The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-04-28
GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE.
"reminiscences Of the Life Of
Virginias Distinguished Son
and the Confederacy's Com
mander-in-Chief

v IL = AAALeV . DAoOlAIS5 CloI1ONA OOll
and the Confederacy's Com
mander-in-Chie
If the question could be applied
individually to every person of
the Southern States who is old
enough to retain any recollection
of the great war of 1S6l-65 and
Of the host of brave officers who
led the forces of the COnfederacv
i'll that bloody struggle, who of
AL the number retained the
greatest confidence. the fondeSt
admiration and the most devoted
love of the Southern people-nine-
tenthS of them would answer
without hesitation. "Robert f..
Lee"
1t is not the purpose of the
writer of this article to present a
biography of this brilliant Nir-
gilman, as ADLER pens than his have
done that work of love, but mere
~ to review a few of the incidents
pertaining to his life from the
commencement of hoStilitieS in
1861 until his death, which oc
CURED - years later.
In commencing our series by
"reminiscences, we cannot do bet
ter justice to ourselves and the
public than to give his views at
the opening of the struggle on
the doctrine of secession, which
we do in the words Of Gen. Sil
Garnet WolSeley, a distinguished
English officer, who served under
General Lee during the greater
part OF the Civil war and whose
regard and admiration for the
gallant Southern leader are Of the
MY heSU degree.
Gen. WolSeley writes as follows
IL must now pass to the most
important epoch of his life, when
the Southern States left the
Union and set up a government
of their own.
"Mr. Lincoln was elected in
1860 President of the United
States, iii the abolitioniSt interest
Both parties were so angry that
thoughtful men soon began tC
see that war alone could end this
bitter dispute.
"Shipwreck was before the YES
sci of State, which General Wash
ing had built and guided with S,
much care during his long anG
hard fought contest. Civil wal
stared the American citizen il
the face and Lees heart was we'll
nigh broken at the prospect
Early Ill 1861 the seven cotton
States passed acts declaring theil
withdrawal from the Union anC
their establishment ofan indepen
dent republic under the title O
the Confederate States of Amer
lea
"ThiS declaration of indepen
dence was in reality a revolution
war alone could again bring al
the States together.
HIS VIEWS OF SECESSION.
"Lee viewed this secesSio II will
horror. Until the month of April
when Virginia, his own dearl,
cherished State, joined the Con
federacy, he clung fondly to TIN,
hope that the gulf, which separa
ted the North from the South
might yet be bridged over. II,
believed the dissolution of tn,
Union to be a dire calamity no
only for his own country, but 70
civilization and all mankind.
STILL he said, "a Union tina
can only be maintained by sword
and bayonets, and in which strif
and Civil war are to take tn,
place of brotherly love and kind
ness, has no charm for me- Ii
common with all Southerners, h,
firmly believed that each of tn,
old States had a legal and indis
putable right by its individual
constitution and by its act o
Union, to leave at will the grea
Union with which it had separa
ted entered as a sovereign State
This was with him an article O
faith of which he was as sure a.
of any divine truth he found il
the Bible. This part must be al
ways kept in mind by those who
would rightly understand hi,
character on the course he pur
sued in 1861. He loved the Union
for which his father and family