A TALE OF WAR DAYS IN VIRGINIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17832, 28 April 1926, Page 4

A TALE OF WAR DAYS IN VIRGINIA.

ROBERT E. LEE AND TWO STARVING MEN. It was spring in Virginia. The flowers and birds had come, and across the wide streets of old Fredericksburg the great arms of the lindens and maples were reaching, as if to greet one another and show their new, delicate green garments. Nature was at her best, says the New York “ Times.” but man was at his very worst, for it was May in 1864, the last May in our history when brother was to be arrayed against brother and father against son in the great war between the States. For three years Lee and Jackfeoil had marched and fought in the Valley, Piedmont and Tidewater sections of the Old Dominion, and now the Army of the Potomac lay on the northern bank of the Rappahannock, facing the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee and Ilookcr were about to begin their duel. It is a far cry from the spring of 1864 to the late summer of 1925; from the valley, of the Rappahannock to the Valiev of the Shenandoah: but the distance * can be bridged, and at the Country Club near Winchester An ex-Confeder-ate soldier is telling Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice, of the British Army, a biographer of Lee, a story of the Southern leader: “ It was on the afternoon of the second day’s fighting, in May, 1864, that a cousin of mine and I were out foraging for something to eat. Wc entered a little farmhouse a few miles from Fredericksburg. An old lady met us at the door, and with all the kindness that could ever have been shown to dirty and ragged soldiers, asked us to enter, as she was 4 just about to feed some other of the soldiers.’ We asked her to allow us to wash up first, and that then we would come into her kitchen. Having removed the outer dirt and making shift to straighten up what was left of Our uniforms, we entered ahd to our surprise found twO general officers on the point of sitting at table —Robert E. Lee and Wade Hampton. Here was a pretty kettle of fish—the commanding general of the Confederate army and one of his cavalry chiefs paired with two dirty privates. Now, the discipline °f the Southern army was very different from that of any other army the sun ever shone upon, so stammering 4 Good morning, gentlemen,’ wc backed to the door. But we did not get Out. We were stopped by General Lee, who said, ' Men, you need this food more than we do; sit down and help yourselves. Come, General, we will be moving on.’ That, General Maurice, was the only time I ever saw General Lee during the war, but that little incident was only one of hundreds that occurred to bind him to his men.”