Generals Lee and long.
Tributes to their memory.At the annual meeting of the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia, held on the 27th day of October, 1891, on motion of Judge George L. Christian, a committee of three was appointed to prepare resolutions to the memory of General William H. F. Lee, who died October 15, 1891. The committee, after retirement, reported the following The Virginia division of the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia cannot hold this first meeting since the happening of that sad event without spreading on its records a brief memorial of their sorrow at the death of our late president, comrade and friend, General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee. General Lee took a deep interest in the formation and perpetuation of this Association, because he saw among the other efforts of its members an earnest desire to keep alive the memories of deeds of valor and devotion to duty, which can only fade from the mind of the craven and coward, and which will ever live when patriotism and heroism find a place in the hearts of men. He was its second honored president, the first being another honored member of the same great family, on whom Virginia has so often leaned for support, and this office General Lee filled so acceptably that it was with sincere regret the Association learned of his determination to retire from it. It is not our purpose here to record in detail the many splendid virtues and achievements of our dead comrade, but only to pay an humble tribute of affection to his memory. To say that our former president was a ‘worthy son of an illustrious sire,’ General Robert Edward Lee, is, in our opinion, to exhaust the language of eulogy on every attribute of manhood, and those of us who knew him, know how well he measured up to the requirements of this the very highest type of human character known to us. He inherited then from his great father and his illustrious line many elements of greatness and genius. But not content with these innate virtues, he added his own well-directed efforts in the line of duty, patriotism and valor, and these together have not only enshrined him in the hearts of every true man and woman in our Southland, but have won for him a name worthy of a place in that splendid galaxy of which his father's will ever be with us the central orb. [272] Therefore, be it Resolved, first. That in the death of General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, Virginia and the whole South mourn the loss of a soldier and citizen of whose character and career, in war and in peace, they are justly proud and will ever strive to honor. Secondly. That in his death this Association has lost a comrade who most worthily filled its highest office; one whose dignity of character, modesty and real nobility of soul commanded our veneration and esteem, and who in the administration of his office so attached to him those associated with him as to make them feel in his death the loss of a dear friend. Third. That these resolutions be spread on our minutes and published, and that a copy be forwarded to the family of General Lee with the assurance of our deepest sympathies in their and our common bereavement. The committee who drafted the above resolutions were: Messrs. George L. Christian, chairman; Dabney H. Maury, William B. Taliaferro.
