The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1902-02-12
ARP WRITES OF lee.
He Met the General on Two 0eea-
sion During the War.
IMPRESSED With HIS GRANDEUR.
army Did Not Know What a Great
Man Was Their Leader---Eaard-
ships of War.

ships of War.
4Duty is the sublimest word in our
language. This is what General Lee
wroteto his son soon after General
Scott offered him the supreme com
mand of the northern army. Virginia
had just seeded and Lee saw on one
side that there were no honors. to
which he might not aspire. On the
other side. if he cast his destiny with
that of his state, he saw, or he
thought he saw, that miseries and
trials awaited him without number.
But to seek his duty and having found
it, it was ever the principle Of his ac-
tions. These strong and beautiful
words about duty were not original
with General Lee, and in his letter ne
has them in quotation marks. The
expression came from Rev. John Dav
export, famous Puritan preacher of
New England-the man who gave
shelter to the three regicides who con-
demned Charles the First to death and
after the restoration fed for their
lives to New England and were hidden
by John Davenport in his barns.
When this act of treason became known
among his people he neither qaailed
nor relented, but preached a sermon
the next Sabbath from that passage in
Isaiah which says: ssHide the out
casts. Betray not him that wandereth.
Let my outcasts dwell with thee and
be thou covert unto them from the
spoiler.'' It was in that sermon that
he made use of this notable expres-
sion: It is my duty to shield them,
and duty is the sublimest word IN our
language. -
During the war it was my privilege
to see General Lee quite often, but
never did meet him face to face and
have brief conversation with him but
twice. Even then we did not know
how great ae man he was. General
Johnston had been wounded at Seven
Pines and General Lee came from West
Virginia to take his place. He was
almost a stranger to the Army Of
Northern Virginia. He had been in
command but week or two when
General Black, of Rome, came TO see
mis- boys Of the Eighth Georgia and
asked me to ride with him to General
Lees headquarters and introduce him,
for he was very desirous Of meeting
him before he returned to Georgia. OF
course / complied, for General Black
was man of no small consequence at
home. He was old and gray and of
commanding presence and military
bearing. Introducing myself first, I
presented General Black, and after we
were seated said nothing, but paid
modest and respectful attention. ]
was soon impressed with the grandeur
of the man before me, and, Of course,
as he expanded, I very naturally shrank
ND little to keep the equilibrium.
Not long after this the Seven Days
battles began and ended in McClel-
lan's defeat and our army began to
reaize how great man Lee was. It
was on the sixth day that I was sent
to his headquarters near Meadow
Bridge to receive orders, and there
I met him again. He was standing
uncovered and unarmed in front OF his
tent, and Stonewall'' Jackson was
asleep inside upon the straw, and the
servant had set the dinner tables over
him so as not to disturb his rest, for,
as General Lee said, He needs it, and
nothing but artillery Will awake him
now
I said that the army did not know at
first how great man Lee was. Meth
er did they know fully az the last, for
he was one Of the few great characters
that develops and grows brighter and
grander as the years roll on. For some
years after the war he received but
little praise at the north and a great
national cyclopedia gave more space
and praise to Old John Brown than to
General Lee, who arrested and exc
cuted him. But now, in the Interna-
tional, of fifteen volumes-a standard
work, edited and compiled by 90 Of the
most distinguished scholars and pro
fessors of the northern colleges-the
sketches of General Lee and Stonewall
jackson are all that we could ask for.
Verify, old Father Time is a good
doctor and Anno Domini the softening
solvent of all malignant passions. But
this is enough from me concerning the
great commander. It was The sublime
Christian faith of Lee and Jackson
shat made their characters complete
and added luster to their military
fame. They were men of prayer.
For little while would ask your
kind attention to those whom since
1892 have called themselves the Daugh-
ters of the Confederaicy. Their mis-
sion has been and still is and we trust
long will be as declared in article OF
their constitution: Educational.
memorial, social and benevolent-to
collect and preserve the material for a
truthful history OF the war between
the states-to honor TIE memory of
those who served and those who fell IN
our service and to record the part
taken by southern women during the
war and its aftermath, their patient
endurance Of hardship, their patriotic
devotion during tie struggle and to
fulfill The duties of sacred charity to
the survivors. {" Ali of these are no.
BILE objects but the greatest Of all is
the establishing of the truth and pre-
serving it. The poet saith that
sETruth crushed to earth will rise
again. and it has risen and will con