ROBERT
E. LEE. Autograph
Letter Signed to Major William D. Fraser, Baltimore [MD], 7 March 1851.
1 page, 9¾” x 8”, plus integral address leaf.
A fine
letter from Robert E. Lee, the future Confederate general, written while
he was a colonel in the U.S. Army and working in its Corps of Engineers.
Following his graduation from West Point in 1829, Lee had worked on
engineering projects in Georgia, Virginia, Missouri, and New York. During
the Mexican War, his very first assignment had been as a staff engineer
– with Captain William D. Fraser, another West Point graduate,
Lee had directed the building and repair of over six hundred miles of
roads and bridges from San Antonio, Texas, to Saltillo, Mexico.
Here,
after that war, Lee writes to his old Mexican War colleague, Fraser,
about his latest assignment, the building of Fort Carroll to defend
Baltimore harbor. Lee had begun this project in 1849, and he had requested
$50,000 for its continuation in 1851-52. However, Congress had adjourned
on March 3, 1851, just days before Lee wrote this letter, without making
the appropriation.
“‘The
long agony is over’ & the Fortification Bill has failed,”
Lee reports. “I have left of the former app[ropriatio]n enough
to work moderately through the Season, & wish to engage an experienced
man to take charge of the operations of the Diving Bell (one of which
I have) & 2 good Bellmen. As every thing turns up in your Dept.
I have thought you might help me. Can you recommend any such to me,
or me to any such? Give me also if you please the amt. of wages I should
offer. I have nothing new & remain very truly R E Lee.”
As Lee
notes in this letter, he had funds left over from prior appropriations
that enabled him to continue some work on Fort Carroll. He remained
at this post through the summer of 1852 when he left to take up his
next assignment as Superintendent of West Point.
Lee has
also addressed this piece to Fraser, in New York City. The address leaf
also bears a docket, a five-cent stamp, and a Baltimore postmark.
Both
the letter and address leaf are in fine condition.
For information
on Lee’s work on Fort Carroll, see D. S. Freeman, R. E. Lee:
A Biography, volume I, chapter xviii. $8750.00
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