$220,000 Paid by Forbes for Lee Surrender Note

One of four messages from Gen. Robert E. Lee to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant asking for a “suspension of hostilities” in the Civil War was purchased for $220,000 by Publisher Malcolm Forbes, Sotheby’s announced Thursday.

It was the highest price paid at an auction of American print and manuscript materials Wednesday, an auction house spokesman said.

The note penciled on a slip of yellowing paper about 8 inches by 10 inches was one of four Lee dictated and signed on April 9, 1865. The other three are in the National Archives in Washington.