This Memorial Day, we remember
a different kind of war tragedy.
Mary was born in
Virginia in 1807, eight years after the death of her famous grandfather. She was lovely and vivacious, could speak
Latin and Greek, and single-handedly edited and published her family's letters. She was pursued by many suitors, including
Sam Houston.
But she fell for her
second cousin Robert. He was the son of
a Revolutionary War hero and so was of equally high standing. Mary and Robert were married at her family's
home just outside Washington in 1831. Though
Robert was a military man and often away from home, they had seven children,
whom Mary raised and educated mostly on her own. In her spare time, she painted landscapes of
her property and worked in her rose garden.
But then, in 1861, the
nation went to war. Robert was called up
as a military adviser, and later led his country's entire army. Fearing for Mary's safety, he sent her to
Richmond. She left her home suffering
from acute rheumatoid arthritis and the terrifying prospect of never seeing her home
again.
Her fears were
well-founded. In 1863, Mary sent agents
to Washington to pay the taxes due on her land. But the federal government rejected the payment, on the dubious grounds
that the property-owner needed to deliver the money in person. As a result, in January of 1864, Mary was
informed that all was lost; her family home had been confiscated.
After the war, with
nowhere else to go, Mary and Robert moved to Lexington. By this time, Mary was an invalid, confined
to a wheelchair. But in 1873, she
declared, "I do not think I can die in peace until I have seen it once
more." She had her servants carry her to her carriage, so
she could be driven back to the place where she was born, was married and where
she had raised her family.
When she arrived, she barely
recognized the place. All but the main
building had been destroyed. Much of the
landscaping had been uprooted to make way for a massive military cemetery. In the place where she had once tended her
roses stood a stone crypt holding the remains of 1,800 men killed in the Battle
of Bull Run.
Mary was shattered. She returned to Lexington, broken-hearted,
and died a few months later. She was
buried on the campus of a college named for her grandfather, George Washington,
and her husband, Robert E. Lee. Her full name was Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee.
And as for the home she
lost? Today, there are over a quarter of
a million people buried in her yard. We
know it as Arlington National Cemetery.
You can read previous installments of
the quick Sliver in our online archive.
Just go here: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs015/1103023679528/archive/1103033975377.html
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