The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-01-20
GEN. ROBERT E. LEE
THE ONE HUNDREDIH ANN1-
NERSARY OF THE GREAT
LEADER.
THE SOLEMNITY OF DUTY
He Was the Soul OF Honor-Majestic
in War. He was Sublime
in Peace
MILITARY AND CIVIL CAREER

The Tributes Of Lord Wolsejey anc
Benjamin J. Hil1-As President Of
Washington and Lee - He Still
Lives in the Heart, of the People
Of tie South.
| Yesterday throughout the South ana
III some communities OF the North there
were held appropriate ceremonies com
memorative OF The one iundredth birth
day anniversary OF General Robert Ed
ward Lee
General Lee was born on the estate OF
Stafford, Oh the Potomac, Westmore-
land County, Virginia. He was of he
roic lineage. His mother Aas Annie Hill
Carter, a daughter of ore of the famous
Carriers of the Old Dominion. He was
the youngest son OF Light Horse Harry,
the fearless leader of the Dragons, who
was brilliant orator, lovable in tenn
permanent as gentle as a woman and a
perfect type OF the Virginia gentleman
| 1t may De related here that General
Lee was the Oldest OF the leaders on
either side of the conflict He was six
| teen years the senior OF General Grant
and his great lieutenant general, Thomas
| J. Jackson, better known as Stonewall
Jackson, was his Junior by seventeen
years.
General Lee as boy was paSsionatelv
fond Of hunting, and was twelve years
OF age when his father died He assisted
his invalid mother in the responsibilities
and care of the household. He attended
school at Alexandria. to where the fam
lily had moved, and in 1926 he entered
West Point. Four years thereafter he
was graduated, without a single de
merit, as second in his class of forty-six.
Two years later he was married to Mary
Ann Randolph Gusts, the only daughter
Iof the adopted son OF George Washing
ton. This marriage was the happy eli
max of romance begun in childhood.
lhls marriage was solemnized at Ar
lngton III 1882 In those days there was
offered no opportunity for wedding
tour, but the marriage was not less spec
tacular, as the groom and his attendants.
five lleutenantS, were arrayed in the re-
splendent uniforms of West Point. The
marriage feast continued from Thurs
day to the Monday following. Airing
ton was the home of Lee for more than
thirty years. 1t was there that his chill
dren were born, three girls and three
boys. 1t was there that Mrs. Lee held
in sacred keeping the silver plate, the
pictures and the family portraits from
Mt. Vernon, but during the war be-
tween the North and South this estate
was conhscated by the Federal govern
ment.
From military point Of view Gen
eral Lees record in Mexico was noted
for its brilliancy. He was repeatedly
promoted for distinguished service, at
Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco and
Chapultepec, and it was General Win
field Scott, commander-in-chief of the
United States army, who declared fire.
quently that much of his success in |
Mexico was due to the skill and the en-
ergy OF Lee. In 1852 he was made SUI
perlntendent of the Military Academy
at West Point A few years later he |
was assigned to the Second Cavalry as
lieutenant colonel, and distinguished |
in depressing the Comanches
and other hostile Indians in Texas.
in 1850 he was at home on leave of !,
absence, and, as if dictated by the hand
Of fate, he was assigned with force of |
marines and United States regulars to
Harper's Ferry, where he captured John
Brown, who had planned an insurrec-
ton of negroes against the whites John
Brown was a fanatic and a murderer,
yet he has been martyrlzed in the North
He and his associates were hanged after
a legal trial as ordained by the State of
Virginia. The Brown instruction was
raplne in the South which was approved
with exultation throughout the Northern
States.
his instruction aroused the entire
South to its danger, and when Lincoln
was elected President the slumbering
blaze throughout the slave States was
reused into the throes of volcano. The
several States of the South seeded. in
then came Virginia. At that
lime Lee was in the active service of the
United States. He was offered the COM
nand OF the United States army, but de-
,iined, saying he could not take up arms
against his State and his children. His
'esignation from the United States army