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

, bis public career. II ia well an,
. Etastefully written, and its languae,
Is altogether free from disfiguffnl
"Americanisms." But Mr. Cooke
descriptions Of battles lack FIRE ant
force, and he has none of the pifts O
military historian. Reverting Il
us personal "reminiscences, we search
IN vain for any allusion' to one O
General Lees peculiarities, which NJ
one who lived much in his society
could have failed to notice. We refel
10 his rich sense of humor-a quality
which DR.. Arnold, in his character
OF Hannibal, says is rarely wanting
In great men. There was q quiet vein
ofunmalignant fun in Uncle Robert.
EfOr thus was. he. always named by
MS enthusiastic followers which
was continually cropping to the sur.
lace, and the recollection of which
often raises smile on the lips OI
those who lived by his side, and re-
member how quantity he loved to
manifest it. The two following an
ecdotes will serve to illustrate its
nature. About a week before the bat
Tie OF Frenericksburg- is to say,
on or about the 9th of December 1852
1.-THE weather was for q few days bit
terly cold. General Lee and his Staff
were camping Out-aS usual, in tents
| about three miles to the south of
the Rappahannock River and the
little town of Fredericksburg. There
were some members of his Staff who.
although young enough to be his
sons, were more sensible of the cold
than their iron chief. To him, as to
Hannibal, cold or heat made no diff.
ference; for in both there was, as
Livy writes of one of them, caloris
&c Jrigoris patientia par-nGllO lahore
dst corpus .fatigafi, AIT -Qninars vinci
poterdt. Standing round the camp
fire upon the morning in question,
and shivering before each blast of a
! biting wind, which came from. the
frozen north, and reminded the suf-
feres that the thermometer was be-
low zero, more than one member of
General Lees Staff was heard to
mutter an aspiration for q glass of
whisky-tOddy, or. some other -alco-
hQlic stimulant. No one noticed that
the General took any cOgnisance, or
was even aware of this half-articuiate
expression of wish. But presently,
emerging from his tent with q stone
bottle or demijOhn under his arm, he
drew near to the campfire, and said
Gentlemen, the morning is very
cOld-the kindness of friend en-
ah'es me to0ffereyou cordial; pray
bring your tin cups and taste what I
have here."r There were one or two
On-loOkers who noticed twinkle in
the old soldiers eye, and lurking
smile upon his mouth, which taught
them to anticipate "a sell.n But the
majority Ofthe company fetched their
drinking-cups, and stood expectant
round their chief. The cork was
drawn, and the liquor proved to be
butter-milk. Upon another occasion,
two members of his Staff sat up late
at night discussing keg of whisky
and a problem of algebra. Upon
meeting one of them in the morning,
General Lee inquired, as usual, after
his health, and learned in reply that
he was suffering from an headache.
s''All, Colonel" remarked the old
man, 81 have often observed that |
when the unknown quantities, and
y, are represented by a keg of whisky
and a tin cup, the solution of the |
equation is usually headachew !
We are tempted to linger q moment |
longer, over some points of character |
which caused General Lee to be often |
misunderstood, and sometimes to be |
misrepresented. There were many |
to maintain that, though spotless and |
irreproachable, he was cold and un-
sympathetic, and that his immunity |
from human vices and frailties arose |
from absence of passion. The truth,
however, is, that no one ever had a |
more human heart than General Lee. |
Histemper s-natarally quick, i'm
petuous, and chOleric, but his mex
Orabie and ever-present sense of duty |
as will presently be seen, |
he called ''the sublimest word in our |
uage"-constrained him to con-
troll every passionate impulse. Being |
in his fifty-tifth year when the Civil |
War broke out, he had already learn
ed to check his natural tendency to
chOier; but no one could have seen
much of him between 1861 and 1865 |
without perceiving that passion was
by nO means extinguished in his |
heart. There are many who remem-
Der how, upon the morning of the |
12th of May, 1866, a sudden and inn
petuOus onslaught was made, just |
after the hreak of dawn, by a picked
body of Federal troops, whom General |
Grant launched against q salient of |
his adversary's lines in the forests of
SpOttsylvania. This salient was occu-
pied by Johnston's division of Ewell's |
Confederate Corps. The Federal on |
was complete surprise. The |
redOubt was stoFnled at the point of
the h&yOnet; nearly 5000 rebels were |
taken prisoners, and Is pieces of ar
tillery fell into the hands of the as
sailants. General Lee regarded this
bit of success as being attributable to
want of vigilance and courage i'm his |
own men. Instantly throwing him
self at the head of Texan regiment,
he waved his hat in the air, and pre-
pared to lead it forward. No man |
who, at that terrible moment, saw his |
flashing eyes and sternly-set lips, is
ever likely to forget them. But,
squirting RAPIDLY to his side, General
GOrdOn-One of Secessia's nOblest |
sons-seized hold of his horses rein,
and exclaimed: "This, General Lee,
is no place for you ! these are men
who never failed yet, and who will |
not fail now." With unanimous
voice the soldiers around then re-
fused to advance until "Uncle Ro-
bertn went to the rear. Slowly and |
reluctantly retiring, General Lee
the light of battle still flaming in his |
eyesSwas dissuaded from his purpose.
But it would be idle to tell those who |
Al, +, him, fhok his
was cold and passionless, or that his !
temper, if under better control, was
not, au fond, as impulsive as that of |
Washington. Certain it is, that Stone
wall Jackson, Longstreet, and Stuart,
who all loved Lee with more than |
filial affection and respect, would |
never permit him to be called cold in
their presence. 1t is the more neces-
sary to deny the truth of this imputa-
ton. since it has been repeated more !
than once since his death, both by |
friendly and unfriendly commenta-
tors upon his character. 1t is rebuff
ted by all that is known of his domes-
tic life and family affections. The |
following letter could never have been
written by one whose heart was not
warmed by the living blood of an un-
usually sympathetic nature. There
are few passages in the English LAM
guage which deserve to be more wide
" known. The famous lines of ad-
vice to- his son which Shakespeare
puts into the mouth of Polonius may
surpass General alHee's letter in the |
beauty of their language and the
worldliness of their wisdom, but they
lack the Christian tenderness and
,,nrifu nf the words which follow.