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which told of the death of his daughter Annie, along with important official papers, and that the stern soldier suppressed his emotion until he could dispatch the business that was then most pressing; but that on going into the tent not long after he found him with the letter in his hand, weeping tears of loving sorrow.
In a letter written not long after, he thus alludes to his great affliction: ‘The death of my dear Annie was indeed to me a bitter pang.
But the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
In the hours of night, when there is nothing to lighten the full weight of my grief, I feel as if I should be overwhelmed.
I had always counted, if God should spare me a few days of peace after this cruel war was ended, that I should have her with me. But year after year my hopes go out, and I must be resigned.’
The daughter whose death is so touchingly alluded to in the above letter was Miss Annie Carter Lee, who died at Warren, White Sulphur Springs, North Carolina, the 20th of October, 1862.
At the close of the war the citizens of the county erected over her grave a handsome monument, which was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies.
In response to an invitation to be present, General Lee wrote the following:
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Richmond VA, 1887.
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