GENERAL LEE'S FAREWELL ADDRESS
AIRED: Season 1, Episode 5
THE DETECTIVES: Wes Cowan and Elyse Luray
THE PLACE: The Beech Island Agricultural Club, Beech Island, South Carolina
THE CASE:
In the archives of a gentleman's club in this rural town is what is believed to be a signed copy of one of the most famous documents in the history of the Civil War — Confederate General Robert E. Lee's farewell address, "General Order #9," composed at Appomattox, Virginia, upon the surrender of his troops in April 1865.
The Beech Island Agricultural Club, a social organization formed by local plantation owners in the 1840s, has owned this copy for almost 120 years.
Now, Milledge Murray, the group's membership chair and a descendant of one of the club's founders, has asked the History Detectives to find out if local lore is true — is this really the "original" copy of "General Order #9?"
Think you have a case for the History Detectives? Send us your mystery here. 