25311

Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Autograph Letter Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Autograph Letter Protesting "Cr

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 700.00 USD
Henry  Light-Horse Harry  Autograph Letter Henry  Light-Horse Harry  Autograph Letter Protesting  Cr
<B>Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Autograph Letter Protesting "Cruel Treatment</B></I>." Autograph Letter Signed, 2 pages, recto and verso, Norfolk, May 22, 1807. To a Judge. In fine condition. With a steel engraving of Lee in uniform. Certainly Lee was a brilliant and dashing soldier - he won one of only eight medals voted by Congress during the Revolutionary war. But off the battlefield he lived far beyond his means and hadn't the slightest head for business: his ineptitude as a planter, and disastrous speculations in real estate, would eventually land him in debtor's prison. Here we see the gallant fighter -- and father of a new-born son, Robert E. Lee -- try to save himself from going under. "<I>I have been here for some days with the expectation of ascertaining & closing the difficulties which I experience in consequence of the incomplete title sent me... to 4000 acres of the dismal swamp land. I had sold the land but the gentleman who purchased it will not accept the deed as some of the land is already lost & 4000 acres never can be laid off in one body. I do hope as friendship had the chief influence with me in my two transactions with my much respected & beloved departed friend, so his representatives... will be so good to save me... by making to me immediate compensation... This is cruel treatment</B></I>." From the Henry E. Luhrs Collection. Accompanied by LOA from PSA/DNA.