George Washington Custis Lee, 1832-1913
Continued from entry on list of correspondents
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G.W.C. Lee was the oldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee, and the grandson of George Washington Custis (who was the grandson of Martha Washington and the step-grandson and adopted son of George Washington). Like his father, Custis Lee served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, serving for three years as the aide-de-camp to Jefferson Davis, then rising to the rank of Major General. He began his teaching career at Virginia Military Institute and in 1871, succeeded his father as president of Washington College, renamed Washington and Lee University in 1870 in honor of his father, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1897. He never married, and had no children.
We do not know how the Newcombs originally met the Lees, though JLN expressed familiarity with their home in a letter to Mrs. W.P. Johnston who was planning a visit there in 1888: “I am so glad you are going to make him a visit [Gen. Custis Lee], which you will truly enjoy, the Gen’ls house and home, the Mausoleum, the Colleges, etc. —You will also see my dear hus’ds portrait.”
Warren Newcomb felt much admiration for General Robert E. Lee, and made a $10,000 donation to Washington College to establish a Harriott Sophie Newcomb Scholarship fund in 1866 “during the lean years immediately after the Civil War.” Then in 1882, during Custis Lee’s tenure, JLN gave a gift of $20,000 to build the Newcomb Library in memory of Warren. The building, extensively renovated in 2010, is one of five buildings comprising Washington and Lee’s historic Colonnade, which received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1972.*
Both Warren and JLN’s lasting gifts to Washington and Lee give us a sense of their values regarding higher education, their desire to assist both individuals and institutions in need, and their continuing relationship to the South.
Editors note: A pocket watch said to belong to Warren Newcomb is located in the Tulane University Archives. If this is the watch to which JLN refers, her request to Lee was successful.