The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-04-12
GENERAL LEE.

hdi0iy lstNO hapi,Cbcu WItiioue iCNiN
ing, if only for mOment, much @
the eager interest with which, he
tween 1861 and 1865. the Old Worl,
watched the Titanic Civil War of tn
New. But during the October, O
1870, when General Lee breathed hi
last, the siege of Paris absorbed tn
!, thoughts and engrO5sed the attention
of civilized mankind. Little or N
notice has therefore been taken il
England of the death of one who
, when his career, character, and mill
/ tary genius are better known ant
understood, will, in spite of his. de
feat, be pronounced the greatest sol
dier, with two exceptions, that any
English-speaking nation has eve
produced. Upon the other side o
the Atlantic circumstances have con
spired to obscure the great deeds anC
spotless purity of the nOblest son t6
whom the North American continent
has hitherto given birth.F A Life Of
General Robert E. Lee has indeed
appeared, from the pen of Mr.. John
Esten Cooke, upon which we propose
to make few comments; but it can
in nosense be regarded as more than
an atiImbration of the man whom it
professes to.delineate. Public eXpec-
| tation on the other side of the Attain
tic anticipates much from biOgra-
! ply, already too long delayed, of
which Coloifel Marshall, who for four
years served at General Lees right
hand in the position which cores
ponds in Eur"pean 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 political
necessity for General Lees conquer
ors to darken his fame and sneer at his
achievements. In most of the public
papers and utterances which have
issued from the victOfs in the fratri-
cidal. strife, the writers and speakers
have thought it expedient to brand
Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeffer-
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-'maded dur
ing the administration of the present
superintendent, is one of peculiar and
touching interest: ii is the device of
placing on the walls oftie chapel neat
marble tablets, or mural monuments,
inscribed with. the names of those
dead army officers who iu the pas
have been made illustrious by rank
or gallant deeds of arms, or have fall.
ell i'll battle. 1t was 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 of
young men educated here this noble
example of faithful service and devo-
ton to our common country.
"The Board recommend that the
tasteful and enduring record thus be-
gun shall be continued, and that
means be furnished to extend the
same mark of respect to all the officers
of our army, regulars and volunteers
aIike,whO have suffered and fallen
i'm the war just closed in a glorious
and successful struggle to vindicate
the honor and maintain the life OF the
nation. Happy for the recreants who
fought to destroy their Government,
if. i'm the light shed from such bril-
liant roll of the faithful, their names
and Unreasonable career could be thrown
into deeper shadow of oblivion"
Let us compare with this unseemly
and unnecessary passage the follow
ing extract from General Badedu's
excellent Military History of General
q, 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 II, 433 men, or 10 re-
giments of infantry, Ofartiliery, and
5 of cavalry. 1t was Otlicered by
Southerners as well as Northerners.
Out of 1914 officers 270 were of South
ern birth, embracing fair share of
the talent and distinction of the army.
Two hundred and two of these espOus-
ed theaSouthern cause. When it be-
came eapparentth that war was inevitable,
they resigned their commissions, and
offered their swords to their own Sec
ton, holding the authority OF a 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 be 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 ClarendOn's
History of the English Rebellion
which ragged in the breast of Falk-
land. HWhen there was any over
ture or hope of peace,n says Lord
Clarendon, Falkland Would be eX-
ceedingIy solici.ous to press anything
which he thought might promote it;
and, sitting among his friends, often,
after a deep silence and frequent
sighs, would with a shrill and sad ac-
cent ingeminate tile word leace,
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 Kim, and
would shortly break his heart" No
one who served by General Lees side
during the war, or who bad occasion
al opportunities of conversins with
him during the five years OF life
which remained after his surrender
at Appomattox Courthouse, can en-
tertain 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
traitor and reereant because he
deemed it his duty to fight for the
State which sent him to West Point
and paid for his education, is un-
WORTHY ,offso brave and sensible
man rs General Sehepck. Even in
the report Of Lieutenant-General U.
s. Grant upon the armies of the
United States in 1864 and 1865, he has
but one faint word Of appreciation to
bestow upon the adversary who, hay
ing fought with unshaken fortitude
and self-derial throughout the whole
South" says, his conqueror. caused
his example to be followed, and to-
day the result is, that the armies
lately under his leadership are at
their homes, desiring peace and quiet.
and their arms are in the hands OF
our ordnance Officers" The patience,
humility and moderation of General