Scope and Contents From the Collection: This collection contains primary and secondary resources pertaining to Robert E. Lee and the Lee family. Included are correspondences from, to, and about Lee and various family members; memorabilia, pamphlets, photographs, reminiscences, miscellaneous personal papers, family history and genealogy. The collection includes materials acquired from the Lee family and items donated to and purchased and compiled by W&L University since Lee's tenure as president of Washington College from 1865...

Abstract Brigadier General St. John writes to General Lee on June 20, 1865 with explanations of his actions and movements during the final days of the Army of Northern Virginia. Beginning in February of 1865, he explains how he "proceeded at once to organize as auxiliaries to the regular operations of the Bureau" (Bureau of Nitre and Mining). By March, St. John was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed Commissary General of Subsistence. He goes on to explain his acquisition of rations in March....

Abstract In 1865, shortly after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee was approached in Richmond by C.B. Richardson of the University Publishing Company of New York. No contract was signed, but the two came to an informal agreement whereby University Publishing Company would have publication privileges if Lee completed a manuscript. For the next five years the two kept up correspondence, with Lee often requesting materials that Richardson would then search out and furnish for...

Scope and Contents From the Collection: This collection contains primary and secondary resources pertaining to Robert E. Lee and the Lee family. Included are correspondences from, to, and about Lee and various family members; memorabilia, pamphlets, photographs, reminiscences, miscellaneous personal papers, family history and genealogy. The collection includes materials acquired from the Lee family and items donated to and purchased and compiled by W&L University since Lee's tenure as president of Washington College from 1865...

Abstract Edward Lee Childe, Robert E. Lee's nephew, had allowed a family friend to read a letter to him from his “Aunt Mary” (Mary Custis Lee). The letter divulged details of Richmond in the two months after its fall as well as the sentiments of Robert E. Lee and Mary Custis Lee regarding the war and figures such as Jefferson Davis. The family friend, without permission, submitted a copy of the letter to a newspaper, which published it. The newspaper wrote that the letter was “from the pen of a lady...