daughter and 'Life' [Pet names for his two daughters, Mary and Mildred].
I want to see you all very much, but I know not when that can be. May
God guard and protect you all. In Him alone is our hope. Remember
me to Ned [M. Edward Carter Turner, of Kinloch, my father's cousin]
and all at 'Kinloch' and Avenel [The house of the Berbeleys, in
Fauquier County]. Send word to Miss Lou Washington [Eldest daughter
of John Augustin Washington] that her father is sitting on his blanket
sewing the strap on his haversack. I think she out to be here to do
it. Always yours,

"R. E. Lee."

In a letter to his two daughters who were in Richmond, he writes:

"Valley Mountain, August 29, 1861.

"My Precious Daughters: I have just received your letters of the 24th
and am rejoiced to hear that you are well and enjoying the company of
your friends.... It rains here all the time, literally. There has
not been sunshine enough since my arrival to dry my clothes. Perry
[his servant--had been in the dining-room at Arlington] is my washerman,
and socks and towels suffer. But the worst of the rain is that the
ground has become so saturated with water that the constant travel on
the roads has made them almost impassable, so that I cannot get up
sufficient supplies for the troops to move. It is raining now. Has
been all day, last night, day before, and day before that, etc., etc.
But we must be patient. It is quite cool, too. I have on all my
winter clothes and am writing in my overcoat. All the clouds seem
to concentrate over this ridge of mountains, and by whatever wind they
are driven, give us rain. The mountains are magnificent. The sugar-