it seems there is still a myth some hold about lee and his slaves. hope you'll read this:
http://www.nps.gov/arho/learn/histor...re/slavery.htm
'Mrs. Custis also persuaded her husband to free several women and children.'
When Custis died in 1857, Robert E. Lee—the executor of the estate—determined that the slave labor was necessary to improve Arlington's financial status. The Arlington slaves found Lee to be a more stringent taskmaster than his predacessor. Eleven slaves were “hired out” while others were sent to the Pamunkey River estates. In accordance with Custis's instructions, Lee officially freed the slaves on December 29, 1862.
take note of the date they were freed- the emancipation proclamation took effect on Jan 1 1863.
Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22nd, 1862. It stipulated that if the Southern states did not cease their rebellion by January 1st, 1863, then Proclamation would go into effect.
and arlington had already been siezed before all that occurred. lee's 'manumission' really meant nothing by that point.
after the war ended, a paper was written reaffirming the just owning of slavery, that it was right and moral. lee was one of the signatories of that paper.
the south did a great job many years after the war ended of turning lee into some honorable hero. he wasn't, he was very much a white supremacist who believed in slavery, supported it, made money from it and fought to keep it.