10/14/2005

Lee's loyalty oath

It's one of those odd little turns of Civil War history that Lee's loyalty attestation was mislaid and that he may therefore have been pardoned twice. Here's the purported text of it, anyway:
I, Robert E. Lee, of Lexington, Virginia, do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States thereunder, and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God.