Civil War Veteran Honored At Norfolk’s Calvary Cemetery

By Bob Ruegsegger · Originally published October 2016 · p. 17

For nearly 84 Years William Mack Lee’s remains had rested in an unmarked grave in Norfolk’s Calvary Cemetery between St. Julian Avenue and the Lafayette River. That changed recently when Norfolk County Grays Camp #1549, Sons of Confederate Veterans installed a marble marker identical to those that the Veterans Administration provides for fallen American veterans.

Billie Earnest, historian for the Suffolk chapter of the UDC, did the required research to confirm William Lee’s service to the Confederacy. She read a poem “Only a Soldier’s Grave” by S. A. Jones.

Bob Shirley, commander of the Norfolk County Grays, offered some remarks to those gathered at William Mack Lee’s monument dedication ceremony at Calvary Cemetery. “The Veterans Administration denies that he was a Confederate soldier,” said Commander Shirley “The Norfolk County Grays Camp 1549, Sons of Confederate Veterans absolutely believes that he was a true soldier in gray.” After nearly four score and four years, William Mack Lee has finally received the military honors that the Norfolk county Grays believes the he deserves “The U.S. Government does provide stones for Confederate veterans. Recently, it has been very hard and difficult to get stones for them,” said Billie Earnest, historian for the Suffolk chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. “They’ve now passed a ruling that a family member must request the stone.” Before the marble stone stands the Southern Cross of Honor, a graveside award that any Confederate veteran who served honorably was eligible to receive. A bronze plaque attached to the back of marker details a number of Reverend William Mack Lee’s later life achievements as a Baptist minister, a founder of churches, and the father of eight daughters. “A lot goes into it (tombstone) to make sure everything is true to fact. Confirming dates and checking spellings are part of it,” said Susan Price with Ogg’s Stone Works in Portsmouth. “The plaque we put on the back went through four or five different people to make sure that everything that was on there was correct and true to the history,” she said. “Once it’s all done, what you’re seeing is all factual. I love it. I’ve been to quite a few of these things. It’s historic.” Although Billie Earnest submitted corroborating documentation with the application to the VA for William Mack Lee’s headstone, the request was denied. The request was refused, according to Earnest, because the VA maintained that there were no black Confederates. “I believe he was a soldier. I think what clinched it for me was finding his papers,” offered Billie Earnest. “He applied for the pension that was offered by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Four Confederate soldiers swore on an affidavit that he was who he was,” she said. “The affidavit says, ‘cook for General Robert E. Lee.’” In 1918, the Warwick Printing Company in Newport News published a tiny 15-page booklet called “The History of the Life of Reverend William Mack Lee: Body Servant of General Robert E. Lee through the Civil War …Cook 1861-1865.” In the booklet, William Lee described how he was wounded by grapeshot in the hip and the head at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, when a shell exploded in camp. The piece of shell that wounded him in the hip was never removed. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life. General Lee called for an ambulance to take his cook to the hospital. William Lee was ordained as a missionary minister to the Third Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. on July 12, 1881. His slightly embellished account of his association with General Lee was written in 1918 as a means of raising funds to build a church. He was capitalizing on his wartime service. On Saturday, April 30, 2016, William Mack Lee’s marble tombstone was unveiled at a dedication ceremony conducted at Calvary Cemetery. Members of the Norfolk County Grays and other Sons of Confederate Veterans units regard William Mack Lee as a Confederate veteran. William Lee served as General Robert E. Lee’s cook and body servant in the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. “William Mack Lee was definitely a veteran. What color he was or wasn’t is of no concern to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The only color of concern to us is Confederate gray,” said Frank Earnest (Billie’s husband). “We’re very honored to mark his grave and do a proper unveiling and give the man the military respect that he deserves.”