His last years were burdened by business misfortunes and physical suffering. He had invested his money in a banking business which failed and involved him in ruin. With poverty came illness, a painful throat disease which was to end in death.
From his sickroom in answer to words of sympathy which came from all parts of the country, indeed of the world he sent this message: “I am very much touched and grateful for the sympathy and interest manifested in me by my friends and by those who have not hitherto been regarded as my friends. I desire the good will of all, whether heretofore friends or not.”
To make provision for his family, he set about writing his “Memoirs,” the story of his life and battles. In pain and illness, he toiled on and held death at bay till this work was finished, July 1, 1885. A few days later, he died on July 23. He was laid to rest beside the Hudson and over his remains was erected a magnificent marble tomb; over the doorway of this is inscribed his noble words, “Let us have peace.”
Robert E. Lee
The Leader of the Confederate Armies
More and more, Americans are coming to realize that in the great War between the States men on both sides were animated by a sense of duty and devotion to what they thought right. On the one side, brave, loyal-hearted men upheld the Union; on the other, men as brave and loyal upheld the supremacy of the state. You have read how Grant, the victor, won the love and reverence of his countrymen; no less loved and reverenced was his defeated opponent, the great Confederate leader, Lee.
Robert Edward Lee was born January 19, 1807, at Stratford, a handsome old country home in Virginia. His father, General Henry Lee, was the famous “Light Horse Harry” of the Revolution. When Robert was only four years old, General Lee moved to Alexandria in order to give his children the benefit of better schools. From childhood Robert was an apt and faithful student, careful to do his best at any task which he undertook. His childhood was darkened by the illness and death of his father. Robert cared tenderly for his invalid mother who said, “He is both son and daughter to me.”
ROBERT E. LEE
From the school at Alexandria Robert went to West Point, where at the end of four years he was graduated second in his class. Two years after leaving West Point, he married Mary Randolph Custis, the daughter of Washington’s adopted son, Washington Parke Curtis. Lieutenant Lee and his wife made their home at Arlington, a stately mansion on the Potomac River, in sight of the city of Washington. Here he passed a few happy months. But a soldier cannot choose his post of duty, and Lee was summoned from home to engineer work in the West. Then came the war with Mexico in which he took part. In this war served as privates or officers many others destined to fame in the War between the States—Johnston, McClellan, Pickett, Grant, Jackson. Among his brave and able comrades, Lee made a distinguished record. In the advance on the city of Mexico, he explored and made a road over a pathless lava field across which he guided troops; then he rode back alone in the darkness and rain to report to his commanding officer. General Scott said that this midnight journey was the greatest deed of the war, and Lee “the greatest military genius in America.”
After the war with Mexico was over, Captain Lee made a visit home. In 1852 he was made superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point. Thence he was sent to Texas to fight against the Indians. He was in Virginia in 1859 and he was sent to suppress John Brown’s raid. He performed his duty at Harper’s Ferry in soldierly fashion, treated his prisoners kindly, and turned them over to the civil authorities to be punished for breaking the laws. In 1860 he was again in Texas, but the next spring he returned to Virginia. The period of disunion and secession was a sad one for Colonel Lee. He loved dearly the Union which his father had aided to establish. He had entered its army expecting to devote his life to its service. He believed, indeed, in the supreme authority of the state, but he thought secession unwise and was confident that in the Union the vexing questions about slavery and the tariff could be settled.