Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1904-03-26
THE GUSTS BIBLE.

w. heDurlCk, IT,, vi WIS Ivy hS
priceless heirloom was taken from Gen
eral Lees home at Arlington in 1861.
In General George Washington Custi:
Lee. as the oldest son of the celebrated
Confederate leader, is vested tie family''
title to the Bible. General Lee was
seen by a representative of "The Bulle-
tin" at Ravensworrh, Va, the home
of Col. r. Z. Lee, his nephew-where,
for the present, Gen. Cuts Lee is residing.
'I shall make no formal request to
Mr.. Kendrick for the Bibles return, "
said he, "and shall for the present take
no legal action. ! have decided to let
Mr.. Kendrick work out the matter in his
own mind and come to decision as his
conscience directs. He knows my right
to the Book and believe that he will
ultimately turn it over TO me"
An account of the discovery of the
Gusts Bible year ago in the hands of
Mr.. Kendrick and the subsequent efforts
of Miss Mary Lee, acting in the inter-
ests of her brother, General Gusts Lee,
to recover it, was published in ''The
Bulletin" month ago. 1t aroused
widespread interest throughout the
country among all llvers of reyo
lutionary relics and especially among
the many descendants of Martha Wash
ington, from whom the Bible de-
scended to the wife of Gen. Robert E.
Lee. Both THE Bulletin" and Mr..
Kendrick have received numerous let
ters setting forth the claims of the Lee s
to the Bible, but Mr.. Kendrick has held
to his original position that he is unwil-
ling to turn it over to them. lie pre-
fers, he says, to give it to some historl-
cal society which will place it on public
exhibition. Having purchased it, as be
saws, twenty-five years ago from a
Mr.. Stein, who received IL from his
father, who was a soldier in the Union
army, Mr.. Kendrick claims the right to
dispose of it as he wishes. He admits
that the Bible came into the hands OF
Mr.. STEMS father indirectly rom a SOL
dier who took it from Arlington, where
it was left when the place was vacated
by Mrs. Lee and her daughters, but con-
tends that such relic should be the
properly OF the nation rather than OF the
Lees.
The legal proceedings which were con
templated when Miss Mary Lee con
suited a Philadelphia attorney sont
months ago, were not instituted and al
interview was sought with General Gus
tis Lee to learn his intention in regard Il
the Lible.
Ravensworth, the resent home o.
General Lee, is a stately old Colopia
mansion, in Virginia, about fifteen miles
beyond Alexandria from Washington
1t was the home of General Gusts Lee''
brother, the late William Henry Fitz
hugh Lee, who was a major-general II
the Confederate army
After the resignation from the presi-
dency of Washington and Lee University
in 1897, General Lee moved from Lex
ington and took up his residence with hi
brothers widow and her sister.
The house situated in the midst of al
estate embracing thousands of acres 0
timber land and cultivated fields isa frame
structure, consisting of a main building
and two wings The main part was bull
by William Fitzhugh and additions wer
made by his son, William Henry Fitz
hugh, who was an uncle of Mrs. Rober
f. Lee. She inherited it from him ant
bequeathed it to her son, William Henr.
Fitzhugh Lee.
In a secluded spot among-the trees
which cover the broad lawns surroundln!
the house is the family burying ground
the Fitzhughs. Four stately monument
mark the graves of William Fltzhugl
aud his son, William Henry Fitzhugh
and their wives.
The interior of the house follows The
colonial style of the exterior with its larg
rooms and lofty ceilings and broad hall
way extending from the front to tn
rear door. The middle part is taken IL
mostly by the dining-room, a spaciou
apartment with huge open fire place
and large old-fashioned sideboard o
which reposes the silver-plate of tn
Fitzhughs. On the walls are the portrait
of the Lees and the Custises and IL
Fitzhughs, nearly all painted by famor
artists and constituting the most prize
of the. family possessions.
1t was in the dining-room that Gene
al Gusts Lee talked of the Gusts Bib
and, incidentally, in regard toits desceI
to his mother from Martha Washington
his ancestors who haveincluded in the
number so many of Americas famol
men. ~,
Back of him as he sat half facing Il
, blazing log fire was a life-sized thre
quarter painting of his father, Gener
Robert L. Lee. The presence of the Co'
federate soldier seemed to fill the room
and in full uniform with his arms fold,
aud his campaign hat in one hand.
gazed sternly out from the canvas IN
space as though watching the progress
D a battle. ,
On the side of the room opposite IL
Fireplace with the sideboard betwe'
them were fsll-length portraits OF GeorI
and Martha Washington, copies oil u
originals, which were left in the care
the Washington and Lee University
Lexington nv General Custis ZEE whit