A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee

ꞶA Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee

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Title: A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee
Author: John Esten Cooke
Release Date: January 12, 2004 [EBook #10692]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration]
A LIFE OF GEN. ROBERT E. LEE.
BY JOHN ESTEN COOKE.
"Duty is the sublimest word in our language." "Human virtue should be equal to human calamity."
LEE.
1876

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

A LIFE
OF
GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE.

PART I.
_LEE'S EARLY LIFE_,

I.
INTRODUCTION.
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