Dispatches From The Southland

At the conclusion of the Confederate Revolution in 1863, President Davis asked General Robert E Lee to remain as the head of the Army of Northern Virginia. However, as the nation prepared for its first ever peacetime presidential election, there were many who urged Lee to run for office. Once such person was Jefferson Davis. Lee expressed no interest in politics. "I do not wish to be involved in the political affairs of our new nation. I am a soldier. My place is with the men under my command." However, John Breckenridge, upon his election as the CSA's second president, was able to convince Lee to serve as secretary of war.

On April 4, 1868, just weeks after his confirmation as secretary, he attended the wedding of his daughter Eleanor. Lee and his wife were said to be in good spirits that day. The next morning, Sunday, Lee complained of feeling ill. Despite not feeling well, he attended church in Richmond. The next morning, Lee suffered a stroke and collapsed while dressing for work. A doctor was summoned, but was unable to provide much help. His last words are reported to have been "Press the attack. We much not let them escape." However, that has been disputed by modern scholars who believe the stroke left Lee unable to speak.

Lee's body laid in state at the capitol building in Richmond for 24 hours. Huge crowds pressed through the building to get a glimpse of the man many dubbed the "Father of the Confederacy." Mary Lee, who suffered from arthritis so severe that she was confined to a wheelchair, was said to be too ill and grief-stricken to attend the service. However, many Confederate dignitaries did including President's Davis and Breckenridge, former vice president Alexander Stephens, and Vice President John Reagan, cabinet members Judah P Benjamin, and Robert Toombs among others, as well as Generals Longstreet, Stuart, Bragg, Forrest and Jackson. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson gave an especially moving eulogy. Former US president Abraham Lincoln did not attend, but sent his condolences to the "Good men and women of the Confederate States of America. Immediately following the funeral mass, veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia carried the coffin down the steps of the capitol and loaded it into the hearse. Thousands of ordinary citizens and war veterans  lined the streets to watch the cortege make it's way toward the train station. From there, Lee's body made the short trip from Richmond to Arlington.

Many in the Confederate government pressed for Lee to be buried on the grounds of the Confederate capitol building. Former President Davis had suggested Hollywood Cemetery in the city. However, Lee's eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, expressed the family's wish that the late general be buried at Arlington House. A second, private funeral mass was held at the house. Robert E Lee was given a temporary resting place on the grounds of Arlington House until a more permanent tomb could be planned and built. Lee was moved to his final resting place on October 16, 1870. The Lee tomb also contains the bodies of his wife Mary, and daughter Anne Carter Lee (who died in 1862, but was moved to the tomb later). The body of his son, President George Washington Custis Lee, is buried on another part of the Arlington House grounds. The estate is now a national historical site.