774
VIRGLMA BIOGRAPHY
returned home, where he soon afterwards
married Charlotte Wickham. He then be-
came a planter and located on the famous
old Custis estate, the "White House," where
the \Vidow Custis lived at the time of her
marriage to George Washington. William
H. Lee joined the Virginia troops soon after
the outbreak of the war, holding various
ranks, from that of captain to that of major-
general of cavalry. He was badly wounded
in the fight at Brandy Station and taken to
the home of a relative of his wife. General
Wickham, and soon afterwards taken pris-
oner and confined at Fortress Monroe.
Thence he was taken to Fort Lafayette and
confined there until March, 1864. In com-
pany with another Confederate soldier he
was held as hostage for two Federal pris-
oners who were held in Richmond, who it
was feared might be executed. Upon his
release he returned home to find his young
wife and children dead and his beautiful
home burned to the ground and the estate
laid waste. Almost the first thing he did
was to go to Libby Prison and visit the two
Federal prisoners who had been held, like
himself, in fear of execution. He rejoined
his command and led his division from
Rapidan to Appomattox. His soldiers loved
and trusted him and he fulfilled every duty
and made every sacrifice required of him
in the interests of the cause. When he was
a prisoner of war, under fear of death, upon
hearing of the fatal illness of his wife and
two little children, he was not permitted to
see them, even though his friends were
working hard to obtain this permission for
him. He accepted all as the ill fortune of
war and was not embittered by this sor-
row. Afterwards, as a farmer, he had to
contend with a changing order of things
and the confusion ensuing upon such great
changes as followed the war. He became
president of the Virginia Agricultural So-
ciety, served as state senator and member of
Congress.
In 1867 he married Mary Tabb Boiling, and in 1874 they removed to Ravensworth, an estate of the Fitzhugh family, which William H. F. Lee inherited from his uncle, William Henry Fitzhugh. His death oc- curred there, a few months prior to the ex- piration of his second term as member of Congress, and after his election to the fifty- second Congress. He was always courteous and dignified in manner and deportment, charitable in a quiet way, and very much de-
voted to home and family. His first wife
died in 1863. His second wife was a daugh-
ter of George W. and Martha S. (Nicholls)
Boiling, of Petersburg, who survived him.
with their two sons, Robert Edward and
George Boiling Lee, the former of whom
became a lawyer and the latter a physician.
The Boilings were early Virginia colo- nists. Robert Boiling came to Virginia in 1660, and married (first) in 1675, J^ne, daughter of Thomas Rolfe and granddaugh- ter of Pocahontas, and (second) Anne, daughter of John Stith. Robert, a son of the latter marriage, married Mary Cocke. Their son, Robert, married Mary Marshall Tabb, and the son of this union, Robert Boiling, the fourth of the name, was four times married, and by his last wife, Anne Dade (Stith) Boiling, had a son, George W., who married Martha S. Nicholls, of Georgetown. Mary Tabb Boiling was born at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1850.
Dr. George Boiling Lee prepared for col- lege at a private Episcopal school for boys near Alexandria, Virginia, and entered Washington-Lee University, which he left in 1892 to enter the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia LTniversity, of New York, from which he graduated in 1896 with the degree of M. D. He gained valuable experience and training by spend- ing seven months as an interne at Bellevue Hospital, New York, and for five years thereafter was chief of the clinic of the out- door department of the same hospital, per- forming the work with distinction and cred- it. He became well known in city medical circles. At the outbreak of the Spanish- American war he enlisted and in 1898 served as surgeon at the headquarters of the Sev- enth Army Corps at Jacksonville, Florida, holding the rank of captain. In 1899 he be- came associated with Dr. W. G. W^ylie in general practice in New York City, but since 1902 has been practicing his profession alone. He is well established and enjoys a good practice. He is peculiarly well fitted for his profession, which he chose because of his predeliction for it. Few have so noble lineage, including the most prominent among the aristocratic families of Mrginia, who bore so honorable a share in build- ing up the Old Dominion. He is a member of the New York State Medical Society, Greater New York Medical Society and New York County Medical Society, in all of which he takes a professional interest and
