CAMP ORANGE COURT
HOUSE,
January 17, 1864.
I enclose a letter for you which has been sent to my care. I
hope you are well and all around you. Tell Fitz I grieve over the hardships and
sufferings of his men in their late expedition. I would have preferred his
waiting for more favorable weather. He accomplished much under the
circumstances, but would have done more in better weather. I am afraid he was
anxious to get back to the ball. This is a bad time for such things. We have
too grave subjects on hand to engage in such trivial amusements. I would rather
his officers should entertain themselves in fattening their horses, healing
their men, and recruiting their regiments. There are too many Lees on the
committee. I like them all to be present at battles, but can excuse them at
balls. But the saying is: “Children will be children!” I think he had better
move his camp farther from Charlottesville, and perhaps he will get more work
and less play. He and I are too old for such assemblies. I want him to write me
how his men are, his horses, and what I can do to fill up his ranks.
SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of
Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 299-300; Thomas Nelson Page, Robert E. Lee: Man and Soldier, p. 472-3
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