George W. S. Trow Read online

  Educators Love STEP-UP Books.

  So Do Children.*

  In this exciting series:

  • THE WORDS ARE HARDER (but not too hard)

  • THERE’S A LOT MORE TEXT (but it’s in bigger print)

  • THERE ARE PLENTY OF ILLUSTRATIONS (but they are not just picture books)

  • And the subject matter has been carefully chosen to appeal to young readers who want to find out about the world for themselves. These informative and lively books are just the answer.

  *“STEP-UP BOOKS

  … fill a need for precise informational material written in a simple readable form which children can and will enjoy. More please!”—EVELYN L. HEADLEY, Director of Elementary Education, Edison, New Jersey. “I love them.”—STEVE MEYER, second grade pupil, Chicago, Illinois.

  Meet ROBERT E. LEE is the story of a great American leader forced to make a terrible decision. Robert E. Lee the Virginian, son of a Revolutionary hero, served in the U.S. Army as America moved towards Civil War. Loving his country, he hated to see the Union split, but he could not fight against the South. His agonizing decision, his brilliant military leadership, and the fine example he set when the battle was done, are all recounted in this thoroughly researched and richly illustrated book.

  GEORGE TROW was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, and went to Harvard University where he was president of The Harvard Lampoon. He has lived in New York City for most of his life, and now writes for The New Yorker.

  Mr. Trow became interested in Robert E. Lee during a stay in Tidewater Virginia, and pursued the Lee legend in many parts of the state. Meet Robert E. Lee is Mr. Trow’s first children’s book.

  TED LEWIN was born in Buffalo, New York. He studied art at Pratt Institute, supporting himself there by wrestling professionally.

  Illustrations by Mr. Lewin have appeared in many magazines and books, including the Random House Look-It-Up Book of Presidents.

  Mr. Lewin is married and lives in Brooklyn, New York. He likes to scuba dive, and keeps a collection of exotic tropical fish.

  BOOK CLUB EDITION

  Copyright © 1969, by Random House, Inc.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 69-18097

  eISBN: 978-0-307-80023-7

  v3.1

  To my mother, Anne Carter Trow

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  1 - Meet Robert E. Lee

  2 - Boyhood in Virginia

  3 - At West Point

  4 - Marriage

  5 - The Mexican War

  6 - Back To West Point

  7 - North Against South

  8 - The Army of Northern Virginia

  9 - Chancellorsville

  10 - Gettysburg

  11 - The Fall of the Army of Northern Virginia

  12 - The Last Years

  13 - After Robert E. Lee

  1

  Meet Robert E. Lee

  Robert E. Lee was a great general. He was one of the greatest generals in American history. But for four terrible years, General Lee fought against the United States.

  Robert E. Lee came from Virginia. His family had lived in Virginia for over 150 years. The first Lees in America had come from England. Virginia was called a colony then. It belonged to England. There were 13 English colonies in America.

  But after many years people in the colonies felt they were no longer English. They felt they were Americans. They did not want to be ruled by the English King.

  On July 4, 1776, leaders of the colonies met. They agreed to sign the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration said the colonies did not belong to England any more.

  Two Lees signed the Declaration.

  The colonies asked a Virginia soldier to lead their armies. His name was George Washington.

  England did not want the 13 colonies to break away. An English army was sent to America.

  Robert E. Lee’s father was a great general in the war with England. “Light Horse Harry” Lee became a hero of the American Revolution.

  Harry Lee Attacks: August, 1777

  200 English soldiers rode out of the woods into an open field. They shouted and laughed as they rode. Suddenly shots rang out. Englishmen fell from their horses.

  Out of the woods came Light Horse Harry Lee and 60 Virginia horsemen. They attacked! More English soldiers fell.

  Harry Lee won a great battle. He took many prisoners. He brought them to General George Washington. Washington said Light Horse Harry was one of America’s best soldiers.

  The war lasted four more years. At last the Americans won. The 13 colonies became a new country, the United States of America. George Washington of Virginia was the first President. And Harry Lee was the first governor of Virginia.

  2

  Boyhood in Virginia

  It was a fine summer day 28 years after the Revolution. A battered old coach rolled down a long driveway. Inside was Harry Lee’s wife, Ann Carter Lee. With her were the children, Charles, Smith and Annie. And on her lap sat her little boy, Robert. He was three years old.

  Harry Lee was taking his family away from Stratford, the great brick house of the Lees.

  After the Revolution, things had been hard for Light Horse Harry. The famous soldier had tried to make money. But he had lost the money he had. He had even been sent to jail because he could not pay back money he had borrowed.

  And so there had been bad days at Stratford after Robert E. Lee was born. No one farmed the land. Few friends visited.

  Now the Lees had to leave. It cost too much to live in the big house.

  It was hard to leave. Stratford was one of the finest houses in Virginia. Lees had lived there for almost 100 years. In one room both the Lees who signed the Declaration of Independence had been born. And in 1807, Robert E. Lee had been born in that same room.

  Harry Lee had to leave Stratford. But he could not leave Virginia. He loved his state. Once he had said, “Virginia is my country.”

  So the family moved to Alexandria, a small town of brick houses in Virginia. It was near Washington, the new capital of the United States.

  But Light Horse Harry could not stay long. Things went wrong again. One of his friends was attacked by a mob. Harry tried to help and was badly hurt. He almost died. The American government sent the old hero to a far-off island to get well. But he never did. And he never saw his family again. He died a few years later on his way home to Virginia.

  Mrs. Lee and the children lived in a small house now. But Robert was happy. There was green Virginia country all around. Robert could ride and hunt, or swim in the river.

  When Robert was 13, Charles went to work and Smith joined the Navy. Now Robert was head of the family. He had to take care of his mother and sisters.

  Mrs. Lee was often sick. Robert took care of her after school. Often he carried her to her coach. The Lee’s Negro coachman, Nat, would drive them around Alexandria.

  Many things in the town made Robert think of his father and the Revolution. He went to the church George Washington had gone to. People told stories about George Washington and Light Horse Harry in the war. Robert heard about Washington’s funeral.

  Light Horse Harry had spoken there. He had said Washington was “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

  Robert wanted to be like his father and the great Washington.

  Robert decided to go to West Point, the United States Military A
cademy. After four years there he would be an army officer. And West Point was free. This would help the Lees. They had very little money.

  But it was hard to get into West Point. Robert worked hard. People sent letters to the government. They said he should go. His teacher called him a fine student and a gentleman. Robert got in.

  3

  At West Point

  Many young soldiers in fine uniforms stood in long rows. A famous French general had come to see the cadets at West Point.

  It was July, 1825. Robert E. Lee had come to the Academy just a month before. Today he was in dress uniform for the first time.

  It was an exciting day for Robert. The famous Frenchman was General Lafayette. He had fought in the American Revolution. He had helped George Washington and Light Horse Harry beat the English.

  Robert had already met Lafayette. A few months before, the great man had visited Alexandria. After a big celebration he had called on the Lees. Robert was very proud.

  Now Robert was at West Point to learn to be a soldier like Lafayette.

  West Point was in New York. It was a beautiful place on the Hudson River. But life was hard for the cadets. The buildings were old and uncomfortable. The work was hard.

  Cadet Lee got up at dawn. He had to study all morning and march on the parade field after lunch. But he liked to work. He found science and drawing fun. He even liked to march. The life of a soldier pleased him.

  In two years Robert was allowed to go home and visit his mother. He was sad to find her very sick. But it was good to be home. He was glad to see his old friends again.

  The last two years at the Academy were the hardest. Robert’s class started with 87 boys in it. Only half finished. Robert did very well. Just one cadet got better marks. And he and Robert were chosen to lead all the cadets at West Point.

  When Robert was 21 he graduated from West Point and came home. He was an engineer in the Army now. His work was building forts.

  Mrs. Lee was very, very sick. Robert gave her medicine and sat by her bed. But before long she died.

  Robert was sad. He would miss his mother very much.

  After Mrs. Lee died, her coachman, Nat, had nowhere to go. He was old and sick. Robert wanted to help him. When the Army sent Robert to build a fort in Georgia, he took Nat with him. The warm weather would help the old man get better.

  4

  Marriage

  Soon after Mrs. Lee died, Robert began to visit a girl named Mary Custis. Her father was George Washington Parke Custis. He was George Washington’s adopted son. The Custis family lived at Arlington, a large house near Alexandria.

  When Robert could get away from Georgia, he often visited Arlington.

  Before long, Robert asked Mary to marry him. Mr. Custis was a rich man. He was not sure his only child should marry a poor army officer. But Mary wanted to marry Robert. At last her father agreed. On a rainy day in 1831, Robert E. Lee married Mary Custis at Arlington.

  The Army had given Robert a new job. He had to work at Fort Monroe, in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Robert and Mary went to live there.

  A few days later, horrible things happened near by. First, angry Negroes went from farm to farm killing white people.

  Then soldiers from Fort Monroe were sent out to get them. Almost 100 black people were killed. Many of them had done nothing.

  Weeks later the black leader, Nat Turner, was caught and hanged.

  Turner had been angry at white men for making black men slaves.

  Many Negroes had been brought from Africa to be slaves in the South. They were made to work in the fields. They had to work in white people’s houses without pay.

  Some white people were cruel to slaves. People like the Lees took good care of them. But no slave had a good life. It was a terrible thing to be owned by another man.

  But Robert E. Lee did not like to think about this kind of thing. He was a soldier. And soon he would be a father. To him the important things were his duty to the Army and his duty to his family.

  The Army sent Robert to work in Washington. Now the Lees could live at Arlington. Robert often had to be away. But he was always glad to come home to his growing family. In these years the Lees had seven children.

  Robert E. Lee was a soldier, but he had never fought a battle. Then in 1846 war broke out between Mexico and the United States. Lee was sent to fight. He said good-by to Mary and the children. He was off to war.

  5

  The Mexican War

  The big guns were ready. Captain Robert E. Lee had told the soldiers where to put them. He had made the men dig banks of dirt to hide behind.

  Lee was helping General Winfield Scott plan a great battle. The Army was about to attack Vera Cruz, a large Mexican town on the sea.

  The attack began. Soldiers fired the great guns at the walls of Vera Cruz. One of the men at the guns was Robert’s brother, Smith Lee. When he could, Lee went to stand by his brother’s gun. “I could see his white teeth through all the smoke of the fire,” Lee said in a letter to Mary.

  The Mexicans soon gave up Vera Cruz. General Scott thanked Lee for his work. Now the Army could move on to the Mexican capital.

  The march to Mexico City would be hard. General Scott asked Lee to find the best way to go. And he asked him to see what Santa Anna, the Mexican general, was doing.

  To get news for Scott, Lee went behind the lines of enemy soldiers. This was dangerous work.

  Once when Lee was behind enemy lines he heard voices. Mexican soldiers were coming to drink at a spring! Lee jumped under a log. More Mexicans came. They sat on the log and talked. Lee had to hide there until dark.

  Lee found out many things for Scott. Once he even found a secret road for the Army. And he was very brave. At Cerro Gordo he led the first line of men into battle. The Americans won. But Lee wrote to his son, Custis, “You have no idea what a horrible sight a field of battle is.”

  Then came the biggest battle of the war. The Americans attacked a fort outside Mexico City. Lee planned the attack. For days he worked without sleep. He found out where the Mexican soldiers were. He knew where to put the big guns. It was easy for the Army to take the fort. The American Army marched right into Mexico City. The war was over!

  6

  Back To West Point

  Robert E. Lee came home. He had not seen Arlington or his family for two years. He hugged Mary and the children. But he could not find his youngest son Robert. “Where is my little boy?” he asked. A boy stood near by. Lee picked him up and kissed him. Everyone laughed. Lee had kissed his son’s best friend.

  The family was glad Lee was back. He high-jumped with the older boys. He had the littlest children tickle his feet while he told them stories. Sometimes the stories were so good the children forgot to tickle. “No tickling, no story,” Lee would say.

  The Army was pleased with Lee’s work. They made him a colonel. They asked him to be head of West Point.

  Colonel Lee liked running West Point. His oldest son Custis was a cadet now. Custis often visited him.

  West Point was in New York, in the North. But the Lees felt at home there. Many of Colonel Lee’s Army friends were from the North. Cadets from North and South were friends.

  But there was bad feeling growing between North and South. The biggest reason for this was slavery.

  Most people knew that slavery was wrong. In the North it was against the law. But in the South it was allowed. People with big farms said they needed slaves to do the work.

  Lee knew that slavery was wrong. He said it was bad for the slave and worse for the man who owned him. He freed the few slaves his family had given him. When some said they wanted to go to Africa, he sent them.

  Lee did not tell other people to free their slaves. And he thought the North had no right to tell the South what to do about slavery.

  Lee did not like to argue about slavery. He thought it made the trouble worse. He did not see how deeply people felt.

  In a few years Colonel Lee’s job at West Point was over. T
he family was glad to get back to Virginia. But Lee had to leave often. He came home when he could. Old Mr. Custis had died. Now Lee had to run Arlington.

  One fall day in 1859, a soldier came to Arlington. He carried a message for Colonel Lee.

  Fighting had broken out in a town called Harpers Ferry in Virginia. Strangers with guns had come to free the slaves. Lee was told to bring Harpers Ferry to order.

  Harpers Ferry: October, 1859

  A great crowd had come to the fire-house. The men who had tried to free the slaves were hiding inside.

  Colonel Lee sent a message in. He said soldiers were all around the building. He told the men to give up.

  The men would not come out. They moved fire engines across the door.

  The soldiers smashed in the door with a ladder. There were gunshots. A soldier fell. The rest ran in. Inside they found a band of men led by a strange, wild man.

  This brave, angry man was John Brown. He hated slavery. Many in the North thought he was right in fighting to free the slaves. But in the South people hated him. Robert E. Lee believed he was a madman.

  In December, 1859, John Brown was hanged. Robert E. Lee was there.

  7

  North Against South

  On November 6, 1860, Americans elected a new President. He was a tall, thin man who had often spoken against slavery. His name was Abraham Lincoln.

  People in the South were very unhappy. They did not want Lincoln for their President. Some Southern states said they did not want to be part of the United States any more. They voted to leave the Union. They joined to make a new country, the Confederate States of America. They chose their own president. He was Jefferson Davis.