While he did petition to keep them longer, he did not win and he did free them and he did not own them. It is believed he may have inherited some slaves from his Mother but her will clearly placed the slaves in possession of his eldest Sisters family and its only through some letters that have some ambiguity to them that people surmise that he also had slaves. The will itself did not specify him receiving any and there is no evidence he bought or sold any, only that his troops took escaped slaves from the North and returned or sold them.      He seemed to take on more of a passive role with slave issues except that he often spoke about being against it. That said, he thought, like many others that the Abolitionists were not only trying to free slaves, but to undermine and destroy Southern values and culture and he was vehemently opposed to that. Mary taught slaves to read and write and and he supported and Mary was a member of the American Colonization Society. His relationship with slavery is tangled in a messy estate and family ties with no credible evidence that he was a supporter other than what was done to maintain a series of failing estates for which the will provided. The verbiage in the will was something to the effect of set them free as soon as possible, but also to maintain the family estates, kind of hard to do that as a serving regular US Army officer and thus the rub with Lee being a brutal slave master. Much like the war, its complicated.  Scott

Got it on DVD, watch it quite a few times over the years,

I'm lookin' to get myself a 1st Mar Div lighter (about '67 through '71)   Can anyone point me to a good one?   Thanks   Wade

This was just a flag I found to be *very* similar to mine. I thought it was interesting. I never took *exact* measurements of my flag. It seemed to be about the size it was marked. I'd have to lay it out again and remeasure it to find out exactly what it measures.

This little grouping turned up at the local antique mall today. 

What I said was true.  I didn't say he traded slaves as a profession. He married into money and inherited slaves that were supposed to be freed in five years.  Lee petitioned to have that time extended.  He hired them out and in the management of the state he bought and sold slaves from time to time.  He had slaves before Custis, - he was the son of Light Horse Henry Lee and not a pauper.  To say that Lee did not exploit slavery for his own financial gain contradicts the evidence.

It is neat I agree. Can’t make out the price, but I remember it being decent. Not in my collection focus though and I don’t need more random items, I have enough of those 😅

Great story Mikie, I too have an original set of Grants memoirs and agree that the story of their writing is indeed a sad one. As a kid I had a print of the Wilderness and it just captivated me.       The first battlefield I visited was Columbus-Belmont and so I learned of Grant quite early and during an early campaign for him. My Grandparents were from Clinton Kentucky and they took me there several times, beginning when I was 9. It was an amazing place to go as a kid.      Scott

' Lee owns, buys and sells slaves'      is patently false. Lee was married to Mary Custis, great granddaughter of George Washington and as her Father had only Daughters, she inherited Arlington Manor from her Father. When he dies, his will under law had to be executed by a male or in this case, his Son in Law Robert E Lee. George Washington Parke Custis owned slaves and his will emancipated them. When Lee returned home from campaign he saw to it that the will was executed in accordance with Mr. Custis' wishes. Robert E. Lee owned no slaves nor did he trade in them. He was a career soldier. These same paternal laws are part and parcel to why we have Arlington National Cemetery as Mary was unable to pay the taxes while the general was at war and it was seized. The Lee family won it back in court after the war but sold the land to the government at market value and the burials remained. Lee owned neither land nor slaves. Arlington exists today due to the Lee family and their willingness to sell the land rather than force the government to move the dead, which were put there to desecrate the land and punish his family. This was done by Stanton, a true piece of work perhaps worse than old spoons Butler.    Scott

Markings don't look American....Good chance it's German Navy as it looks to have Crown-'M' stamps....Kriegsmarine (German Navy) using 'M' as their way of denoting something having been inspected and accepted by them.....Bodes