The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-04-07

been set aside and that the dlnner now
prepared was for the General and his
staff. But upon Lees insistence she ac-
guessed and went with him to the table.
Longstreet was there his own arm still
stiff from the wouilding in the Wilderness
nearly a year before. Kate cut his meat
for him and joined pleasantly in the con-
yersation of that sunny April afternoon.
Il is the picture of Kate Cox that makes
this story One soldier brother lies buried
in the quiet graveyard Just across the
garden or which the house fronts; an
other soldier brother rides along with the
retreatlng army-yet she is cheerful and
in her diary writes charningly of the
events Of the memorable day when Lee
and his staff stopped by. Kate later
married General Logan. who was said TO
have been the youngest general officer
in the Confederate service
I like this story because OF its fresh
ness and simplicity amid the trial and
strain and disorder of the surrounding
days. l like it too because one can, if
he will go today to the scene of this oc-
casion. The old house at Clover Hill still
stands. lovely even in its present ne
elected and abandoned state. No one lives
there. but the forest and brush have not
yet takenIt oyer-though a careless tray
eler may one day leave a spark that will
consume it.
And so Kate writes of the tears that
came to her eyes as she waves farewell
to the little band of officers riding across
the fields of clover to Join the stream of
men of lesser rank moving along the
westward road.
Amelia April 4
And now il is April and the retreat
ing army is entering the courthouse vii
laee of Amelia. Here the troops from the
Richmond and Hewlett lines are coming
together with those from Petersburg Food
should await them at the place for. as
Lee confidently believed his instructions
would have been needed But on arrival
such proves not to be the case and day
is lost while detachmentS are sent into the
surrounding countryside to gather what
It is as if fate were decreeing that every
thing should go awry. thus to enable the
enemy to make up in time for the slight
advantage that Lees hurried evacuation
has given him over his purSuers- There
was food for the guns at Amelia-so much
of it. in fact. that vast store had to be
blown up since it could not be carried
along-but the stomachs of the soldiers
were. for the most part. empty as the
march was resumed.
We know now that the loss of that
day at Amelia made little difference to
the end result. But it meant much to
those who were there. so much that from
this point on all else that happened
seemed nightmarlsh and unreal. 1t was
already wellregistered in the minds of
many of the men that the army with
which they Travelled was dying and there
were those who resolved not to die with
it-or equally worse to them become priS-
oners of the enemy whose logged pur-
suit had already made itself felt both on
the rear and on the TANKS Hungry. dis
spirited. weak and warweary more than
one brave soldier. sensing the inevita-
bllty of defeat. quietly slipped away
from his comrades and vanished among
the trees.
Southwest from Amelia toward Burke
vile had been the intended route of Lee,
but this way was challenged by Sheridan
lust west of Jetersyille where he had
blocked the road. and so another way to