THE LIFE OF ROBERT E. LEE
For Boys and Girls
GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE
THE
LIFE OF ROBERT E. LEE
FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
BY
J. G. De ROULHAC HAMILTON
AND
MARY THOMPSON HAMILTON
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambribge
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published October 1917
TO
J.G. De R.H., Jr.
AND
A.T.H.
CITIZENS
THANKS TO LEE, LINCOLN, AND GRANT
OF AN UNDIVIDED COUNTRY
Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities and make your sons Americans.
LEE.
PREFACE
THIS book is written with the hope that through it the life and character of Lee may become more real to the generation of young Americans now growing up. His was a life worthy of study by all young people, particularly those who are Americans.
In the happy day to which we are now come, when the division between the sections, for years past one of sentiment alone, is fast disappearing, the Nation as a whole pays tribute to the lofty character, the sturdy Americanism, and the essential greatness of Robert Edward Lee no less than to that of Abraham Lincoln. If this little book, by making better known the character and purity of motive of Lee and those he represented, may in some degree hasten the time when the last trace of bitterness between the North and South shall have disappeared, the authors will feel that it has well fulfilled its purpose. There is a certain appropriateness in the year of its appearance. As these words are written descendants of the followers of Lee, inspired by the same loyalty to their country which animates the sons of those who followed Grant, are testifying to the fact that, in accordance with the precept and example of the leader of the Confederate armies, they have been trained to be Americans. The survivors of the Confederate armies have just borne witness in Washington to their devotion to the flag of the united Nation. And we may dare hope that in the fires of the struggle in which we now engage will be consumed the last obstacle to a perfect union of hearts for all Americans.
The book makes no claim to any great addition to the sum of knowledge in relation to Lee. It is in the main drawn from secondary sources, but a good deal of material touching upon Lee's life is included which appears in no other of his biographies. The works which have been chiefly relied upon are: Jones, Life and Letters of General Robert E. Lee; R. E. Lee, Jr., Recollections and Letters of General Lee; F. Lee, General Lee; Bradford, Lee, the American; Adams, Lee at Appomattox; and Dodge, Bird's-Eye View of the Civil War. Other works which were also of particular value are: Bruce, Robert E. Lee; Page, Robert E. Lee; Taylor, General Lee; Trent, Robert E. Lee; Pollard, Life and Times of Robert E. Lee; White, Robert E. Lee and the Southern Confederacy; Fleming, Jefferson Davis at West Point; Long, Memoir of Robert E. Lee; and The Centennial History of West Point. In addition several hundred articles bearing on Lee's character and career have been studied carefully and material has been drawn from many of them.
We are under obligations to the Reverend W. McC. White, of Raleigh, North Carolina, for unpublished illustrative material, and we desire to make particular and grateful acknowledgment of the assistance of Mr. Edwin Greenlaw, of the University of North Carolina, who read the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions.
J.G. DE R.H.
M.T.H.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.
June 15,1917.
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE Frontispiece
From a painting by Theodore Pine (1904), in the possession of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.
ROBERT E. LEE
From a portrait painted about 1831 by West (son or nephew of Benjamin West), in the possession of Washington and Lee University. The uniform is that of a Second Lieutenant, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army. This, the first painting of Lee, is said to have been made shortly after his marriage.
GENERAL LEE ON TRAVELER
From a photograph by Miley & Son, Lexington, Va.
ROBERT E. LEE
From the painting by Pioto, in the possession of the Virginia Military Institute.
|
