George washington custis lee family tree
During her adulthood, Mary developed severe rheumatoid arthritis and became increasingly debilitated as she grew older.
George washington custis lee wife Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. Throughout the American Civil War and Reconstruction era , she remained distant from her family. Spending much of her time traveling, she did not attend the funerals for her sisters nor those for her parents. Somewhat eccentric, she used her inheritance from the sale of Arlington House to fund trips abroad. During her travels, she used her social status as the daughter of Robert E.To help with the pain, Mary and her family visited many spas and springs that were reputed to improve health. In letters to her husband, she tried to downplay her illness, but it took its toll as the years passed. By the s, Mary organized her daily routine so that she navigated the stairs only twice each day, spending most of her waking hours in the Morning Room.
An enslaved person carried her downstairs every morning and back upstairs at night. Walking became increasingly difficult for Mary and by the end of the Civil War, she was primarily confined to a wheelchair.
In April , Robert E. Lee resigned from the U.S. Army and traveled to Richmond to take command of Virginia’s military forces.
After his departure, Lee wrote letters to Mary urging her to pack up and leave Arlington.
He recognized the strategic importance of the home’s hilltop location overlooking the nation’s capital and was concerned for Mary’s safety. Mary delayed for weeks until she finally relented. She ordered the enslaved workers to pack up the family’s belongings and many of the “Washington Treasury” heirlooms from Mount Vernon.
The rest of the family valuables were locked away in closets, the attic, and the cellar. Mary left Arlington on May 15, to join her daughters at Ravensworth, a nearby home owned by Custis relatives. Upon their departure, Mary left the keys to the house and the responsibility of caring for the family heirlooms in the hands of enslaved housekeeper Selina Gray.
Fitzhugh lee Mary Anna Randolph Custis was born on October 1, It is not known if Mary knew of or ever acknowledged the familial relationship she shared with Maria. Mary Custis Lee grew up pampered by her parents and steeped in the lore of her Washington ancestry. She was well-educated and frequently discussed politics with both her father and husband. She also kept abreast of new literature and learned both Greek and Latin.Arlington’s enslaved workers were left behind and expected to continue working as usual. Mary Lee anticipated her return home would be within a few weeks, but it would be more than a decade before she saw Arlington again.
Mary and her daughters lived a nomadic life during the Civil War, moving from house to house of friends and relatives throughout Virginia before settling in Richmond.
The Lee women supported the Confederate war effort by knitting socks and gloves and sewing shirts for Confederate soldiers, as well as visiting wounded soldiers in Richmond hospitals.
After the Civil War, the Lees moved to Lexington, Virginia, where Robert E. Lee became the president of Washington College, later named Washington & Lee University.
Robert edward lee iii She was also his third cousin. They married at her parents' home, and had seven children together. She was born in Clarke County, Virginia on 1 October ; although her birth appears in the Custis family Bible and in records kept by her mother to have happened in She was born at the Annefield plantation when her mother's coach stopped there during a journey. She liked talking about politics with her father and later her husband.While Robert had given up on ever returning to Arlington, Mary seethed at the loss of her home. She wrote angry, pleading letters to friends, relatives, newspaper editors, and politicians to complain of the loss of Arlington and the creation of Arlington Cemetery. Many items from the Washington Treasury had gone on display at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C.
due to their connection to George Washington, and Mary bitterly attempted to have these items returned to her. She even wrote to formerly enslaved workers such as Selina Gray, attempting to locate specific pieces of furniture.
Mary never got over losing Arlington. She carried her resentment against the United States Government for the rest of her life.
Additionally, Mary and Robert Lee were both angered by the process of postwar Reconstruction, including new laws enfranchising African American men and federal money spent on the education of freed men and women.
Mary Lee returned to Arlington only once, in , just a few months before her death.
Robert e. lee jr
He served as a Confederate general in the U. He was educated at the classical school of Reverend George A. Smith in his younger years. He then entered the mathematical school of Benjamin Hallowell. Lee, sent a letter to General Winfield Scott on his son's behalf, which precipitated a nomination from Zachary Taylor.Unable to get out of the carriage, a formerly enslaved person brought her a drink of water from the well. “I rode out to my dear old home but so changed it seemed but a dream of the past—I could not have realised [sic] it was Arlington but for the few old oaks they had spared & the trees planted by the Genl and myself which are raising their tall branches to the Heaven which seems to smile on the desecration around them.”
Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee died on November 5, , at the age of She is buried next to her husband on the Washington & Lee campus in Lexington, Virginia.