General Robert E. Lee: The True Story of the Infamous "Marble Man"

The Life & Legacy of Robert E. Lee, Including Personal Writings, Speeches and Orders

John Esten Cooke, Robert E. Lee

• Publisher: Madison & Adams Press
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9788026879695
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

This book reveals the incredible life of the legendary General, one of the most prominent figures of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War. It also contains his personal writings which paint a full picture of Lee's life. Robert Edward Lee was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865.Content: Robert E. Lee by John Esten Cooke Lee's Early Life The Lees of Virginia General "Light-horse Harry" Lee Stratford Lee's Early Manhood and Career in the United States Army His Reception at Richmond Lee in 1861 The War Begins Lee's Advance Into Western Virginia Lee's Last Interview With Bishop Meade In Front of Richmond. Plan of the Federal Campaign Johnston Is Wounded Lee Assigned to the Command On the Chickahominy Lee's Plan of Assault The Retreat Richmond in Danger The War Advances Northward Lee's Manoeuvres Lee Advances From the Rapidan Jackson Flanks General Pope Lee Invades Maryland. Lee Concentrates at Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Advance of General Hooker Jackson's Attack and Fall The Battle of Chancellorsville Lee's Plans and Objects The Cavalry-fight at Fleetwood Lee in Pennsylvania The Last Charge at Gettysburg Lee's Retreat Across the Potomac The Cavalry of Lee's Army Lee Flanks General Meade Lee in the Autumn and Winter of 1863 Lee's Last Campaigns and Last Days First Battles at Petersburg The Siege of Richmond Begun The Mine Explosion The Southern Lines Broken Lee Evacuates Petersburg Writings of Robert E. Lee: Robert E. Lee's Letter Announcing Surrender Robert E. Lee's Farewell Address to the Army of Northern Virginia Testimony of General R. E. Lee General Lee's Final Report of the Pennsylvania Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg Patriotic Letters of Confederate Leaders

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John Esten Cooke, Robert E. Lee

General Robert E. Lee: The True Story of the Infamous “Marble Man”

The Life & Legacy of Robert E. Lee, Including & Personal Writings, Speeches and Orders

Madison & Adams Press, 2017.
Contact [email protected]

ISBN 978-80-268-7969-5

This is a publication of Madison & Adams Press. Our production consists of thoroughly prepared educational & informative editions: Advice & How-To Books, Encyclopedias, Law Anthologies, Declassified Documents, Legal & Criminal Files, Historical Books, Scientific & Medical Publications, Technical Handbooks and Manuals. All our publications are meticulously edited and formatted to the highest digital standard. The main goal of Madison & Adams Press is to make all informative books and records accessible to everyone in a high quality digital and print form.

Table of Contents

The Life & Legacy of Robert E. Lee by John Esten Cooke

Letters, Orders & Speeches of General Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee's Letter Announcing Surrender

Robert E. Lee's Farewell Address to the Army of Northern Virginia

Testimony of General R. E. Lee

General Lee's Final Report of the Pennsylvania Campaign and Battle of Gettysburg

Patriotic Letters of Confederate Leaders

The Life & Legacy of Robert E. Lee by John Esten Cooke

Table of Contents

PART I LEE'S EARLY LIFE

I INTRODUCTION

II THE LEES OF VIRGINIA

III GENERAL "LIGHT-HORSE HARRY" LEE

IV STRATFORD

V LEE'S EARLY MANHOOD AND CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY

VI LEE AND SCOTT

VII LEE RESIGNS

VIII HIS RECEPTION AT RICHMOND

IX LEE IN 1861

X THE WAR BEGINS

XI LEE'S ADVANCE INTO WESTERN VIRGINIA

XII LEE'S LAST INTERVIEW WITH BISHOP MEADE

PART II IN FRONT OF RICHMOND

I PLAN OF THE FEDERAL CAMPAIGN

II JOHNSTON IS WOUNDED

III LEE ASSIGNED TO THE COMMAND — HIS FAMILY AT THE WHITE HOUSE

IV LEE RESOLVES TO ATTACK

V STUART'S "RIDE AROUND McCLELLAN"

PART III ON THE CHICKAHOMINY

I THE TWO ARMIES

II LEE'S PLAN OF ASSAULT

III THE BATTLE OF THE CHICKAHOMINY

IV THE RETREAT

V RICHMOND IN DANGER — LEE'S VIEWS

VI LEE AND McCLELLAN — THEIR IDENTITY OF OPINION

PART IV THE WAR ADVANCES NORTHWARD

I LEE'S PROTEST

II LEE'S MANOEUVRES

III LEE ADVANCES FROM THE RAPIDAN

IV JACKSON FLANKS GENERAL POPE

V LEE FOLLOWS

VI THE SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS

PART V LEE INVADES MARYLAND

I HIS DESIGNS

II LEE IN MARYLAND

III MOVEMENTS OF THE TWO ARMIES

IV THE PRELUDE TO SHARPSBURG

V THE BATTLE OF SHARPSBURG

VI LEE AND McCLELLAN — THEIR MERITS IN THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN

VII LEE AND HIS MEN

VIII LEE PASSES THE BLUE RIDGE

IX LEE CONCENTRATES AT FREDERICKSBURG

X THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG

XI FINAL MOVEMENTS OF 1862

XII THE YEAR OF BATTLES

XIII LEE IN DECEMBER, 1862

PART VI CHANCELLORSVILLE AND GETTYSBURG

I ADVANCE OF GENERAL HOOKER

II THE WILDERNESS

III LEE'S DETERMINATION

IV JACKSON'S ATTACK AND FALL

V THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE

VI FLANK MOVEMENT OF GENERAL SEDGWICK

VII LEE'S GENERALSHIP AND PERSONAL DEMEANOR DURING THE CAMPAIGN

VIII PERSONAL RELATIONS OF LEE AND JACKSON

IX CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA

X LEE'S PLANS AND OBJECTS

XI THE CAVALRY-FIGHT AT FLEETWOOD

XII THE MARCH TO GETTYSBURG

XIII LEE IN PENNSYLVANIA

XIV CONCENTRATION AT GETTYSBURG

XV THE FIRST DAY'S FIGHT AT GETTYSBURG

XVI THE TWO ARMIES IN POSITION

XVII THE SECOND DAY

XVIII THE LAST CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG

XIX LEE AFTER THE CHARGE

XX LEE'S RETREAT ACROSS THE POTOMAC

XXI ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE AGAIN

PART VII LAST CAMPAIGNS OF THE YEAR 1863

I THE CAVALRY OF LEE'S ARMY

II LEE FLANKS GENERAL MEADE

III A RACE BETWEEN TWO ARMIES

IV THE FIGHT AT BUCKLAND

V THE ADVANCE TO MINE RUN

VI LEE IN THE AUTUMN AND WINTER OF 1863

PART VIII LEE'S LAST CAMPAIGNS AND LAST DAYS

I GENERAL GRANT CROSSES THE RAPIDAN

II THE FIRST COLLISION IN THE WILDERNESS

III THE BATTLE OF THE 6TH OF MAY

IV THE 12TH OF MAY

V FROM SPOTTSYLVANIA TO THE CHICKAHOMINY

VI FIRST BATTLES AT PETERSBURG

VII THE SIEGE OF RICHMOND BEGUN

VIII LEE THREATENS WASHINGTON

IX THE MINE EXPLOSION

X END OF THE CAMPAIGN OF 1864

XI LEE IN THE WINTER OF 1864-'65

XII THE SITUATION AT THE BEGINNING OF 1865

XIII LEE ATTACKS THE FEDERAL CENTRE

XIV THE SOUTHERN LINES BROKEN

XV LEE EVACUATES PETERSBURG

XVI THE RETREAT AND SURRENDER

XVII LEE RETURNS TO RICHMOND

XVIII GENERAL LEE AFTER THE WAR

XIX GENERAL LEE'S LAST YEARS AND DEATH

APPENDIX

I THE FUNERAL OF GENERAL LEE

II TRIBUTES TO GENERAL LEE

PART I
LEE'S EARLY LIFE

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I
INTRODUCTION

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The name of Lee is beloved and respected throughout the world. Men of all parties and opinions unite in this sentiment, not only those who thought and fought with him, but those most violently opposed to his political views and career. It is natural that his own people should love and honor him as their great leader and defender in a struggle of intense bitterness — that his old enemies should share this profound regard and admiration is due solely to the character of the individual. His military genius will always be conceded, and his figure remain a conspicuous landmark in history; but this does not account for the fact that his very enemies love the man. His private character is the origin of this sentiment. The people of the North, no less than the people of the South, feel that Lee was truly great; and the harshest critic has been able to find nothing to detract from this view of him. The soldier was great, but the man himself was greater. No one was ever simpler, truer, or more honest. Those who knew him best loved him the most. Reserved and silent, with a bearing of almost austere dignity, he impressed many persons as cold and unsympathetic, and his true character was long in revealing itself to the world. To-day all men know what his friends knew during his life — that under the grave exterior of the soldier, oppressed with care and anxiety, beat a warm and kindly heart, full of an even extraordinary gentleness and sweetness; that the man himself was not cold, or stiff, or harsh, but patient, forbearing, charitable under many trials of his equanimity, and magnanimous without effort, from the native impulse of his heart. Friend and foe thus to-day regard him with much the same sentiment, as a genuinely honest man, incapable of duplicity in thought or deed, wholly good and sincere, inspired always under all temptations by that prisca fides which purifies and ennobles, and resolutely bent, in the dark hour, as in the bright, on the full performance of his duty. "Duty is the sublimest word in our language," he wrote to his son; and, if we add that other august maxim, "Human virtue should be equal to human calamity," we shall have in a few words a summary of the principles which inspired Lee.

The crowning grace of this man, who was thus not only great but good, was the humility and trust in God, which lay at the foundation of his character. Upon this point we shall quote the words of a gentleman of commanding intellect, a bitter opponent of the South in the war:

"Lee is worthy of all praise. As a man, he was fearless among men. As a soldier, he had no superior and no equal. In the course of Nature my career on earth may soon terminate. God grant that, When the day of my death shall come, I may look up to Heaven with that confidence and faith which the life and character of Robert E. Lee gave him. He died trusting in God as a good man, with a good life, and a pure conscience."

He had lived, as he died, with this supreme trust in an overruling and merciful Providence; and this sentiment, pervading his whole being, was the origin of that august calmness with which he greeted the most crushing disasters of his military career. His faith and humble trust sustained him after the war, when the woes of the South wellnigh broke his great spirit; and he calmly expired, as a weary child falls asleep, knowing that its father is near.

Of this eminent soldier and man whose character offers so great an example, a memoir is attempted in this volume. The work will necessarily be "popular" rather than full and elaborate, as the public and private correspondence of Lee are not at this time accessible. These will throw a fuller light on the subject; but sufficient material is at the disposal of the writer to enable him to present an accurate likeness of Lee, and to narrate clearly the incidents of his career. In doing so, the aim of the author is to measure out full justice to all — not to arouse old enmities, which should be allowed to slumber, but to treat his subject with the judicial moderation of the student of history.

A few words will terminate this preface. The volume before the reader was begun in 1866. The writer first, however, informed General Lee of his design, and had the honor to receive from him in reply the assurance that the work "would not interfere with any he might have in contemplation; he had not written a line of any work as yet, and might never do so; but, should he write a history of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia, the proposed work would be rather an assistance than a hinderance."

As the writer had offered promptly to discontinue the work if it were not agreeable to General Lee, this reply was regarded in the light of an assurance that he did not disapprove of it. The composition was, however, interrupted, and the work laid aside. It is now resumed and completed at a time when the death of the illustrious soldier adds a new and absorbing interest to whatever is connected with his character or career.

II
THE LEES OF VIRGINIA

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The Lees of Virginia spring from an ancient and respectable family of Essex, in England.

Of some members of the family, both in the Old World and the New, a brief account will be given. The origin of an individual explains much that is striking and peculiar in his own character; and it will be found that General Lee inherited many of the traits of his ancestors, especially of some eminent personages of his name in Virginia.

The family pedigree is traced back by Lee, in the life of his father, to Launcelot Lee, of London, in France, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England. After the battle of Hastings, which subjected England to the sway of the Normans, Launcelot Lee, like others, was rewarded by lands wrested from the subdued Saxons. His estate lay in Essex, and this is all that is known concerning him. Lionel Lee is the next member of the family of whom mention is made. He lived during the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, and, when the king went on his third crusade, in the year 1192, Lionel Lee raised a company of gentlemen, and marched with him to the Holy Land. His career there was distinguished; he displayed special gallantry at the siege of Acre, and for this he received a solid proof of King Richard's approbation. On his return he was made first Earl of Litchfield; the king presented him with the estate of "Ditchley," which became the name afterward of an estate of the Lees in Virginia; and, when he died, the armor which he had worn in the Holy Land was placed in the department of "Horse Armory" in the great Tower of London.

The name of Richard Lee is next mentioned as one of the followers of the Earl of Surrey in his expedition across the Scottish border in 1542. Two of the family about this period were "Knights Companions of the Garter," and their banners, with the Lee arms above, were suspended in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The coat-of-arms was a shield "band sinister battled and embattled," the crest a closed visor surmounted by a squirrel holding a nut. The motto, which may be thought characteristic of one of General Lee's traits as a soldier, was, "Non incautus futuri"

Such are the brief notices given of the family in England. They seem to have been persons of high character, and often of distinction. When Richard Lee came to Virginia, and founded the family anew there, as Launcelot, the first Lee, had founded it in England, he brought over in his veins some of the best and most valiant blood of the great Norman race.

This Richard Lee, the princeps of the family in Virginia, was, it seems, like the rest of his kindred, strongly Cavalier in his sentiments; indeed, the Lees seem always to have been Cavalier. The reader will recall the stately old representative of the family in Scott's "Woodstock" — Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley — who is seen stalking proudly through the great apartments of the palace, in his laced doublet, slashed boots, and velvet cloak, scowling darkly at the Puritan intruders. Sir Henry was not a fanciful person, but a real individual; and the political views attributed to him were those of the Lee family, who remained faithful to the royal cause in all its hours of adversity.

It will be seen that Richard Lee, the first of the Virginia Lees, was an ardent monarchist. He came over during the reign of Charles I., but returned to England, bequeathing all his lands to his servants; he subsequently came back to Virginia, however, and lived and died there. In his will he styles himself "Richard Lee, of Strafford Langton, in the County of Essex, Esquire." It is not certainly known whether he sought refuge in Virginia after the failure of the king's cause, or was tempted to emigrate with a view to better his fortunes in the New World. Either may have been the impelling motive. Great numbers of Cavaliers "came over" after the overthrow of Charles at Naseby; but a large emigration had already taken place, and took place afterward, induced by the salubrity of the country, the ease of living, and the cheapness and fertility of the lands on the great rivers, where families impoverished or of failing fortunes in England might "make new settlements" and build on a new foundation. This would amply account for the removal of Richard Lee to Virginia, and for the ambition he seems to have been inspired with, to build and improve, without attributing to him any apprehension of probable punishment for his political course. Very many families had the first-named motives, and commenced to build great manor-houses, which were never finished, or were too costly for any one of their descendants to possess. The abolition of primogeniture, despite the opposition of Pendleton and others, overthrew all this; and the Lees, like other families, now possess few of the broad acres which their ancestors acquired.

To return, however, to Richard Lee. He had already visited Virginia in some official capacity under the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley, and had been so much pleased with the soil and climate of the country, that he, as we have said, emigrated finally, and cast his lot in the new land. He brought a number of followers and servants, and, coming over to Westmoreland County, in the Northern Neck of Virginia, "took up" extensive tracts of land there, and set about building manor-houses upon them.

Among these, it is stated, was the original "Stratford" House, afterward destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt, however, and became the birthplace of Richard Henry Lee, and afterward of General Robert E. Lee. We shall speak of it more in detail after finishing, in a few words, our notice of Richard Lee, its founder, and the founder of the Lee family in Virginia. He is described as a person of great force of character and many virtues — as "a man of good stature, comely visage, enterprising genius, sound head, vigorous spirit, and generous nature." This may be suspected to partake of the nature of epitaph; but, of his courage and energy, the proof remains in the action taken by him in connection with Charles II. Inheriting, it would seem, in full measure, the royalist and Cavalier sentiments of his family, he united with Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor, in the irregular proclamation of Charles II. in Virginia, a year or two before his reinstallment on the English throne. He had already, it is reported on the authority of well-supported tradition, made a voyage across the Atlantic to Breda, where Charles II. was then in exile, and offered to erect his standard in Virginia, and proclaim him king there. This proposition the young monarch declined, shrinking, with excellent good sense, from a renewal, under less favorable circumstances, of the struggle which terminated at Worcester. Lee was, therefore, compelled to return without having succeeded in his enterprise; but he had made, it seems, a very strong impression in favor of Virginia upon the somewhat frivolous young monarch. When he came to his throne again, Charles II. graciously wore a coronation-robe of Virginia silk, and Virginia, who had proved so faithful to him in the hour of his need, was authorized, by royal decree, to rank thenceforward, in the British empire, with England, Scotland, and Ireland, and bear upon her shield the motto, "En dat Virginia quartam."

Richard Lee returned, after his unsuccessful mission, to the Northern Neck, and addressed himself thenceforward to the management of his private fortunes and the affairs of the colony. He had now become possessed of very extensive estates between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers and elsewhere. Besides Stratford, he owned plantations called "Mocke Neck," "Mathotick," "Paper-Maker's Neck," "War Captain's Neck," "Bishop's Neck," and "Paradise," with four thousand acres besides, on the Potomac, ...

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• General Robert E. Lee: The True Story of the Infamous “Marble Man”