Lot 375
Lee, Robert E. Autograph Letter Signed "R.E. Lee," 1p, 8½x8", Petersburg, 14 Nov. 1864. With address panel from original envelope Free Franked, "R.E. Lee Gen." To Mr. Shippen at his estate, "Violet Bank," where Lee made his headquarters during the winter of 1864. Lee responds to the Shippen family's offer to use their house for his personal winter quarters: "Upon reflection I think it best not to accept your kind offer of the house at Violet Bank. I shall be located at no one place this winter as far as I can judge, but will have to be passing along the lines from one side of the river to the other. I cannot therefore see to the house or take care of it, & you had better place in it someone who can. I hope to be able to get over to see Mrs. Shippen but am obliged to go this m[or]n[in]g to the right, which may detain me till night. If I should not be able to see her, please present my kind regards to her & Willie & say that I shall always remember them …. "
During this last winter of the war, Lee's troops had dwindled to barely 60,000, while Grant's grew in number. Lee spent much of that winter in the saddle, keeping his troops together by force of his personality and the men's devotion to him; hence his "passing…from one side of the river to the other."
Estimated Value $14,000 - 18,000.
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