Robert E. Lee

An American of the South

All these were honoured in their generations
And were the glory to their times
There be of them
That have left a name behind them
That their praises might be reported
And some there be which have no memorial
Who are perished as though they had never been
And are become as though they had never been born
and their children after them

But these were merciful men
Whose righteousness has not been forgotten
With their seed shall continually remain
A good inheritance
And their children are within the Covenant
Their seed standeth fast
And their children for their sakes
Their seed shall remain for ever
And their glory shall not be blotted out
Their bodies are buried in peace
But their name liveth for ever more

Ecclesiasticus xliv

Frontispiece from Shelby Foote's The Civil War, A Narrative

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