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To: Hacksaw
"in fact General Lee disagreed with it and freed all his slaves before he took command."

Not accurate. I know of no record of Lee ever buying a slave himself and as a career military officer stationed from post-to-post around the country, he had little need and likely little money of his own, to buy slaves. Lee married well, but he was not a wealthy man on his own account. The slaves he "owned" where inherited from his father-in-law, the last of the Custus family who owned the plantation now known as Arlington National Cemetery. The conditions of the will leaving the slaves and property to Lee required that all the slaves be given their freedom papers within 5 years of Custus' death. Lee did free those slave that were still in his procession until the year 1862. Those who had remained at Arlington were "freed" as contraband in 1861 when Union troops occupied that plantation and Gen. Lee no longer had access to them. There are also accounts from former slaves owned by Gen Lee that say he was not a "nice" master.

Lee, like Jefferson, “theoretically” opposed slavery. There is no record, however, of either ever acting upon their "beliefs."

149 posted on 11/29/2002 3:22:26 PM PST by Ditto
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To: Ditto
There are also accounts from former slaves owned by Gen Lee that say he was not a "nice" master.

So says you. There are many more accounts that Lee was an upstanding gentleman, and a fine Christian would would nary whisper a hateful

Start you own General Lee bashing thread and see what happens.

189 posted on 11/29/2002 7:05:06 PM PST by stainlessbanner
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