Monday, May 16, 2011

Now Who Was Fighting For Slavery?

2 comments:

Brock Townsend said...

http://www.nps.gov/arho/historyculture/slavery.htm
In his will, George Washington Parke Custis stipulated that all the Arlington slaves should be freed upon his death if the estate was found to be in good financial standing or within five years otherwise. When Custis died in 1857, Robert E. Lee—the executor of the estate—determined that the slave labor was necessary to improve Arlington's financial status. The Arlington slaves found Lee to be a more stringent taskmaster than his predacessor. Eleven slaves were “hired out” while others were sent to the Pamunkey River estates. In accordance with Custis's instructions, Lee officially freed the slaves on December 29, 1862

Thomas Gann said...

Thank you ,Brock,for that clarifaction.

Still,General Lee,free those slaves under his charge well before the 13th Amendant was invoked in 1865,unlike U.S.Grant's wife.