[Postmarked 1819 May 28]
Dear Philip,
I shall be much obliged to you to direct Nat,1 to set out on monday next with my horse, time enough to reach this place early in the evening. It is necessary that Ann should remain several weeks longer under the direction of Dr. Gibson, and she is now in a situation to admit of my leaving her.2 I wish to return home.
I will not apologize for asking a favour of you, because the unvaried friendship I have experienced from you, assures me of your disposition to oblige me.
With all the best wishes for your happiness, I beg you to believe me dear Philip your sincerely affectionate friend.
Ann H. Lee
Be so good as to tell Smith3 to give Nat
money to pay his expenses on the road
and to send by him, the shoes Ann was wearing
before we left home.
1. An African American servant, likely the same person given to Mildred in her mother's will of 1829.
2. Anne suffered from what Paul Nagel has described as "tuberculosis of the bone" and had to have her arm amputated. See Paul Nagel, The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an America Family (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 199.
3. Her son, Sydney Smith Lee.
Source: Diane S. Hinds
Transcribed from original letter by Diane Hinds and Colin Woodward
