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[636] in positions which Santa Anna had judged inaccessible, enabling Scott to carry the heights and rout the enemy. In his report Scott wrote: ‘I am compelled to make special mention of Captain R. E. Lee,’ and the brevet as major was accorded the skillful artilleryman. The valley of Mexico was the scene of the next military operations, and here Lee continued to serve with signal ability and personal bravery. One act of daring General Scott afterward referred to as ‘the greatest feat of physical and moral courage performed by any individual in my knowledge pending the campaign.’ Having participated in the daylight assault which carried the entrenchments of Contreras, Captain Lee was soon afterward engaged in the battles of Churubusco and Molino del Rey, gaining promotion to brevet lieutenant-colonel. In the storming at Chapultepec, one of the most brilliant affairs of the war, he was severely wounded, and won from General Scott, in his official report, appreciative mention as being ‘as distinguished for execution as for science and daring.’ After Chapultepec he was recommended for the rank of colonel. The City of Mexico was next taken and the war ended. Among the officers with Lee in Mexico were Grant, Meade, McClellan, Hancock, Sedgwick, Hooker, Burnside, Thomas, McDowell, A. S. Johnston, Beauregard, T. J. Jackson, Longstreet, Loring, Hunt, Magruder, and Wilcox, all of whom seemed to have felt for him a strong attachment. Reverdy Johnson said he had heard General Scott more than once say that his ‘success in Mexico was largely due to the skill, valor and undaunted energy of Robert E. Lee.’ Jefferson Davis, in a public address at the Lee memorial meeting November 3, 1870, said: ‘He came from Mexico crowned with honors, covered with brevets, and recognized, young as he was, as one of the ablest of his country's soldiers.’ General Scott said with emphasis: ‘Lee is the greatest military genius in America.’ Every general officer with whom
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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