Cynthia,

         I certainly admire your academic standing as a historian as well
as a high school teacher.

         As to the story of Mrs. Lee, the answer came in a forward from
another member of the list from the author of the book I most likely got
the story from. This source may be since you did your thesis.

 >The story of the black Union soldier guarding Mrs. Lee's
 >home is from my book BLACK CONFEDERATES AND AFRO-YANKEES IN
 >CIVIL WAR VIRGINIA (1995), pp. 293-294; its sources are
 >documented as Endnote 7, page 385.
 >
 >Prof. Ervin Jordan, Jr.
 >University of Virginia

The full book citation is: Jordan, Ervin L., Jr: Black Confederates and
AFro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia, University Press of Virginia,
Charlottesville, 1995

The book is an interesting read, and quite an eye-opener. I highly
recommend it.

                                 Anne




At 08:59 PM 2/24/03 -0500, you wrote:
>Anne,
>        There you go again with the stereotypes--This 11th grade teacher is a
>professional and an academic historian!
>        On that note, let's clear up a few things.  I did my Masters Thesis on
>5 women one of whom was Mary Custis Lee (Mrs. Robert E. Lee).  M.C. Lee was a
>very strong-willed individual.   She was forced out of her family home of
>Arlington and worked her way South.  At one point in 1862 she was actually
>within Federal lines.  General George McClellan actually offered to post a
>guard to protect her from "ignorant soldiers," but she was outraged even then
>about being guarded like a prisoner.  Gen. Lee got permission to retrieve his
>wife.  As far as the incident in Richmond--through all of my research I have
>not found reference to a black soldier being posted to guard her.  A Union
>General Godfrey Weitzel offered an ambulance for her retreat (she was
>virtually an invalid by then), but she refused to leave Richmond.  Although
>she did not start out in 1861 as a staunch Confederate, she was by 1865
>mostly due to her anger over Arlington.  When the Union forces occupied
>Richmond, M.C. Lee was in her invalid chair remarking, "the end is not
>yet,...Richmond is not the Confederacy."
>        And by the way--The Lee's slaves were freed in December of 1862
>according to M.C. Lee.
>
>Cynthia Hasley
>
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Anne Pemberton
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http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org


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