Camp Petersburg 30 June ‘64
I was very glad dear Mary to receive your note yesterday & to hear that you were better. I trust you will Continue to improve & soon be well as usual. God Grant that you may be entirely restored in his own good time. Do you recollect what a happy day thirty three years ago this was. How many hopes & pleasures it gave truth to? God has been very merciful & kind to us & how thankless & sinful I have been. I pray that he may Continue his mercies & blessings to us & give us a little peace & rest together in this world & finally gather us & all he has given us around his throne in the world to come! I am encamped in the yard of Mrs Shippen; formerly Miss Gilliam[1]. She has been for three years suffering with rheumatism in her joints similar to yourself. Last winter I think she was seized with a violent attack of pneumonia. As she grew better her rheumatism diminished. It seemed to descend & the swelling of her joints settled in her feet. She now walks about, having once been obliged to be carried. Her feet are still somewhat swollen I believe, at any rate very tender & sensitive & her only pain is now there. You Can see yet, in the lineaments of her face, traces of great suffering. She is very kind. Sends me rolls, vegetables & milk & on two occasions at our dinner at sunset has sent us a tureen of delightful Calf’s head soup. I hope your attack will pass off in the same way. The President has just arrived & I must bring my letter to a close. Give much love to my dear daughters. Custis I hope will see you this evg. God bless you all.
Truly & sincerely as ever
R E Lee
Source: Photocopy of original letter, Lee Family Papers, Mss1 L51 c 531, Section 26, Virginia Historical Society,Richmond
Transcribed by Katie Gibson, 2017 August 9
[1] Jane Gray Shippen Gilliam (1823-1875) was the daughter of Dr. John Gilliam and Elizabeth Smith Shore. She was the wife of Thomas Lee Shippen. She was born and died in Petersburg.
