Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1895-02-07
MIsGEHIsA.sgNl'EESUs. q n
General Il. f. Lee.
IHE PERSONAL CHARACTER OF
THE GREAT SOUTHERN
CHIEFTAIN.

THE GREAT SOUTHERN
CHIEFTAIN.
The character of General Robert
+. Lee as a public servant of the
United States or of the Confeders te
Government has long been fertile
theme of historians and reminiscent
writer's; but Of his character as q
man, father, husband, and Christian
gentleman less has beer known than
Of many other persons less pro,ni.
nent in the affairs of the world.
In volume recently issued there
is given a clearer insight into the
personal character of the Havelock
of the Confederacy than in any
work yet published. The author,
General FitZhugh Lee, nephew and
cavalry commander of General Lee,
is eminently qualified to write So
entertainingly and authoritively of
his subject. While less skillful or
less competent writer may be able to
invest the narrative with a greater
charm of rhetoric, and perhaps less
of truth or candor, the unaffected
style of this latest historian of the
eminent Virginian is both pleasing
and convincing.
The author has had access to
sources Of information unavailable
to others. What great general
thinks and feels when elated by VIC
tory, disappointed by defeat, or al
most despairing of the eventual
success of the cause he is leading
must find reflection in the letters he
writes to those nearest and dearest
to him. In the letters to Mrs. Lee,
to the friends of his family, and
other intimate friends and associates,
General Lee opened his great, mag
unanimous, but tender heart as to
none other. From such source
the author has largely drawn his
materials for the purpose, he states,
of supplying "the great desire to
have something from Robert E.
Lees pen," who "is thus made, for
the first time, to give his impressions
and opinions on most Of the great
events with which he was so closely
connected"
DEVoUT MEN.
1t Is a singular, If not anomalous
fact of history that many of the
worlds greatest warriors have been
devout and pious men. From in.
fancy General Lee was reared in
"the nurture and admonition of the
Lord" and through all the varying
fortunes of his career he maintained
an abiding faith i'm the goodness and
mercy of God. elf he was always
good,' as his father wrote of him,
his mother labored to keep him so
With the fostering care OF
such a mother the son must e
straight, for she had planted him in
the soil of truth, morality, and re-
ligion, so that his boyhood was
marked by everything that produces
nobility of character in manhood.
Whether rewarded with success
or confronted with grave doubts
perpleXities or fears, the faith Of thi:
Christian soldier, like the true sol
dier of Christ, was always firm
When on the heights of Cerrt
Gordo, where as engineer officer III
had contributed so much to the sue
cess of General Scott, and where HI
first beheld the horrid realities o
| WAR, Lee wrote that he had zen
deavored to give thanks to on
Heavenly Father for all his mercies
for his preservation through all dan
gers, and for all the blessings Ill
has bestowed, for l know l fal
short of my obligations" At tn
close of the Mexican war he re
turned to his family at Arlington
" crowned with honors and covered
with brevets for gallant conduct
OF this meeting he wrote to hi
brother, Sidney Lee, of the Unite'
States navy, ~ have much cause o
thankfulness and gratitude to tina
good God who has once more unite
u.s."
DEEMED 1T ESSENTIAL.
In all undertakings, great o
small, he deemed 1t an all essentia
preparation to commit himself t
the wisdom and mercy of God
When Virginia called him to tn
leadership of its armed forces in 1861
General Lee closed his brief addres
of acceptance with these words
"Trusting in Almighty God, an ar
proving conscience, and the aid @
nv fellow-citizens, devote mysel
to the services Of my native State
in whose behalf alone will l eve
again draw my sword" Whethe
overwhelmed with the world OF OF
ganizing the army in early 1861, O
later in that year, when on the blea
mountain tops of West Virgin
conducting that unsuccessful can
paign against Mcclellan and Rose
Grams. and made the subject OF man
carping criticisms, no word Of CON