his regiment who afterward became famous
is worthy of notice. The colonel was Albert Sydney Johnston; the
lieutenant-colonel, R.E. Lee; the senior major, William J. Hardee; the
junior major, George H. Thomas; the senior captain, Earl Yan Dorn;
the next ranking captain, Kirby Smith; the lieutenants, Hood, Fields,
Cosby, Major, Fitzhugh Lee, Johnson, Palmer, and Stoneman, all of
whom became general officers afterward on the Southern side, with the
exception of Thomas, and the three last named, who became prominent
generals in the Federal army. It is rare that such a constellation of
famous names is found in the list of officers of a single regiment.
The explanation is, nevertheless simple. Positions in the new
regiments were eagerly coveted by the best soldiers of the army, and,
in appointing the officers, those of conspicuous ability only were
selected. The Second Regiment of cavalry thus became the _corps
d'elite_ of the United States Army; and, after Albert Sydney Johnston,
Robert E. Lee was the ranking officer.

Lee proceeded with his regiment to Texas, remaining there for several
years on frontier duty, and does not reappear again until 1859.

Such was the early career in the army of the soldier soon to
become famous on a greater theatre--that of a thoroughly-trained,
hard-working, and conscientious officer. With the single exception
of his brief record in the Mexican War, his life had been passed in
official duties, unconnected with active military operations. He
was undoubtedly what is called a "rising man," but he had had no
opportunity to display the greatest faculties of the soldier. The
time was coming now when he was to be tested, and the measure of his
faculties taken in one of the greatest wars which darken the pages of
history.

A single incident of public importance marks the life of Lee between
1855 and 1861. This was what is known to the world as the "John Brown
raid"--an incident of the year 1859, and preluding the approaching
storm. This occurrence is too well known to require a minute account
in these pages, and we shall accordingly pass over it briefly,
indicating simply the part borne in the affair by Lee. He was in
Washington at the time--the fall of 1859--on a visit to his family,
then residing at Arlington, near the city, when intelligence came that
a party of desperadoes had attacked and captured Harper's Ferry, with
the avowed intent of arming and inciting to insurrection the slaves
of the