1870 General Robert E. Lee Signed CDV Photograph Dated 4/27/1870 (PSA/DNA)

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2015

Photograph Signed “R E Lee”, and again, signed and inscribed on the verso to “ Miss Emily M Bennett with the regards of R E Lee, Charleston, 27 Apl 1870”.Both signatures are accomplished on a 2.5” x 4” carte-de-visite bust portrait of an older Lee by Alexander Gardner with Gardner’s printed credit on verso. Some light soiling to albumen, gold ruling rubbed with some losses, verso toned, else very good condition. Lee signed and inscribed the photograph to Emily M. Bennett, the sixteen year old daughter of prominent Charleston merchant William Jefferson Bennett. On the evening of April 27, 1870, Bennett hosted an elaborate reception for the aging general at his Charleston home. According to period accounts, guests included two former Confederate Treasury Secretaries, Christopher Memminger and George Trenholm, and an assortment of other dignitaries, including a U.S District Judge. During the festivities, Lee was reported to have remarked, “ It is so grateful to see so much elasticity among your people; and I am astonished to see Charleston s wondrously recuperated after all her disasters.” Bands organized by the local fire companies provided the entertainment and “From eight P.M. to twelve there was no cessation of the overflow of comers. Old and young, the graybeard and sages of the country, the noble, pure, honorable, poor and wealthy, with hardly an exception were present, and glad to do him honor.” For his part, Lee was showing his advanced years. A correspondent noted that he was “evidently feeble, and his good nature was severely taxed, even by the loving exactions of those who only sought to do him honor.” (‘General Lee in his Glory, Southern Homage to the Ex-Rebel Chief” Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, May 5, 1870, 2 reprinted from Apr. 29 issue of the Charleston Courier).The card has been encapsulated by PSA/DNA verifying Lee's Signaiture.