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Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee (January 4, 1831)

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Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter LeeLetter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter LeeLetter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter LeeEnvelope for Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee
CONTEXT

In this letter to his brother Charles Carter Lee, dated January 4, 1831, Robert E. Lee shares news of their family members in Savannah.

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Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee

Cock Spur Island

Jany 4th. 1831

My dear Carter

I have just returned from Savannah where I have been spending a few of days of this New Year, which I hope will make me better pleased with the quiet & uniformity of CockSpur. I don’t know that anything tries me more than a series of dinner parties. Evening parties I can stand but dinners are my abomination. Having discharged a small quantity of my bile I will tell you what I have seen—You never saw a fellow take a thing more kindly than Sweet Charles does his marriage. “He takes it as kindly as spoon-victuals” There is not a party of any kind afloat, but what he is figuring away in his black tights & white silks, dancing & flirting with all the girls, while the Madam is left at home to take care of her health. This last is much pleased with Savannah & says the inhabitants are almost too kind to her, she looks very well I think, is fat & even rosy, though her cough still continues, and the damp & cold weather which we have lately had has been prejudicial to her. It has been colder here than it has been for several years. A great many orange trees have been injured & it is feared that the orange crop next year will

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Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee

fail. I delivered your message to Miss Savage who promises to comply with your request. I wish you could have seen how beautifully she looked last night & how attentive our nephew was to all her wants, to speak nothing of your brother. You know no body here, unless it is Mr. Jack Henry & I shall not take the trouble to tell you any thing of him. Poor Nat arrived here on Christmas day after a long & boisterous passage of 25 days, and when I had become seriously alarmed lest he should have shared the fate of so many others, during these late gales & “have been gathered unto his people.” He is very weak & his cough is still bad, though I will not despair in the commencement of an experiment which I hope will prove successful. He has been as yet too short a time for any change to take place in his health & is at this very moment labouring under a fit of coughing in the next room – The passage on was so dreadful to him that he calls it five weeks – Mrs. Shaw & the Miss Turner’s were in Savannah a few days ago. They took their passage at N. Port in a schooner bound to N. Orleans, expecting to be landed at Cumberland Island Geo. And after 34 days put into Sav. in distress, Their sails were all in rags;

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Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee

And they had been allowanced in their water for two weeks, Three times they were in sight of Cumberland & each time they were blown off. The old lady has a great deal to talk about now. I heard from Arlington a few days ago. They were all well. Cousin Anna, Miss M. Goldsborough & Smith have gone to the E. Shore. Mildred writes that Anne etc are all well. Has Uncle Williams brought our affairs to a close? Do you know anything of Uncle Fitz. – Charles & the madam desired to be remembered to you – Make my compliments to Mrs. & Miss Schroeder. Don’t be so long in answering my letter. You know I have nothing to tell you & am always

Your Affectionate Brother

R. E. Lee

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Envelope for Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee

RELATED CONTENT
FURTHER READING

Letter from Robert E. Lee to Henry Lee (December 6, 1859) 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 (November 11, 1863) 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) 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 Captain Wagner (May 4, 1868) 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) Henry Lee IV to William Berkeley Lewis (July 26, 1833)

CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Lee, Robert. Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee (January 4, 1831). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/letter-from-robert-e-lee-to-charles-carter-lee-january-4-1831.
MLA Citation:
Lee, Robert. "Letter from Robert E. Lee to Charles Carter Lee (January 4, 1831)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 31 May. 2023
Last updated: 2020, December 07
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