LEE, Robert E. (1807-1870). Autograph letter signed ("R. E. Lee") as commandant at West Point, to George Washington Custis Lee (1832-1913). Sollers Point, 19 June 1851.

2 1/2 pages, 4to, on a bifolium, addressed on an integral leaf, separations to folds with repairs, soiled.

"I MUCH DEPLORE THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ARREST"

During his first year at West Point, George Washington Custis Lee was almost expelled when alcohol was found in his room. Robert E. Lee writes his son: "I am aware that an effort was made to get your class to join in a temperance pledge with some other classes, to relieve some cadets from prosecution of a violation of the 113 Academic Regm. Your class declined, on the ground of some abstract notion or nice distinction, that I do not know that I fully comprehend. It has occurred to me as possible that the authorities might invite or accept a similar pledge from your class now to relieve you and Wood from your present difficulty. ...I advert to this now, because I have received the impression that both you and Wood objected to making a pledge, or perhaps lent your influence to prevent the class from making it. If this is so I the more regret it, because it would have saved you from your present situation, and me from the mortification and pain I now endure."

Lee continues: "I much deplore the consequences of your arrest, and feel strongly for Wood. I wish I could aid you...I presume you will be tried by a general court martial. Indeed, I have heard that a court for the purpose has been asked for by the Supt."

After alcohol was found in his room, Lee claimed he did not put it there, and received only minor punishments. He would go on to graduate first in his class, and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers.

Property from the James Milgram, M.D., Collection of Broadsides, Ephemeral Americana, and Historical Documents