The age-herald., 1902-05-18
His Early Horror of War as Seen in Mexico
Gen, Robert E, Lee

I These manors were very dear to him, | for both were the ancestrial homes of Mrs. Lee, and in the former they had been married, going thence to Old Polnt Comfort, Va, where his first married years were spent, and where his eldest son, Curtis, was born.
 When the news came to him of the dissertation of these homes, he wrote as follows to his wife,
 Among the calamities of war the hardest to bear, perhaps, is the separa- ton of families and friends. Yet all must be endured to accomplish our in- dependence and maintain our self-govern- ment. Your old home, Arlington, if not destroyed by our enemies, has been so desecrated that l cannot bear to think
 of 1t; 1 should have preferred 1t to have
 been wiped from the earth. its beautiful hill sunk, and it's sacred trees buried. rather than to have been degraded by the
 presence of. those who revel in the i'll they do for their own selfish purposes ' Then his great piety and spirit of for | giveness mastered him, and he adds You see, my dear Mary, what a poor sinner l am, and how unworthy to pos
 sess what has been given me; for that ! reason it has been taken away. I pray l for a better spirit and that the hearts of | our enemies may be changed
 | On Christmas Day of that same year he again refers to Arlington in his letter to his wife:
 They have taken your home away, but they cannot take away remembrances of the spot, and the memories of those that to us rendered it sacred. That will re- main to us as long as life lasts, and that we can preserve. In the absence of a home. I wish I could purchase Stratford. It is the only place I could go to now,
 a.,x .A,lxl Ar with pleasure and local love. You and the girls could remain there in quiet. It Is a poor place, but we could make | enough cornbread and bacon for our
 support, and the girls could weave us l clothes. | "Stratford is endeared to me by many
 recollections, and it has always been the | desire of my life to be able to purchase
 it. Now that we have no other home
 and the one we loved has been forever
 desecrated, that desire Is stronger within ! me than ever; the horse chestnut you ! mention in the garden was planted by my dear mother l am sorry the vault is so dilapidated. You do not mention the spring, one of the objects of my earliest recollections. How my heart goes back to those happy days"
 But there were many stirring days to come, and In time he saw that it would De 1InpOSslDle to purCndSe SITdtIOrO.
 Few men ever loved home as Gen. Lee did And yet it was the decree of Provi- dence that few men should ever have been so much in the public eye and ser vice as Gen Lee. Away back in 1S47 when he was Captain of engineers and was among the band of 12,0OO that gath | cred around the old Spanish walled city of Vera Cruz, he wrote to his beloved | wife and children at Arlington: You
 are the subject of my constant prayers. | You are never out of my thoughts 1 trust that this shall be the last time
 that shall ever be absent from you dur | ing my life"
 Equally tender was the affection he
 bore his brothers and sisters. It was al
 this same siege of Vera Cruz that his
 brother Sydney Smith Lee. Lieutenant in the American Navy, was manning ont | of the guns. Of him General Lee wrote:
 NO matter where I turned, my eyes
 reverted to him, and stood by his gun
 when I was not wanted elsewhere Oh l felt awfuily and am at a loss what
 should have done had he been cut down
 before me. l thank God that he was | saved. He preserved his usual cheerful. | ness, and, l could see his white teeth through the din of smoke and fire. The destruction was awful. My heart bled | for the inhabitants. The soldiers I do | not care so much for, but it was terrible
 to think of the women and children" ! After the battle was won he wrote tc