Apr 23, 2009 - Sale 2177

Sale 2177 - Lot 10

Price Realized: $ 57,600
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
LEE PROPOSES TO GRANT A PRISONER EXCHANGE: WHITES ONLY (CIVIL WAR.) LEE, ROBERT E. Autograph Letter Signed, "RELee," as General, to General Ulysses S. Grant, proposing a man-for-man exchange of prisoners of war. 1 page, 8vo, with integral blank, light blue paper; folds, minor soiling. "H'dq'rs: Army N. Vir.," 1 October 1864
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

"With a view of alleviating the sufferings of our soldiers, I have the honour to propose an exchange of the prisoners of war belonging to the armies operating in Virg'a, man for man, or upon the basis established by the Cartel."
Written at a time when both the Union and Confederate armies were burdened with large numbers of war prisoners held in prisons whose desperate conditions were widely known, General Lee's proposal was nevertheless not accepted. In his reply, Grant requested that black troops be treated just as white troops were treated, if negotiations are to continue. Lee responded that deserters and "negroes belonging to our citizens" were not subject to exchange. The Confederacy did not relent on this point until 1865, when regular exchanges resumed and continued until the end of the war.
The present letter was published in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, II-VII: 906.