The Titans (7 page)

and powerfully built. Because his legs were slender, his chest, shoulders, and head looked huge by comparison. Lee was dressed in civilian trousers and a loose linen shirt. A full black mustache contrasted with his graying hair. He had a large nose, kindly brown eyes, and an air of quiet assurance that helped explain why he'd been so successful in the army. His expression, though guarded, wasn't unfriendly: "I'm Colonel Lee, Mr.-?" "Kent. Jephtha Kent. Washington correspondent for the New York Union." Lee extended his hand. "How do you do? I'm sorry to tell you I have nothing to say for the public record." Somehow Jephtha felt audacity would be more effective than a meek thank you and goodbye. He took the chance: "I can understand that, Colonel. However, I did ride a good distance in the hope you'd be home. I realize I'm intruding on your privacy. But you are a public figure. You'll forgive me if I say I'll be very unhappy if you send me back to the city empty-handed." "Why, of all the Yankee gall!" the housekeeper exclaimed. The Titans103 Lee held up a hand. His eyes sparkled with amusement: "Come now, Hattie. Mr. Kent's boldness is commendable." He stepped back. "I'm afraid you will go back empty-handed. But you're welcome to step in and refresh yourself with some lemonade." "Thank you," Jephtha grinned. He was inside in a second. Hattie vanished, harrumphing. Lee closed the door. He led Jephtha across the spacious, high-ceilinged central hall and into a parlor on the north side. On the walls hung portraits of eighteenth-century women. One Jephtha recognized as Martha Washington. Arlington House was supposedly a museum of George Washington's possessions. Across the hall, in a formal dining room, he spied a cabinet displaying fine china. From Mount Vernon? Lee showed him to a chair. "Are you surprised I let you in, Mr. Kent?" "Yes, sir, a little." "Well, there's no mystery to it. Indecision and fear are the two greatest enemies men face on a battlefield. I've never put much stock in a soldier who was unwilling to gamble everything for a victory. I much prefer a fellow who risks it all, and loses, to the one who risks nothing. Sit down, sit down." Lee removed some papers from his own chair, laid them on a table along with a pair of reading spectacles, and seated himself. "I must tell you, sir-you're the first journalist who's had the courage to show up at my front door." "I am sorry if I disturbed you. But as I said, your name's constantly in the air over in Washington. I've heard General Scott wants to name you commander of the army." "Mr. Kent, please-I have nothing to say." Yet it was evident from Lee's expression that Jephtha's remark caused a painful reaction. 104Colonel Lee There was a pause as Hattie brought in a tray with pitcher and glasses. While the housekeeper poured Jephtha's drink, he had a chance to study the colonel. Robert Lee's military career had been long and distinguished. He'd been trained in engineering at West Point. Earned commendations in the war with Mexico. Directed several major projects for the Corps of Engineers, including one to widen and improve the Mississippi channel near St. Louis. He'd even spent a period as superintendent of the military academy from which he'd graduated. In February he'd returned from Texas, where he'd been second in command. At that time his superior had peacefully surrendered the San Antonio arsenal and all other Federal posts to the state government. Lee saluted Jephtha with his lemonade. He sipped, then smiled in a rueful way: "I'nrat a loss as to how we can carry on a conversation, Mr. Kent. I don't want anything I say put into print." "But people are anxious to hear whether you'd accept command of the army." Lee shook his head. "No such offer has been made. And you must remember-Virginia is my native state. You realize the convention is meeting in Richmond at this very hour-was Again Jephtha decided on boldness. He set the frosty glass aside and leaned forward: "Colonel, let me make a proposal. If you'll talk with me candidly-for the record-I promise you I'll file no dispatch until the Richmond convention acts and you announce your future plans." "By heaven, Mr. Kent, you do have nerve!" "Just as you said about soldiers, Colonel-a journalist can't succeed without it." Lee smiled. "A good journalist." He sobered. "Still, you're asking me to trust you." The Titans105 "To trust a man I've never seen before-was Jephtha knew that if he avoided Lee's gaze, he was finished. He didn't so much as blink. "That's right." Lee scrutinized him a moment longer. Then he laughed. "Well, sir, you've offered the dearest thing a man owns. His honor. And I assume you've offered it in good faith. I accept your terms." Jubilant, Jephtha pulled out scraps of paper and a pencil. He pondered his first question before he uttered it: "You've never been called a partisan of slavery, Colonel. Have you changed that position at all?" "I haven't." Lee rose and walked to the window overlooking the river. "I don't think the nigras are ready for full emancipation. I believe the time will come eventually, however. Few enlightened Christians would deny slavery is a moral and political evil-was He turned back. "I've also observed that when one man holds another in bondage, it often turns the master into a worse brute than the slave. I'm of the opinion slavery is even more degrading for whites than it is for blacks." He thought a moment. "On the other hand, the South has been sorely aggrieved by the North's constant hostility. In the face of that, my own state has acted with admirable restraint. And ma spirit of conciliation. The special convention-was "The secession convention," Jephtha interrupted softly. "Call it what you will. You know its members are men of impeccable integrity. Former President Tyler, for one. The convention's been deliberating since February-was "Excuse me, sir, is that restraint or just a symptom of worry about the numerical superiority of the North?" 1Lee folded down a finger of his right hand. "Mr. Stuart of Staunton-an avowed unionist." ?" He folded down a second finger. "Ballard Preston-an advocate of compromise." The third finger. "Mr. Randolph, who stands foursquare for secession. You know what happened at the meeting on Saturday. The commission got absolutely no concrete assurances. Just some vague statements from our-from the President that naturally he'd never be so imprudent as to attempt to coerce any sovereign state. He said that in the face of Buchanan's blatant attempt to put the Star of the West into Charleston harbor with provisions and military reinforcements for Fort Sumter!" "I'd point out that President Lincoln is not President Buchanan, sir." 06Colonel Lee Jephtha realized he'd said the wrong thing. Lee's mild eyes lit with annoyance: "We are speaking of a matter of principle, Mr. Kent-not courage versus cowardice. I like to think we have very little of the latter here in the Old Dominion." "My apologies-you're entirely correct. I didn't mean to imply otherwise." "But you did choose to ignore the record. Who issued a plea for a peace conference with delegates from every state? Virginia did. That nothing came of the conference is not Virginia's fault. But that didn't end our effort. Just last Friday-with the Montgomery Provisional Government already in operation, and General Beauregard's bombardment underway-our convention sent three men to see President Lincoln, hoping to learn whether he really wants war with what some choose to call the departed sisters." "Yes, I'm aware of the commission." "Distinguished men, every one. Honorable men- and fairly chosen to represent the spectrum of opinion-was The Titans107 "Granted. But both represent Federal authority. We saw Buchanan's true colors in January. This month-in Mr. Chew's message to Charleston-we saw Mr. Lincoln's. Frankly, I can discern little difference." "But the Southern side opened the fire at Charleston, Colonel." "And again, if my information from Richmond is correct, a great many of the delegates consider that to have been ill-advised. However-was Lee sighed. "The whole matter is not under any direct control of mine. I will say this. Regardless of the actions of either side- whether correct or misguided is for history to judge-I see no greater calamity than a dissolution of the Union. Right after I came home, I told a friend over in Washington that if I owned four million slaves, I would sell, free, sacrifice every last one of them to preserve the country. Secession is anarchy-was "Then you really don't approve of what the cotton states have done? Or what your own government in Richmond might be doing right now?" Lee replied crisply, "I believe I've said enough on the subject. More lemonade?" "No, thank you." Jephtha wrote rapidly. Then: "What will you do if the Richmond convention does declare the state out of the Union?" Lee rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I detest war, Mr. Kent. It's not a glorious business as some pretend. It's tragic. It's even more tragic now that one section has taken arms against the other. As late as February, when General Twiggs surrendered the Texas garrisons, I had faith in the eventual triumph of reason. I still have faith-was But it was weakening, Jephtha suspected. Lee's eyes were melancholy as he went on: "Yet I'm firm on one count." He took a slow breath. "I could never draw my sword against my native state." "In other words, Virginia's war would be your war?" 108Colonel Lee "That's correct." Jephtha shivered. Lee had spoken without bravado; almost with a note of sadness in his voice. But there was no doubt about his determination. For several seconds Jephtha stared at what he'd jotted down. Then, slowly, he folded the pieces of paper and tucked them in a pocket. Lee looked surprised: "You've no more questions?" "No, sir. Your last answer covered almost everything else I could ask. Covered your whole future, you might say-was Lee frowned. "I imagine it did, didn't it?" Touched by the gentle courtliness of the man, Jephtha said softly, "It told me what you'll do if and when Virginia votes to secede. You'll resign from Federal service, won't you?" Lee's shoulder's seemed to slump a little. He rose again; moved back to the window and gazed down through the sunlit parklands sloping to the Potomac. Finally he said: "Yes." Jephtha had seldom heard a single syllable convey so much unhappiness. Lee spun back all at once, his voice firmer: "But I'm relying on your word that you won't print-was "Colonel, I promised. I won't print it until you've made your decision public." "That may come soon. This week-next-events are rushing too fast-was "And I've prevailed on your courtesy long enough. Jephtha stood up. They shook hands a second time. Lee ushered him through the airy front hall and watched while he mounted the mare. From the shadow cast by one of the pillars, Lee said: "I compliment you again on your boldness, Mr. Kent. were you ever a soldier?" M The Titans109 "No, sir. I used to be a minister. Here in Virginia, in fact. Lexington." "Indeed! Do you know my old comrade Tom Jackson?" Jephtha smiled. "I certainly do. He was my only friend when the bishop removed me for preaching against slavery. Jackson welcomed me into his home when hardly anyone else in town would speak to me. He found me a job at the Military Institute where he teaches-was "A good man. A Christian," Lee added by way of endorsement. He took a step into the sunlight. "You spoke out, did you?" "Yes." "Well, that seems to fit with your character-was It was meant as a compliment. "Are you an abolitionist?" "I am-though I'd prefer to see slavery ended without a fight. Too many Southerners have been blamed for the sins of a few. I was married to a Virginia girl for a time. I loved the people to whom I ministered. I wouldn't wish them ill even today. I'd just welcome an end to all the bitterness-and the peculiar institution at the same time." "I'm afraid there weren't enough men of your persuasion in positions of influence in the North or the South," Lee said. "Now it's almost too late. The fools on both sides who pant for the death of their enemies will rue it." Jephtha shivered. He wondered if Lee, a devoutly religious man, knew John Brown's favorite passage from Hebrews. "Colonel, thank you again." He forced himself to invoke a power he wasn't sure he believed in. "God be with you whatever your final choice." With a gentle smile, Lee said, "He will be, Mr. Kent That's my only rock of salvation in what we've turned into a mad, bloody world." 110Colonel Lee Jephtha started off, twisting in the saddle when Lee hailed him: "Mr. Kent-to " His "Yes, Colonel?" "I just wanted to tell you-I think you'd have made a very good officer." Jephtha waved and rode on. Lee stepped back and stood watching, once again enfolded by the shadows of the portico. VI For the first few moments of his homeward ride, Jephtha was again overcome with gloom. In the President he'd interviewed this morning and the army officer General Scott valued above all others, he saw the essence of the tragedy that was breaking like a torrential storm. Neither Lincoln nor Lee was a hothead. Both were men of principle; conviction-titanic figures who seemed to loom larger than life because of their prominence on the national scene. Yet both were intensely human; this very day, he'd glimpsed suffering in the eyes of each of them. It seemed a wicked irony that men of such character had been helpless to prevent the storm-and an unspeakable cruelty that they now had to suffer its fury. He disthought of other brave, tragic figures in the drama. Douglas, who had first tried so desperately to bring accord between the antagonistic sections, then gone South in the last hours of the election campaign. His presidential ambitions in ruins, he'd spoken on platform after platform-often at peril of his life- declaring that the Union was more important than the wishes of the violent few. He'd had the courage to stand before hostile crowds and cry into the flaring torchlight that he was in favor of executing in good faith eveaery The Titans111 clause and provision of the Constitution; in favor of protecting every right it promised; and in favor of punishing every man who took up arms against it: "I would hang every such man higher than Haman!" He thought of pale, courtly Jefferson Davis. Born in Kentucky, as Lincoln had been-and with only a few miles separating the two cabins; another touch of irony. Year after year Davis had reiterated one theme. Not out of cowardice-no man would dare attribute cowardice to the colonel of the Mississippi Rifles who had fought and bled at Buena Vista-but out of the hope of conciliation. Over and over, in endless variation, Davis had sounded the central plea of the Southern moderates: "All we ask is to be let alone." But it had not been enough for the Northern radicals comnor, obviously, for the secessionist fire-eaters. On the