The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-04-23
A MAN OF HISTORIC ANCESTRY
He Was An Officer In the Famous
"Stuart's Cavalry.
A POPULAR IDOL OF THE DAY
He Has Earned the Confidence of
His Countrymen.

No member in our consular service
has occupied SO prominent place in the
public eye for the past three years, al
most, as has Fitzhugh Lee At a time
when the relations of the United States
with Spain were strained to their utmost
tension General Leo was appointed con.
sui general at Havana. He was also
EiVtn the authority and consequence of a
special commissioner from the United
States to the captain general of
Cuba in order that he might he able to
settle matters and questions relating to
Americans which required prompt ac-
tion, wherein lack of time would not per-
NIT OF the usual diplomatic procedure.
Thackcray says somewhere, that whcn-
ever you find man whose friends all
call him by his first name, that man is
very apt to be q good fellow. If this
was every signally illustrated by any
one, 1t has been In the case of FtZhugh
Ice. Every man who know; l!1n is his
friend, and all call him "Fitz." Hc has
frank, soldlcrly way of dealing with
men arl things that commends itself %
whomsover may have business relations
with him. He is the only American Of
fetal that ever won the appreciation of
tho saturnino Captain General Weyler
and tho publicly expressed admiration
OF Martinez Campos. No man now be-
fore the nation could have served it moro
ably, or possibly as we'll. in his present
position, as has Fitzhugh Lee
He comes from an ancestry that has
been notable in tho annals of Virginia
since tho early colonial days. He is the
grandson Of famous Revolutionary
parsonage, Light Horse Harry Lee" as
Washington always called him. General
Henry Lee was one OF the most romantic
historical figures of tho Revolution.
Noting tho lack OF cavalry in the COnti-
mental army, Harry Lee, then "a years
old, proposed to General Washington Ton
whose personal staff he was then serving
as captain and nd-dccamp) to enlist a
troop Of light cavalry--l00 rank and file
for service during the war. The chief
cordially asscnted, and within Il month
Leo had not only Il troop, but Il conf
pact battalion, the flower of young Vir-
ginia, 600 strong. Tho snbcrs pistols
and carbincs which France sent to us,
along with Lafayette. were timely, for
with them Lee was able to arm and equip
his command better than the British
horse under TarlctOn were equipped.
Light Horse Harry Ice won an eminent
reputation In war and peace. He appre-
ciutGd tho advantages of a military
training, so he put his second son in tho
navy, while his third soon, Robert Ed
ward, entered West Point In 1924 and
graduated in 1929. Sidney Smith Lee,
the father of Fitzhugh. was the fleet
captain of Commodore Perrys squadron
when It opened Japan to the world and
western civilization. When the war be-
gun Captain Lee, OF the United States
navy, resigned about the same time his
brother, Robert I1, his Junior in age by
two years, quilted the United States
army 1t was u terrible blow to Cap
tain Smith Lee, as 1t was to his brother,
to leave the service Of the United States,
in which he had passed forty years of
his life and won honor and rank
But there was no other course from
his point Of view. Captain Lee married
Miss Mason, a sister Of the Hon. James
M. Mason, Il governor and United States
senator from Virginia, and later a Con-
fedcratc commissioner extraordinary
with MIR. Slidell Of Louisiana, to the
courts of st. James and or need there
wcrc) st. Cloud. Captain Smith Lees
son was in the United States navy when
the war began. lie was afterward
lieutenant on the famous Confederate
cruiser Shenandoah, Captain Waddell,
tho finest and swftcsL fighting ship the
Confcderacy ever owned. But "Fitz."
the second of tho famous sons Of Captain
Smith Lee, would go into the army. He
had inherited the cavalry spirit OF his
grandsire, and when he was Il could
rido like a Comanche. So in 1852 the
lad, then II, was sent to our military
school on tho Hudson, which his grand
father, Light Horse Harry" had helped
Washington to found.
You cannot always tell what mans
future will be from his standing at
school. Robert e. Lee was second in
tho class of 1929 at West Point, class
whose members in after years were
among tho most brilliant men of their
time in our military service. Fitz Lee
graduated third, "if you begin counting
the class from the bottom as he al
ways says. The truth was-and still Is
Lee was man of action rather than