Written by Norman Ball and Lonnie Glass to commemorate the 200th anniversary of R.E. Lee's birth, this song imagines Lee's thoughts at what certainly was the nadir of his career, the surrender at Appomattox. Prompted by a young officer, Lee offers a premonition about the next phase of his life, the presidency of Washington College, today's Washington & Lee University, my alma mater. This is in no way an apologia for the evils of slavery. That said, Lee was an exemplary American in many ways, trapped between his love of country and his devotion to Virginia.