The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-01-23
MiSSiveS Written Mid Roar
OF Cannon In Bloody
Civil War.
TIMBER the secrecy preserving
caption Of The Love Letters
. q Confederate General" a re-

under the most dangerous and des-
perate circumstances-letter written
from the thick of war. ringing Of love
and Of valor-has been running in the
Pictorial Review. The letters have
stirred up controversy that has run
with particular zest through the south
ern states. and now that the last of
them is about to be printed the woman
to whom they were written has con-
sented that the anonymity be destroy
ed. They were written by General
George Pickett to the girl who was
first Lasalle Corbell, afterward Mrs
Pickett.
Mrs. Pickett is now living in Wash
ington and has been the leader Of the
southern coterie there for many years.
The little general to whom the let
ters refer came in after years to be a
major in the United States army and
died year and a half ago. returning
from service in the Philippines His
two little sons now live with their dis
tinguished grandmother in Washing
ton.
AAAAS6 1et4ASS w WAC OOuCA.
In the first one of the series Gen
eral Pickett tells why his allegiance
went to the Confederacy. He writes:
- No, my child, I had no conception
of the intensity of feeling. the bitterness
and hatred toward those who were so
lately our friends and are now our enc
mics. 1, of course, have always strenu-
ously opposed disunion. not as doubling
the right of secession, which was taught
In our textbooks at West Point, but as
gravely questioning it's eXpediency. I be-
lieved that the revolutionary spirit which
infected both north and south was but a
passing phase Of fanaticism which would
perish under the rebuSe Of all good citi-
ZenS who would surely unite in UNFOLDING
the constitution but when that great as
sembly. composed Of ministers. lawyers
judges. chancel'Ors, statesmen. mostly
white haired men Of thought, met in South
Carolina, and when their districts were
called crept noiselessly to the table in the
center Of the room and affixed their sig
natures to the parchment on which the
ordinance Of secession was inscribed, and
when in deathly silence, in spite Of the
gathered multitude, General Jamison arose
and without preamble read THE ordi-
nance of secession has been signed and
ratified: proclaim the state of South Car
DINA an independent sovereignty" and
lastly when my old boyhood friend called
for an invasion. it was evident that both
the advocates and opponents of secession
had read the pOrtents Alright.
You know, my little lady. some of those
cross stitched notices on the cardboard
samplers which used to hang on my nurs-
cry wall. such as He who provides not
for his own household is worse than an
1nfidel' "Charity begins at home.' ETC.,
made lasting impression upon me, and,
while I love my neighbor-that is, my
country-I love my household-that is my
'state-more. and I could not be an infidel
and lift my sword against my own kth
and kin even though l do believe my most
wise little counselor and confidant, that
the measure Of American greatness can
be achieved only under one flag, and
fear, alas, there can never again reign for
either Of us the true spirit Of national
unity. whether divided and under two
flags or united under one.
The subject is pursued in later let
ter. which runs:
Why, Chulta mia. ali that we ask is a
separation from people of contending in
terests. who love us as q nation as little
as we love them: the dissolution Of un-
don that has lost it's holiness, to be let
alone and permitted to sit under our own
vine and fig tree and eat our figs peeled
or dried or fresh or picked. just as we
choose The enemy is our enemy be-
cause he neither knows nor understands
us and Yet will not let us part in peace
and be neighbors. but insists on fighting us
to make us one with him. forgetting that
both slavery and secession were his own
institutions. The north is fighting for the
Union and we for home and fireside. All
the men I know and love in the world
comrades and friends, both north and
south-arc exposed to hardships and dam
q a Or inp Str IN
other and each for that which he knows
to be right. =
Will you come, my darling, and have
some coffee with your soldier? 1t is some
we captured, and it is real coffee. Come!
The tin cup is clean and shining. but the
corn bread is greasy and smoked. And the
bacon-that is greasy. too. but it is good
and tastes all right If it will only hold
out till our stars and bars wave over our
land of the free and our home Of the
brave and we have our own home New
ermore We'll hear of wars. but only love
and life with its eternal joys.
On the night before General Pickett
was wounded at Gaines Mills he wrote
the following note:
This was never contemplated in
earnest. believe that if either the north
or the south had expected that it's diff
ferences would result III this obstinate,
the cock hated Huguenot and cavalier
would have made a compromise. Poor old
Virginia came oftener than Noah's dove
with her olive branch. Though she de-
sired to be loyal to the union of states.
she did not believe in the right of coer-
cion, and when called upon to furnish
troops to restrain her sister states she re-
fused and would not even permit the pas
sage of an armed force through her do
main for that purpose. With no thought
of cost. no consideration of disparity Of
relative strength condition, she rolled
up her sleeves. ready to risk all in defense
of principle consecrated by the blood of
her fathers. And now, alas. 1t Is too late!
We must carry through this bitter task
unto the end. May the end be soon.
begged For Immediate Marriage.
In April. 1863. General Pickett, so
.distraught with the fear that death in
battle would overtake him before he
could make Little Miss Sallie' his
wife, wrote her to come to him at once
and be married. if need be. by a road
side In this letter he says:
This morning awakened from beau