The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-02-19
GENERAL LEES CHRISTMAS FaaEr
There Were Cabbage and Bacon. but the
bacon Was Only borrowed.

There Were Cabbage and Bacon, but b
Bacon Was On,y borrowed.
As the fortune of war has favored his
harder, through some skillful foraging
Of Ephraim, a negro. who was his faith
full cook. bodyservant and waiter
three gentlemen in one-General Lee
invited several officers to dine with him
on Christmas day, 1854. The lucky
recipients of the timely invitation were
Eve in number, all officers of distinc-
ton, among them Generals Longstreet,
Gordon and Kershaw. They were all
ON time when the dinner was called. 1t
was served ON a rough pine table. with
out a cover IN General Lees weather
beaten tent. 1t consisted of boiled cab
bage. and eight or ten boiled sweet po-
tatoes and a dish of rice cooked dry.
The piece de resistance, which indeed
the k~hightly guests found it hard to
resist. was a small bit of fat bacon.
about 3 inches square. that lay on top of
the large cabbage. Now. bacon was as
rare In the Confederate camp at that
time as are roses on the northern hill
tops in December. You can imagine,
therefore, the self restraint exercised
by each guest as they declined in turn a
slice of the delectable meat proffered
by their host, who held the carving knife
and fork ready to cut and help.
1t was observed that when the gen.
eral, after helping ~ the cabbage, said
to the guest whose Late Ephraim held
out, Allow me t. help you to "A slice
of the baconr' I'll devoted old servi-
tors hand tremb' d greatly. In fact,
he seemed to be n a state of decided
fright. The hig military rank of the
guests would n, account for his trepi-
dalton, for he { lily served nea a mas
ter who outral ked them all. There
was no splend lett in the tracery of
faded gold la on their battle stained
uniforms to iazzle his eyes and cause
them to roll about and glance from ba-
con to guest, and from guest to bacon,
as each answered the half question with
the words. No. thank you, general
The discomposnre of the serving man
was all the more striking from its con-
trast with the serene, self poised dig
nifty of his benign master.
Dinner over, the general and his
AoC6to ftiAN III th1 CIV oot as tht,
passed out General Lee turned and said
in a low tone, 'Ephraim, We have an
other cabbage, have we not:'
The answer was. Yes, sab, Mass
Bob. Yves got anudder cabbage, sah."
Then, Ephraim. said the general.
''save the piece of bacon to rock with
that cabbage"
The prompt and decisive reply, NO.
sab. Mass Bob. 1 can't 10 dat, | Jis
borrow dat piece of bacon for seasoDin
from a friend ober dar in Richinan. and
l done glib up my parole oh honor dat
I'll glib him back dat same bacon what
| borrow"
The general. who could not be "a party
to any mans violation of his parole of
honor. consented at once To the return
of the bacon that had so successfully
run the gauntlet of six hungry diners.
he must have reflected, too. ON the ex-
tremity of his fortunes that led to the
borrowing of a part of his Christmas
dinner ON the hard condition that it
should be returned untouched. His
New Years dinner was still more mea-
ger, l Judge. from what he indicated to
General Grant x day.
A flag of truce had been sent into the
Confederate lines with an inquiry re-
garding a Union officer who had been
wounded and taken prisoner, and the
officer who bore it. after stating its OBJ
1ect, said, General Lee, l am directed
by General Grant to give you his CON-
pliments and To say that he is thor
oughly informed as to all your move
ments. and eve knows what you had
for dinner yesterday.
General Lee took the pleasantly in
good part and answered. Please, cap
tain. present my compliments to Gen.
eTaI Grant and say that ! must doubt
the correctness of bis information. for
1 know him to be a humane man, and
if he had known what l had for my
dinner he would have sent me a part of
his own. louisville Courier journal.