The Monument to General Robert E, Lee, 187
keep pace with the cav'y. At this time there is no danger from the East. Get all inforn^ation & be guided by events.
Rosser has halted at Gordonsville, awaiting, for the present, the developments of Kilpatrick's movements. As, already advised, I de- sire you to rejoin your brigade at the commencement of active operations, & hope you will be able to have completed by that time the business that has occupied you during the winter.
'* Very resp*y,
Your ob't serv't,
R. E. Lee,
- Col. Edw^ard Willis,
12, Geo, Reg't,
Gen' I.
Envelope superscribed " Confidential," in left hand corner ; franked
- R. E. Lee, Gen'l,*' in right hand corner, and addressed "Col.
Edward Willis, Command* g 12. Geo. Reg't." Letter and super- scription entirely in the handwriting of General Lee.
The Monument to General Robert E. Lee.
HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR ITS ERECTION.
[Compiled from accounts in the Dispatch and Times newspapers of
Richmond.]
In all our eventful history, perhaps, nothing has stirred the heart of the South like the death of General Lee. It came not as a shock ; it had been expected for many months ; the whole people knew that he had gone to Charleston for his health, and it was generally known, too, that there was little hope of benefit to the journey. It came in due season ; the last few years of honored and honorable retirement had afforded to the o'erfraught heart of the Southern people an opportunity for relief in the expressions of love and reve- rence and consolation that crowded upon the hero in his mountain home from day to day. Lexington had become a shrine, and all sections of the country turned to it with veneration. Moreover, the life was complete ; the work lay open to the world ; the example had been shown ; the precepts uttered ; the blessing bestowed. The mourning, therefore, was without bitterness, but it was no less tender and deep ; it was for the loss of a father rather than of a leader.
