Robert E. Lee Part 5

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 G.o.d 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 of blood 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--G.o.d 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._)

SCENE II

_Battlefield, the Southern Lines. Sh.e.l.ls falling all around._

Characters

General Lee General Gordon General Gracie General Stuart Northern Prisoners Soldiers

(_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 grat.i.tude and praise. Now you must go farther back, you are exposing yourselves unnecessarily. (_As they pa.s.s 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 G.o.d, but here is General Lee!

SCENE III

_Outside Appomatox Courthouse during Lee's conference with Grant._

_Ragged Confederate soldiers on one side. Northern troops on the other._