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Signed Photograph Of Robert E. Lee And George Peabody (And Others) At White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, August 1869., Unknown

Broadus R. Littlejohn, Jr. Manuscript and Ephemera Collection

This photograph, taken 1869 at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, is the last photograph of Robert E. Lee before his death in 1870. Seen by some as a symbol of early reconciliation between North and South, the image features Lee (seated, 2nd from left) alongside George Peabody (seated, 3rd from left). Peabody was a British-American industrialist and philanthropist who supported the Union during the war, but was fêted by fellow guests at the Springs in 1869 for his postwar generosity and investment in the Southern education system. Both he and Lee shared the belief that education was the best means …