Beschreibung:

LEE, Robert E. Autograph letter signed ("RE Lee") to William B. Reed (1806-1876), Lexington, Virginia, 21 March 1867. 1 page, 4to, docketed, on lined paper, neat repairs to slight fold tears on verso. Fine. LEE LOOKS BACK TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. The former commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, author of a biography of his own Revolutionary War ancestor, "Light-Horse" Harry Lee (1756-1818), commends Reed's efforts to clear his grandfather's tarnished reputation: "I have read with much gratification your pamphlet in defence of your distinguished ancestor Genl. Reed." Assuring Reed of his own father's high esteem for the General, Lee writes: "Harry always looked up to him as one of the great men of the Republic; whose devotion & patriotism materially aided in the achievement of its independence," the negative rumors he dismisses as political mudslinging: "I considered the reports circulated to his prejudice at the close of the revolution of '76, as the result of the heated party politics...I trust the able and candid manner in which you have vindicated his memory may silence them forever..." He concludes with a personal request, referring to letters from his father to Reed: "I have inserted extracts from some of them in the life of my father, thinking they had never been published..." William B. Reed had published Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed in 1847. His father, Joseph (1741-1785), served as president of the second Provincial Congress, then as Washington's military secretary. His reputation suffered due to Arthur Lee's 1778 accusations of treasonous correspondence with the enemy.