Monument Name
Anne Carter Lee Monument, Warrenton
Type
Subjects
Creator
City
County
Description
The granite obelisk stands 11 feet tall. It is 2 feet wide at the base and 1 foot wide near the top, with a curved, reverse bell pointed top. It commemorates the life of Annie Carter Lee, daughter of General Robert E. Lee. The idea and production of the monument came soon after General Lee’s surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865.
Inscription
ANNE C. LEE, DAUGHTER OF GENERAL R. E. LEE, AND MARY CUSTIS LEE / BORN AT ARLINGTON, JUNE 18TH, 1839 AND DIED AT THE WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WARREN COUNTY, N. C., OCTOBER 20TH, 1862. / PERFECT AND TRUE ARE ALL HIS WAYS / WHOM HEAVEN ADORES AND EARTH OBEYS.
Custodian
The last recorded custodian was Cassie Jones in 1994. Descendents of the Jones family are buried in the family cemetery.
Dedication Date
August 8, 1866
Decade
Geographic Coordinates
36.282250 , -78.236600
Supporting Sources
Confederate Veteran 18 (1910), 109
The Stars and Bars, (S.l. : s.n., 1918?), (accessed May 16, 2012)
Williams, Page. "No Peace for Annie Lee," The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC), July 31, 1994, A1
Public Site
No
Materials & Techniques
Granite
Sponsors
The family of Robert E. Lee. The people of Warren county also raised $1,000 in support of erecting the monument.
Monument Dedication and Unveiling
Captain James Barron Hope, of Norfolk, Virginia, wrote an ode for the unveiling. Representatives of Annie's Lee's family included Generals G. W. C. Lee and W. F. Lee, although her father, General Robert E. Lee, was not present.
Subject Notes
Annie Carter Lee was one of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s four daughters. Suffering from a disfigured eye, she was shy and spent most of her life with family. When Union troops occupied the Lee family home in Arlington, VA, in June 1862, Annie and her sister Agnes were sent to Jones Springs (also called White Sulphur Springs) outside of Warrenton, NC; it was a well-known resort at the time. Annie died a few months later of typhoid fever. Because taking her body back to Arlington would require crossing Union lines, the owner of Jones Springs offered his family’s cemetery for Annie to be buried; the family gratefully accepted. A Confederate soldier created the obelisk and placed it at her grave in her honor.
Controversies
In 1994 after learning that the monument had been damaged by vandals, the Lee family requested the body be moved to the Lee family crypt in Virginia. Local chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Military Order of the Stars and Bars attempted to convince the family to leave the body where it was, citing the fact that Robert E. Lee had approved of the location in 1870 when he visited. Though obelisk was eventually repaired , the family still chose to move the body.
Location
The monument is located at the Jones family cemetery, where the family of the owner of Jones Springs is buried. It is on a dirt road off of US 401 named Annie Lee Road in her memory.
Former Locations
The monument has not been relocated. However, the body of the girl it commemorates was moved in 1994, when Lee’s descendents decided to move Annie’s body to the Lee family burial site in Lexington, VA; the original grave the obelisk marks is now empty. Local chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans attempted to convince the family to leave the body where it was.
Post Dedication Use
Robert E. Lee visited the Annie Carter Lee monument in 1870 without warning any local residents of his intent. It became a point of pride to North Carolina chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans who attempted to stop the body's removal. After learning of the family's intent to re-inter the body, funds were raised to repair the damage done by vandals in an attempt to convince the family not to remove the body. However, the family eventually moved the body to Virginia where they felt it would be better looked after.
Approval Process
The monument’s production matter was handled privately by the Lee family; the Jones family approved the use of their family cemetery for its placement by Annie’s grave.
Materials & Assembly Cost
$4,000 was raised by a North Carolina chapter of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars to re-erect the monument after vandals toppled it in the late 1900s.
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