It must

164 LEE THE AMERICAN
be remembered that this was a man fifty-six years old.
Towards midnight Lee rode up to Imboden's command.
"When he approached and saw us, he spoke, reined up
his horse and endeavored to dismount. The effort to do
so betrayed so much physical exhaustion that I stepped
forward to assist him, but before I reached him, he had
alighted. He threw his arm across his saddle to rest
himself and, fixing his eyes upon the ground, leaned in
silence upon his equally weary horse : the two formed
a striking group, as motionless as a statue. After some
expressions as to Pickett's charge, etc., he added in
a tone almost of agony, ' Too bad ! Too bad ! Oh, too
bad ! '" 30
With the portrait of Lee himself in the shock of battle
we should put a background of his soldiers and their
feeling as he came among them. We have already heard
their passionate cry when he rushed to put himself at
their head and charge into the thickest of the fight. " Go
back, General Lee! Go back!" General Gordon, who
loved to throw a high-light of eloquence on all such
scenes, describes this one with peculiar vividness, his
own remonstrance, "These men are Georgians, Virgin
ians, and Carolinians. They have never failed you on
any field. They will not fail you now. Will you, boys?"
and the enthusiastic answer, " No, no, no ! " 31 Those
who like the quiet truth of history, even when it chills,
will be interested in an eye-witness's simple comment on
this picturesque narrative. " Gordon says, ' We need no

LEE IN BATTLE 165
such encouragement.' At this some of our soldiers called
out, ' No, no ! ' Gordon continuing, said, ' There is not
a soldier in the Confederate army who would not gladly
lay down his life to save you from harm' ; but the men
did not respond to this last proposition." 32
It cannot be doubted, however, that Lee's personal
influence in critical moments was immense. On one oc
casion just before battle there was heard to pass from
mouth to mouth as a sort of watchword the simple
comment, " Remember, General Lee is looking at us." 33
Mr. Page describes a scene which is very effective as
showing how little the general relied on words and how
little he needed to. Lee was riding through the ranks
before a conflict. He " uttered no word. He simply re
moved his hat and passed bareheaded along the line.
I had it from one who witnessed the act. ' It was,' said
he, ' the most eloquent address ever delivered.' And a few
minutes later, as the men advanced to the charge, he
heard a youth, as he ran forward, crying and reloading
his musket, shout through his tears that ' any man who
would not fight after what General Lee said was a
 coward.' " 34
Perhaps the most splendid battle-piece of Lee in the
midst of his fighting soldiers is Colonel Marshall's ac
count of the triumphant advance on the third day at
Chancellorsville. The enemy were retiring and the
troops swept forward through the tumult of batde and
the smoke of woods and dwellings burning about them.

166 LEE THE AMERICAN
Everywhere the field was strewn with the wounded and
dying of both armies. "In the midst of this scene Gen
eral Lee, mounted upon that horse which we all remem
ber so well, rode to the front of his advancing battalions.
His presence was the signal for one of those uncontrol
lable outbursts of enthusiasm which none can appreciate
who have not witnessed them. The fierce soldiers, with
their faces blackened with the smoke of battle, the
wounded, crawling with feeble limbs from the fury of the
devouring flames, all seemed possessed with a common
impulse. One long, unbroken cheer, in which the feeble
cry of those who lay helpless on the earth blended with
the strong voices of those who still fought, rose high
above the roar of battle, and hailed the presence of the
victorious chief. He sat in the full realization of all that
soldiers dream of — triumph." 3B
This was victory. But there came a day of defeat,
when the Army of Northern Virginia, after four years
of fighting and triumphing and suffering, shrunk almost
to nothing, saw its great commander ride away to make
his submission to a generous conqueror. Their love, their
loyalty, their confidence were no less than they had ever
been. If he said further fighting was useless and inhu
man, it must be so.
But this very absolute confidence increased the weight
of the terrible decision. All these thousands trusted him
to decide for them. He must decide right. What the
burden was we can only imagine, never know. But

LEE IN BATTLE 167
through the noble serenity maintained by habitual effort
good observers detected signs of the struggle that was
going on. " His face was still calm, but his carriage was
no longer erect, as his soldiers had been used to see it
The trouble of those last days had already ploughed great
furrows in his forehead. His eyes were red as if with
weeping ; his cheeks sunken and haggard ; his face col
orless. No one who looked upon him then, as he stood
there in full view of the disastrous end, can ever forget
the intense agony written upon his features. And yet he
was calm, self-possessed, and deliberate." 3B So great was
his anguish that it wrung a wish to end it all, even from
a natural self-control complete as his. " How easily I
could get rid of this and be at rest. I have only to ride
along the lines and all will be over. But," he quickly
added, " it is our duty to live, for what will become of
the women and children of the South if we are not here
to support and protect them ? " 37
So the decision had to be made. And he made it.
" Then there is nothing left me but to go and see Gen
eral Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths." 38
His officers protested passionately. " O General, what
will history say of the surrender of the army in the
field ? " " Yes, I know, they will say hard things of us ;
they will not understand how we were overwhelmed by
numbers ; but that is not the question, Colonel ; the ques
tion is, is it right to surrender this army ? If it is right,
then I will take all the responsibility." 39

168 LEE THE AMERICAN
The scene that ensued has been described often : the
plain farmhouse room, the officers, curious, yet sympa
thetic, the formal conversation, as always painfully un
equal to the huge event it covered, the short, ungainly,
ill-dressed man, as dignified in his awkwardness almost
as the royal, perfectly appointed figure that conferred
with him. Lee bore himself nobly, say his admirers,
nobly, but a little coldly, say his opponents. And who
shall blame him ? Then it was over. One moment he
paused at the door, as he went out, waiting for his horse ;
and as he paused, looking far into the tragic future, or
the tragic past, he struck his hands together in a gesture
of immense despair, profoundly significant for so self-
contained a man.40 Then he rode away, back to his
children, back to the Army of Northern Virginia, who
had seen him daily for three years and now would never
see him any more.
( In all this scene two figures stand out beyond every
other, the man who succeeded and the man who failed.
In some respects there are remarkable resemblances be
tween them. Though one had old family traditions
behind him and the other had not, both were abso
lutely simple, democratic, and indifferent to fuss, par
ade, or show. Both were frank and straightforward, yet
both were men of extreme reticence, using as few words as
possible and only for the deliberate conveyance of their
purposes. Both, under a calm if not frigid exterior, covered
tender human sympathy and warm human kindness.

LEE IN BATTLE 169
But one was a man of the eighteenth century, the
other of the nineteenth, one of the old America, the other
of the new. Grant stands for our modern world, with its
rough, business habits, its practical energy, its desire to
do things no matter how, its indifference to the sweet
grace of ceremony and dignity and courtesy. Lee had
the traditions of an older day, not only its high beliefs,
but its grave stateliness, its feeling that the way of doing
things was almost as much as the thing done. In short,
Grant's America was the America of Lincoln, Lee's the
America of Washington. It is in part because of this dif
ference and because I would fain believe that without
loss of the one we may some day regain something of
the other that I have given so much thought to the por
trayal of Lee's character and life.
Long ago Milton said that he who would be a great
poet must make his own life a true poem. Lee had cer
tainly no care for being a great poet, but if ever man
made his own life a true poem, it was he. Grant's career
has the vigor, the abruptness, the patness, the roughness
of a terse military dispatch. It fits its place and fills it,
and all is said. Lee's has the breadth, the dignity, the
majesty, the round and full completeness of a Miltonic
epic, none the less inspiring because it had a tragic end.
It was indeed a life lived in the grand style.

VIII
LEE AS A GENERAL
In the year 1901 I was invited to attend a meeting called
to discuss the question, who was the greatest man of
the nineteenth century. I accepted with pleasure. As all
those present were citizens of the Northern portion of
the United States they happily arrived at unanimous
agreement upon Abraham Lincoln, just as they would
have agreed upon Napoleon, if they had been French,
or, if they had been Germans, upon Bismarck.
What interested me most was that no one seemed dis
posed to inquire very carefully into the essential or com
parative elements of greatness. How was it about the
great artists, painters, sculptors, and musicians? How
about the poets, or the novelists, who, like Scott, had
brought delight to millions ? How about the great dis
coverers in science ? Or the great philanthropists ? Was
the greatest man he who had shown the highest devel
opment of human power and genius, as perhaps Napo
leon ? Or he who had pushed the standard of pure truth
some steps further into outer darkness, as perhaps Dar
win ? Or he who — and I know not even whom to in
stance without too much begging of the question — had
been simply of the greatest use and service to humanity?
And I could not but be reminded of Edward FitzGerald's

LEE AS A GENERAL 171
caustic sentence : " It is wonderful how Macaulay, Hal-
lam, and Mackintosh could roar and bawl at one another
over such questions as which is the Greatest Poet ? Which
is the greatest work of that Greatest Poet ? etc., like Boys
at some Debating Society." *
FitzGerald, too, here narrows the discussion to a par
ticular field. And with a poem or a picture we can at
least say, this I prefer, this the majority of men seem to
prefer, though Heaven knows that even such decision is
difficult enough. But in more complicated lines of hu
man activity the problem is far more puzzling, and in
none more than in that of soldiership. When I see the
readiness with which persons whom I should not sup
pose especially competent grade, classify, and adjust,
setting A above B, B above C, D above B and C but
below A, with the nicest accuracy of discrimination, I can
only wonder and be forcibly reminded of FitzGerald's
litde quip.
There are so many things to be taken into account.
Lord Roberts quotes Napoleon's remark that "the first
quality of a general is that he shall have a cool head,"
and, as Wellington had a supremely cool head, infers
that he was equal, if not superior to Napoleon. But surely
a general may use a few other qualities besides coolness.
Ropes admirably suggests the difficulties in the discus
sion in his comparison of Joseph E. Johnston with Lee.
" Johnston," he says, " possessed as good a military mind
as any general on either side ; but in that fortunate com-

172 LEE THE AMERICAN
hinatipn of qualities — physical, mental, agd— moral —
which go to make up a great commander, General Lee
was unquestionably more favored than any of the leaders
in the Civil War." 2 Yet even here — " physical, mental,
and moral" — how much room there is for question and
distinction. After which, it must be admitted that humanity will go
on forever grading and ranking, like the great school
boys that we all are. And the instinct that impels us to
do so is a right instinct. We can never settle which is
the greatest man, or what is true greatness. Yet we must
be always trying to settle it. Only so can we choose our
models and examples. Only so can we establish the
standard by which, however shifting, and uncertain, and
imperfect, we must guide our lives.
A series of studies of Lee which did not include " Lee
as a General " would be absurd. Yet it cannot be expected
that a civilian should attempt any scientific analysis of
military genius. Some civilians have attempted it, which
does not encourage me in the least. Even professional
men would do well to remember Lee's own reply, when
he was asked to review a book on the Austro-Prussian
war in 1866 : " At the time of the occurrence I thought I
saw the mistakes committed by the Austrians ; but I did
not know the facts, and you are aware that, though it is
easy to write on such subjects, it is difficult to elucidate
the truth." 3 If we were all as modest as this, I fear noth
ing would be written about anything. Fortunately we

LEE AS A GENERAL 173
are not. And on the topic of Lee's soldiership volumes
have been filled. I shall endeavor as briefly as possible
to illustrate the different points of view and then to state
some conclusions, not as to comparative rank but as
to particular qualities. But first we should have a rapid
summary of the unquestioned facts of Lee's military
career during the war.
When Virginia seceded, he was made commander-in-
chief of all her forces. When she joined the Confeder
acy, he was appointed to organize the Southern troops
as they arrived in Richmond. In the autumn of 1861 he
conducted an inconspicuous and unsuccessful campaign
in West Virginia. Towards the end of the same year he
was sent to take charge of the seacoast defenses of South
Carolina and Georgia. Early in 1862 he was called to
Richmond and made military adviser to the president
On the first of June, in consequence of the wounding of
Johnston, Lee took command of the Army of Northern
Virginia. He then fought the series of Peninsular battles,
which resulted in the retreat of McClellan and the relief
of Richmond. In the autumn he and Jackson defeated
Pope in the second battle of Bull Run, invaded the North,
captured Harper's Ferry, but were checked by McClel
lan at Antietam, and forced to withdraw again into
Virginia. In December they defeated Burnside at Fred
ericksburg, and in May, Hooker at Chancellorsville, the
latter victory being dearly bought by Jackson's death.
Lee then invaded Pennsylvania, but was severely repulsed

174 LEE THE AMERICAN
by Meade at Gettysburg, and once more recrossed the
Potomac. In the autumn and winter of 1863 and 1864
the two armies confronted each other at different points
in Virginia without any very decisive contact. In the
spring Grant took control of all the Northern forces and,
with Meade under him in immediate command of the
Army of the Potomac, made his plans to destroy Lee's
army and push straight for Richmond. Lee met him at
point after point, however ; and Grant finally took his
army across the James to Petersburg. Here he was at
first no more successful than in the Wilderness. But a
winter of privation and starvation, together with the fail
ure of Southern resources consequent upon Sherman's
and other movements in the South and West, gready
reduced Lee's strength and efficiency ; and when Grant
and Sheridan closed in upon him in March and April,
they very speedily brought about the final surrender at
Appomattox. Starting with this indisputable statements of events,
let us examine the various estimates of Lee's generalship.
Let us take first the eulogies of his Southern admirers,
premising, however, that not by any means all Southern
writing is unreasonable or extravagant. The sane and
discriminating spirit of Allan or Alexander, for example,
is but little removed from the moderate tone of equally
cool heads on the Northern side. But the usual strain of
Confederate rhapsody is quite different. Listen to B. H.
Hill's comparison of the Southern leader with other great

LEE AS A GENERAL 175
commanders : " He was a Caesar without his ambition ;
a Frederick without his tyranny ; a Napoleon without his
selfishness ; and a Washington without his reward." 4
Or to General Gordon's masterly rhetoric, which is more
specifically military: " Compare this, my friends, the con
dition of France, with the condition of the United States,
in the freshness of her strength, in the luxuriance of her
resources, in the lustihood of her gigantic youth, and
tell me where belongs the chaplet of military superiority,
with Lee, or with Marlborough or Wellington ? Even the
greatest of captains, in his Italian campaigns, flashing
his fame, in lightning splendor, over the world, even
Bonaparte met and crushed in battle but three or four
(I think) Austrian armies ; while our Lee, with one army,
badly equipped, and in time incredibly short, met and
hurled back, in broken and shattered fragments, five
admirably prepared and most magnificentiy appointed
invasions. . . . Lee was never really beaten. Lee could
not be beaten ! Overpowered, foiled in his efforts, he might
be, but never defeated until the props which supported
him gave away. . . . On that most melancholy of pages,
the downfall of the Confederacy, no Leipsic, no Water
loo, no Sedan can ever be recorded." B One is reminded
of Matthew Arnold's remark about Macaulay's essay on
Milton : " Truly, with what a heavy brush does this man
lay on his colors." Reverend J. William Jones, however,
manages to produce as great an effect with much simpler
means. " I think I put it very conservatively when I say

176 LEE THE AMERICAN
that he had proven himself the greatest soldier of the war,
if not of history." 6 What would the reverend gentleman
have said, if he had not wished to be conservative ?
Now let us turn to those who are as evidently prejud
iced against Lee as these eulogists in his favor. The
fault-finders are not all Northerners. In the early days,
before the general's reputation was established, there
was plenty of criticism in the South. Thus Pollard, who
afterwards became an enthusiastic admirer, could say in
regard to the West Virginia campaign, " a general who
had never fought a battle, who had a pious horror of
guerrillas, and whose extreme tenderness of blood in
clined him to depend exclusively upon the resources of
strategy" ; 7 and even after the Peninsula, " Lee, who by
no fault of his own was followed by toadies, flatterers,
and newspaper sneaks in epaulets who made him ridic
ulous by their servile obeisances and excess of praise." 8
Longstreet, who loved Lee personally, was goaded by
the attacks of Lee's admirers on his own record into
a frankness of comment which sounds far different from
the ecstasies quoted above. " On the defensive Lee was
absolutely perfect . . . but of the art of war, more partic
ularly of that of giving battle, I do not think General
Lee was a master. In science and military learning he was
greatly the superior of General Grant, or any other com
mander on either side. But in the art of war I have no doubt
that Grant and several others were his equals. In the field
his characteristic fault was headlong combativeness." 9

LEE AS A GENERAL 177
Longstreet's strictures, as indeed those of most critics,
are chiefly connected with Gettysburg, in Longstreet's
case not unnaturally, since the responsibility for the fail
ure of that battle has usually been made to rest either
with Longstreet or with Lee. Longstreet had his own
ideas beforehand of what should be done. He tried to
persuade Lee to accept them. Lee declined, and told
Longstreet what he himself wished. Longstreet either
would not or could not carry out the general's wishes,
and the battle was lost. The following are a few of
Longstreet's remarks. "The cause of the battle was sim
ply General Lee's determination to fight it out from the
position in which he was at that time." 10 "He seemed
under a subdued excitement, which took possession of
him when ' the hunt was up ' and threatened his superb
poise." u " There is no doubt that General Lee during
the crisis of that campaign lost the matchless equipoise
that usually characterized him." 12 And the lieutenant
supports himself by a quotation which it takes all the
authority of his character as a soldier and a gentieman
to make us accept. He says that when he was in Ten
nessee Lee wrote him, " If I only had taken your counsel
even on the 3d, and had moved around the Federal left,
how different all might have been." 13 Lee's own quiet
comment elsewhere on the batde does not sound to
me entirely consistent with this : " It would have been
gained, could one determined and united blow have
been delivered by our whole line." 14

178 LEE THE AMERICAN
If we wish to get the extreme Northern partisan view
of Lee's generalship, we must come down a little later
than Gettysburg, to the Wilderness, and listen to Badeau.
Badeau had, of course, but one object, to exalt Grant ;
and it is extremely curious to see how his disposition
to do this directly by depreciating Lee is constantiy
checked by his realization that since Grant finally won,
the more able Lee can be shown to have been, the
greater is the glory of having beaten him. Some re
serves are, therefore, made in favor of Lee's defensive
generalship. But for the most part, he is unequal to his
opportunities and much overrated. In the first place, he
is morally not all he should be : " The fact is that Lee
was often disingenuous in his reports. He did not abso
lutely falsify, but he colored and concealed so as to con
vey a very incorrect impression." ls Militarily, his genius
served for little more than to be a foil to Grant's. " The
genius of the leader as well as the valor of his men was
reserved for negative displays." 16 His was the " natural
policy of a second-rate commander." 17 " Grant himself,
in Lee's situation, would never have been content with
a negative defense." 18 " And whether his spirit was
cowed and acknowledged its master, or whether Grant's
skill was so absolute as to allow no opportunity, the
rebel general never again [after the Wilderness] as
sumed a completely offensive attitude." 19
This sort of thing would appear quite as hyperbolical
as the Southern praise, were it not that so great an

LEE AS A GENERAL 179
authority as Grant himself uses very much the same
expressions. During his trip around the world he said
to Young : " I never ranked Lee so high as some others
in the army, that is to say, I never had so much anxiety
when he was in my front as when Joe Johnston was in
front. [Yet Grant said to Meade in the Wilderness,
" Joe Johnston would have retired after two days' such
punishment." 20] Lee was a good man, a fair commander,
who had everything in his favor. He was a man who
needed sunshine. . . . Lee was of a slow, cautious nature,
without imagination or humor, always the same, with
grave dignity. I never could see in his achievements
what justified his reputation. The illusion that heavy
odds beat him will not stand the ultimate light of his
tory. I know it is not true. Lee was a good deal of a
headquarters general, from what I can hear and from
what his officers say. He was almost too old for active
service — the best service in the field."21 Grant's writ
ten words in his " Memoirs," though more guarded, are
to the same effect. I am not aware that he ever said any
thing in commendation of Lee's military ability. Lee is
reported — to be sure, on rather circuitous authority — to
have remarked after the war : " I have carefully searched
the military records of both ancient and modern history,
and have never found Grant's superior as a general." 22
With the flight of years and the cooling of passion,
Northern judgment has come to take an attitude very
different from Badeau' s.23 To begin with, Lee's immense

180 LEE THE AMERICAN
difficulties are better appreciated. Grant says he needed
sunshine and support. It may be so, but he did not
always get them. Often he was obliged to relinquish his
own plans for those of others, and even in carrying out
his own he was so hampered by superior authority that
the results could not properly be said to be his. And the
limitation of authority was less serious than the limita
tion of resources. .Grant had men, money, means of all
sorts at his back. Lee's numbers shrank daily and could
not be replaced, and the men he had could not be armed
or shod or clothed or fed. The pitifulness of his disabili
ties in this respect can only be appreciated by wide read
ing of his correspondence and that of others. He was
not a man to complain, yet passage after passage like
the following occurs : " I can do nothing for want of
proper supplies. With these and effective horses I think
I could disturb the quiet of the enemy and drive him to
the Potomac." 24 When he was asked, after the war, why
he did not advance upon Washington after the Second
Bull Run, he answered, " Because my men had nothing
to eat. I could not tell my men to take that fort [point
ing to Fort Wade] when they had had nothing to eat
for three days. I went to Maryland to feed my army." 25
Palfrey's comment on this sort of thing, though not well
taken in the South, has a good deal of force in it. He
says, in substance, that one reason the Army of North
ern Virginia fought so splendidly was that victory meant
a square meal at last.

LEE AS A GENERAL 181
The Northern critics who are most favorable to Lee
of course all admit that he made mistakes. He himself
would have been the first to recognize this, as in his
well-known humorous comment on the newspaper edit
ors : " Even as poor a soldier as I am can generally dis
cover mistakes after it is all over. But if I could only
induce these wise gentlemen who see them so clearly
beforehand to communicate with me in advance, it would
be far better for my reputation and — what is of more
consequence — far better for the cause."26
In regard to Gettysburg, Northern writers generally
feel that Lee was wrong. He did not mean to fight there
and never should have fought there, as he did. They
hold that he violated Jomini's fundamental principle :
"These two bloody days [of Eylau] prove how dubious
must be the success of an attack which is directed at the
front and centre of a well-concentrated enemy : even if
victory is won, it is too dearly bought to be of any
use." 27 " He [Lee] could easily have manoeuvred Meade
out of his strong position on the heights and should have
done so," says Doubleday,28 though he remarks a litde
later that "the great effort of Wilcox and Wright would
have been ruinous, if followed up," 29 which surely shows
that the second day might have proved successful for
the South. Ropes and Colonel W. R. Livermore go fur
ther, holding that Gettysburg was merely the culmina
tion of a series of unjustifiable audacities. Ropes main
tained that the risk of the Second Bull Run campaign

182 LEE THE AMERICAN
was greater than was justified by the chance of advan
tage. "The rules of war allow of no such dangerous
movement as Jackson's, unless the object is far more
important than the one which on this occasion he pro
posed to himself." 30 Elsewhere he says that Lee " showed
on several occasions a singular lack of caution." 31 And
although he contrasts Jackson's flank attack at Chancel
lorsville with others as a case where the risk was worth
running for the great results to be obtained, he agrees in
the main with Colonel Livermore that Gettysburg may be
regarded as the last act of a drama that began long be
fore.32 "It is certainly a mistake," writes Ropes, "for a
general to overestimate his adversary's strength and
prowess ; it is no less a mistake, however, to underrate
them. But this was, as we know, the habit of General
Lee's mind ; and his subsequent successes confirmed
him in it. It was not until the disastrous assault on the
heights of Gettysburg that he found out his mistake." 33
Nor do the Northern critics confine their strictures to
Gettysburg and its immediate antecedents. They insist
that in the earlier Peninsula campaign, important as the
results were, they might have been much greater, and that
Malvern Hill was almost as ill-managed as Gettysburg.
And they recognize that the failure to anticipate Grant's
crossing of the James, was a very serious and unfortun
ate oversight.
Yet, in spite of all this, it would be difficult for intel
ligent enthusiasm to be warmer or more generous than

LEE AS A GENERAL 183
that of many of these Northern writers for their ancient
adversary. Some of them by no means agree in con
demning even Gettysburg. General Hunt thought that
" a battle was necessary to Lee and a defeat would be
more disastrous to Meade, and less so to himself, at
Gettysburg than at any other point east of it." 34 Ropes
cannot refuse his admiration to the very rashness which
he blames. " One hardly knows which is the more re
markable — General Lee's sagacity in estimating the
inertia of his antagonist [before Fredericksburg] , or his
temerity in confronting him so long with a force only one
third as strong, and actually for a time refusing the aid
which Jackson was bringing to him." 36 As to the con
duct of the Wilderness campaign there is a general con
cord of commendation. Instead of agreeing with Badeau
that Lee was cowed out of all initiative, Colonel Dodge
says : " Grant's method was just what Lee preferred. He
was right in not coming out of his intrenchments to
fight."36 "Grant had been thoroughly defeated in his
attempt to walk past General Lee on his way to Rich
mond," writes General Webb.37 And Colonel W. R.
Livermore, the latest authority on the subject, declares
(in answer to a frequent comment on the Wilderness
batdes) that "it was due to Lee's skill that he fought be
hind breastworks," 38 that " if Grant in the spring of 1864
had come to the Army of Northern Virginia and Lee to
the Army of the Potomac, it is not impossible that the war
would have ended then and there," 39 and that " this cam-

\
184 LEE THE AMERICAN
paign alone would entitle him to the high place he justiy
holds among the great commanders of the world." 40
Nor is Northern eulogy of Lee confined to the conduct
of special campaigns. Mr. Bache, in his " Life of Meade,"
writes, "He had not, like most successful generals, as
Tacitus says, become insolent with success, but had never
failed in gentle courtesy to his officers, in boundless
tenderness to his men, in humanity to all, and in word
and deed had proved himself the rarest type of soldier
and gentleman." 41 Colonel W. R. Livermore calls him
" the greatest general of the day." 42 Ropes says that the
feeling in the army towards the commander was "one
of entire confidence and enthusiastic devotion. This was
not because it was a Southern army, but because the
Army of Northern Virginia was so fortunate as to have
in Lee a man who was head and shoulders above his
colleagues." 43 And Colonel Roosevelt has added his
testimony to all the rest : "As a mere military man
Washington himself cannot rank with the wonderful
war-chief who for four years led the Army of Northern
Virginia." 44 And again : Lee " will undoubtedly rank as
without any exception the greatest of all the great cap
tains that the English-speaking people have brought
forth — and this, although the last and chief of his an
tagonists may claim to stand as the full equal of Marl
borough and Wellington." 4B
Now let us turn to the opinion of foreign military ex
perts and critics, which should be more impartial than

LEE AS A GENERAL 185
that of any American. As a matter of fact, in the early
days the foreigners who wrote about the war were cer
tainly not impartial. The Comte de Paris, excellent as
his history is, was distinctly Northern in his sympathies.
Fremantle and Scheibert were even more distinctly
Southern. And when Lord Wolseley said of Lee, " He
was the ablest general, and to me seemed the greatest
man I had ever conversed with ; and yet I have had the
privilege of meeting Von Moltke and Prince Bismarck.
. . . General Lee was one of the few men who ever seri
ously impressed and awed me with their natural and
their inherent greatness,"46 he was probably somewhat
influenced by personal sympathy with the Southern
leader and the cause he served.
Within the last ten or fifteen years, however, there has
come up a generation of English critics whose interest
in our Civil War seems to be almost purely impersonal
and scientific. They are perfectly ready to find ability
and military genius on the Northern side as well as on
the Southern. Indeed, I think they are generally inclined
to estimate Grant's soldiership more highly than is usual
with many of the more rigorous Northern writers. The
judgments of these Englishmen in regard to Lee have,
therefore, a peculiar interest and suggestiveness.
Here again, there is of course no attempt to overlook
or belitde Lee's errors. Henderson is inclined, in many
cases, to criticize Lee's use of his cavalry, especially dur
ing the early part of the war. As to the sequel, or lack

186 LEE THE AMERICAN
of sequel, to Malvern Hill, Captain Battine remarks, "It
can now be said that Lee missed a grand opportunity; " 47
and the same writer says of the movements against
Meade in the autumn of 1863, "It cannot be denied that
Lee, great strategist as he was, on this occasion, as on
the march to Gettysburg, clung too long to his precon
ceived scheme of how the campaign should develop, nor
did he watch as narrowly as he should have done for the
first good chance to strike." 48 As to the great crux of
Gettysburg I think the English critics are a little more
lenient than the American, and Battine even declares
that the decision to attack was " sound and wise, the
failure lay in faults of execution which were caused, to
some extent, at any rate, by the want of sympathetic
cooperation of the corps commanders," 49 while Wood
and Edmunds hold that Jackson in Longstreet's place
would have "annihilated the greater part of Meade's
army and forced the remainder to retreat on Washing
ton."60 Beside this it is well to place Henderson's quiet
comment, substantially in accord with Ropes and Colonel
Livermore : " I am forced to the conclusion that at Get
tysburg Lee's whole army suffered from overconfid-
ence." 51 Henderson is also decidedly critical as to Lee's
failure to keep track of Grant's crossing of the James.
" Grant certainly outmanoeuvred Lee. It was only the
slackness of one of his subordinates that saved the Con
federate army not indeed from defeat, but from being
driven back into Richmond itself." B2

LEE AS A GENERAL 187
On the other hand, these critics unite in the warmest
admiration for Lee's greatness and genius. This appears
in the remarks on individual operations. Henderson
says, speaking of the Second Bull Run, "If, as Von
Moltke avers, the junction of two armies in the field of
batde is the highest achievement of military genius, the
campaign against Pope has seldom been surpassed.
. . . Tried by this test alone, Lee stands out as one of
the greatest soldiers of all times." B3 In regard to the Wil
derness campaign Captain Vaughan-Sawyer writes : " In
this [Lee's not taking the offensive] only a few of his
detractors have seen evidence of failing courage. Act
ually, it is only another exhibition of his genius, which
enabled him to see that the day for those tactics was
passed. His unerring perception told him that his only
chance lay in wearing out his enemy and he would not
be tempted into a false move." B4 And Captain Battine's
verdict is even more favorable : " Lee had emerged tri
umphant from a campaign which is surpassed by no
other in gallant fighting and skillful direction. Even the
glories of the campaign of France in 18 14, and Fred
erick's wonderful defiance of his enemies in the Seven
Years' War, pale before Lee's astonishing performance ;
for neither Napoleon till he met Wellington, nor Frederick
at any time, was opposed to such a dangerous enemy as '
Grant." BB
The general summaries as to Lee's ability are in the
same enthusiastic tone. Henderson, like Colonel Roose-

188 LEE THE AMERICAN
velt, improved on Von Moltke' s reported dictum that the
Southern commander was in all respects the equal of
Wellington by calling him "undoubtedly one of the
greatest if not the greatest soldier who ever spoke the
English tongue." B6 And Captain Battine, concluding his
estimate of the general's character, says : " In the tact
and diplomatic skill with which he softened the jealous
ies of his people and tightened the combination of the
different states he is only to be compared with the great
Duke of Marlborough. In the boldness and sagacity of
his strategy and in the affectionate devotion he inspired
in his troops he resembled Napoleon himself. He en
joyed alike the confidence of the nation, government,
and army, which he never lost for an instant in the dark
est days of misfortune. . . . Such as he was, brave, chiv
alrous, and conscientious to a fault, he will remain the
most attractive personality among American heroes and
one of the most famous of the world's great generals." 67
For the eulogy of Lee which is at once the most en
thusiastic and the most discriminating we must, however,
return to the United States. Colonel Eben Swift, in his
paper read before the American Historical Society in
1910, reviews the Wilderness battles in the light of the
military equipment and conditions of to-day, and in
cidentally discusses Lee's handling of the material and
resources that he had. Colonel Swift is a member of the
United States General Staff, and his opinion should,
therefore, represent the latest and most scientific military

LEE AS A GENERAL 189
judgment He writes as follows: "All great soldiers
before him inherited a ready-made army, but Lee made
his own army. None of the others probably encountered
as dangerous an adversary as Grant, and none of them
except Hannibal, and Napoleon in the last two years,
were opposed to soldiers as good as their own. The odds
of numbers were greater against Lee in the Wilderness
campaign than they were against Napoleon in the
Waterloo campaign. But Lee had his army at the end
and Napoleon's disaster was complete. In the Wilderness
campaign Lee inflicted losses in killed and wounded
almost as great as the army he commanded. Lee made
five campaigns in a single year ; no other man and no
other army ever did so much. . . . Lee practiced his
own theory of the art of war. Although indebted to
Napoleon, he treated each problem as a concrete case,
which he solved according to circumstances, and he had
his greatest success when he departed furthest from es
tablished rules. Napoleon formulated the principle at
St. Helena that you must never uncover your line of
retreat or fight a battle with a front to a flank. Lee's
violation of that rule placed Grant's plans in the Wilder
ness in greater danger than they ever were at any period
of the campaign. But Lee's art seems to have died with
him. Up to the present he has taught no pupil and he
has inspired no successor." B8
After feasting on this luxury of comparative estimates
of Lee's military greatness, the reader certainly has no

190 LEE THE AMERICAN
desire to hear mine. It will now, however, be profitable
to dwell for a moment on some special elements of his
character which are particularly significant in connection
with his soldiership.
In the first place, there is his organizing, systematizing
ability. As Colonel Swift says, "All great soldiers before
him inherited a ready-made army, but he made his own
army." So far as the civil authorities would allow, he
built it up from its component elements and made it one
of the finest fighting machines in the world. As a little
minor instance of his thoughtfulness, it is interesting to
note that he is credited with having suggested the gray
uniform on account of its protective quality.69 But in a
thousand details, large and small, he was always caring
for the effectiveness of his soldiers and for their comfort.
This talent for organization is apt to go, as it did in
McClellan's case, with too great deliberation, a constitu
tional reluctance to give up plans and depart from pro
grammes. What is remarkable about Lee is that he in
stantly responded to the demands of the occasion and
strode right out of all rules and right over them.
Then there is his boldness — or rashness. Some of his
detractors assert that he failed in offense. Others that
he was too aggressive. These charges contradict each
other, say his friends. They do not. Nothing requires a
cool head and perfect calm, so much as a vigorous and
daring system of attack. And if Lee's offensive really
failed, it was because a too great combativeness hurled

LEE AS A GENERAL 191
him for the moment off his balance. As Sainte-Beuve
says of Napoleon, there were times when he broke loose
from the world of men into the world of Titans. When
Lee first took command of the army, General Alexander
asked General Ives whether he had audacity enough.
" Alexander," said Ives, " 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. He will take more desperate chances
and take them quicker than any other man in this coun
try, North or South."60 At the same time, it should
be remembered that Jackson felt obliged to defend Lee
against the charge of excessive caution and to point out
that he had the responsibility of a great army on his
hands and felt it.
In regard to this matter of taking chances, Lee should
be heard in his own defense. He recognized perfectly
again and again that he ran enormous risks ; but he felt
that in his situation it was absolutely necessary. " If you
can accomplish the object, any risk would be justifi
able," 61 he writes to D. H. Hill, early in the war. Again,
"There is always hazard in military movements, but we
must decide between the possible loss of inaction and
the risk of action." 62 And after all was over, his cool
observation on the matter was that criticism of his rash
ness was obvious, but that the disparity between the
forces rendered such risks unavoidable.63 It may at least
be observed that when a man thrice in succession takes

192 LEE THE AMERICAN
the apparently fearful chances of the Second Bull Run,
of Antietam, of Chancellorsville, and comes out whole,
if not triumphant, there may be something more in it
than the mere luck of the successful gambler.
Another quality of Lee's, and one that will hardly be
disputed, is energy and rapidity of action. Napoleon
said, "In the art of war, as in mechanics, time is the
great element that balances the force and the resist
ance." 64 The promptness with which Lee drew Jackson
to himself before the Peninsular battles and before Fred
ericksburg, the vigor and swiftness of the retreat from
Gettysburg, above all, the instant preparedness which
met Grant at point after point as he circled about Rich
mond, would surely have won the approval of Napoleon
himself. As to energy, and especially as to independence, of
decision there is more dispute. It is sometimes asserted
that Lee deferred too much to the judgment of his of
ficers. I feel that there may be some misapprehension
here. Lee, when he chose, could be as secret as Jackson.
He liked to consult his subordinates because they liked
it. He was genuinely interested in their opinions. I
doubt if he ever felt the need of any one's support for
his own judgment or, at any rate, the desire to divide
his responsibility. As to the great latitude he gave his
division commanders in the field, Henderson believes
that he was simply anticipating the latest developments
of modern war, which prescribe " first, that an army

LEE AS A GENERAL 193
cannot be effectively controlled from headquarters ; sec
ond, that the man on the spot is the best judge of the
situation ; third, that intelligent cooperation is of more
value than mechanical obedience."66 It can hardly be
denied, however, that Lee was too considerate, not of
the opinions but of the feelings of his subordinates. As
his nephew said of him, " He had a reluctance to oppose
the wishes of others or to order anything that would be
disagreeable or to which they would not consent." 66
Among the foremost of Lee's military qualities we
must put his knowledge of human nature. I have al
ready dwelt upon the importance of this in his dealings
with his own army. It was quite as useful to him in his
dealings with the enemy. Possibly his divination of
actual plans and movements may have been somewhat
exaggerated. Sir Edward Hamley gives us an excellent
caution in this regard. " Historians," he says, " are fond
of ascribing to successful generals such endowments as
'prescience,' 'intuitive divination of their enemy's de
signs.' There will be evidence in subsequent pages that
these gifts, in the preternatural extent implied, exist only
in the imagination of the chroniclers, and in this cam
paign [Jena] Napoleon had in three days made three
erroneous calculations of the Prussian doings." 67
But although Lee may not always have foreseen the
actual plan, he had the keenest appreciation of the man
who made it and the way in which he was likely to carry
it out. Certainly no one could say of him what Lord

194 LEE THE AMERICAN
Wolseley, rather surprisingly, says of LNapoleon : " Al
though I believe Napoleon to have been by far the
greatest of all great men, he has always struck me as
having been a bad judge of character." 68 Lee's com
ments on McClellan, on Pope, on Hooker, on Meade, on
Grant, still more his conduct when confronted with each
of them, show how watchful and how careful his judg
ment was with regard to them all. And, as always with
him, this results not merely from intuition, but from pro
found study. Polybius said, two thousand years ago,
" It is to be ignorant or blind in the science of command
ing armies to think that a general has anything more
important than to apply himself to learn the inclinations
and character of his adversary." Lee so understood his
business. He made use of every bit of information that
could possibly be acquired. He read the Northern papers
systematically. And, on learning that McClellan was su
perseded, he is said to have expressed with much humor
the difficulty of his task : " I am sorry to part with
McClellan. We understood one another so well." While
he remarked to a Northern general after the war : " You
people changed your commanders in front of me so
frequently that it was no small labor to study them
and it was a work constantly to be renewed." 69
In short, what impresses me perhaps more than any
thing else in Lee's purely military success is the splendid
triumph of intelligence, of brains, and I do not find any
really_ more satisfying eulogy than Henderson's simple

LEE AS A GENERAL 195
phrase, " He was the clearest-sighted soldier in Amer-
It is hardly necessary to say, however, that t is not
Lee's excellence as a general that has led me to these
extensive studies of his life. Modest as he was, if it had
not been for the necessities of war, he might have left
no mark on the history of his country. But the mark he
has left is far deeper and more permanent than a merely
military one. Perhaps he is as often compared with Well
ington as with any other great leader. Wellington loved
his country and saved England. Yet Lord Roberts says
of him, " That he was honest, straightforward, resolute,
and patriotic, none can deny ; but there appears to be
no instance in his military career of his adopting a course
where his duty was opposed to his own interest." 71 How
different is the record of Lee ! Emerson says of Napo
leon : " His soldiers called him Cent Mille. Add honesty
to him and they might have called him hundred million."
To military qualities not unlike Napoleon's how much
did Lee add besides honesty 1

IX
LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE
THERE is a curious conflict of testimony about Lee's
manner in general society. Was he cold and distant?
Was he genial, merry, cordial, and ready to meet others
in an open, confiding spirit? Pendleton, writing of old
West Point days, tries, with the ingenuity of a biographer,
to reconcile the two points of view : " There was always
about him a dignity which repelled improper familiarity,
and yet a genial courtesy and joyous humor, often pass
ing into and creating delightful merriment, that rendered
him a charming companion. . . . The possessor of these
excellences could not but be a universal favorite. No
other feeling toward him was ever experienced, I be
lieve, by any one of his several hundred fellow students
from all parts of the United States." 1 On the other hand,
Charles Anderson, who knew him before the war, speaks
of his " grave, cold dignity of bearing and the prudent
reserve of his manners which rather chilled over-early or
over-much intercourse," 2 and Grant, from acquaintance
in Mexico, says that he was " a large, austere man and,
I judge, difficult of approach to his subordinates." 3
All this evidence — in fact all the evidence — comes
from decided friends or enemies, speaking in view of
Lee's later glory. I have sought in vain for an illuminat-

MRS. ROBERT E. LEE

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 197
ing word written in the thirties. The wonderful charm
which so impressed Pendleton and others, as they looked
back, does not seem to have forced contemporaries to
report it. In the war period Mrs. Chesnut, an admirer,
but a shrewd, keen woman, gives us a glimpse which is
well worth noting: "All the same, I like Smith Lee
better, and I like his looks too. I know Smith Lee well.
Can anybody say they know his brother? I doubt it.
He looks so cold, quiet, and grand." 4 Long, in disput
ing Grant's opinion of his great adversary, says that he
was not austere, but that " he was clothed with a natural
dignity which could either repel or invite, as occasion
might require,"6 and that he had "that just degree of
reserve that suited his high and responsible position." 6
Here we have an interesting clue. I imagine that Lee
had the reserve before he had the responsible position,
that in the early days he held a little aloof, not in the
least from haughtiness, but rather from the unwillingness
of a deep, strong nature to yield itself too readily. As
grandeur came upon him, he did not change his man
ner in the least, but what had before seemed coldness,
seemed now dignity, and the austerity of the lieutenant
appeared only a proper self-respect in the commanding
general. In other words, he was not, in the expressive slang of
to-day, " a good mixer." He did not smoke, he did not
drink, and his attitude toward smoking and drinking
shows that he hardly cared for the social exhilaration

198 LEE THE AMERICAN
they bring with them. Mrs. Davis deduces from his play
ful remark, " 'My cups in camp are thicker, but this is
thinner than the coffee,' the intense realization that he
had of the coarse ways and uncomfortable concomitants
of a camp." 7 But this is Mrs. Davis, not Lee. I think
that, either by nature or by stoical self-discipline, he
liked work, and cared little for the lighter pursuits of
life, liked the soldier's hardships, the soldier's toil, even
the soldier's fare, as well as the soldier's glory. "He
rarely relaxed his energy in anything calculated to
amuse him," says one of his biographers, "but, when
not riding along his lines, or among the camps, to see in
person that the troops were properly cared for, gener
ally passed his time in close attention to official duties." 8
Yet we know that he cherished to the full all the large
traditions of Virginia hospitality. Whenever he mingled
with his fellows in social relations, there was, at any rate
in later years, a sweet, spontaneous courtesy about him,
a ready tact, a kindly interest and sympathy, which
won the affection of every one. " Could anybody know
him?" asks Mrs. Chesnut. Perhaps not. But people
could and did love him.
Women seem to have attracted him much and he had
a singular charm for them. If he had love affairs in his
youth, they have escaped record. He was young when
he married Miss Custis, he was much younger when he
fell in love with her. She made him a most worthy and
devoted wife and no shade of any other affection seems

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 199
ever to have interfered between them. Nevertheless,
from youth to age, Lee loved a pretty girl, loved to chat
with her, and jest with her, and write her gay trifles even
in the midst of war. "Fond of the company of ladies,"
says one of his officers, "he had a good memory for
pretty girls. . . . While in Savannah and calling on my
father, one of my sisters sang for him. Afterwards, in
Virginia, almost as soon as he saw me, he asked after
his ' little singing bird.' " 9 His letters to his daughters-in-
law have a peculiar grace, vivacity, and charm. In the
midwinter of 1863, with a load of care upon him that
would have crushed most men, he finds time to write to
a girl, of other girls, in this gay and sprightly fashion :
" I caught glimpses of sweet Carrie, but she was so sur
rounded by her little beaux that little could be got from
her. But there was one tall one with her, a signalman of
that voracious family of Randolphs, whom I threatened
with Castle Thunder. I did not see her look at Rob once.
But you know he is to take her home on certain condi
tions. I hope your mother has given her consent and
that the cakes are baking. I also saw happy Mrs. Ada.
Her face was luminous with content and she looked as
if she thought there was but one person in the world." 10
And it was not only the pretty girls; Lee had, in
its finest form, that Old-World courtesy and chivalry,
honoring a woman as a woman, which it is something
the fashion to sneer at now, perhaps because so many
women are bent on considering themselves as men. In

200 LEE THE AMERICAN
the very height of the war, when the general was incon-
testably the most prominent man in the South, it was
noted that he was the first to rise in a crowded car
and offer his seat to a lady.11 During the last desperate
movement to Appomattox one woman, the wife of Dr.
Guild, the surgeon, accompanied the headquarters of
the army. Even in that crisis Mrs. Guild says that the
general " would come to my ambulance early in the
morning with a cup of coffee, depriving himself for
the only woman who was on that sorrowful, hopeless
march." 12
The letter above quoted shows that Lee's dignity and
gravity did not prevent him from making and enjoying
a jest. He had not^indeed, Lincoln's wild inspiration
of the comic spirit ; but he had a twinkle of quiet fun,
which made social life more gay and toilpaore easy.
" He was not exactly witty, nor was he very humorous,
though he gave a light turn to table talk, and enjoyed
exceedingly any pleasantry or fun even. He often made
a quaint or slightly caustic remark, but he took care
that it should not be too trenchant." 13
One would not suspect him of practical jokes, yet it
is recorded that in the early days he rode double down
Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House and a Sec
retary of the Treasury gaping with astonishment.14 He
loved to tease his young officers, one day assembling
them all for a social treat around a most promising
demijohn, from which he finally drew bumpers of his

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 201
favorite stimulant — buttermilk;16 another sending an
aide at a grand review to " tell a young lady that such
and such a battery was coming." " I rode up," says the
officer, " and saluted the young lady. There was great
surprise shown by the entire party, as I was not known
to any of them, and when I came out with my message,
there was a universal shout, while the general looked on
with a merry twinkle in his eye." 16
The same turn of gentle raillery was often given to
much more serious matters, as when some one wrote
that a stolen Bible was in possession of a Northern lady
and Lee answered that if she made the use of it he hoped
she would, it would before long be restored to its right
ful owner.
Finally, Lee was by no means deficient in that most
useful function of humor, the gift of laughing at one's
self. " You know she is like her papa," he writes of one
of his daughters, — "always wanting something." 17 And
to Mrs. Chesnut he defined his wants. " He remonstrated
and said his tastes • were of the simplest' He only
wanted ' a Virginia farm, no end of cream, fresh butter,
and fried chicken, — not one fried chicken, or two, but
unlimited fried chicken.' " 18 It takes a considerable
sense of the comic to laugh at those who find one's
sodal manner charming. " Last night," writes Lee,
" there was a cadet hop. Night before, a party at Colo
nel Johnston's. The night preceding, a college conversa
zione at your mother's. . . . You know how agreeable

202 LEE THE AMERICAN
I am on such occasions, but on this, I am told, I sur
passed myself." 19
The same gracious and quiet courtesy which distin
guished Lee in the lighter forms of social intercourse
was also unfailingly apparent in all business transac
tions. " General Lee had but one manner in his inter
course with men. It was the same to the peasant as to
the prince._and the student was received with the same
easy murt?iy th^t would have been bestowed on the
greatestJLqiperial dignitary of Europe." 20 Note, however,
that in such caseiTtne mariner almost always is a manner
and that the man who has it rarely gives himself.
The substance of too much of our conversation, per
haps of the most brilliant part of it, is the faults and
follies of our neighbors. Lack of this high seasoning
may have made Lee less calculated to shine in general
society. " It can always be said of him that he was never
heard to speak disparagingly of any one, and when any
one was heard so to speak in his presence, he would al
ways recall some trait of excellence in the absent one." 21
On the other hand, what charms us most in talk is
that some one older, wiser, whom we admire and respect,
should defer to our opinions, as if they were really worth
something. It appears that this attractive quality Lee
had in the highest degree, and that in him it was not
only tact, not only courtesy, but real humility by which
the charm is always doubled. One of his subordinates
in the college, during the years after the war, writes,

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 203
" We all thought' he deferred entirely too much to the
expression of opinion on the part of the faculty, when
we would have preferred that he should simply indicate
his own views or desire." 22 This is surely an interesting
trait in a great and successful general and it shows in
Lee's military as well as in his civil relations. When he
crossed the Potomac in June, 1863, he said to a mere
staff officer, " What do you think should be our treat
ment of the people in Pennsylvania?" 23
Respect for the opinions of one's friends and sympathy
with all of them naturally breed the desire to reconcile
them when they jar. Here lay one of the greatest secrets
of Lee's value to his country. Even in the early days in
Mexico it was said of him : " I remember nothing special
in those visits except his desire to heal the differences
between General Scott and some of his subordinate offi
cers and the efforts he was making in that direction, about
which he conversed with me. He was a peacemaker by
nature." 24 Could there be a nobler eulogy for a mighty
man of war ?
So much for Lee's relations with the world at large.
Had he near and intimate friends? To return to Mrs.
Chesnut. "Could anybody say they knew him?" With
her I am inclined to answer, " I doubt it." It is true that
Davis said, " He was my friend" ; but Davis was a master
of figures of speech. That Lee loved many men, I know,
that he gave them kindness and sympathy in unstinted
measure, sometimes speaking in terms of glowing warmth

204 LEE THE AMERICAN
and tenderness, as when he wrote to Beauregard, after
Bull Run, " I cannot express the joy I feel at the brilliant
victory of the 21st. The skill, courage, and endurance
displayed by yourself and others excite my highest ad
miration ; " 2B and to Joseph E. Johnston on the same occa
sion, " I almost wept with joy at the glorious victory
achieved by our brave troops. The feelings of my heart
could hardly be repressed on learning the brilliant share
you had in the achievement."26 Neverthdess, I find no
word to indicate that he ever gave himself.
Of all the friendships that he had, that with J. E. John
ston is undoubtedly the most interesting. They were
the two foremost generals of the Confederacy, rivals in
position, rivals in power, rivals in the affection of their
soldiers, far unequal only in the support and favor of
their government. But in spite of all that tended to es
trange them, they seem to have cherished to the end
an affection which, if we are to believe one who knew
them well, made them "meet after separation with the
demonstrativeness of two schoolboys." 27 A knowledge
of the character of each lends a double charm to the
beautiful words written by Johnston after his friend's
death : "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 kindness, genial, and fond of
gay conversation and even of fun, that made him the
most agreeable of companions, while his correctness of

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 205
demeanor and language 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 super
iority that every one acknowledged in his heart." 28
Johnston follows this eulogy with a curious comment:
" He was the only one of all the men I have known who
could laugh at the faults and follies of his friends in such
a manner as to make them ashamed without touching
their affection." Surely this is a rare tribute, rarely de
served, still more rarely bestowed. Is it ever deserved ?
Can any man laugh at our faults and follies and not touch
our affection a little? Without accepting entirely the cyn
ical French saying, " Ce sont nos faiblesses qui nous font
des amis, et non pas nos vertus," it is permitted to doubt
whether friendship in all its comfortable ease, its large,
unbuttoned relaxation, would be quite possible with one
who was too ready to play the mentor, felt bound to play
it, even under a smile.
There are one or two anecdotes of Lee, many in fact,
but one or two especially, full of the most fascinating
significance, when read in connection with this remark of
Johnston's. In his very early youth Lee went to visit an
old friend who lived in the ample, careless style of Vir
ginia hospitality, hunting by day and drinking by night,
with an idle dissipation which the earnest boy could not
approve. "The old man shrunk before the unspoken
rebuke of the youthful hero. Coming to his bedside the
night before his departure, he lamented the idle and use-

206 LEE THE AMERICAN
less life into which he had fallen, excusing himself upon
the score of loneliness, and the sorrow which weighed
upon him in the loss of those most dear. In the most im
pressive manner he besought his young guest to be
warned by his example ; prayed him to cherish the good
habits he had already acquired, and promised to listen to
his entreaties that he would change his own life, and thereby
secure more entirely his respect and affection" (italics
mine).29 I read this, and even allowing for the biogra
pher's embroidery, I say to myself that Lee was remark
able in other ways besides being commander of the Army
of Northern Virginia.
Let us take another incident showing not the bio
grapher's point of view, but the friend's who got the
rebuke. It bears very closely on my doubts as to the
intimacy of Lee's friendships. General Wise had damned
an intruding civilian out of camp. A few days after, Lee
visited Wise, made himself delightfully agreeable at
dinner to Mrs. Wise and other ladies who happened to
be there, and then suggested to his subordinate that
they should take a walk together : " I knew what was
coming," said Wise, narrating the story. "After telling
me of the complaint made of my treatment of the Rich
mond man, and hearing my account of the affair, not
omitting the apology and broadside, he laid his hand
upon my arm, and with that graceful cordiality, which, at
such times, tempered his stately dignity, he said, ' Wise,
you know as well as I do what the army regulations say

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 207
about profanity. As an old friend, let me ask you if that
dreadful habit cannot be broken — and remind you that
we have both passed the meridian of life, etc' Seeing
that he was in for a sermon, and one that I could not
answer, I replied, ' General Lee, you certainly play the
part of Washington to perfection, and your whole life
is a constant reproach to me. Now, I am perfectly will
ing that Jackson and yourself shall do the praying for the
whole Army of Northern Virginia, but, in Heaven's name,
let me do the cussin' for one small brigade.' Lee laughed
and said, 'Wise, you are incorrigible,' and then rejoined
the ladies."30 "The only man," writes Johnston, "the
only man." And again I say to myself, " Ce sont nos
faiblesses qui nous font des amis, et non pas nos vertus."
But let us get still closer to Lee in his home. As to
his dealings with those who were subordinate to him
here, what record there is is favorable. The few slaves
whom he himself inherited, he disposed of long before
the war. Those who came into his charge by Mr. Custis's
will, under stipulation of manumission at a fixed date, he
took the most watchful care of till the appointed time
arrived and then set free. In the thickest of his military
duties he writes to his son with deep concern as to their
welfare : " As regards Leanthe and Jim, I presume they
had better remain with Mrs. D. this year, and at the end of
it devote their earnings to their own benefit. But what can
be done with poor little Jim ? It would be cruel to turn him
out on the world. He could not take care of himself." 31

2o8 LEE THE AMERICAN
At the same time, it is curious to observe how the
general curse of slavery could involve even a man like
Lee in slander and reproach. A correspondent writes to
the " New York Tribune," on June 24, 1859, saying that
three slaves, two men and a woman, escaped from Lee's
plantation, had been captured and brought back. " Colo
nel Lee ordered them whipped. The officer whipped the
men and said he would not whip the woman, and Colo
nel Lee stripped her and whipped her himself. These are
facts, as I learn from near relatives of the men whipped."
We who know Lee's character know that they are not
facts, and hardly require the indignant repudiation of
another correspondent (June 28), who writes as an op
ponent of slavery, but with a thorough knowledge of
the Lees, and shows not only the injustice of the attack,
but its probable motive. But such things cannot have
been agreeable.
Lee's own reference to this affair, in a letter to his son,
is, "I do not know that you have been told that George
Wesley and Mary Norris absconded some months ago,
were captured in Maryland, making their way to Penn
sylvania, brought back, and are now hired out in lower
Virginia. . . . The ' New York Tribune ' has attacked
me for my treatment of your grandfather's slaves, but I
shall not reply. He has left me an unpleasant legacy." 32
Writing to a Western correspondent, after the war,
Lee makes a still more explicit statement, doubtless in
this same connection : " I am very much obliged to you

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 209
for your bold defense of me in the New York papers, at
a time when many were willing to believe any enormity
charged against me. This same slander, which you at
the time denounced as false, was nevertheless circulated
at the North, and since the termination of hostilities has
been renewed in Europe. Yet there is not a word of truth
in it, or any ground for its origin. No servant, soldier,
or citizen, that was ever employed by me, can with truth
charge me with bad treatment." 33
In the more personal domestic relations also Lee ap
pears to advantage. Of his father he saw little ; but his
devotion to his mother is as attractive in its delicacy and
tact as in its completeness. Even in his early years she ,
was a great invalid and he tended her as a woman might
have done, "carrying her in his arms to the carriage,";
and arranging her cushions with the gentleness of an
experienced nurse." 34 As he drove with her, he would
make every effort to entertain her, "assuring her with
the gravity of an old man that unless she was cheerful,
the drive would not benefit her. When she complained
of cold or drafts, he would pull from his pocket a great
jack-knife and newspaper and make her laugh with his s
efforts to improvise curtains, and shut out the intrusive
wind which whistled through the crevices of the oldL
family coach."35 On his departure for West Point, his
mother said, " How can I live without Robert ? He is
both son and daughter to me." 36
As a father, Lee is better known to us than in any other

210 LEE THE AMERICAN
aspect ; for a very large number of his letters to his sons
and daughters has been printed. In one of these Lee
himself remarks : " It has been said that our letters are
good representations of our minds. They certainly pre
sent a good criterion for judgment of the character of
the individual. You must be careful that yours make as
favorable an impression of you as I hope you will de
serve." 37 It is not fair, however, to judge Lee's own char
acter too much by the tone of these paternal letters. A
man may tell his near friends, with a smile, what Lee
once told of his boy's following him in the snow, imitat
ing his every movement and stepping exactly in his
footprints. '" When I saw this,' said the general, 'I said
to myself, " It behooves me to walk very straight, when
this fellow is already following in my tracks." ' " 38 But
such a thing in cold print sounds priggish. We know the
stiltedness of Chesterfield's letters to his son. Flaubert,
too, wrote pages of inspiration to Mademoiselle X, pages
of limitation to his beloved niece. It is well to turn occa
sionally from some of Lee's letters to his family to his
more sprightly correspondence with outside friends or
more distant relatives.
These reserves as to the paternal epistolary relation
once accepted, no father's attitude could be finer. His
discipline was always steady. There was no injudicious
relaxation, no spoiling. " My mother I could sometimes
circumvent, and at times took liberties with her orders,
construing them to suit myself," writes his youngest son ;

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 211
"but exact obedience to every mandate of my father
was a part of my life and being at that time." 39 In pub
lic and military matters Lee was absolutely stoical in his
avoidance of all family favoritism. Foreign visitors could
not conceal their astonishment at finding the son of the
commander-in-chief serving in the ranks as a dirty and
begrimed artilleryman. Another son lay wounded in a
Union prison ; his wife was dying at home. A Union
officer imprisoned in Richmond begged that a letter
might be written to Lee asking him to bring about an
exchange. Lee wrote back that he would not ask any
favor for his own son that could not be asked for the
humblest soldier in the army.40
Lee's letters to his children are full of advice and ad
monition, sometimes more or less conventional, but often
expressed with touching sweetness and simplicity. Good
evidence of this is the fact that they were counterfeited
at a very early date. One expects forged documents
after a great man's death. But in the middle of the war
a letter was widely circulated, purporting to be from Lee
to one of his sons, but in reality manufactured by a
dever newspaper man on a basis of fragments of real
correspondence. There is enough authentic material,
however, without resorting to forgery, and in this ma
terial there is a passionate sincerity of interest which it
would be difficult to forge : " You see I am following my
old habit of giving advice, which I dare say you neither
need nor require. But you must pardon a fault which

212 LEE THE AMERICAN
proceeds from my great love and burning desire for your
welfare and happiness. When I think of your youth, im
pulsiveness, and many temptations, your distance from
me, and the ease (and even innocence) with which you
might commence an erroneous course, my heart quails
within me, and my whole frame and being trembles at
the possible result. May Almighty God have you in his
holy keeping." 41
We see here what there was back of discipline and
advice ; a devoted tenderness, a watchful care founded
not only on parental duty, but on deep and abiding af
fection. "Oh, what pleasure I lose in being separated
from my children. Nothing can compensate me for
that." 42 " I wish I could see you," he writes to his
daughter, " be with you, and never again part from you.
God only can give me that happiness. I pray for it
night and day." 43 And elsewhere, " I long to see you
through the dilatory nights. At dawn when I rise, and
all day, my thoughts revert to you in expressions that
you cannot hear or I repeat. I hope you will always
appear to me as you are now painted on my heart." 44
Nor was the affection a matter of feeling only ; it was
constantly taking practical forms of care and sacrifice.
Lee was a good manager, exact in every detail of do
mestic economy, frugal and thrifty in the little affairs of
daily life. I like to think of the rival of Frederick and
Napoleon writing to his son, four months before Gettys
burg, " If my pants are done, will you give them to Mr.

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 213
Thomas, the bearer, who will bring them up to-morrow ?
If they are not, keep them. I am on my last pair, and
very sensitive, fearful of an accident." « He cautions his
family repeatedly as to care in money matters: "I wish
you to save all your money, and invest it in some safe
and lucrative way, that you may have the means to build
up old Arlington, and make it all we would wish to see it
The necessity I daily have for money has, I fear, made
me parsimonious." 46 But it was that noble parsimony,
which pinches self to comfort others ; and page after page
of Lee's life records his readiness in giving. All his care
for Arlington was not for his own possession, for the
place was his son's, left him by his mother's father ; and
when the son begged the father to accept it, Lee refused,
"not from any unwillingness to receive from you a gift
you may think proper to bestow, or to be indebted to
you for any benefit great or small. But simply because it
would not be right to do so." 47 After the war he showed
himself in every way most anxious to aid his sons in es
tablishing themselves, and he had that crowning grace
of giving, the abstinence from all dictation as to the use
of the gift. "Will that suit you? If it does not, let me
know what will, and you shall have that too." 48 Also,
he was as indulgent in trifles as in farms and barns. One
Christmas season his youngest, pet daughter " enumer
ated, just in fun, all the presents she wished — a long
list. To her great surprise, when Christmas morning
came she found each article at her place at the breakfast

214 LEE THE AMERICAN
table — not one omitted."49 One hardly knows which
to admire most, the father's generosity or the daughter's
simple desires. This was she of whom her father said,
" She is always wanting something." Apparently, with
Lee-like moderation, she did not want much.
As this incident shows, Lee not only loved his child
ren, but enjoyed them. The two do not always go to
gether by any means. In fact, just before the war he
wrote, " I have no enjoyment in life but what I derive
from my children."50 And he enjoyed them in their
childishness, their sports, their gayety. It is true that he
did not quite approve of too much festivity in the midst
of national disaster. " There are too many Lees on the
ball committee. I like them all to be present at batties,
but can excuse them at balls." B1 Into all the harmless
home laughter, however, he was ready to enter at any
time. He was full of pleasant jests and kindly teasing.
"We all enjoyed that attention from him. He never
teased any one whom he did not especially like."62
"Kiss your sisters for me. Tell them they must keep
well, not talk too much, and go to bed early." 63 " The
girls are well and have as many opinions with as few
acts as ever."64 "We are all as usual — the women of
the family very fierce and the men very mild." 55
In Captain R. E. Lee's charming volume, from which
these natural touches are mainly drawn, we get many
pictures of the great soldier with his children about him,
and nothing shows him in a simpler, more attractive, more

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 215
geninely human aspect. " He was very fond of having
his hands tickled, and, what was still more curious, it
pleased and delighted him to take off his slippers and
place his feet in our laps in order to have them tickled.
. . . He would often tell us the most delightful stories,
and then there was no nodding. Sometimes, however,
our interest in his wonderful tales became so engrossing
that we would forget to do our duty, when he would de
clare, ' No tickling, no story.' " 66 Some persons may per
haps think the hero of Chancellorsville too dignified for
such unslippered ease. But it strikes me that this matter
of tickling reduces Lee more sweetly than almost any
thing else to the common level of mortality. Was there
ever a more charming picture of Jove unparadised than
this drawn by a Virginia girl after the war (italics mine) ?
" I can only remember the great dignity and kindness
of General Lee's bearing, how lovely he was to all of us
girls, that he gave us his photographs and wrote his name
on them. He liked to have us tickle his hands, but when
Cousin Agnes sat by him, that seemed to be her privilege.
We regarded him with the greatest veneration. We had
heard of God, but here was General Lee." 67 That last
touch a great poet might envy.
In the most intimate of all human relations we natur
ally see Lee but very dimly. We know that Mrs. Lee
was a charming wife and mother, always careful of the
welfare of her family and always beloved by them, and
that her husband's devotion was unfailing. Brief glimpses

216 LEE THE AMERICAN
come to us of those little rubs which should always pro
perly occur in the best adjusted wedlock between differ
ing characters, and we see that they were taken in the
light, sweet spirit in which they should be taken. " My
father, as I remember, always in full uniform, always
ready and waiting for my mother, who was generally
late. He would chide her gently, in a playful way and
with a bright smile." 58 " The Mim, the dear Mim, con
siders herself a great financier; consult her about the
expenditure of money, but do not let her take it shopping,
or you will have to furnish her with an equal amount to
complete her purchases. She has such a fine eye for a bar
gain." 69 But none of these rubs interfered with the hus
band's constant affection and devotion, as tender in the
long years of sickness and confinement as in the early
glow of young love and perfect health. " To my mother,
who was a great invalid from rheumatism for more than
ten years, he was the most faithful attendant and tender
nurse. Every want of hers that he could supply he anti
cipated. . . . During the war he constantly wrote to her,
even when on the march and amidst the most pressing
duties." 60
Yet as I turn to the limited number of these letters that
have been printed, I find in them positive traces of the
same limitations I have before noted. Lee lectures, — oh,
so sweetly, and so kindly, and so gently, — but lectures.
On his children : "You must not let him run wild in my
absence, and will have to exercise firm authority over all

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 217
of them. . . . Mildness and forbearance, tempered by
firmness and judgment, will strengthen their affection
for you, while it will maintain your control over them."61
On the care of her own health: "Systematically pursue
the best course to recover your lost health. . . . Do not
worry yourself about things you cannot help, but be con
tent to do what you can for the well-being of what pro
perly belongs to you. . . . Lay nothing too much to
heart. Desire nothing too eagerly, nor think that all
things can be perfectly accomplished according to our
own notions." 62 This is playing the r61e of Marcus Au-
relius, or, as General Wise would say, of Washington, to
perfection. But — but — More than ever, I am forced
to return to Mrs. Chesnut's comment, "Can anybody say
they know him?"63
The truth is, there are three motives which lead us to
seek the society of others. First, we grow weary of our
selves. We wish to share our joys and sorrows, we wish
others to help and strengthen us, above all, we wish others
to fill the great void which is neither joy nor sorrow, but
just the blank monotony of every day. With most of us
the motive of social life is not that you are so charming,
but that I am so dull. " Why," said the wife of the Har
vard professor, " when there is no one else about, I go
into the kitchen and talk to the cook." Lee did not pre
fer the cook's society to Robert E. Lee's. He could fill
his own void, desired no help or strength from others, or,
at least, none that others could give him. It is only at the

218 LEE THE AMERICAN
rarest moments that he expresses any sense of solitude
or loneliness. " I wish you were with me, for always soli
tary, I am sometimes lonely, and long for the reunion of
my family once again. But I will not speak of myself but
of you." 64 Note even here the characteristic touch by
which he turns instantly from discussion of his own affairs
to discussion of others'.
The second motive that leads us to go out among
men is but a modification of the first, a desire to lead, to
guide and manage and regulate the affairs of others.
This makes the soldier and the statesman. It also makes
the petty village official and the woman who advises the
neighborhood, often most kindly and usefully. As it hap
pened, few men have had wider cure of souls and bodies
than fell to Lee and no one can say he shunned what
came to him. Yet I do not think he sought it or loved it.
I do not think he desired either public or private respon
sibility. Certainly he had no wish to dictate or control.
And few can have been moved less than he to seek the
society of others for the pleasure that comes from assert
ing our own power over them.
There remains a third social motive, kindness, tender
ness, sympathy, the sense of human kinship. And surely
in no one was this element at least ever more present
than in Lee. Perhaps its sweetest manifestation was his
love of children. In one sense children ask everything
and give nothing. In another sense they ask nothing
and give all. They ask all your time and effort and

LEE'S SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE 219
attention. They do not ask yourself. This suited Lee
exactly. Hence he loved children — and children loved
him, which is surely the most flattering and conclusive
evidence as to character. I cannot quote the multitude
of charming anecdotes which support me here. " On one
occasion [after the war], calling at Colonel Preston's he
missed two little boys in the family circle, who were
great favorites of his, and on asking for them he was
told that they were confined to the nursery by croup.
The next day, though the weather was of the worst de
scription, he went trudging back to their house, carrying
in one hand a basket of pecan nuts, and in the other a
toy, which he left for his sick friends." 66 At another time
a small girl, who had charge of her baby sister, saw the
general come riding by. " 'General Lee, won't you please
make this child come home to her mother ? ' The gen
eral immediately rode over to where Fannie sat, leaned
over from his saddle, and drew her up into his lap.
There she sat in royal contentment, and was thus grandly
escorted home. When Mrs. Letcher inquired of Jennie
why she had given General Lee so much trouble, she
received the naive reply : ' I could n't make Fan go
home, and I thought he could do anything.' " 66
With animals it was something as with children. Lee
loved them and they him. " Everybody and everything
— his family, his friends, his horse, and his dog — loves
Colonel Lee," was said of him before the war.67 His let
ters are full of tender and humorous allusions to his cats

220 LEE THE AMERICAN
and his horses. In his last years the old war-horse, Tra
veler, seemed to be almost as near to him as any living
thing. "General Lee was more demonstrative toward
that old companion in battle than seemed to be in his
nature in his intercourse with men. I have often seen
him, as he would enter his front gate, leave the walk,
approach the old horse and caress him for a minute or
two before entering his front door, as though they bore
a common grief in their memory of the past." 68 And
Lee himself admits the same thing. "Traveler is my
only companion ; I may also say my only pleasure. He
and I, whenever practicable, wander out in the moun
tains and enjoy sweet confidence." 69
What was the nature of that confidence ? Among the
vast regrets for a lost cause and a nation ruined, did
Lee also wish at moments that there was some human
soul to which he could really unburden himself? "All
are gay, and only I solitary. I am all alone." 70 " You
must make friends while you are young, that you may
enjoy them when old. You will find when you become
old, it will then be too late. I see my own delinquencies
now when too late to mend, and point them out to you,
that you may avoid them." 71 Were these only the slight
expressions of a temporary lack, or were they the true
outcry of a longing for something never attained, per
haps impossible ? We do not know. Lee had, however,
one intimate friend, — God. But that requires a separate
chapter.

X
LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE
LEE had, of course, a liberal education, though we do
not know much of his early studies. Those pursued at
West Point were largely technical ; but before going to
that institution he must have had a good grounding in
the classics, for long after, when he was president of
Washington College, he used to visit the Greek classes
and astonish the students by his familiarity with that
language. His general ideas as to educational matters
were both broad and solid. During his college presi
dency, while sustaining as far as possible the old tradi
tions of culture, he seems to have taken decided steps in
modern directions, — that is, towards practical training
and individual development, — steps which meant far
more in the South than in the North. "Nothing," he
wrote after the war, " will compensate us for the depres
sion of the standard of our moral and intellectual cul
ture." J And again, " The education of a man or woman
is never completed till they die." 2
If Lee had written his proposed memoirs, we should
be better able to judge whether he had literary gifts. As
it is, his only bit of formal writing is the brief sketch pre
fixed to his father's " Memoirs." Here, as in so many
other matters, we see curiously the inheritance of the

222 LEE THE AMERICAN
eighteenth century, its dignified finish, its determination
to clothe even common things in lofty phraseology. The
elder Lee takes cold because " a slight, but driving snow
which was falling, insinuated itself among the wrappings
encircling his throat." 3 Where it is more appropriate,
this breadth of expression often attains real beauty and
grandeur, as in some of the addresses and general orders
to the army. " Soldiers ! You tread with no unequal step
the road by which your fathers marched through suffer
ings, privations, and blood to independence. Continue
to emulate, in the future, as you have in the past, their
valor in arms, their patient endurance of hardships, their
high resolve to be free, which no trial could shake, no
bribe seduce, no danger appall, and be assured the just
God who crowned their efforts with success will, in His
own good time, send down his blessing upon yours."4
The reports, and especially the dispatches written in
the field, contain no such literary effort. They are terse,
and clear, saying what is needed and only what is needed.
The familiar letters are less successful as mere writing.
They are loose and hasty and not always correct in
grammar and syntax. They are charming, however, so
far as they show the intimate character of the man.
In spite of his deep respect for education, I do not find
that Lee had any great love for books or for things purely
intellectual. In later years he expressed " his lifelong re
gret that he had not completed his classical education
(in which, however, he had a respectable scholarship)

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 223
before going to West Point " ; B and he thanks Worsley
for the translation of the " Odyssey " in terms which in
dicate pleasure in the perusal of the original. Judge
Tyler tells us that he could talk " in the most interesting
manner about the beauty of the tongue and the richness
ofthe literature of Spain." 6 Among English authors he
is said to have been partial to Macaulay, especially the
essays, which can hardly be considered the sign of a
literary temperament, and in writing of his father he once
quotes Burke. But it is really remarkable that in so varied
and extensive a correspondence there should be so little
reference to literature, even in its historical aspects. This
seems the more curious when we turn to the letters of
Harry Lee, — surely as much a man of action as his son,
— and find a spirit keenly alive to literary questions,
ready to criticize Racine and to delight in Sophocles.
So with science. In Lee's army the soldiers discussed
Darwin and concluded that "Marse Robert" was suf
ficient proof that man was not descended from apes. But
I find no evidence that Lee himself ever gave a thought
to the vast speculations that were unhinging the world.
Perhaps it is worth while to refer in this connection to
Mrs. Putnam's shrewd remark that the Southern slave-
holding planter was almost obliged in self-defense to
adopt this attitude towards all modern thought.
Even as to his profession there is no record of Lee's
making it a passionate study. He stood well at West
Point, and results would certainly indicate that he did

224 LEE THE AMERICAN
more. But nothing is said of his ever spending feverish
days and nights, as did Jackson, over the campaigns of
Frederick and the battles of Napoleon.
Nor do I see that he was in any way sensitive to
aesthetic pleasures. While one child assiduously tickled
his toes and another narrated the story of the " Lady of
the Lake," he would occasionally break in with the re
citation of long passages of the poem, disconcerting the
narratress and boring the tickler. This shows that he
liked the poetry of Scott. (Mark Twain, by the way, be
lieved that Scott's false chivalry was largely responsible
for the Civil War.) But of other poetry no mention and
no trace. I do not remember that the name of Shake
speare occurs once in all he wrote. Novels he disap
proved of, as many of us do — for others. " Read history,
works of truth, not novels and romances. Get correct
views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light.
It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and,
when summoned away, to leave without regret." 7 The
world would, indeed, be much less regrettable, if there
'were no novels in it. With painting and with music it is
as with poetry. Lee may have enjoyed such things, but
he makes no mention of his enjoyment.
The nineteenth century had one aesthetic delight pecu
liarly its own, appreciation of the beauty of nature.
This seems to have made somewhat more appeal to Lee ;
yet even here his language certainly gives no indication
of ecstasy. A quiet Virginia farm life, in the fields and

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 225
woods rather than in cities, pleased him best — that is
all. " You do not know how much I have missed you
and the children, my dear Mary. To be alone in a crowd
is very solitary. 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." 8 " I enjoyed
the mountains as I rode along. The views are magni
ficent and the valleys so beautiful, the scenery so peace
ful. What a glorious world Almighty God has given us.
How thankless and ungrateful we are, and how we labor
to mar his gifts." 9
In short, the bent of Lee's character was absolutely
moral and practical. It is not to be inferred from this,
however, that he was a man of no passions or that his
staid decorum resulted from a lack of sensibility. We
have seen that Longstreet thought his weakness as a
general was an excessive fury of combat. At any rate,
there is plenty of evidence that he had a good hot tem
per, which came to the surface on provocation. Colonel
Venable, of his staff, says : " No man could see the flush
come over that grand forehead and the temple veins
swell on occasions of great trial of patience and doubt
that Lee had the high, strong temper of a Washington." 10
He disliked very much to have officers with a grievance
allowed to make their way to him. At times this would
happen. Immediately after one such occurrence, " Gen
eral Lee came to the adjutant's tent with flushed face,
and said warmly, 'Why did you permit that man to

226 LEE THE AMERICAN
come to my tent and make me show my temper ? ' " n
In the same way he had a great dislike to " reviewing
army communications " and his aides spared him when
they could. On one occasion Colonel Taylor had made
matters as easy as possible; but the general "was not in
a very pleasant mood ; something irritated him and he
manifested his ill-humor by a little nervous twist or jerk
of the neck and head, accompanied by some harshness
of manner." Taylor became impatient and showed it;
whereupon the general said, " Colonel Taylor, when I
lose my temper, don't let it make you angry." 12
It is a curious coincidence that one of Lee's few vio
lent explosions of wrath occurred when he found an ar
tilleryman brutally abusing a horse and that one of the
rare recorded outbreaks of Grant was owing to the same
cause. Apropos of Grant also, Lee is said to have once
spoken sharply after the war, though not in the connec
tion we should expect. One of his university faculty had
been criticizing the Union general with some harshness.
"Sir," said Lee, "if you ever presume again to speak
disrespectfully of General Grant in my presence, either
you or I will sever his connection with this university." 13
A particularly interesting example of Lee's indigna
tion, because we see it, as it were, bursting forth and
passing at once under control, is his reference to the
desecration of Arlington: "Your old home, if not de
stroyed by our enemies, has been so desecrated that I
cannot bear to think of it. I should have preferred it to

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 227
have been wiped from the earth, its beautiful hill sunk,
and its sacred trees buried, rather than to have been
degraded by those who revel in the ill they do for their
own selfish purposes. You see what a poor sinner I am,
and how unworthy to possess what was given me ; for
that reason it has been taken away." 14
It was by considerations of this nature that Lee domin
ated his passions and secured the high temperance and
triumphant control which were among his most marked
characteristics. His temperance, however, was no less a
spiritual grace than a moral victory. Here again the re
semblance to Grant is striking. Every one knows Grant's
quiet remark when some one prefaced a dubious story
with the familiar "I believe there are no ladies present" :
" No, but there are gentlemen." It is said of Lee also,
" I dare say no man ever offered to relate a story of ques
tionable delicacy in his presence. His very bearing and
presence produced an atmosphere of purity that would
have repelled the attempt." 1B
Evidence of Lee's supreme self-control in other direc
tions is hardly needed. The final disaster, surely as over
whelming as could befall a man, hardly broke his calm
or wrung from him a complaint except for others. In
good and evil fortune alike he strove to maintain the
same stoical — or no, I should say, as he would have
wished, Christian — fortitude. A striking instance of this
is narrated by Taylor. Doubtless it could be paralleled
in many other lives. Something similar is told of Stuart,

228 LEE THE AMERICAN
of Cox on the Union side, and may remain untold of
many a private soldier in the armies of the Potomac and
of Northern Virginia. It is none the less noble and beau
tiful in Lee. The general had just received and read his
mail, when Colonel Taylor appeared with the usual list
of matters of army routine as to which the commander's
judgment was desired. " The papers containing a few
such cases were presented to him ; he reviewed and gave
his orders in regard to them. I then left him, but for
some cause returned in a few moments, and with accus
tomed freedom entered his tent without announcement
or ceremony, when I was startled and shocked to see
him overcome with grief, an open letter on his knees.
That letter contained the sad intelligence of his daugh
ter's death. . . . His army demanded his first thought
and care ; to his men, to their needs, he must first
attend ; and then he could surrender himself to his pri
vate, personal affliction." 16
The force of will which appeared as self-control in
great matters showed in little as exactness, system, ac
curacy. It is said that in his youth his mother taught
him rigid economy ; and throughout life he continued
to exercise it. He was as scrupulously punctual as Wash
ington, for himself and for others. When young men
called on his daughters, he began his locking up exactly
at ten o'clock and the callers were expected to conform.17
A member of his faculty once came to his office and
asked for a certain paper. Lee told him where it could

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 229
be found. Afterwards he said to him, " Did you find the
paper?" "Yes, General." "Did you return it to the
place where you found it ? " " Yes, General." 18 Mrs. Lee
said of her husband that " he could go, in the dark, and
lay his hand on any article of his clothing, or upon any
particular paper, after he had once arranged them." 19
This minuteness seems to have been inborn. At any
rate it appeared in early youth. " His specialty was fin
ishing up. . . . He drew the diagrams on a slate ; and
although he well knew that 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, let
tering and all, as if it were to be engraved or printed." 20
The biographer quotes this as an admirable trait ; but
I have my doubts. A high authority has said, " Never
finish a thing after it is done." And I am inclined to
think that a prime attribute of greatness is disregarding
the unnecessary. In commanding the Army of Northern
Virginia for three years Lee must have sacrificed a world
of intellectual if not moral scruples, and it is the more
remarkable in him, since — like Jackson, if in less degree
— he certainly had the germs of what is sarcastically
termed the New England conscience. Imagine Crom
well or Napoleon, shortly after such a battle as Gettys
burg, writing the following : " I have been much exer
cised as to how I can pay my taxes. I have looked out
for assessors and gatherers in vain. I have sent to find
collectors in the counties where I have been, without

y

230 LEE THE AMERICAN
success. I wish to pay the amount as a matter of right
and conscience, and for the benefit of the State, but can
not accomplish it. . . . In addition, I own three horses,
a watch, my apparel, and camp equipage. . . . See if
you can find some one that can enlighten me as to what
I am to pay." 21
The same self-control, precision, economy of resource
marked Lee in speech as in other things. There is no
abandon in his letters, no freedom, no outpouring ; and
this unquestionably makes them somewhat colorless. So
with his reports. He avoids the first person, wherever
possible, and says, " It was decided," " It was thought
best." How different this from the vivacity of Hooker
or Sherman. Very rarely does he use brusque expres
sions, " It may be only a Yankee trick " ; 22 or criticize his
opponents freely : "His [Grant's] talent and strategy con
sists in accumulating overwhelming numbers." 23 Even
his recorded conversations contain little that seems like
unrestrained confidence. Thus, one is startled when one
finds him supposed to have said, " I have never under
stood why General Sherman has been commended for
that march, when the only question was whether he
could feed his army by consuming all the people had to
eat " ; 24 and the tone of his remarks to Badeau is even
more unusual : " He spoke very bitterly of the course of
England and France during the war and said that the
South had as much cause to resent it as the North ; that
England especially had acted from no regard to either

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 231
portion of the Union, but from a jealousy of the united
nation and a desire to see it fall to pieces. England, he
said, had led the South to believe she would assist them,
and then deserted them when they most needed aid." 2B
Bancroft speaks admirably of " the wonderful power
of secrecy of Washington in which he excelled even
Franklin ; for Franklin sometimes left the impression
that he knew more than he was willing to utter, but
Washington seemed to have said all that the occasion
required." 26 Lee, I think, resembled Washington in this
and had an excellent faculty, when he was interrogated,
of seeming to say much and saying little. Thus he an
swered a question about McClellan, " I have always
entertained a high opinion of his capacity, and have no
reason to think that he omitted to do anything that was
in his power." 27 And when one of his officers tried to
draw him out by .speaking somewhat freely about an
other, Lee answered, " Well, sir, if that is your opinion
of General  , I can only say that you differ very
widely from the general himself." 28
Reserve of this character is always liable to be misin
terpreted, and so we get what foundation there is for
Badeau's charge of duplicity. His complaint of this in
reference to Lee's reports seems rather absurd, for the
unhappy necessities of war always involve some depart
ure from candor if not from veracity. But Badeau also
criticizes Lee's last correspondence with Grant, probably
read and reread as much as any letters ever written in

232 LEE THE AMERICAN
the world. To accuse Lee of intentional deception in any
of these is preposterous ; but the letter especially singled
out by Badeau, that of April 8, 1865, is certainly not
direct, simple, and straightforward, any more than is the
other important letter in which Lee discusses Jackson's
share in the tactics of Chancellorsville.
So far as Lee's reserve is concerned, however, it must
not in any way be attributed to haughtiness or aristocratic
superiority. It is true that he, like Washington, found it
difficult to throw off his dignity, to mingle freely with
his fellows in common intercourse ; but there never was
a man who believed more heartily in American liberty,
in the absolute equality of all men before the law and be
fore God, who would have more entirely accepted Mr.
H. D. Sedgwick's noble definition of democracy — noble
especially because it levels by exalting instead of lower
ing : " The fundamental truth of democracy is the belief
that the real pleasures of life are increased by shar
ing them." 29 Lee hated parade, display, and ceremony,
hated above all things being made an object of public
gaze and adulation. His idea of high position was high
responsibility, a superior was one who had larger duties
as well as larger privileges, and the mark of a gentleman
was a keen sense of the feelings and susceptibilities of
others. This attitude has rarely been expressed more delicately
than by Lee himself in a memorandum found among his
papers after his death (italics mine) : " The forbearing use

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 233
of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner
in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over
others is a test of a true gentleman. The power which
the strong have over the weak, the magistrate over the
citizen, the employer over the employed, the educated
over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding,
even the clever over the silly — the forbearing or inof
fensive use of all this power or authority, or a total
abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the
gentleman in a plain light. The gentleman does not
needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a
wrong he may have committed against him. He can not
only forgive, he can forget ; and he strives for that noble
ness of self and mildness of character which impart suf
ficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man
of honor feels humbled himself when he cannot help hum
bling others?'' 30 It reminds one of Dekker's
" First true gentleman that ever breathed."
The thing that puzzles me, as it has doubtless puzzled
many, is how much personal ambition had Lee under this
august reserve, this firm moderation, this constant sacri
fice of self to duty. What led him into the army first ?
He is reported to have said in later years : " The great
mistake of my life was taking a military education." 31
Why did he make that mistake ? Was it merely the de
sire to follow his father's profession? Had he a love of
adventure and excitement? Did he — like Jackson — in
his early days cherish dreams of distant glory? Glimpses

234 LEE THE AMERICAN
of such a passion may be caught in Washington's youth
ful letters. I find no trace of it in Lee's. When his friends
display anxiety for his advancement, he discourages
them. " I hope my friends will give themselves no an
noyance on my account, or any concern about the distri
bution 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 numbered
among them." 32 And again : " 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 that
you will discard it from your thoughts." 33
By the time the Civil War came, this indifference to
honors had grown to be a fixed habit. No one can doubt
the sincerity of Lee's repeated expressions of willingness
to serve in any capacity where he could be useful. It is
said that when Virginia first joined the Confederacy, he
made arrangements to enlist as a private in a company
of cavalry.34 Later he observed to a restless subordinate,
" What do you care about rank ? I would serve under a
corporal if necessary." 3B And to Davis he wrote, after
Gettysburg : " I am as willing to serve now as in the be
ginning in any capacity and at any post where I can do
good. The lower in position, the more suited to my ability
and the more agreeable to my feelings." 36
But there is a harder test of self-sacrifice in these mat
ters than even the willingness to forego rank ; and that
is patience under criticism. Here, too, Lee is conspicuv

y

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 235
ous. To be sure, Grant asserts that his great rival was
not criticized. Less than some others, perhaps, but
enough. And I think his immunity from it was partly
due to the temper in which it was received. One of the
finest passages in all his letters relates to this. "My
whole time is occupied, and all my thoughts and strength
are given to the cause to which my life, be it long or
short, will be devoted. Tell her not to mind the reports
she sees in the papers. They are made to injure and
occasion distrust. Those that know me will not believe
them. Those that do not will not care for them. I laugh
at them." 37 And laughing at them, in his own sunny,
kindly fashion, he told B. H. Hill that the great mistake
of the war was in making all the best generals editors of
newspapers. " I am willing to serve in any capacity to
which the authorities may assign me. I have done the
best I could in the field and have not succeeded as I could
wish. I am willing to yield my place to these best generals,
and I will do my best for the cause editing a newsaper." 3S
The more widely one reads in the literature of the war,
the more one appreciates the greatness of Lee's indiffer
ence to glory, his absolute freedom from jealousy and
self-justification. Doubtless there were other eminent
examples of this on both sides ; but one grows heartsick
over the petty disputes, the ignominious wrangling which
identifies a grand cause with a littie man. In many cases
injured merit is only trying to get its rights and perhaps
does not deserve blame. But here is precisely the hard-

236 LEE THE AMERICAN
est lesson of all. To abstain from justifying one's self at
the expense of others when one is wrong is not always
easy. To abstain when one feels one's self to have been
right — that is the labor and the difficulty indeed. Even
in this Lee succeeded, when so many failed.
As to his love of adventure and excitement, we have
seen in a previous chapter how rarely it appears. Beside
the significant Fredericksburg phrase, "It is well that
war is so terrible, or else we might grow too fond of it,"
I like to put the quiet words, written after the war and
very different from what we should expect from a soldier
homesick for far-off battle and glory, "I much enjoy
the charms of civil life." 39 Altogether, a man to whom
the ambitions of this world meant very little. Yet it was
he who wrote of his daughter, " She is like her papa —
always wanting something." I wonder what he wanted.'
It is said that Darwin confessed that all he required
for happiness in life was his scientific pursuits and the
family affections. It might '^equally well be said that
all Lee needed was the family affections and religion.
And now, what about his religion ?
Assuredly it was not a religion of sect. It was broad
enough to go even beyond the bounds of Christianity
and recognize earnestness of intention in those of a dif
ferent creed altogether. " An application of a Jew soldier
for permission to attend certain ceremonies of his syna
gogue in Richmond was indorsed by his captain : ' Dis
approved. If such applications were granted, the whole

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 237
army would turn Jews or shaking Quakers.' When the
paper came to General Lee, he indorsed on it, 'Ap
proved, and respectfully returned to Captain  , with
the advice that he should always respect the religious
views and feelings of others.' " 40 Lee was an Episcopal
ian, but he had no narrow belief in the power of rituals
or formulas. One of his friendly enemies, General Hunt,
records that at the time of the excitement over Puseyism,
efforts were made in the parish to which Lee belonged
to enlist him on one side or the other of the contro
versy. He resisted these steadily, and on some public
occasion, when the appeals were urgent, he remarked
audibly to Hunt : " I am glad to see that you keep aloof
from the dispute that is disturbing our little parish. That
is right and we must not get mixed up in it ; we must
support each other in that. But I must give you some
advice about it, in order that we may understand each
other : Beware of Pussyism ! Pussyism is always bad,
and may lead to unchristian feeling ; therefore beware
of Pussyism 1 " 41 He seems to have had ready always
in controversy, whether religious or military, some pleas
ant turn of this kind, which assuaged bitterness and
broadened bigotry. Thus, when a lady once complained
to him that little Lenten food — fish, oysters, etc., — was
obtainable in Lexington, he said to her, " Mrs.  , I
would not trouble myself about special dishes ; I suppose
if we try to abstain from special sins, that is all that will
be expected of us." 42

238 LEE THE AMERICAN
Nor was Lee's religion a matter of dogma or theology.
Some speculative doubts appear, indeed, to have beset
him in his earlier years, and it is extremely curious to
find the shadow of Unitarianism hinted at by one of his
devout biographers as keeping him for a long time from
the church (italics mine): "Although at that time, and
for a score of years thereafter, his estimate of his own
unworthiness, and some mistaken views of Christ, per
haps, prevented his making an avowal of the Christian
faith and becoming a communicant of the church, he
was, nevertheless, all the while guided and restrained by
belief in the Bible, reverence for its Author as revealed
therein, reliance more or less implicit upon the Saviour,
and prayer secret, but sincere." 43 When once these dif
ficulties were overcome, his acceptance seems to have
been complete and unquestioning. He liked sermons to
be simple and practical. " It was a noble sermon, one
of the best I ever heard — and the beauty of it was that
the preacher gave our young men the very marrow of
the Gospel." 44 He liked prayers to be brief and to the
point. " You know our friend  is accustomed to
make his prayers too long. He prays for the Jews, the
Turks, the heathen, the Chinese, and everybody else,
and makes his prayers run into the regular hour for our
college recitations. Would it be wrong for me to sug
gest to Mr.  that he confine his morning prayers to
us poor sinners at the college, and pray for the Turks,
the Jews, the Chinese, and the other heathens some other

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 239
time ? " 4B He avoided the discussion of speculative points,
whenever possible. Some one asked him once whether
he believed in the apostolic succession. He said he had
never thought of it, and on another, similar occasion,
" I never trouble myself about such questions ; my chief
concern is to try to be a humble, sincere Christian my
self." 48
That humility is the key to this as to many other prob
lems in Lee's character is indisputable, a genuine humility.
Others might explain the universe and probe the mys
teries of God. Surely he need not. Indeed, it is recorded
that he was reluctant to commit himself on any general
matter of intellectual interest. " He studiously avoided
giving opinions upon subjects which it had not been his
calling or training to investigate ; and sometimes I
thought he carried this great virtue too far." 47 Too far,
perhaps. But there are so many in these days, in all
days, who do not carry it far enough. I think it is this
entire and unconscious humility of Lee's that saves him
more than anything else from the wild doings of some
of his biographers. He has no thought of his own excel
lences, nor of intruding them upon us. No one would
have shrunk more than he from being held up as a
modd of perfection.
Even in military affairs, where he knew his ground,
the humility is always obvious. " I could not have done
as well as has been done, but I could have helped and
taken part in a struggle for my home and neighbor-

240 LEE THE AMERICAN
hood. So the work is done, I care not by whom it is
done." 48 But in matters of the soul the great warrior's
self-abasement is as touching as it is manifestly sincere.
" As we were about to leave his tent, Mr. Lacy said: 'I
think it is right that I should say to you, General, that
the chaplains of the army have a deep interest in your
welfare and some of the most fervent prayers we offer
are in your behalf.' The old hero's face flushed, tears
started in his eyes, and he replied with choked utterance
and deep emotion : ' Please thank them for that, sir — I
warmly appreciate it. And I can only say that I am noth
ing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ for salvation,
and need all of the prayers they can offer for me.' " 49
Lee's religion was, therefore, mainly practical. He was
most devout and constant in all religious observances,
though his son does not conceal a human propensity to
slumber during sermon time. He was ardent in worship
both private and public. Such a curious religious democ
racy as prevailed in his army has probably not been seen
in the world since the days of Cromwell. On one occasion
he was hurrying with his staff to battle. The firing had be
gun and the shells were flying. But the cavalcade hap
pened to pass a camp meeting where some ragged veteran
was holding forth in prayer. At once the commander-in-
chief dismounted and he and all his officers, with bared
heads, reverently took part in the simple worship.60 Again,
as the army was being moved rapidly across the James in
1864 to meet Grant at Petersburg, Lee, with a thousand

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 241
cares and duties on his shoulders, turned out from the
road and knelt in the dust beside a minister, to ask for
guidance and blessing. 61
All that I have written of Lee has indeed been written
in vain, if it is necessary to point out that his religion
was practical not only in form and observance but in the
deeper touching and moulding of the heart. Perhaps the
final test of this is utter and complete forgiveness of
those who have injured or are trying to injure us, not
the forgiveness of the lips (" I forgive you as a Chris
tian," said Rowena ; " which means," said Wamba, " that
she does not forgive him at all "), but the forgiveness of
broad tolerance, of perfect understanding and sympathy,
that is, of love. After the war a minister expressed him
self rather bitterly as to the conduct of the North. " Doc
tor," said Lee to him, " there is a good old book which
says, ' Love your enemies.' . . . Do you think your re
marks this evening were quite in the spirit of that teach
ing?"62 On another occasion a general exclaimed, "I
wish those people were all dead ! " " How can you say
so?" answered his chief. "Now, I wish they were all at
home attending to their own business, and leaving us to
do the same." B3 And he summed up the whole matter
more generally: "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." B4

242 LEE THE AMERICAN
The belief that " the real pleasures of life are increased
by sharing them" certainly finds application more com
pletely in religion than in anything else. No missionary
ever had more ardent zeal than Lee for bringing the
knowledge of God to all about him. Not that he had
any air of being holier than others, of that reaching down
a saving hand from vast heights of perfection which
evokes a perverse desire not to be saved. Here as else
where his sweet humility averts any charge of too aggres
sive saintliness. " He one day said to a friend in speak
ing of the duty of laboring for the good of others : ' Ah,
Mrs. P  , I find it so hard to try to keep one poor sin
ner's heart in the right way, that it seems presumptuous
to try to help others.' " BB Nevertheless, one almost feels
as if he cared more for winning souls than battles and
for supplying his army with Bibles than with bullets and
powder. Even this solemn aspect of things he could
color occasionally with the gende sunshine of his humor,
as when he remarked, on hearing that many of his
soldiers were taking part in a revival, "I am delighted.
I wish that all of them would become Christians, for it is
about all that is left them now." B6 But under the smile
there was a passionate earnestness which appears not
only in his private talk, but in his public orders. "The
commanding general . . . directs that none but duties
strictly necessary shall be required to be performed on
Sunday, and that all labor, both of men and animals,
which it is practicable to anticipate or postpone, or the

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 243
immediate performance of which is not essential to the
safety, health, or comfort of the army, shall be suspended
on that day. Commanding officers . . . will give then-
attention to the maintenance of order and quiet around
the places of worship, and prohibit anything that may
tend to disturb or interrupt religious exercises." 67 These
might be general orders of Cromwell or of Moses.
When it came to the guidance of the young at Wash
ington College in later years, Lee's fervor grew even
more marked. "We had been conversing for some time
respecting the religious welfare of the students. General
Lee's feelings soon became so intense that for a time his
utterance was choked ; but, recovering himself, with his
eyes overflowed with tears, his lips quivering with emo
tion, and both hands raised, he exclaimed : ' Oh, Doctor !
if I could only know that all the young men in this col
lege were good Christians, I should have nothing more to
desire.' " 68 You will remember that this man surrendered
a great army and saw a nation sink to dust without a tear.
The central fact of all religion is the personal relation
to God, prayer. And it is here that I have followed Lee
with the deepest interest. In our modern busy life most
of us set God so far apart that we are in danger of losing
sight of Him entirely. This springs in great part from
reverence. We are afraid of soiling sacred things with
the dust of every day. The mediaeval Christian had no
such timidity. God was his companion, his friend, to be
called on every hour, every moment, if needed. Go back

244 LEE THE AMERICAN
two thousand years to the sweet, simple piety of an
Athenian gentleman, Xenophon, — some call it degrad
ing superstition, — and see how he summons the divine
to direct his comings and goings, to cast down his ene
mies and support his friends. Just so Lee. God gives the
victory. God permits the defeat. God sends rain to mire
the Virginia roads. He sends his sunshine to make them
passable again. If God is appealed to passionately
enough, devoutly enough, humbly enough, we win. If
we lose, it is because we have not honored God suf
ficiently. But — but — what if your cause is wrong and
the other right ? What if millions on the other side are
praying, as honestly, as humbly, as zealously as you are?
To set out to kill, to pray God to help you kill, those who
are devoutly praying God to help them kill you — it
inevitably recalls the eternal contradiction put with such
vividness by the poet, —
" For prayer the ocean is where diversely
Men steer their course, each to a several coast;
Where all our interests so discordant be
That half beg winds by which the rest are lost." M
These are old difficulties, but war always gives them
a fierce and startling significance. I trust it will be be
lieved that I do not bring them up in any spirit of mock
ery. My one interest is to know what Lee thought of
them. Did he meet them? Did he consider them? Or
did he put them aside with the simple concreteness of
his practical temperament? " I had taken every precau-

LEE'S SPIRITUAL LIFE 245
tion to insure success and counted on it. But the Ruler
of the Universe willed otherwise and sent a storm to dis
concert a well-laid plan, and to destroy my hopes."60
Does he never ask why ? " I hope we will yet be able
to damage our adversaries when they meet us. That it
should be so, we must implore the forgiveness of God for
our sins, and the continuance of his blessings." 61 Does
this never sound strange? Apparently not. since he
repeats it and repeats it with an inexhaustible and, I can
not help adding, an at times exasperating piety.
As to prayer on its more spiritual side, Lee's use of it
is naturally less revealed to us. That a relation to God
so constant and so intimate as his should be turned to
only for worldly advantage and material benefit is wholly
unworthy of a nature so finely touched, and we must
believe that the sweetest part of his religion lay in the
high rapture and forgetfulness of spiritual communion.
He was not one to speak of such experience, however,
or to write of it. And we are only told that "he was
emphatically a man of prayer and was accustomed to
pray in his family and to have his seasons of secret
prayer which he allowed nothing else — however press
ing — to interrupt";62 and again, "I shall never forget
the emphasis with which he grasped my hand as, with
voice and eye that betrayed deep emotion, he assured
me that it [knowledge of prayer] was not only his com
fort, but his only comfort, and declared the simple and
absolute trust that he had in God and God alone." 63

246 LEE THE AMERICAN
So I think we may conclude that the cardinal fact of
Lee's life was God. Schleiermacher said that Spinoza
was God-intoxicated. It would be indecorous to speak
of Lee as intoxicated with anything. But everywhere
and always he had God in his heart, not so much the
God of power, or the God of justice, or even the God of
beauty, but the God of love, tempering the austerity of
virtue, sweetening the bitterness of failure, above all,
breathing loving kindness into the intolerable hell of
war. There have been fierce saints who were fighters.
There have been gentle saints who were martyrs. It is
rare to find a soldier making war — stern war — with
the pity, the tenderness, the sympathy of a true follower
of Christ.

XI
LEE AFTER THE WAR
IMMEDIATELY after the surrender Lee, a paroled prisoner
of war, withdrew into private life and took no further
official part in the affairs of his country. What he per
sonally desired, above all, was rest, quiet, solitude. " I
am looking for some little, quiet home in the woods,
where I can procure shelter and my daily bread, if per
mitted by the victor." x In all the remaining five years
of his life he never complained, never discouraged or
disheartened others, never quarreled with the doom of
fortune ; but those who watched him closely saw some
thing of the burden from which his heart could not get
free. " I never saw a sadder expression than General
Lee carried during the entire time I was at Washington
College. It looked as if the sorrow of a whole nation had
collected in his countenance, and as if he was bearing
the grief of his whole people. It never left his face, but
was ever there to keep company with the kindly smile." 2
Lee's attitude towards the United States Government
was from the first one of loyal recognition and submis
sion. In June, 1865, he applied for amnesty under the
President's proclamation, and though his request was
never formally granted, he acted in every way as if he
considered himself a citizen of the united country. To

248 LEE THE AMERICAN
a friend he wrote, " I believe it to be the duty of every
one to unite in the restoration of the country, and the
reestablishment of peace and harmony."3 And again,
" Were it worth his while to refer to my political record,
he would have found that I was not in favor of secession
and was opposed to war ; in fact, that I was for the Con
stitution and the Union established by our forefathers.
No one now is more in favor of that Constitution and
that Union." 4 When testifying before the Congressional
Reconstruction Committee, he was questioned very
closely in regard to his attitude toward future possible
complications ; but his answers, though characteristic
ally reserved, showed nothing but profound loyalty and
hope. That he sympathized with the indignation of his coun
trymen over the ill-judged and mismanaged methods of
so-called reconstruction is probable, though his language
is always guarded. As to the great theme of Southern
wrath, — the captivity of Davis, — Lee is full of pity for
the captive, but does not abuse the captors. And why
should he ? In the place of Lee and Davis I should have
done as they did. But from the Northern point of view
they had striven rebelliously to overthrow an established
government. They had wasted hundreds of thousands
of lives and hundreds of millions of treasure. Any other
people in any other age of the world would have hanged
both of them without a moment's compunction or
delay. It would have been unwise, it would have been

ROBERT E. LEE
(From the painting by Pioto)

LEE AFTER THE WAR 249
impolitic. Who dare say it would have been unhuman ?
Yet the South complains, because Davis was subjected
for a few months to petty annoyance and personal
insult. But whatever his feelings or opinions, Lee absolutely
refused to take any part in practical politics. His scru
pulous observance of his parole made him unwilling to
recognize any continued relation to the Confederacy, as
when he declined to share in the remains of the civil
service fund from which other officers helped themselves
freely.6 It also made him unwilling to meddle in the
political activities going on about him. To be sure, when
he was urged by the Reconstruction Committee as to
negro suffrage, he spoke out : " My own opinion is that
at this time they cannot vote intelligently and that giv
ing them the right of suffrage would open the door to a
good deal of demagogism and lead to serious embar
rassments in various ways." 6 Are there many people
to-day who think that he was wrong ? But in general he
was faithful to his established rule : " I must not wander
into politics, a subject I carefully avoid." 7 Even a nom
ination to the highest office in his native state was de-
dined by him, partly on personal grounds: " My feelings
induce me to prefer private life, which I think more suit
able to my condition and age"; but mainly because he
believed such action " would be used by the dominant
party to excite hostility towards the State, and to injure
the people in the eyes of the country ; and I, therefore,

250 LEE THE AMERICAN
cannot consent to become the instrument of bringing
distress upon those whose prosperity and happiness are
so dear to me." 8
The desire for retirement and quiet was so strong that
Lee avoided, if possible, everything connecting him with
the war and all its memories. This does not mean that
he had any occasion for regret ; simply that a chapter
of terrible agony was closed forever, and he wished his
people as well as himself to look forward and not back.
Nor does it mean that he forgot his old comrades. On
the contrary, he remembered them too well, thinking of
them every day and every hour, their unavailing toil,
their fruitless sacrifice. " You will meet many of my old
soldiers during your trip," he said in 1869, "and I wish
you to tell them that I often think of them, try every
day to pray for them, and am always gratified to hear
of their prosperity." 9
And they remembered him. Many and many are
the stories told of long devotion, of high enthusiasm, of
eager desire for a touch, for a glance even, that might
be treasured always. The simplest of these stories are
the sweetest. When he visited Petersburg in the last
years, they thronged round his carriage and tried to
take out the horses and so draw him into the city, but
he declared if they did so, he should have to get out and
help them.10 Just after the war closed, he received the
following letter, which needs no comment : " Dear Gen
eral: we have been fighting hard for four years, and

LEE AFTER THE WAR 251
now the Yankees have got us in Libby Prison. They
are treating us awful bad. The boys want you to get us
out if you can, but, if you can't, just ride by the Libby,
and let us see you and give you a cheer. We will all
feel better after it." " On one occasion the general was
ill and a watchful attendant was taking pains to see
that he was in no way disturbed. His room was on the
ground floor and the nurse noticed a man step sofdy
to the window and try to open the blinds. " Go away,"
she said. " That is General Lee's room." The man went,
murmuring, " I only wanted to see him." 12
But though Lee was glad to meet his old soldiers, he
was reluctant to talk of the war with them or with any
one else. He did, indeed, plan " to write a history of my
campaigns, not to vindicate myself and promote my
reputation, but to show the world what our poor boys
with their small numbers and scant resources had suc
ceeded in accomplishing." 13 But the history was never
written, and I do not believe it ever would have been
written. As time went on, he would have shrunk from it
more and more. For this reason the few comments that
he has left us are doubly precious. There is the delight
ful letter to the Union general, Hunter, who had sought
Lee's justification for the line of retreat from Lynchburg :
" I am not advised as to the motives which induced you
to adopt the line of retreat which you took, and am not,
perhaps, competent to judge of the question ; but I cer
tainly expected you to retreat by way of the Shenandoah

252 LEE THE AMERICAN
Valley, and was gratified at the time that you preferred
the route through the mountains to the Ohio — leaving
the Valley open for General Early's advance into Mary
land." 14 There are the rare observations on the Union
commanders. As to McClellan : A friend " asked Gen
eral Lee which in his opinion was the ablest of the Union
generals ; to which the latter answered, bringing his
hand down on the table with emphatic energy, ' McClel
lan, by all odds.' " 16 As to Grant, the often quoted but
probably apocryphal expressions of extravagant eulogy,
and the authentic written words showing respect and
esteem, " General Grant, who possesses magnanimity as
well as ability." 16 There is the characteristic advice to
General Early as to the whole subject : " I would recom
mend, however, that while giving facts necessary for
your own vindication, you omit all epithets or remarks
calculated to excite bitterness or animosity between dif
ferent sections of the country." 17
Anything like interviewing it is needless to say that
Lee shunned with disgust and he treated reporters with
less civility than he showed to anybody else. " One even
ing a correspondent of the ' New York Herald ' paid him
a visit for the purpose of securing an interview. The gen
eral was courteous and polite, but very firm. He stood
during the interview, and finally dismissed the reporter,
saying : ' I shall be glad to see you as a friend, but re
quest that the visit may not be made in your professional
capacity.'"18 Of Swinton he said, "He seemed to be

LEE AFTER THE WAR 253
gentlemanly, but I derive no pleasure from my inter
views with bookmakers." 19
And if Lee shunned publicity through the press, he
was even more unwilling to be made an object of per
sonal curiosity. On the rare occasions when he was per
suaded to appear in public places, he was received with
an enthusiasm, a deference, a universal esteem and affec
tion which must have touched him. But his natural
modesty and reserve shrank from all such manifestations,
whenever possible. He frequently alludes to his feelings
on the subject with gentle humor. "They would make
too much fuss over the old rebel." 20 " Why should they
care to see me ? I am only a poor old Confederate." 21
And there is the delicious story of the raffle. " I have had
a visit since commencing this letter from Mrs. William
Bath, of New Orleans, who showed me a wreath made
in part, she says, of my, your [Mrs. Lee's] , and Mildred's
hair, sent her by you more than two years ago. She says
she sent you a similar one at the time, but of this I could
tell her nothing, for I remember nothing about it. She
says her necessities now compel her to put her wreath
up to raffle, and she desired to know whether I had any
objection to her scheme, and whether I would head the
list. All this, as you may imagine, is extremely agreeable
to me, but I had to decline her offer of taking a chance
in her raffle." 22
So, instead of glory and applause and raffles, Lee
wanted quiet. He had neighbors, rich and poor, high and

254 LEE THE AMERICAN
humble, who adofed him ; and their homelike kindness
and affection he thoroughly appreciated. His son writes
that for days and weeks, after the family was established
at Lexington, " supplies came pouring to my mother from
the people in the town and country, even from the poor
mountaineers, who, anxious to ' do something to help
General Lee,' brought in handbags of walnuts, potatoes,
and game." 23 He had friends, old and new, who wrote
him cordial and admiring letters and drew from him such
charming replies as that addressed to the English poet
Worsley, and many others. Best of all he had his family
circle, the invalid wife to whom he gave constant care
and who paid it back in sunshine, the sons and daugh
ters and daughters-in-law, whose serious concerns re
ceived his earnest attention and sympathy, and whose
lighter doings he followed with the playful jest and
kindly merriment under which he took pains to veil the
weight that always pressed his heart.
It cannot be said that the many letters preserved from
this period often contain frank outpouring, or indicate
that Lee gave himself up to any human soul. Yet they
are well worth attentive study as showing the constant
tenderness of his nature and his watchful devotion to the
welfare of those about him. And now and then there is
a glimpse of profound emotion, as in the reference to his
lost daughter. " I shall go first to Warrenton Springs,
North Carolina, to visit the grave of my dear Annie,
where I have always promised myself to go, and I think,

LEE AFTER THEV WAR 255
if I am to accomplish it, I have no time to lose. I wish
to witness her quiet sleep, with her dear hands crossed
over her breast, as it were in mute prayer, undisturbed
by her distance from us, and to feel that her pure spirit
is waiting in bliss in the land of the blessed." 24
Much as Lee liked home and quiet, he was the last
man in the world to sit down and fold his hands, to feel
that his life's task was done, while his limbs had strength
in them. Even as a simple Virginian farmer he would
have worked and worked hard. The world had seen too
much of his greatness, however, to let him hide it in
shadow. During all the years after the war offers kept
coming to him, of establishment, of occupation, of pos
sible usefulness and assured emolument. An English
nobleman offered him a country-seat in England and an
annuity of ^3000. Lee answered, " I must abide the for
tunes and share the fate of my people." 25 He was urged
to emigrate with a Southern colony to Mexico. He an
swered : " The thought of abandoning the country and
all that must be left in it is abhorrent to my feelings,
and I prefer to struggle for its restoration and share its
fate, rather than give up all as lost." 26
Many business positions of high trust or dignity were
pressed upon him. He uniformly declined them, alleging
that his training did not lie in that direction and that his
age rendered him incapable of performing such arduous
labors. When he was told that no labors were expected
of him, that his name was all that would be required, and

256 LEE THE AMERICAN
that a large salary would be paid simply for the use of
that, he replied that his name was not for sale.27
It was suggested that he should be at the head of
a large house in New York to represent Southern com
merce, with immense sums of money at his disposal. He
said in response : " I am grateful, but I have a self-
imposed task which I must accomplish. I have led the
young men of the South in battle ; I have seen many of
them die on the field ; I shall devote my remaining ener
gies to training young men to do their duty in life." 28
For already, within a brief time after the war closed,
he had accepted an office which in itself seemed neither
very brilliant nor very profitable, at least when compared
with the position Lee occupied in the eyes of the whole
world. After much hesitation, not as to brilliancy or
profit, but as to his own fitness, he had yielded to the
request of the trustees of Washington College that he
would become their president. " Fully impressed with the
responsibilities of the office," he wrote on the 24th of
August, 1865, " I have feared that I should be unable to
discharge its duties to the satisfaction of the Trustees, or
to the benefit of the country. . . . Should you, however,
take a different view, and think that my services in the
position tendered me by the Board will be advantageous
to the college and the country, I will yield to your judg
ment and accept it." 29
At that time the college consisted of forty students
and four professors. 30 The endowment was unproductive

^^ff^A^JlXz^vu^^. Al /> /I
il£ufc??^A?£fcZ /^rr^AAC c/-Jl^AA?uZ)i X Ifo- HL^lcie^^ (i ^
tlAsUL- (Qj\A*4A^f*s^ALf?<??a^J , Xa^AA^AA 4H-<-^nAAf?£-ldA- J-C-(X?U? f*-U^
d^^A^At^^A?JuXif<J cf ^fc 0fptAAj)l -JL -^LeY~<: YL*»--t-<>«Y M^cAfX-
^AH^u£t( ' fU- -C<^-^<aXvLA?Pv C&4A>Uc*-~*AA-- Usti ~ c£ccf?£?c<) , ?UAU?Zjl.A^Ju??I
YY^?Y>t_ of &u- ^^f^tx^fii^A) , en. ?u??C{?i?Lsd-e^^j4?i/7 ^^tZXtWi-ctx^Y,
\j£4tA- M*-*v/ok ji^Xu<^t^tA?????i^K, ffl- ¦UyXA^tA^- tZje-^A^t-^u^l A2^i^trj?? Pl-u?t
&4X^uyiex£i£tAri -/u//Y/ylYt- <r^**-'t<x^.^£Y^L^?^ ?C£i?c-v<. ^.<AH^rnJ~-^
^/un/t^M f dvl- <JL £0) (^yCrX^J^uALaA/LC  ?U?£?-^^--eCt^A/V &?(. /t&s&vt-<A?)
^Q^t^cC^tt^J @iicAy~cd aU*. j^eAuXctsi- V^AU^i^-e^ erf Yc^teitYcilfcY.
G^^^^aA\_-Q^y^^i^^^ ui '^LiXY^fc.
^tc <(?Ui?^wA) y^fcu^aY ,/^t /£l< /is^szZ^*-isL-a?C?i?wA it/^UjC

j-Os*^.

Si &Al^L^A_^ ^~3YUt^Yv. ^ ^*t Qitla^aJc^i ~ JiL i#C«-v-<- ^D^&
2^7t*-cr{-aMu. — ^tYy^Y^ ^a^^cSUz^xj of ^6:^Y^j£y <y

iuU /<^rur^_ ?fca^^ 72fc ^^fczt^ fAo^c „ ^_^_
^'^p AM^sfyJ/-! &^A^?£i^£^,
, yo^JJ „  /Va  ^ Y'Y', -//- - /-> / ^

ZfasL~AK. <VW<*'' lZ*T^-4 sd-CAstslAAA) ^tyy ti?LK. ^£*aYtIXi^ /wYl^Y^ fcO
j_ {iA^-^fy' ?>yi ¦ ^%Ua^\AAaUJL^. J/-jZ>>-i^u--<A? C>T^-^ri?:;71U^t/i^^?tXtx/i
^CXt^YW ,*>fl^ ?£? jL&fUuAVQ %? /tfaXTdAAAAA^JAj ttf~CuJ3
Qr&LpJ— <^UlA /U*~<J^CftZ/l OA^???U?J!ci-<&_jJ?Al ^fc^^WlK 

U/l^

LEE AFTER THE WAR 257
and the salary offered the new president — fifteen hun
dred dollars — was offered purely on a basis of faith.
Lee's great name told at once, and money and students
began to appear. But it was by no means his intention
to work only with his name. For five years he gave the
best of his thought and toil to building up the institution
which has most justly coupled him in glory with its great
original founder, and all the qualities which had made him
famous on the battlefield now displayed themselves with
richer and more fruitful effort, in the ways of peace. It
may indeed be thought that he did not show quite all the
grasping greed of the modern college president when he
wrote to a lady who was considering a large legacy, " It
is furthest from my wish to divert any donation from
the Theological Seminary at Alexandria, for I am well
acquainted with the merits of that institution, have
a high respect for its professors, and am an earnest ad
vocate of its object. I only give you the information you
desire and wish you to follow your own preferences in
the matter." 31 But perhaps, after all, such methods are
not less effective than some that are more bustling.
And in performing this arduous and useful work for
others Lee doubtless brought happiness to himself also,
as is shown by his most beautiful and striking observa
tion which I have already quoted and am glad to quote
again. " For my own part, I much enjoy the charms of
civil life, and find too late that I have wasted the best
part of my existence." 32 Thus loved, honored, and

258 LEE THE AMERICAN
revered by all, he labored fruitfully, till the end came, far
too soon and doubtless hastened by his vast cares and
vaster sorrows, on the 12th of October, 1870. He was
buried, with simple ceremony, at Lexington, in the chapel
which had been erected by his efforts, and which will be
an object of pilgrimage to thousands who cherish his
memory. But let us look more closely at what he accomplished
in his college presidency for the profoundly interesting
light it throws on the various aspects of his character.
To begin with, as I have said, he worked. His was no
ornamental position. He spent his days regularly in his
office and attended personally to his immense correspond
ence, with so much faithfulness that a newspaper editor,
who had occasion to send to a large number of college
presidents a circular calling for an answer, relates that
General Lee was the only one from whom he received a
reply.33 Nor did he confine himself to the details of the
administrative side of his position. He was constant in
visiting examinations and recitations, remaining a few
moments, asking pertinent and stimulating questions in
every sort of subject, then departing with the dignified
bow of his grave, old-fashioned courtesy.34
And his intellectual interest was much more than a
mere routine observation of pedagogical work. As may
be seen from his yearly reports to the trustees,36 he set
himself at once to devise large educational plans, which
went far beyond the means he had to work with and far

ROBERT E. LEE
As college president

LEE AFTER THE WAR 259
beyond the traditions that prevailed about him. Brought
up at once in old habits of thought and in modern prac
tical training, he would have saved, if possible, the lib
eral, classical culture of the past, combined it with the
energetic commercial methods of new America.36 He
wanted to develop his scientific courses, his laboratories,
begged money for them, sought teachers for them. He
designed an elective system which was most broadly in
advance of current ideas, yet he saw the necessity of
checking such a system by rigid supervision and con
straint. In other words, so far as his limited opportunities
will allow us to judge, he was a thinker in education as
he was a thinker in war.
But these were " worlds not realized," and I find him
in his human relations even more worth study. He man
aged his faculty as he managed his generals, with firm
ness tempered by an ever-ready sympathy. In their per
sonal welfare he took the kindest and most genuine
interest. "My wife reminds me," says Professor Joynes,
" that once, when I was detained at home by sickness,
General Lee came every day, through a deep Lexington
snow, and climbed the high stairs, to inquire about me
and to comfort her." 37 At the same time he was minutely
exacting himself about matters of duty and wished others
to be so. A professor walked into church with his pipe-
stem protruding from his pocket. This caused some com
ment in the faculty meeting, and the offender took out
the pipe and began cutting off the stem. " No, Mr. Har-

260 LEE THE AMERICAN
ris," said the general, " don't do that; next time leave it
at home." 38 The narrow circumstances, not only of the
college but of the whole South, seemed, to Lee, at any
rate, to demand the closest economy. One day a profes
sor wished to consult a catalogue and was going to tear
the wrapper off one that had been prepared for mailing.
Lee hastily handed him another already opened. " Take
this, if you please." 39 Regularity and punctuality were
his cardinal principles and he did not like others to
neglect them. A professor who was not always constant
at chapel one day spoke of the importance of inducing
the students to attend. Lee quietly remarked, " The best
way that I know of to induce students to attend is to set
them the example by always attending ourselves." 40
Some of these anecdotes and the many others like
them suggest that Lee may have appeared just a little
of a martinet, just a little over-particular. I suspect that
he did occasionally appear so to some who have forgot
ten it now, or who do not wish to remember it. Yet the
general testimony is that kindness of manner made up for
any sharpness of speech ; and as we have seen that his
greatness in war came from his wide knowledge of all
rules and his perfect willingness to fling them aside at
the right moment, so we find that in peace he thought
nothing of tradition or system when it trammeled the
progress of the soul. " Make no needless rules," he told
his teachers.41 Again, " We must never make a rule that
we cannot enforce." 42 And when one of them appealed to

LEE AFTER THE WAR 261
precedent and urged that " we must not respect persons,"
Lee replied, " I always respect persons and care little
for precedent." 43 Coming from a man whose life was
built on law and the reverence for law, I call that
magnificent. On this nice balance of law and liberty his whole dis
cipline of the college was based. It might be supposed
that as a military man, brought up in a military school,
he would be a firm believer in the military methods of
training of which we nowadays hear so much. It is only
another instance of his breadth of mind that this was
not so. " I have heard him say," writes Professor Joynes,
"that military discipline was, unfortunately, necessary
in military education, but was, in his opinion, a most un
suitable training for civil life." 44 Without going to any
opposite extreme, he believed, as we have seen above,
in reducing rules to the minimum, in making rules sim
ple and not vexatious, believed that the highest aim of
education is to produce a type of character which shall
leave rules unnecessary. "Young gentleman," he said
to one newcoming student, " we have no printed rules.
We have but one rule here, that every student be a gen-
tieman." 4B And in a general circular issued after some
public disturbance he embodied his idea completely.
"The Faculty therefore appeal to the honor and self-
respect of the students to prevent any similar occurrence,
trusting that their sense of what is due to themselves,
their parents, and the institution to which they belong,

262 LEE THE AMERICAN
will be more effectual in teaching them what is right and
manly than anything they can say." 46
Such leniency of system sometimes works havoc. Not
when it is supported by the personal force which Lee
gave it. He used the same methods with his students
that he had used with his soldiers. His reprimands were
gentle and quiet, but they were effective. They did not
sting, but they stirred and touched and inspired. Rough
and bitter he could not make them. When some one
remonstrated a little on this, he answered: "I cannot
help it ; if a gentleman can't understand the language of
a gentleman, he must remain in ignorance, for a gentle
man cannot write in any other way." 47 Nevertheless,
it seems that he usually achieved his object. For all his
gentleness, the wildest boys were apt to come out of his
office in tears. One, who had boasted that this would not
happen, underwent the same experience as the rest.
"What did he do to you ? Did he scold you? " were the
eager inquiries. " No ; I wish he had. I wish he had
whipped me. I could have stood it better. He talked to
me about my mother and the sacrifices she is making to
send me to college, and before I knew it, I was blubber
ing like a baby." 48
As with his officers and soldiers, he had endless ingen
ious devices of kindly fun for making reproof more tol
erable — and more effectual. A student was once called
to account for absence. " Mr. M., I am glad to see you
better," said the general, smiling. " But, General, I have

LEE AFTER THE WAR 263
not been sick." "Then I am glad you have better news
from home." " But, General, I have had no bad news."
" Ah," said the general, " I took it for granted that noth
ing less than sickness or distressing news from home
could have kept you from your duty."49 In the same
vein Mr. Page has a story of being late for prayers and
the general's asking him to 'tell Miss  that I say
will she please have breakfast a little earlier for you?"60
And again, as with the officers and soldiers, back of
Lee's discipline there was love. He was not thinking
of his own dignity, or even of the reputation of the col
lege. He was thinking first of the boy and of what could
be done to save him. And the boy knew it. It is said
that often in the faculty meetings, when a case seemed
hopeless and expulsion the only remedy, Lee would plead,
"Don't you think it would be better to bear with him a
littie longer? Perhaps we may do him some good." 61
With scholarship it was as with discipline for conduct.
Lee made it a point to know every student, know his
character, know his record, know even his marks, when
necessary. A boy's name was one day mentioned. " I
am sorry to see he has fallen so far behind in his mathe
matics," the general observed. " You are mistaken, Gen
eral, he is one of the very best men in my class." " He
only got 66 on his last month's report," was the gener
al's answer. Investigation showed that the president was
right as to the report, but a mistake had been made in
copying 66 for 99."

264 LEE THE AMERICAN
Reproof, encouragement, exhortation as to study were
given in the same vein, with the same tact and ingenious
aptness, as for other things. To one parent of a neglig
ent pupil he writes : " I have myself told him as plainly
but as kindly as I could that it was necessary for him to
change his course, or that he would be obliged to return
home. He has promised me that he would henceforth
be diligent and attentive, and endeavor to perform his
duty. I hope that he may succeed, for I think that he is
able to do well if he really makes the effort." 63 Of an
other similar case he remarked, in his humorous fashion,
" He is entirely too careful of the health of his father's
son. . . . We do not want our students to injure their
health studying, but we want them to come as near to
it as it is possible to miss. This young gentleman, you
see, is a long way from the danger-line." B4 And again,
he offered a like suggestion to the pupil himself: " How
is your mother ? I am sure you must be devoted to her ;
you are so careful of the health of her son." 5B
Many of these incidents are doubtless trivial in them
selves. They are valuable as showing how entirely Lee
was devoted to his work, and that he threw himself into
the task of building up a little college with as much zeal
as he had given to the creating of a great nation. What
counted with all these young men was his personal influ
ence and he knew it. In point of fact, he was creating,
or re-creating, a great nation still. His patience, his cour
age, his attitude towards the past, his attitude towards

HEAD FROM VALENTINE'S RECUMBENT STATUE OF LEE

LEE AFTER THE WAR 265
the future, his perfect forgiveness, his large magnanim
ity, above all, his hope, were reflected in the eager hearts
about him and from them spread wide over the bruised
and beaten South, which stood so sorely in need of all
these things. I have referred in an earlier chapter to the
immense importance of his general influence in bringing
about reconciliation and peace. It is almost impossible
to overestimate this. We have the high Northern evi
dence of Grant: "All the people except a few political
leaders in the South will accept whatever he does as
right and will be guided to a great extent by his exam
ple." 66 Perhaps nothing will better illustrate the passion
ate testimony of Southerners than a simple anecdote. A
Confederate soldier told General Wise that he had taken
the oath of allegiance to the United States. " You have
disgraced the family," said Wise. "General Lee told me
to do it." " Oh, that alters the case. Whatever General
Lee says is all right, I don't care what it is." 57 Does not
the knowledge of these things double the pathos of that
profoundly pathetic sentence in one of Lee's late letters?
"Life is indeed gliding away and I have nothing of good
to show for mine that is past. I pray I may be spared to
accomplish something for the benefit of mankind and
the honor of God." B8 If he had accomplished nothing,
what shall be said of some of us ?
Yet in spite of all this, it must be admitted that Lee's
life will always be regarded as a record of failure. And
it is precisely because he failed that I have been inter-

266 LEE THE AMERICAN
ested to make this study of him. Success is the idol of
the world and the world's idols have been successful.
Washington, Lincoln, Grant, were doubtless very great.
But they were successful. Who shall say just how far
that element of success enters into their greatness. Here
was a man who remains great, although he failed.
America in the twentieth century worships success, is
too ready to test character by it, to be blind to those
faults success hides, to those qualities that can do with
out it. Here was a man who failed grandly, a man who
said that "human virtue should be equal to human
calamity," and showed that it could be equal to it,
and so, without pretense, without display, without self-
consciousness, left an example that future Americans
may study with profit as long as there is an America.
A young sophomore was once summoned to the presi
dent's office and gently admonished that only patience
and industry would prevent the failure that would inev
itably come to him through college and through life.
" But, General, you failed," remarked the sophomore,
with the inconceivable ineptitude of sophomores.
" I hope that you may be more fortunate than I," was
the tranquil answer.69
Literature can add nothing to that
THE END

APPENDIX

APPENDIX
LEE AND PSYCHOGRAPHY
What I have aimed at in this book is the portrayal of a soul.
We live in an age of names and a new name has recently been
invented — psychography. This means, I suppose, an art
which is not psychology, because it deals with individuals,
not general principles, and is not biography, because it swings
clear of the formal sequence of chronological detail, and uses
only those deeds and words and happenings that are spiritu
ally significant.
New names are often attached to old things. This thing is
as old as Plutarch, as old as the Bible, as old as the first man
who reflected on his fellows and sketched them with one brief
word that made others reflect. What a portrait painter was
Tacitus, and Clarendon, and Saint-Simon. But the nine
teenth century, with its scientific training, brought more
method to the work, more patient curiosity, more desire to
base its results on deep research, and delicate discrimination.
Matthew Arnold's essay on Falkland is an English master
piece in this kind. Lowell wrote A Great Public Character.
Mr. Rothschild, in his Lincoln : Master of Men, has drawn a
full-length with loving care. And there are others too numer
ous to mention. But the prince of all psychographers is
incontestably Sainte-Beuve. He is usually spoken of as a
literary critic. In pure literature he has some limitations. As
what he himself called "a naturalist of souls" 1 he has never
been surpassed, or equaled, or even approached.
The art of painting souls has its difficulties. First, one

270 APPENDIX
would wish to be fair-minded, impartial, free from prejudice.
This is, I think, impossible, and the impartial historian, or
biographer, — that is, he who studies his subject in and for
itself, without preconception or prepossession, without an
instinctive disposition to misrepresent from one cause or an
other, — does not exist. There are simply those who think
they are impartial and those who know they are not.
To begin with, there is the cruder element of political, or
religious, or social partisanship, from which none of us is
wholly free. Tacitus can see little good in a Caesar. Clarendon
finds the Devil's finger pushing Cromwell. Saint-Simon hates
a parvenu. Mommsen has to justify the imperialism of
Prussia in the imperialism of Rome. These are the extremes.
Beside them Mr. Rhodes and Gardiner seem fair, dispassion
ate judges. Are they so? Mr. Rhodes's admirable history is
spoken of as perfectly impartial — by Northerners. South
erners usually refer to it as the least partial of Northern his
tories. Certainly, in spite of all reserves and concessions, Mr.
Rhodes throughout takes the Northern view of things — as is
natural and right. So Gardiner, for all his fairness, obviously
praises the Puritans because they were Puritans, the Cavaliers
although they were Cavaliers. Indeed, it is not impossible
that the open, avowed, and evident partisanship of Clarendon
(discarding, of course, all question as to accuracy of fact)
makes safer reading than the disguised, insinuating partisan
ship of Gardiner.
But these established prepossessions of creed or preference
are not the only obstacles to the psychographer's impartiality.
He is exposed to another danger which is greater according as
his gift of artistic treatment and expression is greater. That
is the danger of making his means more than his end, of taking
such vigorous and startling measures to attract the attention

APPENDIX 271
of his readers and stir their passions that he emphasizes both
the good and the evil in his subject far more than nature war
rants or justice allows. This is the real weakness of such
writers as Macaulay and Froude, far more than their political
prejudices, just as, in a different order of literature, it is the
weakness of Dickens. Macaulay doubtless loved the Puri
tans. But he loved a clever rhetorical touch far more than
any Puritan. It was well to make his readers delight in the
champions of liberty. It was even better to make his readers
stare and gasp at the skill with which he painted a champion
of liberty or a tool of Satan. Therefore his high lights are very
high and his shadows very deep.
"Lord Macaulay had, as we know, his own heightened
and telling way of putting things," says Matthew Arnold.
Sainte-Beuve also has his tranquil judgment on "the clever
and dangerous counsels of M. Macaulay, much in vogue at
present. 'The best portraits,' says that great historical
painter, 'are those in which there is a slight touch of exag
geration. . . . Something is lost in exactitude, but much
is gained in effect. . . . The less important features are ne
glected, but the great characteristic traits are permanently
impressed upon the mind.' It is thus that many great figures
are revamped and made over long after they have passed
away." 2 I have said that Sainte-Beuve was "a naturalist of
souls." Macaulay might well be called " a showman of souls."
In dealing with historical material of all sorts one finds it
constantly necessary to be on one's guard against this tend
ency. Thus, with the innumerable anecdotes bearing on the
Civil War, the plain, uncouth narrative of a soldier who has
no pretension whatever to literature often gives the impression
of being far more reliable than the polished version contributed
by a John Esten Cooke or a George Cary Eggleston.

272 APPENDIX
But this is not all. A psychographer may rid himself to a
considerable degree of general prejudices. He may by habit
and temperament grow to think first, last, and always of his
subject, never of his effects (which is the sure cure for rhet
oric). And still he may fall into an even more pervasive and
treacherous form of misrepresentation : he may be misled by a
personal affection for his subject, for his model, for what, in
a certain sense, becomes almost his own child. Probably no
biographer who is worth much is altogether free from this. It
is the obvious cause of the undue partiality which Sainte-
Beuve is said to show towards some of his minor figures, such
as the Guerins. Gaston Boissier's portrait of Cicero is one of
the most lucid, most limpid character studies ever made,
absolutely free from any suggestion of rhetorical effect; but on
every page you feel the painter's love for his subject, and that
the defects which are neither slurred nor palliated are touched
in a very different spirit from that in which a lover of Caesar
would have touched them.
In our own war literature Henderson's Jackson is an excel
lent example of what I mean. There are few saner, more
exact, judicial tempers than Henderson's. Not on any ac
count would he deliberately have concealed or misrepre
sented any flaw or weakness in his hero. Yet, by some subtle,
inexplicable alchemy, everything turns to Jackson's credit;
and words and acts which might have been used by others
only to make him repulsive and ridiculous serve in Henderson
to make him heroic and lovable.
Finally, the psychographer has to contend with another
humiliating difficulty, the indisposition to change his mind
when it is once made up. You labor widely, through
thousands of dull pages. Gradually your picture arranges
itself in neat order and correct detail. You see your sub-

APPENDIX 273
ject as you think it must finally stand. Then comes some
little sentence in an out-of-the-way magazine, or some
kindly correspondent reveals a flaw you could not have dis
covered, and large readjustment seems to be indicated. You
are ready for it — oh, yes. You accept it, if true — oh, yes.
But it is surprising, the amount of ingenuity you expend
in convincing yourself that it is not true, that it may be ex
plained, disputed, adapted. When you come to your senses,
you laugh at yourself; but you are so ready to do the same
thing again !
All these subjective difficulties beset the charming art of the
psychographer; but the objective are no less, perhaps greater.
Every portrait of a character must be based finally upon that
character's own words and actions. As regards actions, it is
obvious that we depend entirely upon report, and little study
is needed to make it plain that a man's own report is unre
liable and that of others much more so. The reliability, in
deed, varies. Report at third or tenth hand by incompetent
witnesses differs considerably in quality from that trans
mitted by a trained observer in direct contact. But this lat
ter is difficult to obtain and at the very best must be used with
caution. A man's eyes are the servants of his mind and all
minds are biased to some degree. Therefore the mass of
biographical anecdote and reminiscence has to be sifted and
tested by numerous almost instinctive criteria before it can
be profitably employed.
When it comes to a man's words, we are on surer ground ;
that is, to his own written words; for words reported by
others belong in a quite different category. If we can consult
a manuscript as it was actually penned, we have material
which, so far as it goes, is indisputable and invaluable. Unfor
tunately this is in all cases difficult, in many impossible. For

274 APPENDIX
the most part, we are obliged to rely on a printed copy, and
printed copies are very far from being verbal facsimiles. Even
when we are guaranteed against willful omission or emenda
tion on the part of editors, the danger of error is by no means
eliminated. Printers are careless, proof-readers indifferent.
No text of historical documents, made before the nineteenth
century learned conscientiousness in such matters, is to be
used with security, and few since. I do not suppose the most
scrupulous historian will ever again consult the original
records of the Civil War. Probably the printed copies are to
be implicitly relied on. Yet they were made by many people
and passed through many hands. Who knows?
Take one very trifling yet significant instance of slight verbal
variation. Jones, Fitzhugh Lee, and Captain R. E. Lee all
reprint the important letter in which Lee refers to the capture
of Mason and Slidell, and they all print differently one little
word which might have quite a bearing on Lee's instinctive
mental attitude towards his old allegiance. Lee assures Mrs.
Lee that the United States will not go to war. " Her (R. E. L.)
The (Jones) Our (F. Lee) rulers are not entirely mad." Which
did Lee write? None of the three quite commends itself,
though Captain Lee's text is probably correct. But the point
is that each editor prints his own version with placid indiffer
ence and not a hint that there is the slightest doubt about the
matter. A trivial thing, you say. So it is. But an inch on a
man's character is sometimes prodigious, and it is precisely
in the trivial things that the danger lies. Here is another case
of the mere variation of a letter. In his eulogy of Lee, B. H.
Hill apparently called him "a man without guile," and so it
stands in some texts; a harmless compliment, surely. But
other proof-readers have it "a man without guilt," and this
calls down upon Hill a page of abuse from Rhett in the

APPENDIX 275
Southern Magazme for daring to place Lee on a level with
Christ. If we cannot trust a man's own written words, what are we
to do about words attributed to him by others? Generally
speaking, we can have no confidence in them whatsoever. If
you have tried at a half-hour's interval to recall the exact
form of some speech that has been made to you, you know the
difficulty and how apt you and other auditors are to differ.
Yet in these matters of character study theexact form is some
times all-important. Who can suppose that even trained and
conscientious observers like Boswell or the Goncourts really
get a stenographical report of the long conversations which
they write down so industriously three or four hours after
hearing them? And if not they, who? Can any one doubt
that these reporters unconsciously arrange, adapt, and supply
words and phrases which they know to be generally character
istic of the man, but which may never have been uttered in
that connection and which the speaker would disown? An
admirer declared that the Goncourt conversations "sweated
authenticity." But Renan at least energetically disavowed
his share in them.
The ancient historians, Livy, Tacitus, even Thucydides,
have been abused and ridiculed for inventing the speeches of
great historical characters. But I am not at all sure that a
thinker and an artist, knowing the man he dealt with, and the
occasion, and the substance of the speech, would not produce
something more humanly accurate and characteristic than
comes from many a stenographic reporter to-day.
Sainte-Beuve has some excellent sentences on this matter
of reported speech. " I must, in my turn, point out, that from
such conversations, reported and repeated at leisure, even
when they are reproduced with the utmost sincerity, we can

276 APPENDIX
accept only the significant touch and the general drift. As
regards the details, inexactitude and guesswork always enter
in more or less. And, moreover, memory is a great adapter
and arranger (la m6moire aussi est une arrangeuse)." 3
In estimating the value of words attributed to a historical
character, one rule, well known to the critics of classical texts,
is often useful ; viz., that among several doubtful readings, the
least intelligible, the least smoothly conventional, is the most
likely to be correct. For example, I feel sure that Lee's
eulogy on Stuart, "He never brought me a piece of false in
formation," reads exactly as it was spoken ; for no " arranging"
memory would have been satisfied with a turn of phrase so
baldly inadequate.
Even when there is a reasonable assurance that we have the
actual language used, how seldom do we get all the meaning
a speaker intended to convey. Words by themselves are so
little. The emphasis is so much. The smile or gesture is so
much. No reporter succeeds in giving us these; yet how far
they go in enhancing or diminishing the bare significance of
speech. Nevertheless, we will assume that we start from an exact
knowledge of a man's words and actions. Still, we are only on
the threshold, only lifting the latch of the door which leads to
the secret of his character. We must get back of word and
action to the motive beneath. The deeper one's study, the
wider one's experience, the less confidence one has that this
can be done. "We may know historical facts to be true, as we
know facts in common life to be true. Motives are generally
unknown," said Dr. Johnson.4 Different actions so often
spring from the same motive and the same action from differ
ent motives. Ambition does the deeds of loving kindness and
haughtiness of humility. Greed sometimes squanders and

APPENDIX 277
charity pinches itself and those it loves. Again and again a
man fails to understand his own motives, even when he tries
to disentangle them, errs ludicrously in making an honest
attempt to explain them in warm words or in cold print. How,
then, can we ever be confident of penetrating the motives of
those who lived years ago, with different habits of speech,
different habits of thought, viewing them in a mirror so
uncertain as we have seen the records of the past to be?
Perhaps I may be permitted another illustration from the
subject which has most recently brought all these questions
to my mind. General Porter, describing Lee's surrender, says
that afterwards, as the general stood on the porch of the
McLean house waiting for his horse, he struck his hands to
gether. There can be no question about the fact here. So
good an observer as Porter has told us only what actually
took place. I have followed Porter further in the assumption
that the motive for this gesture was an immense despair. But
neither Porter nor I know anything about it, and an uncom
fortable suspicion besets me that, after all, Lee may have
been only calling for his horse.
But even with a sure knowledge of fact and an unfailing
insight into motive, the exact portrayer of character would
still have a wide, uncharted course to travel. For he must
finally resort to general terms. His subject is honest, gener
ous, frank. Well, an honest man is one who does nothing that
is not honest. A generous man does only what is generous. A
frank man always speaks the truth. In other words, all traits
of character are merely generalizations from habitual action
and motive ; and on a foundation in itself utterly unstable we
must rear an edifice as shifting and fleeting and uncertain as
the clouds of heaven. When Macaulay says of Laud, "his
understanding was narrow ... he was by nature rash, irri-

278 APPENDIX
table, quick to feel for his own dignity, slow to sympathize
with the sufferings of others," B we get a vivid impression
which stays with us, but which may have been wholly borne
out by the facts, or mainly, or very insufficiently. When Saint-
Simon says of La Feuillade, "I don't think there was ever a
madder head or a man more radically dishonest to the very
marrow of his bones," 6 we feel that we are beholding a fellow
creature damned beyond the limit of human desert. And
the weakness of all such soul portrayal is admirably shown
in one of Clarendon's most striking specimens of it. "He
quickly lost the character of a bold, stout, magnanimous
man, which he had been long reputed to be in worse times;
and, in his most prosperous season, fell under the reproach of
being a man of big looks, and of a mean and abject spirit." 7
We see suggested here how slight is the basis of all our moral
generalizations and how uncertain is the interpretation of
motives on which even that slight basis rests. "There is," says
Sainte-Beuve, "a degree" — and perhaps we may conclude a
very limited degree — "of intimacy beyond which it is not
given to man to advance in the study of his fellow man!
There are secrets which the great Anatomist of heart keeps
only for himself." 8 May we not establish one final test of a
thorough knowledge of character; that is, the prediction of
action under given circumstances? But who of us dares often
predict with any certainty the action of others, or even his
own? If, then, the portrayal of character is so difficult — not to
say impossible — why persist in it ? First, because, largely on
account of this very difficulty, it is the most fascinating of
human pursuits. The naturalist spends long days or months
of patient toil in observing the habits of a bird or an insect. Is
not the human soul of more value than many insects? Also,

APPENDIX 279
with birds and insects the naturalist rarely attempts to go
beyond the species or concern himself with the individual.
With humanity the individual is endless in variety, inex
haustible in interest. What a delight, after going through
pages that are irrelevant and for one's purpose unprofitable,
to find some sentence that, in Sainte-Beuve's phrase, reveals
"bare soul"! It is as if one had groped for hours in darkness
and then suddenly opened a little window into bright heaven.
Such, for example, is the careless touch in Cavour's letters,
which sums up a whole glorious career, and stamps the eternal
difference between the founders of modern Italy and modern
Germany: " Je suis fils de la liberty et c'est a elle que je dois
tout ce que je suis." 9 Some writers, as Pepys, are studded
thick with these jewels of self -revelation. But perhaps the
pleasure of finding them is even greater when they are com
paratively rare, as with Lee; and I shall not soon forget
my delight in the reported phrase, " It is well that war is
so terrible, or else we might grow too fond of it," and the
written one, "She is like her papa — always wanting some
thing." Moreover, the art of character study is recommendable not
only for its charm, but for its utility. The knowledge of birds
and insects is of merely indirect advantage to us. The know
ledge of men and women, obscure, imperfect, incomplete as
it necessarily is, profits us from the cradle to the grave. The
infant, hardly able to speak, learns whom it can wheedle, and
whom not. The child, but little older, knows very well that
its parent forgives a fault or grants a privilege more readily
after dinner than before. All of us always build and unbuild
the character of others, observe, divine, detect, use instinct
ively every little indication of face, of tone, of gesture. We
often blunder, often go far astray. The wisest are those who

280 APPENDIX
recognize most clearly their utter lack of exact knowledge and
most frequently exclaim, —
" Oh, that there were an art
To read the mind's character in the face."
Yet they persist, because they must. And all men and women
are, whether they know it or not, if I may say so, mutual
psychographers. For this purpose of mutual self-knowledge some may ques
tion whether it is essential or desirable to choose prominent
figures rather than the man in the street. They say, it is not
the great men, who are remote and above us, who help us to
understand ourselves, but those who have lived a little petty
life of trifles such as we live.
To begin with, the man in the street is less accessible. He
does not leave letters and memoirs. His speech and actions
are not jealously observed and faithfully recorded. We may
study him for our own profit, daily, as we can. But the per
manent portrait painter must look further afield for the
material with which to work.
Then, men who have lived large lives and filled great places
bring more of their humanity into action. A violin that is
played on in only one small portion of one string yields us far
less than one that is swept broadly from end to end of its
entire compass. A man who for forty years has carried the
wide world's burdens on his shoulders may not have finer
natural faculties than you or I, but at least he has brought
every faculty into use with all the might he has in him.
In other words, the main advantage of studying great men
comes not because they are great, but because they are not
great. Carlyle wished to exalt a few choice heroes and let the
rest of humanity bow down to them. The opposite seems to

APPENDIX 281
me the true course, to insist that all men may be heroes if they
will. What strikes me most in men who have achieved greatly
is not their difference from others but their resemblance to
them. They are in all points tempted as we are, laugh as we,
weep as we, suffer as we, fail as we, and for the most part are
astonished at triumphing as much as we should be. And do
not urge that this is the old theory of "no man a hero to his
valet," and that in applying it generally I am only display
ing a most valet-like spirit. I hope not. For it is not my aim
to debase them, but to exalt us. When it is shown that great
personages, who left a name behind them, had only qualities
like ours, often defects like ours, and that they made their
greatness perhaps by a happy balance of qualities or by an
extreme development of some particular quality, perhaps
even a little by the kindliness of fortune, it seems to me that
we should be led to emphasize rather what we may be than
what they were not. If Lee had something of my weakness,
may I not have better hope of attaining something of Lee's
nobleness? It must be confessed that such a method of studying heroic
characters depends for its success largely upon the spirit in
which it is carried on. It may easily degenerate into the
trivial, the gossiping, or even the scandalous. The distinc
tion between what is humanly significant and mere gossip
is not always simple. Even mere gossip may be immensely
amusing, but the psychographer is concerned only with that
which has a bearing upon character. Thus, if my neighbor's
wife falls downstairs and breaks a leg, I may be civilly sympa
thetic, but I shall feel no scientific interest. But if she runs
away with the coachman, the psychological problem attracts
my curiosity at once. To take a historical instance. Mrs.
Chesnut, in her invaluable Diary, tells a long story of a

282 APPENDIX
colored waiter who was convulsed by the blank baldness of
Joe Johnston. This is entertaining, but it shows me nothing
of Johnston's character. On the other hand, she remarks, in
one brief sentence, that Johnston spent an afternoon enlarging
to her and a friend on Lee's and Jackson's mistakes. Here we
have a revelation.
Still, the border line between psychography and gossip is
easy to cross, especially when the psychographer is unkindly.
Indeed, the art, to have its richest usefulness, should be based
upon love. Our observer of birds and insects almost always
loves them with a personal tenderness. Much more, I think,
will the observer of men gain by loving them. To be sure,
there have been great observers who seem to have hated. But
the very wisest, richest, deepest — Sophocles, Shakespeare,
Cervantes — have always loved ; sometimes laughed a little,
teased a little, mocked a little, but loved always. Humanity
has been to them a strange thing, a pitiable thing, sometimes
a deplorable thing; but even in its lowest vice and degrada
tion, as in its height and grandeur, lovable, because they
themselves were human.
It is in this point of love that Sainte-Beuve is weakest. He
prided himself on understanding everything (le p£re Beuve
avec son touchant desir de tout comprendre) and I think a
little on loving nothing. Therefore his very subtlest work is
sometimes bitter, and bitterness is no help to psychography
or to anything else.
It is an advantage to have a subject like Lee that one cannot
help loving. I say, cannot help. The language of some of his
adorers tends at first to breed a feeling contrary to love. Per
sist and make your way through this and you will find a hu
man being as lovable as any that ever lived. At least I have.
I have loved him, and I may say that his influence upon my

APPENDIX 283
own life, though I came to him late, has been as deep and as
inspiring as any I have ever known. If I convey but a little of
that influence to others who will feel it as I have, I shall be
more than satisfied.

NOTES

TITLES OF BOOKS MOST FREQUENTLY
CITED, SHOWING ABBREVIATIONS USED

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.
Cooke, John Esten, Life of General Robert E. Lee.
Dabney, R. L., Life and Campaigns of General
T. J. Jackson.
Davis, Jefferson, Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government.
Davis, Varina Howell, Jefferson Davis.
Henderson, G. F. R., Stonewall Jackson and the
American Civil War.
Jackson, Mary A., Life and Letters of General
T. J. Jackson.
Jones, J. B., A Rebel War Clerk's Diary.
Jones, J. W., Life and Letters of General Robert
E. Lee.
Jones, J. W., Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes,
and Letters of General Robert E. Lee.
Lee, Fitzhugh, General Lee.
Lee, R. E., Recollections and Letters of General
Robert E. Lee.
Long, A. L., Memoirs of Robert E. Lee.
Mason, E. V., Popular Life of General Robert
E. Lee.
McCabe, J. D., Life and Campaigns of General
Robert E. Lee.
Military Historical Society of Massachu
setts, Publications.
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
(quoted by serial nos. throughout).
Pollard, E. A., Life of Jefferson Davis.
Pollard, E. A., The Lost Cause.
Rhodes, J. F., A History of the United States, from
the Compromise of 1850.
Southern Historical Society Papers.
White, H. A., Robert E. Lee and the Southern
Confederacy.
Wood, W. B., and Edmunds, J. E., History of the
Civil War in the United States.

Battles and Leaders.
Cooke.Dabney.
Rise and Fall.
Mrs. Davis.
Henderson.
Mrs. Jackson.
Jones, Diary.
Jones, Life.
Jones, Rem.
F. Lee.
R. E. L.
Long. Mason.McCabe.
M.H.S.ofM.
O.R.Pollard, Davis.
Pollard, L. C.
Rhodes, U. S.
S. H. S. P.
White.
Wood and Edmunds.

NOTES

CHAPTER I
I. For an exhaustive discussion of the Lee genealogy, see Lee of Vir
ginia, by Edmund Lee. (Philadelphia, 1895.)
2. 5. H. S. P., vol. ix, p. 198.
3. F. Lee, p. 2. In his memoir of his father, however, the general goes
quite extensively into the English affiliations.
4. Jones, Life, p. 33.
5. To Mrs. Lee, in F. Lee, p. 22.
6. Works (ed. Ford), vol. x, p. 222.
7. Jones, Life, p. 154.
8. Long, p. 23.
9. Charles Lee, quoted in Lee's memoir of his father, p. 29.
10. Long, p. 19.
11. Jones, Rem., p. 118.
12. G. M. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, p. 74.
13. Manassas to Appomattox, p. 287.
14. Mason, p. 24.
15. To Cabell, November, 1820, Works (ed. Ford), vol. x, p. 165.
16. Writer in Putnam's Monthly, quoted in Olmsted, Journey to the
Seaboard Slave States, p. 245.
17. Ibid.
18. Jones, Life, p. 24.
19. Jones, Life, p. 27.
20. John Quincy Adams, Diary, vol. vn, p. 209.
21. Thomas Nelson Page, The Old South, p. 184.
22. Journey to the Seaboard Slave States, p. 247.
23. Long, p. 33.
24. Jones, Rem., p. 291.
25. Jones, Rem., p. 290.
26. Testimony at Pillow Inquiry, Senate Doc, 30th Congress, First
Session, vol. viii, p. 73.
27. Report in Senate Doc. as above, vol. 1, p. 332.
28. Report in Senate Doc. as above, vol. I, p. 306.
29. Report in Senate Doc. as above, vol. I, p. 315.
30. Long, p. 61.
31. Ibid.
32. Colonel Preston, direct from Scott, in "Lee Memorial Address,"

288 NOTES
printed in Mason, p. 382. I find in F. Grasset's La Guerre de la Secession,
vol. 11, p. 59, a saying attributed to Scott, which I have not been able to
trace to an American source, but which, if not a prophecy manufactured
after the event, has a good deal of interest: "Defiez-vous de Lee quand il
avance et de Johnstonlorsqu'il recule, car le diable lui-mlme se ferait battre,
s'il les attaquait dans ces conditions."
33. Senate Doc. as above, vol. I, p. 337.
34. Senate Doc. as above, vol. I, p. 344.
35. Senate Doc. as above, vol. 1, p. 404.
36. Jones, Life, p. 32.
37. Jones, Life, p. 54.
38. Jones, Life, p. 54.
39. Jones, Life, p. 56.
40. Jones, Life, p. 57.
41. Mrs. Davis, vol. I, p. 413.
42. White, p. 47.
43. White, p. 48.
44. C. C. Chesney, A Military View of the Recent Campaigns in Vir
ginia and Maryland, p. 50.
45. R. E. L., p. 13.
46. Jones, Life, p. 84.
47. Jones, Life, p. 92.
48. Jones, Life, p. 113.
49. Mason, p. 58.
50. Jones, Life, p. 116.
51. Jones, Life, p. 105.
52. Reports of Committees, 36th Congress, First Session, no. 278, p. 42.
53. R. E. L., p. 19.
54. Ed. Keyes, Fifty Years' Observation of Men and Events, p. 204.
55. Colonel Venable, in Battles and Leaders, vol. iv, p. 242.
56. White, p. 31.
57. White, p. 32.
58. Mason, p. 381.
59. Jones, Life, p. 71.
60. J. S. Wise, The End of an Era, p. 342.
61. Jones, Life, p. 135.

NOTES 289

CHAPTER II
1. J. K. Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms, p. 29.
2. Long, p. 27.
3. Long, p. 29.
4. U. S., vol. hi, p. 413.
5. Jones, Life, p. 437.
6. Mrs. Pickett, in Lippincott's Magazine, vol. 79, p. 52.
7. Jones, Life, p. 118.
8. F. Lee, p. 84.
9. To Reverdy Johnson, F. Lee, p. 85.
10. Ibid.
n. Long, p. 92.
12. Long, p. 94.
13. E. Townsend, Anecdotes 0} the Civil War, p. 29.
14. F. Lee, p. 94.
15. Jones, Life, p. 162.
16. Senator Culberson calls my attention to another error in Townsend's
narrative. He says Lee was " on leave'' at Arlington. Investigation of the
War Office records does not bear out this statement, but shows rather that
he was awaiting orders.
17. F. Lee, p. 88.
18. Grandson of Rawle to Deering, in J. R. Deering, Lee and his Cause,
P-37- 19. See General J. W. Latta's pa'mphlet, Was Secession taught at West
Point t Also the Century Magazine for August, 1909.
20. William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States of
America, 1825, p. 289.
21. Works, Sparks, vol. ix, p. 119.
22. Jones, Life, p. 121.
23. Reports of House Committees, 39th Congress, vol. n, pt. 11, p. 136.
24. Jones, Life, p. 130.
25. Jones, Life, p. 125.
26. Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 29.
27. Page 19.
28. Outlook, vol. 74, p. 888.
29. Letter in Jones, Rem., p. 218.
30. 0. R., vol. 96, p. 1230.
31. John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, p. 434.
32. See Rhodes, U. S., vol. v, p. 71.
33. To Gilman, December, i860, in Rhodes, U. S., vol. m, p. 161.
34. R. E. L., p. 168.

290 NOTES
35. R. E. L., p. 306.
36. 0. R., vol. 129, p. 1012.
37. Jones, Life, p. 83.
38. New York Herald reporter, quoted in Avary, Dixie after the War,
p. 71.
39. Mixed Essays (New York, 1883), " Falkland," p. 170.
40. Burke's Works (Bohn ed.), vol. I, p. 467.
41. Jones, Life, p. 132.
42. 0. R., vol. 6, p. 43.
43. 0. R., vol. 31, p. 1086.
44. Long, p. 485.
45. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 192.
46. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 785.
47. 0. R., vol. 31, p. 556.
48. Jones, Life, p. 376.
49. R. E. L., p. 225.
50. Quoted verbally in 5. H. S. P., vol. xi, p. 360.
51. Jones, Life, p. 436.
52. Quoted in 5. H. S. P., vol. xi, p. 360.
53. Jones, Life, p. 140.

NOTES 291

CHAPTER III
1. J. J. Craven, The Prison Life of Jefferson Davis, p. 283.
2. Davis Memorial Volume, p. 387.
3. Mrs. Davis, vol. 1, p. 580.
4. 5. H. S. P., vol. xxiv, p. 372.
5. Mrs. Davis, in P. Butler's Judah P. Benjamin, p. 332.
6. Mrs. Davis, vol. 1, p. 356.
7. Mrs. Davis, vol. 11, p. 163.
8. Mrs. Davis, vol. II, p. 163.
9. Pollard, Davis, p. 126; also Mrs. J. Chesnut, A Diary from Dixie,
>. 318.
10. Pollard, Davis, p. 222.
11. Mrs. Davis, vol. 11, p. 155.
12. Mrs. Davis, vol. 1, p. 178.
13. Mrs. Davis, vol. I, p. 78.
14. Quoted in Rhodes, U. S., vol. in, p. 459.
15. Jones, Diary, vol. n, p. 205.
16. Davis Memorial Volume, p. 41.
17. Pollard, Davis, p. 231.
18. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 726.
19. O. R., vol. 28, p. 600.
20. 0. R., vol. 31, p. 1029.
21. Ibid.
22. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 810.
23. Story of the Civil War, vol. 1, p. 131.
24. Battles and Leaders, vol. ra, p. 711.
25. 0. R., vol. 26, p. 1083.
26. Mrs. Davis, vol. n, p. 393.
27. Cecil Battine, The Crisis of the Confederacy, p. 1 10.
28. Henderson, vol. 11, p. 601.
29. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 752.
30. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 741.
31. Meigs, in Long, p. 44.
32. Rise and Fall, vol. 11, p. 133.
33. 0. R., vol. 14, p. 635.
34. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 619.
35. John J. Craven, The Prison Life of Jefferson Davis, p. 106.
36. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 600.
37. 0. R., vol. 45, p. 881.
38. Long, p. 587.
39. O. R., vol. 28, p. 644.

292 NOTES
40. 0. R., vol. 129, p. 247.
41. 0. R., vol. 96, p. 1256.
42. O. R., vol. 89, p. 1213.
43. Ibid.
44. Jones, Life, p. 152.
45. John J. Craven, The Prison Life of Jefferson Davis, p. 322.
46. Rise and Fall, vol. 11, p. 152.
47. Diary, vol. 1, p. 121.
48. Mrs. Davis, vol. 11, p. 320.
49. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 634.
50. Quoted in R. E. L., p. 53.
51. Jones, Rem., p. 340.
52. R. E. L., p. 220.
53. R. E. L., p. 268.
54. Long, p. 266.
55. J. B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, p. 393.
56. Examiner, August 5, 1863.
57. Quoted in Mrs. Chesnut, A Diary from Dixie, p. 162.
58. Diary, p. 151.
59. 0. R., vol. no, p. 808.
60. Quoted in Pollard, Davis, p. 446.
61. Diary, January 1, 1865.
62. A. B. Hart, Essays on American Government, p. 283.
63. A Diary from Dixie, p. 108.
64. Diary, vol. 1, p. 189.
65. Diary, January 1, 1865.
66. A Diary from Dixie, p. 108.
67. Cf. Southern Review, July, 1867.
68. New York Tribune, April 14, i860, in Rhodes, U. S.
69. Mrs. Davis, vol. 1, p. 191.
70. Davis Memorial Volume, p. 203.
71. Mrs. Davis, vol. 11, p. 163.
72. Mrs. Davis, vol. 11, p. 923.
73. Pollard, Davis, p. 437.
74. 0. R., vol. 96, p. 1 199.
75. R. E. L., p. 287.
76. Davis, in S. H. S. P., vol. 17, p. 372.

NOTES 293

CHAPTER IV
1. Jones, Life, p. 135. Differently worded in R. E. L., p. 28.
2. Quoted in Jones, Life, p. 136.
3. C. C. Greville, Journals of the Reign of Queen Victoria (Am. ed.),
vol. 1, p. 5°9-
4. Saunders, in R. E. L., p. 231.
5. F. Lee, p. 408.
6. Reports of Committees, 39th Congress, vol. n, pt. 11, p. 129.
7. See 0. R., vol. 120, pp. 1010, 1018.
8. O. R., vol. 13, p. 936.
9. 0. R., vol. 14, p. 636.
10. Jones, Life, p. 292.
11. 0. R., vol. 60, p. 1279.
12. Jones, Life, p. 226.
13. Jones, Life, p. 331.
14. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 687.
15. 0. R., vol. 96, p. 1 143.
16. G. C. Eggleston, A Rebel's Recollections, p. 214.
17. Jones, Diary, vol. 1, p. 135.
18. 0. R., cited in J. C. Schwab, The Confederate States of America,
p. 262.
19. 0. R., in Schwab, p. 92.
20. 0. R., vol. 129, p. 257.
21. Pollard.
22. Quoted by General Mosby, in S. H. S. P., vol. xxvn, p. 317.
23. Jones, Life, p. 279.
24. Correspondance de Napolion, vol. xvi, p. 560.
25. Jones, Life, p. 227.
26. 0. R., vol. 129, p. 1012.
27. In Richmond Examiner, February 16, 1865.
28. Ibid.
29. Richmond Examiner, January 5, 1865.
30. Pollard, L. C, p. 655.
31. January 1, 1865.
32. Sherman, Memoirs, vol. n, p. 224.
33. April 21, 1887.
34. See page 30.
35. Pollard, L. C, p. 655.
36. Pollard, L. C, p. 429.
37. Ibid.
38. Quoted in Jones, Rem., p. 341.

294 NOTES
39. 0. R., vol. 19, p. 523.
40. Volume xi, p. 523.
41. Galaxy, vol. xn, p. 628.
42. Jones, Life, p. 84.
43. Cited in Cooke, p. 476.
44. J. Scheibert, Der Biirgerkrieg in den nordamerikanischen Staaten,
P-39- 45. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 738.
46. Long, p. 454.
47. Towards the end of the war disaffected persons in the South began
to see the prospect more clearly. The Augusta Chronicle for March 3, 1864,
copies from the Richmond Whig the following statement of principles of
the peace party in Georgia: " It is contended that two rival Confederacies,
each with a standing army, cannot exist side by side on this continent;
that constant wars will occur and one eventually absorb the other. It is
contended that a sectionally consolidated South will necessitate a similarly
consolidated North, and that the two armed powers, acting and reacting
upon each other, will produce endless strife and bloodshed."
48. Pollard, Davis, p. 426.
49. Jones, Life, p. 121.
50. Ibid.
51. 0. R., vol. 6, p. 350.
52. Bishop Wilmer, in Memorial Address, printed in Jones, Life, p. 438.
53. 0. R., vol. 45, p. 880.
54. Jones, Life, p. 249.
55. 0. R., vol 99, p. 1270.
56. A Diary from Dixie, p. 373.
57. R. E. L., p. 65.
58. Collyar, in The Confederate Veteran, vol. I, p. 324.
59. S. H. S. P., vol. iv, p. 309.
60. New York Herald reporter in M. L. Avary, Dixie after the War, p. 71.
61. Quoted by Mrs. Roger A Pryor, Reminiscences of War and Peace,
p. 358.
62. C. F. Adams, The Confederacy and the Transvaal.
63. J. S. Wise, The End of an Era, p. 344.
64. Jones, Life, p. 372.
65. R. E. L., p. 163.
66. R. E. L., p. 410.
67. Jones, Life, p. 387.
68. E. L. Childe, Life and Campaigns of General Lee (trans, from
French), p. 331.

NOTES 295

CHAPTER V
1. General Palfrey, in M. H. S. of M., vol. 1, p. 220.
2. 0. R., vol. 17, p. 919.
3. To Northrop, O. R., vol. 60, p. 1065.
4. Marshall, in R. E. L., p. 119.
5. Quoted in F. Lee, p. 364.
6. 0. R., vol. 48, p. 408.
7. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 722.
8. Mangold, in 5. H. S. P., vol. II, p. 65.
9. 5. H. S. P., vol. xvii, p. 37.
10. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 994.
n. Before Committee on the Conduct of the War, quoted in Jones,
Rem., p. 28.
12. Long, p. 166 (from diary).
13. Scheibert, Der Bilrgerkrieg in den nordamerikanischen Staaten, p. 42.
14. 0. R., vol. 2, p. 828.
15. Diary of Cobb, in 5. H. S. P., vol. xxviii, p. 295.
16. 0. R., vol. 29, p. 722.
17. As to brutality, Lee is reported to have said to a soldier who was
abusing some captured negroes: "If I ever hear of your mistreating a
prisoner again, be he as black as Erebus, I will hang you to the nearest
tree.'' Judge D. G. Tyler, Lee Birlltday Address, 1911, p.6. Butthenaked
energy of this phraseology does not sound like Lee.
18. 0. R., vol. 49, p. 807.
19. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 844.
20. 0. R., vol. 10, p. 303.
21. G. M. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, p. 279.
22. 0. R., vol. 89, p. 1268.
23. 0. R., vol. 96, p. 1276.
24. Battles and Leaders, vol. 11, p. 666.
25. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 792.
26. 5. H. S. P., vol. 11, p. 65.
27. McCabe, p. 602.
28. D. H. Maury, Recollections of a Virginian in the Mexican, Indian,
and Civil Wars, p. 238.
29. In Harper's Magazine, February, 191 1.
30. Jones, Life, p. 455.
31. S. H. S. P., vol. xxiii, p. 208.
32. G. C. Eggleston, A Rebel's Recollections, p. 52.
33. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 820.
34. R. Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, p. 20.

296 NOTES
35. Long, p. 102.
36. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 994.
37. Ibid.
38. Jones, Rem., p. 185.
39. O. R., vol. 2, p. 837.
40. R. Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, p. 264.
41. 0. R., vol. 5, p. 868.
42. G. M. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, p. 88.
43. Jones, Life, p. 267.
44. Long, p. 229.
45. Long, p. 278.
46. Long, p. 301.
47. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 994.
48. Henderson, vol. 1, p. 537.
49. Battles and Leaders, vol. iv, p. 240.
50. Ibid.
51. September 16.
52. Mrs. Pickett, in Lippincott s Mazagine, vol. lxxix, p. 55.
53. Jones, Rem., p. 162.
54. Ibid.
55. G. M. Sorrel. Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, p. 182.
56. Cooke, p. 368.
57. Jones, Rem., p. 232.
58. McCormick, in the Outlook, vol. lvi, p. 684.
59. Jones, Rem., p. 237.
60. 0. R., vol. 108, p. 994.
61. Long, p. 227.
62. W. H. Taylor, Four Years with General Lee, p. 141.
63. Ibid.
64. Confederate Veteran, vol. vi, p. 12.
65. A. L. Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States, p. 276.
66.' Quoted in G. M. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer,
P- 307-
67. E. P. Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 154.
68. 0. R., vol. 6, p. 366.
69. 0. R., vol. 26, p. 847.
70. 0. R., vol. 69, p. 896.
71. Long, p. 626.
72. G. C. Eggleston, A Rebel's Recollections, p. 145. Mr. Allen C. Red
wood writes me of similar impressions: "I cannot recollect ever having
heard the men cheer General Lee. They would stand quietly and as he
passed by their lines take off their hats, and stand looking at him with the
greatest veneration."

NOTES 297
73. Examiner, August 19, 1864.
74. Charles Marshall, quoted in R. E. L., p. 138.
75. E. P. Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 504.
76. Napier, A History of the Peninsula War, vol. v, p. 250.
77. Jones, Rem., p. 161.
78. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 597.
79. To Hood, in Jones, Life, p. 247.
80. Jones, Rem., p. 400.

298 NOTES

CHAPTER VI
I. Quoted in Cooke, p. 353.
2. Henderson, vol. 11, p. 88.
3. Dabney, vol. I, p. 62.
4. Mrs. Jackson, p. 47.
5. Mrs. Jackson, p. 70.
6. Mrs. Jackson, p. 57.
7. E. P. Allan, Life and Letters of M. J. Preston, p. 83.
8. Dabney, vol. 11, p. 521.
9. Dabney, vol. 11, p. 522.
10. Mrs. Jackson, p. 43.
n. Cooke, p. 248.
12. Cooke, p. 355.
13. Mrs. Jackson, p. 54.
14. F. Lee, p. 142.
15. Henderson, vol. 1, p. 46.
16. E. P. Allan, Life and Letters of M. J. Preston, p. 80.
17. Cooke, p. 275.
18. Mrs. Jackson, p. 68.
19. Mrs. Jackson, p. 63.
20. Mrs. Jackson, p. 75.
21. Mrs. Jackson, p. 69.
22. Mrs. Jackson, p. 249.
23. 0. R., vol. 2, 825.
24. Mrs. Jackson, p. 237.
25. Dabney, vol. 11, p. 346.
26. Mrs. Jackson, p. 310.
27. McGuire, in Henderson, vol. n, p. 401.
28. Dabney, vol. 11, p. 130.
29. Henderson, vol. II, p. 589.
30. To Mrs. Jackson, in Dabney, vol. I, p. 213.
31. Jones, Life, p. 71.
32. McGuire, in Mrs. Jackson, p. 452.
33. Jones, Life, p. 240.
34. Dabney, vol. 11, p. 637.
35. Dabney, vol. 1, p. 335.
36. Mrs. Jackson, p. 313.
37. Dabney, in Henderson, vol. II, p. 95.
38. Cooke, p. 212.
39. Jackson's constant devotion to the study of everything connected
with Napoleon gives a certain plausibility to Grasset's assertion {Guerre de

NOTES 299
la Secession, vol. 11, p. 95) that this saying was taken from one of KUber' s in
regard to the great emperor.
40. R. E. L., p. 94.
41. Mrs. Jackson, p. 394.
42. Lee to Davis, O. R., vol. 27, p. 643.
43. G. C. Eggleston, A Rebel's Recollections, p. 153.
44. 0. R., vol. 17, p. 910.
45. Jones, Life, p. 237.
46. Lawley, in Henderson, vol. n, p. 58.
47. R. E. L., p. 94.
48. Dabney, vol. II, p. 507.
49. Cooke, p. 440.
50. 0. R., vol. 18, p. 926.
51. 0. R., vol. 18, p. 878.
52. 0. R., vol. 18, p. 919.
53. Henderson, vol. 11, p. 142.
54. O. R., vol. 31, p. 1044.
55. 0. R., vol. 2, p. 814.
56. D. H. Hill, in Battles and Leaders, vol. 11, p. 390.
57. Ibid.
58. 0. R., vol. 40, p. 647.
59. Mrs. Jackson, p. 234.
60. Henderson, vol. I, p. 197.
61. Quoted in Mrs. Jackson, p. 204.
62. Cooke, p. 459.
63. McGuire, in Henderson, vol. n, p. 71.
64. F. Lee, p. 142.
65. Dabney, letter in Henderson, vol. 11, p. 88.
66. Cooke, p. 205 (not verbal).
67. Henderson, vol. n, p. 453.
68. Cooke, p. 387.
69. E. P. Alexander, Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 181.
70. 0. R., vol. 28, p. 733.
71. D. H. Maury, Recollections of a Virginian, p. 72.
72. Ante, p. 140.
73. 0. R., vol. 31, p. 1033.
74. Jones, Life, p. 232.
75. H. von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence.
vol. n, p. 260.
76. Henderson, vol. II, p. 573.
77. Henderson, vol. 11, p. 582.
78. Jones, Life, p. 236.
79. Mrs. Jackson, p. 71.

300 NOTES
CHAPTER VII
I. Jones, Life, p. 242.
2. J. Scheibert, Der Burgerkrieg in den nordamerikanischen Staaten,
P-39- 3. R. E. L., p. 386.
4. Long, p. 240.
5. Wood and Edmunds, p. 137.
6. In Battles and Leaders vol. 11, p. 366.
7. Jones, Life, p. 53.
8. R. E. L., p. 89.
9. Jones, Life, p. 53.
10. Jones, Life, p. 208.
n. Scheibert, Der Burgerkrieg in den nordamerikanischen Staaten,
P-39- 12. S. H. S. P., vol. xvii, p. 242.
13. H. von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confererate War for Independence,
vol. 11, p. 197.
14. Jones, Rem., p. 164.
15. J. B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, p. 430.
16. Gracie's son, in Confederate Veteran, vol. v, p. 432.
17. Jones, Rem., p. 182.
18. J. B. Gordon, Reminiscences ofthe Civil War, p. 278, and many other
authorities. 19. J. Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 384.
20. S. H. S. P., vol. v, p. 92.
21. In Longstreet, From Manassas lo Appomattox, p. 357.
22. Harper's, February, 191 1.
23. See M. H. S. of M., vol. vi, p. 471.
24. Henderson, vol. II, p. 323.
25. A. L. Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States, p. 254.
26. E. P. Alexander, Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 356.
27. Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States, p. 268.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. In Galaxy, vol. xi, p. 509.
31. J. B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, p. 279.
32. 5. H. S. P., vol. xxxii, p. 201.
33. 5. H. S. P., vol. viii, p. 565.
34. Thomas Nelson Page, Robert E. Lee the Southerner, p. 206.
35. Memorial Address, in Mason, p. 361.
36. G. C. Eggleston, A Rebel's Recollections, p. 147.

NOTES 301
37. Jones, Life, p. 380.
38. Colonel Venable, Memorial Address, in Jones, Life, p. 369.
39. Ibid.
40. General Horace Porter, in Battles and Leaders, vol. iv, p. 743.

302 NOTES

CHAPTER VIII
i. Letters (1894 edition), vol. n, p. 200.
2. J. C. Ropes, The Story of the Civil War, vol. II, p. 158.
3. Jones, Rem., p. 258.
4. Quoted in Jones, Rem., p. 223.
5. Quoted in Jones, Rem., p. 50.
6. Life, p. 381.
7. E. A. Pollard, A Southern History of the War, vol. I, p. 168.
8. E. A. Pollard, A Southern History of the War, vol. I, p. 354.
9. H. D. Longstreet, Lee and Longstreet at High Tide, p. 83.
10. Battles and Leaders, vol. Ill, p. 350.
n. 5. H. S. P., vol. v, p. 61.
12. S. H. S. P., vol. v, p. 72.
13. Battles and Leaders, vol. m, p. 349.
14. Jones, Rem., p. 266.
15. Adam Badeau, Military History of U. S. Grant, vol. 11, p. 524.
16. Badeau, vol. 11, p. 166.
17. Badeau, vol. 11, p. 220.
18. Badeau, vol. II, p. 227.
19. Badeau, vol. 11, p. 132.
20. Colonel T. Lyman, in M. H. S. of M., vol. in, p. 171.
21. J. R. Young, Around the World with General Grant, vol. 11,
P- 459-
22. J. G. Wilson, General Grant, p. 367.
23. Criticism, taking, in a more or less modified form, the view of
Badeau and Grant, is, of course, still often met with. Colonel T. L.
Livermore's clear and forcible discussions in the volumes of the Military
Historical Society of Massachusetts are perhaps the best examples of it.
Colonel Livermore, in summing up the Appomattox Campaign, says:
" No fault appears in Grant's generalship. To Lee's failure to make timely
retreat from Petersburg and Richmond, and perhaps his delay in ordering
supplies to Amelia Court House, must be attributed his failure to reach the
Roanoke.'' (Vol. vi, p. 501.) It may be worth while to refer here to the
very remarkable anecdote told by the Reverend Dr. McKim {A Soldier's
Recollections, p. 258) of Grant's having discovered in a waste-basket a
sketch of Lee's plan of retreat from Petersburg. The story seems well
authenticated, but is rather difficult to accept.
24. 0. R., vol. 60, p. 1 185.
25. R. E. L., p. 416.
26. Jones, Life, p. 152.
27. Quoted in Sainte-Beuve, Nouveaux Lundis, vol. xiii, p. 96.

NOTES 303
28. A. Doubleday, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, p. 158.
29. Page 175.
30. J. C. Ropes, The Army under Pope, p. in.
31. J. C. Ropes, The Story of the Civil War, vol. 11, p. 468.
32. Colonel W. R. Livermore, Gettysburg, Mass. Hist. Soe. Proceedings,
1910, p. 232.
33. J. C. Ropes, The Story ofthe Civil War, vol. n, p. 352.
34. Battles and Leaders, vol. in, p. 293.
35. J. C. Ropes, The Story of the Civil War, vol. 11, p. 454.
36. T. A. Dodge, A Bird's-Eye View of Our Civil War, p. 218.
37. Battles and Leaders, vol. iv, p. 162.
38. W. R. Livermore, Lee's Conduct of the Wilderness Campaign, Am.
Hist. Assoc. Papers, 19 10, p. 236.
39. Wilderness Campaign, p. 233.
40. Wilderness Campaign, p. 243.
41. R. M. Bache, Life of Meade, p. 549.
42. Mass. Hist. Soe. Proceed., 1910, p. 230.
43. J. C. Ropes, The Army Under Pope, p. 35.
44. T. Roosevelt, Gouverneur Morris, p. 52.
45. T. Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton, p. 38.
46. Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley, Story of a Soldier's Life, vol. 1,
P- 135-
47. Cecil Battine, The Crisis of the Confederacy, p. 19.
48. Battine, p. 322.
49. Battine, p. 207.
50. Wood and Edmunds, p. 242.
51. G. F. R. Henderson, The Science of War, p. 305.
52. Henderson, Science of War, p. 330.
53. Henderson, Jackson, vol. II, p. 231.
54. The Wilderness Campaign, p. 124.
55. Cecil Battine, The Crisis of the Confederacy, p. 380.
56. G. F. R. Henderson, The Science of War, p. 314.
57. Cecil Battine, The Crisis of the Confederacy, p. 114.
58. American Historical Association, Annual Report, 1910, p. 246.
59. H. E. Shepherd, Life of R. E. Lee, p. 117.
60. E. P. Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, p. 1 10.
61. 0. R., vol. 14, p. 590.
62. O. R., vol. 45, p. 868.
63. W. Allan, The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, p. 200.
64. Correspondence de Napolton, vol. xvm, p. 218.
65. G. F. R. Henderson, The Science of War, p. 4. It is interesting to
compare with this remark of Henderson, Scheibert's assertion that Lee in
some points anticipated the later tactics of the Prussian army.

304 NOTES
66. F. Lee, quoted by Colonel W. R. Livermore, Wilderness Campaign,
p. 239-
67. Sir E. B. Hamley, The Operations of War, p. 95.
68. Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley, The Decline and Fall of Napoleon,
p. 30.
69. General W. F. Smith in M. H. S. of M., vol. Ill, p. 115.
70. Vol. 1, p. 294.
71. Rise of Wellington, p. 186.

NOTES 305

CHAPTER IX
1. Southern Magazine, vol. xv, p. 604.
2. Quoted in Nation, vol. xliv, p. 322.
3. Personal Memoirs, vol. 11, p. 184.
4. A Diary from Dixie, p. 94.
5. Long, p. 433.
6. Ibid.
7. Mrs. Davis, vol. 11, p. 207.
8. Cooke, p. 206.
9. G. M. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, p. 74.
10. Jones, Life, p. 296.
n. Charleston Courier, March 10, 1864.
12. Mrs. Guild, in Confederate Veteran, vol. vi, p. 12.
13. W. P. Johnston, in R. E. L., p. 315.
14. Long, p. 37.
15. Jones, Life, p. 205.
16. R. E. L., p. 201.
17. R. E. L., p. 395.
18. A Diary from Dixie, p. 94.
19. R. E. L., p. 380.
20. Collyar, in Confederate Veteran, vol. 1, p. 265.
21. Long, p. 35.
22. W. P. Johnston, in R. E. L., p. 315.
23. Daves, in 5. H. S. P., vol. xxvi, p. 119. I have already quoted in
different connections remarks similar to this. The authenticity of some of
them has been doubted and perhaps with reason. But there are so many
instances that Lee's rather peculiar habit of addressing himself to minor
subordinates cannot be questioned. Judge Garnett (5. H. S. P., vol.
xxviii, p. 1 10) suggests an interesting explanation. " And here for the first
time I experienced what I afterwards learned was almost a habit with
General Lee — to think aloud. He murmured to himself as if addressing
me; 'Well, Captain, what shall we do? ' To which inquiry I am pleased to
say I had sense enough to make no reply, and, indeed, to appear as if I had
not heard it." Again Judge Garnett says that when a message was brought
to the general during the Wilderness fighting and another at Five Forks,
"I heard his deep bass voice ask, 'Well, Captain, what shall we do?' "
Absence of mind may easily have played a part here; but I think it quite
consonant with all we know of Lee that he should ask a subordinate's
opinion and should even take a genuine interest in it.
24. Hunt, in Long, p. 70.
25. Battles and Leaders, vol. I, p. 226.

306 NOTES
26. Battles and Leaders, vol. 1, p. 259.
27. Eveleth, in Long, p. 35.
28. In Jones, Life, p. 36.
29. Mason, p. 24.
30. Wise, quoted in Battles and Leaders, vol. 11, p. 276.
31. Jones, Life, p. 287.
32. Jones, Life, p. 102.
33. Jones, Rem., p. 213.
34. Mason, p. 22.
35. Mason, p. 23.
36. Ibid.
37. F. Lee, p. 66.
38. Jones, Life, p. 42.
39. R. E. L., p. 9.
40. Jones, Life, p. 448.
41. Jones, Life, p. 94.
42. Jones, Life, p. 34.
43. Jones, Life, p. 154.
44. R. E. L., p. 15.
45. Jones, Life, p. 286.
46. Jones, Life, p. 91.
47. Jones, Life, p. 90.
48. R. E. L., p. 342.
49. R. E. L., p. 324.
50. Jones, Life, p. 99.
51. Jones, Life, p. 300.
52. R. E. L., p. 303.
53. R. E. L., p. 140.
54. R. E. L., p. 343.
55. R. E. L., p. 374.
56. R. E. L., p. 9.
57. R. E. L., p. 405.
58. R. E. L., p. 11.
59. Jones, Life, p. 122.
60. R. E. L., p. 325.
61. Jones, Life, p. 35.
62. Jones, Life, p. 84.
63. It seems to me that I catch a wistful sense of the element of char
acter I am trying to suggest, without emphasizing it too much, in these
words from an unpublished letter of Mrs. Lee: "I hope the Gen'l will be
able to take a little rest. I think he rather prefers lonely rides among the
mountains on his favourite grey."
64. R.E.L.,p.88.

NOTES 307

65. R. E. L., p. 325.
66. R. E. L., p. 266.
67. R. E. L.,p.6.
68. Collyar, in Confederate Veteran, vol. I, p. 265.
69. R. E. L., p. 193.
70. R. E. L., p. 324.
71. Jones, Life, p. no.

308 NOTES
CHAPTER X
I. Jones, Rem., p. 214.
2. Jones, Life, p. 1 17.
3. H. Lee, Memoirs ofthe War in the Southern Department of the United
States, new edition with a biography of the author by Robert E. Lee, p. 50.
4. O. R., vol. 60, p. 117.
5. Professor Joynes, in 5. H. S. P., vol. xxvm, p. 246.
6. Judge D. Gardner Tyler, in Address at William and Mary College,
191 1, p. 10.
7. R. E. L., p. 248.
8. Jones, Life, p. 35.
9. R. E. L., p. 39.
10. Battles and Leaders, vol. rv, p. 240.
11. Ibid.
12. W. H. Taylor, Four Years with General Lee, p. 16.
13. McCormick, in Outlook, vol. lvi, p. 586.
14. Jones, Life, p. 156.
15. Collyar, in Confederate Veteran, vol. 1, p. 265.
16. W. H. Taylor, Four Years with General Lee, p. 76.
17. R. E. L., p. 263.
18. R. E. L., p. 317.
19. Ibid.
20. Old Teacher, in Long, p. 28.
21. R. E. L., p. 289.
22. 0. R., vol. 117, p. 843.
23. Jones, Life, p. 307.
24. D. Maury, Recollections of a Virginian, p. 239.
25. Adam Badeau, Military History of U. S. Grant, vol. in, p. 615.
26. History of the United States (ed. 1876), vol. v, p. 389.
27. Jones, Rem., p. 239.
28. Jones, Rem., p. 288.
29. Essays on Great Writers, p. 343.
30. Jones, Life, p. 444.
31. Professor Humphreys, in E. S. Joynes, Lee the College President,
P-23- 32. Jones, Life, p. 57.
33. Jones, Life, p. 81.
34. Jones, Rem., p. 168.
35. 5. H. S. P., vol. xxv, p. 179.
36. O. R., vol. 108, p. 1076.
37. R. E. L., p. 37.

NOTES 309
38. Jones, Life, p. 150.
39. Jones, Life, p. 423.
40. J. W. Jones, Christ in the Camp, p. 79.
41. In Long, p. 67.
42. R. E. L., p. 317.
43. Pendleton, in Southern Magazine, vol. xv, p. 605.
44. J. W. Jones, Christ in the Camp, p. 59.
45. Christ in the Camp, p. 60.
46. Christ in the Camp, p. 79.
47. B. H. Hill, in Jones, Rem., p. 283.
48. Jones, Life, p. 144.
49. Jones, Christ in the Camp, p. 50.
50. Jones, Life, p. 468.
51. Ibid.
52. Jones, Rem., p. 196.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. J. W. Jones, Christ in the Camp, p. 66.
56. Jones, Rem., p. 323.
57. 0. R., vol. 60, p. 1 150.
58. Jones, Christ in the Camp, p. 79.
59. Among the innumerable Lincoln anecdotes is this one told by
General James F. Rusling, in his Men and Things I saw in the Civil War
Days (p. 15). Lincoln said to him: "The fact is, in the very pinch of the
campaign there, I went into my room one day and got down on my knees,
and prayed Almighty God for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this
was His country, and the war was His war, but that we really could n't
stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And then and there I
made a solemn vow with my Maker that if He would stand by you boys
at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him."
60. R. E. L., p. 45.
61. R. E. L., p. 108.
62. J. W. Jones, Christ in the Camp, p. 60.
63. Jones, Christ in the Camp, p. 52.

310 NOTES
CHAPTER XI
i. R. E. L., p. 170.
2. Collyar, in Confederate Veteran, vol. I, p. 263.
3. Jones, Rem., p. 205.
4. Jones, Rem., p. 273.
5. Captain Ranson, in Harper's Magazine, February, 1911.
6. Quoted in Cooke, p. 476.
7. Jones, Rem., p. 274.
8. Jones, Life, p. 396.
9. Jones, Rem., p. 323.
10. R. E. L., p. 289.
n. Jones, Rem., p. 321.
12. R. E. L., p. 276.
13. John W. Daniel, in S. H. S. P., vol. xi, p. 363.
14. Jones, Life, p. 454.
15. Long, p. 233. Professor White (quoted in Bright Skies and Dark
Shadows, by H. M. Field, p. 304) questions an anecdote similar to this, on
account of the emphatic gesture, so unlike Lee. Professor White may be
correct, but the independent report of two observers seems to deserve some
credit. 16. R. E. L., p. 334.
17. Jones, Rem., p. 221.
18. R.E.L.,p.35i.
19. R. E. L.,p. 261.
20. R. E. L., p. 348.
21. R. E. L., p. 389.
22. R. E. L., p. 367.
23. R. E. L., p. 204.
24. R. E. L., p. 386.
25. Jones, Life, p. 445.
26. Jones, Life, p. 389.
27. Jones, Life, p. 445.
28. R. E. L., p. 375.
29. Jones, Life, p. 409.
30. Jones, Life, p. 406.
31. R. E. L., p. 335.
32. To Ewell, in Jones, Life, p. 430.
33. Jones, Life, p. 422.
34. Professor E. S. Joynes, Lee the College President, p. 25.
35. Kindly communicated to me by Mr. J. L. Campbell, Secretary of
Washington and Lee University.

NOTES 3"
36. Professor Joynes, pp. 27, 28.
37. Page 22.
38. R. E. L., p. 316.
39. Ibid.
40. Jones, Life, p. 412.
41. Professor Joynes, p. 33.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Professor Joynes, p. 23.
45. Collyar, in Confederate Veteran, vol. 1, p. 265.
46. Jones, Life, p. 422.
47. Jones, Rem., p. 286.
48. Jones, Life, p. 411.
49. Professor Joynes, Lee the College President, p. 35.
50. Thomas Nelson Page, Robert E. Lee, the Southerner, p. 276.
51. R. E. L., p. 331.
52. Jones, Life, p. 412.
53. R. E. L., p. 296.
54. Jones, Life, p. 411.
55. Professor Joynes, p. 35.
56. 0. R., vol. 121, p. 536.
57. M. L. Avary, Dixie after the War, p. 71.
58. R. E. L„ p. 189.
59. Thomas Nelson Page, Robert E. Lee, the Southerner, p. 271.

312 NOTES

APPENDIX
i. Portraits Littiraires, vol. in, p. 546.
2. Sainte-Beuve gives no authority for this quotation from Macaulay
and I have not been able to trace it exactly. Mr. Norris E. Pierson and
other correspondents have pointed out to me passages somewhat similar
in the essay on "History." "Those are the best pictures and the best
histories which exhibit such parts of the truth as most nearly produce the
effect of the whole" (paragraph 16); and again, "Some events must be
represented on a large scale, others diminished ; the great majority will be
lost in the dimness of the horizon; and a general idea of the joint effect will
be given by a few slight touches" (paragraph 17). But Sainte-Beuve
appears to be quoting literally, and if he is paraphrasing these passages in
form, he really betrays them in sense. See Sainte-Beuve, Premier Lundis,
vol. in, p. 163.
3. Nouveaux Lundis, vol. xiii, p. 78.
4. Boswell, vol. 1, p. 449 (American ed. 1807).
5. History of England (Harper's ed., 1853), vol. I, p. 67.
6. Memoires (ed. Hachette, 1884), vol. in, p. 326.
7. The History of the Rebellion (American ed., 1827), vol. I, p. 114.
8. Causeries du Lundi, vol. ix, p. 229.
9. Volume iv, p. 25.

INDEX

INDEX

Adams, C. F., 96; on Lee's decision
to leave the Union, 37.
Alexander, General E. P., on Lee's
surrender, 122; concrete instance
of Lee's personal influence given
by, 124; his description of Lee at
Gettysburg, 155; on Lee after
Chancellorsville, 162; his estimate
of Lee's generalship, 174; his ac
count of General Ives's estimate
of Lee before the war, 191.
Allan, William, his estimate of Lee's
generalship, 174.
Anderson, Charles, on Lee's manner
in society, 196.
Anderson, General R. H., on Lee at
Gettysburg, 160.
Antietam, Lee at, 154, 158; Lee on
the Potomac after the battle of,
161, 162.
Army, Lee's, devoted to its com
mander, 100; treated as a human
body, 101, 102; discipline in, 103-
109 ; the question of promotion in,
109-112.
Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 33, 43;
his essay on Falkland, a model of
psychography, 269; on Macaulay,
271.
Ashby, General Turner, 146.
Bache, R. M., his Life of Meade
quoted in commendation of Lee,
184.
Badeau, General Adam, 230; his es
timate of Lee's generalship, 178;
his charge of duplicity against
Lee, 231, 232.
Bancroft, George, on Washington's
power of secrecy, 231.
Battine, Captain Cecil, on the re
lation of Lee and Davis, 55; criti

cises Lee, 186; on the Wilderness
campaign, 187; his estimate of
Lee's character, 188.
Battle, the commander's place in,
153; Lee's conception of his duty
and his place in, 153, 154; Lee's
courage and coolness in, 156-159.
See Antietam, Gettysburg, etc.
Beauregard, General P. G. T., in
dorsement by Davis on letter of,
53; letter of Lee to, quoted, 204.
Benjamin, Secretary, clash between
Jackson and, 142.
Berkeley, Sir William, governor of
Virginia, undemocratic views of,
7-
Blair, Francis P., offers Lee the
command of the United States
Army, 28, 29.
Bledsoe, Dr. A. T., letter of Lee to,
15°. 151-
Boissier, Gaston, his portrait of
Cicero, 272.
Bragg, General Braxton, 67, 78.
Breckinridge, General John C, on
Jefferson Davis, 50.
Brown, John, Lee's connection with
the affair of, 20, 26, 27.
Buena Vista, Lee at, 11, 12.
Bull Run, 147, 148, 181, 187, 204.
Burke, Edmund, quoted, 43, 44.
Caesar, Julius, 21, 272.
Campbell, J. L., Secretary of Wash
ington and Lee University, 310.
Cavour, Count Camillo di, 279.
Chancellorsville, 61, 162; the re
sponsibility for, as between Lee
and Jackson, 147-151; Lee at,
157, 160, 165, 166.
Charleston Harbor, 45.
Chesney, Colonel C. C, his testi-

3i6

INDEX

mony to Lee's efficiency as super
intendent of the West Point
Academy, 17.
Chesnut, Mrs. J., quoted, 66, 69, 95,
201, 203, 217; on Lee's manner,
197, 198; cited, 281.
Chesterfield, Lord, his theory that
attention is the most exquisite
element of courtesy, 119.
Clarendon, Earl of, 269, 270, 278.
Collyar, J. B., on Lee's manner, 202;
on Lee's horse, Traveler, 220; on
Lee's sadness after the war, 247.
Confederate Congress, criticised by
Lee, 82; votes to allow slaves
to serve as soldiers, 83.
Confederate Government, Lee's at
titude of non-interference with,
75, 84-92; its possible future, had
it been victorious, 90, 91, 294.
Cooke, John Esten, 271; on Lee's
memory, 1 18; on Jackson's love of
action, 131.
Craven, John J., 49, 59.
Culberson, Senator, 289.
Custis, Miss, marries Lee, 9. See
Lee, Mrs. Robert E.
Dabney, R. L., on Jackson, 129, 142.
Davis, Jefferson, and Lee, the most
prominent figures of the Confeder
acy, 48 ; material for the study of
his character, 48 ; his The Rise and
Fall of the Confederate Government,
unsatisfactory, 48; his oratory,
49; his character, 49-51; his rela
tions to the officers of the Confed
erate Army, 51-53; his self-confi
dence, 51, 55; his confidence and
affection retained by Lee, 53, 63,
64; Lee's solicitude for, and defer
ence to, 53-58, 61; conflicts of
opinion between Lee and, 58-61;
snubs Lee, 61-63; esteemed and
admired by Lee, 65, 66; change
of feeling toward, as the war pro
gressed, 66, 67; over-parted in his
r61e, 67-70; his cabinet, 68, 69;

appoints Lee commander-in-chief
of Confederate armies, 71, 72; re
mained in harmony with Lee to
the end, 72, 73; quoted on Lee's
loyalty to the Confederacy, 86;
quoted on the destitution of the
army, 102; on Lee's avoidance of
seeming harshness, 103; anecdote
of Lee and, 159; the captivity of,
248, 249.
Davis, Mrs. Jefferson (Varina How
ell), her Life of her husband, 48;
quoted, 50, 52, 55, 63, 64, 69, 70,
71, 198.
Davis, Reuben, on Jefferson Davis,
70.
Democracy, Sedgwick's definition
of, 232.
Demosthenes, 47.
Desertion, Lee advocated strict
punishment for, 105.
Discipline in Lee's army, 103-109.
Dodge, Colonel T. A., on Lee's Wil
derness campaign, 183.
Doubleday, Abner, on the battle of
Gettysburg, 181.
Early, General J. A., 65; Lee's
method of dismissing, 107; advice
of Lee to, 252.
Edmunds, J. E. See Wood.
Education, Lee's, 7, 8, 221; Lee's
ideas on, 22 1 , 261 ; Lee's work and
plans in, at Washington College,
257-259-
Eggleston, George Cary, 271; his
view of the original quality of
Lee's soldiers, 103; on the rever
ence in which Lee was held by his
soldiers, 124; on Lee just before
his surrender, 167.
Emerson, R. W., on Napoleon, 195.
English critics of Lee, 185-188.
Ewell, General Richard S., 144.
Favoritism, Lee not accused of, no.
Finances, suggestions of Lee with
regard to, 80.

INDEX

317

FitzGerald, Edward, quoted, 170,
171.
Five Forks, 108.
Floyd, General John B., animosities
of, 113.
Forsythe, John, on Jefferson Davis,
67.
Fredericksburg, 148; Lee at, 154,
156.
Fremantle, A. L., on Lee's appear
ance in battle, 162; Southern in
his sympathies, 185.
Gaines's Mill, 148.
Gardiner, S. R., how far impartial,
270.
Garnett, Judge, on Lee's habit of
thinking aloud, 305.
Gettysburg, 61, 115; letter of Lee
written a month after, 56, 57;
conduct of Longstreet at, 106,
160, 161, 177; letter of Lee to
Pickett after, 113; Lee trusted by
his army after, 121 ; Lee's address
to his army after, i25;Leeat, 155,
160, 161, 165; Longstreet on Lee
at, 160, 177; Lee condemned by
some, but not all, critics for fight
ing at, 1 8 1-1 83 ; English critics on,
186.
Gordon, General J. B., statement
by, of Lee's feeling about Davis,
65; on Lee's feeling about the
Confederate Congress, 96; his de
scription of Lee and his soldiers
in battle, 164; his estimate of
Lee's generalship, 175.
Gracie, General Archibald, 159.
Grant, U. S., 21, 85, 118, 183; on
Davis, 55; Lee's correspondence
with, as to recaptured slaves, 77;
on Lee, as being difficult of access
to subordinates, 115, 196; and
Lee, compared, 168, 169; his esti
mate of Lee's generalship, 179;
Lee's estimate of the generalship
of, 179, 252; member of university
faculty rebuked by Lee for disre

spect toward, 226; anecdote of,
227; on Lee's probable influence
in bringing about reconciliation
and peace, 265.
Grasset, F., saying attributed to
Scott by, 288.
Great men, the advantage of study
ing, 280.
Greek, Lee's acquaintance with,
221-223.
Gregg, General Maxey, 146.
Guild, Mrs. Lafayette, 121, 2007- -
Hallowell, Benjamin, Lee attends
school of, 8.
Hamley, Sir Edward, on the "pre
science" of successful generals,
193-
Hart, Professor A. B., on Davis's
cabinet, 68.
Henderson, G. F. R., on Lee and
Davis, 55; on Lee's geniality, 115;
on Jackson, 134, 142, 143, 148;
on Lee after Antietam, 161 ; criti
cises Lee, 185, 186; praises Lee,
187, 188, 194, 195; on the latitude
given by Lee to his division com
manders, 192, 193; his life of Jack
son as psychography, 272.
Hill, A. P., 159; Lue said to be par
tial to Virginia incase of, m;
quarrel of, with Longstreet, 113;
quoted in criticism of Lee, 123;
his relations with Jackson, 146,
147; at Antietam, 158.
Hill, B. H., 235; on Lee's humility,
239; colloquy of Lee with, 88, 89;
his estimate of Lee's generalship,
I74> 175; his description of Lee as
"a man without guile," 274.
Hill, D. H., 191.
Hood, John B., 161.
Hooker, General J., on Lee's army,
103.
Hosmer, J. K., quoted, 289.
Hunt, General H. J., on Lee's physi
cal appearance, 22; on the battle
of Gettysburg, 183; on Lee as a

3i8

INDEX

peacemaker, 203; conversation of,
with Lee, on Puseyism, 237.
Hunter, General Andrew, 83, 95,
251.
Imboden, General J. D., his report
of conversation with Lee, 86, 87;
his description of Lee in time of
defeat, 163, 164.
Ives, Colonel J. C., 191.
Jackson (T. J.), Stonewall, a born
fighter, 127; without personal
charm, 127; did not lack warmth
and human kindness, 128; a man
of will and energy, 129, 130; his
love of adventure and his ambi
tion, 130-132; his' religion and
scrupulousness, 132, 133, 151,
152 ; his ambition and his religion,
how reconciled, 133-135; his early
opinion of Lee, 135, 136; his loy
alty to Lee, 136; Lee's opinion of,
138-140; and Lee, the practical
military relations of, 140, 141;
not adapted to working under
orders from others, 141, 142; did
not take kindly to dictation from
Richmond, 142, 143; loved by his
soldiers, 143, 144; attitude of of
ficers toward, 144-146; demanded
implicit obedience, 144, 145; kept
his plans to himself, 145; his re
lations with A. P. Hill, 146, 147;
his relations with Lee as to strat
egy and tactics, 147, 148; and Lee,
at Chancellorsville, 148-151; and
Lee, the military difference be
tween, 152; Henderson's life of , as
psychography, 272.
Jackson, Mrs. Mary A., 144, 149;
quoted, 128, 132, 133, 152.
Jefferson, President, his opinion of
Harry Lee's memoirs, 5; deplores
lack of educational institutions
in Virginia, 7.
Johnson, Samuel, quoted, 276.
Johnston, Albert Sidney, 52.

Johnston, J. E., no, 282; Davis's
quarrel with, 52; and Lee,
Ropes's comparison of, 171, 172;
letter of Lee to, quoted, 204; Lee's
friendship for, 204; his eulogy of
Lee, 204, 205.
Johnston, W. P., quoted on Lee,
200, 203.
Jomini, Henri, fundamental princi
ple of, violated by Lee at Gettys
burg, 181.
Jones, J. B., quoted, 63, 68, 69, 84.
Jones, J. W., quoted, 4, 22, 23, 51,
118, 175, 176,238,245.
Joynes, Professor E. S., quoted, 259,
261.
Keyes, E. D., quoted on Lee, 22.
Lawley, F., correspondent of the
London Times, on Jackson, 135.
Leary, Wm. B., teacher of Lee, 8.
Lee, Fitzhugh, quoted, 3, 193.
Lee (Henry), Light Horse Harry,
father of Robert, 4, 5; his attach
ment to Virginia, 36; his interest
in literature, 223.
Lee, Colonel Richard, ancestor of
Robert, 3.
Lee, Robert E., his ancestry, 3; his
indifference to his ancestry, 3, 4;
at his father's grave, 5; his rela
tions with his mother, 5, 6; his
childhood, 6; his love of sports, 6;
his boyish memories, 6, 7 ; his edu
cation, 7, 8, 221; at West Point,
8; appointed to Engineer Corps
and stationed at Old Point Com
fort, 9; marries Miss Custis, 9;
his connection with the Virginia
aristocracy, 9, 10; impression of
greatness made upon relatives by,
10; his engineering labors, 10, n,
16, 17; his perseverance without
regard to criticism, 11; his ser
vices during the Mexican War,
11-13; his appreciation of Mexi
can landscape, 14; his words

INDEX

3i9

about a Mexican shrine, 14, 15;
on the treatment of Trist, 15; on
Scott as a general, 15, 16; his
views on the Mexican War, 16;
superintendent of the West Point
Academy, 17; appointed to a
lieutenant-colonelcy, 18; his grief
at reading funeral service over a
child, 18; extracts from letters to
his children, 18, 19; despondent at
the condition of the country at the
approach of war, 19; his connec
tion with the John Brown affair,
20, 26, 27; his physical qualities
and personal appearance, 20-24.
Legend, growth of, to be de
plored, 25, 26; actions of, guided
by conscience, 26, 47; his convic
tion that a soldier should not med
dle with politics, 26; his attitude
toward the political parties before
the war, 27, 28; offered the com
mand of the United States Army,
28, 29; his interview with Scott,
29-32, 289; his resignation of his
position in the army, 32, 289; ac
cepts position as commander-in-
chief of Virginia forces, 32, 45, 74;
discussion of his action in leaving
the Union, 32-39; his views on se
cession, 35, 92 ; his attitude toward
slavery, 39-43, 82, 83, 207-209;
no irresolution in, 44, 45; showed
no bitterness toward the North,
45; his pride in the cause of the
South, 45, 46; his conduct free
from thought of personal credit or
advantage, 46, 47.
And Davis, the most prominent
figures of the Confederacy, 48;
held theconfidence and affection of
Davis, 53,63,64; his solicitude for,
and deference to, Davis, 53-58,
61 ; his proposal of resignation af
ter Gettysburg, 56-58 ; his dignity,
58; urged upon Davis the wants
of the army, 59 ; occasionally made
suggestions as to political ques- 1

tions, 59, 60; conflict of opinion
between Davis and, in military
matters, 60, 61 ; snubs offered to,
by Davis, 61-63; esteemed and
admired Davis, 65, 66; suggestion
that he be made dictator, 70, 71,
83, 84; appointed commander-in-
chief of Confederate armies, 71,
72; remained in harmony with
Davis to the end, 72, 73.
His willingness to sacrifice his
position and prospects, 74, 75;
disclaimed interference with civil
authority, 75-77; his attitude
toward prisoners of war, 76, 77;
forced to advise and dictate to his
superiors, 77-81; his views on re
taliation, 81; his invasion pro
clamations, 81; criticises the
Confederate Congress, 82; his ef
fort to have the negroes enlisted
as soldiers, 82, 83; refuses to vio
late his subordination to the presi
dent, 84; reason for his refusal,
85-92; his avoidance of duties
that did not belong to him, 87, 88;
his colloquy with B. H. Hill, 88,
89; conversation of, with Bishop
Wilmer, 92, 93; his idea of peace
with Confederate independence,
93-95; his condemnation of the
lack of earnestness of the South
ern people, 95, 96; surrendered
only when fighting was practically
impossible, 96, 97; after the war
acted as devoted citizen, 97-99.
His army devoted to him, 100; a
great army organizer, 100; treated
his army as a human body, 101,
102; his army discipline, 103-106;
his discipline of officers, 106-109;
his difficulty with the question of
promotion, 109-112; quarrels
among his generals, 112-114; his
personal relations with his offi
cers, 114-116; called by Tyler un
approachable, 1 1 5 ; his democratic
manner, 116, 117; his extraordin-

320

INDEX

ary memory, 118, 119; simplicity
of his arrangements, 119-121; be
loved and trusted by army, 121-
126; loved and trusted his army,
125, 126.
Letter of, to Jackson, quotation
from, 133; Jackson's early opin
ion of, 135, 136; Jackson's loyalty
to, 136; his opinion of Jackson,
138-140; and Jackson, the practi
cal military relations of, 140, 141 ;
his interference in the differences
between Jackson and Hilk 146,
147 ; his relations with Jackson as
to strategy and tactics, 147, 148;
and Jackson, at Chancellorsville,
148-151; his religion compared
with that of Jackson, 151, 152;
and Jackson, the military differ
ence between, 152.
His conception of his duty and
his place in battle, 153, 154; at va
rious battles, — Fredericksburg,
Antietam, the Peninsular battles,
and Gettysburg, 154, 155, 160,
177, 181, 182; to what extent he
had the soldier's lust for battle,
156, 236; the quality of his
personal courage, 156, 157; at
Chancellorsville, 157, 160, 165;
his coolness in battle, 157; never
wounded, 157, 158; solicitous
about unnecessary exposure of
his men, 158, 159; indifferent to
his own danger, 159; Major Ran-
son's testimony to a conversation
between Longstreet and, 160,
161; on the Potomac after An
tietam, 161, 162; his politeness
in battle, 162; his sympathy in
battle, 163; Imboden's descrip
tion of, in time of defeat, 163, 164;
enthusiasm of his men, 164, 165;
his personal influence in critical
moments, 165; his surrender to
Grant, 166-168, 277; and Grant,
compared, 168, 169; and Johnston,
Ropes's comparison of, 171, 172.

Statement of events of hismili-
tary career during the war, 173,
174; various estimates of his gen
eralship, 174-179; his immense
difficulties, 180; mistakes of, 181,
182; Northern eulogy of , 182-184;
foreign views of, 184-188; Colonel
Eben Swift's estimate of, 188, 189;
his organizing ability, 190 ; his
boldness, 190; his views on taking
chances, 191, 192; his energy and
rapidity of action, 192, 193; his
knowledge of human nature, 193,
194; his clear-sightedness, 194,
I95-. His manner in society, 196-
198; fond of the company of la
dies, but without love affairs, 198,
199; had Old- World courtesy and
chivalry, 199, 200; had a sense of
humor, 200-202; courteous in
business transactions, 202 ; de
ferred to others' opinions, 202,
203; a peacemaker by nature,
203; did not give unreserved
friendship to any, 203, 204; his
friendship for Johnston, 204;
Johnston's eulogy of, 204, 205;
liked to play the mentor, 205-207;
as a son, 209; as a father, 209-
214; pictures of, in his home life,
214, 215; as a husband, 216; lec
tures in letters to his wife, 216,
217; rarely expresses sense of lone
liness, 217, 218; his love of chil
dren, 219; his love of animals, 219,
220. His ideas on educational mat
ters, 221, 257-261 ; his literary ex
pression, 221, 222; had no great
love for literature or science, 222,
223; was not passionately inter
ested in the study of his profes
sion, 223, 224; not sensitive to
aesthetic pleasures, 224, 225; his
temper, 225-227; his self-control,
227, 228; his exactness, 228-230;
his utterances colorless and re-

INDEX

321

strained, 230-232; his idea of a
gentleman, 232, 233; his indiffer
ence to glory, 233, 234; his pa
tience under criticism, 234-236;
his religion, 236-246; his humility,
239, 240.
Saddened by the war, 247; de
sired quiet, 247, 253; his attitude
toward the United States Govern
ment, 247, 248; his attitude
toward the captivity of Davis,
248, 249; his attitude toward poli
tics after the war, 249 ; his views on
negro suffrage, 249; remembered
and prayed for his soldiers, 250;
remembered by his soldiers, 250,
251; comments of, on the war,
251, 252; shunned publicity
through the press, 252; his admir
ing friends and his family, 254; of
fers made to, 255, 256; president
of Washington College, 256-264;
his death, 258; his influence in
bringing about reconciliation and
peace, 265; was great, though he
failed, 265, 266; and psycho
graphy, 269-283.
Lee, Captain R. E., son of Lee, his
testimony to Lee's tact when su
perintendent of the West Point
Academy, 17, 18; on Lee's like
nesses, 22; on Lee's guidance of
his children, 154; on Lee's re
quirement <lr. obedience in the
family, 210, 211; his pictures of
Lee's home life, 213-216; on Lee's
l<we of children, 219; on interest
in Lee after the war, 254.
Lee, Mrs. Robert E., 229; marriage,
9; her account of the way in which
Lee's decision to leave the Union
was made, 44; as wife and mo
ther, 198, 215, 216.
Lees, the, of Virginia, 3, 4.
Lincoln, Abraham, 21, 40, 309.
Literature, Lee's lack of great inter
est in, 222-224.
Livermore, Colonel T. L., on the

question why Lee did not earlier
abandon Petersburg, 161; on the
generalship of Grant and Lee, 302.
Livermore, Colonel W. R., on mis
takes made by Lee, 181, 182; on
the Wilderness Campaign, 183;
commends Lee, 184.
Long, Colonel A. L., his description
of Lee at his father's grave, 5; on
Lee's love of hunting, 6; on the
impression made by Lee of being
a great man, 10; on Lee's charac
ter, 25; states that Scott urged
Lee to remain in the Union, 29;
his report of colloquy between
Lee and B. H. Hill, 88; on Lee's
equipment of an army, 100; words
of Lee to, on mercenary and vol
unteer armies, 104; anecdote of
Lee and, 120; on Lee at Freder
icksburg, 154; on Lee's manner
in society, 197; on Lee's conversa
tion, 202.
Longstreet, James, on Lee's charm
in conversation about his child
hood, 6, 7 ; on hisown decision with
regard to leaving the Union, 36,
37; on depletion of forces by de
sertion, 62 ; Jackson accused of dis
respect toward Lee by, 141; pa
tronized Lee, 106, 107; quarrel of,
with Hill, 113; loved and trusted
Lee, 122, 123; disapproved Lee's
determination to fight at Sharps
burg, 137; his description of Lee
at Gettysburg, 1 60 ; a conversation
between Lee and, 160, 161; his
estimate of Lee's generalship,
176; on Lee at Gettysburg, 177.
Lowell, J. R., his A Great Public
Character, a model of psycho
graphy, 269.
Macaulay, T. B., his way of putting
things, 271 , 312 ; his description of
Laud, 277.
Malvern Hill, 182, 186.
Mangold, quoted, 103.

322

INDEX

Marshall, Colonel Charles, on the
love of Lee's men for their general,
124; his description of the third
day at Chancellorsville, 165, 166.
Mason, Miss E. V., quoted, 7,
209.
Mason and Slidell, Lee on capture
of, 274.
McClellan, General G. B., 190, 194,
231,252.
McGuire, Hunter, 136; quoted, 144.
McKim, Rev. Dr. R. H., anecdote
told by, 302.
Meigs, General M. C, on Lee's phy
sical appearance, 22 ; on Lee's dig
nity, 58.
Mexican War, Lee's services during,
11-13; Lee's views on, 16.
Mexico, Lee's appreciation of scen
ery in, 14, 15.
Motives, not easy to arrive at, 276,
277-
Napoleon Bonaparte, 21 ; his exemp
tion from responsibility, 75, 76;
his address to his soldiers in Vi
enna quoted, 81; on the necessity
to a general of a cool head, 171 ;
Emerson on, 195.
Negroes, Lee's effort to have them
enlisted, 82, 83; Lee's views on
giving the suffrage to, 249.
Northrop, Lucius B., commissary-
general of the Confederacy, 59,

Olmsted, Frederick Law, on the
Virginia aristocracy, 9.
Page, Thomas Nelson, on the Vir
ginia aristocracy, 9; his descrip
tion of Lee riding through the
ranks before a conflict, 165; anec
dote of Lee told by, 263.
Palfrey, General F. W., 180; quoted,
100.
Paris, Comte de, 185.
Passports, 80.

Pendleton, General William N., on
Lee's manner in society, 196; on
Lee's religion, 238.
Peninsular battles, 155, 182, 192.
Pickens, Governor F. W., quoted,
122.
Pickett, G. E., animadversions in his
report of the battle of Gettysburg,
113. "4-
Pierson, Norris E., 312.
Pillage, Lee's orders in regard to,
105.
Pillow, G. J., his testimony to Lee's
services in the Mexican War, 13.
Politics, Lee reluctant to interfere in
questions of, 59, 60, 75; Lee's atti
tude toward, after the war, 249.
Pollard, E. A., 70, 82, 85 ; on Lee and
Davis, 53, 84; his opinion of Da
vis, 68; words of Mrs. Davis
quoted by, 71 ; his statement that
Lee never expressed an opinion as
to the chances of the war, 91 ; his
estimate of Lee's generalship,
176.
Polybius, quoted, 194.
Porter, Colonel Horace, on Lee's sur
render, 277.
Potomac, the, Lee on, after Antie
tam, 161, 162.
Preston, Colonel Robert, on Lee's
physical appearance, 22.
Preston, Mrs. M. J., 131.
Prisoners of war, Lee's attitude
toward, 76, 77.
Proclamation, invasion, Lee's, 81.
Promotion, the question of, in Lee's
army, 109-112.
Psychography, and Lee, 269-283;
meaning of the word, 269; diffi
culties of, 269-278 ; reasons for en
gaging in, 278-280.
Putnam, Mrs. E. W., 223.
Ranson, Major A. R. H., on Lee's
officers, 108; his testimony to a
conversation between Lee and
Longstreet, 160, 161.

INDEX

323

Rawle, William, his text-book on the
Constitution of the United States,
33-
Reconstruction, Lee's attitude to
ward the methods of, 248.
Reconstruction Committee, the, 36,
77, 248, 249.
Redwood, Allen C, 296.
Religion, Lee's views on, 236-246.
Renan, J. E., 275.
Retaliation, Lee's ideas on, 81.
Rhett, Edmund, on President Da
vis, 66; his abuse of B. H. Hill,
274.
Rhodes, James Ford, on Lee's char
acteristics, 25; how far impartial,
270.
Richmond Examiner, on giving su
preme power to Lee, 70, 71,83,84;
on Lee's responsibility in enlisting
slaves as soldiers, 83.
Roberts, Lord, quotes Napoleon's
remark about a cool head, 171 ; on
Wellington, 195.
Roosevelt, Theodore, his eulogy of
Lee, 184.
Ropes, John Codman, on Davis, 55;
condemns Lee's determination to
fight at Sharpsburg, 137; his com
parison of Johnston and Lee, 171 ;
on mistakes made by Lee, 181,
182; admires Lee's temerity, 183;
commends Lee, 184.
Rothschild, Alonzo, his Lincoln:
Master of Men, a model of psycho
graphy, 269.
Rusling, General James F., anecdote
of Lincoln told by, 309.
Sainte-Beuve, C. A., a psycho
grapher, 269, 272; on Macau
lay, 271, 312 ; his views on re
ported speeches, 275, 276 ; on
the degree of intimacy obtain
able in the study of fellow- men,
278 ; weakest in point of love,
282.
Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy,

Due de, 269, 270; on La Feuillade,
278.
Scheibert, J., 185; commends brav
ery of Jackson's troops at Chan
cellorsville, 104; his testimony to
Lee's coolness in battle of Chan
cellorsville, 157, 160; says Lee was
restless and uneasy at Gettys
burg, 160; remark of, that Lee in
some points anticipated later tac
tics of Prussian army, 303.
Scott, General Winfield, his testi
mony to Lee's services in the Mexi
can War, 12, 13; Lee's testimony
to the character of, as a general,
15, 16, 288; his interview with Lee
before the Civil War, 29-32.
Secession, the principle of, 34-39, 92.
Seddon, J. A., 63, 77, 78.
Sedgwick, H. D., his definition of
democracy, 232.
Seward, W. H., 50.
Shields, James, his testimony to
Lee's services in the Mexican
War, 13.
Slavery, Lee's attitude toward, 39-
43, 82, 83, 207-209.
Smith, G. W., quoted in criticism of
Lee, 122, 123.
Smith, General P. F., his testimony
to Lee's services in the Mexican
War, 12.
Society, Lee in, 196-203; motives of
men in seeking, 217, 218.
Sorrel, G. M., quoted, 6, 106, 117,
199.
Speeches, reported, what is true in
them, 275, 276.
Stephens, Alexander H., on Lee's
physical appearance, 23; his pic
ture of Lee's willingness to sacrifice
his position and prospects, 74, 75.
Stiles, Robert, quoted, no, 113.
Stuart, General J. E. B., 107, 109,
114, 276.
Swift, Colonel Eben, on Lee and the
Wilderness campaign, 188-190.
Swinton, William, 252.

324

INDEX

Taylor, Colonel W. H., anecdotes of
Lee told by, 120, 226, 228.
Thayer, Colonel, on drunkenness
and dissipation at West Point,
8. - '
Townsend, General E. D., his ac
count of interview between Lee
and Scott, 29-31 ; error in his nar
rative, 289.
Trist, N. P., Lee on the treatment
of, 15.
Twiggs, General D. E., anecdote of,
109.
Tyler, John, Jr., in, 115, 118.
United States Government, Lee's
attitude toward, after the war,
247, 248.
Vance, Governor, 94, 95.
Vaughan-Sawyer, Captain G. H.,
on the Wilderness campaign,
187.
Venable, Colonel Charles S., quoted,
22, 115, 116, 225.
Virginia, education in, in Jefferson's
time, 7 ; aristocracy of, 9; joins the
Confederacy, 74.
Washington, George, 21, 35.
Washington College, 243, 256-264.

Washington and Lee University.
See Washington College.
Webb, General A. S., quoted, 183.
Wellington, Duke of, 75, 195.
West Point, Lee a student at, 8; dis
sipation among students at, 8;
Lee superintendent at, 17.
White, H. A., quoted, 17.
Whiting, General W. H. C, 62.
Wilderness, Lee in battles of, 159;
campaign, condemned by Amer
ican critics, 183; approved by
English critics, 187; Colonel Eben
Swift on, 188, 189.
Wilmer, Bishop, conversation of,
with Lee, 92, 93.
Wilson, Henry, 40.
Wise, General Henry A., animosi
ties of , 1 1 3 ; anecdote of his swear
ing, 206, 207 ; anecdote illustrating
his respect for Lee's judgment,
265.
Wise, J. S., on Lee's physical appear
ance, 23; on Lee's influence over
friends and family, 97.
Wolseley, Lord, on Lee, 185; on
Napoleon, 194.
Wood, W. B., and Edmunds, J. E.,
quoted, 154, 155, 186.
Young, J. R., quoted, 179.

YALE UNIVERSITY

|3^oo? frrT^mmpff