16 November 1863: “I know of no more fitting resting place for a brave soldier than the battlefield on which he has laid down his life in the defense of the rights of his Country.”

Item Description:  Letter dated 16 November 1863, from Robert E. Lee to R. H. Graves, about locating the remains of Captain H. A. Gordon at Gettysburg.  Robert E. Lee was a United States Army officer, 1829-1861; commander of Virginia forces in the Confederate Army and military advisor to Jefferson Davis, 1861-1862; commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, 1862-1865; general in chief of all Confederate armies, 1865; and president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), 1865-1870.

1863Nov16

Item Citation:  Letter dated 16 November 1863, found in folder 1 of  in the Robert E. Lee Papers #422-z, Southern Historical Collection, the Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Item Transcription:

Hdqrs: Rapidan – 16 Nov ’63

My dear Sir,

In answer to your note of the 20th last, it grieves me to state that I know of one way of recovering the body of Capt. H.A. Gordon from the field of Gettysburg. Should the place of his interment be known, be so marked as to be recognized which his Camp officers can alone tell. I see one way of inducing the Federal authorities at this time of granting the privilege of visiting it for the purpose.

Through deeply sympathizing with his grieving mother, appreciating the feeling which induces the desire to have near her the remains of her gallant son. I know of no more fitting resting place for a brave soldier than the battlefield on which he has laid down his life in the defense of the rights of his Country.

I am with great respect
your Obt. Srvnt
R. E. Lee

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