Lee: The Last Years

by Charles Bracelen Flood

After his surrender at Appomattox, Robert E. Lee lived only another five years--the forgotten chapter of an extraordinary life. These were his finest hours, when he did more than any other American to heal the wounds between the North and South. Flood draws on new research to create an intensely human and a "wonderful, tragic, powerful...story for which we have been waiting over a century" --Theodore H. White.

Genres: Biography, History, Civil War, Nonfiction, American History, American Civil War, War

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Charles Bracelen Flood was born in Manhattan, and graduated from Harvard, where he was a member of Archibald MacLeish’s noted creative writing seminar, English S, and was on the literary board of the Harvard Lampoon. (In 2001, Flood was honored with the Lampoon’s Clem Wood Award; past recipients have included George Plimpton, John Updike, and Conan O’Brien.)

Love is a Bridge, Flood’s first novel, received nationwide critical attention, and was on the New York Times Bestseller list for 26 weeks. It won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award. The twelve books he has written include the novels A Distant Drum and More Lives Than One. Praising Flood’s The War of the Innocents, his account of his year spent in Vietnam as a correspondent, John Updike said of him, “This brave and compassionate reporter’s account of a year spent with our armed forces in Vietnam tells more of the physical actualities and moral complexities of the American involvement than any other book I have read.” Flood’s Rise, and Fight Again won the American Revolution Round Table Annual Award for 1976, the Bicentennial Year, and his Hitler - The Path to Power, a History Book Club selection, was among the successful studies in history and biography that followed. All his books have also appeared in paperback.

Flood’s first venture into the Civil War era was Lee - The Last Years, which was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and won the Colonial Dames of America Annual Book Award. Lee was followed by Grant and Sherman - The Friendship That Won the Civil War, a work that the Washington Post described as “beautifully defined and explored…a powerful and illuminating study of the military collaboration that won the war for the Union.” Salon.com named it as one of the ”Top 12 Civil War Books Ever Written.” Of his 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History, published in 2009, Lincoln’s Bicentennial Year, Kent Masterson Brown, author of Retreat from Gettysburg, said, “Lincoln walks off the pages as in no other book,” and in the New York Times Janet Maslin wrote, “Mr. Floods versatility is impressive …1864 compresses the multiple demands upon Lincoln into a tight time frame and thus captures a dizzying, visceral sense of why this single year took such a heavy toll.”

This writer’s short pieces have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, and other magazines, and a number of his books have been translated into foreign languages. Flood’s journalistic experiences have taken him to many countries, including being a reporter for the Associated Press at the Olympics held in Melbourne, Rome, Tokyo and Mexico City. He has been a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan, and taught World Literature for two years at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Charles Bracelen Flood is a past president of the American Center of PEN, the international writers’ organization, and has served on the governing bodies of the Authors League and Authors Guild. He and his wife Katherine Burnam Flood live in Richmond, Kentucky, in that state’s Bluegrass region.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vivid portrait of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's brief post-Civil War life that cuts a sympathetic tone without indulging in Lost Cause mythology (except on the subject of prisoner exchanges). It's fascinating to read about Lee's surprisingly progressive reign as President of Washington College and the culture of devotion surrounding the man in the years following his surrender at Appomattox -- a devotion that would take several wrong turns in the years following his death. There are countless books about the American Civil War that expound on Lee's military genius but if you want to get a clearer sense of his character and legacy, I think reading Flood's book after Jonathan Horn's more recent The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History is a great way to go.

*Note*
This review was written before the release of Allen Guelzo's Robert E. Lee: A Life , which is an excellent cradle-to-grave biography of Lee. The Flood/Horn combo I suggest in the above review still works well but if you want the life story of Robert E. Lee in a single volume, Guelzo's is my recommendation.

[Sweetwilliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The timing was ripe to read this book. It seems every week I watch another news story of a statue of this man being removed. It is a different time than even 20-30 years ago, around the time of the Ken Burns documentary, when interest in the Civil War was rekindled. Who was this man and why should he be revered or hated?

There are plenty of books that tell the story of Lee the audacious General that, along with the Army of Northern Virginia, made the Army of the Potomac look like silly amateurs in comparison. There is even a newer narrative out there that appears to be gaining momentum, that tries to paint Lee as an officer of only average capabilities and that his greatness has been greatly exaggerated only to grow the legend and myth of the lost cause. This book does not rehash General Lee's war record. This book covers the five years starting with Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia through his five years as the President of Washington University until his subsequent death in 1870.

It is a curious story and sometimes a little surreal. I would have to say that if the subject were anyone other than Marse Robert it may have been a little slow at times. There were a few bizarre pages telling the story of a stable boy helping some strange old Gentleman with his horse when the howl of the boy's dog cries out in the nearby woods. The boy then interrupts and tells the old man that that's his hound but he can't tell what kind of animal the dog is tracking. The old man describes different reports and explains to the boy how you can tell what kind of animal the dog is tracking by the report. Later at dinner the stable boy/employee at the inn learns from his elders that the man he was having a conversation with was none other than Robert E. Lee, the most storied man of the Confederacy (Lee was on a journey to accept the offer of College Presidency at Washington University and happened to stay at the inn). Lee makes sure that he is seated with the boy at dinner so that they can continue their conversation. There is another story about Lee attending church in Richmond shortly after his surrender. A black man rose so that he would be first in line to take communion. The congregation was aghast. If the man did this just weeks prior he would have been arrested and maybe even flogged. Lee got up and knelt beside the man as if nothing different had happened, diffusing a potentially volatile situation.

After the war, Lee refused to wear his old uniform. He bore the black suit of a college president. This was a catharsis of sorts. He was no longer a military man but a college President. He would do all that he could to help retrain his veterans so that they could rebuild the South. The University got much more than they bargained for with Lee. They just wanted to use his name and were unaware that he was a former superintendent at West Point. Lee transformed the University, adding curriculum such as Engineering and other courses useful in reconstruction. I loved the story about the time one administrator spoke ill of US Grant. Bobby Lee informed the man that if he were to speak bad of Grant again in his presence that one of the two of them would have to resign.

Robert E. Lee did more to repair the nation then perhaps any other man starting from the time of surrender when he rejected Porter Alexander's idea that they should break up into guerilla bands and instead told his men to honor their paroles and to go home and rebuild the south. He sought out terms that Grant agreed to that allowed southerners to keep their own horses and mules so that they may till the soil for the upcoming planting season. This saved many families from starvation. For these generous terms, Lee was forever grateful and indebted to Grant.

This is a different side of the man. A man that was a Virginian and a professional soldier who was against slavery and succession but was compelled by his sense of honor to fight anyway because the politicians made the decision to do so. He couldn't stand by idle and let Virginia be overrun by the North. A man who's wife inherited slaves from her father. Lee freed them all according to his father-in-law's will within five years. A family man that attended church regularly even when out of town. He dodged crowds and detested public speaking but most of all, he felt he had wasted too many years as a soldier and wished he had more years to devout to his true calling as a college administrator.

He was truly a great man for his actions before, during, and most of all, after the war. My wife turned to me the other day as we watched another story of yet another statue being removed. She said "they will be putting them all back one day." I believe this to be true.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I'd like this book, but I was unprepared for how moving it was. At 14 or 16, Lee was my ideal. Coming back to him after almost a quarter century without any life or death campaigns to my credit and with more awareness of how extraordinary his self-discipline was and how ordinary mine is, this could have been a melancholy experience. But it wasn't.

The limited scope of Flood's portrait focusing on Lee's last five years allows him to zoom in intimately for real-life detail and texture. The legendary General comes across as a genuine human being with his own struggles, warmth, and frailty. I even discovered that I haven't developed as far from my adolescent hero as I thought, as my passion to counsel college students is very close to what engaged Lee at his heart in his post-war career. This chapter may be brief and less famous than his battlefield exploits, but the author is convincing in portraying that Lee was passionate about what he did at the tiny college. For instance, as his health weakened, the college trustees knew that they had to place limits on the hours in which students could see Lee because he would not enforce these limits himself. I could very much see myself in this.

Lee's health was actually something I learned a lot about in this book. I always pictured him as the perfect physical specimen, handsome and strong until his dying day any particular contrast to my lifelong physical limitations. The author is convinced that Lee suffered an undiagnosed heart attack during the war, and he is painstaking in his description of the pain and weakness Lee experienced throughout his triumphant career as an education administrator. In his last days, one can hardly avoid being moved by the proud and self-possessed former officer barely able to speak but still carrying himself the same comportment and dignity that carried him through testimony before the Radical Republicans who tried to use his unbending testimony to further punish the South.

[Sonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

― “In a few minutes, Lee and Grant reached across to each other from their horses and shook hands. When they met again, Grant would be President of the United States, and Lee, in the great forgotten chapter of his life, would be doing more than any other American to heal the wounds of war.”
― Charles Bracelen Flood, Lee: The Last Years

Although I retired to the mountains of North Carolina a few years ago, I was born in the great state of Virginia and lived my entire life there until my retirement. Virginia is a beautiful state, filled with history. Some years ago, my wife and I decided to vacation at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. On our way, we stopped for lunch in the beautiful town of Lexington, Virginia, where we decided to explore the campus of Washington and Lee University. The first place we visited on campus was the Lee Chapel. General Robert E. Lee, his wife and his seven children, are all buried in the chapel on campus, while the general’s beloved horse Traveller is buried outside, near the wall of the chapel. Approximately 35 years later, I still remember how stunned I was to find his horse buried there. When I stumbled upon a copy of this book at the local library, I thought it would be interesting to read about Robert E. Lee’s “forgotten years.” Although Lee’s years after Appomattox were busy years, he lived only five brief years after the war.

The book’s author, Charles Bracelen Flood, is not exactly a household name, even among regular readers of history. He has just 4,170 ratings on Goodreads, compared to 250,843 for Doris Kearns Goodwin, 258,095 for Ron Chernow, and more than 800,000 for David McCullough. Born in Manhattan, Flood graduated from Harvard, where he was a member of Archibald MacLeish’s celebrated creative writing seminar.

Although Flood starts his book at Appomattox, the book primarily examines Lee’s life after the end of the war—a time that many Lee biographies either overlook or merely give summary treatment. Here readers will find history that we have either never known or largely forgotten. We know, of course, of his famous rejection at of guerrilla warfare in lieu of surrender. There is much here that is of real interest.

After Appomattox, Lee returned to Richmond, having no place to live. The family’s mansion at Arlington (known as the Lee-Custis mansion) had been confiscated in 1864. Instead, 16,000 Union soldiers lay buried beneath the mansion’s lawns. Without a home, Lee headed to Richmond. He began to look about for a farm where he and his family might live. He wanted to live out his remaining years in quiet. Three months after the cease-fire, Lee was living in a friend's four-room tenant house. Unknown to him, the trustees of cash-strapped Washington College in Lexington had just voted to make him the college’s president. One of the college’s trustees, wearing a borrowed suit and $50 borrowed to make the journey, approached Lee at the tenant house to offer him the job. He accepted. It was the beginning of a remarkable story. Lee not only saved Washington College, he proved to be a visionary, increasing the school’s endowment and making remarkable educational reforms that improved its reputation. Upon Lee’s death, the trustees changed the name to Washington and Lee University.

“His special gift was the ability to see the essence of a worthwhile suggestion and to relate it to what was already in existence or planned. Then he would encourage and shape the new project, repeatedly redesigning the curriculum so that a new department or course could have a comfortable place in which to grow and offer it benefits.”
― Charles Bracelen Flood, Lee: The Last Years

While Lee’s life cannot be separated from that great War between the States, we find within these pages one of America’s greatest men—a man from whom we can learn the lessons of loyalty and devotion. After the war, Lee worked earnestly for reunification of the States, despite the rather draconian measures placed on the South. He consistently refused to exploit his role as general, except to promote reconciliation. He even advised his Confederate officers to take the distasteful new oath of allegiance to the Union.

The book includes some rather striking anecdotes. One of the more interesting stories happened just two months after the war. General Lee was attending church services at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Richmond. As the pastor was attempting to administer communion, a well-dressed black man advanced to the altar and knelt before the railing to receive the sacrament. There was absolute silence in the church for some moments, as the remainder of the congregation remained motionless in their seats. The pastor seemed unsure how to proceed. Then, without a word, General Lee rose from his pew, walked down the aisle to the rail and kneeled reverently alongside the stranger. The lesson was unmistakable.

“Gen. Robert E. Lee was present, and, ignoring the action and presence of the negro, arose in his usual dignified and self-possessed manner, walked up the aisle to the chancel rail, and reverently knelt down to partake of the communion, and not far from the negro.”
― Charles Bracelen Flood, Lee: The Last Years

The book reveals the heart of the man, particularly the way he treated people who were closest to him. Flood offers a crisp account of Lee’s life after the Civil War. My only complaint is that the book was a bit slow and tedious at times.

[Anna Mussmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a girl, I read several biographies that presented Confederate general Robert E. Lee as the epitome of a Christian gentleman. I’ve long been curious to revisit Lee’s story from a more nuanced and adult perspective. I wanted to know whether or not he was really as admirable a man as my childhood reading claimed.

I’m still curious about that question, but either way, this biography by Charles Bracelen Flood is a fantastic read. The uncluttered storytelling is filled with quotes and details that bring the people and places to life. I really felt as if I were spending time with the Lee family. The General was perhaps too private and formal a man to become the subject of a biography that could truly be called “intimate,” but this one came close. I can see why Lee’s friends, family, and fellow-citizens liked and admired him. I also appreciated the author’s choice to allow readers to form their own opinions without the guidance of excessive authorial commentary.

Flood’s book begins with the surrender at Appomattox and continues until Lee’s death. It’s the story of a man who urged his fellow southerners to submit to reconstruction as the only path forward. He was not a political man. In fact, when hauled before a congressional investigative committee and questioned at length about the Civil War, he basically told his interrogators that if the politicians on both sides had done a better job the war wouldn’t have occurred in the first place!

When his interest in becoming a farmer was stymied due to his lack of legal standing (he was not sure whether or not he could officially own property), Lee could have accepted a number of illustrious positions. Instead he took on the presidency of a small, bankrupt college. His military administrative skills and his fame soon built it into a thriving center of practical education for young men.

I was interested in forming a better sense of Lee’s attitude toward race. Like George Washington, he became a slave-owner through marriage, and he attempted to be a humane one. Lee hoped for gradual emancipation, but although he did free his own slaves before the end of the war, he did not view “the black race” as immediately capable of independence.

It’s infuriatingly unfair, of course, to conclude that a group of people who have been forcibly kept ignorant and dependent must therefore be ignorant and dependent by nature. I’m not sure whether Lee believed that former slaves weren’t prepared to be thrust into political leadership (as they were for a brief time during reconstruction) because they lacked education, or if he subscribed to the ugly Darwinism of the time that said blacks needed to evolve into a more advanced race before receiving equality.

Flood does share the story of a time soon after the war when Lee shocked a congregation of fellow church-goers, and diffused a potentially explosive situation, by quietly going up to the altar rail to kneel beside a black man who had chosen to desegregate himself. The congregation so respected their former general that they followed his example instead of, say, rioting. Did Lee do this for the sake of a (black) fellow Christian? Or was it simply his love of propriety that led him to eschew a “scene?”

Another thing that fascinated me was the southern cultural attitude toward male and female friendship. Lee was able to socialize and correspond more freely with women than a modern man could. Compliments and courtly attentions raised no eyebrows. It wasn’t that he was a womanizer or a creeper, but that he was playing by a set of rules quite foreign to modern America.

My current conclusion is that, whatever his flaws, Lee was at least a deeply sincere man who followed his conscience regardless of worldly consequences.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beyond the well known universal admiration for Robert E Lee, I learned how much Lee did to guide the South into peaceful compliance with directives from the North as he tried to find a home for his large family including his invalid wife. Their home, her family property, Arlington, having been turned into a Union Graveyard caused Lee to be at a loss.
When the offer to be the president of Washington College came , it was a godsend to Lee and they all moved to Lexington, Va. He proceeded to modernize the college with updated curriculum, including changing the language requirements from Latin and Greek to modern languages that his students would use. He wanted an engineering school and geography, including map-making. He fought hard for a planetarium to be located on his campus. Lee used his managerial and leadership skills to have personal conferences with every student and to know the family circumstances of each one. His educational accomplishments in remolding and updating this college in five years were astounding. He helped recruit outstanding faculty from the ranks of the Union and Confederate armies.
His death is beautifully and sensitively told by Flood giving a fitting ending to this remarkable life.

[Benjamin Wetmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing I remember most about this was the elegance and grace, coming through on the pages, of the relationship between Gen. Lee and his wife. There was this one moment, and my small words do it a great injustice, where Mrs. Lee wept because Gen. Lee's illness was keeping him downstairs, and as she was upstairs, she would no longer be able to softly caress his hands as he fell asleep. Something about that was very moving, and very touching and the author's other additions that Lee's daughters, courted heavily, could never quite find the man who matched their father or could hold their affections, replace or replicate the love that he had for them and they for him or even come close to mirroring the love between their parents. Moving in such subtle ways.

I bought this book because I wanted to read about Lee as the President of Washington College, and was informed that this is, sadly, one of the only works that actually addresses the topic. It's well worth reading, and a fine book about perhaps the greatest man this country has ever been graced with.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers the last five years of Robert E. Lee's life, from the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg in 1865 to his death in 1870. After the Civil War, Lee was at risk of being arrested and tried for treason. He was never put on trial, in part due to the influence of U.S. Grant. Lee did testify before Congress and also at a preliminary hearing for Jefferson Davis, who also was never brought to trial for treason.

Lee was sought out by the trustees of Washington College in Lexington, VA, to be its president. The college was nearly broke after the war. In fact the trustees had to borrow $50 to buy a suit for one of the trustees to wear to visit Lee. Lee attracted many large donations from donors in both the North and the South and students eventually came from across the country. Lee was responsible for many innovations in the course offerings. He also personally met with each student, many of whom dreaded being summoned to Lee's office to answer for various infractions.

This book provides a pretty balanced picture of Lee. It's clear from his letters that Lee was a racist. But he also went up to take communion in Richmond near a black man who was kneeling at the altar rail by himself when the priest and other parishioners didn't know what to do. Both men received communion.

Lee discouraged his soldiers at Appomattox Court House from sneaking off and fighting a guerilla war. He encouraged white male southerners to peacefully obey the laws in place where they lived and to try to regain the right to vote. Initially Lee would not allow anyone to speak ill of Grant in his presence, although he later criticized Grant after he became President.

Lee was faithful to his invalid (severe arthritis) wife Mary. But he did enjoy the company of, and flirting with, beautiful women. He also enjoyed the company of children. He encouraged his sons to marry but he was possessive of his daughters, who never married.

It's believed that Lee suffered a heart attack while his army was at Fredricksburg in the spring of 1863. Lee suffered from severe angina (which was misdiagnosed) and other symptoms of heart disease.

The author clearly admires Lee, who did have many admirable characteristics. Lee did have his faults, which the author does try to cover in a balanced manner. How well he succeeded is best left to the reader to decide for himself or herself.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Let 'em up easy." - Lincoln

I'm always a bit amused by the intense passion that the Civil War generates among the younger crowd these days. Granted, it's not the War itself that generates the passion, but usually various memorials to it. Granted, the ACW has been part of our history for 150+ years so to listen to a 20-something loudly proclaim "Did you know we fought a war over SLAVERY?!!" it's quaint. Yeah, bro -- we knew that.

This 1981 history of Lee's final years is fascinating primarily for the utter *normalcy* it presents. While both the North and South grappled with what post-war America was to be, Lee was an impressive picture of steadfastness and...yeah I'll say it, loyalty. Lee was the quintessential "Man of the South" and more than any other former Confederate, Lee's was the opinion that carried the most weight. Even though his army lost the war, he had multiple opportunities to continue the "fight" -- yet he refrained time and time again despite being beseeched by former soldiers/partisans for just such "permission."

Flood's biography does a wonderful job of showing how aware Lee was of his responsibilities in this area. Much of the book (as much of Lee's post-war life) is taken up with Lee's tenure as president of then-struggling Washington University. Lee took very seriously his role as a leader and shaper of young men's minds and character and his efforts to turn the struggling little university into something of renown is singularly impressive.

It's possible to hate both John Brown and slavery. It is also possible to be a thorough-going Union man while still recognizing the character of men who fought on the other side. Overall, this is a fine little slice of ACW history that sheds a needed light on one of the war's central characters and shows how easy it could have been for things to have gone pear-shaped.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dispassionate look at Lee, a man who may have made national healing more possible by what he did in the years covered here.

It also could be read as a cautionary tale for the neo-confederate divisiveness emerging in some cities and states these days.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent bio of the post-war years of General Lee. Told as a story. Very engaging.

[Christopher Blosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee: The Last Years by Charles Bracelen Flood is a fascinating -- sometimes endearing, at other times profoundly sorrowful -- account of the last five years of Robert E. Lee's life.

Most of the book is occupied with Lee's stint as President of Washington College in Lexington, VA (1865-1870) -- now renamed as Washington and Lee University in gratitude for his pivotal role in developing it as an institution of higher education, taking a direct role in the development of a practical curriculum in keeping with the times ("no one wished to abandon Latin or Greek, but the shattered South needed men who could design bridges, develop chemical compounds for fertilizers, restore the railroads and canals, and work up blueprints for factories.") as well as restoring the institution to financial health, in part with the help of his fame and reputation. It is telling that When Lee accepted the offer as president (he would turn down more lucrative job offers -- some promising even six times the salary) the institution was in dire straits. Judge Brockenbrough would have to borrow $50 just to make the trip simply to offer Lee the presidency.

In writing the book, the author makes use of Freeman's famous biography; he also had personal access by way of General Lee's granddaughter to the deButts-Ely collection of REL family papers in the Library of Congress as well as "a collection of twenty letters from General Lee to Annette Carter, none of which have previously been published." The book compiles many personal, intimate accounts by those who knew Lee -- via friendship or business or even in passing encounters -- over the course of these last five years, covering not only his activities as college president but his family life (vacationing in various hot springs in hopes of alleviating his declining health); his testimonials and personal rehabilitation before Congress; negotiating the impediments and obstacles of Reconstruction and throughout all, his efforts to mend relations between the South and the North, overcoming the rancor, bitterness and vindictiveness on both sides with an eye towards the future and health of the country as a whole. There is perhaps an overabundance of anecdotes involving Lee's interactions and friendliness with children (that he got along well with them and vice versa is more than evident); what is more interesting to me were the accounts of Lee's post-War interactions with his former generals and officers with whom he served as well as fought against.

It is claimed that no man did more to bring both sides together following the Civil War than Robert E. Lee. Whatever one may think, what is clearly evident from the accounts amassed in this book is that at every opportunity Lee had, he personally counseled (and enforced, with respect to his students), reconciliation with the North, subservience to and respect for the law, and patriotic loyalty to the reunited Union with a view directed towards the future, whatever came before. This especially at a time when so many in the South was left poor, desolate, starving and resentful over their condition (some even more than willing to take up arms again, if only Lee gave the word).

Indicative of this is the fact that at the close of the Civil War, crowds in New York gathered to shout "Hang Lee!" -- and not more than thee years later Washington College saw fit to hold a fund-raising venture in New York, attended by scores of prominent citizens with master of ceremonies being Henry Ward Beecher -- the famous abolitionist preacher and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom's Cabin) speaking honorably of Lee and his institution.

One of the more interesting stories from the book:

In June he had petitioned President Johnson for the restoration of his civil rights. Although he had then counseled others to take the controversial oath of allegiance, he had not included such a signed oath in his application for pardon, because word had not yet been received in Richmond that such a document must be among the papers required in special cases such as his.

Now, to perfect his appeal and to do all that he could to protect the college, he signed the oath of allegiance to the United States. Being a meticulous man, Lee sent this vital document to Washington through reliable channels, but no Federal authority acknowledged its receipt. Believing that this indicated the government’s desire to keep him just where they had him -- neither pardoned on the one hand, nor brought to trial under the treason indictment on the other -- Lee did not pursue the matter.

What in fact happened to this piece of paper was bizarre. It came to the desk of Secretary of State William H. Seward, the man who was soon to buy Alaska from Russia. Apparently thinking that the routing of this document to him guaranteed that it had already been recorded on Lee’s behalf, he gave it to a friend for a souvenir. The friend put it in a pigeonhole in his desk and forgot about it. It was found in a bundle of papers in the National Archives one hundred and five years later.

* * *

On a different but related note, I am also in the midst of Pyor's Reading the Man , another author who also had access to Lee's "private letters" and who is frequently cited of late with reference to bolstering the argument for dismantling Lee's statues across the South.

I have no reason to question the intention of contemporary historians wishing to deconstruct the "Lost Cause" myth of Robert E. Lee -- here I quite agree with the assessment of Michael Korda in Clouds of Glory:

The mythic Lee of Southern history became in time a man who never made a mistake, and who had no faults, not only the perfect gentleman, but the perfect warrior. Thus the blame for Malvern Hill was transferred to Jackson; the blame for Gettysburg was assigned to Longstreet, or at least to Longstreet, Stewart and Ewell; and Lee’s dislike of the institution of slavery was given more prominence than his pessimism about the future development of former slaves and freedmen. That Lee was human; that he sometimes made mistakes, even major ones; that his deeply held, sincere views on race do not measure up to contemporary standards, or even th standards of some enlightened northerners in his own time, should not be flinched from. Lee loses nothing by being portrayed as a fallible human being. His strengths were his courage, his sense of duty, his religious belief, his military genius, his constant search to do right, and his natural and instinctive courtesy -- he did not hesitate to shake a black man’s hand or kneel beside him in prayer -- but he did not aspire to sainthood, indeed the idea would have seemed to him blasphemous, and he would have been appalled by the fact that he has been elevated to a kind of secular sainthood since his death.

On the other hand, it seems that Ms. Pryor in her zealousness in dismantling Robert E. Lee does may be susceptible to omissions of detail and fact that could impede her quest.

Consider for instance Pryor's terse mention of a significant incident of racial friction in Lexington during the time of Lee's presidency

... in which Judge Brockenbrough’s son was shot after he attacked an African-American who had not stepped into the gutter when his mother passed. The students sent out a vigilante committee to find the black man and nearly perpetrated another lynching when he was caught. Some of the collegians threatened to storm the jail and "shoot the negro."

Flood, on the other hand, offers a more detailed account of the same:

They “refused to give the pavement,” as a student put it, forcing Mrs. Brockenbrough and her son to step into the gutter to get around them and to their front gate. Enraged, young Francis saw his mother to the door, came back down the walk, and attacked one of the blacks with a stick. The black drew a pistol and shot him in the chest. ... The black, Caesar Griffin, would certainly have been hanging from a tree had it not been for one of those timely arrivals that had quelled earlier disturbances. This time the students had a rope around their intended victim’s neck and had marched him to the courthouse square—the preferred place for lynchings, since it implied that justice had been done. Assistant Professor Harry Estill, a former Confederate captain, strode out of the night. The slender, black-bearded veteran ordered the students to turn their captive over to the jailer, and they did.

Lee for his part was away at the time but apparently in communication with local officials.

Pryor goes on suggest that:

“Both army and Freedmen’s Bureau officials warned Lee (as well as Virginia Military Institute head Francis Smith) that such “rambunctious” behavior needed to be curtailed. Lee had sent out advisories forbidding his students to take part in these activities, and in both instances Lee promised army and city officials that those participating would be penalized. The incidents did nothing to help Washington College or Virginia’s ability to shed northern supervision, and Lee undoubtedly hoped to forestall future mischief.

Pryor then makes the following inference of Lee's character:

But at best, he gave out ambiguous signals. The number of accusations against Washington College boys indicates that he either punished the racial harassment more laxly than other misdemeanors, or turned a blind eye to it.”

Conversely, Flood gives an account of another incident in which five Washington students were involved in an altercation with students at the Freedman's Bureau (which taught classes of blacks), assaulting one with a pistol and were thrown in jail.

The four jailed students were tried by the mayor and fined for disturbing the peace. When they were released, they were asked to come to Lee’s office. As they entered, they saw that the student from Alabama who had escaped detection was also there, voluntarily coming forward. This youth, who had carried the pistol and struck the black man, explained what had happened and said that the fault was entirely his. Lee nodded and instantly expelled him. The others he formally reprimanded and put on probation. By the time an official of the Freedman’s Bureau wrote Lee a letter of complaint and inquiry, the offender was back in Alabama, and Lee’s explanation of the actions he had taken satisfied the Freedman’s Bureau. Lee understood better than anyone that this was now a situation in which one wrongful, passionate pull of a trigger could close Washington College, perhaps permanently.

What comes across in Flood's book is that, as administrator of an institution struggling to re-establish it's footing in the post-war South as well as being conscious of his rehabilitation with the North, not to mention his unwavering attention to personal honor, Lee was particularly conscious of setting a public example, mindful that any mis-step on his part would jeopardize the project to which he was committed and would surely be exploited by the press and Northern antagonists (as was indeed the case). Consequently, it seems to me very much out of character for Lee to demand so much of his students in all other aspects of their lives, yet give them free reign and turn a blind eye -- as Pryor suggests -- towards their behavior to blacks.

Undoubtedly such activities and examples of racial bigotry did occur and there were probably many (we are speaking, after all, of the shortly post-war South) -- Flood acknowledges many of those of which Pryor speaks -- yet, there is no indication that Lee himself personally countenanced or even implicitly encouraged by "turning a blind eye to" racial harassment or criminal actions on the part of his students. It cannot even be said to be an argument from silence, given the presence of such counter-examples of Lee opposing such behavior.

Suffice to say based on my own biographical readings of the man, my recommendation is to avail one's self of multiple accounts and sources, gathering the facts as they are available. This seems imperative inasmuch as from browsing so many online discussions Ms. Pryor's revelations of Lee's true character are simply accepted as unquestionable.

[Dee Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audible.com 10 hours 24 min. Narrated by Michael Anthony (A)

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book while I attended Washington & Lee University. I read it again, as all the controversy has been raised about whether to remove his name from the school, to remind myself about who Robert E. Lee was as a man after he finished being a general. Sadly, if those asking that his name be removed, particularly those who are students or alumni, would read this I believe they would realize how much of a positive impact he made on the school, and even the country after the end of the war.
At the end of the day, though, what reading it again reminds me is that Lee himself would probably be quick to say that if removing his name helps the school then it should be done. He was not about recognition but about the most beneficial courses of action for the organizations he led.

[Richard Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book

This book is about the last five years of Robert E Lee’s life. The details and copious notes are amazing. I recommend this book to everyone.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

What to make of this work? Well written - lot's of research. Not so extremely well documented. Perhaps using single source reminiscences - uniquely positive or affirmative of Lee - is at the heart of my misgivings about this book. I am reminded of the various and multiple warnings received when using the WPA slave narratives - those same concerns can be focused on this work.

Glimpses of non-adulation of Lee are had and those moments might render a truer nature of the man than the random single source vignettes. Impinged upon by those outside his chosen circle - Grant, Congress, the northern press, politicians - Lee's interactions reveal much about the man and his character. These moments hold, in my opinion, more gravitas than the "I was in the presence of Lee" remembrances.

Still it is hard to dismiss the adulation narratives - hence this work which does a good job gathering and presenting some narrative out of them. The fallout is that on occasion a story is inserted without solid reference to a time. It reminds one of the TV show Happy Days which was set in the 1950s - nevermind which year just follow this good story.

In the end did it teach me something? As the answer is yes, it did teach me something, then I would recommend it. A smart reader would keep in mind issues with single source reminiscences but keep that in the background and enjoy the author's craft. He tells a good story - and we never let facts get in the way of one of those.

[Al Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect of this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a well written story of a man with high character and strong leadership qualities who was loved by most all who knew him from both the North and South. In many ways his life was a tragic story of a man who's sense of honor and loyalty lead him to follow his state into the war, though he didn't seem to agree with the reason or necessity for the war. His leadership following the war obviously did much to persuade people to move beyond the bitterness (both sides) and begin rebuilding the South to be a productive and loyal part of this great nation. This book helped you feel the weight that Lee must have felt near the end of the war, as he saw the inevitable end, and tried hard to lessen the loss of life and suffering around him. He knew it was going to be a long and hard road to rebuild the South, but this book provided a very interesting look into the last 5 years of his life, as he found another of his true callings in life and used it to begin rebuilding young men to rebuild the South. He was certainly a man of vision, character, and honor.

[Christiane · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is so much written about Robert E. Lee during the Civil War and how he was the perfect general and solider, but this was a fantastic biography of what happened to Lee after the Civil War. His family home/farm was Arlington and Lincoln had turned it into a cemetery, and few people in the South had any money to sustain their lives. However, the regents of Washington University in Lexington, Virginia had a bit of money and wanted to appoint someone with name recognition to encourage Southern families to send their sons to them. When the regents hired Robert E. Lee to be the university president, the regents knew that as a young man, Lee had attended West Point (one of the few cadets to have ever gone through four years without any demerits); what they didn't realize was that he later was the Commandant of that university (1852-1855). What they got was steal of a deal and a man who lived his entire life desiring to be of service to God, his family, and to his country. If you want to see a man change a community within five years, read this biography.

[Anne]

I started reading this book several weeks weeks before the current bruhaha. What an amazing man. What an amazing life.

[Andy Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wildly overrated book. The book provides a charming portrait of Gen. Lee in his last five years. But it does not live up to its billing claiming that the General did more than anyone else to maintain the peace after the end of the war and that he had some loving special relationship with his wife. Yes, Lee did advocate that the Southerners should do their best to unite the country after the war. Yes he was apparently faithful to his invalid wife. But Lee hardly did anything beyond his little corner of the world in Lexington to sustain the peace. And he did not even appear to love his wife, flirting with every young woman he encountered. And he very selfishly did everything in his power to prevent his three young daughters to marry and live their own lives. No one is perfect of course, and Lee seemed like a very good man, but the book was just not all that interesting.

[Del · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amazing story of the life of General Robert E. Lee after the end of the Civil War. I learned a lot about this amazing man and all he did after the war to try to heal the nation and bring the South back into the Union spiritually.. Awesome read!

Listened to the unabridged audiobook on Audible.com.

[Drew Norwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A close look at Lee's post-war years. Lee's life was exemplary for many reasons, but his waning years (his life as an educator, as a leader of a new generation of Southerners living in confusing/divisive/uncertain times, as a public figure working to reunite a divided nation, as a father and husband in a suffering, displaced family) are particularly so.

[Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relevant lessons for today in political discourse. Lee refused to complain or criticize. His commitment to duty, to rebuilding without rancor was a model then and now. He led by example and character.

[Mindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was interesting though I think it lacked analysis and comment. I did learn a few things. I could take it or leave it.

[Mark Luongo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again Charles Bracelen Flood has left me with a lump in my throat as this extraordinary story came to an end. He did the same with his work on U.S. Grant, "Grant's Final Victory" which I read several years ago.
To know is to understand, as they say. And those who choose not to do themselves a disservice by not trying.
Lee was a man of his time with all the foibles & prejudices in place. But what is forgotten is the honor, duty and commitment that were the foundation stones of his life. Once again a book that shows that he was more than the "Marble Man" most people thought he was. His dedication to reconciliation following the war doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Think about it, one word from Lee about taking the fight to the hills when all was lost in 1865 would have prolonged the agony and suffering on both sides for who knows how long. Rather calling for doing what was right and asking his former soldiers to take their places in rebuilding both the South and the country on terms agreeable to all. Not what was expected by many but that was Lee doing and thinking what he thought was right. He asked for no applause and and was dismayed by any he received.
Another aspect that most don't know is his achievements as an educator in resurrecting tiny Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, a job he took on reluctantly at first but soon threw his full vigor into for almost 5 years. He did almost everything from fund raising , counseling, expanding curriculum and overseeing the physical expansion of the college. His presence was enough to straighten out many a wayward student and was held in hushed awe by the many former soldiers who at his urging returned to school to help move on with their lives. Nothing was more apropos that renaming the college "Washington & Lee" after his death in 1870.
An aside, his relationship with that fine horse, Traveller. His companion for the rest of his life, those long afternoon rides through the Virginia hills.
Again knowing is understanding. You want to tear down statues and denigrate that is a personal choice. But it is necessary to try and see the whole story. What you rebuild after demolition may be missing a few key features. And that is the loss.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

With so much said against this man, these days, here is a book that shows Lee’s huge contributions after the Civil War through the strength of his character and example. His impact towards encouraging a broken South through patience, kindness, wisdom and hard work, do their part to the restoration of their country, in the face of the difficult times of reconstruction, was enormous, for he was so well loved and respected. He personally encouraged and counselled each one of the young wounded soldier students, to rebuild their lives. In responding to their needs, he built Washington and Lee University, with practical insight into a well respected institution, attracting students from every state in the Union. People forget, he was a man of his times, so tied in spirit to his family and friends, that he had to choose to stand to defend his homeland, before the country he had served for 35 years. Few have to make such decisions these days.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert E. Lee by his character and integrity earned the respect of people across America, southerners and northerners alike (except no doubt for the widows and orphans). Following his surrender at Appomattox Lee set out to resume his role as head of the family in the war-ravaged country of Virginia and began looking to purchase a small farm. Other people looking for talent saw the potential of Lee based on the history of his military service. Because of his intelligence, easy-going manner, quiet sense of humor and ability to engage with and motivate people the final years of his short life were extremely productive and especially rewarding for him as well as for the nation. This is a good story, full of touching incidents. Maybe a little too full, a trifle bit sad. Is it all true? Could be, there are 30 pages of end notes and a good bibliography, although I prefer footnotes.

[Raymond Hwang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sympathetic and loving biography of the greatest general of the Civil War describes in detail the few years left of his life. Robert E. Lee would work toward conciliation and recovery of the South with the North. Having pledged at the surrender of his army to give up the fight and to rejoin the Union, he became the president of Washington College in Lexington, Va. Lee's health was failing since the war but he still worked hard to inspire and endow this little college. His work would attract money, faculty and students there. Unfortunately, he despised attraction to himself. Lee in an attempt to revive his health would travel to south but admirers thronged his train and stops. After returning to Lexington, his heart gradually failed and he would have a stroke of which he would not recover.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful character sketch of Robert E. Lee

Much is written about Lee, the great General, but this book focuses on Lee's life after defeat. Told as a story that begins at Appomattox, the moment of defeat, it reveals to us the heart of the man as he is tried by adversity and as defined by the 'little things' in life, particularly the way he treated people who were closest to him. The author does an exceptional job of painting a picture based on quotes from those who knew him best as well as his own quotes and writing. I loved the story-telling style of the book and could not put it down. I highly recommend the author and the book.

[Joe Keefhaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-written, extremely favorable book about Robert E. Lee in his postwar years. Lee was revered by the people of the South, as well as many Northerners. In some ways, he seems to have been worthy of that respect. He conducted himself well in the New Order that resulted from the war, although he never admitted the South did anything wrong. He also made substantial contributions to education as president of struggling Washington College. It is a shame he isn't remembered for that, rather than as a commander of troops fighting against the United States. In doing that, he committed treason. Lee was respectful and courteous to the newly freed blacks, but he could not bring himself to think they were intelligent or otherwise qualified enough to take part in government. His wife Mary was less circumspect in her feelings about blacks and the outcome of the war, but even she had to acknowledge the courtesies extended to her by the Union Army following Appomattox. Many of the Washington College students were Confederate Army veterans, and Lee instilled in them high standards of conduct. Yet the book recounts episodes of these students taunting a female Freedmen's Bureau teacher and seeking to lynch a black man. Lee was under the threat of being tried for treason during much of his postwar life, but the intervention of U.S. Grant and other influential Northerners made that unlikely. The book ends with his death, offering no look at the aftermath of his passing.