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A cover endorsed with the signature of Gen. Robert E.
Lee is always a desirable item, but the sad story of the addressee in
this case proves to be the interesting part of the cover with which
this article deals.
The addressee is Mrs. Hetty Cary Pegram, a well known
belle of Richmond throughout the War. She was described by Henry Kyd
Douglas in "I Rode With Stonewall" as "the most beautiful woman of her
day and generation" and "the handsomest woman in the Southland--with her
classic face, her pure complexion, her auburn hair. her perfect figure
and her carriage, altogether the most beautiful woman I ever saw in any
land."
On the back of the cover is a notation stating that
it contained a letter of condolence written by General Lee from
Petersburg to the widow of General Pegram. As the cover is addressed to
Richmond, we had high hopes on a recent trip to Richmond of locating it.
We were in luck, as it is filed in the manuscript division of the
Virginia Historical Society at Battle Abbey. We also found their
wedding invitation on file there.
Evil omens attended their marriage. To start the day
off, the bride broke a mirror on her dressing table. The whispers
started. Jefferson Davis sent his private carriage and horses to take
the pair to the church, but the normally gentle horses balked and
refused to go forward, almost causing a mishap. Somehow Hetty tripped
as she went up the aisle of St. Paul's and badly core her dress and
veil. The superstitious murmurs ran rampant.
Three weeks later, to the day. Gen.John Pegram
was buried. He was killed at Hatchet's Run Feb. 6, 1865. only a short
time before the War ended. He died almost immediately from a chest
wound near the heart. Hetty Cary had been his fiancee for three years,
but was his bride for less than three weeks.
Gen. Lee was given command of all the armies of the
Confederacy the same day Pegram met his death. His heart was heavy when
he heard of his friend's death and he wrote the following beautiful
letter to General Pegram's young widow.
My dear Mrs Pegram
I cannot find words to express my deep sympathy in
your affliction, my sorrow at your loss. God alone can give you
strength to bear the blow he has inflicted, and since it has been
death by his hand I know it was sent in mercy. As dear as your husband
was to you, as necessary apparently to his Country and as important
to his friends, I feel assured it was best for him to go at the
moment he did. His purity of character, his services to the Country
and his devotion to his God, prepared him for the peace and rest he
now enjoys. We are left to grieve at his departure, cherish his memory
and prepare to follow. May God give us his Grace, that through the
mediation of his blessed Son, we may be ready to obey his gracious
Summons.
Truly and affy your friend
R E Lee
Petersburg 11 Feb '65
Mrs Hetty Pegram
Lee was a great letter-writer, always finding time to
reply to any of his friends or relatives even from the field of some
great battle. His letters were always gracious, courteous, and
interesting. Unfortunately, or fortunately for the people who possess
such philatelic gems, many of Lee's personal papers and most of his
official and military communications were lost or destroyed near the
close of the War. After the War he wrote "All of my records, returns,
etc. etc., were needlessly destroyed by the clerks having them in charge
on the retreat from Petersburg, and such as had been forwarded to the
War Department in Richmond were either destroyed in the conflagration or
captured in the attempt to save them."
This cover, as were most of the Lee Field Letters,
was endorsed with Lee's signature in the upper right hand corner where
a "frank" or stamp would normally be placed. This signature, however, is
not a frank, as only the Post Office Department was allowed the
privilege of free mail for official correspondence, and that had to be
enclosed in specially printed envelopes and signed by an official of
that department. Several possibilities could account for his signature
on his envelopes. Lee so endorsed his mail while in the Engineer Corps
of the United States Army, so it may have been carried over by force of
habit. Possibly Confederate military regulations required endorsement
before a military courier could accept and deliver such letters. As far
as known Lee autographed all his envelopes in this way, whether they
were mailed or delivered by courier, as was this one to Mrs. Pegram. It
was more out of the ordinary when his letters were mailed, as the mails
were not very direct and private messenger was often the surest and
fastest way of sending mail.
Most of the Lee Field Covers known today are in the
Library of Congress, with some scattered in various historical
societies or museums and a few in private hands. The letter from General
Lee to Mrs. Pegram was donated to the Virginia Historical Society in
1966 and we presume that the cover went on
the market about that time. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this
is the first time that this particular cover has been philatelically
recorded.
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