Robert E. Lee's Wife Discusses Recent Literature With Her Pastor

In this letter written from Arlington House, Mary Custis Lee asks her pastor about his health, regrets seeing some friends who were visiting him, and suggests a drive in the country to see her for his health. She also mentions reading a new work by Elizabeth Wooster Stuart Phelps (1815-1852), who published The Sunny Side; or, The Country Minister's Wife in 1851. A prolific author, she published at least ten more titles between 1851 and 1854, including the four-volume Kitty Brown series, though several were published posthumously. The Sunny Side was a bestselling novel, selling 100,000 copies in its first year and eventually more than 500,000, gaining international recognition.

Lee also asks if Dana had ever read "Dr Chalmers's memoirs." William Hanna edited and published his father-in-law's works in Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Thomas Chalmers, D.D., LL.D. in three volumes in 1850. Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and leader of both the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland, formed in 1843.

MARY CUSTIS LEE, Autograph Letter Signed, to Charles B. Dana, ca. 1852-1857, Arlington, Virginia. 1 p., 7.875" x 10". Expected folds; circular spots from sealing wax; some ink smears; light staining; very good.

Complete Transcript
My dear Mr Dana
I was very sorry to hear on Tuesday when I was in town that your friends had left you without my seeing them. I would have called even then but understood they were then preparing and my visit would have been ill timed Your own health I hope is restored and if we have any more of these balmy days like Sunday Monday and Tuesday perhaps a ride into the country would do you good. We have just got another little work by the Author of Sunny Side in which we are quite interested. Have you ever read Dr Chalmers's memoirs? If you have not I wish I had it to send you but may perhaps some time be able to get it. yours sincerely
M C Lee
I did not know how unwell you had been else I should have sent to enquire after you

[Address:] To The Revnd C B Dana / Alexandria

Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (1807-1873) was born in Virginia as the great-granddaughter of Martha Custis Washington and therefore step-great-granddaughter of George Washington. The only surviving child of her parents, she was pampered and well-educated. Like her mother, she taught enslaved people how to read and write, and she supported gradual emancipation and colonization in Africa but opposed abolitionism and racial equality. In 1831, she married her third cousin, Lt. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) of the U.S. Army, and they had seven children. After the death of her father George Washington Parke Custis in 1857, she edited and published his writings in 1859. She also inherited Arlington House from him, which she only evacuated on May 15, 1861. When trapped behind Union lines at her son's plantation east of Richmond in May 1862, Union Major General George B. McClellan allowed her to pass through the lines into Richmond. After the war, she lived with her husband in Lexington, where he was president of Washington College from October 1865 until his death.

Charles B. Dana (1806-1873) was born in New Hampshire and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1828. He graduated from Andover Theological Seminary in 1833, became a clergyman in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and briefly taught rhetoric at Mount Hope College, from which he received the degree of D.D. He served as rector of Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, from 1834 to 1860. While there, he presented Robert E. Lee to his bishop for confirmation. In 1860, he married his parishioner Elvira Rosebell Close (1833-1886), and they had two sons. Later in 1860, Dana moved to Port Gibson, Mississippi, where he was rector of St. James's Church. In 1866, he moved to Natchez as rector of Trinity Church, where he remained until his death.

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