Monday, March 25, 2024

Breckinridge, Lee, Johnston, and the end of the War.


   When the surrender of the two principal Confederate armies is discussed, those conversations focus on two sets of interactions: Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant at Appomattox and Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman at the Bennett Place. Hovering around the periphery of those discussions is John C. Breckinridge. In the final days, he counselled both Lee and Johnston.

   John C. Breckinridge kind of slips through the cracks of history. While there are scores of biographies on Lee and Johnston, there are only three on Breckinridge. Born in Kentucky, he graduated from Transylvania University, practiced law, and served as an officer in the 3rd Kentucky Volunteers during the war with Mexico. Breckinridge served two terms as a Kentucky legislator, two terms in the U.S. House, as Vice President of the United States under President James Buchanan, and was serving in the U.S. Senate after his term as Vice President expired. Described as not being a “proponent of secession or of extreme state rights views,” he did run against the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket as a Democrat in 1860.[1]

   Breckinridge might just be the most widely-traveled of Confederate generals. Commissioned as brigadier general in November 1861, he saw service in Kentucky, fought at Shiloh, was promoted to major general in April 1862, was in Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Port Hudson, and at Murfreesboro. In 1863, he led a division at Jackson, Chickamauga, and a corps at Chattanooga. Breckinridge then moved east, leading the Confederate forces at New Market in May 1864, Cold Harbor, and then back to the Shenandoah Valley to defend it against attacks by Federals, eventually leading a corps under Early’s command during the march on Washington, D.C. In January 1865, Breckinridge became the sixth and last Confederate Secretary of War.

Breckinridge, Lee, and Johnston. (LOC)

   Following the breakthrough of Confederate lines below Petersburg on the morning of April 2, 1865, Richmond was abandoned. Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Cabinet boarded the last train out of Richmond that night, leaving the city a blaze. Breckinridge was not with the group. He rode out of the city early on the morning of April 3. Breckinridge took command of a wagon train moving toward Amelia Court House, having at least one brush with Federal cavalry. In Farmville on the night of April 6 or morning of April 7, Breckinridge found Lee and discussed events, with Lee wishing Breckinridge to deliver a message to President Davis.[2]

   While it is not known what all they discussed, Breckinridge does write Davis on April 8. Amelia Court House was occupied by the Federals on April 5; some 800 Federals had been captured near Rice’s Station on April 6; serious Confederate losses had been sustained-- “High Bridge and other points.” It was Lee’s plan to try and get to North Carolina, Breckinridge wrote. He then outlines the disposition of a few other Confederate commands, like Lomax and Echols. “The straggling has been great, and the situation is not favorable,” Breckinridge concluded. Was surrender something that the two had discussed?[3]

   Breckinridge rode toward the south, escaping Federal troops encircling Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee surrendered on April 9 at Appomattox Court House. On April 11, the day after Davis moved south to North Carolina, Breckinridge arrived in Danville. He set out the following day and reached Davis, meeting with the president at the home of John Wood. It was Breckinridge that brought the official word of Lee’s surrender. That night, Breckinridge met with Joseph E. Johnston.[4]

   According to Johnston, it was his opinion, along with that of P.G.T. Beauregard, that the “Southern Confederacy was overthrown.” Johnston told Breckinridge this and believed that it was Davis’s responsibility to exercise this “power . . . without more delay.” Breckinridge promised to give Johnston the floor to express this view. Johnston was given the opportunity and told the president “that under such circumstances it would be the greatest of human crimes for us to attempt to continue the war.” Davis asked for the views of his cabinet, with Breckinridge, Stephen Mallory, Secretary of the Navy, and John H. Reagan, Postmaster General, concurring. Only Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin held out hope. Davis agreed to allow Johnston to begin talks with Sherman.[5]

   Davis, with the Confederate cabinet, including Breckinridge, set out from Greensboro, heading to Charlotte, on April 15. Breckinridge was with Davis, and, on the following day, learned that Johnston and Sherman had opened talks. Johnston and Sherman began meeting at the Bennett Farm near Durham, and Johnston wanted Breckinridge to help with the negotiations. It was Johnston’s plan (and Davis’s) that the civil departments be surrendered as well. Not reaching a conclusion at the end of the first day, Johnston requested that Breckinridge join him. Breckinridge arrived, along with Reagan, and joined Johnston in drafting a surrender proposal. When Johnston returned to the Bennett Farm, Breckinridge was also there, and it was Johnston’s idea that Breckinridge join the negotiations. Sherman demurred. Breckinridge was one of those civil officials. Johnston reminded Sherman that Breckinridge was also a major general in the Confederate army, and Breckinridge joined in the debate. Eventually, terms were reached on April 18 and sent to various presidents.[6]

   While standing in the yard of the Bennett farm, waiting for copies of the documents to be made, Sherman took Breckinridge aide. Sherman told Breckinridge that “he had better get away, as the feeling of our people, who had as such announced Mr. Lincoln,  of Illinois, duly and properly elected the President of the United States, and yet that he afterward openly rebelled and taken up arms against the Government. He answered me that he surely would give us no more trouble, and intimated that he would speedily leave the country forever.”[7] Of course, Breckinridge would leave the country, heading to Cuba first, then Great Britian and Canada, before a tour through Europe. Upon being assured that he was covered under President Andrew Johnson’s Amnesty Proclamation of December 1868, Breckinridge returned to Kentucky. He died in Kentucky in 1875.

   Breckinridge’s council with Joseph E. Johnston is well documented. While what Breckinridge and Lee discussed in Farmville on April 7 is seemingly lost to history, the pair had met frequently after Breckinridge assumed the office of Secretary of War, including a three-day stint after Breckinridge failed to get the Confederate senate to pass a resolution demanding Davis open negotiations with Lincoln. Historian William C. Davis, in an essay on the roles of Breckinridge, Lee, and John A. Campbell, believes that, at that Farmville meeting,  Breckinridge and Lee possibly outlined what Lee could do if he was cornered and forced to surrender.[8]  

 



[1] Davis, The Confederate General, 1:127.

[2] Knight, From Arlington to Appomattox, 494; Davis, Breckinridge, 507.

[3] OR, Vol. 46, pt. 3, 1389.

[4] Davis, Breckinridge, 509.

[5] Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations, 397-99.

[6] Johnston, Narrative of Military Operations, 400-405.

[7] Sherman, Personal memoirs, 2:353-54.

[8] Davis, “Lee, Breckinridge, and Campbell,” in Janney, Petersburg to Appomattox, 155.

Monday, March 04, 2024

The United Confederate Veteran reunions in Memphis

   Following the war, veterans organizations sprang up all over the nation. Memphis seemed slow to join the various groups. Prominent in the 1870s was the Mexican War Veterans Association, with Gideon Pillow as its commander. It appears that the original fraternal group in Memphis was known as the “Confederate Veterans Historical Association.” This later becomes the Confederate Veteran Historical Association Camp No. 28 after the United Confederate Veteran was formed in July 1889. Its counterpart in Memphis was the William J. Smith Post 1896, Grand Army of the Republic.[1]  

   Both organizations held national reunions for their membership in different locations across the United States. Quite possibly the closest that a GAR reunion was held to Memphis was the National Encampment in St. Louis in September 1887. Three times, the United Confederate Veterans held national reunions in Memphis: 1901, 1909, and 1924.

Program from the 1901 reunion. 
(TN Virtual Archives) 
   The 11th Annual Reunion of the United Confederate Veterans was held May 28-30, 1901, drawing 20,000 participants. The Rev. J. William Jones opened the day with a prayer, followed by an address from the governor, the mayor and a US Senator, then John B. Gordon, General-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans. The commands of Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Hunt Morgan were recognized. Joseph Wheeler spoke, followed by Fitzhugh Lee and General Bates.  That was all the first day. Alexander P. Stewart spoke the following day, and business was conducted, such as a fundraiser approved for a monument to Southern women, a decision on the location of the next reunion, a meeting of Confederate surgeons, a grand ball, and a flower parade. There were of course extras through the three days. Capt. George H. Mitchell, superintendent of the Memphis National Cemetery, encouraged the Confederate veterans to come and pay their respects. There was even a meeting of Confederate and Union veterans in the lobby of the Peabody hotel.[2]  

   The 19th Annual Reunion of the United Confederate Veterans was held June 8-10, 1909. The reunion was held jointly with the Confederate Southern Memorial Association. The crowds, estimated at 90,000 visitors (railroad officials believed the number of visitors at 175,000), found the route of the parade of veterans “a mass of brilliant bunting and fluttering flags . . . It was noticeable that the star-spangled banner was given almost equal place in many instances with the banner that was furled but never conquered.” Many local citizens sported badges that read “I live here; ask me.” The Bijou Theater was used as the convention hall where the meetings of delegates took place. The governor was on hand to welcome the veterans and their guest, followed by the singing of “Dixie,” and a “Rebel yell.” Clement A. Evans spoke, as did Lewis Guion, pleading for a park at Vicksburg, with a Confederate monument. There was a memorial service in honor of Jefferson Davis, the introduction of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s great-grandson, a reunion of the Immortal 600, and a grand ball. As at many of the reunions, there was a casualty or two. Jack Duhig, a member of the Sterling Price Camp, Dallas, Texas, died in a local hospital, probably from a heat stroke.[3]

Veterans at the 1924 reunion.
(flickr-ufomtiger52)

   The 34th Annual reunion of the United Confederate Veterans was held June 3-5, 1924. Reunion headquarters was at the Claridge Hotel, and thousands were reported in attendance. The event started with a memorial service at Elmwood Cemetery, with the Confederate graves being marked with flags and addresses on several topics, including Jefferson Davis. It was Davis’s birthdate. On June 4, the reunion officially began. The mayor of Memphis spoke (but the governor only sent his regards), then Commander-in- Chief W.B. Haldeman. “The grim reaper is rapidly depleting the ranks of the Confederate veterans,” Haldeman told the crowd, estimated at 5,000. Haldeman was re-elected as commander, and annual dues were increased. Most of the veterans were now driven in cars along the parade route. The only Confederate general present seems to have been Felix Robertson. There were also twenty “old ex-slaves who had served . . . during the war.” The Memphis D.A.R. sponsored an opening luncheon, the Kiwanis Club sponsored the floral parade, the R.O.T.C. and the Boy Scouts provided programing and helped the old veterans around the city, while there were several balls, one sponsored by the Ladies’ Confederate Memorial Association and another by the Memphis United Daughters of the Confederacy. Several veterans were reported in the hospital, “suffering from natural afflictions and the infirmities of age.” One newspaper editor was happy to have the veterans in Memphis, but also found the reunion “tinged. . . with sadness. It is more and more evident that the day is not far distant when there will be the grand final reunion in a city not made with hands, the reunion in which every man who fought on either side in the sixties will have a part.”[4]  



[1] Public Ledger, April 25, 1890; The Memphis Commercial, January 21, 1894.

[2] Confederate Veteran, 9:248-250; The Commercial Appeal, May 5, 1901, May 28, 1901.

[3] Confederate Veteran, 17:197, 314-16; The Commercial Appeal, June 11, 1909.

[4] Confederate Veteran, 32: 251-54; The Commercial Appeal, June 4, 1924, June 7, 1923.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Burying Memphis’s Confederates

Confederate Monument,
Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis

   Any great influx of men brought about numerous cases of disease, some of which led to death. Memphis was no different. Thousands of soldiers poured into the city, and as already discussed here, hospitals were opened to deal with not only with those wounded on the battlefield, but those who were sick. Despite medical care, numerous men died. To provide care for those who passed, the Southern Mothers Society, which operated one of the hospitals, acquired the Fowler section of Elmwood Cemetery. Elmwood Cemetery was established in 1852. This section of the cemetery was donated by Elmwood Cemetery “for the purpose of burying, free of charge, all soldiers who die honorably in defense of our liberties.” By September 1861, the ground had been enlarged and a spot for a monument already laid out.[1] 

   The first soldier to be buried in this section appears to have been Thomas Gallagher, who “died of wounds received accidently” on May 12, 1861. Gallagher was a member of Company H, 154th Senior Tennessee Infantry.[2] Early on, these funerals were full of military honors. J.W. Kirwan, a private in the 25th Mississippi Infantry, died of consumption in January 1862. A hearse and a company of new recruits escorted Kirwan’s body from his former house in Memphis to the cemetery. “The body was followed by a long procession of mourning friends who took a melancholy satisfaction in paying the last tribute of respect to an esteemed gentleman and devoted soldier.”[3] Burials undoubtedly continued through the course of the war, although information regarding burial of Confederates in the Confederate section of Elmwood Cemetery by the Federals seems to be lacking.

   In April 1866, there was a call for the upkeep by the ladies of Memphis of the Confederate section of Elmwood Cemetery. Sam W. Gulick stated that he would “Most willingly offer my services gratis, to letter all the names on the above boards to be placed in Elmwood Cemetery.” The ladies of the Southern Soldiers’ Home agreed to take on the responsibility, and there was a call for a “commemoration service” on April 26.[4] The memorial service came off with great fanfare, so much so that in April 1867, the local U.S. Army post commander prohibited “any processions, speeches or other public demonstrations, speeches or other public demonstrations in honor of the rebellion or men who fell in its service…” Local citizens were permitted “the simple act of mourning for deceased relatives in the customary manner.”[5]

   Slowly, the Confederate dead from other fields were brought to Elmwood Cemetery. Captain John W. Harris, killed in the North Georgia campaign of 1864, was reinterred in May 1866; W.A. Willis was likewise disinterred from a North Georgia battlefield and reinterred in Elmwood Cemetery in June 1866; Willie Pope, killed at the battle of Tishomingo Creek, was reinterred in July 1866; Brig. Gen Preston Smith, killed at Chickamauga in September 1863, and Col. Jeffrey E. Forrest, killed at the battle of Okolona in February 1864, were reinterred in May 1868.[6]

   The last Confederate soldier buried in the Confederate Soldiers Rest section was John F. Gunter, who died April 1, 1940. There are 945 numbered headstones in the Confederate section, and many other soldiers are buried through the cemetery. The Confederate Monument in the Confederate section was dedicated on June 5, 1878, and a marker about the cemetery was erected in 2006. 

   Among the more notable Confederate burials are Generals James Patton Anderson, Colton Greene, Preston Smith, Alfred J. Vaughan, Jr., Gideon Pillow, and William Henry Carroll. War-time governor Isham G. Harris is also buried at Elmwood, as is Confederate Congressman William G. Swan. Confederate senator Landon Carter Haynes was originally buried here, but was later moved to Jackson, Tennessee. War-time Federal soldiers buried at Elmwood were later moved (in 1868) to the Memphis National Cemetery, while two Federal generals, William J. Smith and Milton T. Williamson, are still buried at Elmwood. Elmwood was also the original burial location for Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife Mary. As an aside, famed author Shelby Foote is also buried in Memphis.



[1] Memphis Daily Appeal, September 25, 1861.

[2] Thomas Gallagher, CMSR, ROG109, NA.

[3] Memphis Daily Appeal, January 31, 1862.

[4] The Memphis Daily Appeal, April 18, 1866; April 24, 1866.

[5] Memphis Daily Post, April 25, 1867.

[6] Public Ledger, May 10, 1866, July 19, 1866, May 1, 1866; Memphis Daily Post, June 16, 1866.

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Memphis’s Irving Block Prison

   “Notorious for its cruel and unsanitary living conditions” is how the Irving Block Prison in Memphis has been described. The building was constructed in 1860 as a hotel. “This section of town was notably tough and iron slates were used to cover the windows,” a 1939 guide to Tennessee recorded. Located on the west side of Court Square, the building was three stories tall. When the war came, the building was used as one of the Confederate hospitals, and it was run by the Southern Mothers. When the Confederates abandoned Memphis in June 1862, Federal officials repurposed the building as a prison for Confederate and Federal soldiers, along with civilians and spies.

   Absalom Grimes was one of the men imprisoned at Irving Block. Grimes was a river boat pilot who was selected by Sterling B. Price to carry or smuggle the mail between the South and the North. Grimes was captured numerous times, including once in Memphis.[1] After being interrogated by the provost marshal, Grimes was taken to the Irving Block Prison. “That prison was on the west side of Jackson Square in Memphis . . . three stories high. A pair of stairs led from the lower storeroom into the basement, where there was an excavated doorway leading into the yard. This doorway had boards nailed over it, and one wide board was off about three feet above the ground,” Grimes wrote after the war. “When I was placed in this cellar a ball with a chain about three feet long was riveted to my right ankle and one end of the chain was stapled to the floor. There were eighteen other prisoners chained to the floor in like manner, placed in a row from the front to the rear of the long cellar. I was chained next to a big stove . . .” Grimes wrote of there being a Federal soldier in the cellar, “imprisoned for stealing government mules out of the corral and selling them.” Grimes was held in the cellar for more than two weeks, “and my daily fare consisted of two stale crackers and a piece of rotten bacon and some water, or coffee made of beans and dried Cherokee rose leaves.” Adjoining the room where Grimes was held was a room for female prisoners. Grimes was eventually transferred to Alton, Illinois.[2]  

 Irving Block Prison in 1864. (Historic-Memphis)

   Some of those female prisoners could have been prostitutes arrested in a raid in mid-1863. The “house of ill repute” was at 115 Beale Street, and the proprietress was Kate Stoner. Six or seven girls were arrested and locked up in the Irving Block Prison until they could be tried. All were found guilty and sent north of Cairo, Illinois, with a promise of imprisonment if they returned to Memphis.[3] Another woman arrested was named Pullen. An officer on picket suspected her of being a smuggler and sent her back to the city where she (and probably her son) were locked up in Irving.[4]

   Colonel R. F. Looney and Capt. A.D. Bright were sent by General Chalmers into west Tennessee to arrest and bring back into Confederate lines Confederate deserters and stragglers. They were captured near Arlington and sent to Memphis and the Irving Block Prison. “They were placed in a back room and strongly guarded, but in a short time the officer ordered that they be moved to the third story, a dirty place, where thieves, thugs, and cut-throats were kept, and where vermin abounded . . . There was not a bed of any description in the long room, neither was there a chair or bench to sit on. They walked the floor all night.” These men were later paroled.[5]  

   In another instance, Lt. Jason Hoey, 17th Arkansas, wrote to the Secretary of War that Lt. Col. Woods had bribed a Federal officer, Lt. Denis Lewis, to allow him to escape. After effecting his escape, Lewis had Woods rearrested. Woods complained that Lewis, “did not act the gentleman with him; he had given Lieutenant Lewis his money and then he (Lewis) betrayed him.” Lewis went to the prison, was shown into the cell where Woods was, and finding Wood asleep, Lewis drew his pistol and shot Woods in the head, killing him. According to Hoey, Lewis was tried by a court-martial, but “went to parts unknown.” He supposedly was tried and convicted of the crime, but escaped.[6] The Memphis Bulletin, in November 1863, related had it was so cold, and fuel in so short of supply, that some of the prisoners tore up fifty bunks to burn and keep warm.[7]

   There were some successful escapes. Captain M.A. Miller was caught smuggling two boxes of cavalry swords across the Mississippi River. He was tried by courts-martial, found guilty, and condemned to death. At this early date, prisoners from the city were allowed to visit their homes with a guard, and under the pretext of having a sick child, Miller was able to escape. Much of the plan previous to his escape was passed along when his family brought him food, “as the prison fare was unfit to eat.”[8] There were reports of sixty or more who escaped in February 1864, and eleven in May 1864.[9]

   U.S. Grant appointed Maj. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut as commander in Memphis. While the Irving Block Prison had various commanders, Hurlbut would appoint Capt. George A. Williams in 1863.

Maj. Gen. Stephen A. Hurlbut (LOC)

   In April 1864, Lt. Col. John F. Marsh, 24th Veterans Reserve Corps, was sent to inspect the prison. March stated that Irving Block Prison was “the filthiest place the inspector ever saw occupied by human beings . . . The whole management and government of the prisoners could not be worse. Discipline and order are unknown. Food sufficient, but badly served. In a dark, wet cellar, I found twenty-eight prisoners chained to a wet floor, where they had been constantly confined, many of them for months, one since November 16, 1863, and are not for a moment released, even to relive the calls of nature.” The prison hospital had a “shiftless appearance ad the guard dirty and inefficient.” There was no “book of memorandum showing the disposition of the prison fund.”[10] Charges were drawn up and Williams arrested. He argued that he had actually done much to improve the prison. It did come out that Hurlburt, and maybe Williams, were running a multi-faceted extortion ring in Memphis. For example, they demanded ransoms from local wealthy families for the release of prisoners. Hurlbert also engaged in profiteering, getting cuts from the cotton that moved through the city. Hurlburt also targeted the Jewish population of Memphis, closing their businesses, but leaving non-Jewish businesses open. Hurlbut was brought up on charges toward the end of the war, but was allowed to resign. [11]

   History says that Lincoln ordered the prison closed in 1865.[12] However, that does not seem to be true. In March 1865, Col. John P.C. Shanks, commanding a cavalry brigade in west Tennessee, makes mention of capturing two “Guerrillas” and sending them to Irving Block Prison.[13] John G. Ryan, on parole, was passing through Memphis in July 1865 when he was arrested and hauled by the provost to Irving Block Prison. Ryan described the third floor room he was taken to as having “shackles, manacles, handcuffs and balls and chains.” A ball and chain was affixed to his left ankle. He was removed to another room and chained to the floor. Several days later, Ryan was sent to Washington, D.C. He was believed to be John H. Surratt, a spy accused of plotting with John Wilkes Booth to kidnap and assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Ryan was not released until October, and later sued the Federal government for false arrest.[14]

   The building was demolished in 1937.  



[1] Ralls County Record, March 31, 1911.

[2] Grimes, Absalon Grimes, Confederate Mail Runner, 150-51, 153.

[3] Lowery, Confederate Heroines, 90-5.

[4] Jackson, The Colonel’s Diary, 98.

[5] Dinkins,  1861 to 1865, by an Old Johnnie, 217-18.

[6] OR, Series II, 5:945; Confederate Veteran, Vol. 27, No. 1, 19.

[7] Memphis Bulletin, December 1, 1863.

[8] Confederate Veteran, 157, Vol. 13, No. 4, 157.

[9] The Illinois State Journal, February 22, 1864; Daily Missouri Republican, May 14, 1864.

[10] OR, Ser. 2, 7:402-3.

[11] Lash, A Politician Turned General, 137; Korn and Nevis, American Jewry and the Civil War, 154.

[12] Daily News, January 10, 2013: “Irving Block Prison” https://historic-memphis.com/memphis-historic/irving-block/irving-block.html

[13] OR, Series I, Vol. 49, 1:79.

[14] Memphis Avalanche, March 14, 1888; The Boston Globe, July 10, 1888.

Monday, January 22, 2024

Did Robert E. Lee read Poe?



   January 19 is the birthday of both Robert E. Lee and Edgar Allan Poe. Lee was born in 1807 at Stratford Hall, Westmoreland County, Virginia. He grew up in Alexandria, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Lee attended Eastern View in Fauquier County, and Alexandria Academy before entering West Point in 1825. Poe was born in 1809, two years later, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father abandoned his family in 1810 and his mother died the next year. Poe went to live with the Allan family in Richmond, Virginia. He was educated locally, attended the University of Virginia, dropped out after a year, enlisted in the U.S. Army, then found a substitute and quit the army, but then was appointed to West Point. Poe was admitted in 1830 and was later dismissed for disobedience.

   Poe emerged as a fiction writer in the 1830s, publishing works in various literary magazines and newspapers. His first book was published in 1832, and he wrote numerous pieces and books over the next twenty-plus years. On October 3, 1849, Poe was found in Baltimore in a semiconscious state. He was taken to Washington Medical College, where he died on October 7. His actual cause of death remains a mystery.

   While at school, Lee read a common list for those pursuing a classical education: Homer, Longinus, Tacitus, and Cicero, along with “all the minor classics.”[1] His time at West Point would have been full of military texts, but other books as well. In 1828, between January 26 and May 24, he checked out fifty-two books from the library, including books on seamanship and the works of Alexander Hamilton, along with Rousseau’s Confessions.[2] While superintendent at West Point, Lee returned to checking out books from the library. Biographer Douglas Southall Freeman wrote that in those years, he read “six works on geography . . . one on forestry, eight on architecture, five on military law, two on non-military biography, one on French and Spanish grammar, and fifteen on military biography, history, and the science of war.”[3] Seven of those dealing with war were on Napoleon.

   Lee on campaign, during the war years, read constantly: letters, reports, enemy newspapers. Undoubtedly he kept up his reading in the book of Common Prayer. Lee did mention once in a letter to home that he was sending Mary a copy of Winfield Scott’s autobiography. It was unclear if he had read it.[4] Other details about what Lee might have read for leisure during the war are not clear.

   In 1865, Mrs. Jackson sent Lee Dabney’s Life and Campaigns of Lieut. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson. This was probably the only manuscript regarding the war that he read and about which he had comments. “I am misrepresented at the battle of Chancellorsville in proposing an attack in front, the first evening of our arrival,” Lee wrote. “On the contrary I decided against it, and stated to General Jackson, we must attack on our left as soon as practicable; and the necessary movement of the troops began immediately. In consequence of a report received about that time, from General Fitz Lee, describing the position of the Federal army, and the roads which he held with his cavalry leading to its rear, General Jackson, after some inquiry concerning the roads leading to the Furnace, undertook to throw his command entirely in Hooker’s rear, which he accomplished with equal skill and boldness…”[5]

   Regarding Lee’s post-war reading on the war, Doctor A.T. Bledsoe wrote Lee in 1867, asking for Lee’s opinion of an article in The Southern Review on the battle of Chancellorsville. Lee replied that he had not read the article, or any other books, “published on either side since the termination of hostilities . . . I have as yet felt no desire to revive my recollections of those events, and have been satisfied with the knowledge I possessed of what transpired.” [6]

   In the post-war years, Philip Stanhope sent Lee a new translation of Homer’s Iliad.[7] “That winter,” Robert E. Lee, Jr. wrote, “my father was accustomed to read aloud in the long evenings to my mother and sisters.” A couple of years later, Professor George Long sent Lee a second edition of one of Lee’s favorites, Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.[8]

   Of course, Lee did eventually start to collect material for his own history of the war, one he never finished.

   Concerning the Bible, one was sent to him by an admirer in 1867. Lee sent a reply, thanking him for the gift, and adding that the Bible was “a book which supplies the place of all others, and one that cannot be replaced by any other.”[9]

   Probably the most important piece regarding the original question, did Lee ever read the works of Edgar Allan Poe, comes from a letter Lee wrote his daughter Mildred in December 1866. Lee writes: “I hope you will find time to read and improve your mind. Read history, works of truth, not novels and romances. Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light.”[10] In the end, we might conclude that Lee probably never read Poe.


[1] Freeman, R.E. Lee, 1:36, 40.

[2] Freeman, R.E. Lee, 1:71.

[3] Freeman, R.E. Lee, 1:353.

[4] Freeman, R.E. Lee, 3:527.

[5] Freeman, R.E. Lee, 2:587.

[6] Freeman, R.E. Lee,  2:588.

[7] Lee, Recollections and Letters, 213.

[8] Lee, Recollections and Letters, 215.

[9] Jones, Personal Reminiscences, 114-15.

[10] Lee, Recollections and Letters, 247-48.