You think the District’s the only place where people with connections (allegedly) proposition the guy in charge for a high-paying job? Think again. Confederate General Robert E. Lee was fielding these kind of requests back in the 1860s, guys. WAMU reports that the Special Collections Department of the Alexandria Library has recently discovered a letter written from Lee to William Casenove, who was eager to parlay his standing as Lee’s cousin into a primo position in his Army:

The letter reveals a world of 19th-century patronage. Casenove was trying to use his famous cousin’s connections to get a high-ranking position in the Confederate Army.

“A man in his 40s, he realizes that probably the best use of his abilities is probably not shouldering a musket. It’s probably doing some sort of staff work, some sort of work that requires more thought than actual labor,” Combs says.

No word on whether Lee had any 14-minute conversations with Casenove that he was unable to recall a few months after they happened.