This 4 ½ x 2 ¾ black pocket copy of the Gospel of St. Mark has been signed on the interior of the front flap:

E. G. Lee

from A. S. Pendleton

Earl Gray Lee was the first cousin, once removed, of Robert E. Lee. He married Miss Susan Pendleton, "Sandie” Pendleton’s sister, on the 16^th of November, 1859. Soon the fires and bloodshed of War would sweep their world.

During the War, Earl Gray Lee enlisted as a 2^nd Lieutenant and rose through the ranks to Colonel in the coming year, serving as an aide to Stonewall Jackson around Harper’s Ferry in June and July of 1861 and going on to take part in the Valley campaign of 1862. He served his country at Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg, resigning in December of 1862 due to ill health. He was recommissioned as Colonel in 1863 and stationed in Richmond, in 1864 he was reassigned to Staunton, Virginia and given orders to recruit troops for the defense of the Shenandoah. He was appointed Brigadier General on September 23, 1864, and was later that year given a six months leave of absence for poor health. Probably because it would take one of a limited number of slots and he could not take the field, his promotion to Brigadier General was rejected by the Senate on February 24, 1865, but he continued in his new position without change on the army rolls until the end of the War. Just before the close of the War he, along with his wife, ran the blockade and headed to Montreal, Canada where they lived until the next spring. Suffering from a "disease of the lungs” he moved his family back to Virginia. He died at the young age of 34, at Yellow Sulphur Springs, Virginia on August 24, 1870. Susan lived out the rest of her life as a writer and scholar. She never remarried, passing away in 1911 at the age of 79.

On the first page of the book, opposite the previous signature, is written in pencil:

A. S. Pendleton

Aug. 28. 63

Alexander Swift "Sandie” Pendleton was the son of Episcopal priest and future Confederate General William Nelson Pendleton. In Sandie’s teenage years he studied at Washington College where he met future Confederate Major General Stonewall Jackson through the Graham literary society.

Just prior to the War, in 1859, Sandie had saved enough money to begin studies at the University of Virginia. He completed half of the coursework required for his degree in the first year but his learning was cut short by the opening of hostilities. He sought a deferment from military service until July 1, 1861 so that he could finish his degree on that date but was denied. On June 11^thPendleton left the University of Virginia for Harper’s Ferry without receiving a degree which he had spent two long years of his young life working towards.

At Harper’s Ferry, being commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant, he temporarily served in the Rockbridge Artillery but soon Stonewall Jackson, his associate from the literary society, requested that Sandie join his staff as ordnance officer.

Sandie proved a good choice, serving Jackson with distinction at 1^stManassas, through the Valley Campaign, into the Maryland Campaign culminating at Antietam. Sandie was promoted to Adjutant General under Jackson and continued to serve alongside him in every battle until Jackson’s death at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Pendleton escorted Jackson’s body to Lexington for burial.

He then rejoined his corps, now under the command of Richard Ewell, during the Gettysburg Campaign. The following year, 1864, Jubal A. Early took command of the Second Corps, with newly appointed Lieutenant Colonel Pendleton becoming his Chief of Staff.

Following the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864, the Confederates retreated to Fisher’s Hill. During the Union attack on September 22, 1864 Pendleton was fatally wounded in the abdomen. After being moved to the town of Woodstock he died the next day. His final resting place was near his friend, Thomas J. Jackson.

In 1862, while stationed with Jackson’s troops near Fredericksburg, Sandie met Miss Kate Corbin at Moss Neck Manor. The two were engaged before the Chancellorsville Campaign and were married four days after Christmas, 1863. Sandie’s son, being named after his father, was born a month after his father’s death near Winchester. Little Sandie lived for a little less than a year before succumbing to diphtheria in September 1865. It was a sad time for young Mrs. Kate Pendleton.

Kate eventually remarried to a former Confederate Naval Officer and had three children.

After the War Susan Pendleton Lee, Sandie’s sister, wrote that the Pendletons, along with other families with which they were intertwined, were conspicuous for, "their intellectual vigor, unswerving patriotism, honorable discharge of duty in important positions, and devoted piety.” This seems to have been true of young Alexander "Sandie” Pendleton.

The book is in excellent condition. Almost perfect aside from a small split along the top front of the spine. The signatures remain crystal clear and you can still easily read the entire book today.