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Lot 332
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Robert E. Lee Writes Battle Letter to Son Describing Union General Hooker’s Movements
Robert E. Lee Writes Battle Letter to Son Describing Union General Hooker’s Movements
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Description:

Robert E. Lee
[Fredericksburg, VA], February 9, 1863
Robert E. Lee Writes Battle Letter to Son Describing Union General Hooker's Movements
ALS

ROBERT E. LEE, Autograph Letter Signed, to Custis Lee, February 9, 1863, "Camp" [Fredericksburg, Virginia]. 2 pp., 4.75" x 7.5"; overall, 9.25" x 11.25". Light toning; tipped to page but easily removable; very good.

In this letter to his son, General Robert E. Lee writes to his son about a saddle that British Captain J. William Bushby brought him from England. Lee asks his son to keep the saddle safe either by sending it to his uncle Carter or sending it to his own house, because the Union Army had occupied Robert E. Lee's home, Arlington House, the Custis family mansion across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Lee also enclosed a letter to his wife, Mary Anna Custis Lee, who was living in Richmond after having gotten caught behind Union lines in May 1862, and a passport for a Mrs. Murdock.

Lee also describes General Joseph Hooker's actions on the opposite side of the Rappahannock River, including attempting to destroy the bridge at Rappahannock Station, a key railroad bridge crossing the Rappahannock River, which was the site of earlier (August 23, 1862) and later (November 7, 1863) battles. Lee observed that the previous day, Hooker "was marching infantry up and down the river."

Complete Transcript
Camp 9 Feb '63
My dear Custis
I send down a saddle &c which Capt Bushby of the British Army has been so kind as to bring me from England. It is a very nice one with a bridle &c. It is however better suited to peaceful avocations, than my present necessities, & I therefore wish to put it in a place of safety. Can you assist me? If you get an opportunity will you send it to your Uncle Carters if he can give it house room, or store it at your house with your things. It is of the Common English pattern with valise &c. I enclose a letter to your mother which contains a passport for Mrs Murdock &c which it might be Convenient for her to get tonight. Can you send it to her? No news. All well. County liquid. Roads watched. Genl Hooker is agitating something on the other side, or at all events is agitating his troops. Last friday night he attempted to burn R. R. bridge at Rappk Station, Orange & Alexa R. R. He was driven off. But did it some damage. Extent not yet known. Yesterday he was marching infantry up & down the river &c. Remember me to all friends.
Truly your father
R E Lee
Col. G. W. Custis Lee

Historical Background
Joseph William Bushby (1826-1900) had run the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina, with an exciting chase by cruisers of the U.S. Navy. In addition to the saddle for Lee, Bushby brought a breech-loading carbine for General J.E.B. Stuart and an "india-rubber bed" for General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. During his brief visit with the Army of Northern Virginia, Bushby collected autographs and cartes-de-visite from many Confederate officers. Heros von Borcke, a Prussian cavalry officer who served as a Confederate cavalry officer, described Bushby as "a warm admirer of Confederate principles and a staunch sympathizer with the cause," who quickly became a "general favourite at headquarters."

On January 26, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Major General Joseph Hooker to succeed Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia had decisively defeated Burnside and the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Fredericksburg in mid-December 1862. That loss and Burnside's abortive "Mud March" of January 20-22, 1863, combined to convince Lincoln that the Army of the Potomac needed new leadership. Although he was a capable administrator and raised the sagging morale of the army, "Fighting Joe" Hooker appointed political cronies and political generals in key positions. In early May 1863, Lee decisively defeated Hooker's Army of the Potomac, which was more than twice as large as Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was born in Virginia and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1829. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. After working on the construction of fortifications on the coast of Georgia, Lee returned to Virginia in 1831 and married Mary Custis, with whom he had seven children. He served as an officer and engineer in the U.S. Army for 32 years. He served as one of General Winfield Scott's chief aides in the Mexican War and was instrumental in several American victories through his personal reconnaissance. He fought in several major battles; received promotions to brevet major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel; and was wounded in battle. After the Mexican War, he returned to engineering work for the army and served as the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy (1852-1855). When his father-in-law died in 1857, he had to take a two-year leave of absence to execute the will, which included a proviso to free his nearly 200 slaves within five years of his death. He finally filed the deed of manumission in December 1862. In 1859, Lee commanded a detachment of militia to arrest John Brown and his followers at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Lee was in Texas when that state seceded, and his commanding officer surrendered Lee and the other American forces to the Texans. Lee returned to Washington and was appointed colonel of the First Regiment of Cavalry. Three weeks later, he was offered overall command and the rank of major general of the expanding U.S. Army. Although Lee opposed secession, he would not fight against Virginia, and after that state voted to secede, Lee resigned his commission. He immediately received an appointment to command the Provisional Army of Virginia and the Virginia State Navy. With the formation of the Confederate States Army, Lee was one of its first five full generals. After commanding in western Virginia, he was sent to the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas to organize coastal defenses. On November 5, 1861, he was appointed as commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. In the spring of 1862, he became a military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who in June appointed him as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, after Joseph E. Johnston was wounded. Lee successfully thwarted Union General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. He also defeated General John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run. His narrow defeat at Antietam gave President Abraham Lincoln the victory he sought for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Lee went on to additional victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before his invasion of Pennsylvania was turned back at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. He battled effectively against new Union general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant throughout 1864 but was forced to withdraw into the defenses of Richmond and Petersburg after devastating losses on both sides during the Overland Campaign. In February 1865, Lee became General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States, but losses of manpower and supplies forced Lee's abandonment of Richmond on April 2 and surrender to Grant a week later at Appomattox Court House. After the war, Lee was neither arrested nor punished, though he lost both the right to vote and the Custis-Lee Mansion across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., which became Arlington National Cemetery. He applied for a pardon but did not receive one. He joined the Democrats in opposing the Radical Republicans but accepted an invitation from President Grant to visit the White House in 1869. He served as the president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia, from October 1865 until his death.

George Washington Custis Lee (1832-1913) was born in Virginia to Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1854, when his father was superintendent there. He was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers and served in California, Georgia, and Florida. When Virginia seceded, he resigned from the Army, about two weeks after his father had. In July 1861, he received a commission as captain in the Confederate Army. After working on fortifications for Richmond, he became an aide-de-camp to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in August 1861 and received a promotion to colonel. Over the next three years, Davis frequently sent him on missions to assess the military. In June 1863, Lee was promoted to brigadier general. In 1864, he was placed in command of the troops in Richmond and was later promoted to major general. In 1865, he commanded troops in the field and was captured on April 6, three days before his father surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. Late in 1865, he became a professor at the Virginia Military Institute and held that position until his father died in 1870. From 1871 to 1897, Lee served as the president of Washington and Lee University. With the assistance of attorney Robert Lincoln, he regained title to the Arlington House mansion across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., but sold it to the U.S. government for $150,000. He resigned as president of Washington and Lee in 1897 and died in Alexandria, Virginia. He never married and had no children.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.75" x 7.5"; 9.25" x 11.25"
  • Medium: ALS

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