H^d Q^rs Dep N. Va.      

31^st July 1862 

 

General,

                        Your letter asking for a leave of absence for thirty days is received.

 

I fully appreciate your desire to visit your family, and would very gladly comply with your request, could I do so consistently with the exigencies of the service.

 

            Your claim to the small indulgence you ask only increases my regret that I am not at liberty to follow my own inclinations in the matter.

 

            But at this time I regard your presence with your command as very important, not only in the work of organizing and preparing it for active service, but to meet an emergency that may arise at any moment, in the present posture of affairs, requiring the best efforts of all, and rendering it impossible to spare you from the Army.

 

I am General, very respectfully

 Your ob^t Serv^t

R E Lee

  Gen^l Comd^g

 

 

Maj. Gen L McLaws,                                                 

Command^g D                                                                          

                                                                                              

 

 

[overleaf]

 

Letter from Genl Lee

declining to allow furlough

30^th July 1862

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