The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-02-18

I SFt1l Lee iooned ABOVE all others and
all else. He was the High Priest IN
the temple of their aspirations AMI
their traditions. In all that made man
treat in the estimation of his people,
/ I've stood like Saul, head and shoulders
/ above his fellow men, In the affec-
/ tim of the south the grandeur of hui
min character knew no equal to that
/ Of General Lee. In him, so his people
Thought, humanity reached farthest
tho divine. To them his character
nearly reached human perfection than
airy man who had lived and fought his
/ fight
| The south had suffered much. And
/ like a woman who has suffered and
losss her capacity for loving was wild
ened. her tenderpess was more acute
ard hungrier and her love Pr what
was left was more insistent and more
/ jealous. When General Lee died the
! last and heaviest blow fell.
In burst of eloquence Ben Hill,
| the Georgian, voiced the thought OF
| his people when he said: ..The souths
Fallen Chieftain:
He was foe without hate; =
I friend without treachery; victor
without oppression and vic
! tim without murmur; he was Chris
tian without hypocrisy; q man with
/ out guile; he was Caesar without his
ambition, Napoleon without his sci
! fishness, Frederick without his tyran-
ny and Washington without his re-
ward.
The grffe that touched and silenced
| the south on those October days
would not have been eased or tenn
pered by the knowledge of that un-
| fortunate condition which existed at
Lexington: the Great Leader dead, the
town shut off from the world, and no
adequate means for placing the dead
| in his tomb. 1t was not known then
and it is not generally known now
that the friends at Lexington who
were honored by the responsibility of
attending to the funeral arrangements
of General Lee were faved by con-
! dition at once embarrassing and hui
initiating.
There was not in the town a casket
| for him TO be buried in. The yellow
waters of the North river and the
James shut off the grief stricken little
city from the world.
When the cloud was darkest; when
1.-THE humiliation was keenest, there
came the news that a box which
casket had been found en- an island
few miles below Lexington. it
might or might not hold what was
wanted. But eager searchers went
for it. The box was hurriedly broken
open and the searehers found that for
which they sought
If, in those days Of grief, if in those
days when the exalted love of the
south was at its highest, this condi-
tiGn and this remarkable incident had
been known, there would not be lack
ing those who would have said that
chance was not responsible for the
means of honorably burying the south
I.asa II T1t.%
then and it is not generally known
nov.
There appeared nearly three years
ago in the Confederate Veteran an
excellent publication Of Nashville, de-
voted to the interests of the Confed-
crate soldier, the following short ar
"The Coffin OF General Lee"
There is a singular incid l1t con-
nected with the burial of General r..
| II. Lee. He died October II, 1870. A
| few days before his death the great
food Of that year in the upper waters
of the James river had been disas-
| tr0us Lexington was cut off from
communication with the outside
world. and there was not a coffin in
town suitable for General Lee.
In this dilemma a box was found
4 that had floated down the swollen
river and was stranded.
was procured, and in this casket the
body of the South's beloved chieftain
WAS placed in the chapel of the uni
sersity.
It fell under the eye OF Morgan A.
Gilmer, a prominent veteran of Mont
gomery and his interest was inn
mediately claimed.
70 confirm it he wrote to the presi-
Gent of Washington and Lee Uni
yecsity. the successor of General Lee.
| Mr.. Gilmer wrote:
Montgomery, Ala. Dec. 81. 1917.
President of washington and Lee
University.
My dear sir-I am veteran of the
cause championed and espoused by
/ tie peerless Robert Edward Lee, and
i sFn asking that you give me the
facts as you know them in regard to
| tie finding of a casket on the banks
CT the James river in which General
! Lee was buried, the statements that
have seen in regard to it seems SO
my thical that wish if possible to
set the facts in the case. Thanking
yeu for any information in this line,
i / am,
Very respectfully.
Morgan S. Gilmer.
Mr.. Gilmer's letter was turned over
to Prof. A. L. Wilson. who has for
fifty years been a member of the
i who served under the presidency OF
General Lee.
Professor Nelson. in his letter of
reply to Mr.. Gilmer, detailed the in
! cident as follows:
Lexington, Va. Jan. 1908.
Mr.. j. l. Campbell. Secretary. Wash
ington and Lee University, Lex
ington, Va.
Dear Sir-In response to the letter
OF Mr.. Morgan s. Gilmer of Mont
gernery, Ala, which you enclose to
me and in which he inquiries about
the easket in which General Robert
Z. Lee was buried. 1. make the fol-
lowing statement:
During General Lees last illness II
ratned heavily and necessarily for
three days and North river which
ruls by Lexington. was swollen much
beyond its usual high water limits
This river, tributary of James
river, had been improved by a sys-
TEN of locks and dams and was used
for the transportation OF freight ana
travel, and Alexandria warehouse. To-
Gated on the banks of the river. was
the depot for the town OF Lexington
This warehouse was washed away By
the food and all Of the roads lead
inE to Lexington were torn up and
rendered impossible.