Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. [NOTE: some original documents have been replaced by photocopies; originals stored in vault, available for use by special request]

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Stephen D. Lee Papers #2440, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Blewett Lee of Atlanta, Ga., in 1941.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• 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, b. 1867.
• Lee, Stephen D. (Stephen Dill), 1833-1908.
• South Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.
• Swiss Americans--North Carolina--History.
• Taylor family--Genealogy.
• Taylor, Samuel, d. 1798.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.

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]

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 enslaved people 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 President Andrew Johnson asking for a pardon. The folder also contains an 1862 fragment of a Union flag captured at Murfreesboro.

Folders 4-7 contain 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, and 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 William Howard 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.

• Photograph (P-2440/1)
• Oversize papers (OP-2440/1-5)
• Separated folders (SEP-2440/1-6)