In a recent issue the Daily Telegraph noted the fact that the oldest living Confederate resided in Russell county. In the "Confederate Column" of the Richmond Times-Dispatch the following sketch of his life appears:
Mathias Lee, of Russell county, probably the oldest living Confederate veteran, was born February 16, 1803 and was the son of Robert and Mary Rogers Lee. When he was just ten years of age his mother died and soon afterwards his father moved to Christiansburg. Mathias lived in that town until he was twenty-seven years of age when he moved to Abingdon and there learned the tailor's trade. When he had mastered his trade, he moved to Lebanon and ran a tailor shop for seventeen years. He then located at Honaker, in Russell county, which has been his home ever since. He was united in marriage with Jane Sneed and they reared a family of several children.

Mr. Lee cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson in 1829, and has voted in every election since. He has never voted for any except the Democratic ticket.

At the outbreak of the Confederate war he enlisted in Company H Thirty-seventh Virginia Regiment, and a better soldier never donned the gray uniform. He was wounded at the battle of Kernstown, taken prisoner and confined in Fort Delaware. He still carries the minie ball which wounded him in his leg and he is as proud of it as a child is of a choice toy.

"Uncle" Mathias is an honorable, high-toned Virginia gentleman and is held in the highest esteem by all classes of his fellow citizens, and his old comrades unite in saying there was not a braver soldier in the Confederate army that Mathias Lee. He lives comfortably with his grand children, enjoys the best of health and is always in a good humor."