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Stephen Dill Lee: a Biography

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Stephen Dill Lee: a Biography Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1969 Stephen Dill Lee: a Biography. Herman Morell Hattaway Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Hattaway, Herman Morell, "Stephen Dill Lee: a Biography." (1969). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1597. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1597 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 70-244 HATTAWAY, Herman Morell, 1938- STEPHEN DILL LEE: A BIOGRAPHY. The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1969 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan © HERMAN MORELL HATTAWAY 1970 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. STEPHEN DILL LEE: A BIOGRAPHY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Herman Morell Hattaway B.A., Louisiana State University, 1961 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1963 May, 1969 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish first to express my thanks to my major professor, Dr. T. Harry Williams for help, guidance, advice, and encouragement. He first suggested that I work on Stephen D. Lee, and he aided the project at every turn--particularly with his careful and critical eye. Other professors read the manuscript and gave beneficial evalua­ tions. They include Drs. Walter C. Richardson, John Loos, Burl Noggle, James D. Hardy, Jr., and E. Ramon Arango. Some professors at other universities gave me their opinions of Lee, and several aided me in gathering material. They include Drs. John K. Bettersworth, Mississippi State University, Clement Eaton, University of Kentucky, and John K. Mahon, University of Florida, R. A. McLemore, Clinton, Mississippi, and Glover Moore, State College, Mississippi. Certain historians who are not professors also gave me help and advice. These include Mrs. George S. Hazard and Mr. William J. Love, both of Columbus, Mississippi, Mr. Edwin C. Bearss, National Park Service, Washington, D. C., Mr. John D. Thompson, Seminole, Texas, Mr. Thomas C. Read, Charleston, South Carolina, Mr. Ray D. Smith, Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Kendon Stubbs, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Miss Lucille Peacock, Evans Memorial Library, Aberdeen, Mississippi, and Mr. Elmer 0. Parker, the National Archives, Washington, D. C. Lastly, my wife, Margaret Troth Hattaway, helped me with my re­ search and gave the manuscript a critical reading. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......................... ii ABSTRACT...................................................... iv Chapter I. THE M A N ............................................ 1 II. A YOUNG WARRIOR...................................... 19 III. ACROSS THE RUBICON .................................. 43 IV. THE LONG ROAD TOWARD GENERALSHIP..................... 67 V. OUTDOING THE PROPHET ................................. 106 VI. CONFLICT, RATHOLES,AND D E F E A T ........................ 123 VII. THE MISSISSIPPI GENERAL.............................. 159 VIII. FIGHT NEAR A PLACE CALLEDTU P E L O ...................... 181 IX. A CORPS IN G E O R G I A .................................. 195 X. TRYING TIME IN TENNESSEE............................. 210 XI. INTERLUDE AT WAR'S E N D ............................... 238 XII. A NEW L I F E .......................................... 253 XIII. POLITICIAN.......................................... 268 XIV. EDUCATOR............................................ 282 XV. ORGANIZING THE VETERANS.............................. 301 XVI. PATRON OF HISTORY.................................... 314 XVII. PARK COMMISSIONER AND VETERAN CHIEF.................... 341 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................. 356 VITA.......................................................... 381 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. a b s t r a c t Stephen Dill Lee is the only Confederate lieutenant general not previously to be the subject of a biography. Although not remembered in history, he was a figure of importance during the Civil War. His fame spread throughout the Confederacy, from the time of his first great success at Second Manassas to the last gallant and significant effort in defending John Bell Hood's beaten army in the retreat from Nashville. Later he was a prominent leader of the New South, a college president, politician, benefactor of the common man, and a patron of history. One difficulty that may have caused previous would-be Lee bio­ graphers to avoid the subject is that Lee's life was complex, and the historian who analyzes Lee must apply considerable effort in several fields. The study of Lee's military career requires an application of the military historian's skills and techniques, but it is not enough merely to study Lee as a soldier. Lee took a prominent part in the affairs of the later nineteenth-century South, and these activities also must be analyzed. As to why Lee has dropped out of the Civil War story,probably it is because he was racher colorless and did not attract great attention for any peculiar trait. His victories were not tangibly spectacular nor were his defeats particularly devastating. Yet he should be included in any representative study of Southern military leaders. Although he was not a great general, he was definitely a very good general. This iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. dissertation attempts to prove that Lee was a valuable asset in the Confederate military system. After the Civil War,. Lee became one of the "Redeemers"--the men who captured Southern political offices and brought Reconstruction regimes to an end. Occasionally he is mentioned in historical litera­ ture as a Southern Bourbon. Although he did have certain intellectual concepts that accord with the Bourbon stereotype, he was a special kind of Bourbon. He had elements of self-giving, and there was a streak of altruism and reform in him that was not found in the typical Bourbon. As an educator, Lee not only helped to establish a first-rate Agricultural and Mechanical College, which is now Mississippi State University, he also worked for better primary and secondary schools and for adult education in Mississippi. He advocated the teaching of im­ proved agricultural and mechanical techniques. He was a champion of mechanization and industrialization. Friends gave him the title "Father of industrial education in the South." He was a charter member of the United Confederate Veterans, played a significant role in the organization, and ultimately became its national commander in chief. He never forgot the South of the past and he always urged young people to revere the memory of their forefathers. But at the same time he became a loyal and patriotic citizen of the re­ united country. It was this sort of duality, a divided mind, that pervaded all of Lee’s later life. At the end, it can be seen most clearly. He was the top Confederate Veteran and also was serving in a federal job— as a member of the Vicksburg National Military Park Commission. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Finally, Lee helped to stimulate interest in history throughout the South. Not only that, he wrote some history himself. Although one of his main efforts in history perhaps was not so laudatory--the attempt to censor and regulate the textbooks used in public schools--he never­ theless gave a needed impetus to the production of more and better historical writing. Lee was a man of his times, and he had the faults of his class. But he labored to help his region--and he left it better because of his efforts. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I THE MAN He was a man of complex loyalties and divided sentiments. He rose during the American Civil War to be the twentieth ranking Confed­ erate general, and later became the Commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans, but he was not an embittered flag-waver for the "Lost Cause." Stephen Dill Lee said in 1900, "The New South is the work of the Confederate soldier, as the Old South was the work of his father. The Confederate soldier loves both."* jn 1895, addressing his former enemies, he said, "We invite you to invade us again, not this time with your bayonets, but with your business." His life spanned two-thirds of the nineteenth century and spilled over into the twentieth: September 22, 1833, to May 28, 1908. He was a Southern leader in two eras and did his utmost to serve his region as he thought best. Although Lee had some moments of glory and attention, he has
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