Custis-Lee Mansion: The Robert E. Lee Memorial, Virginia

by Murray H. Nelligan

LEE IN TEXAS, 1855 TO 1857. Early in 1855, Lee was assigned to a cavalry regiment being organized for service on the frontier. Before leaving for his new station he made arrangements to have the large unfinished room off the main hall, at Arlington, made into a drawing room and to have a hot-air furnace installed to heat the house. The “Big Room,” as it was called, when finished was very handsome with its marble mantelpieces and crystal chandelier, and Mrs. Lee and the girls were proud of its appearance when they showed it to Lee on his return for the holidays.

Much of his leave was given over to straightening out the finances of Mr. Custis’ other farms, for the old gentleman was now 75 and, though active in improving his lands and crops, needed the assistance of his son-in-law in managing his business affairs. Lee returned to Texas in February 1856, and was unable to be home for Christmas that year. His loneliness is apparent in the letter he wrote to Mrs. Lee: “The time is approaching when I trust many of you will be assembled around the family hearth at dear Arlington, to celebrate another Christmas. Though absent, my heart will be in the midst of you, & I shall enjoy in imagination & memory, all that is going on. May nothing occur to mar or cloud the family fireside, & may each be able to look back with pride & pleasure at their deeds of the past year, & with confidence & hope to that in prospect. I can do nothing but hope & pray for you all.”

DEATH OF MR. CUSTIS. Life at Arlington and for the father far away in Texas flowed on quietly during 1857. Although badly crippled by rheumatism, Mrs. Lee was able to manage the household and spend much time in her garden, while her father occupied himself as usual. But in the fall a telegram came to Lee, telling him of Mr. Custis’ death on October 10th. Letters from the family told him more of the sad event: how Mr. Custis had been ill of pneumonia only 4 days, how he had steadily failed, and how on the last day, after embracing his weeping daughter and grandchildren and asking to be remembered to his son-in-law, had passed away while his rector said the prayers for the dying. His last wish had been to be buried by the side of his wife, and to that spot his coffin had been borne by the family servants, followed by the Lees and a host of relatives and friends.

Mrs. Robert E. Lee. This engraving was probably made from a photograph taken sometime after 1865.

LEE BECOMES MASTER OF ARLINGTON. It was a saddened household to which Lee returned as soon as he could, made more so because Mrs. Lee’s illness had progressed to where she was almost incapable of getting about the house. He found it necessary to take an extended leave in order to take on the management of Mr. Custis’ properties and, as his executor, to carry out the terms of his will. This provided that after outstanding debts had been paid and legacies given each of the Lee girls, the farms were to go to the boys, although Mrs. Lee would have possession of Arlington until her death, after which it would pass to Custis Lee. All the slaves were to be freed within 5 years.

A large debt had to be paid off before anything else could be done, and Lee applied himself to making the farms as productive as possible by putting more land under cultivation and planting larger crops. For a time, it seemed that it would be impossible for him ever to discharge his obligations satisfactorily, but he could still hide his discouragement from his children, as when in the autumn of 1858 he came upon one of his daughters saying a tearful goodbye to a friend, and said cheerfully to the weeping girls: “No tears at Arlington, no tears.” Fortunately, by the summer of 1859 he could see some improvement in the situation, although much remained to be done.

JOHN BROWN’S RAID AND THE IMPENDING CRISIS. One morning in October 1859, a young lieutenant, J. E. B. Stuart, who had been a guest at Arlington several times, came with orders for Lee to report at once to the Secretary of War. There he learned of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and was directed to take command of the forces being sent to quell the uprising. This was soon accomplished, and in a short while Lee was home again.

Affairs at Arlington were so encouraging that autumn, that Lee expected soon to rejoin his regiment in Texas. Therefore, he arranged to have his son, Custis, who was now in the Corps of Engineers, transferred to Washington where he could supervise the estate. Unlike many army officers, Lee had never been away long from his native State, and his months of hard work at Arlington had given him a sympathetic understanding of the problems faced by his kinsmen and fellow-planters and reaffirmed his belief that his first loyalty was to Virginia.

These were his views when he went to Texas in February 1860, and they remained unchanged as the discord between the North and South grew more intense. Uneasily, he observed the recklessness of the extremists on both sides, hoping always that the Union he loved would be preserved. Texas seceded in February 1861, and Lee, who had been ordered to report to Washington, arrived home at Arlington a month later. “I met Col. Robert E. Lee at Gen. Scott’s office,” one of his army friends wrote in his diary, March 5th. “He feels badly at the prospect.” Probably all that Lee could tell his old friend was that if Virginia seceded he must follow her, and that all he could do was to await developments.