(CIVIL WAR) LEE ROBERT E Autograph Letter Signed to historia

Sale 2058 - Lot 44

Unsold

Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000

RELATING TO SERVICE IN THE MEXICAN WAR (CIVIL WAR.) LEE, ROBERT E. Autograph Letter Signed, to historian Brantz Mayer, agreeing to meet with him to discuss his service in the Mexican War. 1 page, folded 8vo sheet; minor toning. Np, 15 October 1850

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"It will give me much pleasure to furnish you with any information I possess, relative to the operations of the American Army in Mexico; & in compliance with your note . . . will be happy to see you this afternoon, or tomorrow, at my house, or any other place most convenient for reference to your plans & maps; at any hour you may appoint . . ."
Material related to Lee's service in the Mexican War is scarce and desirable. Lee was among a handful of young officers who served in that campaign and who would later become Civil War heroes, including Grant, McClellan, Meade, Stonewall Jackson and more. He served with distinction in the Mexican War as a captain in the Army Corps of Engineers and as General Winfield Scott's chief aide on the march to Mexico City, seeing action at Contreras, Churubusco and Chapultepec. After the war, and at the time of this letter, Lee was stationed at Fort Carroll in Baltimore -- a good opportunity for Maryland historian Brantz Mayer's research on the conflict. Mayer first took interest in Mexico after he was appointed a secretary to the legation to that country in 1843, publishing his controversial Mexico as it Was upon his return. He would next publish a history of Mexico, from Spanish colonialism through the Mexican War, in 1852 -- the reason for this interview. Mayer's library and papers were sold at auction by Joseph Sabin in 1870.