The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-02-28
In Impressive Vein Barlow Man
Lauds General Lee.
IMPRESSED WITH HERO'S GRANDEUR
He Met the General on Two Occasions.
Calls Attention to Noble Work
Of the Daughters Of the
Confederaey.

wrote to bis 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, II he cast his destiny with
that of his state, he saw, or he
thought he saw, that mlseries and
trials awaited him without number.
But to seek his duty and, having
found it, it was ever the principle OF
his actions. These strong and beauti-
full words about duty we're not origi-
nal with General Lee, and in his let
ter he has them in quotation marks.
The expression came from Rev. John
Davenport, a famous Puritan preach
er Of New England-the man who gave
shelter to the three regicides who
condemned Charles the First to death
and after the restoration fed for their
lives to New England and were hid
den by John Davenport in his barn.
When this act Of treason became
known among his people he neither
quailed nor relented. but preached a
| sermon the next Sabbath from that
passage in Isaiah which says: Hide
the outcasts. Betray not him that
VANDERBILT. Let my outcasts dwell
with thee and be thou covert about
them from the spoiler" It was in that
| sermon that he made use of this no
table expression: ut 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 l meet him face to face and
have brief conversation with him but
twice Even then we did not know
how great a 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 a week or two when
General Black, Of Rome, came to see
his boys of the Eighth Georgia and
asked me to ride with him to General
Lees headquarters and introduce him,
for he was DESTROYS of meeting him
before he returned to Georgia OF
course, l complied for General Black
was man Of no small consequence
at home. He W old and gray and of
commanding presence and military
bearing. Introducing myself first,
presented General Black and af-
ter we were seated, said
nothing, but paid modest and respect
full attention. l was soon impressed
with the grandeur of the man before
me, and of course, as he expanded,
l very naturally shrank up little to
keep the equilibrium. Not long after
this the Seven Days battles began and
ended in McClellan's defeat and our
army began to realize how great a
man Lee was. 1t was on the sixth
day that l was sent to his headquar-
tiers near Meadow Ridge to receive or
ders, and there l met him again He
was standing uncovered and unarmed
in front of his tent, and "StonewalP'
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 a man Lee was
for he was one Of the few great char
acters that develops and grows bright
er and grander as the years roll on
For some years after the war he re.
, ceived 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 ar
] rested and executed him. But now
in the International, OF fifteen volumes
"a standard work, edited and com
piled by 200 of the most distinguished
scholars and professors Of the north
ern colleges--the sketches of Genera
Lee and Stonewall Jackson are al
> that we could ask for.
That Of Lee closes with this para
: graph: In person he was one of the
). noblest types of manly beauty. Tall
o broad-shouldered, erect, with a dignl
+ ty as impressive as that of Washing
ton, yet not so cold. OF habits al
1 pure as Washington, but more warm
! ly religious and always maintaining
a calm, confident and kindly name
I that no disaster could disturb O.
/ change" The world knows him nov
I and venerates his memnrv and III.