CEREMONIES CONNECTED WITH THE INAUGURATION OF THE MAUSOLEUM AND THE UNVEILING OF GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE, AT WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, LEXINGTON, VA., JUNE 28, 1883. ORATION OF JOHN W. DANIEL, LL. D. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE LEE MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. RICHMOND, VA.: 1883. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE LEE MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, BY W. ALLAN, A Member of the Executive Committee. GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE was prostrated by his last illness on September 28, 1870. He died two weeks later, on the morning of October 12. On October 15 he was buried beneath the chapel of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. This place was selected by Mrs. Lee after the authorities of the College had placed at her disposal any part of the grounds she might prefer. The day, though full of the glory of autumn, was the most mournful in the annals of Lexington. A vast concourse, comprising the entire population of the town and the vicinity, with delegations from other places, followed, with sadness and tears, the remains of General Lee to the tomb. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. W. N. Pendleton, D. D., (late Brigadier General and Chief of Artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia,) the rector of Grace Episcopal Church, of which General Lee was a member. The body was deposited in a vault prepared for the purpose. On the day of the funeral a large number of ex-Confederate soldiers assembled in the court-house at Lexington, and after giving expression to the love and veneration of the South for General Lee, and to the sorrow at his death, resolved to take steps to erect a monument in honor of their great leader. They felt that even in the midst of poverty and disaster, no labor could be more grateful, no duty more sacred, than that of making manifest to the future, in some enduring way, the love and admiration of his countrymen for the character and genius of Robert E. Lee, At this meeting was formed the LEE MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, and the following were appointed an Executive Committee to carry into effect the objects of the Association : Gen. W. N. Pendleton, Chief Artillery, A. N. V. Col. W. Preston Johnston, Staff of President Davis. Maj. Jas. B. Dorman, C. S. A. Lt. Col. W. Allan, Chief Ord. Officer, 2nd Corps, A. N. V. Capt. J. C. Boude, 27th Va. Reg't. Capt. C. A. Davidson, 1st Va. Battalion. Lt.-Col. Wm. M. McLaughlin, Artillery, C. S. A. Lt. Col. J. W. Massie, 51st Va. Reg't. W. A. Anderson, Liberty Hall Vols., 4th Va. Reg't. This Committee met October 24, 1870, at the office of Capt. C. A. Davidson, and organized by electing Gen. W. N. Pendleton as chairman, and Capt. Charles A. Davidson as secretary. The Committee, in accordance with the duties entrusted to it, then elected the following officers of the Lee Memorial Association: President-Gen. Jno. C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky. Vice-Pres't-at-Large-Gen. Jos. E. Johnston, of Virginia. Vice-Pres'ts from Virginia, Col. Walter II. Taylor. Gen. Jubal A. Early, { H. Vice-Pres't from Louisiana, Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard. Treasurer, C. M. Figgat, Esq., Cashier Bank of Lexington, Va. A committee was appointed to prepare an address for publication, setting forth the purposes of the Association, and another committee was instructed to draw up a charter, and to submit it to the Legislature of Virginia for enactment. Mrs. Mary Custis Lee was requested by the Executive Committee to indicate her preference in regard to the monument to be erected by the Association, and at her suggestion, Mr. Ed. V. Valentine, the distinguished Virginian sculptor, was sent for. Mr. Valentine had, the preceding summer, modeled a bust of General Lee from life, which was considered an admirable work of art. Mrs. Lee, after examining a number of drawings and photographs of celebrated works of art, suggested, as a suitable design for the monument, a recumbent figure of General Lee lying asleep upon the field of battle. The design was suggested to her by Rauch's figure of Louise of Prussia in the mausoleum at Charlottenburg. This figure of Lee, somewhat above life size, was to be placed upon a sarcophagus suitably inscribed and decorated. The whole was to be of white marble and was designed to be placed over the remains of General Lee. The suggestions of Mrs. Lee, both as to the monument and as to the artist, having been cordially adopted by the Association, Mr. Valentine was, on November 24, 1870, requested to prepare a design for the tomb of Gen. R. E. Lee, proposed to be erected, and an estimate of the probable cost of the same." Measures were also taken for collecting from the admirers of General Lee, the funds needed for erecting the monument. Liberal responses were received from a number of sources, among which was a donation of $1000 from W. W. Corcoran, Esq., of Washington, and the Executive Committee became satisfied that the means needed for the work could be obtained. On June 23, 1871, Mr. Valentine, having completed a model of the proposed figure and sarcophagus, appeared before the Executive Committee and submitted it together with an estimate of cost. This latter amounted to $15,000. The model was approved and accepted, and Mr. Valentine was commis sioned to go on with the work. |