Details
LEE, ROBERT E., General, C.S.A. Autograph letter signed ("R E Lee" and with initialled postscript), to his son William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (familiarly called "Fitzhugh or "Rooney," later Major-General of Cavalry, C.S.A., West Point, 2 June 1853. 4 full pages, 4to. Fine condition.
R.E. LEE'S ADVICE TO HIS SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON ON A MILITARY CAREER
A graceful, lengthy letter from a loving father to his second son, 16 years old, counseling him on the choice of a profession. Colonel R.E. Lee was at this date serving as Superintendant of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (where his eldest son George Washington Custis, and a nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, were already enrolled). It appears that Rooney, mindful of the Lees' distinguished military lineage, had asked his father about a West Point appointment. Lee's thoughtful, sympathetic letter carefully avoids urging any particular course upon the boy.
"My dear Son, I recd. your letter...& you could have presented me with no more gratifying birth-day offering, than your expression of confidence, attachment & consideration. You are, as you say, fast approaching manhood & with all its responsibilities, duties & requirements, it will be upon you, before you are aware. You therefore do right to consider & prepare. Will you be ready to meet its necessities? I hope & trust so, & it is my earnest wish to do all in my power to aid & help you. Throw out of your calculation all consideration of my individual pleasure or convenience. The first will be best promoted by your happiness & prosperity. The latter I can afford to sacrifice for the benefit of my children. My means are sufficient for their comfortable support & necessary education, & if they will be content to be economical in their expenditures & make the most of their opportunities, I can afford them as good an education as some of the best & great men of our country ever enjoyed. Let that then be no obstacle in your choice of a profession or avocation in life. I wish you to have the advantages of a good education, &...can send you to Colledge & place you on a respectable footing & give you all the opportunities of learning, but not the means of indulging in extravagance, folly or vice. After that, you could select your own course in life.
"In reference to your coming to West Point, I do not know that I have anything new to state. The first difficulty in the way is the procurement of an appointment. The obstacles to be overcome you are aware of. The 2nd is the probability of your being rejected by the Medical Board on account of the loss of your fingers [in a childhood mishap], & your tendency to rheumatism. I think it would be well to be certain on the latter point, as far as can be, before encountering the difficulties of the other. The Medical Board of Examiners are taken from the Surgeons of the Army, as may be most convenient....& therefore there is no knowing what opinion they would form until the time of Exam[inatio]n. We can only judge what it would probably be, by the opinion of others.
"There is no possibility of your getting an appointment before next year, & probably not for two years. There will therefore be time to inquire into this matter, & to make up your final opinion this Summer, during your vacation. If upon a review of the whole case & notwithstanding all the difficulties in the way, your inclinations still prompt you to lead a military life in preference to others that may be open to you, as I have told you before, I shall not oppose your preference. You can try to get an app[ointmen]t to W.P. & if you succeed, I shall be glad of your success, if you fail, you must do something else. Endeavour therefore to be prepared for either emergency: Apply the present time & all your energies to the acquirement of knowledge, the pursuit of wisdom & the strengthening of your mind & body. Do not suppose that general intelligence or intellectual acquirement is unnecessary for an Officer of the Army. It is as necessary for him as for any other individual. It elevates his mind, purifies his senses & polishes his manners. Though you may not know as much in the beginning as much of the particular branches [of learning] taught here , as you would if previously they had all been studied & acquired, still if you really understand the elementary principles, possess the powers of steady & energetic application, have a determined will to succeed, & a correct sense of right & wrong, I should prefer them to a knowledge of the whole Course without them. Conny and Fitzhugh [R.E. Lee's nephew] I fear were too young when they entered [West Point] to possess them. The first has done badly. The second is not doing as well as I wish. Your brother [George Washington Custis Lee] possesses them & is reaping the advantage of them. Mark the difference."
In a later addition to the long letter, dated June 9, Lee reports that "your brother [G.W.C. Lee] came up [for examination] in Philosophy about 11 A.M. & ragged right out....I hope he will in time make a good man & true Soldier. He is No 1 in Philosophy....." He underlines the importance of his letter: "You must read it attentively & do not be satisfied with one perusal, but read it over till you fully understand my meaning. I shall not be able to write to you again for a long time. So keep this letter & read it over whenever you want to hear from me.....I gave a grand dinner to the Board day before yesterday & gave another to day...I do not get through my days work before that hour, though. I breakfast at 6 A.M. I would rather have eaten a plate of strawberries with you & Miss Natalie, than both dinners...." Apparently unpublished, not found in the standard sources.
Upon consideration, "Rooney" Lee (1837-1891) did not follow his father and older brother to West Point. Instead, he enrolled at Harvard University,ÿ graduating in 1857. According to his classmate, Henry Adams, he exhibited "the Virginian habit of command." An Army career still held attractions for him and upon the recommendation of General Winfield Scott (R.E. Lee's commander in the Mexican war) Rooney was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 6th Infantry, commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston (later Major-General, C.S.A.). In 1859 he left the Army. When the Civil War broke out, he served as Captain and then Major with the 9th Virginia Cavalry and followed General J.E.B. Stuart through most of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia, including Stuart's famed "ride around MacClellan."
As Brigadier General from September 1862, he was badly wounded at Brandy Station in June 1863 (one of the largest cavalry battles of the war), and captured while convalescing. When exchanged in March 1864, he was promoted to Major General (the youngest in C.S.A. ranks) and played a key role in the closing phases of the war, commanding the cavalry on the right wing of the Confederate Army from Petersburg on its retreat to Appomattox. In 1887 he was elected to Congress and served until his death.
R.E. LEE'S ADVICE TO HIS SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON ON A MILITARY CAREER
A graceful, lengthy letter from a loving father to his second son, 16 years old, counseling him on the choice of a profession. Colonel R.E. Lee was at this date serving as Superintendant of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (where his eldest son George Washington Custis, and a nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, were already enrolled). It appears that Rooney, mindful of the Lees' distinguished military lineage, had asked his father about a West Point appointment. Lee's thoughtful, sympathetic letter carefully avoids urging any particular course upon the boy.
"My dear Son, I recd. your letter...& you could have presented me with no more gratifying birth-day offering, than your expression of confidence, attachment & consideration. You are, as you say, fast approaching manhood & with all its responsibilities, duties & requirements, it will be upon you, before you are aware. You therefore do right to consider & prepare. Will you be ready to meet its necessities? I hope & trust so, & it is my earnest wish to do all in my power to aid & help you. Throw out of your calculation all consideration of my individual pleasure or convenience. The first will be best promoted by your happiness & prosperity. The latter I can afford to sacrifice for the benefit of my children. My means are sufficient for their comfortable support & necessary education, & if they will be content to be economical in their expenditures & make the most of their opportunities, I can afford them as good an education as some of the best & great men of our country ever enjoyed. Let that then be no obstacle in your choice of a profession or avocation in life. I wish you to have the advantages of a good education, &...can send you to Colledge & place you on a respectable footing & give you all the opportunities of learning, but not the means of indulging in extravagance, folly or vice. After that, you could select your own course in life.
"In reference to your coming to West Point, I do not know that I have anything new to state. The first difficulty in the way is the procurement of an appointment. The obstacles to be overcome you are aware of. The 2nd is the probability of your being rejected by the Medical Board on account of the loss of your fingers [in a childhood mishap], & your tendency to rheumatism. I think it would be well to be certain on the latter point, as far as can be, before encountering the difficulties of the other. The Medical Board of Examiners are taken from the Surgeons of the Army, as may be most convenient....& therefore there is no knowing what opinion they would form until the time of Exam[inatio]n. We can only judge what it would probably be, by the opinion of others.
"There is no possibility of your getting an appointment before next year, & probably not for two years. There will therefore be time to inquire into this matter, & to make up your final opinion this Summer, during your vacation. If upon a review of the whole case & notwithstanding all the difficulties in the way, your inclinations still prompt you to lead a military life in preference to others that may be open to you, as I have told you before, I shall not oppose your preference. You can try to get an app[ointmen]t to W.P. & if you succeed, I shall be glad of your success, if you fail, you must do something else. Endeavour therefore to be prepared for either emergency: Apply the present time & all your energies to the acquirement of knowledge, the pursuit of wisdom & the strengthening of your mind & body. Do not suppose that general intelligence or intellectual acquirement is unnecessary for an Officer of the Army. It is as necessary for him as for any other individual. It elevates his mind, purifies his senses & polishes his manners. Though you may not know as much in the beginning as much of the particular branches [of learning] taught here , as you would if previously they had all been studied & acquired, still if you really understand the elementary principles, possess the powers of steady & energetic application, have a determined will to succeed, & a correct sense of right & wrong, I should prefer them to a knowledge of the whole Course without them. Conny and Fitzhugh [R.E. Lee's nephew] I fear were too young when they entered [West Point] to possess them. The first has done badly. The second is not doing as well as I wish. Your brother [George Washington Custis Lee] possesses them & is reaping the advantage of them. Mark the difference."
In a later addition to the long letter, dated June 9, Lee reports that "your brother [G.W.C. Lee] came up [for examination] in Philosophy about 11 A.M. & ragged right out....I hope he will in time make a good man & true Soldier. He is No 1 in Philosophy....." He underlines the importance of his letter: "You must read it attentively & do not be satisfied with one perusal, but read it over till you fully understand my meaning. I shall not be able to write to you again for a long time. So keep this letter & read it over whenever you want to hear from me.....I gave a grand dinner to the Board day before yesterday & gave another to day...I do not get through my days work before that hour, though. I breakfast at 6 A.M. I would rather have eaten a plate of strawberries with you & Miss Natalie, than both dinners...." Apparently unpublished, not found in the standard sources.
Upon consideration, "Rooney" Lee (1837-1891) did not follow his father and older brother to West Point. Instead, he enrolled at Harvard University,ÿ graduating in 1857. According to his classmate, Henry Adams, he exhibited "the Virginian habit of command." An Army career still held attractions for him and upon the recommendation of General Winfield Scott (R.E. Lee's commander in the Mexican war) Rooney was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 6th Infantry, commanded by General Albert Sidney Johnston (later Major-General, C.S.A.). In 1859 he left the Army. When the Civil War broke out, he served as Captain and then Major with the 9th Virginia Cavalry and followed General J.E.B. Stuart through most of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia, including Stuart's famed "ride around MacClellan."
As Brigadier General from September 1862, he was badly wounded at Brandy Station in June 1863 (one of the largest cavalry battles of the war), and captured while convalescing. When exchanged in March 1864, he was promoted to Major General (the youngest in C.S.A. ranks) and played a key role in the closing phases of the war, commanding the cavalry on the right wing of the Confederate Army from Petersburg on its retreat to Appomattox. In 1887 he was elected to Congress and served until his death.