Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad Co.
Superintendent’s Office,
Columbia, S.C., Sept 4 1871
Col. Walter H Taylor
Dear Taylor
A thousand greetings & my Double-breasted affection to begin with & look out to see me for a few minutes sometime this winter being now a RR fellow (instead of Pasha of the finest Harem in Cairo as I came very near being a short while ago) & having RR business in Portsmouth.
Can you give me the Corps of the Army as reorganized at Amelia C[ourt]H[ouse] on the retreat April 65 that is what Divisions composed Longstreets Ewells RH Andersons & Gordon’s Corps?
Also can you give me the dates & particulars of Gen Lee’s movements (personal) on the retreat. When & where he halted or spent nights from time he left Petersburg till arrival at Appomattox. If you cant remember all just give me any items you do – to piece out my own fragmentary recollections you need not be formal or take any time to it but just pencil down roughly on this same sheet & return to me.
Most sincerely yours,
E. P. Alexander
Source: The Archives of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, Papers of the Lee Family, Box 8, M2009.399
Transcribed by Caitlin Connelly, 2016 July 15
