ROBERT E. LEE WRITES TO CHILD NAMED AFTER HIM, ROBERT E. LEE JOHNSTON

Autograph letter signed by Robert E. Lee, to Mary E. Johnston. Lexington, Virginia, 24 September 1867. 1 page, 8vo.

Vingetted albumen CDV bust length portrait of Robert E. Lee in Confederate uniform. Unmarked. SIGNED BY LEE to image lower margin. Mount verso inscribed "Robert Lee Johnston."

A charming Reconstruction era letter and signed CDV from General Robert E Lee to the mother of a child named after him. The letter reads in full: "I appreciate the compliment you have paid me by bestowing my name upon your bright little boy, whose career in life I hope may be useful & happy. I am much obliged to you for his photograph, in poor return send him my own."

The recipient of the letter may be Mary Johnston (1834-1898) and her son Robert E. Lee Johnston (March 1867-1937) of Rock Gap, Morgan County, West Virginia. Mary's husband and Robert's father, Augustus J. Johnston (1827-1902), was a non-commissioned officer in the 89th Virginia militia under the command of General Robert E. Lee during the Civil War. As an adult, R.E.L. Johnston moved out west to Denver, Colorado and worked as a soap manufacturer, warehouse supervisor, and later a farmer. In every census, he includes all initials of his full name, a testament to the high opinion of his namesake.

Another candidate as recipient is Mary Johnston (1832-1879), the wife of Lt. Colonel Samuel Richards Johnston (1833-1899), and mother to Dr. Robert Edward Lee Johnston (27 January 1865-1909). Born near the end of the war, his father wrote to General Lee informing him of his son's name. Lee wrote back from Petersbury on 23 February 1865: "I appreciate the high compliment you pay me, in proposing to call your son after me." Lt. Col. Johnston originally joined the 6th Virginia Cavalry, before serving as an aide de camp to General JEB Stuart, moving to the engineers, rising to lieutenant and a member of General Longstreet's Staff, before finally advancing to captain and joining General Lee. He was sent to scout the field at Gettysburg - upon return assuring Lee that Little Round Top was unoccupied. The Union had, however, already established a signal station there with thousands of troops encamped nearby. None of these details were included in Johnston's report, and it is speculated that he instead was taking reconnaissance from the slopes of Big Round Top. Regardless of his faults, Lee wrote with gentility accepting the honor in 1865. Perhaps Mary wrote to Lee again here in 1867 with an update on young Robert. The young man would go on to become a physician - dying in New York City in 1909. For more discussion of Johnston and the 1865 letter, c.f. Dave Batalo and Ronald S. Coddington. "Johnston Reconnaissance: A late-war Letter by Robert E. Lee Sheds Light on an Enduring Gettysburg Controversy. 3 June 2018. Military Images Magazine.

An evocative grouping.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Manuscripts, Letters, Documents, Signatures, Autographs, Generals, Historic Photography, Early Photography, CDV, Carte-de-Visite, Carte de Viste]