Lot #424

Robert E. Lee: “The N. Y. [Tribune] has all asked me for my treatment of your Grand Fathers slaves (he has left me an unpleasant legacy), but I shall not reply”

Description

“The N. Y. [Tribune] has all asked me for my treatment of your Grand Fathers slaves (he has left me an unpleasant legacy), but I shall not reply”

Significant ALS signed “R. E. Lee,” eight pages on two sets of two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, July 2, 1859. Lee writes to his son. In part: “Your letter of the 5th Alto to your Mother, My dearest son, has arrived and given us the pleasing intelligence of your good health & well being. I am so glad that your rheumatic attack has left you. Be very careful not to bring it back and do every successful thing to endurate and strengthen your constitution & system…Your Mother, Fitzhugh & Charlotte went down to Cedar Grove last Tuesday to spend ten days or a fortnight, so they will not be back before the last of the next or the first of the following week. Your poor Mother has been suffering very much this spring. I am in hopes that the change of air & sense may benefit her. She has not made up her mind where to go this summer, or what to do to try & relieve her from the ahumatism that still so perseveringly adheres to her. At one time she seemed to desire to go to St. Catharines Well in Canada, where waters are said to have worked some wonderful cures. But I have procured some of the water in Washington, brought from the spring in Bbls, which she has been drinking, so far without any apparent effect. The water is not very palatable either, being remarkably saline &…does not take to it kindly.

It was this desire… of your Grand Father’s Estate, your mother’s condition & the hope I at one time entertain of seeing you my dearest son, that indured me to forego my purpose of returning to Texas this summer, & to remain till the Fall _ God knows whether I have done right, or whether my stay will accomplish anything. I am very doubtful on the subject…this feeling deprives me of half the pleasure I should derive from being here under other circumstances.

I now see little prospect of one of my hopes being fulfilled, that of seeing you. On my last visit to Col. Deruper, it was not decided, but seemed to me extremely doubtful that you would be ordered to West Point. The Sup. has returned, but is busy in making certain charges under the four year rule, & though some 13 officers under that rule will leave West Point, they purpose to supply them with other four year men & you have not been that time in California. These changes will also draw heavily on the light affair for deploying transportation & they are properly & materially …to encroach upon it, still in time something may be done & in the meantime we must all be content. You must not have your mind…by Rooney’s account of the improvements at this place they are very meager & only serve to [exacerbate] matters….

I have not the means to do what I should like & what I do do, has to be limited by considerations of economy & practicality. I have been able to do nothing to the grounds around the house, except to clean up on the hill & have been obliged to limit myself to what is most essential & promises something for man & beast to eat and to furnish shelter & probiction (?) – You will find things therefore I fear rough & unsightly as much as I desire to polish up your Mothers habitation & to fanfair for you an acceptable home.

We are in the midst of our little harvest. The rye is secured & we are getting in the hay. The oats & corn look favorably & as far as I can judge, unless something unforeseen occurs, we shall make fair crops of everything. We shall not make a good a crop of wheat at the White House as I had hoped. But I think an average [month]. It is harvested at this time. The corn looks well & I hope between the two we shall do tolerably…The force here is very small have to hire nearly all the labour. We have nothing but the old men & boys – The N. Y. [Tribune] has all asked me for my treatment of your Grand Fathers slaves (he has left me an unpleasant legacy), but I shall not reply.”

Light contrast to closing lines and signature, a horizontal and vertical fold to each sheet, a couple ink blotches, mild toning, and a small tear to top of one page, otherwise fine condition. Letter is housed in an elegant quarter leather case.

A June 1859 letter to the editor of the New York Tribune newspaper related the full story, noting that three slaves had escaped and Lee dispatched an officer to retrieve them. The officer ‘overtook them nine miles this side of Pennsylvania, and brought them back. Col. Lee ordered them whipped. They were two men and one woman. The officer whipped the two men, and said he would not whip the woman, and Col. Lee stripped her and whipped her himself.’ That action, recounted in the New York newspaper created a great day of negative publicity that followed Lee well after the end of the Civil War. While some rebel supporters continue to debate the charge, the event left an indelible black mark on his legacy. A lengthy and detailed letter with remarkably ugly slave references. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.

Auction Info

• Auction Title: September Monthly
• Dates: #391 - Ended 09/19/2012

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