Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee

[408] press charged Lee with being responsible for the alleged suffering of the Union prisoners. He declined to make a public reply unless the accusation came from a responsible source, but said that he was in no way responsible for the condition of prisoners after they had been sent from his army. When the commissary general said to him, upon one occasion, that it would be necessary to reduce either the rations of the Federal prisoners or those of his men in the field, he replied, “While I have no authority in the case, my desire is that the prisoners shall have equal rations with my men.” He was summoned to Washington in March, 1866, as a witness before a congressional committee which was inquiring into the condition of things in the South. His testimony was simple, direct, dignified, and elicited the admiration of all who heard or read it. It was his first appearance in any of the cities since the war, and, being at a time of public political excitement, his visit was an occasion of absorbing interest. The day after his return he proposed a walk with one of his daughters, who playfully objected to a new hat he was about to put on. “You do not like my hat?” said he; “why, there were a thousand people on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington the other day admiring this hat!” It was his only reference to the crowds of persons who gathered around him wherever he went in the city.

General Lee was still receiving numerous letters, filled with offers of remunerative positions, to which he always replied that he preferred to continue the educational work he had undertaken; but still they came, coupled often with the condition that he should not relinquish his self-imposed task, and should not resign the college presidency. On one occasion the general said to a particular friend in his office: “My friend Mr.--has been to see me, and offers me twenty thousand dollars per annum to take the presidency of — Company. I would like to make some money for Mrs. Lee, as she has not much left, and he does not require me to leave the college; what do you think of my accepting it?” The irony of the question was appreciated, but his friend took him at his word, and expressed his opinion adversely, saying, as modestly as possible,