In 1995, The Society of the Lees of Virginia posthumously published “Shaping a Nation: Stories of the Lees” by Dr. Ludwell Lee Montague. The book is a collection of Montague’s historical essays on famous members of the Lee family including places and homes associated with them. Montague had previously been the President of the Society of the Lees of Virginia from 1962 until his death in 1972. The Society’s members are direct descendants of Richard Lee.

Dr. Ludwell Lee Montague was born on August 8, 1907 in Richmond, Virginia. Montague graduated first in his class from the Virginia Military Institute in 1928 and later received a Ph.D. in history at Duke University in 1935. He published his doctoral thesis “Haiti and the United States, 1714-1938” now widely regarded as a classic work for students of foreign relations. Montague taught history at VMI until World War II called him to active duty. He served on the War Department General Staff until discharged in 1946 as a full colonel. France awarded him the Legion of Merit and Britain gave him the Order of the British Empire.

After the war, Montauge joined the CIA and worked on the Board of National Estimates from 1950 to 1970. Later in his career, he wrote a manuscript of the agency’s early history posthumously published in 1991 as “General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence, October 1950-February 1953”. A longtime resident of Arlington, Virginia, Montague wrote the text for 32 Arlington County historical markers, published a 1968 booklet entitled “Historic Arlington” and served as an historical adviser to the Virginia Independent Bicentennial Commission as well as a member of several other Virginia historical societies. He died on February 29, 1972 in Gloucester County, Virginia.