Sold For $4,575
*Includes Buyers Premium
Career army officer and the most successful general of the Confederate forces during the American Civil War. He eventually commanded all Confederate armies as general-in-chief. After the war, he urged sectional reconciliation, and spent his final years as president of the college that would come to bear his name, Washington and Lee University. ALS signed 'R. E. Lee,' three pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 10, May 21, 1849. Letter to Major Delafield, written from Baltimore while working on a project. In part, 'I duly rec’s your letter of the 4th Inst: on the subject of cranes; and last week the roll of drawings arrived safely. I have merely looked over the plans, but shall this week take them up & will no doubt be able to concoct from them, something simple to answer my purpose. I think I have achieved a firm foundation at last. About 45´ below low water mark. An awful distance, but I began to fear it would have been worse. The first 16´ below the shoals is of a quicksand nature. It there grows firmer till you reach 23´, when a shalum of clay 3 feet thick is interposed between the shalum of sand. The bed of sand below the clay is apparently firm and solid. The sand is sharp & mixed with gravel, yields with difficulty to the auger & requires to be broken up by a drill, before the auger will fill. I have not yet penetrated more than 2 ft. in it. But yesterday, attempted to drive a file in it which met with great resistance. The files…were all 30 ft. I had therefore to resort to a punch to drive them underwater…. The hammer rebounded 6″ or more from the head of the punch at each blow. After the file had rec’d 143 blows in all, fearful of accident from the…punch I desisted.' In fine condition, with intersecting mailing folds and a small area of paper loss to right edge of second page from wax seal.
The project referenced here was for Fort Carroll, just south of Baltimore. The original plans, designed by Lee, detailed a four-acre, man-made island topped by a fortress with 40-foot walls and four stories of tiered galleries capable of housing 350 cannons. Lee, at the time a brevet-colonel with the Army Corps of Engineers, was placed in charge of the fort’s construction in 1848 through 1852. Progress on the fort, named one year after this letter was written in honor of Declaration of Independence signer Charles Carroll, was slow and costly, with only a foundation and first level completed by 1851 at a cost of $1 million. Construction was eventually completed, but without the guidance of Lee, who left in 1852 to head West Point Military Academy. Unique content as a future Confederate hero works toward the protection of Baltimore Harbor from enemy forces. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$100.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
Third-party authentication service applies only to signatures and handwriting, and does not cover the addition of sketches, artwork, musical quotations, etc.
