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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Lee, Mary Custis (1808-1873) to Colonel Marshall

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05728 Author/Creator: Lee, Mary Custis (1808-1873) Place Written: Lexington, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 3 December 1870 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 20.2 x 13 cm. Order a Copy

Possibly to Colonel Charles Marshall, Lee's aide during the Civil War. Mary writes "to collect some incidents in the early life of my husband." States she is "too feeble and unwell to do the subject justice" and asks him to correct errors in dates. Asks that her name not be used. States he had included a sheet with extracts of letters Lee wrote to her (included). Says that when she is well again she can supply more letters and information. The handwritten sheet of dated extracts she includes deal with subjects such as Lee's good treatment of slaves, the death of Stonewall Jackson, the death of his grandchild, and the capture of Fitzhugh by the Union. Written less than two months after the General's death on 12 October 1870.

Lee, Mary Custis, 1808-1873
Lee, Robert E., 1807-1870

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