Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-04-25
General Fitz Lee After The War.

"We Lynchburgers, and I have no
| doubt Virginians everywhere, will be
highly pleased to know that General
| Fitz. Lee has at last been appointed
by President Cleveland to a paying
! position, Consul General to Cuba, ,
said Marshall Boiling, ut the Lafay-
cite, on Saturday. Mr.. Boiling is a
lineal descendent', of the Virginia
princess, Pocahontas, and is distantly
related to the late John Randolph, OF
Roanoke.
Eyes, | am glad he is playing on
velvet at last, for from the time he
turned that Confederate sword into a
plowshare it has kept him guessing
TO make both ends meet. have
known Fitzhugh Lee nearly all my
life. and say to you that more
generous, noble hearted man never
lived than him. He has got good
sense, too. When his Uncle Robert
surrendered the Army of Northern
Virginia to General Grant, all tliz
hugh had was a little patch OF poor
Virginia land down in Fairfax county.
Let me correct the statement that he
owned the land; he. didn't own 1t, the
farm belonged to his wife. So You
will see that he was about as poor rs
the last heir of Lazarus. Well, TO
show you the kind of stuff Lee is made
of as soon as the army surrendered,
Lee found his wife and babies ana
made for that land with them. There
wasn't a fence on the land to begin
with, and in the second place | don I
believe the blamed soil had raised q
decent crop of anything since the day
George Washington died, which was
along in 1883 80, if my memory serves
me. Fitzhugh didn't do us many Nir-
ginians did, sit down and rend the air
with their complaints at some cross
roads store, or whittle Il piece OF
wood. curse the Yankees and spit
tobacco Juice in the intervals.
He took off his coat and went 10
work. When things quieted down
and it got so we could get about l
thought l would go down TO Fairfax
and see how Fitzhugh was getting
along. We had fought together for
four long years and | Was Interested.
This was few months, remember,
after the surrender. found him out
in the field blowing. And such &
team as he was blowing with. BY
some means he had got possession OF
an old stag thar possibly had escaped
from the Federal connniSsary by be
inc too tough to kill. These he had
voked together and was scratching
the earth. When Fitzhugh saw and
recognized me he sat down on the
pillow handles and laughed. quickly
caught the injection ana Joined him
and we both laughed un5il the tears
rolled down our cheeks. 1t certainly
was q ridiculous sight. The Old mule
was bad enough to look at, but the
old OK was worse. FitZhugh had him
rugged up with a blind bride and
with bit in his mouth, while a collar
with harness and rope lines completed
the equipment. Another thing have
always admired about Fitzhugh Lee,
is that he acquiesced in the results of
the war and didn't so around trying
TO make trouble, as so many did. In
all of his public speeches he talked IN
the same strain. For time il made
him unpopular in Virginia, but the
Lee name and all that il implied
gained the day. Robert E. Lee talked
in the same way, whenever he talked
at all. Cleveland has always shown a
singular liking for Fitzhugh; l pre-
sumo because Lee is a man who
speaks his mind frankly and never
fatters. Cleveland. TOO, likes Il man
who can keep secrets, and Lee can do
that. He will be perfectly frank and
truthful in his reports from Cuba and
will prove to be Il man that no man
or set OF men down there can bluff. y
Philadelphia Press.