What Robert E. Lee Wrote to The Times About Slavery in 1858<br />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.”<br />But years later, in 1866, one former slave at Arlington House, Wesley Norris, gave his testimony to the National Anti-Slavery Standard.<br />Mr. Norris said that he and others at Arlington were indeed told by Mr. Custis they would be freed upon his death,<br />but that Lee had told them to stay for five more years.<br />It also said that Mr. Custis, while dying, told his slaves that they should be freed immediately, rather than five years on.
