Hdqrs: 13 Aug ’62
I write a few lines dear M. to say that I am well & that I wrote to you a longer letter a few days since than I can now do. I wish I could see you all if even for a few hours but I fear it is impossible. I shall think of you however, & wish to see you all the same. Give much love to dear Chass, Cousin Anne, Mrs. Lucy &c Uncle & the rest. May God guard & keep you all. I saw Mary last night. She & C[ustis]. were well. Mrs Caskie still sick. Nothing more from the girls. I cannot say whether I shall be here the last of the week or not. Mrs Stevenson left yesterday Mrs Webster also I enclose a letter just recd from Mrs Julia Choutea1 which may be interesting to you
With true affection
1. Julia Augusta Gratiot Choutea was born in 1824 in Virginia. She married Charles Pierre Choutea (1819-1901), a native of St. Louis, in 1845. She is buried in St. Louis. Charles Choutea Gratiot (1786-1855) was the officer who sent a young Robert E. Lee to St. Louis to work on a project to free up traffic on the Mississippi River.
Source: Transcribed from photocopy of original letter, Lee Family Papers, Mss1 L51 c 378, Section 19, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond
Transcribed by Colin Woodward, 2017 January 17
