41 In a climax worthy of a nineteenth-century romantic novel: Ibid., 218.

43 Perhaps the most intense part of his studies: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 76–77.

43 Robert’s position as adjutant of the corps: Ibid., 80.

43 It is interesting to note: Ibid., 81.

44 Although Douglas Southall Freeman states: Ibid., 84.

45 She was staying at Ravensworth: Ibid., 87.

46 Mrs. Lee was hardly a major slave owner: A. M. Gambone, Lee at Gettysburg: Commentary on Defeat—The Death of a Myth (Baltimore, Md.: Butternut and Blue, 2002), 37.

47 He rejoiced in being known: Nagel, The Lees of Virginia, 235.

47 In fact two of the older Lee boys: Ibid.

48 Even at the very end of his life: Ibid., 292.

48 Robert was punctual to a fault: Ibid., 236.

50 Lee journeyed north to New York: Emory Thomas, Robert E. Lee (New York: Norton, 1995), 57; Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 94.

51 On the other hand, Cockspur Island: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 95.

51 Major Babcock, to whom Lee: Ibid., 96.

53 In January word finally arrived: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 62.

54 Lee laid siege to Mary’s mother: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 104.

55 Mary was to have no fewer: Ibid., 105; Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 64.

55 Nothing except his children: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 108.

56 Perhaps nothing is more symbolic: Ibid., 109.

CHAPTER 3 The Engineer—1831–1846

61 “I actually could not find time”: Emory Thomas, Robert E. Lee (New York: Norton, 1995), 65.

61 this is pretty tame stuff: Douglas Southall Freeman, Robert E. Lee: A Biography (New York: Scribner, 1934), Vol. 1, 107.

62 During his honeymoon: Ibid., 112–13.

63 The Lees’ “apartment”: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 66.

64 Convinced that “he was ordained”: Tony Horowitz, Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War (New York: Henry Holt, 2011), 20.

66 One of the doctors: William Styron: The Confessions of Nat Turner—A Critical Handbook, Melvin J. Friedman and Irving Malin, eds. (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1970), 43.

66 Fear of further slave insurrections: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 11–12.

67 He reassured his mother-in-law: Ibid., 111.

67 Notwithstanding his sensible effort to calm: Ibid.

67 “In this enlightened age”: Ibid., 372.

68 “My own opinion is that they [blacks]”: Michael Fellman, The Making of Robert E. Lee (New York: Random House, 2000), 268.

69 “The idea that Southern people”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 376.

69 In any case, Lee returned to work: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 69.

70 After the boy’s birth: Ibid., 71.

71 It was not just a question of neatness: Ibid.

71 “The spirit is willing”: Ibid.

72 While she was away: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 18.

72 At that time, Lee owned: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 72.

73 “an extended mock love affair”: Ibid.

73 Whereas the portrait of Mary Custis: Ibid.

73 When Harriet gave birth: Ibid.

73 “How I did strut along”: Ibid., 73.

73 “As for the daughters of Eve”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 118.

74 Owing to Talcott’s frequent absences: Ibid., 119.

75 When he took command of the army of Italy: Sir Edward Cust, Annals of the Wars of the Nineteenth Century (London: John Murray, 1863), Vol. 3, 260.

78 As a result Mr. Schneider: A. L. Long, Memoirs of Robert E. Lee (New York: J. M. Stoddard, 1886), 25.

78 The original boundary line: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 82.

79 “But why do you urge”: Ibid., 82–83.

79 The apparent harshness: Ibid., 83; Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 134.

79 In the heroic medical tradition of the day: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 83.

79 Eventually two large “abscesses”: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 134.

80 “I have never seen a man”: Ibid.

80 “The country looks very sweet”: Ibid., 136.

81 “they wanted a skillful engineer”: Ibid., 138.

82 The immediate problem facing Lee: Ibid.

83 Lee’s responsibilities included: Ibid.

83 “the dearest and dirtiest”: Ibid., 139.

83 His aide and companion on the long trip: Ibid., 140.

84 “The improved condition of the children”: Ibid., 141.

85 The problem to which he gave the most immediate attention: Wikipedia, “Mississippi River,” 10.

85 When the river was high: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 89.

85 He had planned to survey: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 143.

86 “in full costume”: Elizabeth Pryor, Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters (New York: Viking, 2007), 114.

87 His solution to the problems: See Stella M. Drumm, “Robert E. Lee and the Mississippi River,” Missouri Historical Society, Vol. 6, No. 2, February 1929.

88 “The commerce thus made available”: Long, Memoirs of Robert E. Lee, 28–29.

89 By July 1838, “Lee had pushed”: Drumm, “Robert E. Lee and the Mississippi River,” 146.

89 On the way home Lee encountered: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 148.

90 Even so, the Lees left their daughter Mary: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 91–92.

90 Lee boasted that the boys: Ibid., 93.

90 They spent a month: Ibid.

91 Saint Louis was by no means: Pryor, Reading the Man, 111; Mary P. Coulling, The Lee Girls (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Blair, 1987), 11; Harnett T. Kane, The Lady of Arlington: A Novel Based on the Life of Mrs. Robert E. Lee (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1953), 91.

91 Although the Lee family: Thomas, Robert E. Lee, 94.

91 “brats squalling around”: Coulling, The Lee Girls, 10.

92 One observer comments on Lee’s diligence: Drumm, “Robert E. Lee and the Mississippi River,” 170.

92 She was also pregnant: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 158.

93 “his family was increasing”: Ibid., 157.

94 Typically, Lee’s correspondence: Drumm, “Robert E. Lee and the Mississippi River.”

94 He plunged into Gratiot’s defense: Freeman, Robert E. Lee, Vol. 1, 158.

94 The improvements Lee had made: Pryor, Reading the Man,