Register of the Robert E. Lee Papers, 1749-1975

Robert E. Lee Papers, 1749-1975

Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870

199 Items and 5 Vols.

Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library Durham, North Carolina 27708-0185

English.

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[Identification of item], Robert E. Lee Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.

Processed by Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library Staff

Encoded by Alvin Pollock and Stephen D. Miller

This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.

Family and military correspondence of Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), Confederate general in chief; and of his descendants; and a few letters of Francis Lightfoot Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Henry Lee, and Mary Ann Randolph (Custis) Lee. The letters deal with many phases of Robert E. Lee's life from his marriage in 1832 until his death, including family and personal affairs, especially in his letters to a cousin, Mrs. Anna M. Fitzhugh; settlement of the Custis estate; and improvements at Arlington. During the Civil War the correspondence consists of official and family letters, the former containing much information on military activities. The postwar letters reveal details of domestic arrangements following the family's removal to Lexington, Virginia. One volume contains 295 telegrams (collected and arranged by C. C. Jones, Jr., and published: D. S. Freeman, Lee's Dispatches, New York, 1915) sent by Lee from the field to Jefferson Davis and the Confederate War Department, many having been endorsed by James A. Seddon. These dispatches relate to troop movements, reports of the intelligence service, skirmishes, enemy activities, transportation of prisoners and wounded men, and other details of military operations. Included also are two scrapbooks of "Memorials to Lee" ; a small notebook in R. E. Lee's hand, 1857-1860, containing amounts of meat purchased for the Arlington household; and a letterpress book of Robert E. Lee III, a lawyer of Washington, D.C.

(Description from: Guide to the Cataloged Collections in the Manuscript Department of the William R. Perkins Library, Davis, Richard C., and Miller, Linda Angle, 1980)

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