The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-08-04
Lee at fredericksburg.

In the August Century. Major j. Horace
Lacy gives some of his "reminiscences OF
General Lee. From his article we quote
a. follows: Ascending the heights,
SION reached what was called the head
quarters battery of General Lee. Afar
across the valley and river, in the gray
light of the early morning could be seen
the white porches of my home, Chatham,
made historic By Federal army corres-
pondents, as the lacy House. The
porches were filed with officers and gay
" dressed women, and from half a
score of brass bands rang across the
valley Yankee Doodle and Hail, Column
biar The commanding officer of the bat
terry asked me If ! would permit him TO
scatter the unbidden guests at my home
At his request | asked General Lee TO au-
thorize the fire of the heavy guns. which
would have laid Chatham in the dust.
With a smile he refused, and, asking me
10 walk with him. We Withdrew a short
distance. He then motioned me TO sit
by him on the trunk of a large tree.
Looking across at Chatham through
his feld-glass he said, Major, | never
permit the unnecessary effusion of blood.
War is terrible enough, at its best, TO a
Christian man / hope yet to see you and
your lear family happy in yourold home.
DO you know ] love Chatham better than
any place in the world except Arlington!
courted and won my dear wife under
the shade of those trees. BY the way, not
long since | was riding ou with my staff,
and, observing how your grand old trees
had been cut down bythose people, i saw
that a magnificent tulip poplar at the
head of the ravine, north of the house,
was still standing, and with somewhat of
your rhetoric, ! said TO Venable and
TAYLOR: There Is nothing in vegetable
nature 80 grand AS a tree. Graphing
with its roots the granite foundations Of
the everlasting hills, il reaches its sturdy
and gnarled trunk on high, spreads its
branches to the heavens, casts its shadow
on the sward. and the birds build their
nests and sing amid its outrageous foil
age. Behold, the monarch stripped of at
PENDANTS and guards awes the yandal by
the simple majesty of his sublime isola-
ton" Pocketing my fi~eld-glass, and rid
ing on, / heard mingled with laughter a
request from the Young gentlemen that !
would bring my glass to bear once more
on the monarch of the forest | looked,
and ever while ! had been talking the
axe of the yandal was laid to the root,
and the monarch had fallen.
"Theh, moved by emotion unusual To
his calm and equable nature, he contin-
ued. Il had three hundred acres of wood
land at Arlington. Serving the United
States Government for many years on
the frontier, ] marked with my own hand
each tree that was 10 he used for timber
or fuel. They tell me all my trees are
gone-yours are all gone; then rising
from the log. with a fire and Il passion
rarely witnessed in him, and with all the
majesty of his sublime presence, he said
Major, they have our trees; they shall
never have our ID,d.r
Three years after the close of the war
Lee. then President of the Washington
and lee University. After dinner the
general retired and ! was invited to see
Mrs Lee in her chamber. She was "A
great sufferer and confirmed invalid. in
capable of motion save in a roller-chair,
which il WAS the chief delight of him
who had 80 long directed great armies 10
move from room 10 room, bending over
her with the grace of Il Sidney and the
devotion of a youthful lover. told Mrs.
Lee the story which | have so imperfect
ly attempted to reproduce. Need ! tell
any woman who reads these pages that
tears streamed down that patient, furrow-
cd face, or that a light and joy from he
yond the stars beamed through those
tears. a. she knew that the thoughts of
her great husband wandered far away
from the clash of arHns "a the memories Of
their youthful love and courtship under
the shade of her ancestral oaks, for Chat
ham was originally the property of a
near relative. As concluded the SEN
tence, They shall never have the land,
hearing a slight noise. | turned and SIN
the general, who had silently entered, in
dryssing-gown and slippers. The srcat
buck-shot drops slowly rolled down that
face. WHOSE calm was never broken by
the earthquake shock of battle. Slowly
and silently ne retired, and / could but
feel the deepest c~ompunction that words
of mine should have sent another pang
through that great heart"