Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-22
War Department Lifts Civil.
ian Burial Rule for "Uncle
Jim, Parks.
Old Virginia Plantation, Now
National Cemetery, Was
"Home" to Him 80 Years.

NOOuo anu llelOS long DSIOIe TIE IOTJuneS
OF war had transformed them from a
city Of heroic dead.
So he will sleep there at the end
and an Army firing squad will sound the
last salute over his coffin and an Army
chaplain will pronounce the prayers.
The necessary arrangements were made
yesterday through Col. Guy v. Henry,
commandant at Fort Myer.
Home" to Him for 80 Years.
For almost 30 years the place has been
home to Uncle jim He was born and
stately minuets and crinoline and old
lace at Arlington House.
He had been fused at" by George
Washington Parke Curtis and sent on
errands by Miss Mary. He had bowed
obsequiously to the stately figure who
was Miss Mary's husband, riding along
the Arlington bride paths-afterward
known to history as Gen. Robert e.
Lee. He had seen the black wind of
war sweep over the green hillside, the
invasion of the big house by spurred
blue-uniformed soldiers passing south
ward to Manassas, and finally the dead
in great heaps of collins in the garden.
And out of this Uncle Jim had
emerged, puzzled, aging man, into a
new age.
Haunted Arlington Hillside.
But all the time he chung to Airing
ton. Like ghost out Of the rich. dead
past. he haunted the hillside. It WIS
hone" He became known as the one
infallible authority. on everything con-
nected with the history Of the place.
The rest of the Curtis slaves died or
moved away. The white folks came nc
longer TO the big house, but Uncle Jim
stayed on.
So when death came to him at last,
the War Department felt that he was a
part Of the scene and lifted the long
standing rule against the burial OF
civilians in the ground sacred to these
who had fallen in the Nations wars.
Tomorrow, Uncle Jim will be received
into the earth Of the old Virginia
plantation, from which he Sprang
The old man was a slave of George
Washington Parke Gusts. adopted son
Of George Washington and father jim
law Of Robert E. Lee.
Father Was Present to Gusts.
Uncle Jim was born on the Arlington
plantation. His father-a famous coll
ored cook in his day. who lived to be
107 years old-came there as a present
from Washington to Mai Gusts. But
in the days when Arlington House was
center of ante-bellum life, Parks
himself was only a field hand and he
never succumbed to the temptation to
describe life inside the big house, which
he never had seen.
He knew Maj. Gusts well-a genial
country squire, kind to his slaves, gen.
erous with his money, and careless about
his business affairs. There was picnic
ground on the estate, where great
crowds used to come from Washington
and Georgetown on holidays. The mas
ter of the estate liked to escape from
the cares of managing his plantation
and mingle with the crowds, sometimes
playing the fiddle for dances on the
green. Uncle Jim had seen him, bow in
hand, striking of old-fashioned dance
music.
Remembers Lees StatelineSs.
The old slave never knew Robert E.
Lee very we'll. Here again he never fell
into the pardonable sin of eXaggeratirg
about his past. He knew Miss Mary"
the generals wife. much better since
she attended to much of her fathers
business with the slaves. Lee himself,
however. was not at Arlington House a
great deal. He came there only for in
Jim, who was only farmland. never
had much contact with him. But he
the stately figure very we'll.
He was treated we'll by Maj. Gusts,
and so far as he knows so were all the
other slaves. 1t was necessary to have
pass to leave the plantation. so that
the slaves would not be picked up by
any one hoping to obtain a reward for
returning them. Gusts used to grum-
= TO- T{,>a
passes, but after he had fused for
while he always would sign the de-
sired paper, usually for more time than
was asked for.
Days of Ease and Plenty.
When a slave went ION leave" he
would ask for money. This caused
even more grumbling from the genial
old squire.
Money" he would growl, as quoted
by the old fellow, Il haven't any money.
don't work. What do you want with
money!"
Then he would sign a paper calling
for more than was asked and tell the
slave to present 1t to Miss Mary. at
the big house"
Those were days Of ease and plenty
on the hilltop overlooking Washington
but not of much ready cash. The
Arlington estate itself, as the old man
remembered it. was largely uncultivated.
Except for the kitchen garden near the
big house, the only other cultivated
patches were near the slave quarters.
where each slave who wanted 1t was
assigned a bit of ground to raise veg
etables for his own family. He was
free to sell any surplus in Washington.
These plots mostly were near the river.
Maj. Gusts maintained an enormous
plantation, with nearly 500 slaves, on
the Pamunkey River. From this prop
erty he received most of his revenue.
Uncle Jim never was there and knew
nothing about what went on there.
Gusts Freed Slaves in will.
In 1857 Maj Gusts died. His slaves
were freed by his will. Parks remained
on the plantation and when the war
came he did odd Jobs for the Union
Army. He helped build Fort Whipple,
the Civil War fertilization on the pres
ent site of Fort Myer Then, toward
the end Of the war, when the estate was
beginning to be used as military GEM
etery. he helped dig graves ard bury
pared was that Of Gen. Meigs, who did
more than any one else to convert the
plantation into a cemetery.
His clear memory retained to the
last an excellent picture of the old
landmarks, gradually overrun by the
march of progress. During the inter-
vening so years since "the cofflns was
piled like cordwood after some Of the
great battles of the closing months Of
the war;" he has lived around the ceme-
terry, watching with sad old eyes the
invasion of the lines of white head
stones into the lanes and glades where
he played as q child.
Wouldn't Exaggerate.
Mai. Gusts used as his office log
cabin on the present site Of the ex-