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24 - Recollections And Letters Of General Robert E. Lee by Robert E. Lee, Jr. · Recollections And Letters Of General Robert E. Lee

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four of Recollections and Letters of General Robert E.
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  Speaker 1: Lee by Robert E. Lee Junior. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter twenty four Last Days letter
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  Speaker 1: to his wife to mister Taggart obituary notice in Personal
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  Speaker 1: Reminiscences of General Robert E. Lee, Missus Lee's account of
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  Speaker 1: his death. The following is the last letter that I
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  Speaker 1: can find written by my father to my mother. He
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  Speaker 1: was back in Lexington early in September and was never
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  Speaker 1: separated from her again while he lived Hot Springs. August
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven, eighteen seventy. My dear Mary, I have received
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  Speaker 1: your letter of the twenty second. I should remain here
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  Speaker 1: a week longer, if time permitted, as I have felt
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  Speaker 1: in the last few days better than I have yet.
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  Speaker 1: But I am obliged to be in Staunton on the thirtieth,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore must leave Monday the twenty ninth. I should
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  Speaker 1: not have time to return here. The college opens on
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  Speaker 1: Settember fifteenth, and I wish to see that all things
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  Speaker 1: are prepared. Possibly the little improvement now felt will continue.
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  Speaker 1: If not, I shall have to bear my malady. I
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  Speaker 1: am truly sorry to hear of Edwin Lee's death footnote.
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Edwin Gray Lee was a near cousin. He had
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  Speaker 1: distinguished himself in the Late War. At its commencement, he
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  Speaker 1: had volunteered and was made a second lieutenant in the
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  Speaker 1: second Virginia Regiment, Stonewall Brigade. From that rank he quickly
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  Speaker 1: rose to be Lieutenant colonel of the thirty third Virginia
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  Speaker 1: in the same brigade. In eighteen sixty two, his health,
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  Speaker 1: which was very feeble, compelled him to resign, but after
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  Speaker 1: a short time he again entered the service, though he
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  Speaker 1: never became strong enough to serve actively in the field.
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  Speaker 1: General Lee's opinion of his abilities was very high. End note.
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  Speaker 1: He was a true man, and if health had permitted,
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  Speaker 1: would have been an ornament as well as a benefit
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  Speaker 1: to his race. He certainly was a great credit to
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  Speaker 1: the name. Give my sincere sympathy to his wife and family.
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  Speaker 1: You have never mentioned anything of doctor Graham. I have
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  Speaker 1: heard that he was in a critical condition. I saw
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  Speaker 1: Colonels Allan and Johnston. They only stayed a day and
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  Speaker 1: went on to the White I have heard of them
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  Speaker 1: on their return, and presume they will reach Lexington tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: Mister George Taylor, who has been a month at the White,
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  Speaker 1: arrived here to day. Both he and his wife are well.
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  Speaker 1: The company is thinning, though arrivals occur daily. Mister Middleton
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  Speaker 1: and his daughter and son from Washington, whom you may recollect,
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  Speaker 1: also came. But I hope to see you so soon
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  Speaker 1: that I will defer my narrative. I am glad that
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  Speaker 1: Mary is enjoying herself and that Rob is so happy.
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  Speaker 1: May both long continue, so I will endeavor to get
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  Speaker 1: the Muslin, but I fear I shall not succeed. I
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  Speaker 1: trust I may not be detained in Staunton more than
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  Speaker 1: a day or two. In that event, you may expect
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  Speaker 1: me Thursday, September first, but I cannot say as to time.
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  Speaker 1: I hope that I shall find you all well. Give
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  Speaker 1: my love to Agnes and Mildred and Custus. If he
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  Speaker 1: has arrived. Colonel Turner is very well. Tell his wife
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  Speaker 1: that he was exhibited to day at the healing as
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  Speaker 1: a specimen of the health of the hat. In my
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  Speaker 1: last I gave you my views about the servants and
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  Speaker 1: sent you a check for blank, which I hope that
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  Speaker 1: you have received most truly and affectionately. R. E. Lee
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  Speaker 1: his last letter was written on the morning of the
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  Speaker 1: day he was taken Ill September twenty eighth. It was
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  Speaker 1: to mister Taggart of Baltimore, at whose home he had
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  Speaker 1: stayed the previous summer. Its tone was cheerful and hopeful,
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  Speaker 1: and he wrote that he was much better and stronger. Lexington, Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: September twenty eighth, eighteen seventy. My dear mister Taggart, your
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  Speaker 1: note of the twenty six reached me this morning. And
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  Speaker 1: see how easy it is to aveigle me into a correspondence.
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  Speaker 1: And in fact, when a man desires to do a thing,
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  Speaker 1: or when a thing gives a man pleasure, he requires
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  Speaker 1: but small provocation to induce him to do it. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to hear how you and missus Taggart were,
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  Speaker 1: what you were doing, and how you had passed the summer,
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  Speaker 1: and I desire to tell you. So. That is the
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  Speaker 1: reason I write in answer to your question. I reply
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  Speaker 1: that I am much better. I do not know whether
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  Speaker 1: it is owing to having seen you and doctor Butler
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  Speaker 1: last summer, or to my visit to the hot springs,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps both, but my pains are less and my strength greater.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I suppose I am as well as I
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  Speaker 1: shall be. I am still following Doctor B's directions, and
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  Speaker 1: in time I may improve still more. I expect to
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  Speaker 1: have to visit Baltimore this fall in relation to the
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  Speaker 1: Valley Railroad, and in that event I hope to see you,
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  Speaker 1: if you will permit me. I am glad to hear
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  Speaker 1: that you spent a pleasant summer, Colonel Blank, and I
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  Speaker 1: would have had a more agreeable one had you been
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  Speaker 1: with us at the Hat. And as every place agrees
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  Speaker 1: so well with Missus Taggart, I think she could have
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed as good health there as at Saratoga, and we
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  Speaker 1: should have done better. Give my sincere regards to Missus Taggart,
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  Speaker 1: and remember me to all friends, particularly mister Blank. Tell
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  Speaker 1: Blank his brother is well and handsome, and I hope
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  Speaker 1: that he will study, or his sweethearts in Baltimore will
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  Speaker 1: not pine for him long. Captain Blank is well and
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  Speaker 1: busy and joins in my remembrances. Missus Lee and my
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  Speaker 1: daughters unite with me in messages to you and Missus Taggart,
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  Speaker 1: and I am most truly yours. R. E. Lee S. H.
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  Speaker 1: Taggard esquire when my brother Fitz Hugh and I reached Lexington.
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  Speaker 1: My father was no more. He died the morning of
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  Speaker 1: our arrival, October twelfth. He had apparently improved after his
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  Speaker 1: first attack, and the summoning of my brother and myself
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  Speaker 1: had been put off from day to day. After we
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  Speaker 1: did start, we were delayed by the floods which at
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  Speaker 1: that time prevailed. Over the state of his last illness
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  Speaker 1: and death, I have heard from my family the best
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  Speaker 1: account of those last days was written by Colonel William
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  Speaker 1: Preston Johnston for the Personal Reminiscences of General Robert E.
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  Speaker 1: Lee by the Reverend J. W. Jones, published in eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy four. Colonel Johnston was an intimate friend of the
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  Speaker 1: General and a distinguished member of the faculty of his college.
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  Speaker 1: He was also one of the watchers by his dying bedside.
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  Speaker 1: I therefore give it in full the death of General
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  Speaker 1: Lee was not due to any sudden cause, but was
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  Speaker 1: the result of agencies dating as far back as eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty three. In the trying campaign of that year, he
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  Speaker 1: contracted a severe sore throat that resulted in rheumatic inflammation
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  Speaker 1: of the sack in closing the heart. There is no
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  Speaker 1: doubt that After this sickness, his health was more or
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  Speaker 1: less impaired, and although he complained little, yet rapid exercise
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  Speaker 1: on foot or on horseback produced pain and difficulty in breathing.
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  Speaker 1: In October eighteen sixty nine, he was again attacked by
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  Speaker 1: inflammation of the heart sack, accompanied by muscular rheumatism of
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  Speaker 1: the back, right side and arms. The action of the
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  Speaker 1: heart was weakened by this attack, the flush upon the
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  Speaker 1: face was deepened, the rheumatism increased, and he was troubled
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  Speaker 1: with weariness and depression. In March eighteen seventy, General Lee,
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  Speaker 1: yielding to the solicitations of friends and medical advisers, made
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  Speaker 1: a six weeks visit to Georgia and Florida. He returned
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  Speaker 1: greatly benefited by the influence of the genial climate, the
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  Speaker 1: society of friends in those states, and the demonstrations of
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  Speaker 1: respect and affection of the people of the South. His
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  Speaker 1: physical condition, however, was not greatly improved. During this winter
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  Speaker 1: and spring. He had said to his son, General Custous Lee,
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  Speaker 1: that his attack was mortal, and had virtually expressed the
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  Speaker 1: same belief to other trusted friends. And now with that
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  Speaker 1: delicacy that pervaded all his actions, he seriously considered the
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  Speaker 1: question of resigning the presidency of Washington College, fearful that
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  Speaker 1: he might not be equal to his duties. After listening, however,
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  Speaker 1: to the affectionate remonstrances of the faculty and Board of Trustees,
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  Speaker 1: who well knew the value of his wisdom in the
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  Speaker 1: supervision of the college, and the power of his mere
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  Speaker 1: presence and example upon the students, he resumed his labors
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  Speaker 1: with the resolution to remain at his post and carry
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  Speaker 1: forward the great work he had so auspiciously begun. During
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  Speaker 1: the summer, he spent some weeks at the hot springs
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  Speaker 1: of Virginia, using the baths, and came home seemingly better
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  Speaker 1: in health and spirits. He entered upon the duties of
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  Speaker 1: the opening collegiate year in September with that quiet zeal
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  Speaker 1: and noiseless energy that marked all his actions, and an
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  Speaker 1: unus visual elation was felt by those about him at
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  Speaker 1: the increased prospect that long years of usefulness and honor
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  Speaker 1: would yet be added to his glorious life. Wednesday, September
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighth, eighteen seventy, found generally at the post of
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  Speaker 1: duty in the morning, he was fully occupied with the
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  Speaker 1: correspondence and other tasks incident to his office of President
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  Speaker 1: of Washington College, and he declined offers of assistance from
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  Speaker 1: members of the faculty, of whose services he sometimes availed himself.
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  Speaker 1: After dinner, at four o'clock, he attended a vestry meeting
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  Speaker 1: of Grace Episcopal Church. The afternoon was chilly and wet,
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  Speaker 1: and a steady rain had set in, which did not
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  Speaker 1: cease until it resulted in a great flood, the most
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  Speaker 1: memorable and destructive in this region for one hundred years.
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  Speaker 1: The church was rather cold and damp, and generally during
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  Speaker 1: the meeting sat in a pew with his military cape
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  Speaker 1: cast loosely about him. In a conversation that occupied the
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  Speaker 1: brief space preceding the call to order, he took part
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  Speaker 1: and told with marked cheerfulness of manner and kindliness of tone,
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  Speaker 1: some pleasant anecdotes of Bishop Meade and Chief Justice Marshall.
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  Speaker 1: The meeting was protracted until after seven o'clock by a
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  Speaker 1: discussion touching the rebuilding of the church edifice and the
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  Speaker 1: increase of the rector's salary. General Lee acted as chairman,
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  Speaker 1: and after hearing all that was said, gave his own opinion,
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  Speaker 1: as was his wont briefly and without argument. He closed
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  Speaker 1: the meeting with a characteristic act. The amount required for
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  Speaker 1: the minister's salary still lacked, a sum much greater than
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  Speaker 1: General Lee's proportion of the subscription, in view of his
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  Speaker 1: frequent and generous contributions to the church and other charities.
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  Speaker 1: But just before the adjournment, when the treasurer announced the
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  Speaker 1: amount of the deficit still remaining, Generally said, in a
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  Speaker 1: low tone, I will give that sum. He seemed tired
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  Speaker 1: toward the close of the meeting, and as was afterward remarked,
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  Speaker 1: showed an unusual flush, but at the time no apprehensions
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  Speaker 1: were felt. Generally returned to his house, and, finding his
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  Speaker 1: family waiting tea for him, took his place at the table,
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  Speaker 1: standing to say grace. The effort was vain, the lips
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  Speaker 1: could not utter the prayer of the heart. Finding himself
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  Speaker 1: unable to speak, he took his seat quietly and without agitation.
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  Speaker 1: His face seemed to some of the anxious group about
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  Speaker 1: him to wear a look of sublime resignation, and to
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  Speaker 1: events a full knowledge that the hour had come when
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  Speaker 1: all the cares and anxieties of this crowded life were
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  Speaker 1: at an end. His physicians, doctors H. S. Barton and R. L. Madison, arrived,
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  Speaker 1: promptly applied the usual remedies, and placed him upon the
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  Speaker 1: couch from which he was to rise. No more to him.
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  Speaker 1: Henceforth the things of this world were as nothing, and
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  Speaker 1: he bowed with resignation to the command of the master
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  Speaker 1: he had followed so long with reverence. The symptoms of
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  Speaker 1: his attack resembled concussion of the brain, without the attendant swoon.
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  Speaker 1: There was a marked debility, a slightly impaired consciousness, and
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  Speaker 1: a tendency to doze, but no paralysis of motion or sensation,
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  Speaker 1: and no evidence of suffering or inflammation of the brain.
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  Speaker 1: His physicians treated the case as one of vainous congestion,
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  Speaker 1: and with apparently favorable results. Yet, despite these propitious auguries
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  Speaker 1: drawn from his physical symptoms, in view of the great
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  Speaker 1: mental strain he had undergone, the gravest fears were felt
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  Speaker 1: that the attack was mortal. He took without objection the
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  Speaker 1: medicines and diet prescribed, and was strong enough to turn
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  Speaker 1: in bed without aid and to sit up to take nourishment.
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  Speaker 1: During the earlier days of his illness. Though inclined to doze,
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  Speaker 1: he was easily aroused, was quite conscious and observant, evidently
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  Speaker 1: understood whatever was said to him, and answered questions briefly
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  Speaker 1: but intelligently. He was, however, a verse too much, speaking
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  Speaker 1: generally using monosyllables, as had always been his habit when sick.
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  Speaker 1: When first attacked, he said to those who were removing
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  Speaker 1: his clothes, pointing at the same time to his rheumatic shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: you hurt my arm. Although he seemed to be gradually
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  Speaker 1: improving until October tenth, he apparently knew from the first
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  Speaker 1: that the appointed hour had come when he must enter
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  Speaker 1: those dark gates that closing open no more to earth.
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  Speaker 1: In the words of his physician, he neither expected nor
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  Speaker 1: desired to recover. When General Custus Lee made some allusion
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  Speaker 1: to his recovery, he shook his head and pointed upward.
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  Speaker 1: On the Monday morning before his death, doctor Madison, finding
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  Speaker 1: him looking better, tried to cheer him. How do you
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  Speaker 1: feel to day? General General Lee replied, slowly and distinctly,
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  Speaker 1: I feel better. The doctor then said, you might must
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  Speaker 1: make haste and get well. Traveler has been standing so
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  Speaker 1: long in the stable that he needs exercise. The General
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  Speaker 1: made no reply, but slowly shook his head and closed
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  Speaker 1: his eyes. Several times during his illness. He put aside
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  Speaker 1: his medicine, saying it is of no use, but yielded
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  Speaker 1: patiently to the wishes of his physicians or children, as
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  Speaker 1: if the slackened chords of being still responded to the
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  Speaker 1: touch of duty or affection. On October tenth, during the afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: his pulse became feeble and rapid, and his breathing hurried,
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  Speaker 1: with other evidences of great exhaustion. About midnight he was
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  Speaker 1: seized with a shivering from extreme debility, and doctor Barton
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  Speaker 1: felt obliged to announce the danger to the family. On
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  Speaker 1: October the eleventh, he was evidently sinking. His respiration was hurried,
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  Speaker 1: his pulse feeble and rapid. Though less observant, he still
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  Speaker 1: recognized whoever approached him, but refused to take any thing
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  Speaker 1: unless prescribed by his physicians. It now became certain that
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  Speaker 1: the case was hopeless. His decline was rapid yet gentle,
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  Speaker 1: and soon after nine o'clock on the morning of October twelfth,
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  Speaker 1: he closed his eyes and his soul passed peacefully from earth.
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  Speaker 1: General Lee's physicians attributed his death in great measure to
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  Speaker 1: moral causes. The strain of his campaigns, the bitterness of
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  Speaker 1: defeat aggravated by the bad faith and insolence of the victor,
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  Speaker 1: sympathy with the subsequent sufferings of the Southern people, and
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the effort at calmness under these accumulated sorrows seemed the
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  Speaker 1: sufficient and the real causes that slowly but steadily undermined
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  Speaker 1: his health and led to his death. Yet to those
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: who saw his composure under the greater and lesser trials
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  Speaker 1: of life, and his justice and forbearance with the most
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  Speaker 1: unjust and uncharitable, it seemed scarcely creditible that his serene
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  Speaker 1: soul was shaken by the evil that raged around him. Generally,
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  Speaker 1: closing hours were consonant with his noble and disciplined life.
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  Speaker 1: Never was more beautifully displayed how a long and severe
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  Speaker 1: education of mind and character enables the soul to pass
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  Speaker 1: with equal step through this supreme ordeal. Never did the
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  Speaker 1: habits and qualities of a lifetime solemnly gathered into a
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  Speaker 1: few last sad hours more grandly maintained themselves amid the
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  Speaker 1: gloom and shadow of approaching death. The reticence, the self
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  Speaker 1: contained composure, the obedience to proper authority, the magnanimity and
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  Speaker 1: the Christian meekness that marked all his actions still preserve
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  Speaker 1: their sway in spite of the inroads of disease and
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the creeping lethargy that weighed down his faculties. As the
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  Speaker 1: old hero lay in the darkened room, or with the
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  Speaker 1: lamp and the hearth fire casting shadows upon his calm,
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  Speaker 1: noble front, all the massive ground of his form and
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  Speaker 1: face and brow remained, and death seemed to lose its
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  Speaker 1: terrors and to borrow a grace and dignity and sublime
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  Speaker 1: keeping with the life that was ebbing away, the great
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: mind sank to its last repose, almost with the equal
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  Speaker 1: poise of health. The few broken utterances that evinced at
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  Speaker 1: times a wandering intellect were spoken under the influence of
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  Speaker 1: the remedies administered. But as long as consciousness lasted, there
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  Speaker 1: was evidence that all the high controlling influences of his
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  Speaker 1: whole life still ruled. And even when stupor was laying
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  Speaker 1: its cold hand on the intellectual perceptions, the moral nature,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: with its complete orb of duties and affections, still asserted itself.
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  Speaker 1: A Southern poet has celebrated in song those last significant
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: words strike the tent, and a thousand voices were raised
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  Speaker 1: to give meaning to the uncertain sound. When the dying
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: man said, with emphasis, Hill, he must come up. These
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: sentences served to show most touchingly through what feels the
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  Speaker 1: imagination was passing. But generally his words, though few, were coherent,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: but for the most part, indeed his silence was unbroken.
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  Speaker 1: This self contained reticence had an awful grandeur in solemn
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  Speaker 1: accord with a life that needed no defense, deeds which
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  Speaker 1: required no justification, must speak for him. His voiceless lips.
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  Speaker 1: Like the shut gates of some majestic temple, were closed
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  Speaker 1: not for concealment, but because that within was holy. Could
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  Speaker 1: the eye of the morning watcher have pierced the gloom
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  Speaker 1: that gathered about the recesses of that great soul, it
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  Speaker 1: would have perceived a presence there full of an ineffable glory,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: leaning trustfully upon the all sustaining arm. The man, whose stature,
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  Speaker 1: measured by mortal standards, seemed so great, passed from this
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  Speaker 1: world of shadows to the realities of the hereafter. A
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  Speaker 1: letter from my mother to a dear friend tells the
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  Speaker 1: same sad story. My husband came in. We had been
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  Speaker 1: waiting tea for him, and I remarked, you have kept
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: us waiting a long time. Where have you been? He
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  Speaker 1: did not reply, but stood up as if to say grace.
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  Speaker 1: Yet no word proceeded from his lips, and he sat
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  Speaker 1: down in his chair, perfectly upright, and with a sublime
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  Speaker 1: air of resignation on his countenance, and did not attempt
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  Speaker 1: to a reply to our inquiries. That look was never
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  Speaker 1: to be forgotten, and I have no doubt he felt
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  Speaker 1: that his hour had come. For though he submitted to
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: the doctors who were immediately summoned, and who had not
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  Speaker 1: even reached their homes from the same vestry meeting, yet
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: his whole demeanor during his illness showed one who had
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  Speaker 1: taken leave of earth. He never smiled and rarely attempted
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to speak, except in his dreams, and then he wandered
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: to those dreadful battle fields. Once, when Agnes urged him
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  Speaker 1: to take some medicine, which he always did with reluctance,
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  Speaker 1: he looked at her and said it is no use.
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  Speaker 1: But afterward he took it. When he became so much better,
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  Speaker 1: the doctor said you must soon get out and ride
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  Speaker 1: your favorite gray. He shook his head most emphatically and
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: looked upward. He slept a great deal, but knew us all,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: greeted us with a kindly pressure of the hand, and
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: loved to have us around him. For the last forty
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: eight hours he seemed quite insensible of our presence. He
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: breathed more heavily, and at last sank to rest with
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: one deep drawn sigh. And oh, what a glorious rest
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: was in store for him. End of Chapter twenty four.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: End of Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: by Robert E. Lee, Junior, s