In attempting to write a record of the Life and Career of General Robert E. Lee, the great commander of the Southern Army in the Civil War, the author undertakes the work with some diffidence and misgiving. This is occasioned, in part, by a sense of responsibility in undertaking so important a task, a task that had already been so well achieved by other and prominent biographers of “ the hero of a Lost Cause ” ; and in part also, by a doubt in the present writer’s mind of being able to do adequate justice to so eminent an actor in the drama of his time, who was, moreover, one of the greatest soldiers and most clever military tacticians of the past century, and, withal, a splendid type of Christian manhood. Here, however, the writer’s hesitation ends, and the impelling motive finally becomes admiration.
For the noble theme of this volume, and the ambition to add another, and it is hoped a not unworthy tribute, to the fame of the illustrious General, who was personally not only greatly beloved and highly esteemed in his day, but whose professional eminence among the renowned commanders of the war is conceded by every critic and writer of distinction who has dealt with its tragic annals.
But great as is the niche filled by the grand old soldier in the history of the Southern side of the Civil War contest, we must remember that this is not all we have to deal with in relating the life and military exploits of the man, since long before the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion and his espousal of the interests of his native State in that dire struggle, Lee had had a lengthened, varied, and honorable career of service in the Army of the United States. In that service, not only had he won distinction as chief engineer officer and active combatant in the War with Mexico, where he rendered heroic and conspicuous service at the siege of Vera Cruz, and was wounded in the assault; but was, moreover, of invaluable service to the commander of the expedition, General Winfield Scott, in his council of officers, as well as in important reconnaissances, in planting batteries, in conducting columns from point to point under fire during the assault upon the place, and taking part in the numerous and often perilous operations of the siege.
