I recall that the recent biography of Lee, Clouds of Glory, by Michael Korda, gives some credence to this story, which tends to sound credible because of its specificity. But I understand that previous Lee biographers like Freeman have tended to dismiss the event. I have just been reading stories by ex-slaves (recorded in the 1930s) in the multivolume series, The American Slave. The number of lashings is consistent with whippings described by former slaves. In one instance, slaves who were caught off the plantation without a pass from the owner (master) were administered 30 lashes (men) or 15 lashes (women) by the overseer or the "patterollers," but never by the owner directly. The pouring of brine on raw wounds appears to have been standard procedure; presumably it was done to cleanse the wounds, but it obviously inflicted greater pain. Such whippings were a common feature of plantation life, although not every owner would allow it. Some ex-slaves reported that abuse by the overseer was sometimes kept hidden from the owner.