Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/312

 306 ROBERT EDWARD LEE been highly esteemed for the charm of its nar- rative and the exactness of its descriptions. Subsequently Mrs. Bowdich resided for many years in Paris, where she married her second husband, Mr. Lee. While there she enjoyed the friendship of Cuvier, of whom she wrote a memoir, and of other eminent authors and naturalists. Her remaining works are for the most part popular treatises on subjects of nat- ural history. Among them are: "Elements of Natural History: Zoology;" "Taxidermy;" "Beauties, Uses, &c., of Trees, Plants, and Flowers;" and "Familiar Natural History." LEE, Robert Edward, an American soldier, son of Col. Henry Lee, born at Stafford, West- moreland co., Va., Jan. 19, 1807", died in Lex- ington, Va., Oct. 12, 1870. He entered West Point in 1825, and graduated second in his class in 1829. During his whole course he was never reprimanded or received a single mark of demerit. He was appointed lieutenant in the corps of engineers, and from 1829 to 1834 served as assistant engineer in the construction of Forts Monroe and Oalhoun at Hampton roads ; from 1834 to 1837 as assistant to the chief engineer at Washington ; and in 1835 as assistant astronomer for establishing the boun- dary between Ohio and Michigan. From 1837 to 1841 he was superintending engineer of the improvements of the harbor of St. Louis and of the Missouri and upper Mississippi rivers, having also during 1840 and 1841 the general charge of the improvements in the lower Mis- sissippi and Ohio rivers, below Louisville, Ky. He was made captain in 1838. After 1841, among other services, he superintended the construction and repair of the fortresses at the entrance of the harbor of New York, was as- sistant to the chief engineer at Washington, and member of the board of the Atlantic coast defences. When the Mexican war broke out he was assigned to duty as chief engineer of the army under Gen. Scott, and served with great distinction during the whole war. He was successively brevetted as major, lieuten- ant colonel, and colonel, for gallant and merito- rious conduct at Oerro Gordo, Oontreras and Ohurubusco, and at Ohapultepec, where he was wounded. He afterward served as engineer in various departments, and was superinten- dent of the military academy at West Point from 1852 to 1855. In 1855 two new regi- ments of cavalry were formed. Of the second regiment Albert Sidney Johnston was made colonel, Lee lieutenant colonel, Hardee and Thomas majors, Van Dorn and Kirby Smith captains ; and among the lieutenants were Hood, Fields, Fitzhugh Lee, Palmer, and Stoneman. Lee served with this regiment in Texas till 1857, when he received leave of ab- sence, and returned to his home in Virginia. Through his marriage in 1832 with Mary, daughter of G. W. P. Custis, the grandson of Martha Custis and adopted son of Washing- ton, he came in 1857 into possession of the estates of Arlington House on the Potomac and the White House on the Pamunkey. In October, 1859, he was put in command of the forces to suppress the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry. From February to De- cember, 1860, he was in command of the department of Texas, and afterward received leave of absence. The Virginia convention having on April 17, 1861, passed an ordinance of secession, Lee on the 20th resigned his com- mission in a letter to Gen. Scott, in which he said: "Save in defence of my native state, I never desire again to draw my sword." To his sister he wrote on the same day: "The whole south is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, after a long struggle, has been drawn; and though I recognize no necessity for this state of things, and would have for- borne and pleaded to the end for redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own person I had to meet the question whether I should take part against my native state. With all my devotion to the Union, and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my chil- dren, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the army, and, save in defence of my native state, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword." Although Virginia had seceded from the Union, the state had not as yet acceded to the confed- eracy ; and Lee, who at once repaired to Rich- mond, was appointed major general of the forces of the state. In formally accepting this office, he said: "Trusting in Almighty God, an approving conscience, and the aid of my fellow citizens, I devote myself to the service of my native state, in whose behalf alone will I ever again draw my sword." Early in May Virginia joined the confederacy, the capital of which was removed to Richmond, and the southern congress passed a law appointing five generals, their commissions to rank in the or- der in which these officers had ranked in the United States army. The commissions as made out by the government were in the following order : S. Cooper, A. S. Johnston, R. E. Lee, J. E. Johnston, and P. T. Beauregard. J. E. Johnston remonstrated against this, claiming that he should have stood first, because he had been a brigadier general in the United States army, while none of the others had ranked higher -than colonel. Apparently in conse- quence of this, Lee was not for a while ap- pointed to any separate command in the field, A. S. Johnston being assigned to the west, and J. E. Johnston to the command in Vir- ginia. Cooper, manifestly unfit to lead an army, remained at Richmond as adjutant gen- eral. For more than a year Lee filled no im- portant place in the war. He was nominally merely superintendent of fortifications at Rich- mond and elsewhere, and seems also to have acted as military adviser to President Davis, and to have performed many of the duties per-