To commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Robert E. Lee on 19 January 1807, we display here a letter written by Lee to his son, Colonel George Washington Lee during the Civil War, in which the elder Lee discusses the liberation of slaves who had been the property of Lee's late father-in-law (and Colonel Lee's namesake), George Washington Parke Custis. Why do we mark this anniversary at the Massachusetts Historical Society? Please read on.