In 1859 he resigned his commission, and soon thereafter was married to
Miss Wickham, the daughter of a family distinguished in the annals of
Virginia. They went to reside at the White House, on the Pamunkey River,
in the county of New Kent. It was at this old historic country home that
the marriage of George Washington with the Widow Custis was celebrated.
It descended to Gen. LEE from his mother, who was the great-granddaughter
of Washington's wife.
Here he devoted himself to the tillage of the soil and became engrossed
with the pursuits of a plain and unostentatious farmer. His condition
and surroundings at this time were such as to invite contentment and
encourage the cultivation of those pure and lofty sentiments for which
he was ever distinguished.
Being in the flower and strength of his young manhood and blessed with
affluence and the love of an accomplished wife, there seemed wanting
nothing to make his home an earthly paradise.
But the course of this peaceful and happy life was not to run thus
smoothly to the end. Dark and threatening clouds of war soon lowered
upon our land, and the political conflicts and antagonisms, which had
grown in intensity and bitterness with the flight of years, ripened into
civil war in 1861.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52