Going to be a beautification out here, which i guess never hit me, but i guess it might in a way. Because i am a big fan of robert e. Lee. What im hoping to do among others, besides give you a time line as to what robert e. Lee did in the postwar years which i think is one of obviously the most often overlooked portion of his life because, i mean, the civil war is always going to be first and foremost. The other main theme of this lecture im going to try to get across to you, if Park Services is big on themes, is that the amount of i wouldnt say that he did a lot of work in theory, but through his own personal example is probably the best way, through his own personal example, robert e. Lee tries to reconcile the nation. And what i think a lot of us as mers tod americans today have forgotten is how far apart this country was in 1865. I think it is the view of a lot of people that lee surrenders and bam, oh, well just forget about it, you know, okay, well just hold hands and reunite, and just continue on down that path again. It takes the country decades, some would say a century, some would say not even yet for the country to really reunite. I would probably put the country seriously coming back together in the same vein in the spanish american war when we all had a common enemy once again instead of each other, but that would be, you know, roughly 30 years after the end of the civil war. Robert e. Lee does not live that long. Hes only going to live for five years. But you think about who symbolized the confederacy coming out of the civil war and who the southerners were going to emulate as they were coming out, and then put yourselves in the shoes of the man himself. I mean, robert e. Lee, everything you do is under a microscope, everything. And you know he hated that, the crowds, everything else. All right, so appmatics is on april 9th of 1865. He surrenders to general grant. I think robert e. Lee is greatly surprised by the terms he gets from u. S. Grant there. Grant could have imposed harsh terms, and i think that ugrant gesture is often overlooked in the reconciliation of the country but i could do a whole lecture on that maybe well do one this summer. Robert e. Lee has to stick around for a few days as an Army Commander and he has to shore up paperwork, and then three days after he surrenders on april 12th, he sets out, riding traveler, his famous horse. Eventually three days later he was going to make his way back to richmond, virginia. And when he gets to richmond, this is the site which he beholds. He did not see this personally because he was down in petersburg, but the confederates set the town on fire when they were evacuated, when richmond fell. You look at the charred ruins, thats the Virginia State capitol, obviously, and the old capitol of the confederacy right in the middle. Three days later on april 15th robert e. Lee is going to pull up at the james river and look across the scene of desolation. As he crosses over hes not going to have a big, you know, cavalcade with him, hes not going to have a lot of people. Hes going to have one staff officer, hes going to have his son. Hes got a wagon thats coming behind him thats stamped u. S. On the side, that served as his headquarters wagon for his personal baggage. Eventually that wagon and lee on horseback and the rest of the party are going to wind their way through those rubble strewn streets of richmond, up main street, and then turned on to franklin street, and literally they will come up in the front of a house at 7 07 franklin street. And believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, that fire that engulfed richmond had come up right to the house next door. But that one had been saved. Now, a crowd gathered, and, you know, theyre wanting to touch lee as if hes an icon, touch his boot. Can you imagine us doing that today, you know. Ever since, well, you know who died in 1977, but lee gets off his horse, he bows gravely to everybody, and then he walks inside that front door right there. And this is the scene which i dont have any record of, and this is the one i always wanted ive always been curious about. When robert e. Lee mounts those steps right there, those eight steps leading into the house, and he walks into that front door, he bows to the crowd graciously, and everything, and he wauklks back in, hes still t his uniform on. That will be the last time i suppose in his official capacity, hell put it back on for these pictures in a day or two, but that will be in his last capacity as a shoulder. I mean, when he walked through that front door, what went through his mind . You ever thought about that . I mean, what did he do, his wife and his children, his daughters, he had four daughters. He had children ranging from 19 to 32 years of age at the time. He came in and they were always, you know, kind of a close family, always somebody that he could turn to and be himself. I wonder what he said to mary . I mean, did he express any regrets . Did he say anything . Did he cry . At some point, every soldier has to look back at what theyve done, and you can go from privates to majors to full generals tor generals to lieutenants to captains, major generals, everybody who looks back on the decisions theyve made, and i wonder when he came home that day what he thought. Now, as hes trying to as hes trying to get his thoughts back together, none other than the famous civil war photographer Matthew Brady is going to call upon him. And im going to go through some of these pictures. Im not going to show you all of them. Im going to show you some of these pictures in just a second. This picture right here, which youve seen cropped and blown up and colorized and uncolorized and sideways, and halfways and so forth. That picture is always chosen for a reason because that face right there, ladies and gentlemen, sums up robert e. Lee at this point in his life. While hes there, you can only imagine, while hes in this franklin street house and right after, going on for the next few weeks, you can only imagine the people that are coming by to call upon lee, i mean, some autograph seekers, some just wanting to see him, old friends, acquaintances, george mee came by. I was reading about up here. And lee doesnt want to see all of these people. Its the last thing he wants to do up here, so one day, custis, which is to your left right up there, custis is going to answer the door and theres going to be a ragged soldier there, and the soldier has his arm in a sling, and he says to custis, i would like to see general lee, and custis says the general is the no receiving at this time. And he said, well, im from texas, and i would like to see the general that i followed on so many campaigns, you know, standing there in his rags, hes probably stinking to high heaven, too, if the truth was known about it. Custis looks him over and says ill see what i can do, and he allows him into the house, and lee is upstairs in the franklin house in some bedroom or office, so they show the soldier in, he sits down, the texan sits down, and a few moments later here come the steps of general robert e. Lee. He must have had his own certain gait as he came down because they recognized it, and so the soldier and the staff officer stood as lee came around the corner. As lee comes around, he bows graciously to the people that are in the room, and then he extends his hand and walks over to that texan, this private. And the texan extends his hand and they embrace in a handshake, and lee looks at him, and the texan looks at him, and the soldier cant say anything. He just cant say anything. Not one word comes out of his mouth. And he eventually as hes Still Holding lees hands, he just burst into tears, this veteran of four years in the war, he burst into tears, and after a few moments, he just walked out the door. Nobody said anything. The eyewitness said lee bowed graciously to the crowd and walked back up the stairs. That is the type of emotion youre dealing with coming out of appomatt torox. Youre talking about a people who have just lost their hopes for a nation, and who defined that, that man right there. Thats why the civil war ends, folks, when robert e. Lee surrenders, because he is the definition of the confederacy. He is the symbol of the confederacy. So Matthew Brady called. And he took these pictures. The only reason that lee sits or stands for these pictures right here, ladies and gentlemen, is because at first he rebuffed brady, but what did brady do . He went to lees boss who was. His wife. His wife. Thats right. His wife. And mrs. Lee told the general to go get dressed. So lee came down with his, you know, his son, his staff officer, he came down the stairs and he says, well, mr. Brady, we are ready for you, and he stood for this. If you look closely, you can actually see the stand behind lee that holds his head in place. Thats how you got him to standstill. Because you keep your head against it. You cant see the rest of it going up his back right there, but he captured these right here. Thats especially my favorite one. This is not the appomattox uniform, though, i used to think that. It marco rubust be one of his f uniforms, it looks in shape, or hardly worn right there. This is actually this is actually ive actually forgot that picture was in this cue, actually, i would have set that up better, but this is actually a previously unreleased photograph of my ancestor. Okay. My friend pat rich actually did that to me as a joke, did that for me as a joke one day, and ive had it on my door ever since. Okay. Whats the situation . On may 29th, 1865, president Andrew Johnson offers a general amnesty to all former confederates who formed the oath of allegiance but excludes all who have held civil office under the confederate government and people in an estate valued over 20,000. On june 7th, 1865, lee is indicted for treason. June 13th, lee encloses in a letter to general grant his application for pardon. Lees position is quote i am ready to meet any charges that may be preferred against me and do not wish to avoid trial but if i am correct as to the protection granted by my parole and am not to be prosecuted i desire to comply with the provision of the president s proclamation. Thats a lot of ps, and therefore enclose the required application. Lee did not sign the oath, though, because he worded this requirement had not reached virginia. What did grant do . He immediately requested that all indictments be squashed and the pardon be granted. What was the result . Prosecutors quietly halted proceedings against robert e. Lee, but did not formally dismiss the charges. No pardon would be forthcoming from president johnson either. Now, this is what we know now. But lee did not know that. So to add to lees woes, he has starting in june of 65, the sword of, you know, what is that demo democlaties over his head but he doesnt know if hes going to be indicted anytime soon. It could be any moment. Lee in asking for this pardon is probably in southerns eyes, the most controversial act of his life. He was in that pardon admitting secession, the creation of the confederacy, and the fighting against the northern invasion were all wrong right there. So by submitting that to say the least, he is not making any friends. However, for tens of thousands, if lee applied for a pardon, what do we say the theme was, personal example, then maybe they should also apply for a pardon. The veterans who did sign were restored their rights, unlike lee, in a manner that the governor would never give the general right there. Captain george wise holding the oath in his hand asked lee, my parole covers it, and i do not think it should be required of me. What would you advise . I would advise you take it, lee responded. General, i feel this is an indignity, if i must swear the thing at a Street Corner i will seek a country where i can preserve my selfrespect. Do not leave virginia lee said in a sad voice, our country needs her young men now. Young wise did take the oath and when he informed his father what he had signed the father exclaimed, you have disgraced the family. The son responded general lee advised me to do it. Oh, that alters the case. Whatever general lee says is all right. I dont care what it is. All right. I want you to think about something right here as i start to read this part of it. Most of you already know or are familiar with civil war know what building this represents, this is actually Washington College in lexington, virginia, right here. I want you to think about something right now, though, as i get into it. If youre robert e. Lee, what would you do after the war . I dont know if theres a right or a wrong answer. Im just pondering, whif youre robert e. Lee, what do you do . Now, the state of the college itself as it had been heavily damaged during the war, the library had been scattered, federal soldiers were used some of the buildings for barracks, the college had been kept open as a prep school, and at the time in 65, it only had four professors as faculty. The trustees were meeting on the night of august 4th, 1865, in order to elect a new president. Right before the vote, a member stood and said that he had heard that ms. Mary lee, daughter of the general, stated the south had stood ready to give lee anything but what he really wanted, which was a way to make an honest living. The idea shown in the room, and a few minutes later, lee had been unanimously elected president. Quote, then there was a pause and silence prevailed for some moments. The board seemed oppressed with the gravity of the situation and seemed to feel that they had acted rashly. End of quote. It seemed very presumptive to elect lee quote the head of a broken down college. Nevertheless, a letter was drafted and judge john brockenrow was sent to urge the general to accept. The judge looked at his clothes and realized he didnt have any befitting to call upon general lee. So you know what he did . He borrowed a suit and so with borrowed money, with a borrowed suit, they obtained transportation, and that is the way brockenbrow called upon general lee who was living at the time west of richmond in a house called derwin at that time to call upon him to be the president of this college. Of course lee, after much urging from friends, is going to accept the presidency on august 31st. This is how lee accepts it, though. Lee pointed out in his letter taking the job that he had not been pardoned yet. He was also explicit in what his political views might be. I think it the duty of every citizen in the present condition of the country to do all in his power to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony and in no way to oppose the policy of the state or general government directed to that object. It is particularly incumbent upon those charged with the strur instruction of the young to set them an example of submission to authority. End of quote. 20 weeks after appomattox, lee was quote healing all dissensions. October 2nd, lee is inaugurated as president , thats fast. Within a month of offering the job. The college opened with 40 students, and another 100 students drifted in by late fall. Once lee meets a student, though, he is able to remember their name, which is a wonderful gift, if youre a good student. By the second year, there are over 400 students and residents, some from outside the south. You know, one of the things that i liked, you know, how i like to go off on tangents, one of the neatest things i have always liked about robert e. Lee, i dont know, we dont write like he did or they did back then, obviously today, but one of the things i really like about lee is how he would put letters together to parents. If he had a student or student acting up or Something Like that, lee would usually write three or four paragraphs and basically how he constructs his sentence is this way, first paragraph, johnny is a fantastic kid, hes smart, hes intelligent, and he can do anything. Second paragraph, unfortunately, hes not living up to his abilities. Third paragraph, im sure you understand, sincerely, respectfully, r. E. Lee right here, and you get the point. Early, the confederate general, the favorite thing out of everything he did during the war was actually to show people lees letter to him demoting him, removing him from command in the shenandoah army. Thats what you would see if you went juba earlys law office after the war right army. But thats what hes got to deal with. Today i would think it would be worth, you know, being flunked out of school just to get a letter from lee. That was just a joke. All right, so he starts, october 3rd october 3rd he signs the oath of allegiance to the United States. The oath was sent to washington where it landed on the desk of Willi William seward. He gave it to a friend as a souvenir and it was found in a bundle of papers, lees amnesty oath 105 years later. Anybody remember what happened during the Ford Administration . He got his pardon, gerald ford. He pardoned everybody else he might as well. Come on, that was kind of funny. Political joke there. Next day lee opened a letter from general pierre gustav. In it he asked what did he lee think he should do. Lee responded said im glad to see no indication in our letter of an intention to leave the country. As you ask my purpose i will state that i have no thought of abandoning her unless compelled to do so. Lee reviewed his own humble efforts to regain United States citizenship and then concluded with this passage which would be quoted by generations. I need not tell you that true patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary at one period to that which it does in another. And the mode of which impels them the desire to do right is precisely the same. The circumstances that govern their actions change and their conduct must conform to the new order of things. History is full of demonstrations of this. Washington himself an example of thisch at one time he fought in the service of the king of great britain. In another he fought with the french at york town under the orders of the congress against him. Hes not been branded by the world in reproach for this but his course has been applauded. Theres your paradox. Thats how robert e. Lee justifies his actions of being in the United States leaving the United States and coming back into the United States. We go into 1866, and by this time, ladies and gentlemen, there are race riots in memphis and new orleans. The nation was heating up with Congressional Elections that would turn into a northern referendum on how to treat the vanquished south. President johnson was at war, quoteunquote, with congress. And congress wished for the south to be made to ratify. During all this turmoil lee counseled everybody to stay calm. To mrs. Jefferson davis he wrote i have thought from the time of the cessation of hostilities that patience on the part of the south was the true course, and i think so still. You can say it go ahead he look pretty old, dont it . He wrote i hated yankee this day worse than i have ever done and my hatred is increasing every day. Got to love jubil early. Lee replied we shall have to be patient and suffer for a while at least and all controversy will only surge angry and bitter feelings and postpone the period where reason and charity may resume their sweay. One of the names on the bottom i was going to have somebody guess that one. The south was listening. General nathaniel g. Harris, this is going to be postgettysburg. Probably the most famous thing he did warwise would be the courthouse, one of the units that counter attacks in there and hes at battery greg outside of petersburg, at least half is out there. Your great and wise example of retirement and peace, obedience to government and law were all pursuing and following and all your old men here are peacefully at work trying to build up their shattered fortunes and the country gets peace and pr prosperity. 1867, january 7th, congress looks into acts of impeachment against president johnson. March 2nd, federal government passes the reconstruction acts. These acts strip the state governments of power and place the south in five military districts. Congress declares it can change any aspect of local government without previous notice. States must ratify the 14th amendment, and 1 out of every 4 confederates are excluded from voting. And all africanamericans are included. The real carpet bagger era was beginning. Northerners are elected by blacks, and the governor of virginia is from new york. Give you an example. So what does this do to these confederates . And in a time we would call them very racist. They do not like the situation. A boy with a broken leg who lee was visiting recalled this time. Once i remember he sat still for some time by the window, and his face looked so sad. He spoke of the southern people of their losses, privations and sufferings and also of our vain struggle. I cannot sleep, he said, for think of it. And often i feel so weighted down with sorrow i have to get up in the night and go out and walk before i thoroughly wearied myself before i can sleep. That was the only melancholy sentence i ever heard him utter and the only time i ever saw him with that heartbroken look on his face. In another instance a lady said that lee in a moment of being unguarded, she said to lee why do you look so sad, and lee turned to her and said im thinking about all the soldiers that died in vain when i knew it was too late. And he said she goes basically why didnt you say something. He goes, no, no, they had to find out for themselves. That, ladies and gentlemen, is that separation between civilian and military authority which makes our government even today so unique. Look at any other government out there and notice how often the military overthrows. Okay, lee at this time is summoned to testify. Theres a good picture of it. Lee is summoned to testify in Jefferson Davis treason trial. Basically lee was offered amnesty for his testimony against davess or face reindictment for treason. Lee had only followed orders dave was responsible for lee duck in his heels. Quote, i am responsible for what i did and i cannot now recall any important i made had i not acted on my own responsibility. Now, how many of you or how many times have you seen in your life when somebodys put the squeeze on them, they fold in the court . How many of you would have with that hanging over your head potential indictment, would be able to get on the witness stand and selfindict yourself . Its a lot of christmas day, 1868, president johnson sends out a general amnesty to all comconfederates had not been restored their rights by previous actions. It was over. Lee and davis would never be tried but lee was still not a citizen because his application had been misplaced. Right there. A couple of things on that. One, robert e. Lee never votes again. Two, can you imagine any other revolution that you ever hear about in the world where the ring leaders dont get hung or worse . You watch braveheart. Theres always a better way. Whos the symbol of the rebellion . Robert e. Lee and he gets to go in peace. Its remarkable in a way. Its definitely unique. They very well could have created a martyr. When washington and lee yall want to hear a story . All right, ill do a tangent for you. I didnt know if i was going to tell this one or not. When lee was the administrator at Washington College there was a professor, edward s. Joins. Edward joins who was professor of modern language. Well, one day professor joins is its a cold winter day and the professor proceeds to take out a stick of wood and put it in his potbelly stove. As he proceeds to do that, you know, the fire heats up, the wood starts to burn. All of a sudden theres a humongous explosion that goes off, and that potbelly stove just burst into a thousand fragments. And its lucky that the professor was not killed. He actually emerged without a scratch. Well, now, robert e. Lee as professor of Washington College had to deal with attempted murder because somebody had tried to kill the professor. So Chapel Services which lee always attended which i dont think was required of the students no, it was not required of the students but lee always set a personal example by attending himself. At that mornings Chapel Services he goes up there and says to them in a vast understatement that he would be happy for anybody that had any information on this to please come by and call upon him later in his office. Well, lo and behold about 11 00 that morning two freshman show up. And they sit outside the door. Lee was interviewing somebody at the time. They sit outside the door and lees conclusion is this and he says, gentlemen, come on in. Can you imagine walking into the office of robert e. Lee . And he sits down and he has them sit down and the boys proceed to explain to him that something had gone terribly awry. That four of them that lived in a dorm room, that one of them that somebody had kept stealing their firewood, all right. And so in order to discover who was stealing the firewood for their dorm room one of the soldiers had concocted the plan where he set about to take a piece of that wood, he had drilled it out, stuffed it full of black powder, and then he had put clay over it and put it back on the pile outside. Sure enough somebody took it. And he said he didnt understand why. Come to find out the janitor who was being too lazy did not want to walk the extra 200 yards to the woodpile, so the students had to get their own wood but the professors had their wood retrieved by the grounds keepers. That grounds keeper was taking shortcuts. So when the professor threw that piece of wood into his stove thats why it blew up right there. Now, theyre telling robert e. Lee this all with a straight face, and theyre probably thinking theyre going to get kicked out of school. And lee looks at them for a minute, and then a few seconds later hes going to laugh. The one thing i think we forget and not a lot of people saw is lee loved to laugh. You didnt see it often because he was always in the public eye. He had that exterior. Hes the marble man. But behind closed doors in certain instances he would laugh. He loved it. Lee would end up telling the kids one of them their name was graham. Well, mr. Graham, your plan to find out who was taking your wood was a good one, but your powder charge was too heavy. I would recommend that the next time you use less powder. You want to get inside robert e. Lees psyche right there, that story right there is something lee would relate when he was president of Washington College to people, and he would always get a kick out of that. The time there was a murder plot on his campus right there. Now in 68 lee is going to go on his first vacation. He will choose the rockridge bath resorts. At the resort there was a nightly dance called the treadmill and there were both northerners and southerners. Does anybody know what you call a southerner who helped the north . Probably a term lost now. Scalawag. Right here. Very good, larry. There was a west virginiaen girl at the hotel who one man said, quote was very beautiful and very attractive and more handsomely dressed than any woman at the springs. However, the girls father, quote, had been a union man during the war and had remained at home and made a fortune while the men in the south had gone in the army and lost all they had. Quote, the women would have none of her. And the men dared not risk their wrath. The girl became, quote, very lonely. One evening when the dance was occurring the girl was in the other room reading. She became aware of a brilliantly shined pair of shoes that had stopped before her. And looking up her eyes met those of general lee. He smiled, bowed and asked for her company at the next dance. When the dance was over and general lee led her back to her seat there was a general rush for introductions. And from that time on the girl not only had all the partners she wanted but actually became the belle of the season. Now, lets go back. Thats another act. Does it change the whole south . No. Nobody outside that ball that night ever saw that. Did the newspapers report it . No. Did it go out in a telegram, no. Come out in a book, no. Lets say it was a hundred people in that dance that night, all eyes were on general lee. And his personal example by going over there, and he t now mosby is going to invite george picket back to that hotel room. Its probably the worst thing that ever happened. A week before apamatics on april 1st lee orders pickett to go out to his right flank at petersburg called five forks and pickett is ordered to guard this cross roads. Well, pickett goes out there and then tom rosser, the confederate cavalryman is going to invite George Pickett to his shad bake. Shad is a type of fish. Thats what they had and they were pretty hungry, so a participant in the shad bake said the hours passed along idly, passing the bottle, eating shad, having a grand old time. Unfortunately for pickett was that there was an acoustical shadow. His command was being rounded by sheridan and warden. Five forks failed, and George Pickett was out of a command. And hence richmond fell, petersburg fell and then richmond, et cetera. Reportedly when lee is on the ride back to what will become apamatics he sees George Pickett right by him and lee turns to one of his Staff Officers and says why is that man still with this army . Which leads to the speculation of did lee remove him, did the order not go through, did pickett just ignore it, i mean et cetera, et cetera, but the two men have been cross ever since. Pickett over gettysburg and lee over five forks, and now they are set to meet in richmond, virginia. Now, youve got to understand when lee is in a foul mood lee would meet you when you came into a room he would meet you with icy cold formality. Icy cold. If he was under a lot of stress, for example, like after apamatics when the federal officers would be coming he didnt want to talk to anybody. He would be pacing back and forth and his Staff Officers just stayed away from him because they didnt want to get near him. When they had to introduce somebody they would bring him up, and lee would draw himself up to his full height, and then he would meet you with that icy reserve that would let you know he was being courteous but he didnt have time for you. Thats exactly what he did when George Pickett walked into that room. It was icy from the beginning. George pickett probably went in there to try to bury the hatchet. But lee does not like people who do not perform their duty. So the interview quickly concluded, and mosby quickly knew he should have never got those two together. On the way out picketts going to turn to mosby and hes going to say that old man had my division massacred at gettysburg. And mosby would turn to pickett and say aye, george, but he made you famous. Pickett would die shortly, 70s right there. That should give you a good idea how far his health is deteriorating. After visiting anys grave they continue to raleigh. A telegraph operator sends a simple message ahead. General lee is aboard. And even at midnight a crowd gathers and lee is startled awake by the chants of lee, lee, lee. Lees daughter would later write they were laying in that sleeping car and when the lee chants started that woke both of them up, one was on the top tier. I guess she was on the top, and he was on the bottom tier, the bunks right there. Neither one of them said a world as those chants were going on. By sun rise the places where the train didnt even stop people stood by the railway, dignified looking men, lot of lees veterans would suddenly stop, thrust their caps into a air and give a big rebel yell. On the salisbury where the crowds cheered as bands belted out confederate battle tunes which is the last thing lee wanted to hear and onto a charlotte where a bigger crowd awaited. He was horrified by all the attention. Columbia, south carolina, a holiday had been declared. Stores were closed. There was a parade to the station in the pouring rain. Columbia was only a 15minute stop, but when he lee looked out he knew he must emerge. The last thing he needs is to get into a rainstorm. Standing in the rain was a long line of his former officers. Among them Edward Porter alexander. Alexander the man who commanded the long artillery before picketts charge during the bombardment. Little girls came forward to hand bouquets of flowers to the general. The crowd wanted a speech but lee would not cop seed and he simp simply dofted his hat. The veterans cheered themselves horse. After 21 hours the train arrives in savannah. A reception was held where crowds filed through for hours, veterans on crutches, sweet little children dressed to their eyes, and many of them being introduced to the children with tiny cards in their fat little hands with their names. And you know what oftentimes that name would be. Could you imagine ming somebody thats named after you . Among those that came that day was a 13yearold boy. His name was woodrow wilson. From savannah lee wrote two classic understatements in reporting to his wife. The old soldiers had greeted me very kocordially. For his health lee wrote i perceive no change in the stricture in my chest. If i attempt to walk beyond a very slow gait the pain is always there. Two photographs come out of that set right there. I think two. Two or three. Two. Youre going to get this at the end of this program what ive struggled under this whole program right here. Lee leaves savannah, visits his fathers grave. Then he leaves by boat to norfolk, and while there lee decides to attend church. Now in my search for robert e. Lee and all things pertaining to robert e. Lee i can tell you after many hours of searching that the church which he attended does not exist anymore. However, the house which she stayed at is still there, and the carriage step you know they had a steppingstone for you to get into the carriage is still out in front of the house. I stood on it. Had my picture taken on the carriage step. Thank you. So lee tries to go to church. Well, its sunday. Youve got to remember ladies and gentlemen you dont party on sunday. Remember thats why we used to have blue laws. All right . Nobody could cheer general robert e. Lee was it was a sunday, but because it was general lee every hat was doft in the air. Right . One lady wrote a young cousin who had never met lee remarked on his great charm and added, quote, we regarded him with the greatest veneration. We had heard of god but here was general lee. Okay, okay, but thats kind of funny. I mean its like now leave arrives back in lexington on may 28th. Hed been gone for two months and 4 days. 1870, on june 23rd lee hands out his last diplomas, on august 6th hes called to a special meeting to see if the trustees could raise 100,000 for a new astronomy observatory. It was five years to the day the judge had balloed 50s in a suit to persuade lee to take the job. And now theyre talking about 100,000. When he got back from savannah he had a letter, he had one letter from a spiritualist that was asking lees opinion on the current franco prussian war. Responded as he did to most correspondence and replied, quote, the question was one in which military would differ. Yall understand what a spiritualist is, right . All right, the question he wrote the question was one about which military critics would differ and his own opinions on such matters was deficient. He then pointed out that the medium was free to consult julius caesar, alexander, napoleon, wellington and all of historys great and lee felt he should not voice his opinion in such great company. All right, folks, i got the jokes. I get all the letters and so forth. Im going to try not to run too much over time today. This is robert e. Lees office, the way he left it october 12, 1870. If you go down to lexington today, to washington and Lee University as its known today that office is still there. Its kind of neat. Glad they kept it that way. Surely theyve dusted though. Ive never asked. I havent sat in that chair, but its on the bucket list right there. He concludes his days business which he was always diligent in doing. He was always a hard worker. Paperwork, paperwork. We remember the battles, folks, but lee was paperwork. Thats what an Army Commander does and a College President , for that matter. He gets up, has a meeting at the Episcopal Church and lee is going to walk the short distance from his office over to the Episcopal Church. The vestry meeting goes long. It is in the main sanctuary which is unheated. And because of that its cold, its damp. And lee the only thing he has on is his old army overcoat or possibly his rubber blanket, his poncho so to speak. He sits there and hes freezing. They get to the end of the meeting and theyre trying to get a raise for the pastor and theyve come up so much short and lee looks up and says ill pledge that amount. And with that the meeting concludes. Lee gets out of the meeting. He walks back to the president s home. This is kind of like a triangle if you will, triangulation as he goes back to the new president s home. And depending on who you read, whatever mary was trying to say here its always hard to read mary at times, from time to time whether she was hard or nice or whatever. But anyway lee is always ch chastising his family, his girls for being late for dinner. Hes a punctual man. So when he comes in miss mary says why are you late, you have kept us waiting. The dutiful husband, lee pulls off his overcoat, hangs it on the rack, steps to the table. He starts to say grace and so they sat down. He doesnt say anything. They retrieved his old army caught from upstairs and brought it down and the parlor next to the dining room becomes a sickroom. And hes going to lay there for a few days until until hes just going to run out of he will run out of energy and he will pass away. He was 63 right there. Yall fickipicking up what im laboring under here. Thats his desk mask right there which is free of charge. Death mask. I mean how far have we come . How many people have their picture with 8 foot, 10 foot tall robert e. Lee death mask, though . Thank you. This is his funeral. Want you to notice the black around. This is the chapel, where lee is buried today. The chapel was actually robert e. Lees famous accomplishment of his tenure as George Washington university, the chapel he had built. And his office, the one i showed you is actually in the base of that chapel. If we were standing where the picture was taken the president s house would be over here. And the Episcopal Church was set over here. They had to have a funeral so fast that its still full, i mean but it wasnt the thousands upon thousands that you would think. Id like to close, if i could, with a quote by robert e. Lee. And i could talk about a lot of things about robert e. Lee. I could talk about his strength of character. I could talk about his patriotism. We could talk about his accomplishments to battlefields to reconciliation which i hope ive driven home here today and we could talk about the man himself and the sterling character qualities which he had, which i still learned a lot from even during this time. I choose, though, to close with this quote and this is from a letter from september of 1870 to Lieutenant Colonel charles marshal, his former staff officer. And in this letter it shows lees realism and optimism here. This is actually not lee dead. This is actually supposed to represent lee sleeping on the battlefield. Until a few years ago they actually had real confederate battle flags flying in there. And they always had some college kid they always had some college docent sitting there and shed have her back to you and if you timed it right when nobody was looking you could reach up there and touch the actual confederate battle flag. It had the netting over it, and oh, my gosh, it was just unbelievable. Man, thats just great stuff right there. But he said this to marshal, and i think it sums up lee so well and well conclude with this. My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them nor indisposed me to serve them nor in spite of failures which ill lament of errors i now see and acknowledge or of the present aspect of affairs do i despair of the future. The truth is this. The march of providence is so slow and our desires so impatient the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble the life of humanity is so long that of the individual so brief that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope thats a great quote, isnt it . All right, ladies and gentlemen, thats robert e. Lee. Thank you. Thank you very much. Youre watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan 3 explore our nations past. 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