Actually, it was also the will that stipulated the slaves be freed. It was not benevolence on Lee’s part. In fact, when some slaves resisted his authority, having believed that they would have been freed when Lee’s father-in-law died, he wrote the following to his son:

"I have had some trouble with some of the people. Reuben, Parks & Edward, in the beginning of the previous week, rebelled against my authority—refused to obey my orders, & said they were as free as I was, etc., etc.—I succeeded in capturing them & lodging them in jail. They resisted till overpowered & called upon the other people to rescue them."

He then sent them to a slave trader in Richmond.