$100 per annum payments made by General Lee?

My great grandfather used to receive a check for $100 every Christmas from Robert Lee. No one in the family knew why. I see that there were some payments made for limbs lost etc. for a period of ten years or so, so perhaps that is it.

The curious thing is that our family is English and has lived in the West Midlands of England for generations, so it's a bit of a puzzle. Could this mean my gt grandad was a mercenary perhaps, or even that there has been some "reverse immigration" _from_ the US to the UK (unlikely I think) in this case?

Does anyone know much about these $100 payments that were made?

Thanks.

how do you know it was robert e lee?lee would go broke paying for lost limbs.lee died in 1870 is that when money stopped?do you have any more info or clues?

That's the information my grandfather and father "know". As it's word of mouth, I suppose it could have been some sort of Confederate body/corp (or corps!). The only think I could Google for $100 talked about lost limbs although that mentions that it was certain counties and/or states that passed that ruling. I'm afraid I don't know when it stopped.