1848. Brevetted captain for gallantry.
1848. Married Julia T. Dent.
1854. Resigned his army commission.
1861. Re-entered army at outbreak of Civil War. Commissioned
colonel, then brigadier-general.
1863. Made major-general.
1864. Given supreme command of the Union forces, with rank
of lieutenant-general.
1866. The grade of general created for first time, and
conferred on him.
1868. Elected President.
1885. July 23. Died at Mt. McGregor, New York.
LEE
THE LEADER OF A LOST CAUSE
A gray-haired college president sat talking kindly with a young
sophomore who had fallen behind in his studies.
"My boy," he said, "you must study if you would succeed. Only patience
and industry will prevent your failure here and your failure in after
life."
"But, General, you failed," replied the sophomore with an amazing
impertinence.
"I hope that you may be more fortunate than I," was the quiet answer.
Literature contains nothing finer than that by way of the retort
courteous.
The speaker was Robert E. Lee--the time not many months after the
surrender of the Southern army. Many were there to brand him as a
"failure," just as this thoughtless sophomore had done, and to all such
critics his reply was silence.
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