Register
Parents
Parents of current McDonogh students may sign up for website accounts. Signing up for an account allows a parent to access the online directory, DASH, and your customized parent Personal Page.
Alumni
Alumni can create an account in order to take advantage of McDonogh Connect or Pledgemail.
Login
News & Photos
R.E. Lee's Last Letter, in McDonogh Archives, is Loaned
Archivist Frayda Salkin is in Lexington, Virginia today to loan the one of the most interesting pieces from the McDonogh archives—the last-known letter that General Robert E. Lee wrote. It will be displayed during Washington and Lee University’s celebration of Lee’s 200th birthday.
Lee composed the letter to Samuel Tagart, the man for whom McDonogh’s chapel is named, on September 28, 1870.
Ironically, Lee reports to Tagart that he is feeling better and is “as well as I shall be.” He fell ill that afternoon and died two weeks later.
Located in the basement of the Lee Chapel on W&L’s campus, Lee’s office has remained exactly as he left it after posting the letter that morning to Tagart. The letter will be placed where Lee wrote it.
The Lee-Tagart connection was friendship and business. Both were interested in a railroad project to link the Shenandoah Valley and Baltimore. Attorney Tagart also served as president of the Broadway and Locust Point Ferry Company, the Falls Turnpike Company, and the York Road Railroad. Tagart and Lee had become friends during visits to White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, where each traveled for health reasons.
When Lee came to Baltimore in April 1869, Lee stayed with Tagart, who accompanied him to a meeting with President Grant in the White House. According to Lee's writings, Grant remarked that he and Lee had done more to destroy railroads than build them.
For his part, Tagart was instrumental in the establishment of McDonogh in 1873 and was its second board president. He died in 1892, leaving his entire estate of $80,000 to McDonogh School.
Click here to view the Lee letter.
Archivist Frayda Salkin is in Lexington, Virginia today to loan the one of the most interesting pieces from the McDonogh archives—the last-known letter that General Robert E. Lee wrote. It will be displayed during Washington and Lee University’s celebration of Lee’s 200th birthday.
Lee composed the letter to Samuel Tagart, the man for whom McDonogh’s chapel is named, on September 28, 1870.
Ironically, Lee reports to Tagart that he is feeling better and is “as well as I shall be.” He fell ill that afternoon and died two weeks later.
Located in the basement of the Lee Chapel on W&L’s campus, Lee’s office has remained exactly as he left it after posting the letter that morning to Tagart. The letter will be placed where Lee wrote it.
The Lee-Tagart connection was friendship and business. Both were interested in a railroad project to link the Shenandoah Valley and Baltimore. Attorney Tagart also served as president of the Broadway and Locust Point Ferry Company, the Falls Turnpike Company, and the York Road Railroad. Tagart and Lee had become friends during visits to White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, where each traveled for health reasons.
When Lee came to Baltimore in April 1869, Lee stayed with Tagart, who accompanied him to a meeting with President Grant in the White House. According to Lee's writings, Grant remarked that he and Lee had done more to destroy railroads than build them.
For his part, Tagart was instrumental in the establishment of McDonogh in 1873 and was its second board president. He died in 1892, leaving his entire estate of $80,000 to McDonogh School.
Click here to view the Lee letter.