Eleanor Agnes Lee

Eleanor Agnes Lee (February 27, 1841 – October 15, 1873) was an American diarist and poet. The fifth child of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee, she was a member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia and was affectionately called "Wiggy" and "Agnes" by her parents. In her youth, Lee kept a diary about her life at Arlington Plantation. In 1984, her diary was published posthumously under the title Growing Up in the 1850s, and was considered one of the first detailed accounts the private lives of the Lee family at Arlington. Lee also wrote poetry, often in letters to her family, inspired by real-life events including the American Civil War, the death of her favorite sister, Anne Carter Lee, and the execution of her beau and cousin, William Orton Williams. Early life and family Lee was born on February 27, 1841, the fifth child and third daughter of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. She was a younger sister of George Washington Custis Lee, Mary Custis Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, and Anne Carter Lee and an older sister of Robert E. Lee Jr. and Mildred Childe Lee. Lee was a member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia, descending from American colonist Richard Lee I. Through her mother, she was a descendant of Martha Washington, Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, and Charles II of England. As a member of the planter class, Lee had a privileged upbringing at Arlington House on her family's plantation in Virginia. She and her sisters, who were particularly close, were doted upon by their father, who called her "Agnes" and "Wiggy". Lee was especially close to her sister Anne. She was a sickly child, and was often away from home on health trips.