Comments on: Why did Robert E. Lee free his slaves?

By: Joseph H. Lee

Joseph H. Lee — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:41:34 +0000

Back in the sixties, I asked my grandmother if she knew where our name came from. At that time she said that a trace was done. It stated that it was from one of the light-skinned sons of a slave women on the Robeert E. Lee’s plantation. I beleive her name may have been Nancy, but not sure. These sons were freed and they went to Baltimore and open up a store of some kind. eventually they had to flee Baltimore due to KKK activity. One of the sons came to settle in Texas, around Marshall. This son is possibly my ancestor.
Can you give me any information as to where i can find out more on this matter? Anything will be appreciated.
Thanks,
JHL

By: lee smith

lee smith — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:02:34 +0000

I am curious. My neighbor’s father (who died 3 years ago) told me when he was living that he is a descendant of Robert E. Lee and a slave. He said that when his descendant was freed she had a young son. She was also given a very large sum of money when freed. Supposedly, my neighbor’s grandmother had done some research at the Smithsonian and wrote a letter to the family about it. If you like, I may be able to get a copy of the letter. During your research was there any information that gave details of Robert E. Lee release of the slaves?

By: Missie

Missie — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:44:37 +0000

“didn’t that mean he was against slavery and that slavery was therefore not the cause of the civil war?”

This doesn’t seem to make much sense anyway, since Lee was not personally responsible for the war.
I was told that he did not agree with the Confederacy’s wish to seperate from the Union and only led the Southern army out of a sense of loyalty to his state.