Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/150

146 has been written about it; and yet we have the highest authority for saying that General Lee never wrote, and his son never received, any such letter.

"Its history is simply this: In the early days of the war it was published in the Northern papers purporting to be a letter found by a Federal soldier at Arlington.

"Being republished in the South, it attracted the attention of the Lee family, and the General stated that he 'did not remember writing it, and did not think that he did' (a very strong denial for him), while his son (General Custis Lee) was confident that he 'had never received it.' Upon these statements, the Richmond Examiner denied its authenticity, and criticised, with some severity, its style.

"But the letter itself bears internal evidence of being spurious. It is headed 'Arlington House', whereas General Lee and his family were always careful to write simply 'Arlington,' to distinguish their beautiful home from 'Arlington House.'

"It is dated 'April 5th, 1852.' Now at this date, General Lee was not at Arlington, but was at West Point in the discharge of his duties as Superintendent of the Military Academy, where he could have seen his son, and have given him proper advice, without the necessity of writing.

"The letter makes General Lee say: 'I am just in the act of leaving home for New Mexico. My fine old regiment has been ordered to that remote region, and I must hasten to see that the men are properly taken care of,' when he really did not leave West Point until 1855—three years after the date of this letter. The regiment—the famous Second Cavalry—was not organized until 1855, and while he might well call a corps 'fine' which numbered among its officers such men as Albert Sydney Johnston, R. E. Lee, Wm. J. Hardee, Earl Van Dorn, Kirby Smith, Hood, Field, Cosby, Major Fitz. Lee, Geo. H. Thomas, Johnson, Palmer, and Stoneman, he would hardly have spoken of it as 'old' several years after—certainly not three years before—its organization'.

"Besides, there are other parts of the letter—especially the story of the old Puritan legislator, which are not written at all