Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1898-04-23

of the Lee family. He was brave
officer in the Revolution, and a most
daring one. He commanded legion
noted for its exploits. He distinguish
ed himself by the capture of British
fort at Paulus Hook, and he served
with such brilliancy under Green in
the Carolinas that he said he was un-
der obligations to Lee which he could
never repay, and with his own hand
wrote him, "No man in the progress
of the campaign has equal merit with
yourself"
The father of General Lee was Cap
tain Sydney Smith Lee, and it is in.
teresting to note that his birthplace
was Camden, N. j., he having been
born in Camden in house now oc-
cupied by the Young Mems Republican
club while his mother was on a visit
there to very intimate friend, Mrs.
Smith, after whom Captain Lee was
called. He added the name of Sydney
after the death of brother of that
name. Captain Lee resigned his COM
mission in the United States navy to
enter the Confederate service at the
time of the secession of Virginia.
During the war Captain Lee COM
manded the important post of Dre-
wey's Bluff; he was afterwards made
chief of the bureau of orders and de-
tails under the secretary of the navy.
INFLUENCE OF A GOOD MOTHER.
Interest always centers around the
mothers of great men, from whom
SONS are said to derive their qualities
of head and heart. General Fitzhugh
Lees mother was a Miss Mason, of
Virginia, granddaughter of Virginia's
celebrated statesman, George Mason,
daughter of General John Mason and
sister to James M. Mason.
If the qualities which make great
men are inherited, certainly this brief
sketch of the ancestors Of General Lee
on both his mothers and fathers side,
would show him to be possessed of
more distinguished ancestry than u.s.
ually falls to the lot of one man.
There is no question that pride of an
cestry is proper one if rightly direct.
ed and if used as a stimulus to good
deeds, and to make one worthy of a
good name, and a credit to the name
one bears, but unworthily used, when
parading ones name on the roll of
some revolutionary society and feeling
ones aims and ambitions could rest on
the laurels of some ancestor.
Fitzhugh Lee was born at Clermont,
the residence of his grandfather, Gen.
eral John Mason, on November 10,
1885. From an old citizen of Freder-
icksburg the earliest picture of him is
given. When small boy dressed in a
scarlet shirt he was borne on the hack
of a Negro servant to school, which be
had stoutly refused to attend, until
carried by main force, he vigorously
protesting both by voice and by sundry
kicks in the back administered to the
unfortunate custodian of his little
person.
TO school he went, however, and at
16 was appointed cadet at West Point
through the influence of President Till
man. Unlike his distinguished uncle,
Robert E. Lee, who never received a
demerit at West Point, Fitzhugh Lee
received the maximum allowance to
escape dismissal. He apparently felt
the same disinclination for study that
he evipced as a small boy in the red
shirt.
FITzHUGH LEES ARMY RECORD.
He graduated in 1856 and at the
head of his class in horsemanship.
His fine horsemanship secured at once
for him commission in the then Sec
ond, now Fifth, United States cavalry,
regiment eagerly sought for by West
Point graduates. His first service was
at Carlisle barracks. 1t seems Curl
Gus coincidence that these same bar
racks were burned by Fitzhugh Lee
during the Civil war.
From Carlisle, Lee was sent to the
frontier of Texas and soon distinguish
ed himself in conflict with the Indians.
In battle fought on May IL, 1853,
between six companies of the United
States troops and a large force Of
Commanche Indians, Lee was chosen
TO command body that charged on
foot through the thick jungle in which
the Indians were hiding. Lee fell to-
ward the end of the fight wounded by
an arrow through his lung. For some
weeks his life was despaired of. He
was finally carried on a litter 200 miles
over the prairie to his post, where he
recoved, contrary to the opinion OF
the surgeon. He was several times
mentioned officially by General Scott
for his bravery.
His first service in the Confederate
army was at the battle of Manassas,
on July 81, 1861. The career of Fitz-
hugh Lee entities him to a marked
place in our Civil war. In sketch of
him written by Edward A. Pollard he
says of him: "His courage was of the
chivalrous type, his temper quick but
placeable, his inspiration in the war
rather that of a champion of a cause
than a personal enemy; he was ami
mated by the principles he fought for
rather than by the phobia of brutal