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WHAT HAPPENEDTO ME
WHAT HAPPENEDTO ME
BY LaSALLE CORBELL PICKETT (MRS. GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT) AUTHOR OF Pickett and His Men ; Literary Hearthstones of Dixie ; Bugles of Gettysburg ; Heart of a Soldier ; Across My Path ; "In de Miz" Series ; Folk Lore Stories , ETC. NEW YORK BRENTANO'S 1917 COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY BRENTANO'S...
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Dedicated toSelma Lewisohn
Dedicated toSelma Lewisohn
In my garden a lily grew, blossoming in snowy purity, fragrant sweetness and stately grace. It held the summer in its golden heart and the love of the angels crowned its radiant petals. It bade me "good-morning" and the dawn was bright with promise. It waved a caress to me in the soft winds of the Junetide noon and the day was filled with light and love. It shone in mystic silver through the moonlight and my night was aglow with dreams. Thus a Lily-Soul blooms in the garden of my life to make it
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I "OUT OF THE EVERYWHERE"
I "OUT OF THE EVERYWHERE"
There are some events with which we have become so familiar by report that we can scarcely believe they did not happen within our own recollection. Thus it is with my advent into earthly existence. Not long before the time at which I was expected to arrive in this vale of thorns and flowers my father's only brother was seriously ill. It became necessary for my father to accompany him to Philadelphia to consult an eminent surgeon. For months it had been definitely settled that I was to be a boy,
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II THE FIRST PRAYER
II THE FIRST PRAYER
Still cuddled among the honeysuckles in the basket I was carefully lifted from the carriage. "Please, Marm, Mistis, lemme carry de settin'-aig-basket in to Mammy Dilsey," pleaded Pery, the driver, who had taken great pride in giving me my first ride and covering me over with his cherished honeysuckle blossoms. "Mammy's gwine to be so s'prised she'll want to knock me down. En I's gwine to look solemn en mousterious en hand her de basket en say, ''Tain't no use er yo' settin' dese yer aigs, Mammy
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III CHURCH VISITORS
III CHURCH VISITORS
My grandmother's old colonial home, Holiday's Point, so-called because of the many holidays that my grandfather had been accustomed to give his servants, was on the Nansemond River, in Nansemond County. The county came into existence in 1639, being first called Upper Norfolk. Its name was soon changed to Nansemum, spelled by Captain John Smith "Nansemond." The Dismal Swamp extends along its edge. Its county-seat is Suffolk, the burning of which I, as a child, have often heard described by Ole-Gr
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IV MY SOLDIER
IV MY SOLDIER
Everyone has a point of beginning—a period back of which life, to present consciousness, was not. For me this point stands out vividly in memory. I was staying with my grandmother, for since she took me home in the "settin'-aig-basket," she had lovingly asserted her claim. My time was divided between the two homes, hers and my father's. My tall handsome father and my beautiful little mother sat on the front veranda, my brother Thomas playing near them on the grass. It was in cherry time and I sa
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V A KEEPSAKE FOR THE ANGELS
V A KEEPSAKE FOR THE ANGELS
When we went home Uncle Charles came to the wharf to meet us. He was dressed in the clothes left to him by my grandfather's will and, dangling from his watch-chain, glaring at us in bold relief against his black velvet vest, a set of artificial teeth grinned in ghastly manner from their gold settings. In those days artificial teeth were not common, and when Mr. Durkee, a dentist from Connecticut, came into our neighborhood and hung out his sign, all of a certain class who could raise money enoug
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VI AFRICAN ROYALTY
VI AFRICAN ROYALTY
One of the enchantments of my childhood was the old cabin in the vale at the entrance to the grounds of the mansion house at Holiday's Point, where the gate-keeper, Uncle Bosun Keeling, and his wife, Aunt Charity, lived. I used to run down the cypress-bordered path to the old lodge to hear him tell "dem Bible-tales" and to see Aunt Charity's shining black face surmounted by her flaming red "haid-hankcher," a combination artistic and beautiful. She would take me on her lap and tell the old legend
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VII OUR FIRST CURRENCY
VII OUR FIRST CURRENCY
Among my childish recollections is an intricate combination of great-grandfathers, white mulberries, gold dollars, a lone eye, guinea eggs, pipes, and bloody massacres, all centering around a visit from my own great-grandfather, Dr. John Phillips, and his friend, Judge John Y. Mason. "Somebody's comin' down de lane en it's ole Marser, kase I knows him by his high-top gig en his star-face critter," called out a little colored boy, George Washington Cæsar Napoleon Bonaparte, whose keen eyes had ca
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VIII YULETIDE
VIII YULETIDE
It was Christmas Eve at Holiday's Point and, in accordance with the custom of generations, the children and grandchildren were gathered in an unbroken circle around the old hearthstone. In my grandfather's day the neighbors called the old home Holiday's Point because of the numerous holidays given to the servants. The community held that if my grandfather had framed the almanac he would have put into it twice as many days as did the Arabs and Romans, that he might have more holidays to bestow up
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IX GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS
IX GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS
Only twice had I seen my Soldier since with tearful eyes I watched the United States transport, St. Louis , bear him away to join in the frontier warfare, and later to play his important part in holding San Juan and other Pacific Islands against the British. Occasionally letters came from that far-off sunset shore in answer to my little printed notes before I had learned to write well. The last time I had seen him was at the Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, where, though still a child, I held t
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X THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
X THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
I was a student at Lynchburg Seminary when the storm that had begun to lower at Harper's Ferry broke in full force. To a few prescient minds I think it brought no shock of surprise. Some had watched the little cloud on the horizon till it had overspread the zenith. But most of us, old as well as young, had felt secure "in the land where we lay dreaming." Virginia held longest by the Union, the bonds of which had clasped the States together until the Old Dominion had forgotten that political ties
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XI THE "VIRGINIA"
XI THE "VIRGINIA"
On a morning that was like ideal May, the 8th of March, 1862, I sat on my horse by the river bank at Blinkhorn, opposite Newport News. My uncle, Colonel J. J. Phillips, was stationed there, and I had come to the camp and was one of the hundreds gathered on the bank of the Nansemond River at that point, all eyes turned with eager interest toward Hampton Roads, where lay our new battleship, the Virginia . Like a phœnix, she had arisen from the wreck of the old frigate Merrimac . Grim, solemn, weir
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XII RICHMOND AFTER SEVEN PINES
XII RICHMOND AFTER SEVEN PINES
In the Battle of Seven Pines, May 31 and June 1, 1862, Pickett's Brigade played a most important and gallant part, an account of which may be seen in General Joseph E. Johnston's report and in General Pickett's own report as given in "Pickett and His Men." While the battle yet raged darkness came on to force a truce. General Johnston ordered his troops to sleep on their lines to be ready for the morning. Shortly after seven he was slightly wounded by a musket shot. A little later he remarked to
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XIII MY WOUNDED SOLDIER
XIII MY WOUNDED SOLDIER
For months "On to Richmond" had been the war-cry of the Federals, and the battle of Gaines's Mill, June 27, 1862, was the turning point of the seven days' battles around our Capital. No event of the memorable campaign which had followed that slogan was more important in its results than this desperate conflict. McClellan in his retreat had burned and destroyed everything that could be carried away until he reached Watts's Farm, known also by the names of Gaines's Mill and Cold Harbor, and there
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XIV THE RED FOX
XIV THE RED FOX
In my next vacation, as my father could not come to Lynchburg for several days to take me home, he wrote that my mother suggested that I accept an invitation from a classmate in Lovingston, Virginia. Four others of our class were invited and we were having an old-time Virginia house-party, where friends and neighbors vied with our hosts in giving us pleasure, when a telegram came from my father saying that his old friend, Dr. Seon, a celebrated minister who had just romantically made his escape
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XV THE SMUGGLED BRIDE
XV THE SMUGGLED BRIDE
Notwithstanding war and war's alarms, when I should be launched into the world with a diploma in my hand and the blessings of my Alma Mater on my head my Soldier was to marry me. Cupid does not readily give way to Mars, and in our Southern country a lull between bugle calls was likely to be filled with the music of wedding bells. But Mars was in the ascendant for the time, and when I was graduated the Army of Northern Virginia was marching to an undetermined battlefield in Pennsylvania. Then cam
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XVI BUTLER BOTTLED UP
XVI BUTLER BOTTLED UP
My Soldier was at this time assigned to the Department of North Carolina, with headquarters at Petersburg, Virginia, commanding all that part of Virginia between James River on the north and Cape Fear River on the south, reaching eastward to the Federal lines around Suffolk and westward to the Black Water and Chowan, including all the troops in that region. After our bridal visits to kinspeople we returned to Petersburg where we found that our friends, in spite of the restrictions of war, had ar
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XVII ON THE LINES
XVII ON THE LINES
Our next station was on the "Bermuda Hundred" lines near the heart of the storm, but there were rifts of sunshine to break the gloom. A tent was our first home and later a log cabin. Major Charles Pickett's log cabin near our own had two rooms, a degree of splendor to which no one else attained. We had friends—such friends as war binds together with links that can never be broken. The wives of many of the officers were there. The few new books we had were exchanged until they were read through a
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XVIII THE AMENITIES
XVIII THE AMENITIES
We were near the Federal lines and the men on the opposing sides enjoyed friendly chats with each other, swapped jokes, bartered tobacco for coffee and exchanged newspapers. The Federals kept their cattle in a stockade in the rear of their camp. Early one morning they were surprised to see Confederate soldiers running along the line in a manner suggestive of a drove of highly excited cows. "What's the matter with you, Johnnies, over there?" came the query across the lines. "Are you all crazy?" T
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XIX THE CLOSING DAYS
XIX THE CLOSING DAYS
The close of the stormy career of the Confederacy was marked in blood by the battle of Five Forks. The end was at hand. The Army had subsisted on corn for many days. As my Soldier was riding to Sailor's Creek a woman ran out of a house by the roadside and handed him a luncheon wrapped in paper. Passing on, he saw a man lying behind a log; a deserter, he supposed. What did it matter! The poor fellows had fought long enough and hard enough to earn the right to go home. He spoke to the man, who loo
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XX SUSPENSE
XX SUSPENSE
My Soldier left me in Richmond when he went away to fight the last battles of the war, telling me to stay until he returned or sent for me. "Now, remember, I shall surely come back," he said. So, like Casabianca, I waited, and not even "the flames that lit the battle's wreck" should frighten me away. General Breckenridge, our Secretary of War, had, in his thoughtfulness, offered me an opportunity of leaving the Confederate Capital, but remembering that my Soldier had left me there I obediently d
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XXI "WHOA, LUCY"
XXI "WHOA, LUCY"
One morning I had mechanically dressed baby George and had taken him to the window to hear the spring sounds and breathe the spring balm and catch the sunshine's dripping gold wreathing the top of the quivering blossoms of the magnolia and tulip-trees. It was the time when the orchestra of the year is in perfect accord, when all the world is vocal, when the birds sing of love, the buds and blossoms of joy, the grains and grasses of hope and faith, and when each rustle of wind makes a chime of vi
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XXII GEORGE JUNIOR'S FIRST GREENBACK
XXII GEORGE JUNIOR'S FIRST GREENBACK
The next morning Dr. Suckley called in his headquarters ambulance to take us to the steamer. Just at the close of breakfast we had announced our intention of going. There was to be a sudden breaking up and severing of old associations. The staff were all en route to their respective homes except the adjutant-general, Major Charles Pickett. He and Mrs. Dr. Burwell, the only brother and sister of my Soldier, were to remain with their families for a time in the old Pickett home. We said our sad goo
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XXIII "SKOOKUM TUM-TUM"
XXIII "SKOOKUM TUM-TUM"
My Soldier did not like to fight his battles over. He said that the memories they revived were too sacred and sorrowful for utterance. The faces of the dead and dying soldiers on the field of battle were never forgotten. The sorrow of widows and orphans shadowed all the glory for him. In the presence of memory he was silent. The deepest sorrow, like the greatest joy, is dumb. "We are both too worn and weary now for aught else but to rest and comfort each other," he said. "We will lock out of our
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XXIV CARPET-BAG, BASKET AND BABY
XXIV CARPET-BAG, BASKET AND BABY
Alone, except for baby George, for the first time in all my seventeen years! Perhaps no timid little waif thrown out upon the deep sea of life ever felt more utterly desolate. I stepped on board the Baltimore steamer and was piloted into the saloon by a porter whose manner showed that he was perfectly cognizant of my ignorance and inexperience. In the midst of my loneliness and the consciousness of my awkwardness and my real sorrows, sympathy for myself revived my old-time compassion for poor Da
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XXV "EDWARDS IS BETTER"
XXV "EDWARDS IS BETTER"
The week I spent in Hartford County, Maryland, reminded me of my childhood, when I used to play that I was a "Princess" or a "Beggar," or "Morgiana of the Forty Thieves," or "The White Cat," or whatever character it would please me to select to play, for my heart and soul were separated from my body. I was not what I pretended to be. My body went to parties and receptions and dinners, and received people and drove and paid calls, while my soul waited with intense longing for the telegram, "Edwar
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XXVI ONE WOMAN REDEEMED THEM ALL
XXVI ONE WOMAN REDEEMED THEM ALL
On the train from Albany my attention was attracted by a man in close conversation with the conductor. I was evidently the subject of discussion, for they would look carefully over the paper they held and then at me as if comparing me with something therein described. Had I been a hardened criminal they would probably not have taken the risk of thus warning me of the fact that I was under suspicion. As my appearance would seem to indicate that, if a law-breaker, I was a mere tyro in crime, they
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XXVII A FAMILIAR FACE
XXVII A FAMILIAR FACE
I had no stateroom in the Lake Champlain steamer, and my little sick baby and its poor tired mother were very thankful when, after the long, dreary night, they welcomed the dawn of day which counted them many miles nearer to their Mecca. I have forgotten the name of the place from which we took the train for Montreal after leaving the steamer, but I remember a fact of more consequence concerning it—that it was the wrong place. On reaching the Canada side the passengers were summoned to the custo
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XXVIII VISITORS, SHILLING A DOZEN—OUR LEFT-HANDERS
XXVIII VISITORS, SHILLING A DOZEN—OUR LEFT-HANDERS
The first week in June the French maid came to our room with a telegram for Mr. Edwards, announcing that Mr. and Mrs. Hutton would sail for home the following week. We began to hunt for a place to live, beginning with the hotels and larger boarding-houses, and ending with the smaller ones. After a week of varied, and some very funny, experiences, we decided at last upon one house, principally because of its attractive court overlooked by pleasant verandas. "With its glistening fountain and prett
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XXIX BORN WITH EMERALDS—NEMO NOCETUR
XXIX BORN WITH EMERALDS—NEMO NOCETUR
"Come, look at the soldiers," I said, as I saw a shadow in the General's smile and heard a sigh when the music, almost under our very windows, signaled the hour for dress-parade. The shadowy ghost of despair vanished with my entreaties, as we stood at the window and watched the soldiers, keeping time with them to step and tune outwardly, while hiding the muffled sound within, each playing we were enjoying it, without one marring thought of the crumpled-browed past, trying to fool each other till
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XXX TURKEY ISLAND
XXX TURKEY ISLAND
As soon as we could make our plans we returned to our ruined home on Turkey Island by the James River, where we built a small cottage in the place of the colonial mansion which had been burned by Butler. The ancestral trees had all been cut, even the monuments in the family cemetery had been broken, but it was home and we loved it. The river and the woods and our own garden supplied our table. We planted vines to wind lovingly around the melancholy stumps of the old oaks and elms which had falle
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XXXI AT THE WHITE HOUSE
XXXI AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Not long after General Grant became President he sent an order to my Soldier and Mrs. Grant extended an invitation to me and our little ones to visit them at the White House. The Southern train, usually late, was on time for once, and we came out of the station just as the President's carriage appeared. "Hello, Pickett!" he called out. "Up to your old war tricks, coming in ahead of the train!" The President referred to an incident of the war; my Soldier, wishing to go from Hanover Junction to Ri
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XXXII UNCLE TOM
XXXII UNCLE TOM
One evening just after the New York steamer had blown her three whistles in honor of my Soldier, as the river steamers always did in passing our wharf, and had gone around the bend, we saw Uncle Tom, the faithful old negro fisherman, coming up the hill with a bag over his stooping shoulders and talking to himself more excitedly than usual. "Good evening, Uncle Tom," I said, stepping off the porch to greet him. "What have you in your bag for me?" "Tarepins—dat's what I got fer you, but I got a pi
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XXXIII "GOD'S 'TISEMENT"
XXXIII "GOD'S 'TISEMENT"
Upon leaving Canada we had expected to lose Annie, our faithful nurse, but she interrupted our objections to taking her with: "Howly Fathers! an' sure an' phwat's to become of me widout the baby an' leastwise, phwat's as bad an' worse, phwat's to become of the baby widout me?" We explained that wages were much higher in the States and that we could not afford to take her. She begged to be allowed to come at any sacrifice of her own interests, so we finally consented, resolving that she should lo
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XXXIV CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN
XXXIV CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN
After the failure of the military system of agriculture developed at Turkey Island my Soldier became the general agent for the South of a life insurance company. His office was in Richmond, where his boyhood had been spent and where we had many pleasant friends and old associations. Though living a life of deep earnestness, my Soldier was fond of a story or a jest. He used to tell some of Lincoln's jokes and anecdotes which, in his youthful days in Illinois, he had heard from the lips of that fa
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XXXV EASTER FLOWERS
XXXV EASTER FLOWERS
The old Ballard and Exchange Hotel in Richmond, Virginia, celebrated for having entertained more distinguished visitors than any other hostelry in this country, consisted of two houses on opposite sides of the street, connected by one of the most picturesque bridges, where the guests found a pleasant meeting place as they passed from one building to the other. Colonel Carrington, the proprietor, was a courtly, gallant and hospitable old Virginia gentleman, a peer of peers, yielding to no superio
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XXXVI HIS LAST BATTLE
XXXVI HIS LAST BATTLE
In the early summer of 1875, as we were on the eve of going to Green Brier White Sulphur Springs for the rest that my Soldier so much needed after a winter of hard work, a telegram came from the Insurance Company he represented notifying him that an important matter in their Norfolk Agency had arisen, requiring his immediate personal attention. "Little one," he said to me, "you must go on to the Springs with our boy and I will join you just as soon as this business is settled." "Go without you?
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