ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. VIMU 5467 .L4J7 ΤΟ THE BELOVED MEMORY OF MRS. MARY CUSTIS LEE, BY WHOSE KIND ENCOURAGEMENT THIS WORK WAS UNDERTAKEN, AND WHOSK VALUABLE AID HAS ENRICHED ITS PAGES, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. 346590 PREFACE. THE author does not propose to add another "Life of Lee" to the several that have been given to the public. Mine is a humbler but scarcely less important work. It was my proud privilege to have known General Lee intimately. I saw him on that day in April, 1861, on which he came to offer his stainless sword to the land that gave him birth. I followed his standard from Harper's Ferry, in 1861, to Appomattox Court-house, in 1865, coming into somewhat frequent contact with him, rejoicing with him at his long series of brilliant victories, and weeping with him when "compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources." It was my still higher privilege to have been intimately associated with him during the last five years of his career, to have been one of the regular chaplains of his college, to have visited him frequently at his office and in his home, and to have had him sometimes under my own humble roof; to have mingled with him in the freest social intercourse, and to have been the daily witness of those beautiful traits of character which made him seem even grander in peace than in war. I was one of that band of loving hearts whose sad privi lege it was to bear him to the tomb, when two continents mourned his death. And I have enjoyed some peculiar facilities for knowing the events of his life, and studying his private character. It has been for me, therefore, a "labor of love," and one which, I trust, will not seem presumptuous or prove wholly unacceptable to the public, to recall a few personal reminiscences, cull a few anecdotes, and give a few of his private letters, which may present a picture of ROBERT E. LEE, THE MAN, as he lived and moved, and was loved, among us. A large part of this book was originally prepared for the "Lee memorial volume," which the Faculty of Washington and Lee University designed publishing, and which I had the honor of assisting in preparing; and Mrs. Lee did me the kindness to read carefully, and very warmly approve, my manuscript. When the publication of that volume was abandoned, and I proposed, with the consent of the Faculty, to use the material in a book of my own, Mrs. Lee wrote me a kind letter in which she said: "... Whatever the Faculty decide upon will, I know, meet with my approbation, and to no one would I more confidently trust the completion of the work, in the way you propose, than to yourself." Mrs. Lec was very much interested in the proposed publication, and I feel that, in giving this volume to the public, I am but carrying out her earnest wishes. I was especially indebted to Mrs. Lee, and have been placed under high obligations to General G. W. Custis Lee, and General W. H. F. Lee, for the letters which form so interesting and valuable a part of this volume. My thanks |