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This collection consists of 30 original military maps owned by Robert E. Lee. The bulk (28 items; 1846-1848) were used by Lee in Mexico when he was serving as a Captain in the United States Army Engineers Corps. Two of the maps were drawn by Lee and bear his signature. These maps comprise one of the most comprehensive cartographic resources for the study of the Mexican War.

This collection consists of two items related to Raleigh E. Colston. The first item is a letter of recommendation (dated July 7, 1866) written by General Robert E. Lee on behalf of Colston. The second item is a volume (appoximately 100 pages) titled "Report on the Northern and Central Kordofan" (Cairo: printing Office of the General Staff, 1878). Attached to this volume are photographs of Colston wearing his Egyptian Army uniform (circa 1878) and of Major H. G. Prout, Egyptian Army, and other reports (1876-1878).

Facsimile of a manuscript letter from Richmond, Va., signed R. E. Lee, addressed to Major David Goff of the Virginia Volunteers at Beverly, [W.] Va., concerning the delivery of arms and ammunition to Major Goff, or to Lieutenant Joseph W. Chinnoweth, intended for Col. George A. Porterfield at Grafton.

Photostats of letters written by Lee:
April 20, 1861 letters to Winfield Scott and Lt. Roger Jones, resigning his commission and explaining that "Save in the defense of my native state, I never desire again to draw my sword;"
January 8, 1863 to Mrs. Sarah A. Lawton;
August 24, 1865 to the Board of Trustees of Washington College concerning his election to the presidency of that school;
January 27 and July 7, 1866 letters to Reverdy Johnson respecting the estate of G. W. P. Curtis, of which Lee was the sole administrator, and giving his views on the Test Oath;
February 25, 1867 to David S. G. Cabell declining to become a candidate for governor of Virginia.

Reply to request of Dion C. Pharr for information concerning Washington College. Photostat negative.

The sixteen R.E. Lee items cover a date span of 22 years from 1847 through 1869. There are ten letters of Mrs. Mary Randolph Custis Lee ranging from the early 1850s to shortly before her death in 1873.