Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William H. F. Lee (A Representative from Virginia)

In 1857, when he was pursuing his studies in the University of Harvard, in preparation for the active and serious duties of life, he received from the then President of the United States the appointment of brevet second lieutenant in the Sixth Infantry. At that time the spirit of resistance to the authority of the National Government was being exhibited to such an extent in Utah as to call for measures of repression. Assassinations and outrages of all kinds were common, and the officers of the United States were powerless either to prevent or punish their commission.

When Mr. Buchanan became President the resolution was formed that the insubordination and conflict of authority existing in that Territory should cease, and the necessary executive and judicial officers having been appointed for the enforcement of the laws of the United States and the preservation of the public peace, it was determined to send a detachment of the Army to protect them against violence and to assist them as a posse comitatus, when necessary, in the performance of their duties. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston became the commander of this military force, and Lieut. Lee had his first experience of the service in this expedition. As the occasion does not call for a recital of the events of that period, I will content myself with the remark that he was then, as on every occasion in after years, faithful to the obligations of duty. His term of service in the Army was of short duration, and from that fact we may infer that he was not enamored with the life of a soldier in time of peace.

In 1859 he resigned his commission, and soon thereafter was married to Miss Wickham, the daughter of a family distinguished in the annals of Virginia. They went to reside at the White House, on the Pamunkey River, in the county of New Kent. It was at this old historic country home that the marriage of George Washington with the Widow Custis was celebrated. It descended to Gen. Lee from his mother, who was the great-granddaughter of Washington's wife.

Here he devoted himself to the tillage of the soil and became engrossed with the pursuits of a plain and unostentatious farmer. His condition and surroundings at this time were such as to invite contentment and encourage the cultivation of those pure and lofty sentiments for which he was ever distinguished.

Being in the flower and strength of his young manhood and blessed with affluence and the love of an accomplished wife, there seemed wanting nothing to make his home an earthly paradise.

But the course of this peaceful and happy life was not to run thus smoothly to the end. Dark and threatening clouds of war soon lowered upon our land, and the political conflicts and antagonisms, which had grown in intensity and bitterness with the flight of years, ripened into civil war in 1861. The crisis then arrived when the appeal to arms was inevitable, and with it the necessity that all men should decide whether allegiance was first due to the State or General Government. There were honest differences of opinion on this question, which had existed from the very foundation of the Republic.

He was connected by blood with a long line of illustrious men, who had borne a conspicuous part in the events which led to the declaration of American independence and the establishment of this constitutional Government. It was Richard Henry Lee who offered in the Continental Congress, in June, 1776, that stirring resolution which proclaimed to the world "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

It was his own grandfather, known in history as "Light-Horse Harry Lee," who, in the long struggle which followed this bold declaration, struck such sturdy blows for the liberties and rights of his countrymen as caused him to receive the special commendation of George Washington, of whom in turn he uttered those memorable words: "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Bearing a name thus associated with all the glorious achievements of the past, it was but natural that he should have felt an ardent attachment to the Union. But he was a son of Virginia, "where American liberty raised its first voice and where its youth was nurtured and sustained."

There the doctrine of the sovereignty of the State was accepted as the true interpretation of the Constitution almost without division of sentiment. Her people held that allegiance was first due to their State, and while all deplored the necessity for, few, if any, doubted as to the right of separation. When in April, 1861, a convention representing her people passed the ordinance of secession, he felt no hesitation in adopting his course. He resolved at once to consecrate himself and his sword to the sacred duty of defending her homes and firesides.

Having raised a company of cavalry, he was made its captain, and was rapidly promoted from rank to rank until he reached that of major-general. Soon after his entry into the Confederate service he became associated with the command of Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, and participated thereafter in nearly all the movements of that fearless and dashing leader, whom the brave Gen. Sedgwick, of the United States Army, pronounced "the best cavalry officer ever foaled in North America." On June 3, 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee, the father of my deceased colleague, assumed the command of the Army of Northern Virginia three days after the retiracy of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, caused by a wound received in the battle of Seven Pines.

The plans of the Federal commander for the capture of the capital of the Southern Confederacy had been well chosen. His army, according to his own report, numbered 156,000, of whom 115,000 were ready for duty as fighting men. All the vast resources of his Government were being employed to enable him to prosecute his campaign with efficiency and vigor. His troops had been furnished with artillery and small arms of the most approved description and best pattern. They had abundance of ammunition of the finest quality and ample supplies of food and clothing. Gen. McDowell, then at Fredericksburg with 40,000 men, and Gens. Banks and Frémont in the valley of Virginia, were expected to coöperate in the movement. A line of fire was slowly but steadily being drawn around Richmond. These plans, as I have said, had been well conceived and were being executed with great precision and skill.

To oppose this formidable advance there were less than 100,000 fighting men in Virginia, and they were greatly inferior to the enemy in both equipments and supplies. Gen. Johnston, penetrating the designs of his adversary, commenced operations to prevent their accomplishment. The bloody and stubbornly contested battle of Seven Pines was fought in part execution of his plans. When Gen. Robert E. Lee succeeded to the command it was apparent that some decisive blow must be struck to save the Southern capital from a state of siege. Surveying the whole field with a keen and practiced eye, he saw that the left wing of the Union army, which had been thrown across the Chickahominy and advanced to within four or five miles of Richmond, occupied a strong and almost impregnable position. An attack upon the center promised no better results.

Under these circumstances he turned his attention to the right wing, and, in order to obtain the fullest and most accurate information concerning McClellan's position and defenses on that portion of his line, ordered Gen. Stuart to make a reconnoissance in the direction of Old Church and Cold Harbor. With 1,500 picked men that pink of Southern chivalry immediately undertook the execution of the orders of the commanding general. This daring exploit was popularly known as "Stuart's ride around McClellan." It is a fact that he did pass entirely around the Union army, and, building a bridge across the Chickahominy, reëntered the Confederate lines in safety. In this perilous expedition he was assisted by his bravest and best officers, among whom were Gens. William H.F. Lee, and his cousin, the dashing Fitz Lee.

More was accomplished than had been anticipated, and it was ascertained that the right and rear of McClellan were unprotected by works of any strength. In consequence of the information thus obtained the decision was formed to make the attack in that direction, and on the 26th of June, 1862, began that series of splendid battles which culminated in the retreat of McClellan's army to Harrisons Landing, on the James River, and the deliverance of Richmond from danger. On the 9th of June, 1863, there occurred near Brandy Station, in the county of Culpeper, Va., one of the most extensive and stubborn cavalry fights of the whole war. Two divisions of Federal cavalry, commanded by Gens. Buford and Gregg, and supported by two brigades of "picked infantry," fell upon Stuart with such suddenness and fierceness that the attack was almost crowned with victory. Nothing saved him from defeat, if not from greater calamity, but his own coolness and that of his lieutenants, coupled with the indomitable pluck and intrepidity of his troopers.

In this engagement that brave Georgian Gen. Young, formerly a member of this House, by a splendid charge with sabers, without carbine or pistol, repulsed a dangerous and gallant assault on the rear, while Gen. William H.F. Lee, with equal courage and dash, protected the left of the Confederate position. In this encounter Gen. Lee received a severe wound, which necessitated his retirement from the field. He was carried to Hickory Hill, in Hanover County, the home of Gen. Wickham, a near relative of his wife, and here he was captured and placed in solitary confinement in Fort Monroe as a hostage, certain officers of the United States being then held under sentence of death in Libby Prison in retaliation for the execution of certain Confederate officers in the West.

Gen. Custis Lee, being then a young unmarried man, on the staff of the Confederate President, met, under special flag of truce, representatives of the Government at Washington, and begged to be permitted to take the place of Gen. William H.F. Lee, giving as a reason for the proposed exchange his desire to save from punishment the innocent wife and children of his wounded brother. The offer was declined, and he was told that the burdens of war must fall where chance or fortune placed them.

In this incident we have a beautiful and touching illustration of the strength and warmth of brotherly love and of the knightly bearing of the Lees of Virginia. While thus detained as a prisoner of war, racked with physical suffering and those mental tortures which a sensitive and high-strung man must feel under such circumstances, there came the sad tidings of the death of his loved wife and two children; and thus was added another, the most poignant of all the griefs with which he had been afflicted. His old Virginia home, associated with so many sacred memories, had been reduced to ashes, and now there remained of the once happy family which formerly occupied it only the captive father. This weight of woe would seem too much for human endurance, but he bore it with the fortitude of a Christian soldier. He was exchanged in the spring of 1864, and returning to his division, led it in all the engagements, from the Rapidan to the Appomattox, where the curtain fell upon the stirring and bloody scenes in which he had been such an active participant.

As a soldier he was always calm, cool, and self-possessed. Those who have had experience in the ranks know that the bravest and best soldiers will falter and hesitate when they are without confidence in the ability, judgment, and foresight of their leader. The soldiers who were ranged under the standard of Lee, believing that their noble commander was equal to all emergencies, followed him with unwavering trust, and their survivors testify to the affection in which a spirit so gentle and yet so brave was held.

No higher eulogy can be pronounced upon any man than to say of him that which can be truly alleged of Gen. Lee, that he was an honored and trusted leader in that splendid Army of Northern Virginia, which only failed where success was impossible. They challenged the respect and admiration of the world, and of their great captain it has been said that "a country which has given birth to men like him and those who followed him may look the chivalry of Europe in the face without shame, for the fatherlands of Sidney and Bayard never produced a nobler soldier, gentleman, and Christian than Robert E. Lee."

These meager details of our civil war have not been given with the purpose of reviving unpleasant memories or of perpetuating sectional animosities. They have been related because they constitute an important part of the story of the life of him whom we mourn.

On both sides were displayed the highest qualities of the military leader, and illustrated as never before the pluck, endurance, and dash of the American soldier. They were Americans all, and, without distinction of sections, we can claim part of the honor of their achievements and partake in the pride of their great names. We have furnished to the world the indubitable proof that these States united are invincible. When, at Appomattox, our arms were stacked and banners furled we returned to our homes with no divided allegiance.

We believe that in the safety of the Union is the safety of the States. And we rejoice that "the gorgeous ensign of the Republic is still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe polluted or erased, not a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as 'What is all this worth?' Nor those other words of delusion and folly, 'Liberty first and Union afterwards,' but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart, 'Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.'"

But while entertaining these sentiments, we can not, we will not, forget our glorious dead. The brave men against whom we fought neither expect nor desire such unnatural conduct. Whether the cause for which they died was just or not it would be idle to discuss. It is enough for us to know that—

They were slain for us,And their blood flowed out in a rain for us—Red, rich, and pure, on the plain for us;And years may go,But our tears shall flowO'er the dead who have died in vain for us.

After the cessation of hostilities Gen. Lee resumed the occupations of a farmer on the old plantation which he had left in 1861. The implements of warfare were exchanged for those of the husbandman, and following the plow on the furrows he commenced the work of repairing the losses he had sustained. In 1868 he married Miss Mary Tabb Bolling, the daughter of Col. George W. Bolling, of Petersburg, and they continued their residence at the White House until 1874, when they removed to Ravensworth, in the county of Fairfax, where he died.

He was an able and faithful Representative, and always devoted to the interests of his constituents. As a fitting eulogy to his worth it may be truly said that it was his disposition to follow the line of duty to the end. The conscientious performance of every trust confided to him was the watchword of his life. In his conduct as a legislator he was never ruled by faction or interest, but the promotion of the public good was the motive of all his actions. While exhibiting none of the showy and sparkling qualities of the orator, he was distinguished for the possession of good judgment and strong practical common sense. He was a man of calm and even temperament, and was seldom, if ever, controlled by prejudices or swayed by passion. Those who were associated with him here remember his dignified and courteous bearing. No words of bitterness or reproach ever escaped his lips, and he never forgot what was due to others as well as to himself.

I never heard him speak an unkind word of another, and while reserved, and to a certain extent formal, in his demeanor, he was a man of infinite sweetness of disposition:

And thus he bore without abuse,The grand old name of gentleman.

Both in his public and private life he furnished an example worthy of the emulation of all who love the true nobility of humanity. We will draw aside the curtain only for a passing glance at the domestic circle, of which his beautiful and lovely wife was at once the pride and the ornament. Surrounded by this devoted helpmeet and two manly sons, there was not a happier home in old Virginia. Warmed by the love of his big and generous heart, it was the abode of contentment and peace. The dread messenger was never more unwelcome than when he entered the portals of Ravensworth and made vacant forever the chair of the husband and the father.

We can say nothing to assuage the poignant grief of the widow and children, but our hearts are filled with the fervent prayer that Heaven's choicest blessings may be showered upon them.

Address of Mr. Herbert, of Alabama

Mr. Speaker: In this brief tribute to the memory of Gen. William H.F. Lee I should be unworthy of the friendship which it was my privilege to claim did I indulge in anything else than the language of soberness and truth. In him there was no manner of affectation; he pretended to be nothing but such as he was, and it is certain that if he had been giving directions to his biographer he would have laid down the rule announced by Thomas Carlyle, in his review of the life of Lockhart, that the biographer in the treatment of his subject "should have the fear of God before his eyes and no other fear whatever."

Froude, as biographer, claims subsequently to have applied to the life of Carlyle his own rule; and all the world knows that in the portrayal of Carlyle's faults of character the biographer left many a sting in the hearts of those who had loved the great man while he lived and who felt that the failings on which the historian had dwelt ought to have been interred with his bones. The biographer who shall perform faithfully the task of writing the life of "Rooney" Lee will not paint him as a genius like Carlyle; but, sir, if there was any single feature in the character of our friend that, laid bare to the world even by the bold hand of an Anthony Froude, would cause the faintest blush to tinge the cheek of family or friends, I, who knew him well, do not know what it was.

It is true, sir, that it was not my fortune to be thrown in contact with him in the earlier years of his life. I did not know him when his character was being shaped and molded by the generous and refining influences which surrounded him from his cradle to his manhood.

My personal acquaintance with him may be said to have begun only when he had taken his seat by my side in this Hall. But his fame had come before him. A representative of the most distinguished family in America, he had been, by this circumstance alone, conspicuous from his birth; and yet he came among us with not a spot upon his name.

During the civil war, from a subordinate position rising rapidly to high command and always in the bright light that surrounded him as a son of the most illustrious general of modern times, he bore himself as a soldier without reproach. Neither in civil life nor in war had calumny assaulted him. Such a man, entering here upon a new career, attracted attention the moment he came into this Hall.

It soon appeared to those who watched him closely that he was singularly modest. This modesty was not diffidence. He was at all times self-poised. On this floor, addressing himself to a public question just as in a private conversation among his friends, he always had the easy, unpretentious manner of the thoroughbred gentleman, but his modesty was easily apparent in an utter lack of self-assertion. He never put himself forward except when duty prompted, and then he did nothing for display; never a word did he speak for himself, but only for his cause.

He made indeed no pretensions to oratory; he had never been trained in its arts; but his mind was broad and highly cultured, he had a vast fund of vigorous common sense, and he expressed himself readily and pointedly. With these faculties he would in time have taken rank as a strong debater.

While broadly patriotic, he had at the same time a high sense of obligation to his immediate constituency, and he was patient to a remarkable degree. His district, you will remember, Mr. Speaker, lay just beyond the Potomac.

It was an easy matter for his constituents to come to the Capitol, and naturally many of them sought office at his hands. I sat near him in the Fifty-first Congress. Often have I known him to be carded out a dozen times a day; and if he ever expressed himself to me as worried by these interruptions he never failed to show by what he said that his annoyance arose not so much from the importunities of his friends as from his inability to serve them.

In address he was remarkably pleasing. Indeed, his manner was so genial, so pleasant, so hearty and sincere, that the memory of his kindly greeting will not be forgotten until the whole generation of his friends shall pass away. Who is there among his associates on this floor that will ever cease to remember him as, morning after morning in the springtime, he came into this Hall, bringing from his home a basket of roses to distribute among his friends? He was not seeking popularity. Such a thought had not occurred to him, nor did it enter into the mind of anyone here. He simply loved his friends, and he loved flowers just as he loved all things beautiful and true.

Such a man could not but be, as Gen. Lee was, a model brother, husband, and father. In all his life nothing was more lovely and beautiful than his family relations.

He had about him none of the arts of the demagogue; he was always true to himself, and therefore never false to any man. His whole walk and conversation illustrated that he was the worthy son of his noble father; that from his youth up he had profited by the precepts and example of that illustrious chieftain, who declared, in those memorable words already quoted by my eloquent friend [Mr. Tucker], that duty was the sublimest word in the English language. And, Mr. Speaker, let me say that the idea conveyed by this word duty, as taught by the father and practiced by the son, was far higher than that ideal, lofty though it was, expounded by philosophers like Plato and Cicero. With the Lees duty meant Christian duty.

With all these characteristics Gen. Lee could not but grow and continue to grow as he did in power and influence in a body like this; and had he been spared for that long career in this Hall hoped for by his friends he would have risen to eminence as a legislator.

But this was not to be. He has passed away from us forever.

When such a man dies out from among us, let critics cavil as they may about time wasted in memorial addresses. We should do violence to our own feelings did we not pause to honor his memory; we should do wrong to the American people, whose heritage they are, did we not spread before them the lessons of his life, that the whole country may venerate his virtues and the youth of the land may emulate his example.

Address of Mr. Hermann, of Oregon

Mr. Speaker: Of all picturesque spots on the face of the earth there is perhaps none that can rival in scenic beauty Mount Arlington, in the State of Virginia. Shaded by the primeval forest to the rear, and in front beautified by the gently sloping lawn, decorated by variegated flowers and artistically trimmed shrubbery, with the dark-green waters of the Potomac ebbing and flowing not far away and in full view the mighty nation's splendid capital city, stands the stately old mansion, with its classic columns, where nearly fifty-five years ago was born our departed friend and colleague, and one of the beloved Representatives of the people of Virginia—Gen. William H.F. Lee. Born in Virginia, he remained a Virginian continuously to the hour of his death.

Inheriting the martial genius of his eminent ancestry, he early aspired to a career in the military service of his country, and at the comparatively early age of twenty we find him bidding adieu to his college studies at Harvard and uniting with the Army in its expedition to Utah in 1858, where he first experienced the fatigues and hardships incident to the life of the soldier in the long march over the arid plains and through the mountain canyons into the Mormon territory. The prospect of inaction, with a long period in garrison, proved a disappointment to so ambitious a spirit, and he resigned his commission and returned to the domestic welcome of his Virginia farm.