CHAPTER X.

HIS DOMESTIC LIFE.

It will not do to follow to their homes or trace the domestic lives of many of the world's "heroes." They shine before the public gaze, but are very unlovely in their domestic relations. Not so with this great man. Those virtues which were so admired by the public were all the more conspicuous in the home circle, and his private character was as stainless as it was unassailed by the breath of slander.

It will be pleasant to read a sketch of his family as given by himself in the following letter:

"LEXINGTON, VA., November 20, 1865. "MY DEAR SIR: I received by the last mail your letter of the 13th inst., inquiring into my family history.

"I am a poor genealogist, and my family records have been destroyed or are beyond my reach. But, as you insist' on my furnishing the information asked for, and desire it for your 'own private use,' I will endeavor to give you a general account. I am the youngest son of Henry Lee, of the Revolutionary War, who commanded Lee's Legion under General Greene in the Southern Department of the United States, and was born at Stratford, on the Potomac, Westmoreland County, Virginia, the 19th of January, 1807.

"My mother was Anne Hill Carter, daughter of Mr. Charles Carter, of Shirley, on James River. My father was twice mar ried, first to Miss Lee, and then to Miss Carter. 'Major Henry

Lee,' of the War of 1812, of whom you inquire, was the only son of the first marriage, and consequently my half-brother. 'Charles Carter Lee,' of whom you also ask, and Sidney Smith Lee, are my full brothers. I had two sisters, Mrs. Anne R. Marshall and Mrs. C. Mildred Childe, neither of whom is living. The first left one son, Colonel Louis H. Marshall, of the United States Army, and the second a son and daughter, who reside in Europe. General Fitzhugh Lee' is the eldest son of my second brother, Sidney Smith Lee, who has five other sons. My eldest brother, Charles Carter Lee, has also six children, the oldest of whom, George, is about eighteen years old. I have three sons, Custis, William H. Fitzhugh, and Robert, and three daughters, Mary, Agnes, and Mildred. My father died in 1818, my mother in 1829. My grandfather was Henry Lee, of Stafford County, Virginia; my great-grandfather Henry Lee, son of Richard Lee, who first came from England to America, and from whom the Southern Lees are descended. Richard Henry, Arthur, and Francis Lightfoot Lee, of the Revolution, were cousins of my father. 'John Fitzgerald Lee,' whom you mention, is the grandson of Richard Henry Lee. I believe I have answered all your questions, and must now express the pleasure I feel in learning that your ancestors were fellow-soldiers with mine in the great war of the Revolution. This hereditary bond of amity has caused me, at the risk of being tedious, to make to you the foregoing family narrative. I am also led by the same and other feelings to grieve with you at the death of your brave nephews who fell in the recent war. May their loss be sanctified to you and to their country!

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"R. E. LEE."

An extract from a review of a recently-published book from the graceful pen of the gifted author Paul H. Hayne may be appropriately inserted at this point:

"A scene witnessed by us at Fort Sumter, on a spring afternoon of 1861, comes vividly back to memory. Leaning against a great Columbiad which occupied an upper tier

of the fortress, we were engaged in watching the sunset when voices and footsteps toward the right attracted our notice.

'Glancing round we saw approaching us the then commander of the fort, accompanied by several of his captains and lieutenants; and, in the middle of the group, topping the tallest by half a head, was, perhaps, the most striking figure we had ever encountered, the figure of a man seemingly about fifty-six or fifty-eight years of age, erect as a poplar, yet lithe and graceful, with broad shoulders well thrown back, a fine, justly-proportioned head posed in unconscious dignity, clear, deep, thoughtful eyes, and the quiet, dauntless step of one every inch the gentleman and soldier.

"Had some old English cathedral crypt or monumental stone in Westminster Abbey been smitten by a magician's wand and made to yield up its knightly tenant restored to his manly vigor, with a chivalric soul beaming from every feature, some grand old crusader or 'red-cross' warrior who, believing in a sacred creed and espousing a glorious principle, looked upon mere life as nothing in the comparison, we thought that thus would he have appeared, unchanged in aught but costume and surroundings! And this superb soldier, the glamour of the antique days about him, was no other than Robert E. Lee, just commissioned by the President, after his unfortunate campaign in Western Virginia, to travel southward and examine the condition of our coast fortifications and seaboard defenses in general.

"Few chapters in the volume before us are more interesting than the introductory chapter upon Lee's ancestry. He was born, as everybody knows, on the 19th of January, 1807, at Stratford, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. But the splendors of his descent are not, perhaps, so universally accredited. Of pure Norman blood, the long line of the Lees may be traced back to a certain Launcelot Lee, of Louder, in France, who accompanied William the Conqueror upon his grand freebooter's expedition to England. After Har

old's golden head and brave standard had sunk forever at Hastings, Launcelot was rewarded for his services by an estate in Essex. From that memorable date the name of Lee occurs continually in English annals, and 'always,' we are told, 'in honorable connection.'

"There is Lionel Lee, who fought by Cœur de Lion's side in Palestine, and who for his gallantry at Acre, and in other battles with the infidel, was, on his return home, made the first Earl of Litchfield, and presented by the king with the estate of Ditchley; subsequently held, as all the readers of Walter Scott must remember, by that indomitable old knight, Sir Henry Lee, who figures so conspicuously in 'Woodstock.'

"Then comes Richard Lee, the period of the unfortunate Surrey and his ally during that 'woful expedition' across the Tweed, into Scotland. About the same time, two other Lees (whose Christian names are unknown) 'so distinguished themselves as to have their banners suspended in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, with the Lee coat-of-arms emblazoned thereon,' and the 'significant family motto, Non incautus futuri!'

Coming down to the time of the first Charles, we find the Lees in Shropshire, all stanch cavaliers. Then it was (probably during some lull in the civil war, or when the civil war had closed) that the 'accomplished' Richard Lee 'determined to remove to the New World.' 'He was,' says Bishop Meade, a man of good stature, comely visage, enterprising genius, sound head, vigorous spirit, and most generous nature,' words we may apply literally to the person and character of his illustrious descendant. With this gentleman the noble stock of the Virginia Lees originated.

"Henry, his fifth son, was a direct ancestor of our general. He married a Miss Bland; their third son (Henry) married a Miss Grymes,' and became the father of the cele brated cavalry leader of the old Revolution, popularly known as 'Light-Horse Harry.'