The citizen., 1899-05-05


fields was a great figure; but he
is no less great in defeat, poverty,
and adversely. Misfortune crowns
a man in the eyes of his cOntem-
pOraries and in history; and the
South is prouder to-day of Lee,
and loves him more, than in his
most splendid hours of victory"
The gallant staff officer of '"The
Flower of the Cavaliers" who
wrote this tribute to his Com
mander-in chief. is now numbered
with the dead, but his glowing
words still live, and are well
worth place in any work that
describes as a part of its contents
the life and services of General
Robert Il. Lee.
HIS ACCEPTANCE OF THE COM
MAND OF THE ARMY OF NORTH
ERN VIRGINIA.
After having presented to our
readers the tributes of burning
praise from the pens of some of
the most distinguished contem-
poraries of the brilliant Virgin
ian, the effort of the author will
perhaps sink into insigniticance
when he attempts to portray his
own personal tribute to the sub
ject of this article.
On the 18th Of April, 1861, the
Virginia State Convention passed
its ordinance of secession. 1t
was an important era in the his
tory of the stirring times of that
period. 1t gave the eighth State
to the Southern Confederacy then
forming for its terrific struggle
against the national government.
The position of Virginia was a
commanding one with the other
border States. She started by
her act of secession, the second
important act of the revolution,
and she added to the moral inhu-
ence of the event by the fact that
she had not Seceeded on an issue
of policy, but on one of distinct
and practical constitutional right,
in the face of a war which had
then become absolutely inevitable
and was at her very doors.
1t was evident to the people of
Virginia that the first act in the
drama of warfare on land would
be struck on their soil, and with
characteristic energy they pre-
pared to meet the threatened in
vasion. Large bodies of troops
were raised, formed into an army
to be known as the Army of
Northern Virginia, the command
of which was offered to her most
of sOnS-Robert +. Lee.
then Lieutenant Colonel of the
Second Cavalry, United States
Army. Perhaps the story of his
cannot be better told
than in the language of ex-Sena-
tor Pomeroy, of Kansas. In
speaking of the event the ex Sen
ator says:
"Well, | stood within six feet
Of him. Nobody in the party
knew me. Nobody in the city
knew me, as l had just arrived
in Washington from Kansas and
was almost an entire stranger
there. Kansas, you know. was
admitted during the last days of
the Buchanan administration,
and Lane and | were elected to
the Senate. We came to Wash
ingtOn with a lot of Kansas fell
lows to what the SecesSiOnists
were doing and were on the cars
when we heard that Fort Sumpter
was fired upon.
"But | was going to tell you
about Lee. | was keeping a di-
AIRY then, as / have done ever
since. Only the other day l was
looking over it and it recalled to
me that it was about the 10th or
18th of April, 1861, a committee
of twelve men came up from the
Secession Convention, then sit
ting at Richmond and stopped at
the hotel where | was. | used to
circulate among them, trying to
find out what they were up to,
and discovered that they had
come to see Gen. Lee, who was
over at Arlington. One after
noon about 4 o'clock, they started
off i'll carriages, and a friend of
mine, and | got buggy and fol
lowed them. We joined the pro,
cession before it got to Arlington
and acted as if we were a part of
of the crowd. When we reached
the old mansion Gen. Lee, who
was evidently not expecting
callers, came out in his dressing
gown, and | tell you he was as
noble looking a man as | ever
saw. He had been sent for by
Gen. Scott and came from Cali
fornia, you remember, to use his
influence to prevent Virginia
from going out of the Union, and
while he had not made any public
declaration, people generally un-
derStOOd that he was OpDosed to