Like Washington, they were his wife’s slaves, which were dowry and therefore could not legally be freed. Nonetheless, he singed a document of manumission in 1862.
Lee suggested to Davis that the South free the slaves prior to the war so that subject would be off the table. Didn’t go down well. Lee loathed slavery from the side of the owner as well as the own-ee!
Personally, I’m never going to watch a Lee Remick movie again.
What key? or did he char it?
“Like Washington, they were his wife’s slaves, which were dowry and therefore could not legally be freed. Nonetheless, he singed a document of manumission in 1862.”
Lee’s wife was in fact the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. And the slaves that his wife inherited upon her father’s death in 1857 originated with those who had belonged to Martha Washington.
Martha’s son from her first marriage, John Parke Custis, George Washington’s stepson, had been an aide to Washington at Yorktown, but died shortly afterwards of camp fever.
As a result of John Parke Custis’ death, GWP Custis was raised by George and Martha at Mount Vernon.
While George Washington freed his own slaves upon his death, those that Martha had brought into their marriage remained with her. GWP Custis inherited some and perhaps all of Martha’s slaves.
GWP Custis’ daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis married Robert E Lee. GWP Custis died in 1857, with his will naming RE Lee as executor of the estate.
One of Custis’ requests was that his slaves be freed no later than 5 years after his death. This was complicated by the fact that the estate was in debt, and if the debts weren’t paid off then the slaves could be seized by the creditors, and then wouldn’t be freed. Lee worked the slaves to pay off the debt and they were freed in 1862.