How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

Head-Quarters, Army of Northern Virginia, April 10, 1865. Letterpress circular of General Orders No. 9, signed in type by Robert E. Lee. Creasing from old folds. 8 1/4 x 5 1/2 in. (209 x 140 mm).

Following the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, Lee and his lieutenants retired to his tent, where they sat before a fire and discussed the day's events and Lee's own feelings towards his soldiers. It was decided that Lee would draft an address to be distributed to his troops thanking them for their service but acknowledging the Confederate cause was lost, the South defeated.

According to Lee's aide-de-camp, Colonel Charles Marshall, Lee gave him the use of his ambulance in which to draft the letter, going so far as to place an armed guard before it in order to prevent any distraction on Marshall's part from the task at hand. Lee then read over the draft, made a few changes, and ordered that it be printed and distributed. While numerous copies were printed as broadsides and sold throughout the South following the war, original field copies are considered quite rare. Parrish & Willingham 1230.