FITZHUGH LEE will be mourned by his mother Commonwealth as
one of her noblest and truest sons.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I shall read, as the most fitting tribute I
have seen, an editorial from the Alexandria Gazette written the day
after the death of Gen. LEE:
Gen. WILLIAM HENRY FITZHUGH LEE, second son of Gen. Robert Edward
Lee, is dead. The bells here tolled late yesterday evening. A few
hours before the general had crossed over the river and was at rest
under his roof tree at Ravensworth, the southern sun lighted his
deathbed and the autumn breeze sang his requiem. Afterlife's fitful
fever he sleeps well. He was sick a long time, and as his disease
was incurable, death was a relief. No more pain for him now, but
the long and peaceful sleep of the just. His sorrowing family were
at his bedside, but he told them not good-bye, preferring to greet
them when they shall rejoin him in a better world. His death is
regretted by all the many who knew him; the more so by those who
knew him well.
Gen. LEE, like his father, was naturally quiet and retiring, and in
his intercourse with others, when right and principle were not
involved, invariably acted in accordance with the rule of _noblesse
oblige_, but when they were involved he was as firm in support of
his convictions as any other man could be.
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