Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#2440
STEPHEN DILL LEE PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Native of South Carolina; U.S. Army officer, 1854-
1861; Confederate Army officer, rising from captain to
lieutenant general; and president of the Mississippi
Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1880-1899.
Papers of Lt. Gen. Lee include a number of
autographs and collected letters, 1784-1860, of
prominent public figures, chiefly U.S. political
leaders, including several presidents. Among these
are John Quincy Adams, Judah B. Benjamin, Henry Clay,
Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, J. L. Petigru,
Franklin M. Pierce, and Martin Van Buren. Civil War
materials include letters from Lee to his wife;
letters from friends, many of whom were Confederate
officials, including Patton Anderson, Jefferson Davis,
and Nathan B. Forrest, Roy L. Gibson, William J.
Hardee, J. B. Hood, O. O. Howard, and Leonidas Polk;
and military correspondence from Braxton Bragg,
George William Brent, Abraham Buford, Nathan B.
Forrest, Joseph E. Johnston, J. B. Magruder, Alex. P.
Stewart, and Richard Taylor. Postwar correspondence
includes letters from Jefferson Davis, D. H. Hill, J.
B. Hood, J. E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, R. D. Lilley,
James Longstreet, W. N. Pendleton, R. B. Rhett, Jr.,
and Raphael Semmes. Other items include a diary
recording the fall of Fort Sumter and other events of
1861; personal and professional correspondence, 1909-
1929, of Lee's son, Blewett Harrison Lee (b. 1867),
lawyer of Chicago and New York; and genealogical data
on the Blewett family of Mississippi, the Earle family
of South Carolina, the DeGraffenried family of
Switzerland and North Carolina, the Hampton family of
South Carolina, the Harris family of Virginia, the
Harrison family of South Carolina and Mississippi, the
Lee family of South Carolina and Mississippi, and the
family of Samuel Taylor (d. 1798).
Online Catalog Terms:
Autographs--United States--Collections.
Blewett family--Genealogy.
Charleston (S.C.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Diaries.
DeGraffenried family--Genealogy.
Earle family--Genealogy.
Hampton family--Genealogy.
Harris family--Genealogy.
Harrison family--Genealogy.
Lawyers--Illinois--History--20th century.
Lawyers--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.
Lee family--Genealogy.
Lee, Blewett Harrison, b. 1867.
Lee, Stephen D. (Stephen Dill), 1833-1908.
Taylor family--Genealogy.
Taylor, Samuel, d. 1798.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal
narratives, Confederate.
Size: About 270 items (0.5 linear feet).
Date Span: 1784-1929.
Provenance: Received from Blewett Lee of Atlanta, Ga., in
1941.
Access: No restrictions. [NOTE: some original documents
have been replaced by photocopies; originals stored in
vault, available for use by special request.]
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
DESCRIPTION
Biographical Note
Stephen Dill Lee was born to Dr. Thomas Lee and Caroline
Allison Lee on 22 September 1833 in Charleston, S.C. He entered
West Point at the age of 17 and graduated in 1854; he served in
the U.S. Army in Texas, Florida, Kansas, and the Dakotas. In
1861, he resigned from the U.S. Army to enter service in the
Confederate Army and rose in rank from captain to lieutenant-
general. Lee was severely wounded in Nashville, Tenn., in 1864
and surrendered with Johnston in High Point, N.C., on 26 April
1865.
In February 1865, Lee married Regina Harrison, daughter of
James Thomas Harrison and Regina Blewett, of Columbus, Miss.
They settled in Mississippi after the war and Lee was active as a
planter for several years. In 1878, Lee was elected to the
Mississippi Senate. From 1880 to 1899, he served as the first
president of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College.
He resigned as college president to serve as member of the
commission to organize Vicksburg Military Park. Lee was active
in the Confederate veterans, wrote several articles on the Civil
War, and held the post of Chief of the United Confederate
Veterans until his death in Vicksburg on 28 May 1908. [from the
Dictionary of American Biography]
Blewett Harrison Lee, born 1 March 1867 in Noxubee County,
Miss., was the only child of Stephen and Regina Lee. He
graduated from Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College
and studied law at Harvard. He served as private secretary for
Supreme Court Justice Horace Gray in 1890 and afterwards
practiced law in Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. He was a
professor of law at Northwestern University from 1893 to 1901 and
the University of Chicago from 1902 to 1903. [from Who’s Who in
America, 1924-25 edition]
Collection Overview
The papers pertain mainly to Lt. Gen. Lee, his wife Regina,
their son Blewett, and related families, particularly the Blewett
family of Mississippi. The bulk of the papers date from 1860-
1929. In addition to these materials, there are a number of
autographs and letters of prominent public figures, chiefly U.S.
political leaders including several presidents. Some autograph
materials have been replaced by photocopies with originals
removed. These are noted in the inventory.
Folders 1-7 are arranged chronologically. Folders 1-2 contain
a number of documents, apparently collected for autograph value,
which are unrelated to Lee or related families. Some of these
have been replaced by photocopies; the originals are available
for use by special request. The autograph material removed is
noted below as part of the folder list. A few items from the
antebellum period pertain to James T. Harrison, Thomas G.
Blewett, and Stephen D. Lee. Notable items include an 1854 bill
of sale for slaves and other property in Sunflower County, Miss.,
Robert Winston to Randle Blewett; and Stephen Lee’s commission as
a 2nd lieutenant on the 4th Regiment of the U.S. Army
Folder 3 covers the Civil War period and consists chiefly of
personal letters to Regina Harrison and military papers of
Stephen Lee. Correspondents include Jefferson Davis, William J.
Hardee, Leonidas Polk, R. L. Gibson, J. B. Hood, and O. O.
Howard. The military papers consist of Lee’s commission and
orders as he received raises in rank as well as communications
regarding military actions. There are copies of the basis of
agreement of 18 April 1865 and military convention of 26 April
1865 between Sherman and Johnston; Lee’s parole from the
Confederate Army, Greensboro, N.C., 1 May 1865; orders of 2 May
1865 from Gen. Johnston concerning field transportation lent to
troops; and a letter of 9 July 1865 from Lee to Andrew Johnson
asking for a pardon. The folder also contains an 1862 fragment
of a Union flag captured at Murfreesboro.
Folders 4-7 contains correspondence, primarily from 1866-1903,
received by Stephen D. Lee relating to personal, business, and
Confederate affairs. His correspondents include a number of
former Confederate leaders, who wrote of their postwar
activities, with some discussion of the Civil War. J. B. Hood,
James Longstreet, D. H. Hill, J. E. Johnston, Raphael Semmes,
Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, W. N. Pendleton, G. W. C. Lee,
are among Lee’s correspondents. Included is an 1889 form asking
Lee to serve as a pall bearer at Jefferson Davis’s funeral.
Correspondence from the period 1909-1929 pertains chiefly to
Blewett Harrison Lee on legal and personal matters. Included is
a 1909 letter from President Taft asking Lee to receive a
monument in Mississippi on behalf of the War Department.
Folder 8 contains undated materials, clippings, and a number
of clipped autographs which have been removed (see folder list
below). Folder 9 contains genealogical materials pertaining to
the Blewett family of Mississippi, the Earle family of South
Carolina, the DeGraffenried family of Switzerland and North
Carolina, the Hampton family of South Carolina, the Harris family
of Virginia, the Harrison family of South Carolina and
Mississippi, the Lee family of South Carolina and Mississippi,
and the family of Samuel Taylor (d. 1798).
Folder 10 contains the 1861 diary of then Col. Lee with a
transcription. It contains a number of entries for April 1861,
when Lee participated in movements leading to the fall of Fort
Sumter. Scattered entries are present for other months as well
as miscellaneous financial accounts.
Folder 1 1784-1849; some originals replaced by photocopies:
· 12 July 1794, ADs, Alexander Hamilton
· 30 January 1815, ALs, James Monroe
· 25 August 1817, ALs, John Quincy Adams
· 15 May 1832, ALs, Henry Clay
Folder 2 1850-1861
Folder 3 1862-1865; some originals replaced by photocopies:
· 12 October 1863, ALs, Jefferson Davis
Folder 4 1866-1875; some originals replaced by photocopies:
· 8 March 1868, ALs, Jefferson Davis
· 14 March 1870, ALs, Robert E. Lee
Folder 5 1876-1889
Folder 6 1890-1899
Folder 7 1900-1929; some originals replaced by photocopies:
· 18 November 1909, TLs, William Taft
· 26 June 1911, TLs, Taft
Folder 8 Undated, clippings, and clipped autographs;
Autographs removed:
· W.H. Wilbur
· Samuel Harrison
· A.G. ???
· R. E. Lee
· Alexander Stephens
· J. Tyler
· James Madison
· Andrew Jackson (with Presidential seal)
· Daniel Webster
· G. Washington
· Raphael Semmes
· Amos Kendall
Folder 9 Genealogical files
Folder 10 1861 diary with transcript
PHOTOGRAPHS
P-2440/1 Unidentified group of men.
OVERSIZED PAPERS
OP-2440/1 1 October 1825 deed of sale of eighty acres in
Mississippi to Joseph Thompson.
OP-2440/2 1 January 1857 certificate from President Franklin
Pierce appointing Lee as 1st lieutenant.
OP-2440/3-4 Reproductions of two issues, 27 June and 2 July
1863, of the Vicksburg, Miss., Daily Citizen,
printed on wallpaper.
OP-2440/5 Certificate appointing Lee a Mississippi state
senator, 1 February 1878.