Two Confederate Civilian ALsS from Henrietta Bedinger Lee, Relative of R.E. Lee

Two autograph letters signed by Henrietta B. Lee (1810-1898). Bedford, [Jefferson County, Virginia/West Virginia], [1861] and 2 January [1862]. 6 and 8 pages, respectively. Each 5.25 x 7 in. The first is addressed to ?my precious child? and the second to her daughter Ellen.

A pair of remarkable letters, written by a remarkable Southern Lady, Henrietta Bedinger Lee. A member of the prominent Bedinger family of Jefferson County, Virginia (what would become West Virginia), her husband, Edmund Jennings Lee II (1797-1877) was first cousins with General Robert E. Lee. In 1864, the 1st New York Cavalry led by Captain William Martindale was ordered by Union General David Hunter ordered the burning of civilian homes. One of these homes was Bedford, the ancestral home of Henrietta which she inherited from her father. The Lee name and connection to the General were likely motivating factors for selection. After witnessing the conflagration, she penned a now-famous letter to General Hunter the next day.

The letter (NOTE: This letter is not one of the two offered for sale), published in the Southern Historical Society Papers Vol. 8, No.5 (1880), reads in part: ?You have had the satisfaction ere this of receiving from him the information that your orders were fulfilled to the letter; the dwelling and every out building, seven in number, with their contents, being burned. I, therefore, a helpless woman whom you have cruelly wronged, address, a Major-General of the United State army, and demand why this was done? What was my offence? My husband was absent, an exile. He had never been a politician or in any way engaged in the struggle now going on, his age preventing.?

The two letters offered here are a glimpse into Henrietta?s life before their home was destroyed and the family displaced where her forceful personality shines through, brisk and clear.

In the first letter she writes at length expressing concern over the recipient?s safety, reporting a large fire in town, and writing about re-enforcements amassing nearby. She includes an interesting anecdote regarding an African American woman: ?I learned today that the woman you gave your note to, Mrs. R___ was black Rep[ublican}. I could not help laughing when I thought how you were taken in. She went on to Winchester and tried to get Gen. Jackson to give her a pass. He positively refused. She is now in Martinsburg, where undoubtedly some of her Union loving friends will smuggle her across the river.?

She continues with the state of the surrounding area and her speculations about the coming battles: ?Martinsburg is under the strictest martial law. No one is allowed to go in or out without a pass from Gen. Jackson. This forbodes something, but what none of know. I believe that when McClellan makes an attack upon Centreville, they will try and cross into all these border Countries and surround our armies.?

Henrietta relates that she ?sent a worsted pillow and a pair of fine socks to Gen. Jackson and Col. Cummings, Mrs. Jackson sent me a very nice note of thanks in return.? Concluding her letter with a further anecdote of the tumultuous war had on families: ?I was told a short time since that your Uncle Henry had made peace with the Yankees thro the influence of your uncle B and Jim Greenwood, and had returned to his own house. Lizzie wrote to Davis, and said ?When will this cruel war be ended? the letter was returned it had been opened and on the margin was written ?If Mrs. S__ wishes to correspond with her husband she must not call this a cruel war.?

In the second letter, written to her step-daughter Ellen, Mrs. Lee begins by complaining of a sore back, going on detail the grueling housework and supervision entailed since: ?Your papa finds that he cannot afford a servant this year.? As a consequence, all day long she ?has been after Peg, Bill, and Margaret [slaves] until sickened with the prospect of what I must go through this year.?

She then describes Yankee harassment of town on Christmas night as follows: ?On Christmas night, because the boys in town threw up some fireworks, and a drunkened soldier shot off a pistol, the vile cowardly Yankees fired upon the town with shell and cannon, three times the shell burst in the town and twice the cannon balls flew over it. Not content with this, they shot the rifle balls in every direction, and the next day, their stupid Col. sent of the most insolent ill spelled letters, with all manner of threats, a copy of the same Mr. Lee sent to Mr. P which I presume he will show you. You can judge for yourself whether it would be safe for you return here. Many of the soldiers are of the opinion that these wretches will burn the town insignificant as it is out of a spirit of revenge. But in the Lord I trust, he will not let our enemies crush us, of this I am confident.?

She continues her letter with family news, remarking that Edwin is ?utterly unfit to join his Reg. But he says if it is ordered to Romney he is resolved to go?tho? I think it will be the wildest folly.? The letter includes extensive discussions of the hardships of running a household during the war, commenting on the meager Christmas and the desire to take in borders.

A wonderful seat of letters from a Confederate civilian living in the hotly contested area of West Virginia.

The Edmund Jennings Lee II papers, which include writings and diary entries from Henrietta, are held at Duke University, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RL.11483).

[Civil War, Confederate, Robert E. Lee, Manuscritps]