Lee, Robert E. (1807-1870) to William Fitzhugh (Rooney) Lee
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03325 Author/Creator: Lee, Robert E. (1807-1870) Place Written: West Point, New York Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 2 June 1853 Pagination: 4 p. ; 26 x 20 cm Order a Copy
Personal letter to his son concerning his approaching manhood. Lee asks if he will be ready to meet its demands. He advises him that he has the means to educate and support his children but that Rooney Lee should select his own course. He uses Rooney's older brother George Washington Custis Lee as an example to follow. Lee discusses Rooney's chances of getting into West Point, and is doubtful that he will get an appointment. Lee indicates that he may be denied for medical reasons because of a childhood injury that resulted in the loss of part of his fingers. Lee's letter stresses discipline, education, and duty but also shows tenderness and affection for his son. Written as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, with an initialed postscript. William Fitzhugh (Rooney) Lee was not accepted to West Point, attended Harvard briefly, then joined the army and fought in the Civil War.
West Point 2nd June 1853
My dear Son
I recd your letter of the 28t Ulto. & you Could have presented me with no more gratifying birth-day offering, than your expression of Confidence[,] attachment & Consideration. You are as you Say, fast approaching manhood & with all its responsibilities, duties & requirements, it will be upon you, before you are aware. You therefore do right to Consider & prepare. Will you be ready to meet its necessities? I hope & trust So, & it is my earnest wish to do all in my power to aid & help you. Throw out of your Calculation all Consideration of my individual pleasure or Convenience. The first will be best promoted by your happiness & prosperity. The latter I Can afford to Sacrifice for the benefit of my Children. My means are Sufficient for their Comfortable Support & necessary education, & if they will be Content to be economical in their expenditures & make the most of their opportunities, I Can afford them as good an education as Some of the best & greatest men of our Country ever enjoyed. Let that then be no obstacle in your Choice of a profession or avocation in life. I wish you to have the advantages of a good education, & upon finishing with W. P. Can Send you to Colledge [sic] & place you in a respectable [2] footing & give you all the opportunities of learning, but not the means of indulging in extravagance folly or vice. After that, you Could Select your own Course in life. In reference to your Coming to West Point, I do not know that I have anything new to state. The first difficulty in the way is the procurement of an appointment. The obstacles to be overcome you are aware of. The 2nd is the probability of your being rejected by the Medical Board on account of the loss of your fingers, & your tendency to rheumatism. I think it would be well to be Certain on that [inserted: latter] point, as far as Can be, before encountering the difficulties of the other. The Medical Board of Examiners are taken from the Surgeons of the Army, as may be most Convenient, & not Composed of the Same individuals, & therefore there is no knowing what opinion they would form until the time of Examn We Can only judge what it would probably be, by the opinion of others. There is no possibility of your getting an appointment before next year, & probably not for two years. There will therefore be time to inquire into this matter, & to make up your final opinion this Summer, during your vacation. If upon a review of the whole Case notwithstanding all the difficulties in the way, your inclinations Still prompt you to lead a military life in preference to others that may be open to you as I have told you before, I shall not oppose your preference. You Can try to get an appt to W. P. & if you Succeed, I Shall be glad of your success, [3] if you fail you must do Something else.
Endeavor therefore to be prepared for either emergency. Apply the present time & all your energies to the acquirement of Knowledge, the pursuit of [struck: knowledge] wisdom & the Strengthening of your mind & body. Do not Suppose that general intelligence or intellectual argument is unnecessary for an officer of the Army. It is as necessary for him as for any other individual. It elevates his mind, purifies his Senses & polishes his manners. Though you may not know in the beginning as much of the particular branches taught here, as you would if previously they had all been studied & acquired, Still if you really understand the elementary principles, possess the powers of Steady & energetic application, [struck: &] have a determined will to Succeed & a Correct Sense of right & wrong, I Should prefer them to a knowledge of the whole Course without them. Conny & Fitzhugh I fear were too young when they entered to possess them. The first has done badly. The Second is not doing as well as I wish. Your brother possessed them & is reaping the advantage of them. Mark the difference.
9th June
I Commenced the above at its date, & have written a Sentence or two, each day but [struck: two] [insert: two] Since, as I Could get an opportunity. I must Send it off by this day's mail. Yesterday I recd. your letter of 5t May which gave me much pleasure, & I [4] will return it by informing you, that your brother Came up in Philosophy about 11 a.m. & ragged right out. He fairly Spread himself & the whole Board, visitors &c have been Complimenting me ever Since. I hope he will in time make a good man & true Soldier. He is No. 1 in Philosophy. He will not Come up in Chemistry till next week. I believe I Can Say nothing more on the Subject of your last letter, than I [struck: did] have done on the first. You must read it attentively & do not be Satisfied with one perusal, but read it over till you fully understand my meaning. I Shall not be able to write to you again for a long time. So keep this letter and read it over whenever you want to hear from me. My little people are well. I gave a grand dinner to the Board day before yesterday & give another today at 7 ½ P.M. I do not get through my days work before that [inserted: hour] though I breakfast at 6 a.m. I would rather have eaten a plate of Strawberries with you & Miss Natalie, than both dinners.
Letters from your mother report your Grdfather better & all else well. May is also well
your devoted father
R. E. Lee
I have written in So much haste, amidst So many interruptions that I fear you will hardly make it out.
REL
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