Keowee courier. (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, August 29, 1906, Image 3
A GREAT Alf F
OL ROBERT I LEE, HE I
STRIKING TRIBUTES
COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS BY D!
NEW YORK S0?THERW 801
[From the New Y
The South may olaim with pardon* !
able pride that it furnished not only
the President of eaoh of the divided
sections in the struggle for the es
tablishment of a separate Confede
racy, but the great central figure ot
the oivil war for the North as well as
for the South. History will accord
that Abraham Lincoln was the one
conspicuous figure on the side of the
Union, and for the South none will
challenge that claim for Lee. They
were, moreover, representatives of
the widely divergent classes of our
section, the plebeiau and the patri
cian. The story of Lincoln might as
well be classed with
"The short and simple annals of the
poor,"
while Lee came straight from the
oavaliers and tbnir descendants, the
wealthy cultured aristocracy of Vir
ginia.
His father, Richard Henry Lee,
better known aB?"Light Horse Harry,"
the beau sabreur of the American
army, was a conspicuous figure in the
first Continental Congress. It was
he who, on June 7, 1776, moved the
resolution "that these united Colo
nies ar", and of right ought to be,
free and independent States; that
they are absolved from all allegi
ance to the)British, Crown, and that
all political connection between them
and the StateB of Great Britain is,
and ought to bo, totally dissolved."
He and his brother were signers of
the Declaration of Independence,
and it was this same Lee who pro
claimed George Washington as
"First in war, first in peace and first
in the hearts of his countrymen."
Upon his mother's side he claimed
the lineage of tho Carters of Shirley.
Born on January 19, 1807, his child
hood and youth were passed in the
cultivated circles of the tidewater
region of Virginia. At the age of
18 he entered West Point and com
pleting the course of study without
a single mark of demerit he gradu
ated second in a class of forty-six.
For several years he served in the
Engineer Corps constructing coast
defenses, and for a part of this time
in oharge of the astronomical de
partment of the government. In
1882 he married the daughter of
George W. Parke Cuatis, the adopted
son of Gen. Washington, and later
was made captain on the staff in the
Mexican War.
Of all the brilliant reputations
among the younger group of officers
which were won in that campaign,
Lee's was the most conspiouous.
Upon him the Commander-in-Chief
leaned as upon no other. At Cerro
Gordo he was brevetted Major for
exceptional gallantry. At Contreras
and Cherubusco he was officially pro
claimed for meritoriuH conduct, and
on account of a wound received in
an assault on Chapultepec, Septem
ber 13, 1817, he received his promo
tion to Lieutenant-Colonel. It was
here at Contreras, when tho army
was battled, that the quick oyo of
Lee discovered, by a daring recon
naissance, a line of approach hidden
from tho enemy by which tho posi
tion might be taken. This the Com
mander-in-Chief of tho army char
acterized as "the greatest feat of
physical and moral courage per
formed by any individual during the
entire campaign."
In his official report Gen. Scott
said : "I am compelled to make spe
cial mention of Capt. R. K. Lee,
engineer. Ho greatly distinguished
himself at tho seigo of Vera Cru/.,
was indefatigable during these ope
rations in reconnaissances, as daring
as laborious, and of the utmost value.
Nor was be loss conspicuous in
planting batteries and in conducting
columns to their stations under the
heavy fire of the enemy." He fur
ther says : "Capt. Leo, so constantly
distinguished, also bore important
orders from rae, until he fainted
from a wound and the loss of two
nights' sleep at the batteries."
II. WYETH BOFORE Ult
"ork Sunday Sun.]
After the Mexioan war he was
appointed, in 1852, superintendent of
the Military Academy at West
Point, and in 1855 Lieutenant-Colo
nel of the Second Cavalry, under
Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. In
1859 he was directed by the Presi
dent of the United States to arrest
John Brown and his followers in
their murderous invasion of Virginia,
and on March 10, 1861, he was ap
j pointed Colonel in the United States
j army.
j When the Southern States were
seoedicg and war seemed inevitable,
upon the recommendation of Gen.
Scott, then Commander-in-Chief,
President Lincoln offered Lee thc
command of the armies of the Union.
Virginia had not yet seceded, but]
Lee, looking into the future and feel
ing assured that his native State
would, upon any act of aggression,
make common cause with the other
Southern States, declined the tempt
ing offer.
In a letter written April 2t), 1861,1
he made that never-to-be-forgotten
declaration : "With all my devotion
to the Union and the feeling of
loyalty and duty as an Ameroan
citizen, I have not been able to make
up my mind to raise rny hand against
my relatives, my children, my home.
Save in defense of my native State,
with the sincere hopo that my poor
services may never be needed, I hope
I may never be called upon to draw
my eword."
When at length hostilities began
and Virginia took her place in tho
Confederacy the people of the Old I
Domiuion with one voice turned to ;
him as commander of her army.
Then
Forth from its scabbard, pure and bright,
Flashed tho sword of Lee!
Far iu the fr it of the deadly fight,
High o'er the brave in the cause cf Right,
Ita stainless sheen, liko a beacon light,
Led on to Vlotory.
Out of its scabbard 1 Nover hand
Waved sword from stain as free,
Nor purer sword led braver band,
Nor braver bled for a brighter laud,
Nor brighter land had a cause so grand,
Nor cause a chief like Lee!
The story of his mill y career is
practically the story of the Army of
Northern Virginia, and it reads more
like romance than history. Through
four years of the bloodiest war
known to history at that time that
army, composed of the flower of
Southern manhood, under its match
less leader, made a record of victo
ries never surpassed in the annals of
warfare, a record which we of the
Sooth and our children's children to
the remotest ages should claim as our
proudest heritage.
Ile assumed command of this army
in June, 1862, when McClellan was
imm?diat.-ly in front of Richmond.
On Juno 26, with an army inferior in
numbers and equipment, he attacked
tho forces of McClellan in their in
trenchmeuts and for seven days the
bloody conllict raged, until McClel
lan took refuge under the protection
of his gunboats at Harrison's Land
ing. This army defeated, Loo turned
upon a second larger than his own, j
marching upon Richmond from ano
ther direction.
By one of the most brilliant and
daring movements in the history of
wars Leo, with his able lieutenant,
Jackson, routed Pope's army at
Groveton and Second Manassas and
drove him for safety undor the pro
tection of the fortifications at Wash
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ington. McClellan bad been re
moved for bis defeat and Pope fol
lowed in bis train. Disregarding
both of these defeated ar tn i CH, Lee
moved rapidly into Maryland, cap
tured Harper's Ferry and its large
garrison on the way and fought at
Antietam on September 17, 1802,
the bloodiest battle of the oivil war.
McClellan, who after Pope's defeat
bad been reinstated in command,
was again removed for failing to in
flict a crushing defeat upon Lee, and
Burnside was made commani'er-in
chiof of the Army of the Potomac.
In December of that year this
same army of Lee signally defeated
the army of Burnside at Fredericks
burg- Burnside was removed and
Qen. Hooker placed in command. In
May, 1863, Hooker marohed on Rich
mond, having issued a general order
in whioh he said that the Confederate
army must either "ingloriously Dy
or oome out from behind its intrench
monts, whore certain destruotion
J waited it." A few days after this
announcement was made Hooker's
army was surprised and attaoked by
Lee and Jackson simultaneously in
front and rear at Chancellorsville
and overwhelmed, fleeing in the
greatest disorder from the field. Lee
then invaded Pennsylvania, where,
at Gettysburg, after three days of
I bloody conflict, unable to carry the
I Federal position, he remained
twenty-four hours in line of battle
with his army in their immediate
front inviting attaok and then with
drew without interruption to Vir
ginia.
It was in 1864, in the oampaign
from the Wilderness to Petersburg,
that the star of Lee reaobed its
zenith. Under his leadership the
army of Northern Virginia, up to
this time in offensive warfare, bad
held every battlefield upon whioh it
had fought, with the exception of
Gettysburg and Sharpsburg or An
tietam, and upon these fields, al
though it failed to beat tbe army
pitted against it, it stood in battle
array on each occasion for twenty
four hours, was not attacked and
marched away unmolested.
He was now to show that in de
fensive fighting he was a greater
master of the art of war than in his
offensive operations. Grant, with
the largest army ever marshalled
upon this continent under a single
commander, with unlimited resources
of men and money, with the world
to draw upon for all that was most
useful in destructive warfare, ad
vanced upon this army of Lee,
wanting in everything but valor, and
so decimated that as Grant ex
pressed it "it had robbed the oradle
and the grave" to fill the gaps be
tween the veterans that still sur
vived. There followed from May 5,
1864, in the Wilderness, at Spottsyl
vania Court House, at Cold Harbor
and the North Anna a series of con
flicts so frightful in their havoc that
the history of this oampaign might
well be written in blood.
The most recent, and in my opin
ion the most reliable history of the
Uuited States, written by James
Ford Rhodes, of Boston, a conscien
tious student, a oapable analyst and
just recorder, says: "Grant's loss
from May 4 to June 12 in the cam
paign from tho Rapiden to the James
was 54,929, a number nearly equal to
Lee's wholo army at the commence
ment of the Union advances. The
confidence in Grant of many officers
and men had been shaken."
At Spootsylvania Nicolay and
Hay, authors of the Life of Lincoln,
say "Grant was completely check
mated."
That this is true is evident from
the fact that turning aside from the
direct route to Richmond, with Lee's
army in front of him, which army he
announced in the beginning of the
campaign as his objeotive, he
marohed toward the James river,
which he crossed in the effort to cap
ture Petersburg by surprise.
The army of Lee was, however, at
Petersburg in time, and there held
Grant at b.\y for nine months of the
summer and winter of '64 and '65.
As far as the Confederates were
concerned, the annals of the siege of
Petersburg might well be termed tho
annals of starvation, exposure and
misery. True to its colors, the army
of Lee was starving to death. Tho
commissary general reported that
"the Army of Northern Virginia waa
living literally from hand to mouth/'
Beef sold for $6 per pound and flour
at $1,000 a barrel. At one time,
pleading with his government for
food, Lee said that for three days bia
men had been, in line of battle and
had not tasted meat.
In the early spring of 1805, after
nine months of persistent effort,
Grant, with 118,000 men, well fed,
olad and armed, broke through the
lines defended by Lee's force of
49,000 veterans, half starved, ragged
and most of them shoeless.
Then came the end at Appomat
tox, where, on April 9, 1865, the
remnant of this onoe . magnificent
army, now numbering less than
28,000 (of whioh only 15,000 were
oarrying arms) surrendered, and the
Confederacy was no more.
Upon thin world's stage no more
pathetic scene, no more heroic inci
dent has ever been witnessed. With
what pride the generations yet un
born shall claim descent from those
who, true to their sense of duty,
whioh Lee himself said was "the
sublim est word in the English lan
guage," fought under the banner of
thin immortal soldier and died on
those victorious fields, or, in surviv
ing, stood true to his colors at Appo
mattox, ff
In his farewell address to hie army
he said : "You will take with you
the satisfaction that proceeds from
the consciousness of duty faithfully
performed, and I earnestly pray that
a merciful God will extend to you
His blessing and protection. With
an unceasing admiration of your
constancy and devotion to your
country and a grateful remembrauoe
of your kind and generous consider
ation of myself, I bid you an affec
tionate farewell."
Soon after the surrender he ac
cepted the presidency of Washing
ton College at Lexington, Va. He
had refused large proffers of money
for his services or the use of his name
for various enterprises. He declined
them all, saying he felt it his duty to
live with his people and to endeavor
in eduoatiug the youth of the South,
to do all in his power to aid in the
restoration of peace and harmony
and the acceptance of the policy of
the State or general government.
Though war in all ages and with
all people arouses that whioh is worst
in human nature, and though bloodi
est and bitterest is internecine war,
it still seems difficult to believe even
after the lapse of so short n time as
forty years that for the part this
noble man took in obedience to bis
conviction of duty Andrew Johnson,
then President of the United States,
obtained bis indictment for treason.
Against this unwarranted and igno
ble act the great soldier Grant arose
and Btayed the hand of malice and
persecution. It seems equally in
credible to conceive that within two
months of the death of Lee, whioh
took place on October 12, 1870,
speaking to a resolution which had
for its object the return of the eetato
of Arlington to the family of Lee,
Charles Sumner said in his place in
the Senate : "Eloquent Senators
have already characterized the propo
sition and the traitor it seeks to com
memorate. I am not disposed to
speak of Gen. Lee. It is enough to
say that he stands high in the oata
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logue of those who have imbued
their hands in their country's blood.
I hand him over to the avenging pen
of history."
As man and soldier "tho avenging
pen of history" has already written
this of Lee. In nobility of charac
ter, in moral grandeur, attested by
hil humanity, he lived "the model
for all future times." In the annals
of war his plaee is with the greatest.
What of this charge of treason
and what kind of traitor was Lee?
A distinguished soldier and oitizen
of Massachusetts, Charles Franois
Adams, reared in the New England
school of politics, himself throughout
the war in the army whioh con
fronted Lee, son of that Charles
Francis Adams who as United States
minister to England during the oivii
war probably did as muoh as any
other one man to defeat the cause
of the Confederaoy, grandson of
John Quincy Adams and great
grandson of that elder Adams who
succeeded Washington as President
of tho United States, a mau who so
different from Lee in his interpreta
tion of the duty an American oitizen
owes as between his State and the
central government that he deolared
he would go against Massachusetts
for the Union, has written this for
history :
"If Robert E. Lee was a traitor
so also and indisputably was George
Washington. Washington furnishes
a preoedent at every point. A Vir
ginian, like Leo, ho was also a British
subject ; he had fought under thc
British flag, as Lee had fought undei
that of the United States; when, in
1776, Virginia seceded from thc
British Empire he went with hie
State, just as Lee went eighty-fivt
years later; subsequently Wash
ington commanded armies in thc
field designated by those opposed tc
them as 'rebels' and whose descend
ants now glorify them as 'the rebeh
of '76,' much as Lee later com
manded and at last surrenderee
much larger armies, also designate*:
?rebels' by those they confronted
Except in their outcome the case:
were, therefore precisely alike ; anc
logio is logic. It consequently ap
pears to follow that if Lee was ;
traitor Washington was also."
He further says :
"In him there are exemplified tbosi
lofty elements of personal cl araote
whioh, typifying Virginia at be
highest, made Washington possible
Essentially a soldier, Robert E. Le
was a many-sided man. I migh
speak of him as a strategist, but o
this aspeot of the man enough ha
perhaps been said. I might refer t
the respect, the confidence and lov
with whioh he inspired those unde
his command. I might dilate on hi
restraint in victory ; his patient en
durance in the face of adverse foi
tune ; tho serene dignity with whic
he in the[end triumphed over defeai
But, passing over all these well-wor
themes, I shall confine myself to tba
one attribute of his which, recognize
in a soldier by*nn opponent, 1 cannc
but regard as his surest and loftiet
title to enduring fame. I refer t
his humanity in arms and his scrupt
lous regard )for the most advance
rules of modern warfare."
Denying the contention that wt
must be made hell, holding up t
execration the authors of the blood
iest deeds in history, this generot
foe and great American said :
"I rejoice (that no such hatred a
taches to the name of Lee. Red
less of lifo to attain the l?gitimai
ends of war, he sought to mitigal
its horrors. Opposed to him i
Gettysburg,|I hero, forty years late
do him justice. No more oredi tab
order overissued from a commam
ing general than that formulated ai
signed at Chambersburg by Robe
E. Lee, as toward the dose of Jun
1868, ho advanced on a war of inv
?inn. ?No greater disgrace.' ho th?
declared,fj'can befall the army, ai
through it our whole people, than tl
perpetration of barbarous outrag
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Suoh proceedings not only disgrace
the perpetrators and all connected
with them, but are subversive of the
discipline and efficiency of the army,
and destructive of the ends of our
movement. It must be remembered
that we make war only on armed
men.*
uIn scope and spirit Lee's order
was observed, and I doubt if a hos
tile foroe ever advanced into an
enemy's country or fell back from it
in retreat leaving behind less cause
of hate and bitterness than did the
Army of Northern Virginia in that
memorable campaign which culmi
nated at Gettysburg."
In dwelling on this theme, in con
trast to Lee's humanity, may not
"the avenging pen of history" quote
from "Ohio in the War," by Hon.
Whitelaw Reid, at this time Ambas
sador of the United States at the
Court of St. James's, who, in speak
ing of the burning of Columbia,
wrote :
"lt waa the most monstrous bar
barity of this barborous march. Be
fore his movement began Gen Sher
man begged permission to turn his
army loose in Sonth Carolina and
devastate it. He used this permis
sion to the full. He protested that
he did not wage war upon women
and children. But, under the opera
tions of bis orders, the last morsel of
food was taken from hundreds of
destitute families that his soldiers
might feast in needless and riotous
abundance. Before his eyes rose,
day after day, the mournful cloud?
of smoke on every side that told ojjfr
old people and their grandchildren
driven, in midwinter, from the only
roofs there were to shelter them, by
the Hames which the wantonness of
his soldiers bad kindled. Yet, if a
single soldier was punished for a
single outrage or theft during that
entire movement we have found no
mention of it in all the volurois^to
records of the march."
May not this avenging pen of his
tory which Sumner invoked record
that order of Gen. Ilallcck, chief of
staff and military adviser to Presi
dent Lincoln, which said to Gen.
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