The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-04-19
GENERAL LEE.
From Dlackwood's Magazine for March,

ihS, IL why Ior " ulOIleDU, HluCn OF
the eager interest with which, be-
tween 1861 and 1865, the Old World
watched the Titanic Civil War of the
New. But during the October Of
1870, when General Lee breathed his
last, the siege of Paris absorbed the
thoughts and engrOssed the attention
of civilized mankind. Little or no
notice has therefore been taken in
England of the death of n who,
when his career, character, and mill
tary genius are better known and
understood, will, in spite of his de-
feat, be pronounced the greatest sol
der, with two exceptions, that any
English-speaking nation has ever
produced. Upon the other side of
the Atlantic circumstances have con-
spired to obscure the great deeds and
spotless purity of the noblest son to
whom the North American continent
has hitherto given birth. A Life of
General Robert Il. LGe' has indeed
appeared, from the pen of Mr.. John
| Esten Cooke, upon which we propose
to make a few comments; but 1T can
in no sense be regarded as more than
an adumbratiOn of the man whom it
processes to delineatc. Public eXpec-
tation on the other side of the Allan
tic anticipates much from u blogra-
ply, already too long delayed, OF
which Colonel Marshall, who for four
wears served at General Lees right
hand in the position which cores
ponds in European armies to our
| Chief of Staff, is to be the author.
| But in both sections Of the recon-
| structed Union the passions and ami
mosities of the American War are
| still so much alive that it is a political
necessity for General Lees conquer
ors to darken his fame andsneerat his
achievements. In most of the public
papers and u%tterances which have
issued from the victors in the fratrl-
cidal strife, the writers and speakers
have thought it expedient to brand
Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeiler-
son Davis as men worthy to be rank
ed with Benedict Arnold and Aaron
Burr. Thus, for example, the Board
of Visitors, to whom was committed
the annual supervision of the United
| States Military Academy at West
Point-of which Board the present
American Envoy to England, Gener-
al Schenck, was president-employ
the following language
"AmOng many improvements
such are the questionable words Oh
this singular dOcument-"made dur
! ing the administration of the present
Superintendent, is n of peculiar and
touching interest: it is the device OF
placing on the walls ofthe chapel neat
marble tablets, or mural monuments,
inscribed with the names of those
dead army officers who in the past
have been made illustrious by rank
or gallant deeds of arms, or have fall
ell in battle. 1t was a happy. thought
to be executed at this particular place,
1t is most fitting that the United
States Military Academy should be
made to perpetuate such names and
histories; thus keeping before the
ewes and present in the memories o
Young men educated here this noble
example of faithful service aud deVo'
ton to our common country.
"The Board recommend that the
tasteful and enduring record thus be-
gun shall be continued, and tina
means be furnished to extend Tho
same mark of respect to all the Officers
of our army, regulars and volunteer
alike, who have suffered and tallei
in the wal just closed in a glorious
and successful struggle to vindicat'
the honor and maintain the life of the
nation. Happy for the %recreants who
fought to destroy their Government
if, in the light shed from such a bril-
liant roll of the faithful, their names
andtreasonable careereould bethroWn
into deeper shadow of oblivion"
Let us compare with this unseemly
and unnecessary passage the follow
ing extract from General Badeau's
excellent Military History of General
U. S. Grant He tells us that
"When the first shot was fired at
Fort Sumter the shot which inau-
gurated the American Civil War
the standing army in the United
| States numbered 5,453 men, or 10 re-
giments of infantry, 4 ofartillery, and
5 of cavalry. 1t was Differed by
Southerners as well as Northerners.
Out of 1914 officers go We're of South
ern birth, embracing Il fair share OF
the talent and distinction ofthe army.
Two hundred and tWoofthese espous-
ed the Southern cause. When IL be-
came apparentthat war was inevitable,
they resigned their commissions, ana
offered their swords to their own see
ton, holding the authority Of q State
paramount to that Of the Union. They
were followed into secession by fifty
others from Northern or border
| States, most of whom had married
Southern wives or acquired Southern
property.
Nothing can he fairer than the rea-
sons by which General Badeau eX-
| plains the secession of General Lee
and his Southern fellow-of1icers. To
many of them the struggle to decide
whether their State or the Union
claimed priority of allegiance was no
less painful than the struggle-so
beautifully described in C%larendon's
History of the English Rebellion
which ragged in the breast of Falk-
land. "When there was any over
ture or hope of peace" says Lord
Clarendon, "Falkland would be ex-
ceedingly solici.ous to press anything
which he thought might promote it;
and, sitting among his friends, often,
after a deep silence and frequent
signs, would with a shrill and sad ac-
cent ingeminate the word Peace,
Peace; and would passionately pro-
| fess that the very agony of the war,
and the view OF the calamities and
desolation the kingdom did and must
endure, took his sleep from him, and
would shortly break his heart No
one who served by General Lees side
, during the war, or who had OCCASION
al opportunities of converslns with
him during the five years Of life
which remained after his surrender
at Appomattox Court-HouSe, can ell
t%ertain any doubt that he suffered no
less agony of heart than the young
and accomplished Royalist who died
on the field of Newbury. But to
brand him with infamy, and call HIM
q traitor and q %recreant because lie