Robert E. Lee Desk Presented to his Personal Physician, Dr. Robert Madison, with Exceptional Provenance

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American History, Featuring the Property of N...

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Jun 9, 2017 - Jun 10, 2017

Set Reminder 2017-06-09 10:00:00 2017-06-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History, Featuring the Property of N. Flayderman & Co. https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-featuring-the-property-of-n-flayderman-co-2392
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• Lot Description

  Desk presented to Dr. Robert Madison, Robert E. Lee's personal physician, accompanied by November 10, 1870 letter from Mary Custis Lee, written shortly after General Lee's death on October 12, 1870.

  A diminutive fall-front desk in walnut and mixed woods, having an open shelf gallery with a shaped crest and turned finials, over a fall-front writing surface opening to reveal a fitted interior, the lower section with one dovetailed drawer with inlaid escutcheon, the whole rising on turned legs; ht. 57.7, wd. 25, dp. 18.75 in. No key. Three original finials and one replacement.

  Dr. Robert Madison (1828-1878) was the son of the nephew of President James Madison (his grandfather was the President's youngest brother). Orphaned at a young age, he was adopted by an  aunt and uncle in his mother's family. At age seventeen, he attended William and Mary College. After graduating, he briefly attended the University of Virginia before enrolling at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He earned his degree in 1851 and began practicing medicine. Eight years later, the Virginia Military Institute voted him on the board and installed him as a professor. There, he became the personal physician to Thomas (the future “Stonewall”) Jackson until the beginning of the war when Jackson left VMI to join the Confederate Army.

  During the Civil War, Madison served as Surgeon-in-Charge of a hospital at Orange Court House. After the war, he returned to VMI and resumed his position. In 1866, Dr. Madison moved to Staunton, VA, to care for his wife who was in poor health. Ultimately, he returned to VMI and attended the Grace Episcopal Church with the Lee Family. In 1869, he became one of General Lee’s personal physicians, along with Dr. Howard Barton, and attended to him in his final moments in 1870. As a skilled and experienced doctor from the period, his notes have allowed doctors to evaluate Lee's health in his final decade and are vital to the diagnosis of Lee's death.

  After Lee's death, Mary Custis Lee gifted this small desk to their trusted doctor. She wrote him: You must allow me the great pleasure of presenting you with a little table, used by the General and myself for several years and which Mrs. Madison and yourself must keep as a memento of our pleasant intercourse with you in Lexington (Lexington, November 10, 1870) Mary Custis Lee. Madison gladly received the desk and it remained in the family, passing it to his second son by his second marriage, Edmund Bolling Madison who gave it to his daughter, Helen Dolly Madison. It then passed to the consignor's mother, thence to the consignor.

  Reference: Mainwaring, R.D., MD and H.D. Riley, Jr. MD. "The Lexington Physicians of General Robert E. Lee." Southern Medical Association, Southern Medical Journal, Vol. 98, No. 8 (Aug. 2005): 800-804.

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