Encounter with Lee

Encounter with Lee. “Don't You Ever Forget It”. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee passed through Rappahannock County on four occasions during the Civil War. The first occurred on August 26, 1862, on the march to Manassas, and the second took place in October during the retreat after the Battle of Antietam, Maryland. Lee rode through the eastern and western areas of the county respectively on these occasions. During the Gettysburg Campaign in the summer of 1863, Lee traversed Rappahannock County twice, heading north on June 16-17 and riding south on July 22-23 during the retreat., The Browning farm sat astride the Richmond Road south of here. Eleven-year-old Samuel Browning stood near the family farmhouse, a hundred yards east of the road, and watched as part of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia marched past on a hot June afternoon. To the thirsty soldiers, hundreds of whom fell out with heatstroke during the long march, water was precious. A group of gray-clad horsemen approached Samuel, and one inquired where they might find water. The boy directed them to the spring just below his home, and the group paused there to refresh themselves. As they remounted, one of the officers asked Samuel if he knew who had asked him about the water. When the boy answered that he did not, the man exclaimed, “That was Robert E. Lee and don’t you ever forget it!” Samuel Browning took the admonition to heart, and succeeding generations of local residents have maintained the oral tradition.