“Lee did not own slaves, did he??” “He did for most of his life, both his own and those his wife was given or inherited.”
This isn’t accurate, but no surprise considering the source.
If he had owned slaves they would show up in census records. You don’t see DoodleDawg posting those records. Guess why.
Lee’s mother Ann owned six slaves at the time of her death in 1829. Ann listed the slaves she bequeathed to her daughter. There is no record of her bequeathing any to Lee or his two older brothers. In 1829 Lee had just graduated from West Point to begin his Army career.
Lee was an Army officer the majority of his life. He moved around the country, didn’t own a farm, had no need for slaves, and there is no record of him buying any. If there was a record of any you’d sure be seeing their names.
His wife, the g-grandaughter of Martha Washington, inherited her father’s slaves and property upon his death in 1857. Her father’s will made Lee the executor of the estate, and instructed Lee to emancipate the slaves within five years of GW Parke Custis’ death. The Arlington estate was in debt, and the debtors could claim the slaves if the debts were not paid off. So they weren’t freed right away, but were by 1862 when the debts were extinguished. A year before Lincoln’s emancipation order.
Actually it is, though it's not at all surprising that you refuse to believe it.
If he had owned slaves they would show up in census records. You don’t see DoodleDawg posting those records. Guess why.
If slaves would show up in census records for an individual then census records would also reflect that an individual didn't own any, right? So surely you can show the census records for Lee that reflects that?
Regardless, there is at least one census report from Baltimore showing Lee owned three slaves while he was living there.
Lee was an Army officer the majority of his life. He moved around the country, didn’t own a farm, had no need for slaves, and there is no record of him buying any. If there was a record of any you’d sure be seeing their names.
As hard as it may be for you to understand, not all slaves worked in the fields. Slavery was a middle-class institution and slaves were cooks, maids, grooms, butlers, and the like.
But hey, you want names. There are records of Lee owning a slave named Nat who died in 1829. How Lee came into his posession is unclear but it appears he was part of the bequest from his mother that went to his sister, Mildred. Mildred being married to a Boston lawyer it's probably that she turned him down and gave him to Lee.
In a letter to his brother Charles in 1835 Lee wrote that "Mrs. Nancy Ruffin and her three illegitimate pledges being all of that race in my possession..."
In 1853 Lee paid passage for former slaves William and Rosabella Burke to emigrate to Liberia. William later attended a Presbyterian seminary there and became a minister. Rosabella Burke corresponded with Mrs. Lee until the rebellion.
In 1852 when Lee was ordered to West Point he gave power of attorney to manage the hiring of "my servant man Philip Meridey." Since Lee couldn't bring Meridy to New York it's safe to assume he was a slave.
Enough names?