Recollections
and Letters of General Robert E. Lee
by Captain
Robert E. Lee, His Son
Contents
The "Required
Legal Small Print"
for copyright purposes
Services in the
United States Army
Captain Lee, of the Engineers, a hero to his child--The family pets--Home from the Mexican War--Three years in Baltimore--Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy--Lieutenant-Colonel of Second Cavalry--Suppresses "John Brown Raid" at Harper's Ferry--Commands the Department of Taxes
The Confederate
General
Resigns from Colonelcy of First United States Cavalry--Motives for this step--Chosen to command Virginia forces--Anxiety about his wife, family, and possessions--Chief advisor to President Davis--Battle of Manassas--Military operations in West Virginia—Letter to State Governor
Letters to Wife
and Daughters
From Camp on Sewell's Mountain--Quotation from Colonel Taylor's book--From Professor Wm. P. Trent--From Mr. Davis's Memorial Address--Defense of Southern ports--Christmas, 1861--The General visits his father's grave--Commands, under the President, all the armies of the Confederate States
Army Life of
Robert the Younger
Volunteer in Rockbridge Artillery--"Four Years with General Lee" quoted--Meeting between father and son--Personal characteristics of the General--Death of his daughter Annie--His son Robert raised from the ranks--the horses, "Grace Darling" and "Traveller"--Fredricksburg--Freeing slaves
The Army of
Northern Virginia
The General's
sympathy for his suffering soldiers--Chancellorsville--Death of
"Stonewall"
Jackson--General Fitzhugh Lee wounded and captured--Escape of his
brother
Robert--Gettysburg--Religious revival--Infantry review--Unsatisfactory
commissariat
The Winter of
1863-4
The Lee family in Richmond--The General's letters to them from Camps Rappahannock and Rapidan--Death of Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee--Preparations to meet General Grant--The Wilderness—Spottsylvania Court House--Death of General Stuart--General Lee's illness
Fronting the
Army of the Potomac
Battle of Cold Harbour--Siege of Petersburg--The General intrusts a mission to his son Robert--Battle of the Crater--Grant crosses the James River--General Long's pen-picture of Lee--Knitting socks for the soldiers--A Christmas dinner--Incidents of camp life
The Surrender
Fort Fisher captured--Lee made Commander-in-Chief--Battle of Five Forks--The General's farewell to his men--His reception in Richmond after the surrender--President Davis hears the news--Lee's visitors--His son Robert turns farmer
A Private Citizen
Lee's conception of the part--His influence exerted toward the restoration of Virginia--He visits old friends throughout the country--Receives offers of positions--Compares notes with the Union General Hunter--Longs for a country home--Finds one at "Derwent," near Cartersville
President of
Washington College
Patriotic motives for acceptance of trust--Condition of college--The General's arrival at Lexington--He prepares for the removal of his family to that city--Advice to Robert Junior--Trip to "Bremo" on private canal-boat--Mrs. Lee's invalidism
The Idol of the
South
Photographs and autographs in demand--The General's interest in young people--His happy home life--Labours at Washington College--He gains financial aid for it--Worsley's translation of Homer dedicated to him--Tributes from other English scholars
Lee's Opinion
upon the Late War
His intention to write the history of his Virginia campaigns--Called before a committee of Congress--Preaches patience and silence in the South--Shuns controversy and publicity—Corresponds with an Englishman, Herbert C. Saunders
Family Affairs
The General writes to his sons--To his wife at Rockbridge Baths--He joins her there about once a week--Distinguised and undistinguished callers at his Lexington home--He advocates early hours--His fondness for animals
An Ideal Father
Letters to Mildred Lee--To Robert--To Fitzhugh--Interviewed by Swinton, historian of the Army of the Potomac--Improvement in grounds and buildings of Washington College--Punctuality a prominent trait of its President--A strong supporter of the Y.M.C.A
Mountain Rides
An incident about "Traveller"--The General's love for children--His friendship with Ex-President Davis--A ride with his daughter to the Peaks of Otter--Mildred Lee's narrative--Mrs. Lee at the White Sulphur Springs--The great attention paid her husband there--His idea of life
An Advisor of
Young Men
Lee's policy as college president--His advice on agricultural matters--His affection for his prospective daughter-in-law--Fitzhugh's wedding--The General's ovation at Petersburg—his personal interest in the students under his care
The
Reconstruction Period
The General believes in the enforcement of law and order—His moral influence in the college--Playful humour shown in his letters--His opinion of negro labour--Mr. Davis's trial--Letter to Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee--Intercourse with Faculty
Mrs. R. E. Lee
Goest to Warm Springs for rheumatism--Her daughter Mildred takes typhoid there--Removes to Hot Springs--Her husband's devotion--Visit of Fitzhugh and bride to Lexington--Miss Jones, a would-be benefactor of Washington College--Fate of Washington relics belonging to Mrs. Lee's family
Lee's Letters to
His Sons
The building of Robert's house--The General as a railroad delegate--Lionised in Baltimore--Calls on President Grant—Visits Alexandria--Declines to be interviewed--Interested in his grandson--The Washington portraits
The New Home in
Lexington
Numerous guests--Further sojourns at different Baths--Death of the General's brother, Smith Lee--Visits to "Ravensworth" and "The White House"--Meetings with interesting people at White Sulphur Springs--Death of Professor Preston
Failing Health
The General declines lucrative positions in New York and Atlanta--He suffers from an obstinate cold--Local gossip--He is advised to go South in the spring of 1870--Desires to visit his daughter Annie's grave
The Southern Trip
Letters to Mrs. Lee from Richmond and Savannah--From Brandon--Agnes Lee's account of her father's greetings from old friends and old soldiers--Wilmington and Norfolk do him honour--Visits to Fitzhugh and Robert in their homes
A Round of Visits
Baltimore--Alexandria--A war-talk with Cousin Cassius Lee--"Ravensworth"--Letter to Doctor Buckler declining invitation to Europe--To General Cooper--To Mrs. Lee from the Hot Springs—Tired of public places--Preference for country life
Last Days
Letter to his wife--To Mr. Tagart--Obituary notice in "Personal Reminiscences of General Robert E. Lee"--Mrs. Lee's account of his death