The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-06-17

Hampton Roads which 81 years after
wards he was striving to demolish
Evervwhere efficient he is upon tn,
opening of the Mexican war appoint
| ed ca ptain of engineers upon the per
sonal staff of General Scott. Thre,
times hrt vetted in rapid success OF
this brief six months campaign
crowned the young captain with hon
ors and lifted him from obscurity int
the light OF fame. Gen. Scott at tina
time wrote of him, Robert E. Lee il
the greatest military genius of Amer
lea, the best soldier that he ever saw
| in the field, aud that if opportunity
offered itself he would show himsel
the foremost captain of his time
Assigned to various duties after the
Mexican war the fastening events ol
1861 found him in Washington. Oh
the fifty four years Of his life to TINS
time, thirty-two had been spent IN
honorable service as an officer in the
| United States army. A master soldier
now in the theories of war and ripe ID
| its practice he is called upon to declde
to which his service shall be given, to
his State or to the Union. That the
| making of this choice caused him
| great perplexity, his letters written at
the time plainly show. These letters,
as we'll as his subsequent actions, no
less plainly show that he was seeking
to discover only where the path OF
duty lay. Surrounded by his wife
and family in his beautiful home up
on the Virginia hills opposite Wash
ington he is called upon to decide this
question. His illustrious father as
Governor of Virginia, when summon.
ed to commission under the Federal
government, had voiced this senti-
ment, mo consideration on earth
could induce me to act a part, however
gratifying to me, which could be con
strued into disregard or faithlessness
to this commonwealth" A devotion
to Virginia was then his just inherit
ance.
And Robert Lee knew that the Dec.
laration of Independence had declared
free 13 states-each one free, indie.
pendent and sovereign. He knew that
certain powers only had been delegat:
ed by these free states to the Federal
Government. He knew that no state
had done more valiant service IN Sc
curing that independence than Vir-
ginia. And he knew that Virginia IN
entering the union which had already
been formed by the nine states neces'
sary, reserved in express terms the
right to withdraw if at anytime the
Federal Government should exercise
its powers to the detriment Of her in
terests and the happiness of her peo'
pie. These considerations must have
been sufficient to satisfy the seeker
after with of Virginias right ITO Sc
cede.
AS to slavery he had no love for The
institution. He would not have fought
for its perpetuation. His own slaves
he had freed long before. His father
in-law's slaves had been freed by will.
On that score his miud was easy.
But Just across the river his old com
mander, Gen. Scott, was pleading
with him to remain with the union:
"For Gods sake, Lee, don't resign, "
the bluff old General is reported to
have said. To the Federal authorities
Gen. Scott had said that Robert L!e
would be worth fifty thousand men to
their cause, and President Lincoln 'di.
rected his Secretary of War 10 have an
interview with Lee and secure him
for the union by the tempting offer of
the chief command in the army.
Here within his grasp was all the
full realization of soldiers fondest
dreams-the chief command in the
army of his country. Then behold
this imperial man as discerning the
way of duty TO lie in other paths he
turns his back upon all the glittering
allurements of place, profit and pow
er, to lay his sword humbly at the
feet of his mother state saying to her,
"whither thou goest will 60 and thy
people shall be my people"
His state received him with open
arms, and he made no complaint be-
cause obscure and laborious posts were
assigned to him. A brief campaign
in Western Virginia came to grief
through no fault of his and he had to
bear the shame of his misrepresenta.
ton and abuse. This he did without
murmuring, sustained as he was by
the consciousness of right eDdeavor.
Assigned then to the coast defences OF
South Carolina, he completed those
works about Charleston harbor
which it took a hostile fleet four years
to pass.
Notwithstanding the spring of 1862
was he summoned by the wounding
of Gen. J. E. johnson to take the
field in active command of large bod
les of troops. And from that time
when he first drove Mcclellan from
the peninsula and relieved Richmond,
the undying love of his soldiers was
his, and even when on the fated field
of AppomattoX that once grand army
was but hungry and footsore corpo.
RAILS guard facing full legions of well
fed and well equipped soldiers that
spirit of trustful devotion and abiding
confidence still stirred the hearts OF
his soldiers. They believed 10 him
through all the years of war, in victo
ry and in defeat, they believed in him
now, and their sons catching the spirit
of their reverence will always believe
in him, purest, noblest and best of the
brave leaders of our. people.
And now after McClellan's failure
q new leader is chosen for the invad
ing hosts, and from the second battle
of Manassas the boastful Pope is rout
ed and sent with his flying legions
pellmell, headlong into the fortlica
tions about Washington.
Having relieved Virginia OF thi:
second invasion General Lee crosses