Details
LEE, ROBERT E., General, C.S.A. Autograph letter signed ("R.E. Lee") to Captain John Mackay, U.S. Tropical Engineers in Savannah, Ga.; Fort Hamilton, New York, 30 January 1846. 3 1/2 pages, 4to, address panel on page 4, wax seal intact, minor tears at four fold intersections, but otherwise in good condition.
AS THE NATION PREPARES FOR WAR WITH MEXICO OVER TEXAS, LEE GOES SLEIGHING ON BROADWAY
An evocative conversational letter to a Georgia acquaintance, written on the eve of the war with Mexico. Captain Lee, assigned to the Corps of Engineers, was stationed at Fort Hamilton on Long Island, at the Verrazzano narrows, charged with making improvements in fortifications. "Upon my word John Mackay it was a high thing your going off without telling a man good bye, or even giving him a chance to see you, now was it not? I went up to your quarters the day after your departure & would not credit a raw Irish girl I met who told me you were gone, especially as she said you had gone North....I am glad however you reached home safely & happily, but I think that night you were tossing about in the Gulf Stream, your conscience must have pricked you sorely for your treatment of me. When I come to Savannah I will make a struggle to tell you farewell before leaving...."
Lee is grieved to learn that Mackay's crop has failed: "What can be done to retrieve your losses? Do anything rather than be discouraged, so long as you determine to hold your plantation. For it is ruinous to hold it & have to support it. If however you recover your health, you can well spare the money, & laugh at John Jacob Astor with his millions...." He hopes that Mackay's health will improve. New York, he reports, has had much snow and severe cold recently. Winds "banked up the snow in parts of the road higher than the fences...Then we had fine sleighing...it was a joyous time while the sleighing lasted, and you may depend it was made the most of. Day & night the bells were going. And those bitter cold night the young women kept it up till 10 & 12 o'clock. During its height I went up Broadway to witness it. There was not a wheel carriage to be seen, but a rushing stream of sleighs of all sizes & descriptions flying in all directions. The corners of all cross streets into B.W. were crowded with spectators....I have never seen such fine horses in N. Y. & the variety of the sleighs of all sizes & richness of the furs were beyond my anticipation. But the ladies with their smiling faces & gay dresses exceeded all. Some of the omnibus slighs were very large. I was in one that carried 50 people. It was drawn by 8 horses....The girls returning from school were the prettiest sight; piled on each others laps with their bags of books & laughing faces....there were no lack of customers at sixpence a ride, & you might be accomodated with a lady in your lap in the bargain. Think of a man with my forbidding countenance John Mackay having such an offer. But I peeped under her veil before accepting & though I could not find fault either with her appearance or age, after a little demurring preferred giving her my seat. I thought it would not sound well if repeated in the latitude of Wash[ingto]n that I had been riding down B[road]W[ay] with a strange woman on my lap....Upon reflection I think I did well, for though you know I am charmed when I get one of the dear creatures on my knee, yet I have my fancies in this as in other things....I am now all by myself. Mrs. Lee & the children have all gone to Arlington....They have had some brilliant balls & parties in Wash[ingto]n. The last was given by Mr. [Secretary of State James?] Buchanan...."
"The attention & time of Congress is so entirely absorbed with these war speeches, that they cannot think of the wants of the country. They will do nothing else I think but talk....There is no Army news. Col: Bank has gone on to W. to stir up his Brevet. Have you seen the memorial to Congress from the Army of Occupation (Corpus Christi) on that subject? I am told it was written by Hitchcock.....[Its] object is to have the matter settled by Legislation, which it ought to be, but I am very sorry that they did not confine themselves to their agreements, for although they disdain all personalities, yet the whole tone & spirit is aimed at Genl. [Winfield] Scott's letter of 17 Oct. to Genl. [Zachary] Taylor. How often officers of the Army injure their cause in this way....."
Talk of war with Mexico, both in Congress and among the public had by this date reached a dangerous pitch, and diplomatic relations with Mexico had been broken off. And in his December State of the Union address, Polk had struck a defiant tone in regard to the dispute with Great Britain regarding the borders of the Oregon territory. On January 13, Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and a large army from Corpus Christi into the disputed territory. Predictably, a Mexican Army intercepted him, thereby providing the "provocation" needed by Polk to request a Congressional Declaration of War, which was passed on 13 May 1846. When hostilities broke out, Lee himself was reassigned to General Winfield Scotts Corps and at the war's end, had been wounded, received three brevets for gallantry, and acheived a brilliant reputation. The letter is apparently unpublished.
AS THE NATION PREPARES FOR WAR WITH MEXICO OVER TEXAS, LEE GOES SLEIGHING ON BROADWAY
An evocative conversational letter to a Georgia acquaintance, written on the eve of the war with Mexico. Captain Lee, assigned to the Corps of Engineers, was stationed at Fort Hamilton on Long Island, at the Verrazzano narrows, charged with making improvements in fortifications. "Upon my word John Mackay it was a high thing your going off without telling a man good bye, or even giving him a chance to see you, now was it not? I went up to your quarters the day after your departure & would not credit a raw Irish girl I met who told me you were gone, especially as she said you had gone North....I am glad however you reached home safely & happily, but I think that night you were tossing about in the Gulf Stream, your conscience must have pricked you sorely for your treatment of me. When I come to Savannah I will make a struggle to tell you farewell before leaving...."
Lee is grieved to learn that Mackay's crop has failed: "What can be done to retrieve your losses? Do anything rather than be discouraged, so long as you determine to hold your plantation. For it is ruinous to hold it & have to support it. If however you recover your health, you can well spare the money, & laugh at John Jacob Astor with his millions...." He hopes that Mackay's health will improve. New York, he reports, has had much snow and severe cold recently. Winds "banked up the snow in parts of the road higher than the fences...Then we had fine sleighing...it was a joyous time while the sleighing lasted, and you may depend it was made the most of. Day & night the bells were going. And those bitter cold night the young women kept it up till 10 & 12 o'clock. During its height I went up Broadway to witness it. There was not a wheel carriage to be seen, but a rushing stream of sleighs of all sizes & descriptions flying in all directions. The corners of all cross streets into B.W. were crowded with spectators....I have never seen such fine horses in N. Y. & the variety of the sleighs of all sizes & richness of the furs were beyond my anticipation. But the ladies with their smiling faces & gay dresses exceeded all. Some of the omnibus slighs were very large. I was in one that carried 50 people. It was drawn by 8 horses....The girls returning from school were the prettiest sight; piled on each others laps with their bags of books & laughing faces....there were no lack of customers at sixpence a ride, & you might be accomodated with a lady in your lap in the bargain. Think of a man with my forbidding countenance John Mackay having such an offer. But I peeped under her veil before accepting & though I could not find fault either with her appearance or age, after a little demurring preferred giving her my seat. I thought it would not sound well if repeated in the latitude of Wash[ingto]n that I had been riding down B[road]W[ay] with a strange woman on my lap....Upon reflection I think I did well, for though you know I am charmed when I get one of the dear creatures on my knee, yet I have my fancies in this as in other things....I am now all by myself. Mrs. Lee & the children have all gone to Arlington....They have had some brilliant balls & parties in Wash[ingto]n. The last was given by Mr. [Secretary of State James?] Buchanan...."
"The attention & time of Congress is so entirely absorbed with these war speeches, that they cannot think of the wants of the country. They will do nothing else I think but talk....There is no Army news. Col: Bank has gone on to W. to stir up his Brevet. Have you seen the memorial to Congress from the Army of Occupation (Corpus Christi) on that subject? I am told it was written by Hitchcock.....[Its] object is to have the matter settled by Legislation, which it ought to be, but I am very sorry that they did not confine themselves to their agreements, for although they disdain all personalities, yet the whole tone & spirit is aimed at Genl. [Winfield] Scott's letter of 17 Oct. to Genl. [Zachary] Taylor. How often officers of the Army injure their cause in this way....."
Talk of war with Mexico, both in Congress and among the public had by this date reached a dangerous pitch, and diplomatic relations with Mexico had been broken off. And in his December State of the Union address, Polk had struck a defiant tone in regard to the dispute with Great Britain regarding the borders of the Oregon territory. On January 13, Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and a large army from Corpus Christi into the disputed territory. Predictably, a Mexican Army intercepted him, thereby providing the "provocation" needed by Polk to request a Congressional Declaration of War, which was passed on 13 May 1846. When hostilities broke out, Lee himself was reassigned to General Winfield Scotts Corps and at the war's end, had been wounded, received three brevets for gallantry, and acheived a brilliant reputation. The letter is apparently unpublished.