[369]
doubt, so far as the particular task was concerned; but this seedling is to be judged by the fruit the tree bore.
That little drawing on the slate was the prototype of the exact investigations which crowned with success his labors as a civil and military engineer as well as a commander of armies.
May it not have been, not only by endowment but also from these early efforts that his mind became so rounded, systematic, and complete that his notes written on the battle-field and in the saddle had the precision of form and lucidity of expression found in those written in the quiet of his tent?
These incidents are related, not because of their intrinsic importance, but as presenting an example for the emulation of youths whose admiration of Lee may induce them to follow the toilsome methods by which he attained to true greatness and enduring fame.
In the early days of June, 1862, General McClellan threatened the capital, Richmond, with an army numerically much superior to that to the command of which Lee had been assigned.
A day or two after he had joined the Army I was riding to the front, and saw a number of horses hitched in front of a house, and among them recognized General Lee's. Upon dismounting and going in, I found some general officers engaged in consultation with him as to how McClellan's advance could be checked, and one of them commenced to explain the disparity of force and with pencil and paper to show how the enemy could throw out his boyaus and by successive parallels make his approach irresistible.
‘Stop, stop,’ said Lee, ‘if you go to ciphering we are whipped beforehand.’
He ordered the construction of earthworks, put guns in a position for a defensive line on the south side of the Chickahominy, and then commenced the strategic movement which was the inception of the seven days battles, ending in uncovering the capital and driving the enemy to the cover of his gunboats in the James river.
There was never a greater mistake than that which was attributed to General Lee what General Charles Lee, in his reply to General Washington, called the ‘rascally virtue.’
I have had occasion to remonstrate with General Lee for exposing himself, as I thought, unnecessarily in reconnoissance, but he justified himself by saying he ‘could not understand things so well unless he saw them.’
In the excitement of battle his natural combativeness would sometimes overcome his habitual self-control; thus it twice occurred in the campaign against Grant that the men seized his bridle to restrain him from his purpose to lead them in a charge.
He was always careful not to wound the sensibilities of any one, and
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chapter:
chapter 1.1
Confederate surgeons.
The race problem in the
South
—Was the
Fifteenth
Amendment a mistake?
A word with the critics.
A list of Confederate officers, prisoners, who were held by Federal authority on
Morris Island, S. C.
, under Confederate fire from
September
7th
to
October
21st
,
1864
.
Memoir of
Gen.
C.
R.
Wheat
, commander of the
Louisiana
Tiger Battalion
The last words of
Major
Wheat
.
The siege and evacuation of
Savannah, Georgia
, in
December
,
1864
.
Annual Reunion of the
Association
of the
Army of Northern Virginia
.
Life, services and character of
Jefferson
Davis
.
The
Twelfth Georgia Infantry
.
The Monument to
General
Robert
E.
Lee
.
Incidents of the parade.
chapter 1.14
Testimonials from visiting soldiers.
Robert
Edward
Lee
.
Letters of
R.
E.
Lee
.
At Lee
's tomb.
Lee
's Birthday: eminent men of the
United States
send sentiments for the day—ministers, soldiers, statesmen and scholars each bring an offering.
Lee
as an educator.
chapter 1.21
Robert
E.
Lee
.
Itinerary of the
Fourth Virginia cavalry
.
March
27th
-
April
9th
,
1865
.
Prisoners of the civil war.
Andersonville prison
.
chapter 1.26
The unveiling. [
Richmond Dispatch
,
June
10
,
1890
.]
Valuable war relic.
Casualties in the old
First
at
Gettysburg
:
two
out of every
three
men who were carried into the charge shot down.
Williamsburg
.
Lee
's Lieutenants.
Development of the free soil idea in the
United States
.
Index.
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
A list of Confederate officers, prisoners, who were held by Federal authority on
Morris Island, S. C.
, under Confederate fire from
September
7th
to
October
21st
,
1864
.
Life, services and character of
Jefferson
Davis
.
Secession preached and threatened in all sections—the
Northern
record for it and against extension of the
Union
.
The
Twelfth Georgia Infantry
.
chapter 1.14
Lee
's Birthday: eminent men of the
United States
send sentiments for the day—ministers, soldiers, statesmen and scholars each bring an offering.
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