PREFACE



  WHEN this book was begun, I had in mind only
to prepare a second and enlarged edition of the
little volume published three years since, under
the title "Robert E. Lee, the Southerner," in
which the theme was Lee's personal character,
and no attempt was made to present more than
a bare outline of the militarv side of his life.
AWith the materials in hand, however, and the
attractiveness of the subject, the work soon ex-
p)anded beyond the dimensions of a inere New
Edition, and has finally assumed the proportions
of a biography. The work has led into a field,
new, at least to me, and besides a fuller account
of the extraordinary conditions under which Lee
conducted his military operations, I have en-
deavored to give his relation to the civil power
of the Confederate Government.
  Some repetition will be fcund, but the inten-
tion has been to give a clear outline of Lee's
military career for those who may not care to go
further into an account of battles, and then, for
others, to give a history of Lee's military opera-
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