Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-02-15
An. stephens on Gen. X. e. Lee.

A ID. stephens on Gen. X. u. Lee.
From a PosthuDaoS Paper in the February
Number at the Southern BiDouGc.
The ancestors If Lee we're many of them
military men, and he, born in Slraff lrd. West
moreland county, Va, Jan. 10, 1907, was. in
boyhOOd. almost in sight Of the ravages M ade
by che fleet OF Admiral COckbuFn along the
Chesapeake during our sec md war with (4rea &
Britain. His father died when he was Il
years old, and he became a cadet at West
Point in 1925. He Is said to have been SO stu
dlous and blameless in department, and at The
same time so courteous to all, as 10 have pass-
ed the four years without demerit or repri-
mand, and graduated at the head of his class
July 4, 1929. He was appointed Second Lieu
tenant OF Engineers. aud soon after promoted
TO First In 1882 he married Mary Gusts. a
granddaughter of the wife Of Washington,
and In 1885 he helped 10 mark the line between
Michigan and Ohio. His estate of Arlington
came later, through his wife.
In 1859 he was in WashiHgtOn CITY. and on
the night of Oct. E'9f that year really began
MS hrst services IN the cause of the Southern
states. ga the 18th john Brown, an old and
p9!OrOus offender against law IN the Terrific
rles, had, at the head OF band Of cOnspira-
tors, seized the arsenal at Harper's Ferry,
with its $4,000 stand Of arms. which he pro-
posed at once to distr butte among the slaves
OF Virginia. The negroes entirely failed to
respond. and John Browns for ress, the en-
gin0 house, was carried by storm, after he re-
fused the unconditional 81 rrender rendered
hIm through J. f. B. Stuart. the Lieutenant
hanged, and whatever progress his soul has
mad6in the marching on" of which pOpu-
lar sohg speaks. he ended his earthly Journey
ngs in his first blOOdshed of the war and the
man then in his way was the United States
officer and Virginia gentleman, Robert E.
Lee.
ON April 20, 1851, five DAYS after the call for
invading troops. Gen. (then COlOneO Lee, now
commanding his regiment, resigned by letter,
from Arlington, Va, to Gen. w. Scott. UPON
the day of my arrival IN Richmond he had
been made Major General of the Virginia
army. On the day after my arrival this rank
of Major General OF the army OF Virginia was
solemnly conferred upon him BY President
John Janney. of the convention, in the Hall
OF Representatives.
As he stood there, fresh and rudy as
David from the sheepfold, in the prime of his
manly beauty, and the embodiment Of q line
of heroic ana patriotic fathers and worthy
mothers; il was thus l first saw Robert e.
Lee. | had preconceived ideas of the rough
soldier, withnO time for the graces of life, and
by cOmpanionship almost compelled to the
vices Of his profession. | did not know then
that he used no stlmulants, was free even
from the use OF tobacco, and that he vas alb
sOlutely 81 ainless in his pr.vate life. did not
know then, as l DO now. that he had been 8
model youth and young man, but had before
me the most manly man and entire gentle
man ever saw.
/ remember seeing him in Savannah, con-
spicuous by the blue uniform which he WAS
the last of the Confederates to nut on scarce
" noticed among the gayuniforms OF the new
volunteers, and least likely of ali men to be-
come the first character in the war for States
rights.
Toward shutdown at the battle OF Seven
Pines, Virginia, on May 3D. 1862. Gen. Joseph
= Johnston fell severely wounded, and, as
the command devolyed for time on Gen G,
W Smith, the time of Gen. Lee had come at
last. His appointment by Mr.. Davis was very
unpopular, as the South had little confidence
in him, and even Virgisians doubted their old
idol.
From that time l need only to call the roll
OF his battles.