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.

As a member of the planter class, Lee had a privileged upbringing at Arlington House on her family's plantation in Virginia. Lee was especially close to her sister Anne. A tutor, Sue Poor, taught her music, English, French, and arithmetic. He again wrote, to a relative, "there was a great rage for matrimony, and the fever seemed to be contagious. It made me anxious to extricate Agnes", when she began helping another friend in marriage preparations. Williams proposed to Lee, but she turned down the offer.

Death and burial Lee died of tuberculosis in Lexington, Virginia on October 15, 1873, three years after the death of her father and just twenty-one days before the death of her mother. She is buried alongside her family in University Chapel.