A postal cover free franked by Confederate General Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), as "RE Lee / Gen" in the postage section at upper right, and also endorsed by him with the name of the recipient, as "Mr Shippen / Violet Bank." N.d., but ca. November 14, 1864. N.p., but known elsewhere as Petersburg, Virginia. Encapsulated and PSA/DNA certified and graded NM-MT 8. Expected wear including light weathering, with mounting traces located verso, and trimmed to an overall size of 5.375" x 3.125." The slab measures 7.25" x 4.25." (A photocopy of the original November 14, 1864 letter that Robert E. Lee sent to Thomas Lee Shippen under this postal cover is included for reference.)

Robert E. Lee sent this postal cover to Thomas Lee Shippen (1822-1910) shortly after he had left his army headquarters at Violet Bank, ca. November 14, 1864, during the grinding 9-month-long Siege of Petersburg. Lee had headquartered "in the yard" of the Shippen Family's Violet Bank estate in Colonial Heights, Virginia from June through November 1864. Lee's headquarters, sometimes referred to as Violet Bank Farm, were found on the northern bank of the Appomattox River near the Richmond-Petersburg turnpike overlooking Petersburg. While Lee and his forces encamped there, the old commander continued to sleep under a leaking tent that he had used since his 1861 military campaigns. The Main house of Violet Bank was used as a hospital.

Thomas Lee Shippen lived at Violet Bank with his wife Jane Gray Gilliam and their young son William (born 1861). Lee was sent numerous gifts in the form of food, clothing, and luxuries from the "ladies of Petersburg" while stationed outside of Violet Bank. On June 24, 1864, Lee sent a peach to Mrs. Shippen, "an invalid lady, in the yard of whose country place ('Violet Bank') Lee's tents were pitched" (Captain Robert E. Lee, "Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee," Chapter VII: "Fronting the Army of the Potomac" [1904].)

Union forces had been threatening Petersburg, a city located 24 miles south of the Confederate capital at Richmond, since the winter of 1864. The Siege of Petersburg lasted over nine months, between June 9, 1864, and March 25, 1865. Union forces would construct over 30 miles of trenches around the Confederate stronghold of Petersburg during the siege. Combatants were locked in a standstill and bunkered down within a system of interconnected trenches and traverses that would anticipate the trench warfare of World War I.

The 144-acre core of Violet Bank was purchased in the late 1770s; the graceful Neo-Classical mansion which Lee would have observed across the river at Violet Bank Farm was built in 1815. Violet Bank is a Virginia Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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