Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/119

Rh Captain Lee, of Romancoke), then a youth of sixteen, and away from home at boarding school. Why, it has been asked, may not the letter have been written to Robert E. Lee, Jr.? Those who "catch at straws" point out that in 1860, General Lee could properly have said "my fine old regiment," a description inapplicable in 1856, to raw recruits just ordered to Texas. Besides, it is argued, might not the Second Cavalry have been ordered in 1860 to go from Texas to New Mexico, "that distant region," thus escaping the change in the letter of "New Mexico" to Texas? But this gun is spiked at once by a letter to the writer from the Adjutant-General, July 27, 1914 (already quoted): "I have the honor to inform you that the Second Cavalry did not serve in New Mexico, at any time prior to the Civil War." And as to the suggestion that The Duty Letter was written to Robert E. Lee, Jr., who, in 1860, had "classmates," and was at an age to expect parental advice, Captain Lee, in a letter to the writer, July 29, 1914, says: "I am positive that no such letter was ever written to me, before, during, or since the war."