RARE 1862 CIVIL WAR LETTER SIGNED BY GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE, WRITTEN TO SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR PICKENS SOON AFTER THE UNION’S INVASION OF PORT ROYAL—WRITTEN, IRONICALLY, ON UNION STATIONERY

LEE, Robert E. Letter signed. Coosawhatchie, South Carolina: January 3, 1862. Single ivory leaf (measures 7-3/4 by 9-1/2 inches) on embossed letterhead, in manuscript on recto and verso, docketed on the verso.

Exceedingly rare two-page Civil War letter signed by General Robert E. Lee to South Carolina Governor Pickens, dated January 3, 1862, written in an unidentified manuscript hand and signed by Lee shortly after a devastating Union victory at South Carolina’s Port Royal, featuring Lee’s attempt to correct Pickens’ earlier over-estimation of his state’s troop strength, and Lee’s diplomatic efforts to confront poor troop morale—“unpleasant feelings… in the Artilly [sic].”

“Since that glorious July afternoon at Manassas/Bull run the war had not gone well for the Confederates.” In the fall of 1861 Jefferson Davis and Confederate Secretary of War Benjamin, expecting an invasion at Port Royal, South Carolina, responded by “creating a military department of the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Eastern Florida, and installing Lee as departmental commander.” After establishing his headquarters at Coosawatchie, Lee soon discovered the sad state of his defenses and faced problems over “the will and commitment of the officers and men with whom he worked… In the course of his command on the coast Lee felt compelled to say and write bad news to people who did not wish to confront the consequences of war” (Thomas, 211-12). Chief among those receiving such unwelcome news from Lee was South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens.

This rare two-page letter signed by Lee to Pickens, dated January 3, 1862 and written in an unidentified manuscript hand, speaks to these very issues and, in particular, to Pickens’ misapprehension over South Carolina’s military forces, which numbered, according to Lee, not 3,240 but only 1,531 men. In an earlier December 27 letter to Pickens, Lee had written, in part: “Since your letter authorising me to take command of the State Troops in the field, I have felt no hesitation in doing so… According to the last returns received, the number of troops mustered in Confed. Service from So. Carolina, within the Dept: present for duty, is 10,036, including offrs. non comd. Offs. & P’vts. The strength of the 4th Brigade S.C. Militia (D Saussures) present for duty, inclu’dg Offs., non: comd. Offs. & pv’ts is reported to be 1,531. Its total strenth present and absent is 2,021, and differs from the number stated in your Excellency’s letter, which is 3,420… The strength of the enemy, as far as I able to judge, exceeds the whole force that we have in the State; it can be thrown with great celerity against any point, and far outnumbers any force we can bring against it.” Governor Pickens had long been very invested in equipping and deploying his state’s army and had begun to raise an infantry regiment even before the firing on Fort Sumter, believing correctly that the forts on Charleston harbor would not be easily abandoned by the Union. After the war began in earnest, Pickens continued to work vigorously for his state’s defense.

This exceedingly rare January 3, 1862 signed letter from Lee to Pickens expands on that earlier correspondence, as well as a December 31 letter from Pickens. Lee’s letter also refers to his continuing efforts to mold the South’s scattered local units into a strong and cohesive fighting force. The text reads: “Headqrs Coosawatchie, S.C. 3 January 1862 His Excellcy F.W. Pickens Govr. of So Carolina Columbia Gov: I have had the honor to receive Your Excell’cy’s letter of the 31st ulto: In mine of the 27th I only purported to give the number of S.C. troops, in the Confederate service, present with their commands. I had no means of knowing the number actively mustered in the service and my only object was to give the number available for duty. That you may know the regimts [sic] & corps included, I send the aggregate of the Returns forwarded by Genl. Ripley, and formed from the report of each comm’d’g officer. These returns shew [sic] the number of troops for duty on the 1st of last Decem’r. Those for the 1st of the present month have not yet been received, but when they are received I will have prepared a similar synopsis, that you may be advised of the number of State troops actually in the field. I sincerely hope that the unpleasant feelings which are reported to exist amongst the Junior officer in the Artilly [sic] and for which you allude, may speedily subside. I am with high respect Your obbservant [sic] R. E. Lee Genl. Comdg.” Docketed on leaf verso: “From the Gen” and opposite “Genl. Lee 4 Jan. 1862.” General Lee’s letter also mentions a General Roswell Ripley, who was an officer in the Army of South Carolina and particpated in the bombardment of Fort Sumter. After serving in the Army of Northern Virginia, Ripley surrendered with Lee at Appomattox. Lee’s letter, ironically, is on a leaf of Union stationery watermarked with the motto “E Pluribus Unum” above a shield of stripes and 13 stars.

Letter’s text clean and sharp, only light edge-browning from earlier prior framing, faint foldlines. A fine signed autograph letter.