Beschreibung:

LEE, Robert E. (1807-1870). Manuscript document signed ("R E Lee Genl") as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, "Hd Quarters Department Northern, Va," 7 July 1862. Three pages, 252 x 202mm, bifolium. Housed in a custom clamshell case. Lee celebrates the repulse of McClellan's advance on Richmond following the Seven Days Battles. Writing five days after the conclusion of the climatic series of battles, Lee offers his profound thanks "to the only Giver of all victory for the signal success which he has blessed our armies," and personally, "tenders his warmest thanks and congratulations" to his army. Lee then summarizes the events of the past week: "On Thursday June the 26th the powerful and thoroughly equipped army of the enemy was entrenched in works vast in extent and most formidable in character, in sight of our Capital. To day the remains of that confident and threatening host lie upon the banks of the James River thirty miles from Richmond, seeking to recover, under the protection of his Gun boats from the effects of a series of disastrous defeats." Lee observed that the victory relived the Confederate capital, "from a state of seige [ sic ], the rout of the great army that so long menaced its safety, many thousand prisoners, including officers of high rank, the capture or destruction of stores to the value of millions, and the acquisition of thousands of arms and forty Pieces of superior Artillery. The service rendered to the country in this short but eventful period can scarcely be estimated". Yet those "brilliant results have cost us many valuable lives, but while we mourn the loss of our gallant dead let us not forget that they died nobly in defence of their countrys freedom, and have linked their memory with an event that will live forever in the hearts of a grateful People. Soldiers! your country will thank you for the heroic conduct you have displayed, conduct worthy of men engaged in a cause so just and sacred, and deserving a nations gratitude and praise." The Confederate repulse of McClellan's army before Richmond proved to be a significant turning point in the war. While Lee's victory was not decisive—his goal was to defeat and destroy McClellan's army—he managed to remove the Union threat to the Confederate capital and put to an end a significant campaign against it. Provenance : Sotheby's, New York, 22-23 July 1985, lot 513.