PRIMARY DOCUMENT

Letter from Robert E. Lee to Captain Wagner (May 4, 1868)

ORIGINAL IMAGES
Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (1905)Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (1905)
CONTEXT

In this letter to a man identified only as Captain Wagner, Robert E. Lee, president of Washington College, writes that rumors of a potential lynching are groundless.

FULL TEXT

Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (1905)

Washington College,

Lexington, Virginia, May 4, 1868.

Captain Wagner, Commissioner District,

Lexington, Virginia.

Sir: Upon investigation of reports which you communicated to me yesterday afternoon, I can find no foundation for the apprehension that the students of

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Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee (1905)

Washington College contemplate any attack upon the man confined in jail for shooting Mr. — Friday night. On the contrary, I have been assured by members of the faculty and individual students that they have heard no suggestion of the kind, and they believe that no such intention has been entertained or now exists. I think, therefore, the reports made to you are groundless.

“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

“R. E. Lee.”

FURTHER READING

Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee (January 4, 1831) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (December 25, 1861) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee (September 28, 1832) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee (February 24, 1835) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Hill Carter (January 25, 1840) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Mary Randolph Custis Lee (April 18, 1841) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Mary Randolph Custis Lee (December 27, 1856) “Some Facts That Should Come to Light,” New-York Tribune (June 24, 1859) Col. R. E. Lee’s Report (October 19, 1859) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant (October 3, 1864) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Mary Randolph Custis Lee (January 24, 1864) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant (October 3, 1864) Letter from Howell Cobb to James A. Seddon (January 8, 1865) [future url="PS_LeeBarksdale1865"]Letter from Robert E. Lee to Ethelbert Barksdale (February 18, 1865) “Some Facts That Should Come to Light,” New-York Tribune (June 24, 1859) Robert E. Lee’s Testimony before Congress (February 17, 1866) Memoranda of Conversations with General Robert E. Lee by William Allan (1868, 1870) Memoranda of Conversations with General Robert E. Lee by William Preston Johnston (1868, 1870) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Robert E. Lee Jr. (March 12, 1868) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Mary Randolph Custis Lee (November 11, 1863) Statement by Francis Preston Blair (April 14, 1871) “General Lee’s Views on Enlisting the Negroes,” Century Magazine (August 1888) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Edward Lee Childe (January 16, 1868) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis (September 2, 1864) Henry Lee IV to William Berkeley Lewis (July 26, 1833) Letter from Robert E. Lee to Henry Lee (December 6, 1859)

CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Lee, Robert. Letter from Robert E. Lee to Captain Wagner (May 4, 1868). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/letter-from-robert-e-lee-to-captain-wagner-may-4-1868.
MLA Citation:
Lee, Robert. "Letter from Robert E. Lee to Captain Wagner (May 4, 1868)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 22 Nov. 2023
Last updated: 2020, December 07
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