CIVIL WAR]. LEE, Robert E. Autograph letter signed ("R. E. Lee") to Miss Mary Tinsley, Petersburg, Virginia, 23 August 1864. 1 page, 4to, some wear at creases, matted and framed [ Framed with :] ALS from Mrs. R. E. Lee to Miss Tinsley, September 1864. A GRACIOUS OFFER TO MAKE HIS WINTER QUARTERS WITH A VIRGINIA FAMILY. Lee declines an offer of hospitality from a young Confederate lady, Miss Mary Tinsley, who had learned that Mrs. Mary Custis Lee was ill, and thought she and the general would like to pass the winter together in her parent's house: "I am extremely obliged to you for your letter of the 18th concerning the invitation of your father & mother for my family to spend with them the coming winter, & feel all the gratitude which such an act of disinterested kindness is calculated to inspire. Mrs. Lee, as you seem to be aware, is a great sufferer, in addition to the pains of rheumatism she is just recovering from a severe attack of fever. She has been removed to Fluvanna County where owing to the attention of kind friends she is regaining some strength. It would no doubt give her great pleasure to visit your father & Mother, & I am sure she would enjoy much gratification in their society but she can only be moved with pain & is in no condition to travel. I will however forward your kind note which will enable her fully to appreciate your motive & thoughtful consideration. Begging you to present to your father & Mother my sincere thanks in which I know Mrs. Lee & my daughters will heartily join." In A. P. Hill's Memoirs of Robert E. Lee , he writes that "During the period of the autumn and winter campaign General Lee continued in excellent health and bore his many cares with his usual equanimity. He had aged somewhat in appearance since the beginning of the war, but had rather gained than lost in physical vigor from the severe life he had led. His hair had grown gray, but his face had the ruddy hue of health and his eyes were as clear and bright as ever" (396-97). The Petersburg winter, in fact, was the first one in which Lee stayed in a house rather than a tent. His wife, on the other hand, was an invalid for much of the war, as the feeble hand in the accompanying letter attests. Lee could not have given his wife much attention this winter anyway as fighting was far from suspended. Grant kept pestering the Confederate positions along the Weldon and Southern railroad lines leading away from Petersburg, and once the spring thaw made large-scale action more practicable, he launched the climactic campaign of the war. Together 2 items .
CIVIL WAR]. LEE, Robert E. Autograph letter signed ("R. E. Lee") to Miss Mary Tinsley, Petersburg, Virginia, 23 August 1864. 1 page, 4to, some wear at creases, matted and framed [ Framed with :] ALS from Mrs. R. E. Lee to Miss Tinsley, September 1864. A GRACIOUS OFFER TO MAKE HIS WINTER QUARTERS WITH A VIRGINIA FAMILY. Lee declines an offer of hospitality from a young Confederate lady, Miss Mary Tinsley, who had learned that Mrs. Mary Custis Lee was ill, and thought she and the general would like to pass the winter together in her parent's house: "I am extremely obliged to you for your letter of the 18th concerning the invitation of your father & mother for my family to spend with them the coming winter, & feel all the gratitude which such an act of disinterested kindness is calculated to inspire. Mrs. Lee, as you seem to be aware, is a great sufferer, in addition to the pains of rheumatism she is just recovering from a severe attack of fever. She has been removed to Fluvanna County where owing to the attention of kind friends she is regaining some strength. It would no doubt give her great pleasure to visit your father & Mother, & I am sure she would enjoy much gratification in their society but she can only be moved with pain & is in no condition to travel. I will however forward your kind note which will enable her fully to appreciate your motive & thoughtful consideration. Begging you to present to your father & Mother my sincere thanks in which I know Mrs. Lee & my daughters will heartily join." In A. P. Hill's Memoirs of Robert E. Lee , he writes that "During the period of the autumn and winter campaign General Lee continued in excellent health and bore his many cares with his usual equanimity. He had aged somewhat in appearance since the beginning of the war, but had rather gained than lost in physical vigor from the severe life he had led. His hair had grown gray, but his face had the ruddy hue of health and his eyes were as clear and bright as ever" (396-97). The Petersburg winter, in fact, was the first one in which Lee stayed in a house rather than a tent. His wife, on the other hand, was an invalid for much of the war, as the feeble hand in the accompanying letter attests. Lee could not have given his wife much attention this winter anyway as fighting was far from suspended. Grant kept pestering the Confederate positions along the Weldon and Southern railroad lines leading away from Petersburg, and once the spring thaw made large-scale action more practicable, he launched the climactic campaign of the war. Together 2 items .
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
