Among the calamities of war, the hardest to bear, perhaps, is the separation of families and friends. Yet all must be endured to accomplish our independence and maintain our self-government. In my absence from you I have thought of you very often, and regretted I could do nothing for your comfort.
– Robert E. Lee, writing from Coosawhatchie, South Carolina on December 25, 1861 –
Source: Robert Edward Lee, “Letter from Robert E. Lee, December 25, 1861,” in Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee, Soldier and Man edited by J. William Jones (Washington, DC: Neale Publishing Company, 1906).
Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, January 3, 1863.
