from Lee's great character. He performed at least what in his
inmost soul _he_ considered his duty, and, from the beginning of his
career, when all was so bright, to its termination, when all was so
dark, it will be found that his controlling sentiment was, first,
last, and all the time, this performance of duty. The old Puritan,
whose example he admired so much, was not more calm and resolute.
When "the last day" of the cause he fought for came--in the spring of
1865--it was plain to all who saw the man, standing unmoved in the
midst of the general disaster, that his sole desire was to be "found
at his place, and doing his duty."

From this species of digression upon the moral constituents of the
individual, we pass to the record of that career which made the great
fame of the soldier. The war had already begun when Lee took command
of the provisional forces of Virginia, and the collisions in various
portions of the Gulf States between the Federal and State authorities
were followed by overt acts in Virginia, which all felt would be the
real battle-ground of the war. The North entered upon the struggle
with very great ardor and enthusiasm. The call for volunteers to
enforce obedience to the Federal authority was tumultuously responded
to throughout the entire North, and troops were hurried forward to
Washington, which soon became an enormous camp. The war began in
Virginia with the evacuation and attempted destruction of the works at
Harper's Ferry, by the Federal officer in command there. This was on
the 19th of April, and on the next day reinforcements were thrown into
Fortress Monroe; and the navy-yard at Norfolk, with the shipping, set
on fire and abandoned.

Lee thus found the Commonwealth in a state of war, and all his
energies were immediately concentrated upon the work of placing her
in a condition of defence. He established his headquarters in the
custom-house at Richmond; orderlies were seen coming and going; bustle
reigned throughout the building, and by night, as well as by day,
General Lee labored incessantly to organize the means of resistance.
From the first moment, all had felt that Virginia, from her
geographical position, adjoining the Federal frontier and facing the
Federal capital, would become the arena of the earliest, longest, and
most determined struggle. Her large territory and moral influence, as
the oldest of the Southern States, also made her the chief object of
the Federal hostility. It w