been appointed for the enforcement of the laws of the United States and
the preservation of the public peace, it was determined to send a
detachment of the Army to protect them against violence and to assist
them as a posse comitatus, when necessary, in the performance of their
duties. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston became the commander of this
military force, and Lieut. LEE had his first experience of the service
in this expedition. As the occasion does not call for a recital of the
events of that period, I will content myself with the remark that he was
then, as on every occasion in after years, faithful to the obligations
of duty. His term of service in the Army was of short duration, and from
that fact we may infer that he was not enamored with the life of a
soldier in time of peace.

In 1859 he resigned his commission, and soon thereafter was married to
Miss Wickham, the daughter of a family distinguished in the annals of
Virginia. They went to reside at the White House, on the Pamunkey River,
in the county of New Kent. It was at this old historic country home that
the marriage of George Washington with the Widow Custis was celebrated.
It descended to Gen. LEE from his mother, who was the great-granddaughter
of Washington's wife.

Here he devoted himself to the tillage of the soil and became engrossed
with the pursuits of a plain and unostentatious farmer. His condition
and surroundings at this time were such as to invite contentment and
encourage the cultivation of those pure and lofty sentiments for which
he was ever distinguished.

Being in the flower and strength of his young manhood and blessed with
affluence and the love of an accomplished wife, there seemed wanting
nothing to make his home an earthly paradise.