God grant that, When the day of my death shall come, I may look up to Heaven with that confidence and faith which the life and character of Robert E.Lee gave him.

He died trusting in God as a good man, with a good life, and a pure conscience." He had lived, as he died, with this supreme trust in an overruling and merciful Providence; and this sentiment, pervading his whole being, was the origin of that august calmness with which he greeted the most crushing disasters of his military career.

His faith and humble trust sustained him after the war, when the woes of the South wellnigh broke his great spirit; and he calmly expired, as a weary child falls asleep, knowing that its father is near.
Of this eminent soldier and man whose character offers so great an example, a memoir is attempted in this volume.

The work will necessarily be "popular" rather than full and elaborate, as the public and private correspondence of Lee are not at this time accessible.
These will throw a fuller light on the subject; but sufficient material is at the disposal of the writer to enable him to present an accurate likeness of Lee, and to narrate clearly the incidents of his career.

In doing so, the aim of the author is to measure out full justice to all--not to arouse old enmities, which should be allowed to slumber, but to treat his subject with the judicial moderation of the student of history.
A few words will terminate this preface.