Evening star., 1955-02-14
Alexandra Heritage Week Features Trips
To Spots Where Lee Lived, PLAYED, Studied
BY George Kennedy

ElCAditO1 Id III VIC 1oOOoSSPo "a
Robert E. Lee are being en-
couraged on the part of the
young and old during the cur
rent Heritage Week, which con-
tinues through February %.
There are ten Alexandria To-
cations intimately associated
with Lee. Some are marked by
plaques; some are not. For
instance. it is not generally
known that Lee, as baby, was
taken on a visit to the big white
clapboard house at Washington
and Oronoco streets, once owned
by a Lee, now owned by John
L. Lewis.
Robert was four in 1871 when
the family moved from STRAIT
ford. the great Lee mansion 10
miles down the Potomac, to the
attractive brick house at Gil
Cameron street.
Those were unhappy years. His
famous father, Light Horse Har-
ry Lee, who coined the immortal
phrase. "First in war, first in
peace and first in the hearts of
his countrymen." in his Wash
ington memorial address before
Congress. was just out of debtors
prison. He was carried into that
house a little later almost dead
from a beating by an anti
Federalist mob in Baltimore. He
departed for the Barbados,
hoping to recover in the sun.
The Lees were never to see him
again.
Hears of Fathers Death.
Robert was nine in 1916 and
living with his mother at 407
North Washington street, at the
corner of Princess street, when
word came that his father had
died six months before on a
Georgia island on his, way home
Tadition has it that he was
playing in the yard when the
news came.
He was II when the family
moved to the splendid Fitzhugh
house at GOT Oronoco street. now
the home of Mr.. and Mrs. Robert
c. Goodale. He lived there until
he entered West Point in 1925.
He was the man of Che house.
His older brothers had left home.
Carter, a gaduate of Harvard,
had opened a law Office in Wash
ington. Smith had gone to sea
as a midshipman. His mother
was invalided with arthritis
There is a small staircase from
her room to one on a five-foot
lower level that he occupied.
Tradition has it that he had
it built so he could reach her
quickly if she needed him at
night.
He had attended the Alex
andria Academy in the building
still standing at Wolfe and WASH
ington streets for three years.
But to prepare for West Point,
he tutored for a year under Ben
jamin Hallowell. a Quaker
schoolmaster, In the house next
to his home at 609 Oronoco
street. His brilliant record at
West Point caused parents to
send their sons to prepare for
the academy under the Quaker
whose conscience opposed war.
Married After Graduation.
After West Point he married
Mary Ann Randolph Custis, only
daughter of George Washington
Parke Gusts and heir to Arling-
ton, the magnificent mansion
now surrounded by the National
Cemetery. He attended Christ
Church in Alexandria and on
weekdays used to go to town
to pick up his mail at the Lead
beater apothecary shop at 107
South Fairfax street. now a mu-
scum. Well-authenticated ira
dition has it that 1t. Col. Lee
was there on October II, 1859,
when 1t. J. E. B. Stuart brought
him orders to go to Harper's
Ferry. John Brown and his fol-
lowers had captured it the night
before.
The house at 428 North Wash
ington street, built by Lees uncle.
Edmund Jennings Lee, is where
the great decision was made.
There is a story from the mist
of tradition that he was offered
command of the Union armies
in the field at Blair House. op-
posite the White House. by Fran
els Preston Blair. publisher of
the Congressional Globe.
Chronology Of Events.
But. the decision he made in
Alexandria is we'll documented.
Sumter was fired on April IL,
1861. Virginia seeded on April
10. Lee resigned his commits
sion on April 20. April 81 was a
Sunday. Lee attended services
at Christ Church and was met
by three men who talked with
him for a time in the church,
yard. Then they went to 428
North Washington street, then
occupied by his cousin. Cassius
Lee. who remained loyal to the
Union. The conference contin-
ued. The next day Lee left for
Richmond on the Orange 81
Alexandria Railway to head the
military forces of Virginia.
Helena Huntington Smith of
103 Prince street, well-known
magazine writer who did the re-
search for this article, adds the
Hooe-Lloyd house at 220 North
Washington street to the list.
There Mary Lee, Robert E.
Lees daughter, who had been too
heartsick to go to church on that
fateful Sunday. met her cousin,
q daughter of CasSius Lee. Mary