The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1867-06-28
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson
Interesting Personal Sketches.

Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson
Interesting Personal Sketches.
We extract the following from the Lex
ington, Virginia, correspondence of the n.
Y. Times:
AN INTERVIEW AND CONVERSATION WITH
GEN. LEE.
Having made a somewhat close study of
the campaigns of Gen. Lee, and having,
besides, followed With interest his opera
tons on the actual field Of battle, l had
long been DESTROYS of learning by personal
sight and converse what manner of man he
really is.
The prefer of an introduction by a per-
sonal friend enabled me to crafty this wish;
and after breakfast we repaired to the resi-
dence of the chieftain of the Army of
Northern Virginia. 1t stands on College
Hill, and is modest brick dwelling with
white wooden pillars in front, placed amid
pretty garden shaded by some fine trees
and large solitary weeping willow. The
house is surrounded by high fern hedge
that lends it somewhat the air of aristocratic
seclusion Although it was no later than
! nine in the morning, Gen. Lee had already
gone to his Office in the College. which is
but stone 8 throw removed Here was a
table piled up with papers and college cat
alogues and text books, but no Renaissance
of war was visible, no sword or spur or in
sigma. Whatever met the eye was entire
ly academic, not III the least military. And
seated at the table was handsome-looking
gentleman, dressed in unifoam suit of
pepper-and salt color-a very portly, we'll
preserved gentleman of some four and fifty,
with fine bronzed complexion, nobly-
modelled nose, compact head, gray hair and
beard of the same color, closely cropped
who rose to shake hands in courtly, gra-
cious manner. 1t was the man who welded
the thunders Of Charlottesville and the
Chicahominy--It was Gen. Lee.
That Gen. Lee will figure in history,
when it comes to be written, with full light
and without passion and prcdjudice. as a
! very able commander, a skillful methodical
soldier, who made several admirable defen-
sive campaigns, fought two or three bril-
liant aggressive actions, protracted the war
on the limited theatre of Virginia for four
years by careful husbandry of his resour-
ces, and finally succumbed only to greatly
superior numbers, may, [ think, be readily
conceded. That he will figure, as the South
now figures him, in the light Of first class
captain, may, | believe, be fairly doubted,
His character takes its shape rather from
an. admirable balance Of intellectual and
moral qualities than from the possession of
any overmastering power. Some men-a
very few-are adequate; they are supreme,
they embody revolutions they alone are
worthy of study. Lee was not of such.
He lacked passion he lacked abandon !;
perhaps-here speak cautiously-he lack
ed true conUiction. And yet think | may
say he lacked true conviction. For it is we'll
known that he was an ardent lover of the
Union, and that he was, as | have learned
since | came here, always at heart an eman-
cipationist. He was, therefore, not the
type of nor the leader for that fierce and
Titan spirit that sought in the ruin of ma
ton to erect an empire on the foundation
Of slavery. Such spirit needs embodi-
ment In brain and hand swift and aggres-
sive and famboyant as itself. Nor, on the
other hand, was he great enough to stand
forth as patriot; but he permitted him
self to be drawn into the VORTEX of passion
that seethed and boiled in his section, to be
allured by poor blind fallacies instead Of
following the inspiration Of greatness.
thiak he is far from happy. And yet his
fame as soldier, though not first class, is
very sound and complete, so that now, away
from the field of war, and buried here in
quiet academic life, among these secluded
hills, it seemed as though be had passed
away from earth He is all that is to Vir-
gaia, magma mater uirum, out of the wreck
Of a revolution. Is it, then, wonderful that
Virginians almost adore him?
[ stood this evening in the light Of the
descending sun at the grave of one of a diff
ferent type-at the grave of Jackson. In
Lexington in the valley of Virginia." and
here he lies in the quiet village churchyard
A simple slab is at the head with only the
name, Gen. Thos. J. Jackson" and at
his feet stone with the initials ''T. J. j.
A garland of flowers lay on the grave and
in my heart | could feel no other emotion
than one of tender interest in such proofs
of affection.