“Lee’s wife inherited slaves. Grant’s wife inherited slaves.”
Not really.
G.W.P. Custis, in his will did not leave the slaves to Mary Lee. He instructed the executor of his estate to retain the slaves until all of the debts and legacies of the estate were satisfied. But all slaves must be freed no later than 5 years after his death. Colonel R. E. Lee was the executor of the Custis estate.
Fredrick F Dent, Julia Dent Grant’s father died in Dec. 1873. Slavery ended in Missouri in January 1865. There were no slaves in his estate to will to her.
There seems to be some dispute about Julia Grant’s ownership of slaves. This is from her wikipedia page.
Julia grew up on a plantation with slaves and as a young woman had a slave known as “Jule” or “Black Julia.”[6][7] It is not clear if Jule ever legally belonged to Julia.[7] Historians still debate whether Julia’s father retained legal title to the four slaves his daughter claimed to own.[7] Julia’s father insisted they leave the slaves with him when the Grants lived in the North, fearing they would escape to freedom.[7]
Jule traveled with Julia Grant throughout the war. In January 1862, Abraham Lincoln received an anonymous letter from Cairo, decrying Grant’s drinking and his ‘secesh’ wife with her slave, but Lincoln took no action.[7] In her memoirs, Julia recalled “When I visited the General during the war, I nearly always had Jule with me as nurse. She came near being captured at Holly Springs.”[7]
According to Julia, “Eliza, Dan, Jule, and John belonged to me up to the time of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.”
It seems she thought she owned those 4 slaves.