Show A lS New to It E Lee 6 I Ld 11 ft 4 J i r a of J a i 1 J JS C 2 y T W-P W r r sr l v l N fi fart fi enry l 7 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON NE hundred lars years ago ago ago- k July 1 there JS-there S there there was wasi graduated from the Unit- Unit Unite Uniti 0 i 1 e cd States Military acad- acad ciny erny nt at W West Vest cst Point KY N V o 3 a n class of 40 oj The Theman man stood First was Charles Mason Insun of New v Y York II lie Ile e became n I sec I Z f ond lieutenant in the en- en en I coins Iris I served us ns I assistant professor nt at academy until 1831 S he lie Ie ee sighed from froni the academy Then he law In n New York sin and Iowa and his Ins career as an nn n at- at t torney attorney ended In Washington In 1882 Tile Tle man inan who stood second In the clas class of 18 1829 1820 was as a young oung Virginian Hl n l Robert R K fl Iee Lee After his he became assistant tant engl veer In the lie construction of or what was known as IS Fortress Monroe in his Ills ha- ha na n Ive I've state slate In lu S j he lie was ordered In dered to the western and for many cus c lie he served ser Ills his country fur far manyI froma from yn I a the banks of tile lie Potomac where stood Ills his ed Arlington the hone of hIs Ills childhood od playmate Mary Custis tIlH and aud his Ills own home after their marriage I In 1831 During the lie can war C Capt IP Cobert K E Eo Lee bec became successively Major Lee Lieutenant Colonel Lee and Colonel Iee Lee and Gen Gen- Gert erni Scott ott declared that t he lie was the best soldier lie Ite had ever er seen in the leis In the lie second man In his class came back Lack to West rest Point aIts as Its superintendent and that position he held until 1835 SJ Visit the office of General Smith the superintendent lit at Vest est Point toda today mill arid among the soldiers who look Tool down at you ou from H theIr portraits on un lie walls is this handsome young Virginian 11 VI 1 n In the guns of Fort Sumter shattered the hopeS hope'S of a u peaceful set set- of the differences es between ell tile the i DIU ami the lie South Lee was iron to vi and General Scott offered the I lie he soldier comI lie hud had praised so highly the lie coi com coin command I imand mand of the Union alln army anny lint was w about to be put pill into loto the Held And nd to Robert Hobert E Lee pacing back and forth on the veranda err of historic Arlington os as lie sought to make mala his Ills greatest der de must have hurc come conic the words of his fattier father the lie famous Light Horse lIure Harry Lee of Revolutionary ne war lame fame Virginia Is s my ray country countr tier lIer will I 1 obey however er lamentable the fate to which It mu nay fray subject me So this was Lees Lee's answer to Scott as he sent In hIs Ills resignation from tiie army Save Sae In defense of my In native stale I never tle a again aln desire to draw UI lay sword Then Ihen Virginia seceded from the UnIon and Hobert i K E Lee Iee put en on tile the Con Confederate federate gray Within HMo a year ear he 1 proved pro that another I name had been heen r-f- r rt frt N f- f rB t S 'S Mg p I s t R g 1 t- t 1 tt tm M 0 1 r j-r i ti f f fd d i Yot M y yi r t 0 y rif j I t 11 r 4 r r fF Wf r 1 if t h t l f t t i Y a ti rs a j f r dr t i 1 i 1 w t r J dV j jI I f l r Jj j t A l 4 w wr r 7 w w's s 's I JS U II CAPITOL added to the list Ilse of or great American captains A distinguished English general genera Field Marshal 1 Viscount Wolseley visited the Confederate army In 1St and years rears afterward he wrote Every ery Incident of ot that visit Is In stamped on m my memory All he sa said III to me then and during sub suJ- subsequent sequent conversations Is still fresh In my iny my recollection It is s natural n It should hould 1 be so for he lie was the ablest blest general genera ind and nd seemed to me nio the tile greatest gore man I havo have ever conversed con with and yet I have had the privilege of at meeting Von Vo Moltke and Bismarck Genera General Leo Lee was one of ot the lie few men who eve ever seriously Impressed and awed mo me with their Inherent greatness Forty yearb have come and gone one since our meeting and yet the Iho majesty of ot his manly bear benr- bearing bearIng InS ing the genial winning grace th his Ills smile nod and the lie im- im impressive dignity of at his old fashioned 1 style of oC dress less come buck back to me among my most cherished recollections Ill his llis greatness made me humble and I never felt Celt m my own Insignificance more keenly keen k than th I did In his presence lIe was indeed a beautiful character and of at him him It might truth truthfully folly be written In righteousness did Ho lie Judge and make malte war Such i was the leader of the fIe Lost Los Cause whose military career cause came to an nn end In III April Then and this tribute Is from an editorial In hr the New v York Times General Lee who ho hated war and opposed secession and Inti yet et for reasons highly creditable to his character seceded with his state stale anti and led the Southern troops to battle stated the Confederate cause with per per- r feet truth and md simplicity saying After Atter tour four years of ot arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage anti and fortitude the ho army iriny of oC northern Vir- Vir Virginia VIginia ginia has been forced to yle yield to over over- ov whelming numbers and resources No commander on the lie other side no historian whatever whal cr Ills hIs hus ever e disputed the accuracy ot of tho those e I statements As time has cleared away the nod and hatreds ell engendered by t lie Civil ChI war wal more store and more have linn all Americans come to a realization n ot of the thc greatness ss ss of H U R Lee Iee und find North has lias Joined South In paying him honor Ills His memory Is preserved In Inmany Inmany many ways ways In In the college coliee at nl ton Lexington ton Va n which bears Ills his name find of which he became president In the later Inter years of his life Ilfe in to the marble figure which stands in Statuary hall hallin In the National Capitol at 01 Washington ton anti and In the preservation of hit hll home Arlington as ns a national memorial and n a last resting place fur for our soldier dead Recently n a new memorial has hns been the added to the list and It Is appropriate hint this should he be done In the centennial year of his Ills entrance himo the service ser of fit his country ry For Foron n on W 10 the of hits his year ear toe vas made tint that William Alexander chapter of the lie United Daughters of othe the Confederacy lu III Connecticut had Imd 11 hall und and the lie plantation of 1222 nCI noes es where Ic lee Lec was horn born spent his Ills boyhood years ars to be he preserved ed as nS a national memorial menio- menio rial and administered by the H e Lee Ie foundation whose advisory hoard Includes prominent men In the lie North t as ns well 11 us liS the h lie South That the movement to 10 preserve Stratford hall ball as us n a Lee Iee national memorial orris foaled In a New v I ingland state slate and that it hn has the backing hacking of North liS as liSwell aswell aswell well as the South Is significant of the fact that the partisanship of GO 01 years ago ngo no longer denies him the right to tobe he be regarded n us as n II glent American nor denies the er enshrining of his memory In the lie hearts of nf nil all his Ills countrymen The romantic I attached to the lie establishment of this latest me- me to 10 Lee was told In the follow follow- following Ing news Item Hem which appeared at nt the time of or the lie Stratford hall purchase last J January r Purchase of ot the tho Leo Lea ee estate marks marl the first step In the plan sponsored sponsor by the William Alexander Chapter of the Daughters of at the Confederacy to tomake i make the place not merely a n shrIne shrin but lout a living national educational ment- ment and a center centt r of ot historical reo re- research search according to 10 Miss Ethel Arme Armes Armes of ot the lie Villiam Alexander Allxander chapter chapler Announcement of ot the sale fale on the tl anniversary of at General Lees Lee's birth and the anniversary annl of at the building of Ic Stratford hall marks the tl fulfillment of ot a determination born of ofa a n dramatic story starting In Green Green- GreenwIch v Conn nearly a n year ear ago Mrs Charles D Lanier of oC Greenwich head of at trio the William Villiam Alexander char chapter ter while going through h an aim old broken desk of her lier ln mother w Mrs sirs Sid Sid- Sidney ney Lanier widow of at the poet came upon a penciled manuscript by hy Lanier Lanie unpublished knewT and until then not nt known to exist which h turned out to be ba a speech he ma made e before citizens of ot Mr Ta Ma- Macon con can Ga In 1470 upon the death of General Leo Lea In which he lie urged tho the s es- c establishment of ot a memorial to honor Lee Iee to which v e every ery ry person who loved the lire southern leader could contribute Th Tha folIo day Mrs Lanier re- re received r a letter from Crom mom a 11 friend visiting Stratford In Virginia describing a trip to Strat- Strat ford foni hall an and asking why It could not n t be preserved The same samo day Mrs 1 Lanier called a meeting of ot her chapter which resulted In the passage of resolutions lookin looking to 10 the me lie purchase of 01 the me tract The deed was ai at Stratford hall by the owners Mr Ir and nail Mr Mrs Charles E Stuart after aCter seven months negotiations Miss 1 Armes set forth the purposes of at the Hobert E Lee memorial foundation now being formed to t operate similarly to the Mount Ver- Ver Vernon non association as being fourfold To 0 purchase restore and furnish the tho home hom to restore the famous old library make makof of at It a center of at r research learch and to ear 11 scholarships to restore the colonial gardens the tho Stratford wharf whai wharton on the tho Potomac and anti reproduce Some som of ot the boats which two centuries ago as were tied there and to perpetuate th the Ideals and character of ot the tho lie Lees ly Iy by hy historical studies Stratford was vas the gift of ot Queen Caroline wife of at King George II hi to members of ot the Lee Lea family It n was the home of ot Richard Henry and Fran Fran- Francis cis cla Lightfoot Lee signers signer of ot the Dec Dec- Dec Declaration of Independence of ot LI Light b t Horse Harry Lee Iee and other othor of oC the family Prior to the genera genera- R Itero ro- ro war It wa was a gathering place piece for Virginia loaders leaders and the origIn of at much of ot the sentiment for Inde |