USA > Virginia > Albemarle County > Albemarle County > Memorial history of the John Bowie Strange Camp, United Confederate Veterans, including some account of others who served in the Confederate Armies from Albemarle County > Part 16
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The night of the 16th of April, 1861, when you gathered on this court green here, will ever live. I can almost see it now. I can remember Colonel Strange on that occasion, the only time I recall seeing him, and he was erect, with a remarkably keen eye, a mustache and a goatee, bearing every mark of a soldier. I can remember him that night, though, as I say, I cannot re- member seeing him on any other occasion. I knew that sweet, beautiful daughter of his, at the feet of whose loveliness and beauty I laid a boyish devotion. She is gone now, and but one of her father's children lives, I believe, in a far state. If some one had told me that night that fifty odd years later I should stand in this courthouse and speak to the survivors of you who gathered there, as soldiers of a lost cause, I, a boy, even as I was, would have laughed at the man who told me; and today I should say that you are not the survivors of a lost cause, but a cause which has gained more for the good of your common country than any other cause in the history of the world.
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills himself in many ways."
God's work is never wrong in this world. Nothing that He ordains is ever lost. There is no movement in this world, from the falling of a sparrow to the wreck of an empire, that is not in some way God fulfilling himself. We may not be able to understand it; we cannot see it now; we are like the weavers
LEE MONUMENT GETTYSBURG NATIONAL PARK Dedicated June 8th, 1917
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of the Gobelin tapestry, who work ever at the reverse of that tapestry and do not know until their work is finished whether it is to be sublimely beautiful or a complete failure. We know that the time shall come when we shall see and understand the meaning of the great pageant in which all of us have been hum- ble workers, and you will recognize then that all the bitter struggle through which you passed, and all the bitter memories which come from a sense of failure, have been but a part in the great design of the great God to fulfill himself. You shall see then that your work has been a part of His work, and with Him you shall pronounce it, as He did at the end of His creation, "good."
THE WASHINGTON REUNION AND DEDICATION OF THE LEE MONUMENT AT GETTYSBURG
(June 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, 1917). BY C. B. LINNEY.
It seldom falls to the lot of man to have more of communion and good fellowship-not to say the making of history -- than that which made up the eventful days of June 5th, 6th and 7th, 1917, devoted to our veterans at the Washington Reunion. The visit to the historic home of the Father of the Republic, which nature with a lavish hand has embellished with so much charm of situation and surroundings, to say nothing of its precious and sacred memories, was enough to satisfy the most fastidious seeker after pleasure; but to have been a participant in and thrilled by the martial music, shouts of veterans and sons of veterans, and captivated by the charm and beauty of sponsors, and maids of honor, looking as handsome as only Southern women can look, was indeed soul inspiring.
The quiet, staid denizen of Washington had heard the solemn tread of the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, flushed with victory, and imagining themselves equal to the conquest of the world'; they had heard the glad shouts of the populace as they marched up the avenue to acclaim a Wilson, king; but the sedate and dignified senators, and the venerable
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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, as they marched by the side of Lee's sleeveless immortals, and heard them give the "Rebel Yell," chant "Dixie" and sing "The Girl I Left Behind Me," caught more inspiration and real patriotism in an hour, than all the combined oratory of the Senate could ever evoke. .
The dedicatory exercises of the Lee Monument at Gettys- burg on the 8th, were in accord with old Virginia simplicity and modesty. The beautiful and appropriate invocation of Dr. James Power Smith, aide and chaplain to General Jackson, Governor Stuart's handsome introduction of Leigh Robinson, and his masterly address, not to speak of the incomparable luncheon from Richmond, combined to make an occasion long to be remembered.
The Federal Government has lavished its millions on this historic bivouac of the dead. The Northern states have vied with each other in profligate expenditure of money to perpetu- ate in marble the deeds of their fallen braves. But Virginia, in the erection of this magnificent monument to her distinguished son, has placed the capstone upon all their endeavors. Sur- passingly grand in its conception and execution, surrounded by a group representing all branches of the service, and looking forward through a vista of surpassing beauty and splendor, it fills the beholder with admiration and delight. As I gazed upon that face of inexpressible greatness, depicted by the sculptor, I thought of how the torrid heat of summer, the withering frost and relentless snows of winter, would beat upon that uncovered head; but thought also that the same divine hand that tempers the storm to the shorn lamb would cover that defenseless head with the shadow of His wing.
And as we left the sacred place, I fancied some beautiful au- tumnal eve, with its sylvan quietness, the fast receding sun with its resplendent rays gilding the foliage with kaleidoscopic love- liness, transforming the scene into one of indescribable beauty and covering all with a halo of surpassing splendor and gran- deur-I fancied that on such a day, perchance, the mighty host of Confederate dead now lying in unmarked and unknown graves between what were once the opposing lines, after long years of ceaseless vigil by their great commander, might emerge
1
PAUL GOODLOE McINTIRE
Honorary member of the John Bowie Strange Camp, C. V.,
founder of the chair of Art and Music at the University of Virginia, whose generous gifts to his native city of parks, public library, monuments of Lee, Jackson, Lewis and Clark, and of George Rogers Clark, have endeared him, not only to the heart of every Confederate veteran, but to our entire community, and won for him the title of
PHILANTHROPIST
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from their tenements of clay to' wing their flight to the great white throne. And as I allowed my fancy (almost in spirit as it were), to dwell upon that resurrection scene, I beheld each immortal, ere taking his final flight, pause for a moment about this sacred shrine to chant his praise, with the happy refrain, "It was his genius, nobility of character, and lofty Christian life and faith that inspired it all."
THE LEE AND JACKSON MONUMENTS IN THE CHARLOTTESVILLE PARKS.
As stated in the preface, it is very much regretted that no account of the unveiling of these monuments can be given, neither monument being in place at the time this book goes to press. But when the veterans of John Bowie Strange Camp learned of Mr. McIntire's superb gift of the Lee Monument, they at once called a meeting, which resulted in the resolutions and correspondence below.
It will be noted that in neither the resolutions nor in the cor- respondence is any mention made of the Jackson Monument. This is because it was not known at the time that Mr. McIntire contemplated presenting to the city a second park, the chief ornament of which is to be an equestrian statue of Lee's great right arm, the "Mighty Stonewall."
The resolutions and correspondence follow :
Charlottesville, Va.
February 21, 1918.
At a meeting of the Confederate veterans of the city and county held in the City Hall yesterday to express their gratitude to Mr. Paul G. McIntire for his munificent gift to our city of an equestrian statue of General Lee, Major C. M. Bolton was elected chairman and Mr. C. B. Linney secretary.
Major C. M. Bolton, Bartlett Bolling and C. B. Linney were con- stituted a committee on resolutions, and made the following report, which was unanimously adopted by a rising vote:
Resolved: That it is with peculiar pleasure and appreciation that the Confederate veterans of Charlottesville and the county of Albe- marle have learned of Mr. Paul G. McIntire's magnificent gift to
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this city of a beautiful park and an equestrian statute of our great commander, General Robert E. Lee.
We recognize in this generous act, not only a splendid tribute to one of earth's greatest citizens and soldiers, but a living memorial to the donor's high-minded and honored parents; to the loyal serv- ices of his brothers in a holy and righteous cause; and to his own fealty and devotion to his native city. If "a country without mon- uments is a country without a history," then indeed this lavish consecration of wealth has been made to pay tribute to high and noble purpose.
The old veteran, with bowed head, will come to this shrine to drop the tear of his affection; our soldier boys will come and find in the contemplation of lofty character and true nobility in this truly great man their patriotism and love of country christened with a fresh baptism of consecration to service; the youth of the city and of our schools and colleges will come; and the students of our great University, as they assemble from all parts of our land, will also come, and in their coming catch fresh inspiration and find their standard of excellence lifted to higher ideals and nobler purposes of living.
In making our acknowledgments to Mr. Paul G. McIntire, we but voice the sentiments of every true soldier who followed Lee.
Resolved, Therefore, that these resolutions be spread upon our minutes, and that a copy be sent to Mr. Paul G. McIntire, and an- other to the Charlottesville Progress with request to publish.
Charlottesville, Va. Feb. 21, 1918.
Mr. Paul G. McIntire,
45 Wall St.,
New York, N. Y.
My dear Mr. McIntire:
I assure you it is with the greatest pleasure I hand you the with- in resolutions adopted by the Confederate veterans of Charlottes- ville and Albemarle County, expressive of their high appreciation of your munificent gift to this your native city of a beautiful park and monument to General Lee. It comes with peculiar significance to us, the followers of Lee, and while we very inadequately express our appreciation, our hearts are overflowing with gratitude to the giver.
No man can seek to perpetuate the virtues and memory of Lee without honoring himself, and I bespeak for you the esteem and gratitude of this nation, which will be a great reward.
With much respect, I am,
Very truly yours, .
C. B. LINNEY, Secretary.
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New York, Feb. 26th, 1918.
Maj. C. M. Bolton, Bartlett Bolling, C. B. Linney, Charlottesville, Va.
My dear Friends:
(If you will so allow me to address you.) It was with the greatest pleasure and happiness that I received the resolutions adopted by the Confederates of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, the more so, as it was entirely unexpected. There is no name that stands higher for the noblest in man than that of our beloved Lee, and I hope that when the monument is unveiled we will all be there to honor him who showed the world how he could be greater in de- feat than in victory.
We recall the stanza from Father Ryan's poem, "The Sword of Lee."
"And they who saw it waving there, And knew who bore it knelt to swear, That where that sword led they would dare, To follow or to die."
And we carry through life the memory of his greatness. Gentle- men, I envy you the honor you had in following such a leader.
I have the honor to remain,
Sincerely yours,
PAUL G. MCINTIRE.
Memorial Day Exercises
Memorial Day Address BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM M. THORNTON. Robert Edward Lee's Country.
"Virginia is my country. Her I will obey, however lament- able the fate to which it may subject me."
(Light-Horse Harry Lee.)
Off the Atlantic coast, at the southeastern corner of the State of Georgia, lies Cumberland Island. In January, 1862, a steamer passing through the channel which separates it from the mainland, drew up at a plantation wharf and disem- barked two officers, uniformed in Confederate grey. For some distance they followed a road, shaded by live oaks and mag- nolias, and leading into the extensive grounds surrounding a deserted mansion. The grounds were dotted with groups of olive, orange and lemon trees, and adorned with glowing masses of subtropical shrubbery. They entered the house and after admiring for a moment the richly carved frames of the windows, which lighted the spacious hall, and the stately stair- way, which wound its spiral course to the upper floors of the building, they descended a flight of steps into a garden, which . even in its neglected state, gave proof of the taste and care of its exiled owners. . Passing on they came presently to a dilap- idated wall enclosing a cemetery, and entering, stood in rev- erential silence above a lonely grave.
The officers were General Robert E. Lee and his military secretary, Colonel A. L. Long. The place was Dungeness, the home of Nathaniel Green, the friend of Washington and next to Washington, the most famous soldier of the Revolutionary War. The grave was the grave of Light-Horse Harry Lee, once the brilliant young leader of Lee's Legion, the man who was said by another great general to have "sprung a soldier
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from his mother's womb." Robert E. Lee was a little lad of six years when his illustrious father, with health wrecked by cruel injuries received at the hands of a political mob in Bal- timore, left his Virginian home for the West Indies in vain hope of restoration. After years of loneliness and sadness and suffering he once more turned his face homeward; but on the voyage his illness returned with augmented power. He was landed by his own request on Cumberland Island, and there in the home of his old commander, and comforted by the care of Green's daughter, the brilliant soldier of the Revolution, the beloved friend of Washington, the eloquent eulogist of the Father of his Country, passed the anguished hours of his last days on earth.
Only twice was Robert E. Lee able to visit a spot so sacred to him. Eight years later on the last journey of his life, in April, 1870, he stood once more at Dungeness over his famous father's grave. His daughter was with him and covered the tomb with beautiful fresh flowers. The island had been dev- astated by the Union troops during the Civil War and the home of Green's daughter had been burned by the soldiers of the government which owed its existence to the valor of her noble father. Only the bare walls remained. "No civilized nation," wrote Lee after first seeing Dungeness, "within my knowledge has ever carried on war as the United States Gov- ernment has against us." Today we may write the closing chapter in the story of this home of one of our Revolutionary heroes. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who has caused the erection of so many memorials for the perpetuation of his own name, bought Cumberland Island, and to make room for a modern mansion, tore down the massive walls of Dungeness, and used the materials to pave his roads. Such is the reverence shown by the modern millionaire for the ancient virtue of our patriot captains and for their dwelling places.
Robert Edward Lee's beautiful fidelity to the memory of an illustrious father gives us the key-note to his character and genius. It seems almost a sarcasm on the boastful claims, which our present day pundits make for the forces of educa- tion, that the greatest soldier of the American Civil War
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should have been reared by a gentle, pious woman, and fitted for West Point by a God-fearing Quaker. Light-Horse Harry Lee never saw this son after he was six years old, nor did the father at any time exert direct influence over the child. The mother held his training altogether in her own hands and the relation between them grew into a rare tenderness and in- timacy. When he left her to go to the military academy, his mother was heard to say, "How can I live without Robert? He is both son and daughter to me." Yet Robert showed no traces of doubt as to his own vocation. The son of a great soldier, he went straight to his predestined work. Never was there a more complete demonstration of the dominant force of heredity, and the comparative importance of early environ- ment.
We have many pictures of Lee which illustrate his military genius and his inborn taste for the soldier's life. The scene of one of the earliest is laid at Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna and his army guarded the approach to the Mexican capital. The position was admirably chosen and seemed at first im- pregnable; the Mexican troops were powerfully posted and the surrounding hill-tops bristled with their artillery. Captain Lee of the U. S. Military Engineers was charged with the re- connoissance of the region. He succeeded in discovering a possible approach to an unoccupied height, to which Santa Anna said afterwards he "thought not even a goat could climb." The reconnoissance was as dangerous as it was diffi- cult. Once Lee ventured alone so far from his supporting column that he found himself in the very midst of a squad of his enemies. He hid himself under a fallen log and lay there for some time, while the Mexican soldiers actually sat down on the log to chat and rest. The result of Lee's work was the occupation of this commanding point by an American battery, the successful storming of the heights of Cerro Gordo, and the complete rout of the Mexican Army.
This exploit is only one of many illustrations which might be drawn from the Mexican War showing Lee's native genius for the military art, his dauntless personal courage, his serene presence of mind in moments of peril, and the skill with which
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he could utilize the knowledge won by his audacity. General Scott's reports are full of commendations of his daring and in- defatigable reconnoissances as well as of his coolness and courage under fire, and Scott classes Lee's exploration of the Pedregal at Contreras-a jagged waste of lava swept by the Mexican guns-as "the greatest feat of physical and moral courage performed by any individual during the campaign." Scott's exalted estimate of Lee, whom he had selected to suc- ceed him in command of the United States Army, is well known to every one. It is not uninteresting to add the estimate of another famous American, who served also in the Mexican War. This contemporary estimate by Raphael Semmes, the brilliant admiral of the Confederate States Navy, is less well known; in fact I have never seen it quoted.
"The services of Captain Lee were invaluable to his chief. En- dowed with a mind which has no superior in his corps, and pos- sessing great energy of character, he examined, counseled, and ad- vised with a judgment, tact, and discretion worthy of all praise. His talent for topography was peculiar; he seemed to receive im- pressions intuitively, which it cost other men much labor to ac- quire."
I believe Generals McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant would all have endorsed the last item in this estimate.
Between the genius and character of our own Lee and those of his illustrious father, numerous and interesting parallels might be traced. In the art of war we find in both the same reasoned audacity in conception and in execution. Both used a strategy based always on the psychology of their adversary. In both there was the same contempt of physical danger, the same ardour for the fray, the same terrific suddenness to strike. Both shewed the same tender care for the well-being of their soldiers and the same humanity toward the innocent victims of the cruelty of war. In both there was the same ex- ultant confidence of victory, the same magnificent resilience under disaster. But Harry Lee was more than a soldier ; he was an orator, a statesman, a patriot. The whole world is familiar with the golden phrase which sprang from his lips when he
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was called upon by Congress to pronounce the official eulogium upon the great Washington, his chief, his neighbor, his familiar friend.
"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his coun- trymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, serene, uniform, dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as the effects of that example were lasting. * He survives in our hearts, in the growing knowledge of our chil- dren, in the affection of the good throughout the world."
Hardly less eloquent and fuller of significance for the his- tory of Virginia was Harry Lee's tribute to his native state. Permit me to tell you of this utterance, so interesting to us be- cause in the crisis of his fortunes it controlled the destiny of Robert Edward Lee.
Soon after Harry Lee's resignation from the Continental Army in 1782, he married his cousin, Matilda Lee, the heiress of Stratford, the ancient seat of the Lees in Virginia, which thus became in time the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. The four years now given by the young soldier to domestic life were years of chaos for the new American republic. They demonstrated the impotence of the Confederation Congress and proved that under the Articles of Confederation the United States government was drifting into anarchy. Once more this ancient commonwealth stepped into the breach and saved the country. The people of Virginia, moved by a sense of the public peril, sent to the legislature of 1786 their best men. This legislature, under James Madison's leadership, called a national convention, and this convention initiated the movement which, in 1787, created the Constitution of the United States. This was the movement which swept Harry Lee into political life and made him delegate to the legislature of 1786, representative in the Confederation Congress of 1786- 88, and member of the Virginia Convention of 1788, which rat- ified the Federal Constitution.
Harry Lee was an ardent Federalist. Washington, the guide and protector of his militant youth, was the model of his ma- turer years, and Lee was earnest to bring to fulfilment Wash-
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ington's ideal of "an indissoluble union of the States under one Federal head." Yet despite his Federalism no one can question Harry Lee's unshaken allegiance to his native state. In 1792, while he was Governor of Virginia, Madison offered him an important military command in the United States ser- vice. His reply was as follows :
"One objection I should only have, and that is the abandoning of my native country, to whose goodness I am so much indebted. No consideration on earth could induce me to act a part, however gratifying to me, which could be construed into disregard or for- getfulness of this Commonwealth."
Two years later he was commissioned by President Wash- ington to surpress the Whiskey Boys' Insurrection; but though commissioned by the President he went as Governor of Vir- ginia and commander of her troops; he went upon invitation of the state of Pennsylvania; and he went by authority of the state of Virginia. In the famous debate upon the Virginia Resolutions of 1798 he again took perfectly clear ground on the side of the Commonwealth, and then in more concise and more eloquent phrase he renewed that confession of Political faith, already made in his letter to Madison,
"Virginia is my country. Her I will obey, however lamentable the fate to which it may subject me."
This came from the man whose blood flowed in the veins and beat in the heart of Robert Edward Lee. This was the key to our Lee's character, the map of his destiny, the creed of his life.
When the Secession Convention assembled in Richmond in February, 1861, Lee was Lieutenant Colonel of the Second U. S. Cavalry, in command of the Department of Texas. He was promptly recalled to Washington, and on March 1st he re- ported at the War Department. General Scott had described him as "the very best soldier I ever saw in the field," and again, as "not only the greatest soldier of America, but the greatest soldier now living in the world." Impressed by Scott's exalted opinion of his powers, the Federal adminis- tration made every proper effort to retain Lee's services for the Union. He was at once promoted Colonel of First U. S.
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Cavalry, and on April 18th the command of the Union army about to be brought into the field was offered to him by au- thority of President Lincoln. This offer Lee at once declined ; though opposed to secession, he refused to take any part in the invasion of the Southern States. On the same day news reached Washington of the passage of the Ordinance of Seces- sion by the Virginia Convention. Virginia's action brought Lee to face the crisis of his life. He foresaw that he might at any hour be called upon to také up arms against his native state. This he had resolved never to do, and no allurement of high rank, no bribe of wealth or fortune, no fear of inevitable disaster, could shake his constant mind. On April 19th he called upon his beloved and admired chief, General Scott, to give the reason for his refusal to accept the command of the Union army. On the same night he wrote his letter, resigning his commission in the U. S. Army; and on April 20th, 1861, Lee ceased to be an officer of the Federal government.
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