Excerpt from The Patriots, Vol. 1: The Story of Lee and the Last Hope
"Patriotism," sententiously declares Dr. Samuel Johnson, "is the last refuge of a scoundrel!"
Yet there have been not a few indifferent honest men who confute the dictum of the tea-drinking lexicographer, in that their chiefest glory was in their love of country; as Washington and Grant, Lincoln and Lee - to name four of our greatest.
All these men are mentioned hereafter in these pages; two are merely referred to, a third plays a small but important part, while the whole romance revolves about the last. I have shown Lee in some of the supreme moments of his career: when he declined the chief command of all the armies of the United States to become a major-general in the Virginia line; when he took upon himself the blame for the fruitless assault at Gettysburg; when he would fain have led his men into the jaws of death, the veritable mouth of hell at Spottsylvania; and, lastly, - where character is most terribly tried, - in defeat at Appomattox.
In every situation he was a great, a dominant figure. The character of Lee has been somewhat lost sight of in the study of his career, but it fairly glows with all that is high and noble and true. The Bayard of the South exhibits the characteristics of the Christian gentleman to the full. His is a personality to be studied, to be followed, to be loved. In his greatness and in his simplicity he is an enduring inspiration to true manhood for all America - the world even.
I did not always think thus.
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