his plan of attack in the morning might not only have saved, but have erected instead of it a glorious victory.

Returning to the Army of Northern Virginia, in front of Petersburg, Gen. Gordon found but little opportunity to gather additional laurels in the declining fortunes of the Confederacy; and it only remained for him to share bravely the fate, which, from overwhelming numbers of the enemy, had now become inevitable to that army which his courage, chivalry, and good generalship had so greatly adorned. His part was heroic to the last. It was Gordon's command chiefly engaged in the battle of Hares Hill (March 25, 1865), where the troops "fought with a vigour and brilliancy that reminded one of Lee's old campaigns;" it was Gordon's command that held the last lines in front of Petersburg; and it was Gordon's command that in Lee's final and fatal retreat was at the front, and gilded the last scene of surrender with the spectacle of 2,000 men, prepared to cut through Sheridan's lines at Appomattox Court-House, and only stayed in the desperate enterprise by the flag of truce that concluded the hostilities of that day and signalled the close of the

war.

The military services of Gen. Gordon, which we have briefly noticed, constitute for him one of the first reputations in the war. But he appears even beyond this object of ambition to have won a peculiar regard from his countrymen; he has been accepted, since the war, in some manner, as the representative of the Young South, and the writer has heard intelligent men freely designate him as the future military leader of the South should she ever again be called to arms in any cause of justice and honour. He is one of those who have clearly not terminated their career, and is certain to appear again in history. His fiery courage, his ardent sentiments, tempered by the highest tone of honour, and regulated by a strong and practical intellect, complete a character to be admired and trusted beyond that of most men. The regard of his countrymen has been abundantly testified; and, in the year following the war, he was strongly urged by his friends to become a candidate for the nomination of Governor of Georgia. He declined the honour, and took occasion to address to his countrymen, in one of the most graceful compositions of words that have been penned by any politician, the most noble and

honourable advice as to the political attitude and action of the South. They are words to be commemorated by every citizen, and fit to be written at the termination of the career of every true Confederate soldier; "Let us demonstrate to these enemies to truth, to principle and sound policy " (the Radicals of the North) "that the men of the South who have been ready to vindicate with their lives the honour of their section, and the cause they believed just and holy, are most reliable in their observances of plighted faith and truest to the principles of the constitution. Difficulties of the greatest magnitude oppose our political and material advancement; but let us give ourselves to the task of overcoming them, with brave hearts, and wise, unremitting toil."

MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE.

CHAPTER LI.

A grandson of "Light Horse Harry."-A "wild" youth.-Tricks at West Point.Desperate fights with Indians.-His early services in the Confederacy-Chivalrous incident at the Second Manassas.-Services in the Maryland campaign.-Action of Kelly's Ford. - With Jackson at Chancellorsville. — Reorganization of the cavalry commands in Virginia.-A complimentary letter from Gen. Robert E. Lee.-Fitzhugh Lee's division in the campaign of 1864-5.-Spottsylvania Court House.-Yellow Tavern.-Reams' Station.-Five Forks.-Conduct of the cavalry on the retreat.—Personal recollections of Fitzhugh Lee.

FITZHUGH LEE, or "Fitz Lee," as he was generally known during the war, was born at "Clermont," the residence of his grandfather, Gen. John Mason, in Fairfax County, Virginia, on the 19th November, 1835. His father is Captain Sydney Smith Lee, who resigned his commission in the United States Navy, and accepted one in the Confederate service, at the time of the secession of his native State from the Federal Union. He was the third son of General Henry Lee, or "Light Horse Harry," of the Revolution, and a brother of Gen. Robert E. Lee. During the late war he commanded for a long time the important post of Drewry's Bluff, and was at its close chief of the Bureau of orders and details under the Secretary of the Navy. The mother of the subject of our sketch was a grand-daughter of Virginia's celebrated statesman, George Mason; a daughter of Gen. John Mason, and a sister to James M. Mason, so long a United States Senator from Virginia, and who represented the interests of the Confederate States in England during the war.

The author has been able to obtain but few recollections of the boyhood of Fitz Lee; but he strongly suspects that he was an

unruly youth. An old citizen of Fredericksburg testifies that his earliest recollection of the future military hero was habitually seeing him when a small boy, attired in a scarlet shirt, struggling and screaming on the back of a big black negro who was used to convey him to school. It must have been a picturesque affair. At the age of sixteen, Fitz was appointed a cadet at large" at West Point, through the favour of President Fillmore. As a cadet, he was classed with the "wild ones." Unlike his distinguished uncle, who never received a demerit, Fitz managed to get the maximum allowance within the bounds of a dismissal. It is said that, in order the better to elude the vigilance of the officers and guards, he used to exchange his cadet grey for women's clothes, whilst his room-mate, S. Wragg Ferguson, of South Carolina (a General of cavalry in Gen. Johnston's army during the war), would dress in citizen's clothes with false moustache and beard, and the two, thus accoutred as lady and gentleman visiting the Academy, would pass and repass with impunity the prescribed limits. His term of service at West Point expired in 1856, and his having graduated at the head of his class in horsemanship, secured for him a commission as second lieutenant in the then Second (now Fifth) United States Cavalry; a regiment eagerly sought for by a large majority of the class.*

Fitzhugh Lee's first service was at Carlisle barracks, Pennsylvania, whither he was ordered after leaving the Military Academy, to report to Col. Charles A. May (who had made a great reputation in Mexico), to drill cavalry recruits preparatory to their being sent to join their regiments on the frontier. It happened curiously that these same barracks were burnt during the war by the orders of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. After a year's service

* We have repeatedly referred to this famous regiment, as commanded by Col. A. S. Johnston, with R. E. Lee as lieutenant-colonel. It contained other names which mounted to fame in the war, and was a singular galaxy of genius. Hardee and George H. Thomas were its majors. Earl Van Dorn was the senior captain, and E. Kirby Smith the next captain in rank. Oakes Palmer and R. W. Johnson, afterwards known in the war as general officers on the Federal side, were also captains in this regiment; and N. G. Evans, Charles W. Fields, John B. Hood, George Cosby, and James P. Major-the two first captains, and the last three lieutenants of the regiment—afterwards rose to the rank of general officers in the service of the Southern Confederacy.

at Carlisle Barracks, Lieut. Lee was sent to join his regiment, serving on the frontiers of Texas, and soon came into notice in the various conflicts with the Indians. He was the second-lieutenant of Kirby Smith's company, and when that company joined the celebrated and successful Wichita expedition, under Van Dorn, Lee was selected by Van Dorn as his adjutant. In the battle of May 13th, 1859, between six companies of his regiment and a large force of Comanche Indians (the largest fight that had ever taken place between Indians and U. S. troops), he was chosen to command a picked body that charged on foot the thick jungle in which the Indians had taken refuge. He fell towards the conclusion of the fight, pierced through the lungs with an arrow, was carried out on the prairie, and for some weeks his life was despaired of. He was borne over 200 miles across the prairie, back to his post, in a horse-litter. He finally recovered from the wound, and regained his health, contrary to the expectations of his physicians. Gen. Scott, in published orders, mentioning this success and referring to the commanding-officer's report, says: “Major Van Dorn notices the conspicuous gallantry and energy of second-lieutenant Fitzhugh Lee, adjutant of the expedition, who was dangerously wounded." On the 15th January, 1860, we find him again mentioned in orders by Gen. Scott, as having, in command of a portion of his company, had another fight with Indians, in which his rapid pursuit, recovery of stolen property, and personal combat with one of the chiefs, are all highly commended.

In the latter part of November, 1860, Lee was detached from his regiment and ordered to report to West Point as an instructor of cavalry—a complimentary detail, and one eagerly sought for by the officers of mounted regiments. Under his tuition at that time were Kilpatrick, Custer, and others, who have obtained some fame since among their comrades. The commencement of the war found him at his post at the Military Academy, and upon the secession of Virginia his commission as first-lieutenant in the U. S. Army was promptly resigned, and his services offered to his native State.

His first service in the Confederacy was in the Adjutant-General's department in Gen. Beauregard's army at Manassas, and, at the battle of July 21, 1861, he acted in that capacity on the