Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-05-27
WATERFOWL JEFFERSON COUNTY. WIS. May 27. 1910
The OTHER Lee.

~ EATED in the dining room Of
- the Ingleterre hotel, Havana,
~ one evening early in April,
1898, were half score of Amer
leans. mostly newspaper correspond
ents, surrounded Colsul General Lee,
each demanding Of him when he would
leave Havana and when war would be
declared. General Lee was evasive
and finally, to check the flood of ques-
tons, dropped into reminiscence of the
civil war.
you boys don't seem to realize" he
said, that this is a sad anniversary
for me. Yet in view of everything
that has happened l don't know why
l should call it sad. While 1 am
proud of the struggle we of the south
made and while, had we to do it over
again, history would repeat itself,
am glad today that God reigns and
the government at Washington still
lives.
''It is just thirty three years ago to-
night that l led my cavalry in for
lorn hope south from Richmond It
has been said that l left the army
with my men without the consent and
approval of my uncle, General Robert
E. Lee. That Is not true, although it
is true that he sent for me to return
when he learned that General Grants
generous terms depended upon his abil-
ity to surrender the entire army
''The last stand had been made, and
we fought the last fight we were ca
pable of entering For months we had
seen the end approach, hoping against
hope that miracle would intervene
to save the Confederacy. At last it
became apparent that the end could
be no longer delayed. When General
Lee announced to us his decision to
accept the best terms for the surren-
der of the army that could be obtained
from General Grant, / asked and re-
ceived from him permission to skirt
Richmond with my cavalry, or what
was left of it, and make my way south,
forces if necessary.
II was very young man in those
days, and hope died hard. My thought
was that if l could take my boys out
of tase trap we might form nucleus
about which the south could once more
rally. My uncle expressed the opinion
that the adventure was foolhardy, but
finally gave a reluctant consent. So
it happened that just thirty three years
ago tonight with my men l rode south
and by daybreak was safely beyond
the Union lines.
LAS have said, in those days was
a very young man. / thought l had
something of a corner in the knowi-
edge market Even the rough, hard
knocks that had come to me during
the war had not been sufficient to drive
the conceit out of my head. l received
mental jolt that morning, however,
that started me along the right path
and soon placed me where l was will
ing to admit there were others who
were at least fully as wise as myself.
[ had always held my uncle in the
very highest respect. / still regard
him as the military genius of the war,
but at that time l thought l could see
mistakes be had made.
'It was just at break Of day, while
we were riding down rough country
road, the dust Of which had been
laid by a heavy shower, that we came
upon an old southern woman. Perhaps
she belonged to the poor white class,
but her knowledge of men was pro-
found. She stood in front of a cabin,
and I drew up and asked for a drink.
!, - ~