General LeeMajor W. H. Fitzhugh Lee, his sonHon. B. H. HillGeneral StarkeAn Orderly
HILL—I have come to ask your advice. Do you think it would be wise to move the Southern capital farther South?
LEE—That is a political question and you politicians must answer it. I am only a soldier.
HILL—That is the proudest name today.
LEE—Yes, there never were such men in an army before. They will go anywhere and do anything if properly led.
HILL—They could have no commander equal to General Lee.
LEE—No, we made a great mistake Mr. Hill in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake.
HILL—What mistake is that General?
LEE—Why sir, in the beginning we appointed all our worst generals to command the armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers. As you know, I have planned some campaigns and quite a number of battles. I have given the work all the care and thought I could, and sometimes when my plans were completed, so far as I could see they seemed perfect. But when I have fought them through I have discovered defects, and occasionally wondered I did not see some of the defects in advance. When it was all over I found by reading a newspaper that these best editor-generals saw all the defects plainly from the start. Unfortunately, they did not communicate this knowledge to me until it was too late.
I have no ambition but to serve the Confederacy and do all I can to win our independence. I am willing to serve in any capacity to which the authorities may assign me. I have done the best I could in the field, and have not succeeded as I should wish. I am willing to yield my place to the best generals, and will do my best for the cause in editing a newspaper.
Even as poor a soldier as I am can generally discover mistakesafter it is all over. But if I could only induce these wise gentlemen, who seethem so clearlybeforehand, to communicate with me in advance, instead of waiting till the evil has come upon us—to let me know whatthey knew all the time—it would be far better for my reputation, and, what is of more consequence, far better for the cause.
HILL—Don't let those waspish editors annoy you. The South is behind you to a man. They know what General Lee cannot accomplish, no man can.
(ORDERLY enters and salutes.)
LEE—What is it?
ORDERLY—General Starke wishes to see you.
HILL—I must leave you General, I am grateful for the audience.
LEE—I am always glad to talk to those interested in our common cause. Good day, Mr. Hill.
HILL—Good day, General. (Exit.)
LEE—Show General Starke in.
(Enter GEN. STARKE. He salutes.)
LEE—(Saluting.) Good morning, General, what can I do for you.
STARKE—Nothing for me sir, but a good deal for yourself.
LEE—This is no time to think of private benefits.
STARKE—But General your reputation is suffering, the press is denouncing you, your own State is losing confidence in you, and the army needs a victory to add to its enthusiasm.
LEE—I cannot afford to sacrifice five or six hundred of my people to silence public clamor. When it is time to strike, we will strike with a will.
STARKE—I wish those Northerners were all dead.
LEE—How can you say so?
Now I wish they were all at home attending to their own business, and leaving us to do the same. They also are my countrymen. General, there is a good old book which says, "Love your enemies." What a cruel thing is war; to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors and to devastate the fair face of the beautiful world.
STARKE—But think of our men who have laid down their lives so bravely.
LEE—The loss of our gallant officers and men throughout the army causes me to weep tears ofblood and to wish that I might never hear the sound of a gun again.
STARKE—I am sorry to have worried you General, you are right, good day!
(Salutes and exit. Enter MAJOR W. H. FITZHUGH LEE.)
W. H. F. LEE—Father!
LEE—Fitzhugh, how good it is to see you. You don't know how much I have missed you and your mother and your brothers and sisters.
W. H. F. LEE—Won't it be wonderful when the war will be over and we can all be together again.
LEE—God grant that it may be so!
W. H. F. LEE—I can't stay any longer, Father. I just came in to see you a moment before starting. I must be about my duty.
LEE—I know that wherever you may be placed, you will do your duty. That is all the pleasure, all the comfort, all the glory we can enjoy in this world.
Duty is the sublimest word in the language. There is a true glory and a true honor, the glory of duty done, the honor of integrity of principles.
(They salute.)
Battlefield, the Southern Lines. Shells falling all around.
Characters
General LeeGeneral GordonGeneral GracieGeneral StuartNorthern PrisonersSoldiers
(Enter squad of Soldiers with three Northern prisoners. One without a cap.)
LEE—(Addressing prisoner without cap.) Where is your cap? Did the Rebels shoot it off?
PRISONER—(Saluting.) No, General, but one of them took it off.
LEE—(Noticing a blue cap on one of the Confederate soldiers.) Give him back his cap, even if your own is ragged.
Men, you had better go farther to the rear, they are firing up here, and you are exposing yourselves. (Exeunt soldiers and prisoners.)
(Enter General Gracie who places himself directly in front of General Lee in the direction of the firing.)
LEE—Why General Gracie, you will certainly be killed.
GRACIE—It is better, General, that I should be killed than you. When you go to the rear, I will.
(Enter General Gordon with company of men.)
GORDON—General Lee, this is no place for you. Do go to the rear. These are Virginians and Georgians, sir—men who have never failed—and they will not fail now—Will you boys? Is it necessary for General Lee to lead this charge.
SOLDIERS—No! no! General Lee to the rear. General Lee to the rear! We will drive them back, if General Lee will only go to the rear.
GORDON—Forward! Charge! and remember your promise to General Lee. (Exeunt.)
GEN. STUART—General, this is no place for you, do go away at once to a safe place.
LEE—I wish I knew where my place is on the battlefield: wherever I go some one tells me it is not the place for me to be.
LEE—(To soldiers.) Soldiers, I am more than satisfied with you. Your country will thank you for the heroic conduct you have displayed,—conduct worthy of men engaged in a cause so just and sacred, and deserving a nation's gratitude and praise. Now you must go farther back, you areexposing yourselves unnecessarily. (As they pass back a little, slowly and unwillingly, Lee goes farther forward, stoops down and picks up something.)
FIRST SOLDIER—What is he doing?
SECOND SOLDIER—Why he's picking up a little bird that had fallen from its nest.
FIRST SOLDIER—"He who heeds the sparrow's fall."
SECOND SOLDIER—I've heard of God, but here is General Lee!
Outside Appomatox Courthouse during Lee's conference with Grant.
Ragged Confederate soldiers on one side. Northern troops on the other.
1ST CONFEDERATE—Their uniforms don't look much like ours, do they?
2ND CONFEDERATE—No, nor their General doesn't look much like ours either.
3RD CONFEDERATE—Didn't Marse Robert look wonderful when he went through that door? Just naturally hating to go in, but going just the same, because he knew it was right.
1ST CONFEDERATE—Of course he had to go in, we couldn't have stood another day without any rations.
2ND CONFEDERATE—You mean you couldn't. I could have gone till I dropped without rations, if Marse Robert had said so.
3RD CONFEDERATE—But he wouldn't let his men suffer any longer when he saw it was no use. Sh! Here he comes now.
(Soldiers stand at attention. The door slowly opens and LEE steps out. He looks up to the hills and sky. Silently clasps his hands together, then slowly and almost bent, walks down the steps. For a moment the men are silent. Then the sight of GEN. LEE is too much for them and they crowd around him cheering him.)
LEE—(Lifting his hand for silence.) Men, we have fought through the war together. I have done my best for you. My heart is too full to say more.
Scene—Lee's Parlor at Richmond.
Characters
Gen. LeeMrs. Jackson, a family friendJack Sharpe, a former Confederate soldierSam, an old negro servantG. W. Custis Lee, Gen. Lee's sonMr. Brown, representative of an Insurance CompanyJudge Brockenborough, Trustee of Washington College
PAT—(Bursting through door with a huge basket of provisions, salutes.) Sure, sir, you're a great soldier and it's I that knows it. I've been fighting against you all these years, and many a hard knock we've had. But, General, I honor you for it, and now they tell me you are poor and in want, and I've brought you this basket. Please take it from a soldier.
LEE—I thank you comrade, but I'm glad to tell you I am not in need. But there are plenty of poor fellows over at the hospital who would be only too glad to get food from so generous a foe.
PAT—Just as you say, sir, but if ever you are in need just let Pat Murphy know, that's all. (Exit.)
(Enter MRS. JACKSON.)
LEE—How do you do, Mrs. Jackson.
MRS. JACKSON—Good morning General, and how are all the family?
LEE—We are all as usual, the women of the family very fierce and the men very mild.
MRS. JACKSON—I think every woman of the South is fierce now. I am bringing up all my sons to hate the Yankees.
LEE—Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States Government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all this local hatred and make your sons Americans.
MRS. JACKSON—How can you talk that way after the way you have been treated.
LEE—General Grant has acted with magnanimity.
MRS. JACKSON—If there ever was a saint on earth, you are one. Now I must go upstairs and tell your wife so, but I reckon she knows it. Good morning. (Exit MRS. JACKSON. Enter JACK SHARPE dressed in ragged clothes, he looks all around, then goes up to Lee and salutes.)
SHARPE—General, I'm one of your soldiers, and I've come here as the representative of four of my comrades who are too ragged and dirty to venture to see you. We are all Virginians, General, from Roanoke County, and they sent me here to see you on a little business.
They've got our President in prison and now—they—talk—about—arresting—you. And, General,we can't stand—we'll never stand and see that.
Now, General, we five men have got about two hundred and fifty acres of land in Roanoke—very good land, too, it is, sir—and if you'll come up there and live, I've come to offer you our land, all of it and we five men will work as your field hands, and you'll have very little trouble in managing it with us to help you.
And, General, there are near about a hundred of us left in old Roanoke, and they could never take you there, for we could hide you in the hollows of the mountains, and the last man of us would die in your defense.
LEE—I thank you and your friends, but my place is among the people of Virginia. If ever they needed me, it is now. (He goes to the door and calls SAM. Enter SAM.)
LEE—Sam I want you to find all the clothes I can do without and give them to this soldier for his friends.
SHARPE—I thank you general, and if ever you change your mind, just let Jack Sharpe hear from you. (Exit JACK and SAM. Enter Lee's oldest son, G. W. CUSTIS LEE.)
G. W. LEE—Well, Father, hard at work entertaining visitors as usual, I suppose.
LEE—Yes, I don't see how so many find the time to come here.
G. W. C. LEE—Lots of the poor soldiers are out of work.
LEE—I am sorry. Tell them they must all set to work, and if they cannot do what they prefer, do what they can. Virginia wants all their aid, all their support, and the presence of all her sons to sustain her now.
G. W. C. LEE—I don't quite know what I'm going to do myself yet.
LEE—You can work for Virginia, to build her up again. You can teach your children to love and cherish her.
G. W. C. LEE—You are right, Father, all my life you have never failed to give me inspiration. (Exit. Enter SAM and hands LEE a letter. He opens it and reads.)
LEE—"Dear General: we have been fighting hard for four years, and now the Yankees have got us in Libby Prison. The boys want you to get us out if you can, but, if you can't, just ride by the Libby, and let us see you and give you a cheer. We will all feel better after it."
SAM—Will you all go for to see 'em, Marse Robert?
LEE—They would make too much fuss overthe old rebel. Why should they care to see me? I am only a poor old Confederate. (Exit SAM, shaking his head. Enter MR. BROWN, a well-dressed business man.)
BROWN—I have not the honor of your acquaintance, General, except as all the world knows you. My name is Brown and I represent a well known Insurance Company.
LEE—I am afraid my life is hardly worth insuring, Mr. Brown.
BROWN—It is not about that I came to see you. I understand you are not as yet permanently employed and I have come, therefore, to offer you the presidency of our company at a yearly salary of $50,000.
LEE—I thank you, sir, but I would be of no value to your company, as I know nothing whatever in regard to insurance.
BROWN—But, General, you will not be expected to do any work, what we wish is the use of your name.
LEE—My name is not for sale. I thank you, sir. Good morning. (Exit BROWN. Enter Judge Brockenborough.)
GEN. LEE—Good morning, Judge, what a pleasure to see an old friend!
JUDGE—Good morning, General, I shouldnot have dared to call on so busy a man if I did not have a special mission. I have come to offer you the presidency of Washington College, at a salary of $1,500 a year. I am sorry we can offer no more, but the war has left the college in a wretched condition.
LEE—I am afraid because of my many enemies that my connection with the college would make its condition far more wretched.
JUDGE—No, General, the whole South loves and respects you, and if you will only accept this position you will make us the happiest of all colleges.
LEE—I would have much preferred that your choice had fallen upon an abler man. But if you really want me, I will be only too glad to come. I have led the young men of the South in battle. I have seen many of them die on the field. I shall try to devote my remaining energies to training young men to do their duty in life.
**Transcribers Notes**Minor punctuation errors correctedPage 15 dishonerable changed to dishonorablePage 20 Appomattox and Page 51 Appomatox both spellings left intactMultiple use of defence/defense left intact