meat.

The darkey looked perplexed and embarrassed, and after scratching his head some time said in a deprecating tone, 'Lord, Mas' Robert, dat meat what I sot before you at dinner warn't ours. I had jest borrowed dat piece of middlin' from one of de couriers to season de cabbage in de pot, and seein' as you was gwine to have company at dinner, I put on de dish wid de cabbage for looks. But when I seed you an' none of de genelmen toche it I 'cluded you all knowed it was borrowed, and so after dinner I sont it back to de boy what it belong to. I's mighty sorry, Mas' Robert, I didn't know you wanted some, for den I would 'a' tuck a piece off'n it anyhow 'fore I sont it home." "

In the latter part of 1861, General Lee was sent to the coast of South

Carolina, where he planned the defenses which so long proved impregnable to all attacks of the Union forces, and which were held until the northward march of Sherman's army in 1865 compelled the evacuation of Charleston. Lee then returned to Virginia, and in June, 1862, he took command of the Confederate forces defending Richmond. On June 26th, he met McClellan at Mechanicsville and Gaines's Mill; and then began that long and terrible series of battles between his forces and the Army of the Potomac, which so splendidly displayed his magnificent abilities as a commander. In defensive warfare he was almost invincible. He defeated McClellan on the Peninsula, Burnside at Fredericksburg, and Hooker at Chancellorsville. Not until Grant took command in 1864 had a general been found who could successfully cope with Lee; and even

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Grant accomplished Lee's final defeat not so much by superior generalship as by steadily taking advantage of his own superior resources.

After the great conflict at Gettysburg, in July, 1863, the great resources of the North, so far superior to those of the South, began to tell against the Confederacy. It became almost impossible to recruit the Southern armies, or to properly supply the men who were already in the field. Henceforth Lee's operations were confined to the defense of Virginia; and it is hard to overrate the masterly ability with which this was done, under almost insuperable difficulties and discouragements. It was love and devotion to their commander which held together the armies of the Confederacy; and this, coupled with their confidence in his skill, long made his ragged and half-starved soldiers more than a match for the superior armies of McClellan and Grant. General Grant perceived this, and saw that it was really a question of endurance,—that the Confederacy could be overcome only when the resources of the South were so far exhausted that the war could no longer be carried on; and it was with this idea in his mind that he took command of the Union armies in 1864.

The battle of the Wilderness, on May 5th, was the beginning of the end. Spottsylvania followed, and then Cold Harbor, where the frightful losses of the Union armies gave terrible proof of Lee's ability to take swift advantage of the least mistake of his antagonist. Then came the siege of Petersburg, and after a spring and summer of persistent fighting, Lee seemed as able as ever to keep the Union armies at bay. But, as Grant had foreseen, the struggle had told heavily upon his resources; and when the triumphant march of Sherman through Georgia had exposed the hopelessly exhausted condition of the South, the end of the struggle was seen to be approaching.

The deprivation and poverty in Virginia in the last year of the war were extreme. The railroad communications of Richmond being often destroyed by the Union cavalry, it was impossible to keep the city supplied, and many of the people were on the verge of starvation. Pea soup and bread were the food of large numbers. Confederate money had so depreciated that it was often said that it took a basketful to go to market. A barrel of flour cost several hundred dollars. Boots were four and five hundred dollars a pair.

Still Lee held out, and in the spring of 1865 maintained with persistent skill and courage the hopeless defense of Richmond; but his army was melting away; it was impossible to supply them even with food; the men themselves saw that further conflict was a useless sacrifice, and were ready to accept the result which came at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

The universal affection and respect which the people of the South felt for General Lee was, if possible, increased after the close of the war. The confiscation of his property had rendered him homeless. The people of Virginia offered him homes almost without number, and relatives also who lived in Eng

land were desirous that he should take up his abode there; but General Lee would not consent to be separated from the country he loved. He was deeply attached to the people of the South, as they to him; and of the many homes

"GENERAL LEE TO THE REAR!"

offered him, he chose one in Powhatan County, a small and simple country place, where he gathered his wife and children around him, expect ing to lead a retired and quiet life. He was also offered many positions, in which he would receive a liberal salary for little or no labor; but these his pride would not permit

him to accept. Finally a proposition was made by the trustees of Washington College that he should become president of that institution. This offer, much to the gratification of his friends, he concluded to accept, believing, as he said, that he could be of influence and use in that posi tion. This expecta tion was not disappointed. The University quickly became

one of the most popular educational institutions of the South, which was no doubt largely in consequence of the fact that he was at the head of it. The number of students increased ten-fold within a comparatively short time after General Lee became its president. His wisdom and skill in managing the

AFFECTION OF THE PEOPLE.

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students of the University was remarkable. His appeal to the higher sentiments of the young men seemed never to fail of a response. They were ashamed to do anything less than their best when feeling that General Lee's eye was upon them. He was ac

customed to remind

them on entering the college of the loving solicitude with which their course would be watched by their mothers; and this appeal to their highest feelings seldom failed to have great effect upon their conduct and character.

One consequence of the filial feeling which the people of the South entertained for General Lee was that he was flooded with letters upon every conceivable subject, from all parts of the country. At a time when he had in charge five hundred young men, with a corps of twenty-five instructors under him, he was receiving daily almost innumerable letters from old soldiers, their widows

or children, and from

those who had not even this claim upon him; many asking for money, and nearly all appealing for advice or assistance in some form. A friend once said to him, "You surely do not feel obliged to answer all of these letters? "Indeed I do," he replied. "Think of the trouble that many of these poor

people have taken to write me. Why should I not be willing to take the trouble to reply? That is all I can give, and that I give ungrudgingly."

In 1867, in company with his daughter Mildred, he rode on horseback to

the Peaks of Otter, fifty miles from Lexington. At a ferry on the route the boatman chanced to be an old soldier. When the usual charge was tendered, the rough mountaineer's eyes filled with tears, and

he shook his head, saying, "I could not take pay from you, Master Robert: I have followed you in many a battle." Bitterness or re sentment seemed to have no place in General Lee's nature. When the fate of war went against him, he accepted its result in good faith, and thenceforward did his best to restore good feeling between the North and the South. Even toward men who ex

hibited the most in

tense bitterness

against him he

seemed to have no other feeling than kindness and good-will. This was the case even with those who sought to have him tried and punished for treason. During the war it was noticeable that he never spoke of the Union soldiers as "Yankees," the common expression in the Southern army. They