Robert E. Lee’s son Rooney slated for execution

   Behind-the-ranks drama played out in mid-1863. Two Kentucky cavalrymen, William F. Corbin and Thomas J. McGraw, were caught in Kentucky recruiting for a new company. The district commander, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, quickly issued an order, stating that anyone caught recruiting “behind the lines” was to be treated as a spy and executed. Confederate officials in Richmond ordered the commander of Libby Prison to select two captured Federal officers to execute in retaliation. With word passing between the lines of the measure, Federal General in Chief Henry Hallack ordered two additional Confederate officers to be held, ready for execution, if the Confederates carried through with their plans. You can read more of this back story here and here.

   One of the Confederate officers selected for retaliatory measures was Robert E. Lee’s son, Rooney Lee. William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, called Rooney by his family, was born May 31, 1837, at Arlington, the third son of Robert and Mary Custis Lee. He attended Harvard University, but withdrew before graduating, being commissioned as a lieutenant in the 6^th United States Infantry in 1857. He served two years in Utah and California before resigning and farming at “White Hall,” on the Virginia Peninsula.[1]

   Rooney was commissioned a captain of cavalry in May 1861, rising to the rank of colonel, 9^th Virginia Cavalry, by April 1862. He was extremely active in many of Stuart’s escapades, from the ride around McClellan, the Seven Days, and at Turner’s Gap in the Maryland Campaign. Twice, Stuart recommended Lee for promotion to brigadier general, a promotion which finally came in November 1862. Lee commanded a brigade composed of the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry, 9^th, 10^th, 13^th, and 15^th Virginia Cavalry. Lee battled Stoneman during the Chancellorsville campaign. 

W.H.F. Lee

   While fighting on June 9, 1863, at Brandy Station, Rooney was wounded in the thigh. Robert E. Lee instructed that his son be taken to the Hill Mansion in Culpeper, when he visited him that evening. The next day, Rooney was taken to Hickory Hill, the home of his wife’s family, in Hanover County. Rob, Robert E. Lee’s youngest son, took Rooney to Hickory Hill, where they were joined by their mother and two sisters. Members of the 11^th Pennsylvavia Cavalry paid Hickory Hill a visit on June 26, capturing Rooney and incarcerating him at Fort Monroe the following day.[2]

   Rooney Lee’s arrival at Fort Monroe coincided with the debate regarding retaliation for the plight of the Kentucky Confederates. The names of two Federal captains imprisoned at Libby Prison were drawn on July 6, and word passed to Lt. Col. William H. Ludlow. Ludlow obviously informed his superior, for on July 12, he recommended that two Confederate officers who were prisoners of war be selected for retaliation if the two Federals were executed. On July 15, Henry Halleck ordered Ludlow to “immediately place General W.H.F. Lee and another officer selected by you not below the rank of captain, prisoner of war, in close confinement and under strong guard, and that you notify Mr. R. Ould…that if…Sawyer…and…Flinn… or any other officers or men in the service of the United States not guilty of crimes punishable with death by the laws of war, shall be executed by the enemy, the aforementioned prisoners will be hung in retaliation.”[3]

   Robert E. Lee learned about his son’s capture on July 7, while on the way back from the Gettysburg campaign.[4] Word of the holding of Rooney Lee and another officer spread via newspapers. “Prominent Rebel Officers Held as Hostages,” reported one Massachusetts paper. While the newspaper had the wrong Lee – it was G.W.C. Lee and not Fitz Hugh Lee, the paper reported that the officers “were removed from the McClellan hospital to Fortress Monroe, and placed in a casemate under guard, and notice sent to the rebel government that if they executed Capts. Sawyer and Flynn, whom they now have in close confinement and under sentence in Richmond, that Gen. Lee and Capt. Winder will be executed in retaliation.”[5]

   The Daily Richmond Whig reported that the execution of Lee and the other officer took place, then “the black flag will be immediately raised in every army, and the war will be horrible but short.”[6] Tensions remained high through August. Ludlow still believed that Sawyer and Flinn could be executed.[7]

  Of course Robert E. Lee and other members of his family, include Rooney’s wife Charlotte, were worried about the wounded officer. On August 2, 1863, Lee wrote Mary that he had heard that Rooney was up walking around on crutches. Charlotte was planning to try to visit Rooney at Fort Monroe, but Lee counseled against it. “The only way of accomplishing it is to get permission from Mr. Secretary Stanton in Washington through Mr. [Robert] Ould to take the flag of truce boat to Old Point. I do not think he would grant it in her case. It having been refused to others, which they would not feel as much objection in obliging, & I believe their permission is always coupled with the obligation to take the oath of allegiance to the U.S.”[8]

   Rooney’s confinement at Fort Monroe brought problems for the officers in charge. Local ladies weekly brought baskets of delicacies to Rooney.[9] Brig. Gen. S.D. Meredith complained in November 1863 that Rooney needed to be moved to some other “point where he will not be lionized as he is here. No prisoner of ours, whatever his rank, receives such treatment in Richmond.” It was recommended that Rooney be sent to Johnson’s Island, the same place where the two Kentucky officers were executed. The order for Rooney’s move to Johnson’s Island came on November 10. A day later, that order was changed and Rooney was sent to Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor.[10]

   Rooney’s wife, Charlotte Wickham, was never well, especially after Rooney was kidnapped by the Federals from her family’s home. Mary Chesnut, in her diary, recorded that Custis Lee, another of Robert E. Lee’s sons, even “offered himself to the Yankees in place of his brother, as he was a single man with no wife and children to be hurt by his imprisonment .   . . But the Yankees preferred Rooney.”[11] Charlotte died on December 26, 1863. Rooney was finally exchanged for Sawyer and paroled in March 1864. He rejoined the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia and was promoted to major general on April 23, 1864. When Wade Hampton, who replaced Stuart, transferred to South Carolina, Rooney commanded the Confederate cavalry south of the James River. Rooney Lee surrendered and was paroled at Appomattox.

   After the war, Rooney returned to farming, later serving as president of the Virginia Agricultural Society, then four years in the Virginia Senate, and several terms in the United States House of Representatives. He died in 1891. Jeffry Wert considered Rooney Lee “one of the finest generals in the cavalry corps of the Army of Northern Virgina.”[12]

 

 

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[1] Davis, ed., The Confederate General, 4:65.

[2] Knight, From Arlington to Appomattox, 281, 286.

[3] Official Records, Series II, 6:118.

[4] Knight, From Arlington to Appomattox, 296.

[5] The Standard-Times, July 18, 1863.

[6] Richmond Daily Whig, July 14, 1863.

[7] Official Records, Series II, 6:219.

[8] Dowdey and Manarin, Wartime Papers, 567.

[9] Pryor, Reading the Man, 367.

[10] Official Records, Series II, 6:484, 485, 495, 500.

[11] Woodward, ed., Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 450.

[12] Davis, ed., The Confederate General, 4:67.

How tall were Confederate generals?

 

 Have you ever noticed the W.B. Matthews lithograph of Confederate generals published in 1907? There stands Lee surrounded by some of the Confederacy’s best generals: Ewell, Bragg, Hampton, A.P. Hill, Joe Johnston, and many others. All the generals are about the same height, except Lee, who is a couple of inches taller than the others.  But how tall were they really? Was Lee really taller than all the others?  Here is a brief look. For some generals, they are simply described as being of medium height in their biographies, probably around five feet eight inches. Those who did not have an exact height listed are not included in this list. (For example, Earl Van Dorn is described as “About medium height,” and he is not included.)[1]

 

Who was over six feet tall?

James Longstreet, Lee’s Old War House, was an astounding six feet, two inches.[2]

Nathan Bedford Forrest was described as around six feet or six feet two inches tall.[3]

Wade Hampton, considered a “giant,” also came in at six feet.[4]

John C. Breckinridge, both general and cabinet member, stood six feet, two inches.[5]

James B. Gordon was thought to be between six feet three or four inches.[6]

Micah Jenkins was six feet two inches.[7]

Stephen D. Lee stood six feet tall.[8]

Collett Leventhopre, British born, “stood nearly six and one-half feet in height.”[9]

John H. Morgan “nearly six feet in height.”[10]

William N. Pendleton “was fully six feet in height.”[11]

Matt Ransom “stood a little over six feet in height.”[12]

Henry Sibley “Lean six feet.”[13]

Albert Sidney Johnson “was six feet and an inch in height”.[14]

John B. Magruder came in at six foot four inches.[15]

Robert F. Hoke – “Nearly six feet.”[16]

 

Who was a little taller than average, say between five feet ten and eleven inches?

Robert E. Lee was considered quite tall for the time, coming in at five feet ten and a half or five foot eleven inches tall.[17]

Stonewall Jackson was taller than Lee, “a little over five feet eleven inches.”[18]

Braxton Bragg, considered the most-hated man in the Confederacy, was five feet, ten inches in height.[19]

E. Kirby Smith was five feet, ten inches in height.[20]

Ambrose Powell Hill came in at five feet ten inches.[21]

J.E.B. Stuart was reported as five feet, ten inches tall.[22]

Patrick Cleburne stood about five foot, ten inches.[23]

Basil Duke was described as being five feet ten inches.[24]

Henry A. Wise was recorded as “five feet eleven inches.”[25]

 

Who was average?

Joseph E. Johnston was considered “of medium height: about five foot seven.”[26]

P.G.T. Beauregard “was five feet seven inches in height.”[27]

Richard Ewell was either five feet eight inches or five feet ten and one-half inches tall.[28]

Rowell Ripley “was five feet eight inches tall.”[29]

 

 

Who was below average?

Joseph Wheeler was considered “Small, only five feet, five inches tall…”[30]

Daniel Harvey Hill “was small in stature, barely five feet tall…”[31]

John B. Gordon was but five feet two inches. [32]

Thomas C. Hindman was “just barely five feet tall.”[33]

William Mahone was five feet five inches.[34]

Dabney Maury – five feet three inches.[35]

 

 

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[1] Hartje, Van Dorn, 60.

[2] Wert, General James Longstreet, 24.

[3] Hurst, Nathan Bedford Forrest, 261; Wyeth, Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest, 628.

[4] Andrew, Wade Hampton, 28.

[5] Davis, Breckinridge,

[6] Hartley,  Stuart’s Tarheels, 417n.3.

[7] Fox, General Micah Jenkins and the Palmetto Sharpshooter

[8] Hattaway, General Stephen D. Lee

[9] Cole, Collett Leventhorpe, 238.

[10] Ramage, Rebel Raider

[11] Lee, Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, 10.

[12] Marlow, Matt W. Ransom, 17.

[13] Gilman, Henry Hastings Sibley, 20.

[14] Johnson, The Life of Albert Sidney Johnson, 72.

[15] Casdorph, Prince John Magruder, 2.

[16] Barefoot, General Robert F. Hoke, 76.

[17] Blount, Robert E. Lee: A Life, 170.

[18] Smith, Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel, 40.

[19] Martin, General Braxton Bragg, 9.

[20] Parks, General Edmund Kirby Smith, 93.

[21] Hassler, A.P. Hill, 3.

[22] Pavlovsky, Riding in Circles, 559.

[23] Nash, Biographical Sketches of Pat Cleburne, 142.

[24] Matthews, Basil Wilson Duke, CSA, 165.

[25] Wise, The Life of Henry A. Wise, 38.

[26] Symonds, Joseph E. Johnston, 10.

[27] Williams, P.G.T. Beauregard, 51.

[28] Pfanz, Richard S. Ewell, 552n.30.

[29] Bennett, Resolute Rebel.

[30] Martin, General Braxton Bragg, 104.

[31] Martin, General Braxton Bragg, 270.

[32] Tankersley, John B. Gordon, 212.

[33] Neal, The Lion of the South, 33.

[34] Blake, William Mahone of Virginia, 271.

[35] Waugh, The Class of 1846, 64.

How Long did Hampton’s Beef Steak Raid Feed the Troops?

   In September 1864, Confederate cavalry commander Wade Hampton made a raid on a Federal herd of beef. It was a daring raid behind Union lines that helped fill a few empty Confederate bellies. One question might be: how long did the captured beef last?

   Pork was the preferable army ration. It was easier to process just about anyplace and transport, and, it would keep for longer periods. Yet once the salt began to become scarce, Confederate commissaries began to use more beef. Plus, beef could move with an army and be slaughtered near the troops. Both Confederates and Federals drove herds of cattle with their armies, both in the east and west.

   In September, a Confederate scout reported that 3,000 loosely guarded cattle were penned at Coggins Point, Virginia. When Hampton learned this, he gained permission from Robert E. Lee to attack. General Hampton assembled a force of 3,000 troopers, and set off on the morning of September 14, riding around the flank of the Union army. The following day, Hampton captured the cattle, along with hundreds of Federal prisoners, and began to drive back toward the Federal lines. There were some attempts to catch Hampton, but he returned to the Confederate lines with almost 2,500 cattle.

   The captured beef was soon being issued to the men in the trenches. “We draw very good rations now. We get some good Yankee beef and some bacon and good flour,”  wrote a member of the 45^th Georgia on September 24.[1] “Rations of beef issued,” highlighted a member of the 7^th South Carolina Cavalry the next day.[2] On October 14, a member of the 18^th North Carolina told the folks back home that “I have just eaten a harty brakefast beaf staek, soda bread, pure coffee well sweetened- honey &c. You may guess how my health is."[3] By October 23, a member of the 13^th South Carolina would write that “We have eaten nearly all the beef Hampton captured recently in rear of Grant’s army.”[4] The South Carolina soldier went on to write that they were starting to get some beef from North Carolina. It might also be added that there were some provisions coming from the Shenandoah Valley, captured by Jubal Early’s men. Regardless, it might be safe to assume that the cattle captured by Wade Hampton were closed to be being exhausted by the end of October.

   The almost 2,500 beef captured lasted only a month, feeding the men in the Petersburg entrenchments. One unanswered question: did the Federals have other stock pens of cattle in this same time period? 3,000 head of cattle does not seem to have been adequate for such a large force. (Of course, the Federals were able to receive regulation rations of salt pork at this time.) Just one more little piece of the war.

  

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[1] McCrea, Red Dirt and Isinglass, 514.

[2] Hinson and Waring,  “The Diary of William G. Hinson during the War of Secession,” The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 75, No.  2, 111.

[3] Hancock, Four Brothers in Gray, 283.

[4]  Welch, A Confederate Surgeon’s Letters to his Wife, 110-111.