Glimpses of the General Through the Eyes of a Boy (1928)
[The following was a letter printed in the 1928 W&L Alumni Magazine about a boy’s memories of General Lee. For more info, please visit W&L Special Collections.]
(Print of Robert E. Lee | SOURCE: Library of Congress)
The name of General Lee, first, fell on the ears of this boy when six years of age. His father had just returned, to his home, near Lexington, from W. Va. and spoke, to his son, about the masterly manner in which General Lee had handled the troop and transport problem in that Rich Mountain Campaign.
When Stonewall Jackson was buried, from the Lexington Presbyterian Church, he went there with his mother. He heard, then, of Lee’s remark that Jackson had lost his left, while he had lost his right arm. From that day until the end of the war, Lee’s name was a household word. In April 1865, the lad was sitting in the little schoolhouse when two soldiers came to the door saying that “General Lee had surrendered at Appomattox the day before yesterday.” The heart of the youth went out to the great leader as the curtain, which had hung like a pall of gloom four long years over him and his people, fell, and the terrible tragedy in which he had played such a splendid part ended.
Some time after the surrender, a solitary horseman crossed the Blue Ridge and entered Lexington by the Whites Gap Road and the old Buena Vista Furnace. That one of the greatest captains of all time should, unheralded and unattended, enter this remote countryside made a sensation. As soon as he stopped on the street to make an inquiry, his “recognition” was immediate. The small boys came running and soon were busy extracting hairs from Travellers’ tail as souvenirs. Thus, quietly, did he appear to do the work which was to be the crown and glory of his illustrious career.
Not long after the father and daughter, Miss Mildred Lee, were familiar figures as they came along the road, by the boy’s home, to an eminence on the brow of the cliffs, above Maury River. He spoke as they passed in low, quiet, tones with a word of kindly greeting for the little fellow by the roadside.
The young soldiers returning from the army found their mounts worn out, but rest and food soon restored them. These young men then appeared with splendid horses. Tournaments became fashionable. With their gay costumes, lances, and prancing steeds, the Middle Ages seemed to have come again. One of these tournaments was held at the Rockbridge Baths, where General Lee was a guest at the time with his invalid wife. The Queen was crowned on the lawn, in front of the hotel, by one of his own cavalry men. After the coronation, the General approached the queen, who stood blushing, in her beauty, and was introduced to her. He very modestly expressed his great pleasure, declaring that she was the first queen to whom he had ever been presented.
Jonathan Hughes, a noted horse thief, was surprised, in a house, on the river not far from the boy’s old home but escaped with a slight wound. Eluding his pursuers for a while, he was finally caught and put in jail in Lexington. So strong was the feeling against him, that a band of men entered the town to lynch Hughes. They filled the Court House yard. All were excited. Trouble was imminent. The mob determined. Just as they were about to rush the jail, at the door of which stood the-faithful-old-jailer Perry, there appeared on the scene, very quietly and without haste, their old General. As quietly he moved among the men, many of whom were his old soldiers. In a short time, through his influence, the mob was tamed, claws clipped and teeth extracted, and the men had agreed to return to their homes.
When Valentine, the sculptor, came to Lexington to model the bust for Lee’s statue, he did much of the work, especially the sitting part, in a room on the first floor of the Lexington, now the R. E. Lee, Hotel. There the boy saw the artist with the great soldier before him. Valentine evidently deeply interested in what the General was, so quietly, saying.
The last time he was seen alive by these eyes was when the boy entered Washington College. The General was standing near the tree not far from the chapel door. Very thoughtful he spoke to the Professors as they arranged the details in connection with the chapel service. He was most impressive in a dark suit, soft black hat with his gray hair and beard. That form and face, as he sat on the platform, are ineffaceable and rise distinctly before him after all these years. The vigil at the tomb fixed it forever. When we looked upon his face again, he lay in state in his own little chapel. Wrapping his warrior’s cloak about him, he had lain down to quiet dreams.
“Then from the dawn it seemed there came but faint
As from beyond the limit of the world,
Like the last echo born of a great cry,
Sounds as if some fair city were one voice
Around a king returning from his wars.
Washington and Lee has his ashes. The world has his fame.”
Emmett W. McCorkle,
Rockbridge Baths, Va.