What Robert E. Lee Wrote to The Times About Slavery in 1858
It said that when he told his slaves they would be freed, “no white man was in the room, and the testimony of negroes will not be taken in Court.”
But years later, in 1866, one former slave at Arlington House, Wesley Norris, gave his testimony to the National Anti-Slavery Standard.
Mr. Norris said that he and others at Arlington were indeed told by Mr. Custis they would be freed upon his death,
but that Lee had told them to stay for five more years.
It also said that Mr. Custis, while dying, told his slaves that they should be freed immediately, rather than five years on.
