Description:

Lee Robert 1807 - 1870 On the day he rode with Confederate President Jefferson Davis to meet with General Joseph E. Johnston to discuss military strategy, General Robert E. Lee pens a rare pass from the field
Autograph Document Signed "R E Lee / Genl," 1 page, 7.25" x 3.5". Head Quarters, Richmond, Virginia, May 22, 1862. Soiled, with infill and expert restoration.



In full, "Hd Qrts Richmond 22 May 1862. Mr. [undecipherable] of Richmond will be allowed to pass all guards & patrols from this City to his farm on Brooke turnpike & to return at his pleasure. R E Lee Genl"


Douglas Southall Freeman writes in his Pulitzer Prize winning R.E. Lee: A Biography (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1934), "Close as [Gen. Joseph E.] Johnston was to Richmond, he had shown no intention of giving battle, and had not informed the President when he intended doing so … [In General Lee's opinion,] Johnston apparently planned to improve his position as best he could and would wait to attack the enemy at some favorable opportunity. Subsequently, Lee asked Johnston to come to Richmond to review the situation with the President [Jefferson Davis], but Johnston did not answer. Three days later, on May 21[1862], Lee again wrote to ask a report in the name of Mr. Davis and renewed his suggestion that Johnston communicate in person with the chief executive. Now, on the 22d [the day Robert E. Lee wrote this pass], the President and Lee rode out to Mechanicsville [5 miles from Richmond], where they found a disheartening lack of organization. 'My conclusion,' Davis wrote Johnston, after this ride, 'was, that if, as reported to be probable, General [William B.] Franklin, with a division, was in that vicinity he might easily have advanced over the turnpike toward if not to Richmond.' It was difficult for Davis and doubly difficult for Lee to assist in a defense concerning which the field-commander did not see fit to advise them."


Lee and Davis did not see Johnston. The next day, on May 23, 1862, President Davis wrote Johnston, in full, "I went yesterday afternoon to Mechanicsville, and was there during the artillery firing, which you no doubt heard. General Lee was with me, and at my request will see you. Colonel Johnston, aide-de-camp, accompanied me, and will deliver this note to you. To him I refer you for any facts you may desire to learn. I saw General Stuart and General Cobb, but as neither of them communicated to me any plan of operations, or appeared to know what troops were in front as we approached, I suppose neither of them could have been commanding in chief at that locality. My conclusion was, that, if as reported to be probable, General Franklin, with a division, was in that vicinity he might easily have advanced over the turnpike toward if not to Richmond. "

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