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A Portrait in Letters (Newly Discovered Robert E. Lee)
The Washington Post ^ | July 12, 2007 | Peter Carlson

Posted on 07/12/2007 6:04:07 AM PDT by RDTF

Two old steamer trunks sit in the rare-book room at the Virginia Historical Society, looking worn and forlorn. The smaller one was once red but the paint has faded to a dull rust. The larger one is brown with a piece of tin patching a hole in the top. On one side, a name is stenciled: "M. LEE."

That's Mary Custis Lee, Gen. Robert E. Lee's adventurous eldest daughter. In 1917, she stored these wooden trunks in the "silver vault" in the basement of Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust in Alexandria. A year later, she died at the age of 83. Her trunks sat in a dusty corner of the vault for 84 years, unclaimed, until E. Hunt Burke, the bank's vice chairman, discovered them in 2002.

Burke called his high school classmate Rob E.L. deButts Jr., who is Robert E. Lee's great-great-grandson. Together, the two men descended into the vault. Burke carried a basket of old keys.

"The first one I pulled out was a perfect fit," he says.

The trunks were stuffed with Lee family papers -- a priceless cache of 4,000 letters, photographs and documents. DeButts carted them to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, which houses the world's largest collection of Lee papers. He spent a week there, sitting at a desk in the research library, reaching into Mary Custis Lee's trunks and picking out treasures and trash.

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: civilwar; dixie; history; marycustislee; robertelee; virginiahistory
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To: elfman2

http://www.dixieoutfitters.com/heritage/cw88.shtml

Anti-Semitism By THE UNION In The Civil War. General Order #11


141 posted on 07/12/2007 1:17:00 PM PDT by StoneWall Brigade
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To: StoneWall Brigade
The south fought for states rights.... State's right to do what?

... and the casue of freedom.

For 2/3rds the population anyway.

142 posted on 07/12/2007 1:20:24 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: StoneWall Brigade

Well that “must” prove it then! They couldn’t possibly have been fooled, you know, with all their access to alternative information and all... http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370190

I don’t have patience for this. Formulate a thoughtful rebuttle of each of the three inconsistencies I presented in #129 or take that kind of nonsense to some mentally-challenged guilt-ridden apologist.


143 posted on 07/12/2007 1:22:55 PM PDT by elfman2 (An army of amateurs doing the media's job.)
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To: derllak

Many ladies in those days enjoyed decades of poor health :-).


144 posted on 07/12/2007 1:23:15 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("A dependence on mass immigration is always a structural weakness and should be understood as such.")
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To: Non-Sequitur
The biggest Slave Owner in my great great grandfathe’s county was a Unionist he owned 95 slaves
145 posted on 07/12/2007 1:23:49 PM PDT by StoneWall Brigade
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To: StoneWall Brigade

I suggest you pick up a copy of the current edition of “North & South” magazine. There is a great article in it that puts to rest the whole notion of legions of black confederates fighting valiantly for the South...and the idea that what service blacks did provide was respected by the white soldiers or politicians.


146 posted on 07/12/2007 1:25:34 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: Zionist Conspirator

So...if you were the King of the United States, what parts of the Constitution would you keep, and what parts would you throw out?

That is essentially what this whole (weird) argument is about.


147 posted on 07/12/2007 1:26:13 PM PDT by Constantine XIII
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To: elfman2

http://www.dixieoutfitters.com/heritage/cw84.shtml

Yankee Atrocities Against Blacks


148 posted on 07/12/2007 1:27:08 PM PDT by StoneWall Brigade
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To: billbears

Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Pack rats, thank heaven for em. :)


149 posted on 07/12/2007 1:27:12 PM PDT by Constantine XIII
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To: StoneWall Brigade
The biggest Slave Owner in my great great grandfathe’s county was a Unionist he owned 95 slaves

What county was that?

150 posted on 07/12/2007 1:27:35 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: StoneWall Brigade
"Anti-Semitism By THE UNION In The Civil War. General Order #11"

You’re confused. The idea that the North fought to free the slaves is almost as absurd as the South succeeding for states right. The South succeeded to preserve slavery, and the North fought them to preserve the union.

151 posted on 07/12/2007 1:29:07 PM PDT by elfman2 (An army of amateurs doing the media's job.)
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To: StoneWall Brigade
Yankee Atrocities Against Blacks

Do we need to list the myriad of Southern atrocities against black Union soldiers in rebuttal?

152 posted on 07/12/2007 1:29:25 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: StoneWall Brigade
" Yankee Atrocities Against Blacks"

Again - You’re still confused. The idea that the North fought to free the slaves is almost as absurd as the South succeeding for states right. The South succeeded to preserve slavery, and the North fought them to preserve the union.

153 posted on 07/12/2007 1:31:27 PM PDT by elfman2 (An army of amateurs doing the media's job.)
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To: Non-Sequitur
"Do we need to list the myriad of Southern atrocities against black Union soldiers in rebuttal?"

Can you say Ft. Pillow.....or the crater.......

154 posted on 07/12/2007 1:35:14 PM PDT by joebuck
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To: Non-Sequitur; StoneWall Brigade
"Yet there were other quite different signs of black attitudes, ones more comforting if puzzling. From all across the new Confederacy there came stories of blacks, free and slave, who wanted to do their bit for the new nation. Even as the first elements of the new government reached Richmond, they could see a South Carolina slave who had come north with a Carolina regiment to defend the Virginia frontier, marching about the city wearing a sword with which he swore he would shave Lincoln's head.

"A free black descended from one of George Washington's slaves, now the owner of a small farm near Mt. Vernon, offered twenty-eight acres, one-sixth of his property to be sold at auction to raise money for Virginia's defense.

"More active efforts in Virginia came form other quarters, like the fifty free blacks in Amelia County, and two-hundred more in Petersburg who offered themselves to the government to perform labor or even to fight under white officers. Slaves like a Tennessee barber named Jim donated money from their small savings to help raise companies; a Montgomery slave subscribed $150 of his own to the first call for loans from Secretary of the Treasury Christopher Memminger; not far from Mobile sixty slaves on one plantation practiced drilling every night after a full days' work, expressing their hope to fight the "damned buckram abolitionists" who had caused the crisis that now led to the fear of slave uprisings and the consequent curtailment of their few little freedoms."

-Look Away! William C. Davis

Davis goes on to say their motives and support varied. Some freedmen were in it for the business, using their skills as blacksmiths and masons, to earn money. Others were caught up in the excitement of the times, looking for adventure. Still others realized that although the might be near the bottom of the social order, it was still their state and they ought to defend it. Others had hopes of freedom if their patriotism was displayed during this time of crisis.

There are many good accounts of blacks and Jews in the Confederacy - lots of research is being done.

North & South magazine ran a great article "Black Confederates: Myth or Reality?" (vol. 5 no.3) with many good sources and accounts. Enjoy!

155 posted on 07/12/2007 1:43:28 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: elfman2

#####And in a century, people will be claiming that their “great grandfather fought for [Islamic] states rights” with al Qaeda. And some people will actually smoke that crap.#####

People like Turban Durbin and other people who want to ban the Confederate Flag might smoke it. Take a Rebel Flag to a Code Pink rally and see how fast they eject you. The anti-Confederacy crowd is composed largely of anti-American left-wing kooks.


156 posted on 07/12/2007 1:44:48 PM PDT by puroresu
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To: elfman2
The idea that the south fought preserve slavery is idiotic the south fought for freedom and liberty and to get away from dishonest Abe, his ilk
157 posted on 07/12/2007 1:45:21 PM PDT by StoneWall Brigade
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To: joebuck
Can you say Ft. Pillow.....or the crater....

Or Saltville...or Poison Spring...or Olustee...or Plymouth...

158 posted on 07/12/2007 1:56:09 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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Previous FR threads:

An opposing view: Descendant of black Confederate soldier speaks at museum
Black Confederate veteran to get proper memorial at Blandford
Black Confederate soldiers overlooked during Black History Month
Black Confederate-flag supporter irks some on march to Texas
Black Confederates
Black man supports Confederate flag in march
Black Man Was a Rock Hill Leader Before Integration (Belonged to KKK? a redshirt? in 1870s SC
Black service, on both sides, in the Civil War
Blacks join Confederate Army heritage group
Blacks, Jews Fight on Side of the South
Former Slave's Family Sees Him Honored At Last (Chris Columbus in Florida)
Confederate group, blacks to clean up cemetery [NC] - more comments
Did free blacks support the Confederacy during the Civil War? Novel on blacks in Confederate South
DIXIE'S CENSORED SUBJECT BLACK SLAVEOWNERS
Minorities During the War Between the States: Collected Resources
Natchez(Ms)conference explores Free Blacks in the Antebellum South (Imagine That)
Ohatchee marker to have names of black and white Confederate vets
Quotations on Black Confederates
UDC marks another black Confederate grave (pt1)
UDC marks another black Confederate grave (pt2)

 

 



159 posted on 07/12/2007 1:57:37 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
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To: StoneWall Brigade
The idea that the south fought preserve slavery is idiotic the south fought for freedom and liberty and to get away from dishonest Abe, his ilk.

Freedom and liberty for 2/3rds of their population at any rate. The other third was plain out of luck.

160 posted on 07/12/2007 1:58:12 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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