While this was not my favorite biography of Lee, it was very good. As someone respected by friends and foes as an honorable man it was tough going thru what it was like to have to surrender and end his struggle to defend his state.

The main focus of the book is how Lee came to be offered, accepted, and lived out the last years of his life as the presiding officer at Washington and Lee College. How he steadfastly pointed people to doing their duty. Whether that was encouraging people in mending the country back together and resurrecting a way of life where families could prosper, or in creating educated young men fit to make the world a better place.

Lee remains, in my mind, one of the greatest Americans in our history.


“The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman.

The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly--the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the men in a plain light.

The gentleman does not needlessly and unnecessarily remind an offender of a wrong he may have committed against him. He cannot only forgive, he can forget; and he strives for that nobleness of self and mildness of character which impart sufficient strength to let the past be but the past. A true man of honor feels humbled when he cannot help humbling others.”
― Robert E. Lee ( )