Spotsylvania Court House
May 16, 1864
My Dearest Mary:
I received your note with the 20 pairs socks. The latter I have distributed. Just before leaving Orange the Quartermaster received thirty thousand pairs which are sufficient. The ladies had better therefore retain for the present the socks they manufacture. I have thought of you very often in these last eventful days & have wished to write to you, but have found it impossible. As I write I am expecting the sound of the guns every moment. I grieve the loss of our gallant officers & men, & miss their aid & sympathy. A more zealous, ardent, brave & devoted soldier, than Stuart, the Confederacy cannot have.
Praise be to God for having sustained us so far. May His blessing be continued to us. I return the bag, napkins & towel. Give much love to all. God bless & preserve you.
Truly & affly
R. E. Lee
Source: The Wartime Papers of R. E. Lee, edited by Clifford Dowdey and Louis Manarin, 730-731.
Transcribed by Colin Woodward, 2016 May 16
