General Lee Is Unable to Assist His Wife’s Doctor

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/15/2021

Autograph Letter Signed, "R.E. Lee" 2pp., datelined H'qrs: Army N. Va. 1 Dec. '64, 2pp., fine. Highly Important Robert E. Lee Letter, Referring to Grant, with Poignant Civil War Content Mostly written on one side, carried over to and signed on verso, 8.-1/4" x 10.-1/4", in ink on English paper and in Very Fine condition. Written to Dr. Alfred Hughes in Richmond, in full "My dear sir I am deeply impressed with a sense of your grief and sincerely sympathize with you in your great affection. I wish it was in my power to afford you any consolation or relief. I am distressed at being unable to comply with your request. I hold no communication with Genl. Grant xcept [sic] on purely official and military matters. Nor in my opinion is it proper that I should. I have no claims upon his favours, I should not ask it. I feel sure of his refusal. I have on several occasions forwarded applications from individuals for permission to enter the enemy lines for benevolent purposes, to attend invalid husbands, sons & I have invariably been refused. I should feel no mortification at a repetition of these denials, but I believe my application would be useless & injure your prospects of attaining your wish. If Judge Ould cannot procure you a passport, I cannot. I will give Mrs. Hughes a passport through any portion of our lines she desires, or will forward an application from you to bend. Grant for permission to visit Wheeling. This is all I can do with propriety. Regretting that I can do no more, & praying that a merciful God may give you strength to bear the heavy affliction he has thought proper to deal you. I am truly your obliged sevt. R. Lee".Provnance December 2, 2006, Heritage Auction, lot #25440, $28,680.Dr. Hughes resided in Wheeling (soon to become West Virginia). When Virginia voted on a Secession Ordinance in May 1861, Alfred and his brother Thomas were 2 of only 81 Wheelingites out of almost 2700 voting to favor secession. Upon the outbreak of the war, and when the first gun was fired at Charleston, Dr. Alfred Hughes' sympathies were enlisted on behalf of his native South. When Virginia seceded he engaged in newspaper political controversies, and became correspondent for the Baltimore Exchange. He was arrested for disloyalty in 1861, and was held a prisoner at Camp Chase, near Columbus, O., for nearly eight months, when he was specially exchanged for a brother of Dr. Pancoast, of Philadelphia, captured at Bleunnery Gap, Va., and a prisoner at Salisbury, N. C. On his way to Richmond, with his wife and three children, he stayed in Baltimore, reporting to General Schenck. Among his patients during and since the war was the wife of General Robert E. Lee. On December 18th, 1865, he removed from Richmond to Baltimore, where he soon established himself in a good and lucrative practice, such a one, indeed, as is obtained by few, even after long residence in a city. Families were often divided by the arbitrary boundaries created by the War. This was particularly true between West Virginia and Virginia proper, which had been a single entity until West Virginia chose to break off and remain loyal to the Union. Hughes wife wished to visit a sick relative in West Virginia, and could not pass through the lines to get there. Grant's policy was not simply rooted in hard-heartedness. Both sides actively sent spies dressed as civilians, occasionally including women, into each other's territories to seek valuable military information, so it was necessary to ban travel back and forth between the areas held by the two sides.

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