Robert E. Lee was one of the
most accomplished military figures of the 1800's. It was no
small blow to the Northern cause to have the General take command of
the Confederate States Army. There were certainly bruised
sentiments in the North. In 1864 Harper's Weekly ran a cover
story on Robert E. Lee, that included a dramatic illustration of him.
The image at your right is a picture of the original Harper's Weekly
story on Lee. It is a great portrait of him. The story
definitely reveals the paper's Northern bias, and their resentment of
Lee's choice in the war.
To give you a feel for what the
North felt about Lee, I include below the ENTIRE story that appeared
in Harper's Weekly in that 1864 edition.
General Robert E.
Lee
General Robert Edmund Lee
(Note Harper's got his middle name WRONG)
General Robert E. Lee, Commander-in-Chief of the
Rebel Armies, whose portrait we give on this page, is unquestionably a
consummate Master of the art of war. That superiority, indeed, was
acquired at the expense and under the patronage of the Government he
is now endeavoring to destroy; but this does not alter the fact.
His career, prior to his desertion of the flag of the country, may be
briefly stated. Born in 1808, he was regularly educated at West Point.
In the Mexican campaign he served with the Engineer Corps, and was
twice promoted for gallantry. At Chapultepec he was severely
wounded. IN 1852, while holding the rank of Major, he was
appointed Superintendent of the Military Academy; but three years
afterward he was sent to Europe with M'clellan, and a Captain, to
study the proceedings of the French and English armies in the siege of
Sebastonpol. About this time he was advanced to the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel of the second Regiment of Cavalry, and this was his
position when he traitorously forsook his country and entered the
revel service.
General Lee, now in his fifty-sixth year, is six
feet in height, erect and well-formed, and of imposing appearance; has
clear black eyes, dark-gray hair, and a heavy gray beard. He is
plain in dress, wearing a black felt hat with a narrow strip of gold
around it, and a plain Brigadier's coat with three stars on the
collar. He is said to be popular with his army, but the conviction is
growing that in General Grant he has met his match, and the confidence
now entertained in him is not, probably, as great as formerly.
In the present campaign he has displayed great tenacity and skill in
the management of his army; but in all the elements of strategy Grant
has proved more than his equal.
The photograph from which our engraving is made is
one taken by MESSRS. MINNIS & COWELL, of Richmond, which bears the
stamp of its legal registration in 1863, "in the District Court of the
Confederate States for the Eastern District of Virginia."