‘My Father is Here’
Civil War Split, then united one man with his son
by Edward T. Cotham, Jr.
Edward Lea's grave in Old Episcopal Cemetery, Galveston. Image
courtesy Andrew W. Hall, Galveston.
The thousands of monuments that have been erected to memorialize the men who fought in the American Civil War come in many shapes and sizes. No monument anywhere, however, captures the Civil War as well as a simple grave marker in Galveston’s Trinity Episcopal Cemetery - in the eighth row from 40th Street, in the Grover plot. Often overlooked, and not easy to find even when searching for it, the marker for Edward Lea’s final resting place is the very heart of what this tragic conflict was all about. This is its story.
A promising young officer
At the beginning of the Civil War, Edward Lea was a promising young naval officer in the U.S. Navy. His father, Albert Miller Lea, was a West Point graduate. Born in Tennessee, Albert Lea had no difficulty in deciding to serve the Southern cause. He urged his son to do likewise, warning him that "if you decide to fight for the Old Flag, it is not likely that we will meet again except face to face on the battlefield." Edward Lea ignored his father’s prophetic advice and stayed with the Union Navy. He told Admiral David Porter, his mentor, that he did not desire his family’s love if he could only possess it by becoming a traitor to his country. Edward rose rapidly in rank and became the first officer on board the steamer Harriet Lane. His ship was one of the first into Galveston Harbor when the Union Navy captured the Island City in October 1862. Unknown to Edward, his father had recently begun serving as a volunteer on the staff of Confederate Gen. John Bankhead Magruder, with whom he had been a classmate at West Point.
Magruder had arrived in Texas at the end of 1862 and determined to recapture Galveston. When Magruder’s forces launched a night attach against the Union forces on Jan. 1, 1863, Albert Lea was posted at the top of one of the tall residences near Broadway (possibly Ashton Villa) to observe and report on the status of the attack. The turning point in the battle came when two Confederate river steamers armored with cotton bales attacked and disabled the Harriet Lane, Edward Lea’s ship. After the battle had ended in the Confederate’s favor, Albert Lea revealed to Gen. Magruder for the first time that his 26 year old son had been serving on one of the captured Union ships, and asked permission to look for him. Saying "My God! Why didn’t you tell me this?" Magruder immediately granted his old friend permission to look for Edward. Albert Lea rushed to the waterfront and anxiously climbed aboard the Harriet Lane. Confirming his worst fears, Albert found his son lying on the deck, severely wounded from multiple gunshots. Ignoring the harsh words that had passed between them before the war, Edward smiled at his father and inquired about the health of the rest of his family. Knowing that his son was almost certain to die soon, Albert Lea nevertheless hurried off to find some means of transporting Edward to a place where he might receive medical attention. But it was too late; Edward died before his father returned.
A son’s last words
While Albert Lea searched in vain for help for his dying son, Edward was asked several times by his shipmates as well as Confederate soldiers, if there was anything they could do to ease his suffering. Edward refused all such offers, confidently insisting, "No. My father is here." These were his last words. The young man would never complete his promising career. In a final irony, on the same day that Edward died, an order had been signed in New Orleans directing him to report to that place, where he was to be given command of his own ship and a flotilla of mortar boats. It was an order he would never receive. As the dramatic story of the Lea family emphasizes, the Battle of Galveston, as the engagement came to be called, was literally a case where father fought against son. As this tragic story also emphasizes, however, when the fighting was over, and the end drew near for Edward, the arguments were forgotten, and father and son were reconciled.
The moral of the story
On the day following Galveston’s recapture, Gen. Magruder ordered a large contingent of Confederate soldiers and Union prisoners to be turned out for the hastily organized funeral for Edward Lea and the young man’s commanding officer, Jonathan Wainwright. The two men were buried together in the same grave in a spot donated by businessman George Grover. Albert Lea read the funeral service over his son’s remains, closing with these words:
"Allow one so sorely tried in this his willing sacrifice to beseech you to believe that while we defend our rights with our strong arms and honest hearts, those we meet in battle may also have hearts as brave and honest as our own. We have buried two brave and honest gentlemen. Peace to their ashes; tread lightly over their graves."
There is no marker from any historical association or veteran’s group for Edward Lea’s grave. Instead, there is only a simple stone recording Edward’s last words - "My father is here" - together with an anchor and sword. No monument has ever said more with so few words.
This story was originally published
in the Galveston County Daily News
on June 16, 1999.
