The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-09-07
Dauntless to the End.

interesting letter, in which he tells OF
several interviews with Gen. Robert E.
Lee. When was private, he says,
met Gen. Lee but once. Shortly after
the battles around Richmond, when he
defeated Mcclellan, I was captured by
raiding party of Northern cavalry and
taken to Washington, where I was kept
ten days in the old Capitol prison, and
then exchanged.
During my imprisonment I kept my
eyes open and ,btained some valuable
information. A. oon as ne landed at
the point of e. .ange on James River, |
started to walk twelve miles under an
August sun to carry the information OF
the movement to Gen. Lee. I knew it
would result in a corresponding move.
ment on our part.
shall never forget the awe and op-
preston I felt when I came into the
presence of the great commander. His
benevolent look and kind manner soon
put me at ease. He Immediately started q
courier with the news to Stonewsll Jackson
The result was Jackson's victory at Ce-
dar Mountain, where he defeated Pope
before reinforcements from Burnside
reached him.
STORY OF THE LEMONS.
After exhaustlng my budget Of infor-
nation Gen. Lee asked me how [ was
captured. i told him that I was at Bea-
yer Dam Station waiting for the train
when regiment Of Northern cavalry
Harris's Light gobbled me up. He
asked: "Couldn't you run away?" I
answered: "Yes, but not so fast as q
horse"
I brought with me from Fort Monroe
a haversack full of lemons. Such lux
ury as lemonade was then unknown in
Richmond. As rose to leave I took
out half dozen lemons and laid them
on the table. He said in the gentlest
way that I had better give them to the
sick and wounded in the hospitals, that
he didn't need them. But I went'away
and left them. I have no doubt that
some wounded soldier got them.
l was common soldier in my shirt
sleeves, covered with dust, without any
political influence behind me and no
prospect of promotion. My feet were
sore and blistered from the long walk
through the sun, yet felt that the priv
lege of the few minutes interview with
the great General, who then filled the
world with his fame, was ample compen.
sation for all the tolls and dangers of war
that I had undergone. 1t was certainly
distinction to which I had not permit.
ted myself to aspire.
AFTER GETTYSBURG.
We did not meet again until after Get.
tysburg, in his tent on the Rapidsn. In
the meantime I had become an officer,
and he knew me by reputation. I doubt,
however, whether he ever knew that the
soldier who gave him the lemons way the
same person whom he saw then.
Although the weight of the Southern
Confederacy then rested on his shoulders
he did not seem to be oppressed by it or
discouraged by defeat. His spirit WAS as
bold as it was on the day that he drove
Mcclellan out of his entertainments be-
fore Richmond. My command was then
in embryo, yet he seemed to takeas much
interest in our petty forages as in the op.
Grafton of our army corps. A thorough
soldier by training, familiar with war in
its theory and details, yet there was no
man in the Southern army less marti.
net and fonder of adventure than Gen.
Robert E. Lee.
In February, 1865, I went to see him
at his headquarters, near Petersburg.
His army was then reduced to a skele.
ton, but his spirit was as conbative as
ever. Although he knew that the end
was near, his manner and conversation
did not indicate it. He was just as bold
and as aggressive in temper as on the day
that he routed Pope at Bull Run. Look
ing over in the direction of Grants lines,
he said: eve could whip those people
now if ne could only get at them, refer
ring to their being under ground.
WORN AND HAGGARD.
! In the spring of 1870, few months
before biz death, I was at the Exchange
Hotel, in Richmond, when Gen. Lee ar
rived there from Lexington. He had
been advised to take trip south for the
benefit of his health. He looked worn
and haggard, and it was hal 20 realize
that he was the fierce warrior that had 80
often welded the thunderbolts Of battle.
went to his room and we had long
talk. I had met him in public after the
war, but this was the only time we were
alone. The war still threw its shadows
around US, and while we talked of the
present and the future re were thinking
of the past. I felt oppressed, almost
overwhelmed, by the great memories
which his presence recalled. He was no
longer my commander, yethis word even
then would have been law to me.
Soon after leaving his room l met Gen.
Pickett. I told Pickett that I had just
left Gen. Lee, and that he looked like q
dying man. There had been an es-
arrangement between them. Pickett said
that he would call and pay his respects to
Gen.. Lee ifI would go with him, but
that he did not want to be alone with
him. So T returned with Pickett. The
interview lasted only few minutes. The
conversation was formal, with no refer
ence to the cause of their difference. I
do not think they ever met again.
In few months the great soldier join