The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1870-10-20

Death Of Robert Edmund Lee.

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the fall Of mighty pire upon the ear
of the children Of the forest.
He breathed his last on Wednesday,
the 10th inst, at 80 minutes past 8
O'Clock in the morning, aged GO years,
8 months, and 80 days, and died Of
congestion of the brain.
All over the South the expression Of
sorrow has been almost uni, ersal, and
well does it become us to mourn over
the death of one who was "the bright
est exemplar of the noblest virtues Of
our race"
An informal meeting was held in this
place last Monday, and committee
appointed to draft suitable resolutions,
expressive of the feeling of the COM
nunity, and to report to regular
meeting to be held on the first Monday
of next month, when, it is confidently
expected, all the people of the county,
who can do so, will assemble to pay a
tribute Of respect to the memory Of
him who was first in war, first in peace,
and first in the hearts of his country
men. Let the ladies come, too, and
show by their presence that they adj
mire and love those qualities which
constitute all that is great, and grand
and glorious in our nature. And Gin
after years, when the faults and excel
lcncies Of Southerners are truthfully
portrayed, just historians will tell it of
us that no community, generating as
we do the name and virtues of Lee,
can be justly pronounced unworthy
iellow-countrymen of the noblest citi,
zen of America, whose name and fame
and character are honored wherever
civilization and christianity give shape
to laws, opinions, and governments"
The Lee family in Virginia is the
younger branch of one of the oldest
families in England. Launcslot Lee,
the founder, was originally from Lon
don, in France, and went to England
with William the Conquerer in 1866
After the battle of Hastings, when the
estates of the native English nobility
were divided among the followers of
William, a fine estate in Essex was
bestowed upon him.
Gen. Robert f. Lee was the second
son Of Henry Lee, who was famous for
his great ability as n statesman and
prominent genius as a soldier. He
was born in 1908, and grew up in the
quiet of home without showing any
uncommon characteristics of mind, and
the only thing remarked about him as
a boy was that he was disposed to be
quiet and scdatc.
In the year 1925, at the age. OF
eighteen, Lee entered West Point as q
cadet from Virginia.
In 1882 Lieutenant Lee married Miss
Gusts, the daughter and hciress of
George w. Parke Custis, the adopted
son of General Washington. and,
through her, became proprietor of
Arlington House and the White House
on the banks of the Pamunkey.
In the war with Mexico, Lee appears
to have been the special favorite of
Cen Scott, and there is hardly dis
patch in which his name is not honor
ably mentioned.
On the LIST of September 1852 he
was appointed Superintendent of the
Military Academy at West Point, and
held the position till 1856, when he
was promoted to Colonel of cavalry.
In 1859 he commanded, with the late
Gen. j. f. B. Stuart, the battalion OF
marines sent to capture John Browns
gang at Harper's Ferry.
Just before the late war began, so
long as Virginia wavered Lee stood
irrcsolute. On the 18th Of April, 1861,
Virginia seeded from the Union; on
the 10Th Lee knew it; on the Goth lie
dissolved his connection with the Fed
eral army.
Immediately upon his arrival in
Richmond, the State Convention unan-
imously voted Lee the appointment Of
Major-Gencral of all the military forces
Of Virginia.
Our readers are familiar with the
conduct of General Lee during the
war. In the closing part of his last
Ge.:eral Order, dated April 10, 1861
bidding a sad farewell to his troops, he
said: "You will take with you the sat.
isfaction that proceeds from the con-
seriousness of duty faithfully per-
formed, and I earnestly pray that
merciful God will extend you His
blessing and protection. With an in
creasing admiration of your constancy
and devotion to your country, and a
grateful remembrance of your kind and
generous consideration Of myself, bid