Hd Qrs Lee’s Cav Div
July 15, 1864
Dear Agnes
Your letter of the13th inst reached me yesterday & I am very much obliged to you & Mr. White for it, for we were very anxious to hear from all of you. I am delighted to hear that ma is better & that you are all doing well. We are at present encamped in "the Wilds of Va" this country has never been settled & the most forlorn set of people are scattered here & they cultivate little farms. There are some animals here but which are accustomed to move away at the approach of man, but [illegible] are the inhabitants that they have been disturbed [illegible] very pleasantly situated in the woods, where we have plenty of shade & a nice stream to bath in, so were have been pretty comfortably fixed in comparison with the rest of the army.
At present we are having a very unusual spell of [illegible] & [illegible] The enemies had soon contend with the way they have been treated & are very shy of coming out & everybody is heartily glad that they have come to such a condition, though if they do attempt any raid now I think they will get not more than a mile or two before we will be upon them & stop them right short up. Our cav is increasing rapidly in numbers & the horses are getting pretty good feed.
We have Capt Cavendish to dine with us yesterday, he is attached to Gen. Fitz & is very clever & amusing. He gave us some very amusing accounts of the English army & their arrogance in their [illegible] Equipments & accompanying them with our ragged [illegible] mentioned one officer who came to this country to offer his services and could not [illegible] breakfast with [illegible] He also told us a great deal about the Crimean War where he was for some time & altogether made himself very interesting & something unusual in a Englishman we gave him for dinner a splendid ham boiled with cabbage then baked [illegible] (age unknown) potatoes beats rice & squash so you see we are not starved out yet We set up in camp meeting style, under a large arbor on a board table
It is the general impression in the army here that Grant is sending away some of his troops to secure Washington, if not the whole army is now under weight. I hope he may soon leave, for we are very anxious to cross the Potomac once more & turn our horses out on the fine grass in Maryland & Pennsylvania. I would not be impressed if we moved at any moment. This weather we are having makes one entirely unfit to do anything & that with the ink & pen & paper (your excuses) make hearing this entirely unpresentable, but that you will be glad to hear from me in any way, I send it.
Remember me to them all at Clydael where you write & to my friends generally & send Major Preston's letter on to home.
Give my love to Milly & Mary & ma & all the misses. Ben heard from Kinlock the other day they are all well.
Your very much fatigued brother
R E Lee
Fitzhugh and John send their love
Source: Lee Family Papers, Mss1 L51 c 535, Section 27, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond
Transcribed by Colin Woodward, 2018 February 5
