Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1909-05-06

eye upon everything pertaining to the
care and defense of his army. "Trav-
| eler" was no pedigreed, wide-nos-
triled, gazelle-eyed thoroughbred.
He was a close-coupled, round-bar-
relied, healthy, comfortable, gentle
mans saddle-horse. Gray, with black
points, he was sound in eye, wind
and limb, without strain, sprain, |
SPAWN, or secretion of any sort; ready
to go, and able to stay.
When General Lee rode up to our
headquarters, or elsewhere, ne came
as unostentatjously as if he had been
the head OF a plantation, riding oyer
his fields to inquire and give direc-
lions about blowing or seeding. He
appeared to have no mighty secrets
concealed from his subordinates. He
assumed no air Of superior author
ity. He repealed no kindly inquiries,
and was capable Of jocular remarks.
He did not hold himself aloof in soil
tary grandeur. His bearing was that
of a friend having a common inter-
est in a common venture with the
person addressed, and as if he as
Ou1nCu l0dI LIS 0uUOlOludt0 was DIS
deeply concerned as himself in it's
success. Whatever greatness was &C
corded to him vas not of his own
seeking. He was less of an actor
than any man l ever saw. But the
impression which that nan made by
his presence, and by his leadership,
upon all who came in contact with
him, can be described by no other
term than that of grandeur. When
l have stood at evening, and watched
the great clouds banked in the west,
and tinged by evening sunlight;
when, on the Western plains, l have
looked at the peaks of the Rocky
Mountains outlined against the sky;
when, in mid-ocean, l have seen the
limitless waters encircling us, un-
bounded save by the infinite horizon
the grandeur, the ~vastness of these
have invariably suggested thoughts Of
l General Robert E. Lee.
OF General Lees military great.
ness, absolute or relative, l shall moi
speak; of his moral greatness l neet
= not. The former, in view of the con
:, ditions with which he was hampered
. must leave a great deal to speculation
and conjecture; the latter is acknowl
edged by all the world. The ma,
% who could so stamp his impress upo.
his Nation, rendering all others in
significant beside him, and yet di
without an enemy; the soldier VIII
~ could make love for his person a sui
stitute for pay and clothing and foot
- and could, by the constraint of thu
love, hold together a naked, starvin
tn band, and transform it into a fgh
be ing army; the heart which, after tt
failure of its great e%ndeavor, coul
break in silence, and die without tt
utterance OF one word Of bitterness
such a man, such a soldier, such
heart, must have been great indeed
In the official record OF the W
between the States, taken from Unit
and Confederate sources, and pu
lished by authority of Congress, m;
be seen the following dispatches:
Headquarters Army OF Northern V
ginia,
February "a, 1865.
] Honorable John G. Breckenridge, S,
rotary of War:
General Early reports that Lii
tenant McNeill, with thirty men,
the morning of the 21st entered Gu
berland, captured and brought
q Generals Crook and Kelley, the
jutant-General of the DEPARTING
two privates, and the headquarte
flags, without firing a gun, though
NJ considerable force is station in VII
- ity. Lieutenant McNeill and pa
deserve much credit for this bold
plot. Their prisoners will re
= StauntOn to-day. r. e. LEE
Cumberland, Md.
/, or February Fl, 1865
4 as Major-General Sheridan, Winches
rmy. Va:
lred, This morning about three o'cl
s or a party of Rebel horsemen came
lDOn on the Nawcrook road about c;x+,