General (CSA), Robert Edward Lee, Sr. - General Robert Edward Lee and The Lost Lees of Stratford

The Descendants of Robert E Lee and Nancy Ruffin Nancy Lewis-Ruffin DNA confirmations and documentation located under sources on Nancy Lewis-Ruffin profile and on the article below:

See: https://jacquelifinley.com/f/general-robert-edward-lee-and-the-lost...
for complete story, DNA confirmations and historical documentation for this lineage.

Jacqueli's research notes:

R.E. Lee's Personal Ownership of Africans
Much appreciated research by Joe Ryan
https://joeryancivilwar.com/Civil-War-Subjects/General-Lee-Slaves/G...

I. Nancy and her children
In the summer of 1829, Lee's mother died. Her will identified the fact that, at her death, she held legal title to at least three Africans as slaves: two women and a man. The will bequeathed the two women to her daughter, Ann Kinlock Lee, who was then married to the lawyer Louis Marshall of Baltimore, and the man she bequeathed to her second daughter, Mildred, who was then married to Edward Childe of Boston. The will makes reference to other "property" which Ann owned at her death, and as to this "property" the will specified that it be sold and that the proceeds be spilt pro rata between her three sons: Charles, Sidney, and R.E. It is probable that this "property" included unnamed Africans which Ann had a legal interest in.

Ann Hill Will Part 2
The Lee basher, Gettysburg College history professor, Allen Guelzo, offers his audiences the interpretation of the will's meaning as "Ann Lee itemized the slaves she bequeathed to her daughters, but the only designation of property to her sons was a vague division of `the remainder of my estate" among [my three sons]. (see, Robert E. Lee and Slavery, Encyclopedia Virginia 2018) The relevant text of the will actually reads, as Ann wrote it, this way: "All my property of every description that shall remain after the payment of my debts and legacies, I leave to be divided in equal portion between my three sons, Charles, Sidney and Robert." Guelzo's purpose in referencing this part of Ann's will, is to offer his audiences the proposition that part of the "property" to be divided between the three sons must have included "Nancy and her children" Guelzo is probably correct in this, as it is an undisputed fact that, in his will which was filed in the Rockbridge County courthouse, in 1846, R.E. Lee identifies "Nancy and her children" as "property" he owned as of that time. Given the text of a letter R.E. Lee wrote his brother, Charles, in 1835, Nancy's "children" numbered three. How old the children were, at the time of his mother's death, the record does not show.

II. Nat
In the summer of 1829, Lee was twenty-two years old. His first post of duty was at a fort in the vicinity of Savannah, Georgia. From a letter he wrote to family members at that time, we are informed that the male slave named "Nat," an elderly man, who his mother had given in her will to her daughter, Mildred Childe, went with Lee to his post where he became ill and died. Why Nat went with Lee the objective record does not say. We can speculate maybe Mildred refused to accept the bequest, being married to a man in Boston; maybe Lee asked Mildred for Nat's services; maybe a lot of things.

III. Gardener

In his 1835 letter to his brother, Charles, Lee used this language in describing his legal relationship to African slaves: "Mrs. Nancy Ruffin and her three illegitimate pledges being all of that race in my possession," which suggests that, as of that date, Lee did not own any other Africans. However, there is additional evidence, in the form of letters and receipts in Lee's handwriting, which show the fact that, after his mother's death in 1829, her estate included a legal interest in an African male named Gardener who lived at her family home, Shirley Plantation on James River.

Between 1830 and 1833, Ann Carter's Estate, through its executer, her brother, Hill Carter, received $30 a year from Shirley "for the hire of Gardener." Between 1834 and 1845, R.E. Lee received the $30 for the annual hire of Gardener. (Hill Carter inherited Shirley from his father, King Carter.) Using Williamson's Measuring Slavery as a guide, the average male slave's market value at sale in 1833 was $300, spiking to $600 in 1837 and dropping back to $300 in 1845. According to Clement Eaton's Slave Hiring in the Upper South, such a slave would be hired out annually for 12% to 15% of his market value. If these numbers are accurate, in an ordinary business transaction, Gardener would have been hired out at the annual rate of about $30.
Lee to Hill
Given these undisputed facts, it appears reasonable to conclude that, by the close of his mother's Estate, R.E. Lee had been given the right to receive the annual hire fee for Gardener's labor. Whether Lee possessed, as a consequence of the Estate's settlement, legal title of ownership to Gardener, in the sense that he had the legal right to sell Gardener, without more evidence, it is impossible to decide. According to the existing Shirley Plantation records, the evidence of Lee's financial connection to Gardener ended in 1845. This fact, in conjunction with Lee's will, filed in court in 1846, gives rise to the reasonable inference that the connection did end as a matter of law, between 1845 and 1846. It might have ended because Gardener died. Had Gardener been sold, or manumitted, most reasonable persons would expect a record of this fact to exist.

Will of Lee - Schedule of property

Between about 1830 and 1833, Lee and his wife, Mary Custis Lee, had been living in officers' quarters at Old Point Comfort (i.e., Fort Monroe, VA) and it appears that Nancy and her children had been living there with them. In 1835, after several years of duty at Fort Monroe, Lee was ordered to move himself to Fort Calhoun ("Rip Raps), a man-made island that sits in Hampton Roads, to supervise construction. Because the island did not have quarters suitable for a wife, Mary Lee returned to her father-in-law's home at Arlington, and Lee sent Nancy and her children, as the letter to Charles explains, to one of the New Kent County farms Mary's father owned. Given the text of Lee's letter to Charles, the punctuation of which creates ambiguity, Lee seems to have used the phrase, "illegitimate pledges" with a meaning peculiar to the times. The phrase probably means the idea of having put up something as security which the putter upper does not actually have legal title to. How Lee meant the idea of Nancy putting up as security something she did not own, in the form of her children, who can say.

Dr. Guezlo and his pals, chide Lee for not manumitting Nancy and her children, pointing out there is no objective evidence that he did so prior to 1862. Other writers, William C. Davis among them, point to a supposed letter Lee's youngest son, Robert, Jr., wrote, in 1908, in which he retells to the addressee what he said his older brother, Custis, told him about the history of Lee's ownership of Africans, However, the hearsay statement is not consistent with the objective facts the records show:

"My Dear Dr. Paige:
"[My older brother, Custis,] tells me that General Lee inherited three or four families of slaves and `let them go.' The reason that no formal paper was executed at that time was that he did not wish any question to arise as to their being compelled to leave Virginia. [Custis's] recollection is that one of them went to Liberia. This liberation of them happened a long time before the war." (See, Some Letters of Thomas Nelson Paige, William E. Rachel, Virginia Magazine of History & Biography LXI (April 1953)

Custis Lee’s son, Custis, was born in 1832 and died in 1913. He would have had no personal knowledge of Nancy, her children, of Nat and Gardener, or any of the Africans owned by his grandmother's and grandfather's families, and the statement attributed to him by his younger brother, in 1908, does not provide an objectively reasonable explanation for the fact that no record can be found that Lee had manumitted what slaves he owned prior to December 1862, when, as Executor of the Custis Estate, he caused the manumission document to be filed in the Henrico County Courthouse.

The explanation that no manumission papers were given, was because of the law of Virginia that required an emancipated slave to leave the State within one year of the date of emancipation, and Nancy did not want to leave the State, is not objectively reasonable under the circumstances. The suggestion is contradicted by the objective fact that the laws of Virginia existing at the time did not allow the owner of a slave to affect a private emancipation; that is, free a slave to wander about Virginia without proof of emancipation; nor would the emancipated slave be prudent to do so. First, as to the owner, he would be subjecting himself to a fine and penalty for doing so. Second, as to the slave, she would be subjecting herself to being apprehended and sold by the state into slavery. Third, though the law did specify that an emancipated slave was required to leave the state within one year of emancipation, it was enforced only on a county level and then only when the white population considered the emancipated slave to be a thief, a malcontent, or a liability on the public resources of the county. In 1835, there were many petitions filed in the courts, some in the Legislature, by white persons asking that a particular emancipated slave be allowed to live in their county as she or he were considered to be useful law-abiding persons who were capable of supporting themselves. (See, John H. Russell, The Free Negro in Virginia 1619-1865, John Hopkins Press (1908).) Given the laws of Virginia, and the manner in which they were executed, then, it seems highly unlikely that Lee would have let Nancy, or any slave, wander off without proper emancipation papers, or that the freed slave would willingly wander off without them.

Therefore, given the state of the objective record, it is not possible to reasonably say R.E. Lee manumitted any slaves he had a legal interest in before 1846, much less Nancy and her children between 1846, the year he wrote his will including her as a slave, and 1862, the year he executed deeds of manumission covering all the slaves named in the list of slaves residing at GWP Custis's three farms: White House, Roanoke, and Arlington.

Whether "Nancy and her children," were included in the 1862 bill of manumission that Lee executed, no one can say. (While there is listed in the bill a "Nancy" who was, in 1862, residing at the White House Plantation in New Kent County, this Nancy's age is not known. The 1850 Richmond census shows a "Nancy Ruffin" as a free inhabitant, but this Nancy is listed as 33 years old which put her age, in 1830, at 13; making it difficult to assign to her at that age three children.)

Here it must be said that Lee’s manumitting Nancy, if he did, as part of his action as executor as the Custis estate is curious. According to his will, Lee wished “Nancy and her children" “to be liberated as soon as it can be done to their advantage.” But apparently not before his death. Yet, in the midst of war he decided to include Nancy-apparently his property, not Custis’s-in the emancipation of the Custis slaves. Perhaps, he just wanted to be done with it.

Since we know nothing of the circumstances of how he became the owner of Nancy, and nothing about Nancy, herself, it is impossible to state with any degree of certainty what their actual situation was. We can say, however, that, given the objective record of Lee's duty stations from 1829, when he graduated from West Point, to 1861 when he resigned his commission in the U.S. Army, Nancy was not acting as his servant, or a servant in his household.

IV. Philip Meridey

R.E. Lee's final known connection to the ownership of Africans is the power of attorney he executed at the time he left Washington D.C. to assume the assignment as Superintendent of West Point, in 1852. Lee gave the power of attorney to a clerk named James Eveleth, who was a long-time employee (clerk) of the Army's Engineer Department, to manage the hiring of "my servant man Philip Meridey." From the text of Lee's letter describing the power given Eveleth no one can intelligently say whether Lee actually held legal title to the person of the servant, in the sense that Lee could transfer the legal title to another. It may have been the case, as with the African named Gardener who lived at Shirley, that Lee's "right" in Meridey was based on bailment, i.e., the right to use the value of Meridey's labor.

Power

Whatever was, in fact, the legal case, the circumstances make it plain that the reason Lee gave Eveleth the power was because Lee could not bring Meridey to West Point. Lee could have sent Meridey to one of the Custis plantations but instead chose to leave Meridey on his own (under Eveleth's watch) to live in familar circumstances in Washington.

The Custis Slaves
Professor Guelzo, in his bashing of Lee, emphasizes the fact that when, shortly after his mother's death in 1829, he married Mary Anne Randolph Custis, Lee "became part of a large slaveholding household." Indeed Mary Custis was the great, granddaughter of Martha Washington. Martha, a Dandridge from the Shenandoah Valley, had first married Daniel Parke Custis and they had a child who married and from that marriage came Martha's grandson, Mary's father, George Washington Custis. Guelzo points to a letter Lee wrote Mary, in 1841, when he was 34 years old, as evidence of Lee's attitude toward the institution of slavery, which recognizes that the master's authority over the servant must be maintained.

For some reason Mary wanted to purchase a slave named Robert, who was owned by one of her Washington relatives, as the means of saving him from what she perceived was a bad situation. What that situation was, the record does not say.
Lee gave Mary this advice:
"Your plan of purchase will bring you nothing but trouble and vexation and it is very problematical whether Robert's condition will be injured rather than bettered. In judging of results you must endeavor to lay aside your feelings and prejudices and examine the question as thus exposed. In this matter is everything to be yielded to the servant and nothing to the master? What will be the effect of the precedent upon the rest and the instruction of the example intended to be set as well as the comparsions likely to be made to the prejudice of your father and his authority? Others ought to be considered as well as Robert. If you determine to apply your money in this way, I am ready to pay it. So consider well upon the matter and act for yourself."

Much can be discerned from Lee's language. There were several farms owned by Mary's relatives interconnected with her father's at Arlington. The Africans residing on these farms were connected by family structure, some members residing on one farm, others on another. Apparently, Robert's owner was treating him in a manner Mary did not like; perhaps the issue was one of punishment in some form which Mary wished to prevent. The record shows that Mary's attitude toward slavery, as was her mother's, Mary Randolph Custis, was that, to the extent possible under the circumstances of the times, the Africans ought to be freed.

Mary Lee, and her mother, Mary Randolph Custis, did, in fact, teach the Africans to read and write English, contrary to the law of Virginia, and Mary Randolph manumitted one or more family groups of Africans, financing their immigration to Liberia (It is this that Custis Lee was probably referring to, in replying to his younger's brother's question). So her concern for Robert as a person must be taken to have been real. But, in counter- balance to her "attitude" her husband was pointing out that stepping into the situation and saving Robert from whatever the matter was, would undermine the master's authority over the slave population and infect the Arlington slaves with feelings conducive to insubordination. It is hard to ignore, in criticizing Lee's attitude here, the reality of plantation life in which a small group of white persons were living in close proximity to a large group of Africans held in slavery. The last sentence of Lee's text highlights the fact that, in 1840, a wife as a legal person was subsumed into one person with her husband and he was that person.

Arlington House

George Washington Custis's parents died when he was an infant and, when Martha, his grandmother, married George Washington, Custis went to live at Mount Vernon and eventually inherited much of the Washingtons’ property.

At the time of his death, in 1857, Custis owned three large farms: Arlington, composed of 1,100 arcs and a house built on the bluffs of the Potomac overlooking Washington City; Roanoke, located on the Pamunkey River; and the White House close by on the York River 15 miles west from Richmond, the place where Martha and George Washington made their marriage vows.

In addition to the business about Nancy and her children, Guelzo chides Lee for the fact that, in 1850, when he was living with his wife and children in a house in Baltimore, the federal "census-taker itemized three `mulattoes' as household slaves, all of them drawn from the Arlington slave population." What Guelzo leaves unsaid, is that the three "mulattoes" were, in fact, members of the Burke family of slaves that Lee's wife taught to read and write, that the husband and wife (the wife may have been, like Mary Lee, a daughter of GWP Custis, were married in the Arlington parlor, that Custis manumitted all of them, and that, in 1853, upon the application of R.E. Lee, they were accepted by the American Colonization Society for Emigration to Liberia.

Burke Letter Written to Mary Lee from Liberia
Lee's Legal Role as Executor of the Custis Estates, 1857-62
When General Lee returned to Arlington from Texas in the fall of 1857, he was informed that he had been appointed executor of his father-in-law's estate. It appears that a holographic will was probated at the Alexandra County Courthouse in 1858, but neither it nor a certified copy survives. Either a fire at the courthouse destroyed the original will, or it was stolen by unknown persons during the Civil War.

It is not disputed in the historical record that George Washington Custis had bequeathed his three farms to General Lee's three sons: upon the death of their mother, Mary Custis, G.W.C. (Custis) Lee was to inherit Arlington; Fitzhugh (Rooney) Lee, the White House; and Robert E. Lee, Jr., the plantation of Roanoke. The will also provide that legacies of $10,000 were to be paid from the assets of the estate to each of General Lee's four daughters, Mary, Ann, Eleanor and Mildred. Nor is there any dispute as to the conditions that George Washington Custis made in his will for the emancipation of his slaves.

The Will of George Washington Custis

“In the name of God, amen. I, George Washington Custis, I give to my dearly beloved daughter and only child, Mary Ann Randolph Lee, my Arlington House estate. . . for her natural life. On her death it goes to my eldest grandson, GWC Lee, to him and his heirs forever. . . And upon the legacies to my four granddaughters being paid, then I give freedom to my slaves, the said slaves to be emancipated by my executor in such manner as he deems expedient and proper, the said emancipation to be accomplished in not exceeding five years from the time of my decease.”

The Custis estate inventory records of 1858 list as assets, 93 slaves, 28 mules, 28 oxen, 73 sheep and 100 hogs at the White House in New Kent County; 43 slaves, 10 mules, 38 cattle, 44 sheep and 50 hogs at Roanoke in King William County. The inventory records list 62 slaves on the grounds of Arlington, grouped among seven families named: Bingham, Norris, Grey, Check, Burke, Parke and Taylor. Some of these slaves belonged to the Dandridge family and were inherited by Martha Washington and passed down to her great grandson.

Lee’s Letter to Charles Dated February 24th, 1835

Sender: Robert E. Lee
Recipient: Charles Carter Lee
Engr: Dept: Wash: 24th Feby 1835
My dear Carter
Your two last letters were duly received, & that of the 13th Inst; arrived yesterday. I would have answered the first long ago, had I been able to accomplish the Comm - ns contained therein, but it has been out of my power. I called on Maj. Lewis at once to get the requisite information of the Life of Napoleon. He informed me that 1000 copies of an Edition printed in France were in the Custom House in Phila - a The duties were about $300. & great delay & difficulty had occurred, in getting any of the Booksellers to take them (in that way) Subsequently he told me that Mr - - in N. York had agreed to take them. I have seen his advertisement etc, & also a notice of <F>. Taylor, in this place, in anticipation of the then arrival. But as yet they have not been received. I also found upon inquiry at the Office of the Collector of Taxes, that all your lots were Sold on the 17th of May last for Taxes - Four were bought by Mr Dunton, & one by Burch & Ward. The whole amount for which they were Sold, is $44.55, bearing interest of 10 per centum, & redeemable in 2 years, to which must be added the taxes of 1834 - I was about taking steps to redeem them, but learned that Mr Jesse Brown, put in for a Share of said Lots, & I had no idea of devoting a months pay, to any part of his Service. What is the true State of the case? I will make inquiries about the rye & rabbits, & time would have been saved, had you have told me, what disposition to make of them - I will also go in search of Mrs. Sally Diggs, I think you may make up your mind to do without her, if she is only to go by her own consent unless she is very different from her sex, color & caste. I spent last night at Arlington, & mentioned the Subject of your new settlement. It was received I thought very inauspiciously. Cousin A. & Mr. C - were the only parties concerned. Mrs Nancy Ruffin & her three illegitimate pledges, sent to N. Kent when I broke up at Qrt O: P. are all of the race in my poss: They expressed some surprise at your wishing to bestow your attention on any other spot than that paradise of a Camp - Smith has returned & was married on the 5th Inst. They had a gay wedding & have been on a routine of Frolicking ever since. Clermont, Ravensworth, Geo town were in succession the Scenes of these Parties - They go to Arlington tomorrow to spend the remainder of the week - When I believe they & the World, will be satisfied that they are married - I wish you could have been among us. I have entered into none of the gayiety, except that which occurred at night & home where I could reach the Office by next mor - g We lately heard from Mr Childe & Walker, they are both well & the latter expects to be better in about 2 months - Mr M - - Anne & her children are all well. I am obliged to spend the most of my time in W - - am constantly occupied till near Four, & by the time dinner is over it is night. I then most generally go to A - - Mary has not been well for the last 3 months, Influenza, Colds, etc have confined her at home the whole Winter, I tried to get a house when I first came up, but could fine none coming within the purviews of a 2nd Lt. If I stay here, I hope to find in the Spring - At Present I am boarding & M - - & the Boo are at A - - I am frequently wanting out of office hours, & am therefore obliged to have a homestead on this side of the river - All at A - - desire to be remembered particularly to you, Cousin A - - Says perhaps you do not know all that she has been about, or you would not be surprised at her long silence - She alludes to the death of her Father - which happened about 2 months since - Her health & spirits are very good - Uncle B is at Broadneck & daily expected here - Charles is to establish himself on the Patuxent in the Spring, on some land given to Eugee by her father. Young Bernard is here on a visit, All the Turnes, Randolphs, Meades etc have been at A - - in the course of the Winter, Charles & Bena are still here, Mr & Mrs T - - have returned - Cousin Anna is quite ashamed at some political address to which she saw your name attached - and says you have forgotten your old principles - Miss Emily Key was to have married to Geo - H - - last week - I suppose you see by the papers every thing that is going on in Con: & that at one time we were thought to be bordering on a war with France - The last news is thought to be more pacific - A French Sloop of War has arrived to carry home Mr Lenarier - Mr L - - has been offered his passports by the F - - M - - but has declined them - We have not the France priv - er

Yours
R E Lee

Notes: Lee Papers University of Virginia Archives
This letter is postmarked "Washington Feb 25," and is addressed "C. C. Lee Esqr, Counsellor at Law, Spring Camp, Stony Fork. P. O., Virginia." In pencil and written perpendicularly to the address and on the left side of the envelope is the notation, "R. L. Lee, Feby 24 - 1835."

Will of G. W. P. Custis

Know all men by these presents, that I, Robert E. Lee, executor of the last will and testament of George W. P. Custis deceased, acting by and under the authority and direction of the provisions of the said will, do hereby manumit, emancipate and forever set free from slavery the following named slaves belonging to the Arlington estate, viz: Eleanor Harris, Ephraim Demicks, George Clarke, Charles Syphax; Selena Grey and Thornton Grey and their six children Emma, Sarah, Harry, Anise, Ada and Thornton; Margaret Taylor, and her four children Dandridge, Jhon, Billy and Quincy; Lawrence Parks and his nine children- Perry, George, Amanda, Martha, Lawrence, James, Magdalena, Leano and William; Julia Ann Check and three children Catharine, Louis and Henry and infant of the said Catharine, Sally Norris and Len Norris and their three children Mary, Sally and Wesley; Old Shaack Check; Austin Bingham and Louisa Bingham and their twelve children Harrison, Parks, Reuben, Henry, Edward, Austin, Lucius, Leantche, Louisa, Caroline, Jem and an infant; Obadiah Grey, Austin Banham, Michael Merriday, Catharine Burk and her child; Marianne Burke and Agnes Burke: Also the following slaves belonging the White House estate, viz: Robert Crider and Desiah his wife, Locky. Zack Young and two children, Fleming Randolph and child; Maria Meredith and Henry her husband, and their three children Nelson, Henry and Austin, Lorenzo Webb, Old Daniel, Calvert Dandridge, Claiborne Johnson, Mary and John Stewart, Harrison, Jeff, Pat and Gadsby, Dick, Joe, Robert, Anthony, Davy, Bill Crump, Peyton, Dandridge, Old Davy and Eloy his wife, Milly and her two children, Leanth and her five children; Jasper, Elijah and Rachel his wife Lavinia and her two children, Major, Phill, Miles, Mike and Scilla his wife and their five children Lavinia, Israel, Isaiah, Lobsey and Delphy; old Fanny and her husband, Patsey, little Daniel, and Cloe, James Henry, Milly, Ailsey and her two children, Susan Pollard Armistead and Molly his wife, Airy, Jane Peter Bob, Polly, Beetsy and her child, Molly, Charity, John, Reuben, George Crump, Minny, Grace, Martha and Matilda: Also the following slaves belonging to Romancoke estate, viz: Louis, Jem, Edmond, Kitty and her children Mary, Dandridge and an infant; Nancy, Dolly, Esther, Seneca, Macon and Louisa his wife, Walker, Peggy, Ebbee, Fanny, Chloe Custis, and her child Julia Anne, Elvey Young, and her child Charles, Amy Johnson, Anne Johnson, William and Sarah Johnson and their children Ailsey Crump, Molly and George, James Henry and Anderson Crump, Major Custis and Lucy Custis, Nelson Meredith and Phoebe his wife, and their children Robert, Elisha, Nat, Rose and Sally, Ebee Macon, Martha Jones & her children Davy & Austin; Patsey Braxton, Susan Smith and Mildred her child, Anne Brown, Jack Johnson, Maxwell Bingham and Henry Baker
And I do hereby release the aforesaid slaves from all and every claim which I may have upon their services as executor as aforesaid.
Witness my hand and seal, this 29th day of December in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred & sixty two
R E Lee (Seal)
Exr of G. W. P. Custis

State of Virginia; County of Spottsylvania to wit

I, Benjn S. Cason, Justice of the Peace in and for said County, do hereby certify that Robert E. Lee, executor of the last will and testament of George W. P. Custis, a party to the foregoing deed of emancipation, this day personally appeared before me, and acknowledge the same to be his act and deed. Given under my hand this 29 day of Decr 1862
Benjn L. Cason (JP)

City of Richmond, to wit,
In the Office of the Court of Hustings for the said City, the 2d day of January 1863.
This deed was presented and with Certificate annexed, admitted to record at twelve o’clock N. Teste Ro Howard, Clk. (Endorsed)

The Lee Letter
This letter is postmarked "Washington Feb 25," and is addressed "C. C. Lee Esqr, Counsellor at Law, Spring Camp, Stony Fork. P. O., Virginia." In pencil and written perpendicularly to the address and on the left side of the envelope is the notation, "R. L. Lee, Feby 24 - 1835."

Sender: Robert E. Lee
Recipient: Charles Carter Lee

Engr: Dept: Wash: 24th Feby 1835
My dear Carter
Your two last letters were duly received, & that of the 13th Inst; arrived yesterday. I would have answered the first long ago, had I been able to accomplish the Comm - ns contained therein, but it has been out of my power. I called on Maj. Lewis at once to get the requisite information of the Life of Napoleon. He informed me that 1000 copies of an Edition printed in France were in the Custom House in Phila - a The duties were about $300. & great delay & difficulty had occurred, in getting any of the Booksellers to take them (in that way) Subsequently he told me that Mr - - in N. York had agreed to take them. I have seen his advertisement etc, & also a notice of <F>. Taylor, in this place, in anticipation of the then arrival. But as yet they have not been received. I also found upon inquiry at the Office of the Collector of Taxes, that all your lots were Sold on the 17th of May last for Taxes - Four were bought by Mr Dunton, & one by Burch & Ward. The whole amount for which they were Sold, is $44.55, bearing interest of 10 per centum, & redeemable in 2 years, to which must be added the taxes of 1834 - I was about taking steps to redeem them, but learned that Mr Jesse Brown, put in for a Share of said Lots, & I had no idea of devoting a months pay, to any part of his Service. What is the true State of the case? I will make inquiries about the rye & rabbits, & time would have been saved, had you have told me, what disposition to make of them - I will also go in search of Mrs. Sally Diggs, I think you may make up your mind to do without her, if she is only to go by her own consent unless she is very different from her sex, color & caste. I spent last night at Arlington, & mentioned the Subject of your new settlement. It was received I thought very inauspiciously. Cousin A. & Mr. C - were the only parties concerned. Mrs Nancy Ruffin & her three illegitimate pledges, sent to N. Kent when I broke up at Qrt O: P. are all of the race in my poss: They expressed some surprise at your wishing to bestow your attention on any other spot than that paradise of a Camp - Smith has returned & was married on the 5th Inst. They had a gay wedding & have been on a routine of Frolicking ever since. Clermont, Ravensworth, Geo town were in succession the Scenes of these Parties - They go to Arlington tomorrow to spend the remainder of the week - When I believe they & the World, will be satisfied that they are married - I wish you could have been among us. I have entered into none of the gayiety, except that which occurred at night & home where I could reach the Office by next mor - g We lately heard from Mr Childe & Walker, they are both well & the latter expects to be better in about 2 months - Mr M - - Anne & her children are all well. I am obliged to spend the most of my time in W - - am constantly occupied till near Four, & by the time dinner is over it is night. I then most generally go to A - - Mary has not been well for the last 3 months, Influenza, Colds, etc have confined her at home the whole Winter, I tried to get a house when I first came up, but could fine none coming within the purviews of a 2nd Lt. If I stay here, I hope to find in the Spring - At Present I am boarding & M - - & the Boo are at A - - I am frequently wanting out of office hours, & am therefore obliged to have a homestead on this side of the river - All at A - - desire to be remembered particularly to you, Cousin A - - Says perhaps you do not know all that she has been about, or you would not be surprised at her long silence - She alludes to the death of her Father - which happened about 2 months since - Her health & spirits are very good - Uncle B is at Broadneck & daily expected here - Charles is to establish himself on the Patuxent in the Spring, on some land given to Eugee by her father. Young Bernard is here on a visit, All the Turnes, Randolphs, Meades etc have been at A - - in the course of the Winter, Charles & Bena are still here, Mr & Mrs T - - have returned - Cousin Anna is quite ashamed at some political address to which she saw your name attached - and says you have forgotten your old principles - Miss Emily Key was to have married to Geo - H - - last week - I suppose you see by the papers every thing that is going on in Con: & that at one time we were thought to be bordering on a war with France - The last news is thought to be more pacific - A French Sloop of War has arrived to carry home Mr Lenarier - Mr L - - has been offered his passports by the F - - M - - but has declined them - We have not the France priv - er

Yours
R E Lee
Notes:
Lee PapersUniversity of Virginia Archives

Letter from Robert E. Lee to Mary Randolph Custis Lee (December 27, 1856)
SUMMARY
In this letter to his wife, Mary Randolph Custis Lee, dated December 27, 1856, Robert E. Lee expounds on the issue of slavery.
Author: Robert E. Lee
Transcription Source: Lee Family Digital Archive, Stratford Hall
FULL TEXT
[Fort Brown, Texas, 27 December 1856]

“Nothing has occurred dearest Mary, since my letter of the 20th worthy of relating, except the arrival on the 24th of the Steamer from New Orleans, bringing full files of papers & general intelligence from the “States”. I have enjoyed the former very much, & in the absence of particular intelligence, for my letters of Course have all taken the other direction, have pursued with much interest the series of the Alexandria Gazette from the 20 Nov to 8 Decr. inclusive. Besides the usual good general reading matter, I was interested in the relation of local affairs, & inferred from the quiet & ordinary Course of events, that all in the neighborhood was going on well. I trust it may be so, & that you & particularly all at Arlington & our friends elsewhere are well.

The steamer also brought the Presidents message to Cong:, & the reports of the various heads of Depts; the proceedings of Cong: &c &c, So that we are now assured, that the Govt: is in operation, & the Union in existence, not that we had any fears to the contrary, but it is satisfactory always to have facts to go on.

They restrain supposition & Conjecture, Confirm faith & bring Contentment. I was much pleased with the Presidents message & the report of the Secr of War, the only two documents that have reached us entire. Of the others synopsis have only arrived. The views of the Pres: of the systematic & progressive efforts of certain people of the North, to interfere with & change the domestic institutions of the South, are truthfully & faithfully expressed. The consequences of their plans & purposes are also clearly Set forth, & they must also be aware, that their object is both unlawful & entirely foreign to them, their duty; for which they are irresponsible & unaccountable; & Can only be accomplished by them through the agency of a civil & servile war. In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution is a moral & political evil in any Country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it however a greater evil to the white than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly interested in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is Known & ordered by a wise & merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild & melting influence of Christianity, than the storms & tempests of fiery Controversy. This influence though slow is sure. The doctrines & miracles of our Saviour have required nearly two thousand years to Convert but a small part of the human race, & even Christian nations, what gross errors still exist! While we see the Course of the final abolition of human slavery is onward, & we give it the aid of our prayers & all justifiable means in our power we must leave the progress as well as the result in his hands who Sees the end; who Chooses to work by slow influences ; & with whom two thousand years are but a single day. Although the abolitionist must Know this; & must see that he has neither the right or power of operating except by moral means & suasion, & if he means well to the slave, he must not create angry feelings in the master; that although he may not approve the mode by which it pleases Providence to accomplish its purposes, the result will nevertheless be the same: that the reasons he gives for interference in what he has no Concern, holds good for every Kind of interference with our neighbours when we disapprove their Conduct; Still I fear he will persevere in his evil Course. Is it not strange that the descendants of those pilgrim fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion, have always proved themselves intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others.

Although the Steamer brought us much general news, it brought no intelligence of, or from, our absent intrusses. The Court therefore at its meeting yesterday, adjourned for another week, 2 Jany ’57. I wish I Could see that this great delay in accomplishing what I think might have been finished while at Ringgold, was right, it would not then be so irksome to me. But I cannot help it. I must thereforehope that it is right & be Content. I have not yet heard from San Antonio & therefore have heard nothing from you. Two or perhaps three weeks must yet elapse, before I can expect a response. This is very grievous, but must be borne too. I hope you all had a joyous Xmas at Arlington & that it may be long & often reported! I thought of you all & wished to be with you. Mine was gratefully but silently passed. I endeavoured to find Some little presents for the children in the Garrison to add to their amusement & succeeded better than I anticipated. The stores are very barren of such things here, but by taking the week before hand, in my daily walks, I pick up little by little something for all. Tell Mildred I got a beautiful Dutch doll for little Emma Jones. One of these crying babies, that can open & shut their eyes, turn their head &c &c. For the two other little girls Puss Sibly, & Mary Seawell, I found handsome french teapots to match cups given them by Mrs. Waite. Then by means of Knives & hooks, I satisfied the boys. After disposing of my presents I went to Church. The Congregation was very respectable & Mr Passmores discourse was on the subject of the birth of our savior. It was not simply or touchingly told as it is in the bible. By previous invitation Major Thomas & I dined with him at 2 P.M. on roast turkey & Plumb pudding. He & his wife were alone. I had provided a pretty singing bird for their little girl, & passed the afternoon in my room. Give much love to all the Children your father & all friends. God bless you all!

Truly yours
R E Lee”

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