Books: South’s Flower

R. E. LEE (Vols. I & II)—Douglas Southall Freeman—Scribner ($7.50). Strange, even shocking as it may seem, no definitive life of the late great Robert Edward Lee has yet been written. When, 19 years ago, Publisher Scribner asked Author Freeman to write a biography of Lee, he expected it to be a one-volume affair, soon discovered to his surprise that “much the larger part of the source material had never been consulted.” The job grew under his hand, when finished will fill four fat volumes. But Biographer Freeman turned up no startling new facts. “There were no ‘secrets’ and no scandals to be exposed or explained.” Lee’s reputation as a soldier and a gentleman will not be tarnished by his latest biographer. Author Freeman’s first two volumes take Lee from his birth as a Virginia aristocrat through the battle of Chancellorsville—which marked “Lee’s high noon.” Son of “Light-Horse Harry” Lee and son-in-law to George Washington Parke Custis, George Washington’s adopted son, it was natural that Robert Edward Lee should enter his country’s service. At West Point he stood second in his class, never got a demerit. In the Mexican campaign he quitted himself so ably that his commanding officer, General Scott, referred to him as “the very best soldier that I ever saw in the field.” Though often under fire, nearest he came to death was when a nervous U. S. sentry’s bullet passed between his left arm and his body, singeing his uniform. After his Mexican service, Lee was superintendent of West Point for three years. Lee commanded the troops that ended John Brown’s ill-timed revolt at Harpers Ferry. Just before the Civil War broke out. Lee was vegetating in an army post in Texas. Recalled to Washington and offered the command of the Union Army, he sorrowfully tendered his resignation. No Southern hothead, he regarded the Civil War as a tragedy, and one that might have been averted. Said he: “I declined the offer … to take command of the army . . . stating . . . that, though opposed to secession, and deprecating war, I could take no part in an invasion of the Southern states.” But once his decision was taken he indulged no regrets. The war over, he could say: “I did only what my duty demanded. I could have taken no other course without dishonor. And if it all were to be done over again, I should act in precisely the same manner.” Biographer Freeman allows Lee high marks as a strategist and commander, but thinks he had weaknesses as both. Lee was sometimes too much of a gentleman, says Freeman: by not standing on his authority, letting subordinates argue and outface him, he sometimes lost military opportunities. He was usually content to outline a plan of battle, leave his commanders, who could not always be relied on to use their own judgment about the details. His staff-work was not nearly as efficient as his enemy’s; he sometimes made poor use of his artillery and cavalry. Many an anecdote bears witness to Lee’s quiet good manners, his inability to bluster. Riding over the field of the second battle of Manassas he came upon a marauding Mississippian asked him why he was not with his command. Roundly cursed as “a cowardly Virginia cavalryman,” Lee laughed, rode away “subdued.” As he watched the critical charge at Chancellorsville he sat calmly on his horse, conversing with a German military observer about the future education of the Southern people. Even in anger his words were mild; when he heard that one Mrs. Stevens’ house was being made a target for Northern guns while the lady was busily tending the wounded inside, he exclaimed: I wish these people would let Mrs. Stevens alone!” And when Hooker’s beaten army had made a safe get away after Chancellorsville, Lee exploded in a mild steam: “Why, General Pender! That is the way you young men always do. You allow these people to get away. I tell you what to do, but you don’t do it!”Author Freeman’s half-length portrait shows a kindly but aloof gentleman, a believe-it-or-not Christian Soldier. But some of the soldiers he commanded were more human if less humane. One Confederate private, rummaging the battleground during a truce after Fredericksburg, was reprimanded by a Federal officer for salvaging a rifle; the officer said that was against the rules. Said the butternut veteran: “Never mind, I’ll shoot you tomorrow and git them boots.” That Lee’s example of considerate politeness sometimes had its effect on his men was shown by one of them who was struggling to get a shoe off a Federal corpse. When the supposed corpse lifted its head reproachfully, the soldier replaced the shoe, saying, “Beg pardon, sir, I thought you had gone above.”