Of this eminent soldier and man whose character offers so great an example, a memoir is attempted in this volume.  The work will necessarily be “popular” rather than full and elaborate, as the public and private correspondence of Lee are not at this time accessible.  These will throw a fuller light on the subject; but sufficient material is at the disposal of the writer to enable him to present an accurate likeness of Lee, and to narrate clearly the incidents of his career.  In doing so, the aim of the author is to measure out full justice to all—­not to arouse old enmities, which should be allowed to slumber, but to treat his subject with the judicial moderation of the student of history.

A few words will terminate this preface.  The volume before the reader was begun in 1866.  The writer first, however, informed General Lee of his design, and had the honor to receive from him in reply the assurance that the work “would not interfere with any he might have in contemplation; he had not written a line of any work as yet, and might never do so; but, should he write a history of the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia, the proposed work would be rather an assistance than a hinderance.”

As the writer had offered promptly to discontinue the work if it were not agreeable to General Lee, this reply was regarded in the light of an assurance that he did not disapprove of it.  The composition was, however, interrupted, and the work laid aside.  It is now resumed and completed at a time when the death of the illustrious soldier adds a new and absorbing interest to whatever is connected with his character or career.

II.

The Lees of Virginia.

The Lees of Virginia spring from an ancient and respectable family of Essex, in England.

Of some members of the family, both in the Old World and the New, a brief account will be given.  The origin of an individual explains much that is striking and peculiar in his own character; and it will be found that General Lee inherited many of the traits of his ancestors, especially of some eminent personages of his name in Virginia.

The family pedigree is traced back by Lee, in the life of his father, to Launcelot Lee, of London, in France, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England.  After the battle of Hastings, which subjected England to the sway of the Normans, Launcelot Lee, like others, was rewarded by lands wrested from the subdued Saxons.  His estate lay in Essex, and this is all that is known concerning him.  Lionel Lee is the next member of the family of whom mention is made.  He lived during the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, and, when the king went on his third crusade, in the year 1192, Lionel Lee raised a company of gentlemen, and marched with him to the Holy Land.  His career there was distinguished; he displayed special gallantry at the siege of Acre, and for this he received a solid proof of King Richard’s approbation.  On his return he was made first Earl of Litchfield; the king presented him with the estate of “Ditchley,” which became the name afterward of an estate of the Lees in Virginia; and, when he died, the armor which he had worn in the Holy Land was placed in the department of “Horse Armory” in the great Tower of London.