[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—May I be
allowed to point out that the American officer named Lee, who accompanied Major Mordecai and McClellan as a member of the American Military Mission to the British Head- quarters in the Crimea in March, 185G, was not Robert E. Lee? In that month Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, as he was then, was in his forty-ninth year, and was stationed in Texas in command of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, to which he was appointed, from Superintendent of West Point, in April, 1855. As a matter of fact, General R. E. Lee never visited Europe. I am able to assert this positively from my intimate friendship with his son and namesake, the late Captain R.. E. Leo, who would most assuredly have mentioned such a fact to me. I am at present reading General Higginson's most interesting reminiscences, which recall many youthful remembrances, and revive one's pride in that splendid Army which set an example for all time of constancy and endurance under terrible sufferings.—I am, Sir, &c.,
GERALD SMYTHE,
Hon. Member R. E. Lee Camp, No. 1 C.V., Richmond, Va. 24 Eridge Road, Tunbridge Wells.
Previous page
