The renewal of our acquaintance soon satisfied me that the experience of
life had strengthened and developed all that was good and noble and
manly in the young student. The same warmth and cordiality which had
endeared him to his classmates won the regard and affection of his
associates here. The same general ability and rotundity of character
which had made him prominent in the little world of college life made
him useful and influential in various lines of duty in the wide field of
Congressional legislation.

During the intervening years the manly bearing, the physical
superiority, the nobility of spirit which had characterized him in the
earlier days had made him a leader among men when the storm of war raged
over the land. Brief as were the days of the unacknowledged Southern
Confederacy, his name was enrolled in bright letters upon the pages of
its history, and his brave deeds will in future days be chronicled in
song and story by those who admire true courage and recognize all that
was gallant and noble and heroic in the lives of all those who fought on
both sides of our great struggle as worthy of preservation and
commemoration.

When LEE first left college his military duties, as has been already
stated, carried him to the far West, and he there saw some rough
service. The Utah expedition was a training school for soldiers and
generals, and many who afterwards gained renown and fame, under the
different standards were there associated together in a common duty.
Besides the leader and commander, Col. Johnston, were Robert E. Lee,
Hardee, Thomas, Kirby Smith, Palmer, Stoneman, Fitz Lee, and Hood. When
the Army first entered upon this service there was a small cloud of war
in the horizon, but it soon cleared away, and the company to which LEE
was attached was assigned to a dull and monotonous routine of garrison
life. This possessed no attractions for the young lieutenant, and there
were other influences drawing him towards his native State. He resigned
his commission, returned to Virginia, and settled at the White House, in
New Kent County, where George Washington had married the widow Custis.

The plantation had descended to her son, George Washington Parke Custis,
and from him through LEE's mother to the grandson. He soon established
his cousin, Miss Wickham, as queen of this historic home, and he was
here with his little family amid these surroundings, with everything to
make life attractive, when Virginia