Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1907-01-23
GEN. ROBERT e. LEE
Soldier, Patriot and Christian
Gentleman

n S"'hoi III Aool ~ was quebtiO
n with General Lee whether he woul
N serve in the Union Army. Vir
le gina had not seeded. He wa
10 then regarded as the most accom-
plished of the younger soldiers O
u the United States Army. He wa
a a man of exquisite form and feature
in the full vjgor of menhood, hac
won promotion in Mexico or
several battlefelds, and when The
storm of civil war broke upon the
country the conviction was uni
versal among those responsibility
connected with the army that Col
9 onel Lee was the best-equipred OF
the many gallant soldiers to com
y mard the Union Army, says Col.
[ A. X. Mcclure in his memoirs.
| Within two weeks after the inau-
guration of Lincoln he prom oted
, Lieutenant Colonel Lee to the posi.
tlon of colonel of the First Cavalry.
He was not only thoroughly edu-
Gated and experienced soldier, but
he was Pronounced by Nicolay and
Hay in the "Life of Lincoln" as
man "of fine presence. ripe judg-
ment and mature manhood" 1t
was an open secret before war was
precipitated by the firing upon
Sumter that Colonel Lee would be
assigned to the command of the
Union Army in the field when war
came, which was then accepted as
inevitable. He was known to be
opposed to secession, and he did
not conceal his views on the SUBJ
ject.
A few weeks before his reslgna-
tion from the Army he wrote to
his eldest son, George Washington
Parke GUSTS Lee, graduate of
West Point and major in the
Army: Secession is nothing but
revolution. The trainers of our
Constitution never exhausted go
much labor, wisdom and torbear-
ance in its formation and sur
rounded it with so many guards
and securities if it was intended to
be broken by every member of the
Confederacy at will" But, while
Lee was very earnestly opposed to
secession, he had been educated in
support of the doctrine of the
sovereignty of the State and of
{ bedience of the citizen to the
State as paramount to obedience to
the national government.
After the bombardment of Sum-
ter the elder Francis P. Blair was
chosen by the President and Secre-
tary of War to have a personal
conference with Colonel Lee, and |
to give him formal offer of the I
command of the Union troops. a
his native State, had not
then seeded. On the contrary, C
.he convention had voted against O
secession. There are cor flictirg C
'eports as to the precise languf ge 0
ised by Colonel Lee in answer to p
3lair's proffer of the command of {
he Army. General Cameron, In e
/ debate in the Senate in 1858, s.
tated that his understanding was n
hat Lee had verbally accepted,
'ut Montgomery Blair, in a com. Z
nunication published in the Ma. W
ional Intelligencer, August 8, Il
800, when the elder Blair was il
till living, gave Lees answer to &c
is father in these words: "Mr. ],
lair, l look upon secession as j,
narchy. If l owned the four Ia
,illions of slaves of the South l m
'ould sacrifice them all to the
'nion, but how can l draw my :.
word upon Virginia, my native -
tate2" According to this report -
ee left the question open for r,
lrther conference with General y.
colt. On the 25th of February, !.
1858, Lee wrote to Reverdy John ~ ~
,n,of Mary LAND, on the controversy ~;
} to whether he had agreed to sc- ~ ~
,pt the Union command. In this -
tier he denied that he had ever r.
timated to anyone that he desir. ~
lch command, ard said: 81 -.
'clined the offer he DIR. Blair) VI
ade to me to take the command III
the army that was to be brought IRE
to the field, stating as candidly ce
ID as courteously as l could that Fes
ough opposed to secession and 20
precatlng war, could take no cr'
rt in an invasion of the South DIX
n States" ce'
Mr.. James Ford Rhodes of Bos- gel
n, ir bis history Of the United cat
ates, thus speaks of General Lee the
the beginning CT the war: rel
'Lee, now 81 years old, his face ex. ga
biting the ruddy glow of health, 'ne
IS physically and morally {
endid example of manhood. VIII
lie to trace his lineage far back beg
o the Mother Country the best iteI
'od of Virginia flowed in his vic
ms. Drawing from a knightly hor
Re all their virtues, he had in Arr
.ited none OF their vice Honest, We
cere. simple, magnanimous, SER
bearing, refined, courteous, yet Wa
.nified and proud, never lacking gov
f-command, he was in all re- Hal
cts true man. Graduating job
m West Point, his life had been had
lusively that of soldier, yet gin,
had none of the suldier's h. a buil