Lee General Lee's General Order No. 9-Farewell to Troops

M E Wolf

Colonel
Retired Moderator
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Believed to have been penned by Colonel Charles Marshall, inside Lee's ambulance (probably on top of a writing slope/lap desk). Lee's signature faint right bottom "R E Lee - Gen.l"

M. E. Wolf
 
It still gives me chills every time that I read or hear it, this is a very remarkable document from a very remarkable man.
 
As a note, people should see the similarities to the modern handwriting and yet again what made it different, as they used flexible nibs and our fountain pens weren't.

The writer, whom we presume to be Colonel Marshall's, writes the double "ss" as "fs" -- the loop on the descending stroke on the left side of the straight line and the "small F" the loop is to the right.

What I constantly marvel at, is that the many men who wrote reports, forms and such -- had splendid writing skills for the most part and, some men had lousy writing.

The many documents posted belonging to M. E. Weyraugh, that are authentic and have intimate access to them, are all lined like school rule paper, with light blue lines, much lighter than the school notebook paper or pads we have today. The philosophy for this was to keep the writer straight and not drift out of uniformity of writing and not detract from the writing itself. In Grant's pens Thread, scroll down to the draft of the surrender at Appomattox and a few pages from the memoirs`, the writing is all over -- no lines has to be why.

M. E. Wolf
 
I especially admire the second paragraph. Lee lifted defeat from his men's shoulders and placed it on his own. I admire, too, that he well knew that part of duty is accepting defeat graciously and completely.
 
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