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MEMOIRS

OF

William Nelson Pendleton, d.d.

RECTOR OF LATIMER PARISH, LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA;
BRIGADIER-GENERAL C. S. A.; CHIEF OF ARTILLERY, ARMY OF NORTHERN
VIRGINIA.

BY HIS DAUGHTER,
SUSAN P. LEE.

" J'ai toujours pris un soin tres particulier non seulement de ne pas falsifier, ce
qui seroit horrible, mais de ne pas alterer ou detoumer le moins du monde le sens
d'un passage." PASCAL.

PHILADELPHIA :
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
1893.

Copyright, 1893,
BY
Susan P. Lee.

Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.

PREFACE.

It was the singular good fortune of the people of the Confed
erate States, in their ill-fated struggle for separate government, to
have for their leaders men of the loftiest mould.
The challenge can be safely given to the world to furnish
from any of the nations of the earth, in any one era of its history,
an assemblage of heroes who, for supreme ability, for martial
prowess, and at the same time for devotion to duty and unsul
lied purity of character, will surpass the chieftains who com
manded the armies of the Confederacy.
Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Albert Sydney Johnston, Stone
wall Jackson, Joseph E. Johnston, A. P. Hill, Leonidas Polk, J.
E. B. Stuart, — and others still spared to their countrymen, —
deserve to live and will live through future ages in human
remembrance among the knightliest and noblest of mankind.
The perusal of this faithful story of a grand life nobly lived
will convince the reader that William N. Pendleton rightfully
belongs to this galaxy of Christian heroes.
If it be true that the character of a people and their cause may
be fairly measured by the characters of their typical men, — their
chosen leaders and representatives, — then- indeed the people of
the Confederate South have here their proudest heritage, and no
higher duty can be discharged to the living and the dead than
that performed by the truthful chronicler of such lives and such
men. This work of, duty and love fittingly delineates the life, labors,
and character of a Christian soldier and patriot, — a man whose
3

4 PREFACE.
i
virtues, though well known to the people whom he served and
those among whom he lived, " were best known to his family, his
servants, and the poor."
The devoted love of the daughter has not been allowed to
weaken the fidelity of the historian or to give exaggerated color
to the events and the scenes which she describes.
No biography of General Pendleton could be complete which
did not give some account of the society, the institutions, the
traditions, the people, the environment under the influence and
in the midst of which he was reared, and this lovely picture is
here drawn true to life.
Nor could any just history of General Pendleton's life be writ
ten which did not also portray, as has been done in this volume,
the beauties of the life of the lovely woman who was for more
than half a century his helpmeet, — the worthy sharer of his joys
and his sorrows, his trials and his triumphs.
" For contemplation he, for valor formed ;
For softness she, and sweet attractive grace :
He for God only, she for God in him."
W. A. A.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. — Birth and Ancestry  7
II. — Family Life in Virginia  15
III. — School-Days and Boyhood  21
IV. — Life at West Point  25
V. — First Year of Army Life  30
VI. — Garrison Life  35
VII. — Marriage — Professor at West Point  41
VIII. — Life at Fort Hamilton  49
IX. — Life at Bristol College  55
X. — A Summer's Engineering  62
XI. — Life at Newark College  69
XII. — Opening of the Episcopal High School of Virginia .... 72
XIII. — Pecuniary Trouble — Withdrawal from the High School 79
XIV. — Life in Maryland  83
XV. — Becomes Rector of All Saints' Church, Frederick, Mary
land  90
XVI. — Family Affliction  93
XVII. — Life in Frederick — Resignation of the Parish  99
XVIII. — Removal to Lexington, Virginia  102
XIX. — Agent for the Sunday-School Union  107
XX. — Work in Lexington  117
XXI. — Work in Lexington — Continued  122
XXII. — Breaking out of the War  131
XXIII. — The Rockbridge Artillery  140
XXIV. — Colonel of Artillery — First Battle of Manassas .... 146
XXV. — Summer of 1861 — Increase of Artillery Force  154
XXVI. — Winter at Centreville; — Opening of the Spring Campaign 169
XXVII. — To the Peninsula and back again  179
XXVIII. — Defence of Richmond — Seven Days' Battles  187
XXIX. — Summer of 1862  199
XXX. — Advance into Maryland — Battle of Sharpsburg  210
XXXI. — Fall and Winter of 1862  226
XXXII. — First Battle of Fredericksburg  239
XXXIII. — Winter and Spring of 1863 — Battle of Chancellors ville 250
XXXIV. — Summer of 1863 — Invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania 269
XXXV. — Battle of Gettysburg  282
XXXVI. — After Gettysburg — Bristow Station — Mine Run— Home
on Furlough — Colonel Pendleton's Marriage  295
XXXVII. — Return to Camp — Sent to Dalton to reorganize General
J. E. Johnston's Artillery  312
5

6 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGS
XXXVIIL— From the Wilderness to Cold Harbor  323
XXXIX.— Summer of 1864 — Hunter's Advance up the Valley — Siege
of Petersburg  339
XL. — Early's Advance into Maryland  360
XLI. — Death of Colonel Sandie Pendleton  368
XLII. — Opening Weeks of 1865 — Sheridan's Advance up the
Valley -  . 383
XLIII. — Evacuation of Petersburg — Surrender at Appomattox . . 393
XLIV. — Return Home — Resumption of Parish Work — Conditions
of Daily Life  407
XLV. — Personal Indignities— Closing of the Church— Rallying
against Disaster in the State and Diocese — Reopening
of Washington College and the Virginia Military In
stitute — Return of Virginia to Connection with the
General Convention  422
XLVI. — Again Rector of Latimer Parish — Pecuniary Difficulties
— Constant Work — Aid for South Carolina — Letters . 435
XLVII. — Distinguished Professors in Lexington — Efforts to en
large the Church — Parochial and Family Troubles —
Death of General R. E. Lee — Letters  444
XLVIII. — Monument and Memorial Church for General R. E. Lee
proposed — Southern Tour to raise Money — School for
Little Boys — Failing Health  454
XLIX. — New Church begun — Voyage to Halifax and England —
Death of Miss and Mrs. Lee — Second Tour to raise
Money — Connection with Diocesan Work — Letters . . 462
L. — Golden Wedding — Illness — Work to the Last — Death . . 474

MEMOIRS

OF

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D.

CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND ANCESTRY.
William Nelson Pendleton, the third surviving son of
Edmund Pendleton, third of that name in the county of Caroline,
Virginia, and Lucy Nelson, was born on December 26, 1809.
The story of his life is one of no common interest.
He was a successful teacher and trainer of other men. For
well-nigh forty-six years he exercised the high and holy calling
of a clergyman of the Church and a faithful parish minister. He
was not only the friend and counsellor of the leaders in a great
national convulsion, but himself took active part therein, and as
a soldier illustrated on many a bloody field his patriotism and
his courage.
It becomes, therefore, the duty of his biographer truthfully
to record the circumstances of his life, and also to indicate the
causes and influences from which sprang the energy of character,
the purity of motive, the intellectual ability, and the physical
vigor' necessary for so varied and unusual a career. Prominent
among these influences were the associations and traditions of
his ancestry, which must be given in some detail.
Nathaniel and Philip Pendleton, — the first a clergyman, the other
a school-master, — sons of Henry Pendleton, of Norwich, England,
emigrated to Virginia in 1674. Nathaniel left no children, and
the Pendleton family, with its numerous branches in Virginia,
South Carolina, New York, and Ohio, is descended from Philip.
The Rev. Philip Slaughter, D.D., the historiographer of the
Episcopal Church of Virginia, in his history of St. Mark's Parish, 7

8 MEMOIRS OF
Culpeper County, devotes a number of pages to an account of
the various divisions of the Pendleton family in Virginia. These
sketches show them to have been upright, intelligent, respectable,
and useful members of society in their different localities. Dr.
Slaughter has, however, strangely omitted any notice of the
Pendletons of Caroline County, from whom the subject of these
Memoirs was directly descended, and who are, on some accounts,
more noteworthy than their kinsmen.
Henry, eldest son of the emigrant Philip, married at the age
of eighteen, his wife being only thirteen. In 1721 he died, four
months before the birth of his fifth son, Edmund, who was to be
come the distinguished jurist and statesman of the Revolution,
the most renowned and influential man of his name, and the
virtual founder of the Caroline branch of the family.
Left a young widow, with a large family and small means, Mrs.
Pendleton married again, and her youngest son grew to boyhood,
as he himself has recorded, " without classical education, without
patrimony, without what is called the influence of family connec
tion." But he had inherited from either father or mother a clear intel
lect, a resolute will, an unblemished integrity. In his fourteenth
year he was apprenticed to the clerk of Caroline County, and set
himself at that early age to the diligent study of the law, for
which his position afforded the best facilities of the day. Made
clerk of the Vestry in his sixteenth year, he spent all his small
salary in the purchase of books, which he eagerly read. At the
age of twenty he was, with his master's permission, rigidly ex
amined by Mr. Barradall, an eminent lawyer, and admitted to the
bar. Previous to this he had married, contrary to the advice of
his friends, the beautiful Bettie Roy, who died in less than two
years. In his twenty-fourth year he married a second wife, —
Sarah Pollard, — who survived him.
From the time of his coming to the bar he was in full practice
in the county courts, and soon passed on to the General Court,
where he had abundant business until 1774, when it was closed
by the Revolution. In 1752 he was sent to the House of Bur
gesses, to which he was re-elected until it became extinct. This
was the beginning of his public career, which continued without
cessation until his death in 1803, more than half a century.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 9
Eminently conservative in the cast of his mind, he shrank from
changing the laws and overturning the established order of things.
In his brief autobiography he says, " When the dispute with Great
Britain began, a redress of grievances, and not a revolution of gov
ernment, was my wish." To bring about such redress by peace
able means he hoped and argued and labored. But when remon
strance and petition had no effect ; when such manifestations of
the popular determination to resist oppression as the claim of the
Virginia Burgesses that they alone had a right to levy taxes in
the Colony, the universal opposition to the Stamp Act, the
destruction of tea in Boston harbor, the non-importation agree
ment, everywhere enforced, availed nothing ; when the British
crown increased its efforts to enforce despotic control over the
lives and liberties of American subjects, the manliness of Pendle
ton's character did not hesitate or falter. Finding revolution inevi
table, he gave all his energies to secure the unchanging principles
of justice and truth as the foundation of the new order of things.
Such was the confidence of the great men and patriots with
whom he was associated, in his integrity and ability, that he was
called upon by both parties in the Colony to fill many of the
important posts of the day. In 1764 he was one of the committee
to draw up memorials to the King, Lords, and Commons. In
1773 he was a member of the Committee of Correspondence be
tween the Colonies. The Virginia Convention of 1 774 appointed
him a delegate to Congress. To this position he was re-elected
in 1775, but declined serving on account of sickness. A member
of all the Virginia conventions, he was president of that of 1775,
and of the still more memorable one of 1776. But the greatesl
mark of the universal trust which he inspired in his fellows was
his unanimous election by the Convention of 1775 as the head of
the Committee of Safety. This body of eleven members consti
tuted the Executive of the Colony, and was in perpetual session.
Its duties were responsible, multiform, and perplexing. No rule
or precedent directed its acts. Its powers were discretionary and
almost absolute. Great, therefore, were the wisdom, energy, and
prudence requisite to guide its deliberations. For such a position
Pendleton's calm temper, clear judgment, and resolute character
eminently fitted him. Thoroughly acquainted with the finances,
needs, and resources of the Colony ; well versed in all branches

IO MEMOIRS OF
of English law and in the laws of nations ; knowing intimately
all the great men of the period, with their widely-differing views
and feelings, no one was better prepared to be head of such a
body ; nor would any one have accepted such a position, unless
ready to give up life itself at his country's call.
Mr. Grigsby, in his account of the Virginia Convention of
1776, — in which were assembled such men as Thomas Jefferson,
Patrick Henry, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, George
Mason, Paul Carrington, James Madison, Thomas Nelson, and
many of their illustrious compeers, — writes of Pendleton as being,
" in an intellectual point of view, one of the accomplished speak
ers in the House. Nor," continues Grigsby, " were his physical
powers at all inferior to his intellectual. He was fully six feet in
height, and was in the vigor of life, having reached his fifty-fifth
year ; his face still so comely as to have won for its possessor the
reputation of being the handsomest man in the Colony ; his noble
form still unbent by that fearful accident which in less than twelve
months was to confine him to the crutch for life ; * lithe and grace
ful in all his movements ; his manners polished by an intercourse
of a quarter of a century with the most refined circles of the
metropolis and of the Colony; his voice clear and ringing, so
that its lowest note was distinctly heard throughout the hall ; and
a self-possession so supreme as to sustain him in the fiercest col
lisions of debate as if in a state of repose." f
But, with all this distinction and honor, Edmund Pendleton —
although he had been a member of the House of Burgesses for
twenty-five years — was now, in his fifty-fifth year, only partially
advanced in his noble career.
For twenty-seven years longer he continued in the active and
diligent service of his country. Speaker of the House of Dele
gates, where his ability in debate was unsurpassed ; member of
the committee to revise the laws of Virginia, where his contem
poraries traced his work by its clearness and precision ; presi
dent of the Convention of 1788, which discussed and ratified
the Federal Constitution, where Thomas Jefferson said of him,

* In 1777 a fall from his horse injured his hip and lamed him permanently.
f Hugh Blair Grigsby's "Discourse on the Virginia Convention of 1776," pp.
14, IS-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 1
" Taken all in all, he was the ablest man in debate I have ever
met with ;" presiding judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals
from its organization in 1779 to his death in 1803; the ardu
ous duties and responsibilities of these various offices were
discharged with ability and fidelity, with ease and dignity, and,
above all, with a purity which the breath of censure never soiled.
Disabled by excessive lameness for twenty-five years, he shrank
from no labor, endured every fatigue, and died in the full posses
sion of his faculties, and discharge of his duties as judge, at the
age of eighty-two.
His important and incessant political labors did not lessen his
interest and activity in other questions connected with the wel
fare of his country and people. " The Vestries were the deposi
taries of power in Virginia. ... In their history we may fairly
trace the origin, not only of that religious liberty which after
wards developed itself in Virginia, but also of the early and de
termined stand taken by the Episcopalians of Virginia in behalf
of civil liberty." * We have seen the boy Edmund clerk of the
Vestry in Caroline County. As a man, he was prevented by his
onerous duties as statesman and judge from taking such active
part in church affairs as many of his associates. But his inter
est in them continued throughout his life. Writing to Richard
Henry Lee, June 13, 1785, he expresses the interest he felt in the
proceedings of the Convention of the Episcopal Church in the
previous month, and touches on the question of a bishop for the
young Commonwealth.f
A petition to the Legislature for the suppression of intemper
ance, drawn up with his own hand, is still in existence. His
personal piety is evinced by the devout aspirations with which
he concludes his record of his unparalleled success in life : " Not
unto me, not unto me, O Lord, but unto thy name be the praise."
Beginning life in poverty, Judge Pendleton acquired a large
fortune, and built a handsome house, — Edmundsbury, in Caroline,
— where he lived during his short intervals of leisure, and where
his widow resided for many years. Having no children, he
attached himself specially to his nephew and namesake, Ed
mund, the first son of his next older brother, John. This affection
* Bishop Meade's " Old Churches and Families," vol. i. p. 151. f Ibid., p. 415.

12 MEMOIRS OF
was strengthened by the younger Edmund marrying Mille Pol
lard, the youngest sister of his uncle's second wife. The young
couple settled at White Plains, near Edmundsbury. In course
of time two sons and several daughters were born to them. The
second boy was called Edmund, after his father and grand-uncle.
After his birth the old judge arranged with his nephew that this
third Edmund, the one mentioned in the beginning of this chap
ter, should become his adopted son and heir. With the estates
he received valuable heirlooms, among them the family Bible,*
with its genealogical record, written with rare beauty and dis
tinctness by the judge, down to 1802, and the old gentleman's
portrait, taken in extreme old age.f
Judge Pendleton died in 1803, several years before the birth of
William Nelson Pendleton. But the influence of his character
and example was strong in the family, and constant intercourse
with his aged widow kept the traditions and anecdotes of his
illustrious grand-uncle fresh in the boy's mind. The resemblance
between the two in many points of character and opinion was
marked. And it is difficult to tell how much of such similarity
was due to inheritance, how much the result of early impressions
made by such an example of a noble, useful life upon an ardent,
lofty spirit.
Family influences not less valuable are to be traced on the
maternal side. For more than a century the Nelsons had been
among the most respected and influential families in the Colony.
Thomas Nelson, the founder of the family, from Penrith, in the
north of England, settled atYorktown in 1705. He soon became
a successful merchant and ship-owner. By energy and skill in
business he amassed a large property, and changed the little
village of York into a flourishing seaport. His sons inherited his
industry and integrity along with his wealth, and became leading
men in the Colony. Thomas, the eldest, was secretary of the
King's Council. William, the second son, was, like his father, a
ship-owner, and imported goods to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and
York. He was for many years president of the King's Council
in Virginia, and at one time — in an interval between two govern-
* In possession of Robert N. Pendleton, Wyfheville, Virginia.
\ Purchased from D. D. Pendleton by Charlotte Pendleton, of Cincinnati.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 3
ors — head of the Colony. The Nelsons were even more remark
able for their piety and virtue than for their success in business.
So active and earnest was President Nelson in promoting the
interests of the Church and of religion that he had a large dinner
prepared at his mansion in York on every church Sunday, and
invited all, rich and poor, to it, so that those who lived at a dis
tance from the church might find it less difficult to attend service.*
An extract from his funeral sermon ascribes to him " a rational
and firm piety, an active and constant affection for the well-being
and best interests of mankind ;" and speaks of him as " constant
in his attendance at the ordinary service of God, and the celebra
tion of the Lord's Supper." \
His eldest son, Thomas, was sent to England and educated
under the care of Dr. Porteus, afterwards Bishop of London.
The letters written by the father to Dr. Porteus exhibit his earnest
wish that his son should be kept from evil company and bad
example, and trained in virtue and godliness, as well as in the
learning and accomplishments required in a young gentleman of
that day. On his return to Virginia, Thomas Nelson was soon
enrolled among the active public men and patriots of the Colony.
Member of the House of Burgesses before he was twenty-one, he
became, in turn, member of the important conventions, member of
Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, general of the
Virginia forces, governor of the State. He raised money to supply
her necessities by pledging his private fortune, and when he died,
in 1789, left his widow and children thereby impoverished.
An account given by the Marquis de Chastellux of his visit to
General Nelson's home — Offley, in Hanover County — presents a
most interesting picture of a virtuous and well-ordered Virginia
household just after the Revolution :
" In the absence of the general (who had gone to Williams
burg), his mother and wife received us with all the politeness, ease,
and cordiality natural to the family. But as in America the ladies
are never thought sufficient to do the honors of the house, five or
six Nelsons were assembled to receive us, — among others, Secre
tary Nelson, uncle to the general, his two sons, and two of the
* Bishop Meade's " Old Churches and Families," vol. i. p. 208. f Ibid.

14 MEMOIRS OF
general's brothers. These young men were married, and several
of them were accompanied by their wives and children, all called
Nelson, and distinguished only by their Christian names ; so that
during the two days that I spent in this truly patriarchal house it
was impossible for me to find out their degrees of relationship.
The company assembled either in the parlor or saloon, especially
the men, from the hour of breakfast to that of bedtime ; but the
conversation was always agreeable and well supported. If you
were desirous of diversifying the scene, there were some good
French and English authors at hand. An excellent breakfast at
nine o'clock, a sumptuous dinner at two, tea and punch in the
afternoon, and an elegant little supper divided the day most hap
pily for those whose stomachs were never unprepared. It is worth
observing that on this occasion, where fifteen or twenty people
(four of whom were strangers to the family and country) were
assembled together, not a syllable was said about play. How
many parties of tric-trac, whist, and lotto would with us have been
the consequence of such obstinate bad weather !" *
General Nelson's second brother, Hugh, one of those mentioned
above, seems to have taken no active part in politics. But he
was, like his father, diligent in piety and good works. The church
in York being often without a minister, Mr. Nelson acted as lay
preacher, reading the service and a sermon on Sunday. He also
prepared the first class for confirmation in York, shortly after
Bishop Madison returned from England with episcopal consecra
tion. His daughter Lucy, mother of the subject of this memoir,
used to tell how her father assembled all the candidates for con
firmation — she being the youngest among them — in the parlor
of the old house in York, on the morning of the bishop's visit,
and addressed them on the nature of the solemn vows they were
about to ratify. This private gathering and the scene soon after
following in the church were described as most interesting and
touching. Ancestors thus conspicuous for intellectual vigor, unswerving
patriotism, honorable discharge of duty in important positions,
* " De Chastellux's Travels," quoted by Bishop Meade,—" Old Churches and
Families," vol. i. p. 212.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1$
devoted piety, and worldly prosperity could not fail to excite
their generous and magnanimous descendants to imitate and
emulate their virtues and excellencies.

CHAPTER II.
FAMILY LIFE IN VIRGINIA.
Edmund Pendleton, Jr., had — like his great-uncle and
adopted father — much beauty of form and feature, energy of
character, cheerfulness of disposition, and clear intellect to have
made him successful in professional life. But affluence instead
of poverty sat beside his cradle and tended his boyhood, and
when, after the example of his elders, he married at the age of
twenty, he was not forced to exert himself for the support of his
family, but settled down with his young wife to enjoy the com
fort and ease provided for him by his uncle's labors. His first
wife, Jane Byrd Page, died in less than two years, leaving a little
daughter, Elizabeth.
Early and repeated marriage was a Pendleton habit, and the
young widower, before he was twenty-four, took to himself his
second wife, Lucy Nelson. She was a dark-eyed, dark-haired
girl, who to beauty and sweetness added a sprightly mind and
firm though gentle character, which fitted her well for the part
she was to play as mother of a large family and mistress of an
extensive plantation. After a wedded life of nearly fifty years,
Mr. Pendleton used to tell with pride how himself and bride had
been pronounced the handsomest couple in Richmond. Her
beauty and her wealth of hair did not protect Mrs. Pendleton
from the barbarous fashion of the day, which decreed that every
married woman, no matter how young and good-looking, should
cover her head with an ugly mob-cap. Her luxuriant tresses were
cropped short and the beautiful hair hidden under a cap until the
day of her death.
The young couple lived on their estate in Caroline during the
greater part of the year, but spent the winters with Mrs. Pendle
ton's mother in Richmond, Mr. Pendleton holding an office con-

1 6 MEMOIRS OF
nected with the Legislature, as his father had done before him.
Here, on December 26, 1809, in a house on Grace Street, not far
from the site of St. Paul's Church, William Nelson Pendleton
was born. Several children had died in infancy, but two brothers
and two sisters were living. All of these, as well as three brothers
younger than he, grew to mature age, and five of them reached the
term of threescore years. Hugh Nelson, the eldest son, was nearly
ten years older than William. Two sisters, Mildred and Judith,
followed Hugh in close succession. The next surviving child was
Francis Walker, only one year older than William. Robert, James
Lawrence, and Gurdon Huntingdon were the three who followed
him. The affection between the brothers and sisters was warm
and lasting, but the tie between Walker and William was particu
larly strong, notwithstanding a marked dissimilarity between them.
Walker was small of stature, indolent in habit, quiet and peace
able in disposition, though fond of a joke, and somewhat of a
tease. William, tall and well formed, was full of animal spirits
and activity, always busy at work or at play, noisy, mischievous,
and so pugnacious that he was expected by brothers, cousins, and
school-mates to restrain any show of uppishness in the younger
boys, and to keep them in their place, by the chastisement he was
never slow to administer. Notwithstanding this belligerent ten
dency, his bright good humor and universal kindliness made him a
great favorite ; and, the fight ended, the combatants were speedily
the best of friends, eagerly planning some joint piece of mischief
or amusement. Walker filled the part of peace-maker, and not
infrequently came in for an undue share of blows from both sides.
On one of the rare occasions when the brothers had eno-ao-ed in
o o
a battle on their own account, their father came unexpectedly on
the scene, booted and spurred for his daily ride round the plan
tation. He held his riding-whip, and laid it so impartially over
the shoulders of both boys that they not only ceased fightino- at
once, but ever after refrained from coming to blows.
Country life in Virginia in those days had many distinctive
characteristics. Stores were few and far apart. Everything had
to be raised and manufactured on the plantations, or purchased
at great cost and transported with much trouble. The numbers
of slaves relieved the masters and mistresses from any necessity
for manual labor, but the obligation to provide food, clothino-, and

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 7
quarters in healthful and sufficient quantity for so many depend
ants taxed the thoughtfulness and developed the administrative
faculties of the owners in a wonderful degree. To see that there
was meat, meal, molasses, and fish, cotton, wool, and leather in
needful supply ; that the cabins were in good repair, with fuel at
convenient distance for winter use ; that the stock and farming
implements were well cared for ; the barns and stables in good
order ; that the crops were planted and worked diligently and in
telligently, occupied the master's attention and time, even when
he employed an " overseer" to look after the thousand minutice of
plantation work. Upon the mistress devolved the duty of seeing
that the food was prepared by competent cooks. She was respon
sible not only for the cutting and making of the cotton clothing
for summer and the linsey for winter, but, not infrequently, also
for the spinning the yarn and weaving the cloth for the required
garments. Not an unusual task was it for her to " set up the web,"
by filling the weaver's sley and counting the threads for the cloth.
Day after day the softest white hands plied the heavy scissors
and aided the negro seamstresses with skilful fingers. Every
case of sickness was brought to the mistress's notice. Each one
was duly visited, and medicine and nourishment ordered, and
often administered by herself.
No one can deny that there were evils connected with, and
objections inherent to, the conditions of slavery on the one side
and ownership on the other ; but no age nor nation has witnessed
greater comfort of body, contentedness of mind, and attachment
to employers in any laboring class, nor more careful attention to
the wants and regard for the feelings of their dependants than
were exhibited mutually by Virginia ladies and gentlemen and
their slaves. This was peculiarly the case with the house-ser
vants. Nowhere could be found more devoted nurses, and never
was love more fondly returned than that of the black " mammy"
by her white nursling. Insubordination in the nursery was
promptly repressed, and mammy's authority upheld by father
and mother. Little William's love of mischief tempted him on
one occasion to pull the chair from under his old nurse as she
was in the act of seating herself by the fire with one of his baby
brothers in her arms. But his shouts of laughter at the unex
pected collapse of mammy's dignity were speedily hushed. She
2

1 8 MEMOIRS OF
gathered herself up with all haste, placed the uninjured infant in
the lap of a younger maid, and swooping down upon the offender,
bore him, spite of kicks and struggles, to his mother's cham
ber. Mrs. Pendleton was too feeble to inflict the deserved pun
ishment, but turned it over to her husband. He listened to
the tale, reached for a peach switch lying on the tall mantel, and
by a few sharp cuts cured the fun-loving urchin of his pro
pensity to upset unwary folk so rudely.
Schools were few in the country in those days. The age of
tutors and governesses had scarcely begun. Children of every
degree were taught by their parents in their brief intervals of
leisure. The young Pendletons thus learned to read, write, and
cipher at their mother's knee. More important still were the
principles of truth and honor instilled by their father, and the
religious teaching of their mother's precept and example. Sun
day-schools were little held in the city, not at all in the country.
In the part of Caroline where Mr. Pendleton lived there was no
Episcopal church, and the only religious services were by un
taught Methodist and Baptist preachers. Mrs. Pendleton had
no mind to have her children grow up without regular religious
training, or to let them stray off from the church of their fathers.
The large prayer-book with its clear print was the book oftenest
used to teach the little ones to read. And as soon as a child
could do so with any ease, it was accustomed to read the Psalter
for the day responsively with its mother, while psalms, hymns,
and Bible verses were day by day memorized. In this way
the mind was stored with truths and the tongue habituated to
a purity of language and richness of phraseology unattainable
under the use of " readers" in the schools of a later day.
Mr. Pendleton made no religious profession, but he seconded
the efforts of his wife for the proper instruction of their children.
Family prayers were read by one of the parents, and on every
Sunday morning, in the country, the whole household was assem
bled at eleven o'clock, and — as Mrs. Pendleton had been wont
to hear it at her father's house in York — the morning service and
a sermon were read by Mr. Pendleton. Sunday afternoon was
observed by the repeating the church catechism by all the young
people in turn. When a second generation came on, and grand
children gathered for the summer at their grandfather's home,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D-D. 1 9
great was the amusement of the girls and boys to hear their
fathers and mothers called on to " say the catechism" by their
venerable grandmother.
The boys might chafe and grow restive under these wholesome
restraints when they wished to join their young neighbors in
pleasure-seeking on Sunday, but a few years added better judg
ment, and they saw the wisdom of the parental course. Hugh,
the oldest son, used to tell in later years of his amusement and
amazement, on one of the rare occasions when he managed to
elude his mother's Sunday vigilance, at hearing a neighboring
preacher pray that the Lord would " enlighten those dark cor
ners of the earth where the foot of man hath never trod and
which thine eye, O Lord, hath never seen."
The burning of the theatre in Richmond, where seventy-two
persons, among them the governor of the State, perished in the
flames, has been often described. Its sad circumstances were
singularly connected with Mr. Pendleton's family, and are, there
fore, given at some length. As usual, they were spending the
winter with Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Pendleton's mother. A number
of relations had gathered there for the Christmas holidays. On
the evening of the 26th of December, 181 1, a party to the theatre
was proposed. Mrs. Pendleton was wearing mourning, and had
begun to entertain religious scruples about theatre-going. She,
therefore, excused herself on the plea of her black dress. Her
husband insisted, and at last persuaded her to go in order to cel
ebrate their little William's second birthday, and she consented
to chaperon her step-daughter, sister, and cousin.
A crowded audience had gathered to see Placide, a favorite
actor, in a new play. This was over, and the second act of the
after-piece had begun. One of the players was performing near
the foot-lights, when sparks of fire were seen falling around him,
and a voice cried out, " The house is on fire !" A panic ensued
not surpassed by any of the horrors of later years. There was
only one way of exit for the occupants of the pit and boxes. The
latter had to reach it by a narrow passage and down a steep stair
way, which soon became blocked by the hurrying throng.
Mr. Pendleton, with his wife and daughter clinging to his arms,
and the other two ladies holding on behind, was making his way
towards the stairs, when the crowd surged between and separated

20 MEMOIRS OF
them. Mrs. Pendleton was borne onward to the top of the stairs,
and then actually forced upward by the surrounding mass and
carried some distance forward upon the heads of those in front.
Mr. Pendleton finding it impossible to regain his hold of his wife,
ceased trying to reach the steps, and, after many efforts, climbed
with his daughter to a window, from which they jumped and
saved their lives, though the young girl's leg was badly broken.
Great was the mourning at Mrs. Nelson's over the two daughters
and the niece, who were believed to have perished in the fire.
But a merciful Providence spared the young wife and mother to
her family. Mrs. Pendleton lost consciousness in a few moments
when separated from her party, and recollected nothing after
finding herself above the heads of the crowd.
When she came to herself she was sensible of a cool breeze
blowing in her face. She opened her eyes in intense darkness,
and at first supposed herself dead. As memory brought back
the horrors of the fire, she conjectured that she had been buried
alive. This agonizing thought was confirmed by perceiving that
she was lying against a solid wooden surface. Writhing with
terror, she raised her hand to feel the coffin-lid. Reason seemed
to return with motion. The uplifted hand met with no obstruc
tion ; the wind in her face proved she could not be in her grave.
Feeling cautiously, she ascertained that a heavy beam had fallen
so close to her as to be in contact with the whole length of her
back, and, lying upon her skirts, pinned her to the ground. Re
peated and violent efforts enabled her to tear her clothing and
extricate herself from her prostrate position. She then crept over
the charred and smouldering ruins to the point from which the
wind blew. The faint light of the breaking day was seen, and
she found herself in the street, barefooted and half naked. In
the gray dawn she sought her mother's house, and bruised and
half clad as she was, went round a square to avoid a cow in the
direct road. The servant who opened the door to her knock
screamed with fright at seeing, as she thought, her young mis
tress's ghost, while husband, mother, and children greeted her
return from death with joy and thanksgiving.
The charred remains of her sister and cousin were identified by
the diamonds lying among them. They rest, with their fellow-
victims, on the spot where they died, and their names are inscribed

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 21
on the monument under the portico of the Monumental Church
in Richmond.
A cessation of theatre-going in Virginia followed for many
years, and none of the elder members of the Nelson connection
ever entered one again. This restriction was not rigidly enforced
upon the young ones. When a good comedian appeared in Rich
mond eight or nine years later, Walker and William Pendleton
were sent with their brother Hugh to see him. William was soon
in ecstasies of merriment, and his prolonged paroxysms of laugh
ter not only drew the attention of the audience from the stage,
but excited the risibilities of the actors themselves.

CHAPTER III.
SCHOOL-DAYS AND BOYHOOD.
In 1820 or 1 82 1, Mr. Pendleton received an appointment which
took him to reside in Richmond. The boys, Walker and Wil
liam, were then sent to school to Mr. John L. Nelson, a teacher
of considerable reputation. Under him they passed two unevent
ful years, increasing in knowledge and entering with boyish zest
into the various school sports. William especially enjoyed the
exciting and dangerous game of "bandy," delighting in the
vigorous exercise and the rivalry of the contest.
Two circumstances of their school-life in Richmond were puz
zling to the brothers. No matter what care William gave to his
lessons, he never rose in the class to a place higher than the less
studious and often unprepared Walker. Nor did either of them
ever receive any of the caning freely bestowed upon their school
mates for smaller offences than William's mischief or Walker's
idleness. Partiality on the part of the teacher was the supposed
reason for the double injustice. Meeting his old master in after-
years, William learned with surprise that he had been kept down
in his classes and screened from punishment by his father's direc
tion. Mr. Pendleton had instructed Mr. Nelson that neither of
his sons should, for any cause, be subjected to the " indignity" of
a whipping, and that the younger should never be allowed to

22 MEMOIRS OF
outstrip the elder. The right of primogeniture could scarcely
have been pushed further.
The school-life in Richmond came to an end in two years, and
Mr. Pendleton returned to Caroline. Hugh, his oldest son, had
graduated at William and Mary College, and had come home to
read law. He was an excellent classical scholar and a tolerable
mathematician. To him his father now intrusted the education
of his brothers, without any restrictions as to discipline or prog
ress among them. Under this new system of punishment and
advancement William's love of study and desire for knowledge
were stimulated, and his activity of mind and clearness of appre
hension carried him well on in Latin, Greek, and elementary
mathematics. But the young lawyer was obliged to seek some
locality more favorable for the practice of his profession, and his
brothers were left for a time without regular instruction.
They were not, however, suffered to fall into idleness. They
were required to cultivate " truck-patches" assigned to them, and
became ambitious to raise earlier corn and sweet potatoes, and
larger watermelons, than their father's old gardener. To them
were also intrusted the various and responsible duties usually
performed by " overseers." Summoned from their slumbers be
fore sunrise, they took the keys of corn-crib and barn, and super
intended the feeding of the horses, mules, and oxen ; saw that the
provisions given out the previous day were distributed to the
hands while the animals were feeding, and that teams and laborers
were ready for work at the proper time. This morning duty
accomplished, they were expected to appear at prayers and break
fast neatly dressed. After breakfast they went to the field to see
that the work laid off" for the forenoon was properly executed.
At twelve o'clock the stock was again fed and dinner ready for
the hands. The regular work of the day did not end for them
until the tired animals were again fed and rubbed down, the
evening rations given out to be prepared and enjoyed in leisure
at the cabins, provisions for the next day furnished to the cooks,
the keys returned to their father with a full account of the occur
rences of the day, and orders received from him as to the routine
for the morrow. They were expected to have oversight over all
farm implements, as well as men and animals, and to report on all
needed repairs. In addition to this regular work they took active

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 2$
part at all busy seasons. They ploughed, planted, and hoed corn
in the spring ; worked in the harvest-field and at wheat-threshing
in summer; pulled fodder and cut corn in the fall of the year.
Such training gave them habits of diligence and of patient,
faithful attention to details. Under it obedience to orders, with
a rational exercise of limited authority — watchfulness over the
welfare of others — and a practical knowledge of many of the
operations of nature, were learned in a degree unusual for boys
between fourteen and seventeen.
Nor were the graces and amenities of cultivated society neg
lected. The young Pendletons did not become rude and uncouth
by reason of out-door work and rough occupations. Caroline
was thickly settled. The gentlemen farmers — the Pendletons,
Taylors, Turners, Corbins, Hoomeses, Magruders, Dickersons,
and many others — resided on large estates, and were noted for
their profuse living and lavish hospitality. The men occupied
themselves principally in hunting, card-playing, and convivial
drinking, while a continual round of dinners, parties, and balls
amused both sexes. " Bowling Green," the county seat, was the
centre of the merry-making and dissipation, and the rendezvous
of many wild young men, whose reckless pursuit of pleasure
often carried them into lamentable excesses.
Mr. Pendleton was an enthusiastic fox-hunter, and took special
pride in his pack of hounds. But he neither drank nor gambled,
kept himself out of the vortex of the county revelries, and
seconded his wife's efforts to keep their children from being
drawn into it.
This restraint was not pushed too far. The family lived on
social terms with their neighbors, gave and received entertain
ments, and thought a ride of five miles for a morning visit, or
ten for a dinner, a small matter. In his youth a graceful dancer,
and throughout his life a fine performer on the violin, Mr. Pen
dleton delighted to set the young people dancing, and was much
pleased to find his sons and daughters excel in that accomplish
ment. William inherited some of the musical talent of his race,
and learned to play the violin on his own account, handling the
bow with such skill that he could play any tune he could whistle.
More serious occupation for leisure hours was found in the
library of English classics, partly inherited from the old judge,

24 MEMOIRS OF
and added to from time to time as a new book attracted the
attention of the reading public. Those were not the days of
cheap literature, when " Sea-Side Libraries" and " Leisure-Hour
Series" offer the works of all sorts of authors to rich and poor
alike. Sensational stories of the " Jack Harkaway" type, telling
of impossible adventures among Indians, blackguards, and cut
throats, had not filled boys' minds with false views of pleasure
and rendered them impatient of all the restraints of home and
duty. A book was held to represent so much brain-work on the
part of the writer, and so much manual labor of the printer and
binder ; and the buyer expected to get for his money not only
an hour's amusement, but something worth keeping and handing
down. Mrs. Pendleton was a woman of excellent mind and a great
reader. From her her children derived a love of books, and she
took pains to encourage and direct them so as to form tastes for
sound and wholesome instruction. Stimulated by the example
of his brother Hugh and his sisters, and by their discussion of
the books read by them under their mother's guidance, William
passed many hours in reading. Rollin's "Ancient History,"
Goldsmith's " Greece and Rome," Plutarch's " Lives," and
Hume's " History of England" were thus read, and their con
tents fixed in his mind by talking them over with the elders of the
household. For lighter reading, Shakespeare, Fielding, and Rich
ardson offered their graphic pictures of character and manners
during their respective periods. The Waverley novels, new and
different from their predecessors, roused enthusiasm and excited
imagination. In them the ardent mind of the boy found inex
haustible stores of delight, and learned lessons of chivalrous devo
tion to duty, of patriotism, valor, and self-forgetfulness, not to be
derived from the matter-of-fact stories or overwrought fictions
of the present day. Scott's " Metrical Romances" and Byron's
impassioned poems stood side by side with Milton, Dryden, and
Pope, and taught the youthful reader that poetry had other themes
than lofty religious speculation or didactic truth.
Roaming at will among these stores of history, fiction, and
verse, — in the associations of his home, with his intelligent and
vivacious father, his pious and cultivated mother, his sprightly
sisters and brothers, and listening to the varied conversation of the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 2$
succession of guests gathered under the roof, — the years thus
passed were not the least important in their influence upon the
character and intellect of the high-spirited, loving, fearless,
truthful, generous boy.

CHAPTER IV.
LIFE AT WEST POINT.
Although the home-training was valuable in its place, Mr. and
Mrs. Pendleton would not leave their sons too long without more
systematic and advanced education. In 1826, Mr. Pendleton
applied to his friend, Governor James Barbour, of Virginia, then
Secretary of War, for a warrant for one of his sons to the Mili
tary Academy at West Point.
As he had overestimated the privilege of seniority during their
school-days, so now he requested that the Christian name in the
promised warrant might be left blank, so that if Walker should
prove indisposed for a military education, William might have
the opportunity.
As his father had surmised, the elder boy's quieter temperament
and disinclination to go so far from home caused him promptly
to decline the offered warrant. He would be a physician, not
a soldier, and cure men, instead of killing them. With anxious
heart William hung upon his brother's decision, and when that
accorded with his hopes, gladly agreed to have his name written in
the blank form. Here was a promise of the high and full educa
tion he was beginning to long for, an opening to an honorable
career, and to a life of adventure tempting to his bold and lively
spirit. His personal appearance at that time is described as very
attractive. He was six feet tall, with an erect carriage and well-
developed figure. His finely-shaped head, well set on broad
shoulders, was covered with curly, brown hair. His clear, blue
eyes were frank and fearless. His cleanly-cut mouth, expressing
both strength and gentleness, was filled with regular, spotless
teeth. His nose was well-proportioned. His brow broad and
intellectual. A bright, sympathetic countenance and easy grace
of manner combined with face and figure to make him at the age

26 MEMOIRS OF
of sixteen years and six months a youth most pleasant to look
upon. " He was as handsome in his young days as in middle
life and age. A figure you would have remarked in any group
of boys ; and so merry and bright, so high-spirited and gen
erous, that he was popular with young and old," says one who
was associated with him from boyhood.
In June, 1826, this comely, manly, ingenuous boy left his home
in Virginia to begin life as a cadet at West Point. The change
from the parental roof and family influence, from the thousand
restraints of home and habit to the military barracks, with its
heterogeneous society of youths from all parts of the country and
all ranks of life, may not have been greater then than now. But
external circumstances were far different. Not a foot of railway
was laid in the United States, and, except upon the large water
courses, all travel was by stage or private conveyance. Young
Pendleton went by stage to the Potomac, up that river by steam
boat to Washington, on to Baltimore by stage, and across the
Chesapeake by boat to Frenchtown. From there to New Castle,
Delaware, he again took the stage. A steamboat carried him up
the Delaware to Trenton. Jersey was crossed by stage and canal
to Amboy, from which point steamboats ran daily to New York,
a city of less than two hundred thousand inhabitants.
The youth who had never travelled forty miles from home
found everything delightful. Novelty mitigated the pain of a
first separation from family and friends. Even the long, slow
staging was only disagreeable on account of the cramping of his
limbs, accustomed to freedom of motion. A week was passed on
the journey, now made in thirty-six hours, and the young cadet
reported for duty at West Point, was assigned to quarters, exam
ined, and put to work. The new cadets are graded alphabetically,
and Pendleton was placed in the third section of his class. His
application to his studies transferred him in the course of a month
to the first section, and from that time until his graduation his
name was never absent from the " merit roll." He showed great
aptitude for mathematics, and was, in the language of one of his
classmates, " brilliant in that branch of study, and especially
where it was applied to engineering ; had he determined to devote
himself to the profession of civil engineering, few, if any, in the
United States could have surpassed him." Not only faithful as a

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 27
student, he evinced an ambition to become a ready speaker ; was
an active member of a debating society among the cadets, and
always ready to argue on either side of any question.
During the four years of his cadet-life there were at West Point
not a few noble young men destined to make a name among their
fellows, and to exert influences scarcely to be measured by the
lapse of time. Leonidas Polk,* admirable in character and elegant
in appearance, was in the graduating class when Pendleton be
came a "plebe." Jefferson Davis was of the class of 1828, one
year after Polk. Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston were
a year ahead of Pendleton, while among his classmates were
Francis Vinton.f John B. Magruder,! and Albert Taylor Bledsoe.§
With these and other leading spirits in the corps he formed
friendships which continued throughout life. His room-mates
were John B. Magruder (also from Caroline County, Virginia),
Lloyd J. Beall, of Maryland, and William C. Heywood, of South
Carolina. Magruder, like Pendleton, was something of a mu
sician, playing on the flute, and the two enjoyed their own music
so much that their room was not infrequently reported for
" music in study-hours." Cadet Beall, finding he must share
the demerits, determined to take part in the fun, and took to
playing the fiddle on his own account. These musical proclivities
were turned to practical value. The most efficacious mode of
scrubbing the floor was found to be to sprinkle it with sand and
strike up a lively tune at recreation-time. The gay strains at
tracted an audience, "put life and mettle in their heels," and
a spirited dance polished the boards in short order.
One of Cadet Pendleton's classmates, Colonel Thomas J. Lee,
writes of him, " The impression made by your father is lasting.
My recollections are of a youth who was more than liked, — he was
loved by all for his amiability, kindness of heart, disinterestedness,
sprightliness, being always full of fun, with a bright, laughing face,
— and of intelligence, for he was decidedly the most talented of
* Bishop of Louisiana and major-general C.S.A.
f For many years a prominent Episcopal clergyman.
J Distinguished in the Mexican War and major-general C.S.A.
$ A profound thinker and vigorous writer ; author of " The Theodicy," " Is Davis
a Traitor?" etc. ; Assistant Secretary of War C.S.A., and for years professor of math
ematics at the University of Virginia.

28 MEMOIRS OF
the class, always ready to assist the dull or indolent ones with
their lessons." His surviving room-mate, Colonel Lloyd J. Beall,
says of him, " Your father, as a cadet, was noted for his manli
ness, his strict observance of regulations, and his studious habits.
He was the soul of honor, and bore himself with such an air of
dignity as to command the respect and esteem of all his fellow-
students. His high sense of honor would have prompted him to
resent an affront on the instant. Still, there was nothing haughty
or overbearing in his disposition ; on the contrary, he was genial
and affable, and an agreeable companion at all times. Among
the large number of cadets at West Point during my term, few,
to my knowledge, were freer from the follies of youth, few pur
sued the path of moral rectitude more strictly, than your father.
And in this connection I cannot refrain from mentioning the
name of one then among us, — one whom we all loved, one pre
eminent for the purity of his character and his devotion to duty,
and one to whose memory your father devoted the labor of his
declining years, — need I say that the name I refer to is Robert E.
Lee ? When my mind goes back to my West Point days, the roll-
call of memory brings up at once, foremost among the ' good
cadets,' the names of Robert E. Lee and William N. Pendleton, —
names distinguished on the merit rolls of their respective classes,
names linked together on the records of the battle-field, and names
closely associated in the closing scenes of their lives. Such names
must go down to posterity honored and revered."
In 1828, Cadet Pendleton chose to go home on furlough rather
than remain in camp and receive promotion. His return was cele
brated by a ball, and his beloved and godly mother gratified him
by dancing the first set with him. During this visit he met the
young lady who afterwards became his wife. In after-years he
loved to tell how, meeting a gay party out walking, he dismounted
from his horse and fell in love, on the spot, with a lovely blonde
among them. This, the one only attachment of his loyal heart,
proved the source of his greatest earthly blessing.
Diligent study and faithful attention to duty characterized
the last two, as they had done the first, years of his West Point
life. His proficiency as a soldier caused his steady promotion
until he became one of the four cadet captains. This position he
forfeited by getting into a dispute with Colonel Thayer, the super-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 29
intendent, and being reduced to the ranks for " insubordination."
Notwithstanding the demerits thus incurred, he graduated fifth in
a class of forty-two.
During his last year an incident occurred which is thus told by
Colonel Beall :
"I well remember the 'affair of honor' to which you refer.
The principals on that occasion were Cadet John B. Magruder
and Cadet Allen, better known in the corps as Baron Allen.
Magruder was a captain and Allen a private in the corps. The
offence was simply an order from Magruder, when in command
of the Cadet Battalion, calling upon Allen by name to ' close up.'
This was considered by Allen as a personal affront, 'for which he
demanded redress ; but failing to obtain an apology or a satisfac
tory response, a challenge was sent, which was accepted, and your
father acted as Magruder's second. The meeting took place, the
preliminaries were all settled, and the word was about to be given,
when your father stepped in between the hostile parties, insisting
that the matter had gone far enough, and protesting against further
proceedings. Allen said that it was too late, and requested him
to stand aside. This he declined to do, at the same time asking
Allen if he would listen to reason. To which Allen replied, ' If
you have anything to say, say it quickly.' A parley ensued, ex
planations were made, the matter was adjusted, and amicable rela
tions were restored. Allen was killed, years after, by McClung,
a celebrated Mississippi duellist."
There are several facts indicating Pendleton's balance of char
acter and moral tone while a cadet. He was accustomed to rise
some time before the reveille drum, and give his concentrated
attention to the most difficult of his studies before the bustle and
din of the day began. Each successive truth presented to his
mind was well considered in relation to what had gone before.
Every formula was carefully memorized, each demonstration accu
rately reasoned out ; and when examinations approached he went
through no process of " cramming," but laid his books aside for
several days and reviewed the subjects in his own mind, thus
avoiding trepidation and anxiety when his hour of trial came.
Not less striking are the statements — taken, like the preceding,

30 MEMOIRS OF
from himself — that he never, even in the heat of passion, uttered an
oath ; never bet on a game of cards, though a good player ; never,
save on two occasions, in those days of universal convivial drink
ing, was under the influence of wine ; and never, enthusiastic
dancer as he was, waltzed in his life. He disapproved of round
dancing for his sisters and sweetheart, and would therefore ask
no other man's sisters or sweetheart to engage in it.
These evidences of purity of motive and rectitude of conduct
did not, however, proceed from Christian views and feelings.
Charles P. Mcllvaine, afterwards Bishop of Ohio, was then the chap
lain at West Point. Under his ministrations a religious awaken
ing took place, and a number of the cadets became awakened.
Pendleton was not only not among those thus interested, but in
the course of his reading, especially in mental and moral science,
had lost the unquestioning faith of his childhood. He became
greatly influenced by infidel philosophy, and full of scepticism and
doubt. Destined to be a teacher of men, it was unquestionably
of great importance that he should investigate for himself the fun
damental grounds of human belief, and thus become established
in his own convictions, and better able to enter into the difficulties
and appreciate the hinderances which might harass other minds.
But the process was to prove a trying and painful one.

CHAPTER V.
FIRST YEAR OF ARMY LIFE.
On the 4th of July, 1830, Cadet Pendleton graduated fifth in
his class at West Point, and was recommended to the President
for promotion in the artillery. On his return to Virginia, for the
customary furlough of several months, he found his family circle
much changed. His sister Mildred had married one of her Pen
dleton cousins, and Judith had become Mrs. Robert T. Harrison.
Both of them were living not far from their parents. Walker had
graduated as a physician in Baltimore, and settled in Richmond
County, where he resided for many years as a successful doctor,
beloved and honored by all who knew him. Hugh, the oldest

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 3 1
of the family, had married Lucy Nelson, the cousin and intimate
friend of Miss Anzolette E. Page, whose charms had made so
deep an impression on Cadet Pendleton in the summer of 1828.
This connection afforded increased opportunity for intercourse
between the young people, and the attachment begun two years
before became strong and lasting. The ardent lover soon made
offer of his hand and heart to his lady-love, and was accepted by
her, subject to the approval of her parents.
Miss Page was the eldest child of Captain Francis Page, third
son of Governor John Page, of Rosewell, distinguished in Revo
lutionary times. Captain Page was a man of excellent mind and
affectionate heart, though of an impatient and somewhat irascible
disposition. His education had been good, and he was so accom
plished as a classical scholar that he was accustomed to carry in
his pocket volumes of Homer, Virgil, and Horace, and read them
from time to time with ever-fresh delight. Strikingly handsome,
and as courteous as Sir Charles Grandison, his excessive consti
tutional diffidence prevented his taking the place in life for which
his powers of mind and body eminently fitted him. Educated
for the bar, he shrank from practice, and gave himself up to the
life of a gentleman farmer. Indolent as well as diffident, he grad
ually relinquished all active pursuits, and for the last twenty-five
years of his life spent his time in reading, in the discharge of his
duties as magistrate, — more responsible than they now are, — and
in making long, annual journeys in his carriage to visit his own
and his wife's kinsfolk in different parts of the State.
Mrs. Page was the fourth daughter of General Thomas Nelson,*
and was a woman of much beauty, of great force of character,
brilliant intellect, and charming vivacity. The fortunes of her
father's house had been so impaired by his aid to the impover
ished treasury of Virginia that his younger children experienced
many privations. Want of education they were not permitted to
endure. A tutor cousin taught them English and French. Susan,
afterwards Mrs. Francis Page, became very intimate with some of
* The connection between the families of Governor Page and General Nelson was
singularly close. Five marriages took place between their children. The oldest
daughter in each family married the oldest son in the other. Three of the Misses
Page married Nelsons, and two of General Nelson's daughters became Governor
Page's daughters-in-law.

32 MEMOIRS OF
the refugees from St. Domingo, who fled to Yorktown in 1791.
Association with them gave her fluent use of French conversa
tion. Italian she learned from a female friend, and her acquaint
ance with English literature was cultivated by her brothers in her
youth and her husband later on. She kept up her use of French
so constantly that her children and the young servants around
her became familiar enough with the sound to obey an order
given in French as readily as in English. She also frequently
read aloud in good English any Italian or French book which
struck her fancy.
Loss of wealth never lessened the social distinction of the
Nelsons, and Mrs. Page used to relate with great sprightliness
some of the shifts to which she and her younger sister had been
put in order to dress in a manner suitable to their society and
her own prestige as the belle of Yorktown. On one occasion a
grand ball was to be given at the " Raleigh Tavern," in Williams
burg. Neither of the young ladies had a pair of dancing slippers,
and the family purse was empty. Long and anxious consultation
failed to suggest any means to supply the deficiency. Affection
and contrivance at last proved excellent handmaidens to neces
sity. " Mammy Nurse," the white housekeeper, had a sheep
killed. The skin was tanned by " Uncle Cupid," the butler, dyed
black by " mammy," and made into the coveted slippers by
" Uncle Paul," the plantation shoemaker. Mrs. Commodore
Decatur and Miss Dolly Paine — afterwards the wife of President
Madison — were among Miss Susan Nelson's intimate friends.
At a season of unusual festivity, Mrs. Decatur complimented her
on being always so well dressed, — her wardrobe at the time being
limited to two white gowns. One of these, freshly washed and
ironed, was put on every day, and the toilet completed by either
a blue or a pink sash, — said sashes having been provided by
"Jim Possum," the negro fisherman, who devoted two whole
days to the catching of fish and selling them for the purpose of
buying his " young mistis" her ribbons.
A sorrowful romance had attended the early life of Francis
Page and Susan Nelson. She was engaged at the age of eighteen
to her cousin, Dr. William Nelson. All preparations were made
for the marriage, when he fell ill with measles. He made his will
in favor of his betrothed, and expressed a wish to see her in her

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 33
bridal dress. This request gratified, he sank rapidly and expired on
the wedding-day. Francis Page was also engaged to marry Mary
Grymes, daughter of John Grymes, of Brandon, Middlesex County,
Virginia, who fell a victim to consumption. So much attached were
her parents to her lover that Mr. Grymes left him her portion of
his estates. Four years after Dr. Nelson's death the two, thus simi
larly bereaved, were married, both being twenty-two years old.
In 1 812, when York was threatened by the British, Mr. and
Mrs. Page went" up the country" to Hanover County with their
little ones, and settled on a tract of land known as the " Rugged
Swamp," afterwards contracted into " Rugswamp." There was
no house but a small log building for the overseer. This they
moved into, intending at a convenient time to build a better one.
The years went on and the family increased, but the new house
was never built. A room was added here and a shed there; a
basement dining-room fitted up and a good-sized porch put to the
front ; and in this contracted abode of six rooms they lived for
thirty years. Neither the small size of their house nor its remote
situation — five miles from the nearest genteel neighbor — prevented
them, however, from exercising a boundless and elegant hospi
tality, for which their proximity to the " mountain road" from
Richmond to the Valley of Virginia gave frequent opportunity.
When Lieutenant Pendleton became a suitor to Captain Page
for his daughter's hand, the embarrassed father gave a quick con
sent, " provided my wife has no objection," and only seemed
anxious to cut the interview short. Mrs. Page was not so com
plaisant. A lieutenant's pay was small, — only eight hundred
dollars, — and though quarters were provided, their locality was
changeable and doubtful. The danger of Indian wars was an
ever-pressing one ; and the frontier posts, at Council Bluffs, oppo
site Omaha, at Fort Snelling in Iowa, or Fort Smith in Arkansas,
were more exposed and farther off in point of time than the State
of Washington or Mexico is now. Orders to Mackinaw were as
much a sentence of banishment as they would be to Alaska to-day.
Miss Page was not very robust, and her mother considered her
too delicate to encounter the possible hardships of an army
officer's wife. She therefore promptly and decidedly refused to
sanction the engagement, and the young people parted with no
consolation save the hope that something might occur to miti-
3

34 MEMOIRS OF
gate her opposition. Her feelings were changed in an improb
able and romantic way. Thomas Haynes Bailey's sentimental
song, "We met, 'twas in a crowd," had just become fashionable.
Mrs. Page heard it sung, and was so touched by the pathetic
refrain, " Oh ! thou hast been the cause
Of this anguish, my mother !"
that she was moved to tears. She sent for Mr. Pendleton, with
drew her refusal, and permitted an unconditional engagement
between her daughter and himself.
Anzolettt Elizabeth Page inherited good looks from both her
parents, as well as a quick understanding, an ardent love of
knowledge, and an all-retentive memory, with much of her
mother's conversational power and her father's diffidence. Her fair
ness of complexion, delicacy of features, and slender figure made her
appear more fragile than she proved to be, but combined with soft
blue eyes, a wealth of golden-brown hair, — just escaping the ugli
ness of being red, — and a most perfect set of teeth, endowed her
with personal attractions well fitted to match those of the handsome
lieutenant. Educated entirely by her mother, she was without
accomplishments, but was widely acquainted with English litera
ture, was well read in history, and a thorough French scholar.
Shortly after Mr. Page removed to Hanover began the period
of spiritual awakening in the Episcopal Church in Virginia, and
its renewed activity under Bishop Moore, who had been conse
crated in 181 3. In 181 5 the Rev. Mr. Phillips became the rector
of St. Martin's Parish, Hanover, in which " Rugswamp" was
situated. He was well fitted to aid in the revival of evangelical
Christianity. Bishop Meade says of him, " He was an Englishman
of the Wesleyan school, ... a faithful, conscientious man, and
urged to repentance and faith and the new spiritual birth in the
most earnest and affecting manner, on Sunday, and from house
to house. . . . The old and young in Hanover felt the power
of his ministry. They who embraced religion as presented by
him embraced it as the power of God to the salvation of their
souls. His converts were genuine, faithful, true-hearted Ones." *
Mrs. Page was one of these converts, and after going through
* " Old Churches and Families," vol. i. pp. 420, 421.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 35
a long period of conviction and sorrow for sin, she experienced,
as she believed, a sudden and " sensible conversion ," having the
love of Christ and the pardon of her sins revealed to her as by a
flash of lightning. From that hour until her death she pos
sessed the most confident, adoring, rejoicing faith, and lived in
constant and devout communion with her Lord and Saviour. Not
a little devotion and zeal were required to attend Mr. Phillips's
services. The three churches at which he preached, Allen's
Creek, Hollowing Creek, and Fork Church, were distant from
" Rugswamp," the first two ten miles each, and the third — built
in colonial times by the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel — fifteen miles. To these was added, some ten years later,
Trinity Church, also ten miles away, and the two old " Creek"
churches were gradually disused and dropped into decay.
Like her mother, Miss Page was an earnest Christian, though
she had not attained her glad cheerfulness of faith.

CHAPTER VI.
GARRISON LIFE.

In September, 1830, Mr. Pendleton was appointed brevet second
lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment of Artillery, and ordered to
report for duty at Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, at the
mouth of Charleston harbor. Thither he repaired, travelling by
stage the four hundred miles of sand and pine barrens which
stretch between Richmond and Charleston.
Previous to leaving Virginia he had, under the influence of his
pious friends, resumed his early habit of daily Bible reading,
and commending himself and those he loved to an Almighty
Power. Deism — not atheism — was the form of his scepticism.
He had never questioned the existence of a God, but whether
the Bible was to be received as the revealed account of the
attributes and will of that God was the point upon which his
doubts hung. Not from mother, friend, or wife could he receive
his faith. It must be established on foundations satisfactory both
to his head and heart.

36 MEMOIRS OF
. His sister, Mrs. Mildred Pendleton, wrote of this period, —
" I do not think you know that when your father left West
Point he was almost a professed infidel ; but that stage of his
character did not last long, for the religious influences of home
soon brought him under their sway, and that, added to a severe
attack of illness, caused him to reflect seriously, brought him to
repentance, and in a short time, by the grace of God, he professed
conversion, and entered on that newness of life from which he
never swerved. I must tell you of the blissful happiness my
dear mother experienced when she got your father's letter (he
was then stationed at the arsenal at Augusta, Georgia) telling
her he had made up his mind to become ' a soldier of the Cross'
and to study for the ministry. She could not restrain her emo
tions, but broke out with the glad cry, ' Glory be to Thee, O
Lord!'" His arrival at Charleston, stay at Fort Moultrie, severe illness,
and consequent speedy removal to Georgia, are best told in his
own words. On October 29 he wrote, —
"... Let me first tell you what I have been doing since my
arrival in Charleston. About twelve yesterday I landed safe and
sound in body and mind, save a desperate sickness of the heart,
the cause of which, if you are as cunning as I take you to be,
you may guess right shrewdly. Soon as I had deposited my
trunk in safe-keeping, I jumped into a row-boat and hurried
down to Sullivan's Island and reported to the commanding
officer, Major  . He was remarkably kind and attentive,
and pressed me to take dinner with him, which I did. His may
give you a specimen, though too favorable a one, of the life of an
officer with a family. The room I was conducted to was a hand
some apartment, comfortably arranged. This was the dining- and
sitting-room, the only one I saw. But he has one or two others,
all comfortable. The table was plentifully yet frugally spread,
and I cannot say when I have been more taken with the appear
ance of comfort and contentment than in this small domestic
circle. The gentleman is somewhat advanced in life, his wife is
young, and they have one little boy. . . . This is one side of the
picture, and lest you should be led into error, I must show the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 37
other also. This officer is confined to the command of a small
garrison, — he has but little to do, and is liable to be removed,
with his family, to some other command. Not being busily em
ployed, he wants excitement and amusement, and consequently
must have his wine and his whist-parties. And in such cases his
wife is alone, while he prefers company ; for she can have in most
garrisons, and has in this, scarcely any congenial society. . . .
After sitting till late over the wine, I was asked to walk on the
beach ; returned and took tea with a brother lieutenant, an old
acquaintance, who is keeping bachelor's hall. We then had to
meet again at the major's whist-party, where there were, luckily,
enough without me, so I begged to be excused ; but had to nod
by the table while they played, — charming occupation ! About
twelve they kindly gave me a bed, where in eight hours I made up
for the loss of four nights' sleep. The colonel of my regiment
has not yet arrived, and the major commanding has given me a
room in which my body may reside until the colonel comes. I
say body, because I brought little else from Virginia."
"Fort Moultrie, November 16, 1830.
" I should have written to you again before this, but for the
last ten days I have experienced a sharp attack of fever, which
confined me to bed for that time. Travelling through the swamps
of Carolina did prove, as you apprehended, dangerous, and it is
another proof of the Divine mercy to me that my sickness has
not been more severe. I was taken with a violent ague, suc
ceeded by a burning fever. One of the officers who called to see
me, believing my sickness more serious than I imagined, sent
for a physician. The doctor, happily for me, understood his
business (that is, giving physic), and dosed me at the rate of once
every two hours for six days, and this I am persuaded, through
the blessing of God, saved me from the most violent bilious
fever, or, as the doctor told me, from yellow fever, as when he
first saw me he thought I was in for that alarming disease. . . .
Being alone for the greater part of the time, you may imagine that
it went rather hard with me ; but the officers were very kind to
me, and the ladies would send some little delicacies now and
then, — all which attentions tended to alleviate my sickness ; at
least, they called forth my gratitude, and aided my poor stock of

38 MEMOIRS OF
patience. My colonel has given me orders for Augusta, Georgia,
to repair thither by the last of the month. In the mean time I
await some letters from New York to decide my destination."
The debility consequent upon so severe an illness, added to the
unsettled state of his mind on the subject of religion, interfered
with the natural buoyancy and elasticity of his disposition, and
for months after it deep depression and trouble are apparent in
his letters. " December 26, U. S. Arsenal, Augusta, Georgia.
"... Do what I will, I cannot overcome the oppression of
heart and depression of spirits under which I have been laboring ;
and the circumstances in which I am placed, the company in which
I am sometimes thrown, tend rather to increase my melancholy.
" Can you believe it ? the wish has more than once occurred to
me that I were prepared and might dare to join the Christian
Church of which you are a member, and might turn whatever
abilities God has given me to the highest use of which they are
capable in studying and proclaiming the holy truths of Chris
tianity. The more I reflect upon it the more I am convinced that
such a life of useful tendency would contribute more to my own
peace of mind than any other could. Indeed, I do at times feel
that I ought to devote myself to this life, and that I shall be
happy in no other. ... I have hinted this aspiration of mine to
more besides yourself. It is, indeed, an awful subject on which I
must decide, and I must get the best advice and use my best
judgment in the decision. . . .
" The situation where I now am is a very comfortable and in
some respects a very desirable one. I am pretty much alone,
and there is a valuable library at my disposal ; it has, however,
few religious books, which I wish for particularly at present.
There is one thing I ought to mention, that hereafter you may
not think me inconsistent. Regular balls are given in Augusta,
and the officers at this place have been constantly invited, but
owing to circumstances have never attended. At this the citizens
seem mortified, and the commanding officer of the post has re
quested me to attend some of them for the purpose of conciliating
them, — the citizens. I disapprove of balls, but under these cir
cumstances I am doubtful whether I ought not to go."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 39
The commanding officer here mentioned was " the gallant and
well-read Colonel Fanning," who had lost an arm in the service
of his country. The benefits derived from his instructive society,
and from that of other friends made in Augusta, were referred to
by Mr. Pendleton in later years with much pleasure.
The necessity for experiencing a sudden and decided change
of heart as the starting-point of the Christian life was one of
the stumbling-blocks in the young lieutenant's progress towards
peace and light. He knew that his desires were changed, and
that he wished to be a Christian, but he was too honest to pre
tend, to himself or others, that he had by a miraculous process
become other than what he was. " December 25, 1830.
"... I fear I have led you into a great error. You seem to
think that I have undergone a great change since you saw me.
When I look into myself for the change you speak of, I find
there a state far different from that you have imagined. I feel
that I have undergone no sudden operation of the Holy Spirit ; I
feel that I am still liable to the charge of an unstable faith, that
I am still under the dominion of sin and worldly thoughts, and
that my heart, though sincerely turned towards the great and
good God, and endeavoring to yield itself in gratitude and love
to Him, is still unchanged. All that I can in strict truth say is
that, in obedience to the instructions of the Gospel, I feel bound
to change the habits of my life, and this I can only do in a
measure ; that is, I find evil thoughts will enter my mind and
render that act which might appear good frequently wicked, as
being a species of hypocrisy. And does not this prove that a
change of heart has not been wrought in me ? I find it hard to
express myself in the precise way in which I would have you
understand me ; I feel on the subject of religion precisely as I
did when I last wrote to you.
" Indeed, I must confess that I am very doubtful about the
strict application of the term change of heart, and though it is
with great humility that I would venture to state my belief on
this subject, I feel that I should do it that you may not mistake
me. Briefly, then, it is, that when human beings are convinced
by whatever means that our Saviour was from God, and believe
in the holy doctrine which He taught, in the holy precepts which

40 MEMOIRS OF
He gave us as the revelation of God and the only means of
securing the rewards and avoiding the punishments of the eternity
to come, and endeavor, as far as in them lies, to govern their
lives by those precepts, — then I conceive that, according to the
meaning of our Saviour, they are regenerated, and only in this
sense have I any hope. ... I will gladly follow your sugges
tion as to the study of the Greek, though it will be long ere I
can be a critical master of it. . . . You wish to know the various
occupations which engage my time. The first thing in the morn
ing is to rise from my pallet, then to dress, then to make my fire.
The time before breakfast is spent with my prayer-book and Bible.
After breakfast whatever duties I have to perform are attended
to. These are very slight at present. Three hours are then
devoted to Latin and Greek, and this generally brings me to
dinner. After dinner my time is devoted to reading history, and
such other matter as appears interesting and instructive. After
supper I generally stay and converse with the little family with
whom I board until half-past eight or nine o'clock; I then return to
my room again and read as systematically as is agreeable, always
concluding the day with my Bible and prayers and indulging my
fancy with a picture of some good folks in Hanover. All this
looks very well on paper, but I am not excessively regular. Some
times a fine, glorious morning will allure me some miles into the
desert, pine forests, where the solemn silence of nature makes me
feel wondrous sad and sentimental, and often gives rise to emotions
more rational and beneficial. Sometimes I am required by cour
tesy to pay a visit in the morning or evening ; sometimes to be in
society all the evening, and various other interruptions occur. . ."
Several weeks later he says of his anxiety and doubt, —
"... Sometimes I am so tossed about on the sea of doubt
and error that I am almost compelled to believe that the devil
has immediate hold on me. At times I have had a kind of de
spair lest I should be given over to the dominion of doubt and
sin, at others I have looked darkly on the fair face of nature, and
turned, not in love, from the contemplation of the Deity. And
always when I remember my precarious state I am seized with
dread. . I feel much more composed to-night, in consequence I

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 41
believe, of reading some of Cowper's admirable strains. I hardly
hope for a sudden conversion, but that God will one day give
me a fuller and a surer faith."
These extracts from his letter show the agony of distress
through which Mr. Pendleton was led to that full, free, joyful,
loving, and adoring faith in the divine truth of the Bible, which
never wavered nor faltered when once the mists of doubt an$l
apprehension were cleared away by the full shining of the Sun
of Righteousness upon his mental vision. Those who knew
him as an established Christian, and came within the influence
of his cheerful, godly life, his child-like trust in his Almighty
Father, and humble yet confident reliance on his Saviour,
could scarcely believe, except from his own assurance, that he
had so nearly sunk in the Slough of Despond, and been shut
up by Giant Despair within the prison walls of Doubting Castle.
His recollection of the torments he had endured from mistaken
notions and erroneous teaching as to the requirements for be
coming a child of God and making a public profession of Chris
tian faith, made him a wise and gentle counsellor for any one
experiencing difficulties similar to those by which his own mind
had been so much distressed and distracted. God's dealings
with him were such as to give him especial fitness for the work
to which he was to be called.

CHAPTER VII.
MARRIAGE  PROFESSOR AT WEST POINT.
On the 15th of July, 183 1, William Nelson Pendleton and
Anzolette Elizabeth Page were married at " Rugswamp," the
residence of the bride's father, by the Rev. John Cooke, of the
Episcopal Church. The wedding took place at four o'clock in
the afternoon, that the many friends and relations, who drove
eight, ten, fifteen miles to be present at it, might have time to
return home before being overtaken by the darkness of night.
No portraits of the young couple remain to set forth their ap
pearance. But the tradition among friends and servants told how

42 MEMOIRS OF
the beauty of the bride and the gallant bearing of the groom, in the
bravery of full uniform, made a sight remembered for many years.
The union thus begun was destined to be of long duration, of
singular closeness and devotion, and of great happiness. Mrs.
Pendleton identified herself, from the first, with her husband's in
terests and occupations, and her ready sympathy and clear judg
ment were always to be relied on. Her love of knowledge* and
Wonderful memory made her an invaluable companion for a stu
dent of science ; and when domestic duties prevented her carrying
on systematic study, she took unfailing interest in her husband's
pursuits, and was rarely at fault with a date, a chemical formula, a
scientific discovery, or an apt quotation when needed. Possessing
the faculty of true economy, which makes the most of everything,
she used their narrow means to the providing the utmost comfort of
which they were capable, avoiding wastefulness on the one hand
and niggardliness on the other. With an absolute purity of soul to
which no defilement of coarseness nor worldliness could cling, and
an earnest desire to serve God, she proved a true helpmate to her
husband. Writing of their union forty-six years later, he said, —
" In all that I am, and have been enabled to do, my heaven-
favored wife has been incalculably instrumental. To her more
than to me are due, I think, the inherited traits of our children,
and the excellencies acquired by example as a chief part of train
ing. And by her counsel and influence has been determined, in
great measure, any good the All-gracious Disposer of lots has
enabled me to do."
An incident illustrating the change in social customs wrought
by the lapse of time is not here inappropriate. The " wedding
dinner" was an occasion second only in importance to the weddin°\
" Cook Billy," who had long presided in Mrs. General Nelson's
kitchen, had come to " Rugswamp" to superintend the cuisine for
this important banquet. When Mrs. Page gave him her orders for
the dinner she enumerated only thirteen different kinds of meats.
Old Billy found the dignity of his office insulted by this meagre de-
* From this love of knowledge we must except mathematics. In after-years she
used to compare herself with Gradgrind, saying, " What I likes is facts." And no
fact once brought to her attention ever seemed forgotten.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 43
tail of dishes and remonstrated. " Neber hear tell of weddin' din
ner 'thouten fo'teen dishes uv meat. Kyarn't cook no decent dinner
'ceptin' yo' has fo'teen dishes." Nor was his disgust allayed until
carte-blanche to provide the wanting viand was given him.
Had the bountiful list of edibles been preserved, we might learn
what an old Virginia cook thought worthy of his skill.
In September, 1831, Mr. Pendleton was ordered to West Point
as assistant professor of mathematics, and proceeded thither with
his young wife. There they found congenial society among the
families of the other professors. The beauty surrounding their
new home was a constant source of pleasure, and it became their
habit to take long rambles among the mountains to feast their
eyes upon the beautiful scenery of rock, peak, and river. Mrs.
Pendleton was especially fond of flowers, and on one occasion
they went on an excursion to Newburgh to procure some bloom
ing plants. Three dollars was all the money in hand until next
pay-day. One dollar paid their fare ; another went for the tempt
ing flowers. They had not been so provident as to take a lunch
with them, and did not dare to spend their last dollar for dinner,
and went, fasting, home, carrying their precious plants.
At West Point Mr. Pendleton first exhibited the ability as a
teacher which so distinguished him and added so largely to his
influence throughout life. Peculiarly clear in his insight into the
truths placed before his mind, he seemed to have an intuitive
perception of the difficulties another might have in laying hold
of those truths, and a marvellous aptitude in throwing light upon
obscure points. No degree of dulness, no amount of mental
obtuseness, could ruffle the patience with which he would, step by
step, explain, again and again, anything — the most trivial — which
puzzled or baffled his pupils. Having in large measure that enthu
siasm for imparting knowledge which is the most essential attribute
for a successful teacher, his first effort was to gain the attention and
excite the interest of a scholar in the subject before him. When
once this was awakened in even a slight degree, and the learner's
mind brought into sympathy with his own, his power of stimu
lating that interest and quickening that attention appeared to in
crease with exercise, while his delight in the progress of a young
mind towards knowledge and enlightenment rarely failed to evoke
a responsive pleasure in acquiring information and making use of

44 MEMOIRS OF
its own newly-awakened powers. This was equally true whether
he were guiding the tottering steps of a little child through the in
tricacies of spelling-book and multiplication-table or demonstrat
ing to diligent students the problems of the higher mathematics.
The school-boy, hesitating and disheartened before the ever-accu
mulating troubles of his Latin grammar, found the same willing
ness to bear with his ignorance, and the same pains taken to make
plain to his bewilderment the differences of genders, cases, declen
sions, and conjugations, as did the young investigator of the occult
processes of nature who sought to follow the planets in their
courses or discover the ultimate atoms of material things. His
sympathy and forbearance, his ability to help and encourage, were
felt by whoever came in contact with him, from his early manhood
to the hour of his death.
The year spent at West Point Lieutenant Pendleton devoted
to diligent study. Not yet sufficiently settled in his views of
religion to make a public acknowledgment of his faith, he mani
fested in his daily life the controlling influence of that faith, and
in his studies seems ever to have kept in view the possibility of
ultimately becoming a clergyman. He now began the study of
Hebrew, and kept up that of Latin and Greek. Extracts from
letters to his wife, absent on a visit to her father, give interesting
insight into his life and habits: " Philadelphia, April I, 1832.
"... I stayed in Washington till two o'clock Friday, having
ascertained that travel with what speed I would Philadelphia
must be my limit Saturday; and since no boat leaves Philadelphia
for the North on Sunday, I could not in any event get on until
Monday. A young Mr. L  , from Richmond, had travelled
with me, and finding out who I was, introduced himself to me.
We walked about together, and then went to the Capitol, and
visited both Houses. Did not stay long enough in the House of
Representatives to hear anything said, but in the Senate we were
more fortunate. Mr. Dickerson, of New Jersey, as chairman of
the Committee on Manufactures, made a report on the tariff, and
then arose Mr. Hayne, and for about ten or fifteen minutes pro
ceeded in the most impassioned but happy eloquence I ever
heard. General Smith, of Maryland, said something, and so did
Governor Miller, of South Carolina. At last rose Mr. Clay;

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 45
calm, steady, and powerful, he stood ahead of them all. I do
not think I ever heard him surpassed, though this was seemingly
but a minor occasion. Mr. Hayne had made some tough charges
against the committee reporting the bill. Mr. Clay was one of
that committee, and it was with fine effect he stepped forward
from his seat, and, as he said, repelled them with indignation.
With Mr. Hayne I was captivated ; with Mr. Clay I was charmed :
the one all sincerity and fire, the other all learning and force.
" We arrived in Baltimore about eight, and came on the next
morning for this place. I tried to divert myself by reading
' Rob Roy.' ... It is now one o'clock, and I have just returned
from Dr. Bedell's church. His sermon was on high doctrinal
points, yet completely practical in tendency. . . .
" I will go on with the history of my journey after writing
Sunday from Philadelphia. Monday morning at half-past six
came up the river in the boat. The tide was so low that we had
to take the stages seven miles below Trenton, and on the opposite
side of the river. Fifteen stages were crowded to overflowing,
averaging eleven or twelve passengers ; and then after crossing
New Jersey to Brunswick, the Raritan was so low we had to go
on in the stages across a bridge, and seven or eight miles down
the river. Soon after starting the steamboat ran aground and
stuck there for one or two hours ; so that it was fully nine o'clock
before we reached New York."
Fifteen hours and a half between Philadelphia and New York !
In these days of rapid transit we marvel at the patience which
could endure such delays.
"... I must tell you of a great gratification I had in New York,
and one which I hope you may one day have, — in seeing the
steam printing-presses at the house of the Bible Society, and the
great number of cheap Bibles produced there. The house of the
Tract Society is also very gratifying. It would do your heart
good, and your mamma would be delighted to see the air of
Christian benevolence about everything, and the extreme neatness
of the little girls and the numerous women engaged there. It is
curious to see the great rapidity of execution in every depart
ment of both institutions, — printing, folding, stitching, pasting,

46 MEMOIRS OF
pressing, and binding the Bibles and tracts. I was diverted to see
two mules stabled in the fourth or fifth story of the Tract Society
house. They were raised up by ropes and pulleys through trap
doors, for the purpose of working the presses, and, poor animals, —
or fat animals, for they were very fat, — they are doomed to feel
what many biped asses have felt before them, — the miseries of an
elevated station in life. . . . My expenses coming on were more
than I expected, — twenty-six dollars." " West Point, April 8, 1832.
"... I have arranged with Mr. Ross * to take charge of his
scholars f on Monday, and am to have them exclusively. There
are now four, and it is probable will be more. I can now tell you
the arrangement of my hours. I rise in time to be dressed by
sunrise, when I study my Bible and say my prayers. These
things I have not more than done before breakfast-time, — seven
o'clock. At eight I go to my section, and remain there until eleven.
Hereafter the next hour is to be devoted to the scholars Mr. Ross
gives up. One is, you know, the dinner-hour. From two to four
I intend devoting to Greek ; from four to six reading, and the
night to mathematics. Day before yesterday I called to ask Mr.
Harris to lend me Doddridge, which he did, and offered at the
same time Bickerslith, recommending it to me. I brought it to
my room, and this morning find in your letter a desire I should
get it. I do not feel fit for the sacrament at this time. It shall
be my endeavor to cultivate the requisite temper and dispositions.
I met with Mr. Warner J on Friday as I was walking for exercise.
We had a long talk as to the religious principles of many of the
young officers here, and as to the tendency to infidelity in all
young men, and particularly in the corps of cadets. I suggested
the possible advantages to be derived from his trying to introduce
' Gregory's Letters' as a part of the studies of his course. But
he seems to think the view the young men would get of Chris
tianity in so short a time would be so superficial as to do more
harm than good. It is, indeed, alarming here. R  came to
see us the other evening, and, as he usually does, got on the
subject of religion. I, of course, tried to defend Christianity, and
* Assistant professor of mathematics.
¦(¦ Private pupils. % Professor of history and ethics.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 47
we were arguing — or rather it was no argument, but sneering on
one side — till eleven o'clock. He treats the Christian religion
with the most supreme contempt, and you may judge of the pain
it gives one feeling the greatest reverence towards Christianity
to hear it and the Bible laughed at. R  has read a good
deal among the infidel writers, but I have read more on the
Evidences of Christianity than he has, and, therefore, his asser
tions were less dangerous to me than they would be to many
others ; but how melancholy it is that a man should thus try
to ruin his fellow-men ! I have felt badly ever since. What
would become of our happiness, the confidence we have in the
death and resurrection of our Saviour being taken away?
Thanks to a merciful God, no earthly power can destroy the
ground on which that confidence rests ; and how delightful it is
to the heart, when distressed, to trust in the sure promises of
a religion whose evidences have stood the test of eighteen
centuries, and still convince every fair mind ! . . .
" Drills and parades are very abundant now, and there is, of
course, plenty of music ; but I feel so little inclined to anything
of the sort that I scarcely hear it. . . . On Friday evening I
passed Mr. Courtenay's,* and he called me to walk in and
admire his improvements (a miracle almost for him to be gar
dening). It was soon tea-time, and I took tea with them.
Mrs. Courtenay inquired very particularly after you, and desired
me to give you her love. All our friends send kind messages
whenever I meet them."
Too close application to books, insufficient exercise, the loneli
ness and anxiety resulting from his wife's absence, and a return
of the malaria which had made him so ill in South Carolina
combined at this time to produce some derangement of health.
Passages in his letters show that the depression and unhappiness
on religious subjects experienced a year before in Augusta,
Georgia, had returned upon him.
"... Do not let my saying that my spirits are not very good
mar your happiness. What I feel of depression is in a good de
gree owing to the want of regular exercise, which I am going to
* Professor of mathematics, and afterwards professor of the University of Virginia.

48 MEMOIRS OF
take. It is in a more direct manner due to an agitation of the
subject of religion in my mind, arising from arguments with
some of the atheists, semi-atheists, and deists here. There
seems to be a sort of ferment on the subject now, and I am
obnoxious to the secret dislike and open attacks of them, on
account of my defending Christianity.
" Maynadier came to the Point yesterday to see about the
position offered him. He told me to-day he would not accept it
on account of the indifferent quarters. He is adjutant of his
regiment at Old Point Comfort, and thinks that situation better
than this, quarters and all considered. He told me he left Bob
Lee * at Old Point leading a bachelor's life, his wife having gone
to her father's, near Washington. Mrs. Courtenay told me to say
to you how sweet the Point is looking now, with the grass,
flowers, and trees. Everything is beautiful at this season. The
clouds about sunset are the most splendid you ever saw. Last
evening, while the battalion was at parade, I was standing near
the corner of the south barrack gazing at the glory spread around
the sun as he sank behind the mountain, when Mr. Harris came
up and joined me. I pointed out the object of my attention, and
he characteristically alluded therefrom to the glory of the scene
continually beheld in heaven by those who have been faithful to
the end." "June 2, 1832.
"... After no little bustle and show I sit down to write again.
It is getting late on Monday evening. The examinations did not
begin to-day, as I had hoped, on account of the necessity for a
review by General Macomb, and because the Board of Visitors
had to be organized.
" Saturday we had to collect at the colonel's f quarters to pay
our respects to General Santander, President of Colombia, and
follow him around the battalion. To-day we have been honored
by an introduction to the members of the Board, and I have just
returned from waiting on a daughter of General Preston, of
Virginia, this falling to my lot as a Virginian. Do not be
jealous. She is a married lady, — a minister's wife, — Mrs. Breck-
* Afterwards General Robert E. Lee.
t Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, superintendent at West Point

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 49
enridge, of Kentucky. The examinations begin to-morrow, and
to-morrow week I leave for Virginia, if it be the will of heaven."
Before leaving West Point, Mr. Pendleton received tidings of
the birth of a little daughter in Hanover County, Virginia. After
giving free expression to his gratitude for the preservation of
his wife, and expressing much love for the little stranger, he
further wrote :
"... As you may suppose, I have received congratulations
from everybody. All the ladies send you love and joy. Mrs.
Courtenay hopes you will give our daughter a pretty name. An
occurrence which I imagine will hardly be over before I have the
happiness to see the little stranger. But do not understand me as
having the slightest wish to participate in the responsibility of
such nomination, provided the solemn appellations of Hope,
Patience, Charity, etc., be avoided."

CHAPTER VIII.
LIFE AT FORT HAMILTON.
During the summer of 1832, Lieutenant Pendleton was trans
ferred from the Fourth to the Second Artillery, exchanging places
with his classmate, Lieutenant James Allen, and was ordered to
report for duty, in September, at Fort Hamilton, defending the
entrance to New York harbor. Before returning to West Point,
to make the necessary arrangements for removing from there, Mr.
Pendleton was confirmed, in Trinity Episcopal Church, Hanover
County, Virginia, by Bishop Meade, and entered quietly and hum
bly upon the life of a consistent, professing Christian, in which
he walked faithfully to the end.
Cholera was then raging in the United States, and every one
going any distance was provided with some antidote or specific
for the dreaded disease. Crossing New Jersey in the stage, Mr.
Pendleton was attacked by some of the most alarming symptoms
of cholera, and but for the kindness of his fellow-travellers might
have died on the road-side. Writing some days after, from the
hospital at West Point, he tells his experience :
4

50 MEMOIRS OF
" On Thursday morning, after leaving Philadelphia, I began to
feel the languor and aching of a fever, but was not unwell enough
to be retarded from going on. After travelling about half-way
across New Jersey in the stage, I ate a little of the common ginger-
cake met with at the stopping-places. No sooner had I swallowed
it than I felt a deadly sickness at my stomach, and in a short time
ejected it. As soon as this was done my limbs were entirely par
alyzed, and my hands and feet contracted in a singular way. I
naturally enough imagined it might be a sudden attack of cholera.
A gentleman in the stage took from my pocket a lump of sugar,
and, dropping thereon some spirits of camphor, gave it to me.
Scarcely had I swallowed it when I experienced relief, — almost
miraculous. But the fever remained; and when I got to the
steamboat, at Brunswick, everybody crowded round the man who
had the cholera. I experienced marked attention from Cadet
Bretton and Major Pierce,* he being at the time on the boat.
Thursday night I stayed in New York, under the kind care of
Mr. Bretton, and Friday morning we ventured up to the Point.
I was just able to call on Colonel Thayer, and have a short con
versation with him ; and, returning to the hotel, I had forthwith to
take to my bed. Immediately I sent for the doctor, who ordered
me down to the hospital, where I have been ever since, taking
medicine. I can't tell you when I shall be able to start back to
Virginia, but hope sincerely, for your sake as well as my own, it
may be in the course of this week. I am well attended to, con
sidering, and am visited daily by Hackley, Mr. Harris, Taylor,
and sometimes by other officers. Mr. Courtenay, Mr. Warner,
and Mr. Davies have been to see me, and they all make particular
inquiries after you. The doctor thinks this attack may make a
favorable change in my system. As I wish to finish this before
the rise of my fever, I must conclude without saying much more.
Remember I am not much sick. I have hurried on so fast as al
most to omit what I intended, — love and kisses to our little Sue."
The nervous, almost illegible handwriting in this letter contra
dicts the loving assurance that the writer was " not much sick."
The doctor's conjecture that his health might be improved after
* Then commanding in New York harbor.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 5 I
so severe an illness proved to be correct, but for many years he
continued subject to sudden and violent attacks of bilious fever.
In October, Mr. Pendleton took his wife and infant daughter to
Fort Hamilton. The officers at the post were Major Benjamin
Pierce, Captain John L. Gardner, Lieutenant Smede, and Dr. El-
wees. With them and their families the new-comers soon estab
lished friendly relations. The fort was not yet completed, having
little or no armament, and the officers lived in the casemates.
Part of Lieutenant Pendleton's duty, while at the post, was to
mount the heavy guns on the parapet. These were sixty-pound
ers, then considered remarkable for size and weight. There was no
regular conveyance between the fort and New York, and no post-
office nearer than the city. Supplies for the garrison were carried
down in six-oared barges manned by the soldiers, and the officers
used the same means of visiting the city, or else they drove up
through Flatbush to Brooklyn, then an inconsiderable suburb of
New York, and crossed the ferry. The garrison mail was brought
down every day by one of the non-commissioned officers, who
went for it on horseback or in the boat.
Captain Gardner and his beautiful wife became especially inti
mate with the Pendletons. They were earnest Episcopalians, and
the two families sometimes went as far as Brooklyn or New York
to church. Dr. Mcllvaine, afterwards Bishop of Ohio, was then
rector of St. Anne's Church, Brooklyn, and his ministrations were
specially acceptable to Mr. Pendleton. When there was no op
portunity for attending public worship, service was held in one
of the large rooms of the fort, Captain Gardner and Mr. Pendle
ton acting as lay-readers. From this small beginning arose St.
John's Church, Fort Hamilton.
In the early spring of 1833, Mrs. Pendleton's health failed,
and the raw, damp winds of the fort seemed unfavorable for her.
Captain Gardner's company had been ordered to Fort Monroe,
and were to go thither on a small "packet schooner;" and Mr.
Pendleton sent his little family South on the same vessel, as they
would have the company of their friends to Norfolk. The dis
comfort of a coast-voyage on a small sailing-vessel crowded with
soldiers can scarcely be exaggerated, but the delay, exposure, and
fatigue were less than the inconveniences consequent upon the
frequent changes and long stage-rides of the land route.

52 MEMOIRS OF
On May I, Mr. Pendleton writes his wife from Fort Hamilton, —
" I have taken a berth in the packet steamer ' Portsmouth,'
which clears for Norfolk on Saturday morning. When I shall see
you I can't say, since it depends so entirely on the winds. I was
in town yesterday and saw General Scott. Without my saying
anything again about leave of absence, the general turned to his
aide and desired him to make it out for me for twenty days, the
time I asked for. I pray the winds may be favorable, and that my
passage may be short, that I may have as much time as possible
to spend with my dear friends, and that I may see you and Sue
as speedily as I can. It pleases me a great deal to hear that she
is such a darling. Hugh Mercer* spent last night with me. He
is one of General Scott's aides, and living at present in New
York. We took tea at the doctor's, and after returning to our
quarters he joined me in prayers, and then we talked nearly all
night. He is a fine fellow, and has a devoted wish to be 'fer
vent in spirit, serving the Lord.'
"The young people in the vicinity have been venting their
gayety this evening by a May party. Kate W  was crowned
queen by the major's eldest daughter, and then there was dancing
in one room for the older people, and playing in another for the
little ones. I have done nothing to-day but see after first one little
thing and then another. The day has glided away and I can show
nothing to my conscience of improvement or benefit derived.
Such a feeling of failure to fulfil the great end of life, getting closer
to heaven as we get nearer to the grave, is very heavy on the heart."
At the expiration of his furlough the family returned to Fort
Hamilton. In the summer they had the pleasure of receiving a
visit from Mr. Hugh Pendleton, his wife and child, and Mrs. Wil
liam Pendleton's sister, Miss Anne Rose Page. During their
visit Bishop Moore, of Virginia, came to his old home on Long
Island. Lieutenant Pendleton and his wife hastened to call on
their venerable bishop. Their meeting is recorded in his Memoir
(p. 22), but no mention is made of the old gentleman's pleasure
on finding himself recognized and welcomed by Mrs. Pendleton's
* A West Point friend, afterwards General Mercer, of Georgia.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 53
negro nurse, who opened the door of the lieutenant's -quarters
when he knocked. " Only to think, the girl knew me, and was
glad to see me !" he exclaimed, after shaking hands with his hostess.
The winter of 1832-33 is memorable for the nullification
troubles, which threatened to plunge the country into civil war-.
General Andrew Jackson, elected President in 1828 by the
Democratic party, had taken so decided a stand as to the power
vested in the Executive and the general government, that he had
alienated many of his adherents. These held that the States had
certain inherent rights and privileges not to be affected by the
Constitution, and deprecated the tendency exhibited by General
Jackson to deny any such rights, and to thwart them by an
arbitrary use of power. The protective tariffs of 1828 and 1832,
framed so as to favor the growing manufacturing interests of the
New England States, and the productions of the Middle and
Northwestern States, were especially hostile to the prosperity of
the Southern cotton-, sugar-, and rice-raising sections. These
found themselves forced by the existing tariff to purchase at a
high price indifferent American manufactured goods absolutely
necessary for their use, and to sell their own produce at home for
much less than it would have brought in a foreign market. Several
of the most able among Southern statesmen, John C. Calhoun and
Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, at their head, took the ground
that Congress had no right to enact any tariff save what was neces
sary to raise sufficient revenue to carry on the government.
The South Carolinians went further, and avowed that if Con
gress should persist in making laws which were contrary to the
Constitution, each State possessed within herself the right to
prevent the operation of such laws within her territory. This
most advanced view of " State rights" was honestly and ear
nestly held in South Carolina, and when the protective tariff of
1832 was passed by Congress, the Legislature of that State called
a convention, which, on November 24, proceeded to pass the
famous " Ordinance of Nullification," declaring their intention to
" nullify" the tariff and to resist the collection of duties imposed
by it within the limits of South Carolina.
President Jackson, on December 10, issued a proclamation
calling upon the South Carolinians to recede from their claims
and to submit without resistance to whatever Congress should

54 MEMOIRS OF
see fit to impose upon them. This proclamation being met by de
fiance on the part of Governor Hayne, the President sent a mes
sage to Congress, urging that the Executive should be empowered
to use not only all the legal machinery, but also the military and
naval force of the United States to put down any resistance to.
the laws on the part of any one of the States. This message
was promptly followed by the " Force Bill," conferring upon the
President the powers for which he asked. But the President had
not waited for this. Several months previous, before the South
Carolina convention had taken any action, "the President sent
secret orders to the collector of the port of Charleston." * "A
few days after the despatch of these orders, General Scott was
quietly ordered to Charleston, for the purpose, as the President
confidentially informed the collector, of superintending the safety
of the ports of the United States in that vicinity. Other changes
were made in the disposition of naval and military forces, de
signed to enable the President to act with swift efficiency if there
should be occasion to act." f
In this state of things, officers in the army and navy, though
on principle abstaining from politics, looked with anxious eyes
to see what the course of events might call them to do should
the President resort to force of arms.
Lieutenant Pendleton had been trained in the strictest Demo
cratic opinions. His father was an ardent and enthusiastic admirer
of General Jackson, and upheld him in his most arbitrary exercise
of power. The lieutenant, in accordance with what he believed
the principles of American liberty, sympathized with that wino-
of the Democracy known as the " National Republican" party,
which held aloof from the President and opposed his imperious
course. He could by no means agree to the right of the general
government to use armed force to coerce any one of the States,
and resolved never to draw his sword in such a cause. Rumors
were rife as to what troops were to be sent to put down nullifi
cation in South Carolina, and when the report, in apparently
authentic form, reached Fort Hamilton that all the troops in
New York harbor were to be ordered to Charleston, the young
Virginian did not hesitate, but immediately wrote his resignation

* Parton's " Life of Andrew Jackson," vol. iii. p. 460. f Ibid., p. 461.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 55
from the army. The tears and entreaties of his wife and the
advice of his friends induced him to delay handing it in for a few
days, at least, until the truth could be ascertained. In the
mean time milder counsels prevailed in Washington and South
Carolina ; the " Compromise Tariff" was passed, and the nullifi
cation danger over.
But the narrow sphere and contracted interests of garrison
life were becoming more and more irksome to Mr. Pendleton.
His active temperament desired more extensive opportunity for
work, and his wish to benefit his fellow-men demanded a wider
field for exercise. He therefore determined to avail himself of
the first good opening to exchange military life for some suitable
civil employment. This opening occurred in October, 1833, when
he was invited to the mathematical professorship in a newly-
organized Episcopal college, near Bristol, Pennsylvania.

CHAPTER IX.
LIFE AT BRISTOL COLLEGE.
Bristol College was opened in the autumn of 1833. Under
the auspices of the Rev. Drs. Milnor, May, Bedell, and Tyng, and
having the approval of a number of bishops, the new institution
had a fair promise of success.
A large establishment, nearly opposite Burlington, on the banks
of the Delaware, was purchased ; the spacious ball-room con
verted into a chapel ; other rooms appropriated to professors, or
set apart for dormitories, recitation-rooms, etc. ; a grammar-school
was attached, and the college inaugurated. The faculty was com
posed of the president, Rev. Chauncey Colton, D.D. ; Revs. Caleb
Goode, C. S. Henry, and Joseph Packard, and Mr. Pendleton,
who was elected professor of mathematics and natural philosophy.
Tutors and other professors were afterwards added. As many
students gathered to the college the first session as the house
could hold, and additional buildings were filled as fast as they
could be completed.
A number of boys came from Virginia, attracted as much by

56 MEMOIRS OF
Mr. Pendleton's connection with the college as by its church
character.* Among these were his youngest brother, Gurdon,
his cousin, Robert Nelson, afterwards the faithful and efficient
missionary to China, and Mrs. Pendleton's brother, John Page.
The venerable Dr. Packard, who has for over fifty years been
professor of Hebrew in the Theological Seminary near Alexan
dria, Virginia, writes of Mr. Pendleton at this time, —
" August 10, 1883.
" You ask me to give my recollections of your father as I knew
him when associated with him as professor in Bristol College. . . .
It was in the fall of 1833 that I first became acquainted with your
father. He had not been long out of West Point, where, I be
lieve, he had been an assistant professor. He bore then the same
character he always sustained. I was struck with his military
bearing, his firmness and decision of purpose combined with gen
tleness. He always showed great ability in the discussion of any
debatable point, and a willingness to be set right if in error. I
have never met with any one so far removed from anything like
guile ; so generous was he that his generosity was taken advan
tage of by those who were so disposed. As a professor I need
say nothing as to his competency and ability as a teacher. He
brought with him from West Point a reputation which was of
great service to a young college. He introduced something of
a military discipline, which was much needed.
" His Christian character was then very decided, and his in
fluence over young men — who are disposed to regard religion as
not a manly thing — was very beneficial. In his social relations
he was loved and esteemed by us all. He was gentle and cour
teous to all men.
" I feel how inadequate is this tribute to the memory of one I
loved and esteemed so much. It is scattering a withered flower
upon his grave. " Very truly yours,
"J. Packard."

* A list of these youths, furnished by one of them, is appended : William Barton,
P. Grey, E. McGuire, B. B. Minor, B. Blake, W. T. Leavell, G. Pendleton, Robert
Nelson, John Page, R. Douthat, Warrenton Carter, R. T. Mason, B. F. Fachler B.
Thompson, Strother Jones, C. J. Gibson.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. S7
During the first year Mr. Pendleton and his family lived in the
college. Here they found agreeable companionship, and formed
close intimacy with Mrs. Colton and her sisters, Miss Margaret
Cox and Miss Harriet, who became the wife of Mr. Pendleton's
intimate friend and former classmate, Albert Taylor Bledsoe.
Extracts from Mr. Pendleton's letters to his wife, absent in
Virginia, give interesting particulars respecting the young college,
the development of his own character, and the confirmation of
his purpose to prepare himself for the ministry.
" Bristol College, January, 1834.
"... The bill chartering us as a college has become a law, and
it is pronounced by the honorable Legislature of Pennsylvania
illegal to call the said college by any name other than ' Bristol
College.' This, of course, raises us in importance, and, it may
be, increases our responsibility. But the distressing derangement
of money-matters throughout the United States will injure us, we
fear, by preventing the friends of the Church from aiding in
the means of enlarging our plan of operations as soon as they
would otherwise have done. All this is in the hands of God.
He will direct that which is best for His own honor. ... In
reply to your queries about the appropriation of my time : From
five to six, dressing, etc. ; from six to seven, attending one of my
classes ; after breakfast, until nine, I have generally been employed
in sweeping, dusting, and fixing the rooms, — Gurdon assisting
me ; from nine to ten, a class ; from ten to twelve, in the Blue
Room ; * after dinner, till three, reading and writing ; from three
to four, Greek ; from four to five, in the Blue Room ; at night,
reading. The two hours in the Blue Room in the morning I
have devoted to Biot ; f that in the afternoon to preparing my
lessons for the next day. My reading I wish to make effectual
to the great object before me. To this end it will be necessary
for me to get speedily some of the books recommended by the
last General Convention. Many of them I can borrow. Eccle
siastical history, and profane, too, I must first cultivate diligently,
and this shall now be my business. ... I have to-day been much
struck with the character of Abraham, sketched by Dr. Clarke in
his Commentary, — the undoubting confidence with which he
* The large study-room. j- French treatise on analytical geometry.

58 MEMOIRS OF
believed God, and the ready, cheerful obedience he habitually
rendered when called upon ; his courage and generosity and faith
fulness. Let us study his conduct under the different circum
stances of life, and exert ourselves to live like him. ... I in
tended to have told you before, — I have made you responsible
for a debt of twelve dollars. You recollect the Missionary So
ciety. When the subscription-plan was arranged and presented
I subscribed a dollar a month for myself, and then proceeded
to write your name pledging the same sum for you likewise.
Can you pay by knitting ? or in what way ? I fear I may have
put you into a difficulty."
Something of his former depression and anxiety seems to have
returned upon him from time to time, but always accompanied
with some derangement of health. " February, 1834.
" I am much harassed by a sort of sinking of hope, calling
upon me for vigorous effort in every way, by prayer and self-
examination, and a wielding of the sword of the spirit and active
exercise. Let us remember the encouragement given by our
Saviour to the prayers of two or three who shall agree as touch
ing what they shall ask, and pray with me for supplies of
grace and strength and Divine wisdom in all things, bringing
peace and hope and devoted purpose in every duty before me.
... As to being happy, there is at all times the delightful reflec
tion that I can pray, happy or not, and, provided I am still left to
do my duties aright, it matters little in the great account whether
I was or was not allowed a tranquil course. Besides religious
comfort, I apply the maxim by which Dr. Johnson used to regu
late his gloomy moods, ' When solitary be not idle, and when
idle be not solitary.' "
Later in the spring Mr. Pendleton went to Virginia to bring his
family North. His indisposition and depression culminated in a
violent bilious fever, which detained them in Washington for some
weeks. Under the skilful treatment of Dr. Sewell and the care
of kind friends, he recovered and returned to Bristol. Stopping
to rest in Philadelphia, Mrs. Pendleton's negro nurse, Eliza, went
out of the room to " get a cradle for the baby," and never came
back. She had been in Philadelphia before, and had made

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 59
acquaintances who, no doubt, enticed her to leave her best and
truest friends. On examination, it was found that she had re
moved all her clothing, so the plan for going off must have been
considered for some time. At that date no open opposition would
have been made to her recovery, but Mr. Pendleton, after making
sure that she had deliberately chosen to go off among strangers,
declined to take any steps to reclaim her as his servant. This
circumstance is mentioned to show that the conviction so often
expressed by him in after-years, that slavery is repeatedly sanc
tioned by the Bible, was in no way influenced by self-interest.
In the fall of 1834 he and his family moved out of the college
into a small house a few hundred yards away, known as " the
Long Cottage." Good taste and good management gave comfort
and adornment to the little habitation ; while the cordial hospi
tality of the young housekeepers and the happiness and harmony
of their family life made it the brightest spot in the vicinity,
towards which professors and students naturally turned for
recreation when tired of work or longing for sympathy. Mrs.
Pendleton's sisters and other lady friends added much to the
attractions of the little home.
During the spring and fall the surrounding country was ex
plored by long walks and drives. Mrs. Pendleton had become
an enthusiastic student of botany, and found great assistance in
the knowledge and advice of Miss Margaret Cox. Her husband
was too much occupied with hard work and other studies to
become a botanist, but he took great pleasure in his wife's advance
ment, and was ever ready to take a tramp into the woods, and lend
his aid in gathering flowers and securing specimens for her col
lection. Sleighing, skating, and walking on the frozen Delaware
to Burlington furnished recreation during the short winter days.
For the long nights there were gatherings of friends in the cosey
parlor, where games of chess, music and song, or brilliant con
versation beguiled the hours. Dr. Henry was an unusually good
talker, full of anecdote and illustration, and other frequenters of
the cottage contributed their quotas to the general enjoyment.
Family prayers always closed these friendly meetings. Mr. Pen
dleton was a fine draughtsman, and had considerable skill as a
caricaturist. Not infrequently his colleagues would find their
lively descriptions and quaint anecdotes illustrated by his pen- or

60 MEMOIRS OF
pencil-drawings. He also had great facility in writing doggerel
verses, and would, with rare ingenuity and absurdity, chronicle
any adventure of the assembled party.
A second little daughter, Lucy, was born during this time, and
the two little girls became the constant companions of their
father's leisure hours. No man ever found more pleasure and
happiness in his children, or was more tenderly attached to them,
than Mr. Pendleton, and no accurate account of his life can be
given in which they should be omitted. His oldest daughter was
from infancy seldom absent from his side. She slept in his arms
or sat on his knee when he read and studied, played round his feet
while he wrote, walked beside him or was carried on his shoulder
when he went out of doors. Each succeeding child called forth
more paternal affection, and increased the happiness of his loving
heart. Requiring implicit obedience to his slightest command,
he was incapable of sternness to his children, and was always full
of sympathy with them, sharing alike their little joys and sorrows.
So tender was his pity for their weaknesses and failings, so appre
ciative his understanding of their troubles and efforts, so genuine
his sorrow for their faults and delight in their well-doing, that they
learned when in babyhood to prize his love and desire his approval
more than any other reward. Even when his sacred sense of re
sponsibility compelled him on rare occasions to chastise them, they
knew that the punishment caused him equal pain with themselves,
and that no particle of anger was mingled with its infliction.
In the summer of 1835, Mr. Pendleton and his wife undertook
the journey from Bristol to Virginia with their two children, in a
little carriage drawn by their old gray horse " Bob." Economy and
a love for adventure prompted this rash essay. For two days they
jogged bravely on, beguiling the lengthening miles with pleasant
anticipations and the prattle of the little ones. By the time they
reached Elkton, Maryland, the mother and babies were well worn
out with the heat and fatigue of the road. Mr. Pendleton com
forted them with the assurance that a good night's rest would revive
them, and enable them to start afresh next morning. Old " Bob,"
however, was not to be revived ; no prospective meeting with dear
friends raised his drooping courage or rested his weary legs. The
next morning he was so stiff and lame that the whole party,
carriage, horse, and all, had to be transferred to the steamboat.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 6 1
During this vacation a large new building — Penn Hall — was
added to the college, but was not ready for occupation when the
session opened. The increased number of students had, there
fore, to be crowded in, for a few weeks, wherever they could find
accommodation. In the confusion consequent upon such crowd
ing it was difficult to exercise proper discipline. A spirit of
mischief and insubordination crept in, and for a time serious
trouble threatened the college. By a wise mingling of resolute
authority with kind forbearance, however, the difficulties were
adjusted, and order and good feeling established.
Domestic affliction as well as college annoyances chastened
the happiness of these years. Mr. Pendleton's beloved sister,
Mrs. Judith P. Harrison, died in the spring of 1834. His grief
at the loss of this dear sister was deep and sincere, and the tender
affection evinced by him towards her children, especially to the
little niece, who grew up the joy of her grandparents' declining
years, proved how fondly he had loved their mother. His father had
become blind from cataract during the same period, but the hope
was entertained that the operation of couching might restore him to
sight. The optic nerve was, however, found to be seriously diseased
in both eyes, and the only result of a double operation was the abil
ity to distinguish light from darkness, and thus avoid coming in
contact with large objects when moving from place to place.
Robert Pendleton, the brother next younger than William,
died of a violent fever, in the spring of 1836, among strangers,
in Western Pennsylvania. Taken suddenly ill at a country inn,
no one took interest enough in the sick traveller to communicate
with his friends, and the announcement of his death was the first
intimation to his family that anything was amiss with him. He was
greatly beloved for his manly, ingenuous character, his sprightly,
affectionate disposition, and the kindly assistance he was ever ready
to give to all with whom he was thrown. His elder brothers had
entered professional life ; the two younger were, one in a count
ing-room, the other at college. To him had naturally fallen the
management of his parents' affairs and the care of their declining
years. Business for his father had carried him from the home so
sadly bereaved by his death. His brothers, Walker and William,
showed their love for his memory by giving his name to the first
son born to each of them.

62 MEMOIRS OF

CHAPTER X.
A summer's engineering.
Up to this time Bristol College had been — as, indeed, it was to
the last — a great success, except in pecuniary matters. The
number of students was large, their deportment and scholarship
excellent, and a healthy Christian spirit prevailed in the institu
tion. But the financial aspect of affairs was not encouraging.
Started without endowment, it would have been almost impossi
ble to avoid embarrassment had there been no outlay for im
provements, and had the students been required to pay a sum
sufficient for their maintenance. But the terms were unreason
ably low. The charges for board, fuel, lights, and tuition were
only one hundred and sixteen dollars for the term of forty weeks.
Beneficiaries, of whom there was a large proportion, were pro
vided with everything for seventy-five dollars per annum ; and
when worthy young men, especially those desiring to enter the
ministry, could not afford even so moderate a sum, arrangement
was made to admit them and furnish support and instruction in
return for some small services rendered. The professors' salaries
were low in proportion, — eight hundred dollars a year, — and
tardily paid. Under these circumstances, Mr. Pendleton gladly
accepted an offer from Mr. Walter Gwynn, at that time the lead
ing railroad engineer in Virginia and North Carolina, to take
charge, during the summer, of an engineering party to survey and
locate a railroad through Southwestern Virginia and down into
North Carolina, with a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars a
month. His classes were pushed on and examined by the last
of June, when he took his family — the baby, " Robin," being
only five weeks old — to Virginia and set out for his arduous
summer work. Extracts from letters to his wife show how
vigorous and steady had been his religious growth since leaving
the army, and how he had begun to realize the joy and peace in
believing which became such marked traits in his Christian
character.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 63
" Oxford, Granville County, North Carolina,
" Sunday, July 24, 1836.
"... I have been to church, and can sincerely say, in the
psalmist's language, ' I was glad when they said unto me, Let us
go up into the house of the Lord.' How appropriate, how
solemn, how delightful our service! Alone, and thrown more
upon a personal and hearty intercourse with our God and Sav
iour, I feel it more : the service then seems to me a sort of
bond, connecting the devotions of my own soul with those of the
Church and with the precious aspirations of my own family; and
I do not think I was ever blessed with a more delightful frame
than when joining in it to-day. The same gentleman preached
of whom I spoke in my last, Mr. Motte, and an admirable dis
course it was. I was surprised to find the congregation so large.
The church is small, it is true, but it was as full as it could be,
and there were a good many young men." " Tuesday morning.
"... After writing on Sunday, I had to go to church in the
afternoon, and then Mr. Motte invited me to take tea with him.
I breakfasted this morning with a Mr. Lewis, who did himself the
honor of tracing a relationship with me. Afterwards transacted
some business before leaving the village of Oxford, and then,
with two of my subs, mounted on our baggage-wagon and came
out here, six or seven miles, where the rest of our party were at
work, and here I am in a private house by the road-side, where
we have been hospitably entertained by a kind old Scotchman.
We go on rapidly, and soon the party will be as far as Roxbor-
ough, by or before which, however, I shall be on my way towards
the mountains.
" I have some pills by me, and some calomel, magnesia, and
rhubarb, in case of sickness among our party. If we all escape
bilious fevers we ought to thank God humbly for it, for the ex
posure might very well, without great prudence, bring them on.
We are very careful, but my trust is in the care of an all-direct
ing Providence, to whom I desire to commit myself and all dear
to me."
A letter to his little daughter is enclosed in the foregoing :

64 MEMOIRS OF
" My dear little Sue, — I hope you are good and obedient
to your mamma. See, darling, how good and sweet you can be,
that the good account mamma has to give of you may make my
heart glad. I have seen a great many little girls, — some of them
very bad and some of them good, — and I always think what a
sweet thing a good little girl is. If my dear daughters, Sue and
Lucy, will be obedient and good children, how very glad it will
make me, and how I shall love them ! There are a great many
girls going to school in Oxford, the place where I have been stay
ing for three or four days. You must get mamma to show it to
you on the map. Some of these girls — yes, all of them — are older
than my darling daughter, and yet some of them have not been
taught so much. Think, love, what your dear mamma has done
for you, in taking so much trouble to teach you. How much you
ought to love her, and try to obey and please her for all she has
done ! Do you pray for me, dear ? Ask God to take care of papa,
and bring him back safely to you all." " Danville, Virginia.
"... Here I am, quartered by polite invitation, at the house
of General C  , whom I met in Norfolk. I must write on
Sunday, for if I do not, there will be no opportunity of sending
a letter before Wednesday, and by that time I expect to be far
away from Danville. There is no Episcopal church here, and
our communion is hardly recognized in this large county. Two
good-looking dissenting churches are, however, open this morn
ing, — the Presbyterian and the Baptist, — the former of which I
wish to attend by and by."
" Top of the Alleghany, Floyd County, Virginia.
" My beloved Wife, — Early this Monday morning I have
risen to write to you. Yesterday I was permitted to enjoy a
great privilege in attending a place where prayer is wont to
be made, and where the truth, as it is in Jesus, was declared,
though in a homely way. Just on the other (east) side of the
mountain, in Montgomery County, there was to be a Baptist
meeting, and as it was the only place of public worship near,
though some seven or eight miles off", Mr. Barberin, at my in
vitation, and myself determined to ride thither. And I was

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 65
amply repaid for the trouble of descending and reascending the
mountain. " The preacher was a man whose countenance, manner, and
matter exhibited that he knew what it is to understand 'the
secret of the Lord which dwelleth with the righteous.' If ever
my soul blessed the Lord for His goodness to the children of
men, it was when I heard the simple, blessed truths of the Gospel
so plainly and understandingly preached to this poor Western
people, cut off, as we are wont to believe, from the privileges
of Gospel light.
" And now to tell you what I have been about since my last
was posted at Franklin Court-House. That morning we left
there, I on horseback, accompanied by an old gentleman inter
ested in the survey, the rest of my party in a hack, and we pro
ceeded some sixteen miles over hills and mountains of all forms
and dimensions, intersected continually by streams and mountain
torrents, to the foot of the Alleghany. This we crossed at
Daniel's Run Gap, where the ascent is more gradual than at
most passes in the ridge. That evening we arrived at a public-
house three miles west of the ridge, where there is a capital
mineral spring, and here we have been staying ever since. If
you were with me, how I could enjoy the noble character of the
country ! While it is strikingly true, as David says, ' Those who
go down to the sea in ships, these see the mighty works of the
Lord,' it may be as truly said that they who look upon the
gigantic hills of this untamed region find like cause to admire
the power and majesty of Him who laid their foundations and
reared their proud heads. How poor, how feeble, are we among
these awe-inspiring scenes ! and yet we scale, we surmount them,
and in the soarings of our minds we rise to heights from which
these hills, the ocean, and their solid bed, the round earth, are
lost in insignificance among the grander works of God ; while we,
with souls immortal, are never lost, are never diminished in com
parison with the mightiest worlds of matter, for we are in the
image of the Eternal ; we are ransomed with the precious blood
of the Son of God ; we are candidates for a state of being where
purity and love, and knowledge and bliss, shall be forever ours.
It was Friday evening when we got here. Saturday I rode over
much of the country exploring, while all the rest went deer-
5

66 MEMOIRS OF
hunting. We have plenty of fine venison. . . . To-day our sur
vey began. I have been riding from seven a.m. to five p.m., almost
without dismounting, and without a mouthful, even, of water,
though the gushing streams are numberless, and going all the
time over hills and precipices you would shudder to see a horse
man pass. But for being away from you nothing could be finer
or, by way of variety, more to my taste.
" The climate is fine, but it has rained every day since our
arrival. The mineral water which attracts people here has not
been analyzed, but it has a twang of iron, sulphur, and salts, and
has a most beneficial effect on me." " Christiansburg, Virginia.
"... Mr. Cunningham and myself rode over the mountains
from our work ten miles last night, most of the distance by
moonlight. I wish you and others of my dear friends could
witness the scene through which we passed. I cannot pretend
to give you the slightest idea of its mingled grandeur and beauty.
Imagine us, after nightfall, traversing the mountain defiles. On
either hand the tall hills frowning darkly upon us below, the lit
tle mountain stream dashing in its wildness, and making an
incessant sound to break away the solemn stillness of the road,
while here and there the prevailing darkness was relieved by the
moonbeams finding their way through openings in the trees, now
illuminating the road and hill-sides, now glittering on the foam
ing cascades. I never saw anything like it. And then I thought,
' Why is this beautiful to me ? Why does it fill me with awe
and delight ? 'Tis the goodness of God ; 'tis an evidence of His
benevolence in creating things so lovely, and endowing me with
a sensibility for what He has made beautiful and sublime, and
allowing me opportunities for enjoying them.' . . . What dis
tresses me often is a heavy sense of my unfitness, through a de
praved and unsanctified heart, for the sacred and responsible
office of the ministry. I have come to the conclusion, years ago,
that God required of me to preach the Gospel, and I think my
self unfit for it. You cannot conceive how I suffer at times from
this ; and were it not that I know the Lord is sufficient for all
things, and that He can, and often does, use the weakest and
most unworthy of His servants to promote the salvation of men
I could not but shrink from what is before me. As it is, how-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 67
ever, I try to obey Him in casting all my care upon Him, with
the earnest prayer that He will either keep me back, should He
not fit me for His work, or that He will be pleased to pour upon
me His enlightening and sanctifying grace, to prepare me for a
useful course of ministerial labor. I often think of the character
and history of St. Peter, and find comfort in comparing my own
character with his, — so far as I may with reverence. He was
impetuous yet ardent, bold yet unsteady, confident of fidelity
yet weak to shame in the time of trial. All these failings, you
have no need of being told, lie at the bottom of my character,
and most of their opposite virtues are there too ; then I think
how true, how faithful, how honored he afterwards was, and it
animates me to hope for such supplies of Divine grace as will
enable me to be true and faithful ; and if it please Him, I would
serve, honored also by usefulness in my future life. Join me often
in praying for this. . . . My health has improved greatly since
leaving the heat and marshes of Carolina. While in Danville
my liver was in a bad state, and there was no little threatening
of disease, but it is all gone, and I never was in better condition.
It is a great delight to read the anecdotes of the dear children."
Bristol College begun the session of 1836 with a large num
ber of students, but before many weeks had elapsed the money
affairs were found to be in a hopeless state of confusion, and every
day increased the embarrassment, and as early as January, 1837,
it was seen that the institution could not maintain itself any
longer. It was therefore determined to push on and graduate
the senior class by March 1, when the college was finally closed.
The three and a half years of its existence had been full of
usefulness and success, so far as regarded the number, character,
and teaching of the students, and the influence they have exerted
in the Church in after-years. Among the clergymen who were
educated there were Bishop Bedell, of Ohio, Rev. Drs. Gibson,
of Virginia, Bull, of North Carolina, Nelson, of the China Mission,
Leavell, of West Virginia, and a number of others, some of whom
still live and labor in the Lord, while many more have gone to
receive the reward of their labors.
Impossible as it was to carry on the college longer, the closing
it in the middle of the scholastic year was a serious thing for the

68 MEMOIRS OF
professors. Their small salaries for the current year had not
been paid, and there was little prospect that they ever would be.
Nor was there much likelihood that they would be invited to
other professorships, at least for several months. Mr. Pendleton
did not, however, become discouraged at the uncertainty of his
future. On February 14 he wrote to his wife's father, —
" My course is a very plain one. To remain here until about
May, and then to return to Virginia and be ordained. As to
the fear, usually well-grounded, that a minister in Virginia must
suffer all the ills of poverty, I am principled against allowing my
family to be so illy provided for as to make them uncomfortable.
And I am morally certain that I can use the means I have in
such a way as to secure a competency with no diminution of
usefulness and with comparatively little inconvenience. My
plan to this end is simply this : to employ one or, if required, two
well-qualified teachers, who shall have the immediate conduct
of such a school as I think would be useful and acceptable in
Virginia, I myself having the direction and moral influence over
the same. This will provide me an income sufficient, and will
allow me to perform fully and faithfully all the duties of a parish
minister, and will occupy to a good purpose the scientific acquire
ments which circumstances have secured to me, and which other
wise would be scarcely better than thrown away for any useful
purpose. . . . There is one consideration which prevents all ap
prehension on my part, and which cannot fail, I presume, to
influence our friends. I am conscious of sincerity towards God,
in renouncing the large offers of fortune in the profession of
engineering. And doing this from a conviction of duty, I am
so far sure that God will approve and bless us in His own service
and in His own way."
Before the time fixed upon for his removal to Virginia, Provi
dence pointed out other work for him to do. The mathematical
professorship in Newark College, Delaware, then under Episco
pal control, was offered to him, with a salary of one thousand
dollars. At first he positively declined to take the chair, resolving
to become a parish minister in Virginia. But the faculty and
trustees were determined to secure him, and the president, the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 69
learned and eccentric Richard Mason, D.D., made him a special
visit to induce him to withdraw his refusal. Arriving at the
Long Cottage and finding Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton packing up
their furniture, Dr. Mason sat down amidst the boxes, made an
eloquent representation of the importance of the position urged
upon Mr. Pendleton, and wound up by declaring that he would
not move from his seat until it was accepted. As this was in
accordance with his wife's advice, Mr. Pendleton agreed to go to
Newark and look at the place, and this inspection resulted in his
becoming professor there.

CHAPTER XI.
LIFE AT NEWARK COLLEGE.
In the latter part of May, 1837, Mr. Pendleton was ordained
deacon, at the Convention in Petersburg, Virginia, by Bishop
Meade. He left his family in Virginia, and proceeded at once to
Newark, where he became professor of mathematics and chemis
try. The vacation of Newark College was in October, and sev
eral of the Bristol boys were immediately transferred to it, in
connection with their former professor. This was especially the
case with a number of his young relatives.
The prospects of the young professor were fair enough. The
college paid one thousand dollars and furnished a tolerably
good house. Bishop H. M. Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, was
then exercising episcopal supervision in Delaware. He engaged
the young deacon to minister to two poor churches five or six
miles from the village. His predecessor in these churches had,
the bishop informed him, " lived on less than a little." It was,
therefore, with no thought of compensation that he gladly accepted
the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Christ, and became their
pastor. His labor soon proved so agreeable that they determined
to give him what salary they could raise, — between one and two
hundred dollars.
It not infrequently happens in the lives of those chosen by
God to accomplish important work in His Church that discipline
and affliction are sent to chasten and develop their characters at

70 MEMOIRS OF
the opening of any career of special responsibility and usefulness,
and thus it was now. One of the first letters from Virginia
brought Mr. Pendleton the announcement of the death of his
little son Robin, from measles, and of the alarming illness of
little Lucy. Alone, among strangers, the blow was a heavy one
to his loving heart. But, as ever in the hour of desolation, the
Saviour drew nearer to him, and the lessons of submission to
trial and consolations granted to the solitary mourner were never
forgotten. Sorely afflicted himself, he could enter with sympa
thizing tenderness into the sorrows of others, and speak to them
with confident assurance of the comfort and support promised to
all the sorrowful among the children of men.
Although begun so sadly, the life at Newark proved a useful
and happy one. In order to facilitate the education of the youths
of his immediate connection, Mr. Pendleton had them to live with
him. His own brother Gurdon and his wife's brother John, with
a number of cousins, were in this way members of his household
for several years. For this privilege they paid less than two dol
lars a week, which sum, he estimated, would provide their food and
fire, but which could certainly never furnish remuneration for wear
and tear, for the trouble of housekeeping for such a number, nor
for the great pains he took in overlooking their various studies.
Other young men came to him for private lessons in mathe
matics and engineering. The terms for these were also conscien
tiously low, — five dollars a week paid the expenses of living and
thorough instruction. The young men who thus became inmates
of his house during his residence at Newark were all greatly in
fluenced for good, and in after-years never omitted an opportunity
to express their appreciation of the noble character and the kind
ness of their former instructor.
The social relations sustained by Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton with
the families of the president, Dr. Mason, and the other professors,
Rev. Mr. Allen and Mr. Greaves, were cordial and pleasant. They
also became much attached to some of the residents of the village,
especially to their physician, Dr. Handy, to Mr. and Mrs. Blandy,
and to Mr. and Miss Holzbecker, from all of whom they received
much kindness.
In 1838, Mr. Pendleton received priest's orders from Bishop
Onderdonk, with whom, as with all the neighboring clergymen,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 71
he maintained friendly relations. Bishop Alfred Lee was at that
time rector of a large church in Wilmington, and his fraternal
kindness to the young Virginia clergyman was gratefully appre
ciated and his friendship valued throughout life.
Few letters written at this period remain. One tells of his first
sermon, preached in the college chapel, — there was no Episcopal
church in the village, — and another of Christmas service and
communion at one of his churches in 1838.
A large, old-fashioned garden was attached to the house in
Newark. This Mr. Pendleton cultivated to much advantage, and
formed a taste for practical gardening which furnished much of
his most healthful exercise and recreation during many years of
his life. Botanizing with his wife was also carried on along the
picturesque banks of White Clay Creek, not far from the village.
Busy as his life was, with public and private classes, systematic
parochial work, diligent study, and the many cares devolving
upon the head of a growing family, no duty was too small, no
interest too trivial, to engage his attention. A copy was as care
fully set and a writing-lesson as regularly given to a little orphan
girl, who had been taken as a help in the nursery, as a mathe
matical lecture to one of his classes.
In the spring of 1838, Mrs. Pendleton's sister Fanny was
married to Philip N. Meade, oldest son of Bishop Meade, of
Virginia. Their engagement had taken place at Mr. Pendleton's,
and the marriage was a source of great pleasure in his family.
The intimacy and connection with Bishop Meade was already
very close. Both his wives were first cousins of Mrs. Pendleton,
and, by a singular coincidence, had both been her godmothers.
They were also related to Mr. Pendleton, though more distantly.
By the marriage of Mr. Meade and Miss Page the ties between
the families were drawn still closer, and constant intercourse
followed it for many years.
During his second year at Newark ill health again attacked
Mr. Pendleton. Serious derangement of the liver and digestive
organs occasioned much bodily suffering, attended by depression
of spirits. Under the advice of a new physician, violent remedies,
external and internal, were applied. Mr. Pendleton was accus
tomed for months to use cupping-glasses and leeches for his own
relief. One night a jar containing Spanish leeches was upset in

72 MEMOIRS OF
the dark, and the little blood-suckers crawled out and made their
way into various unsuitable places. A small panic ensued until
a light was procured, the room thoroughly searched, and every
leech found and returned to the bottle.

CHAPTER XII.
OPENING OF THE EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL OF VIRGINIA.
In 1839, Bishop Meade determined to take a step he had been
considering for some years and open a Church school for boys in
Virginia. The idea was to establish an institution which should
combine instruction equal to that of a first-rate college with strict
school discipline and the salutary influences and amenities of
family life, and should offer all these advantages for a price suffi
ciently low to come within the reach of the large body of church-
people with moderate means. So admirable a scheme it was
thought could not fail to recommend itself to the judgment and
support of the Church in Virginia and elsewhere. To inaugurate
such a school successfully, two things were deemed necessary, —
suitable buildings, and a principal who should combine high moral
character, energy, an aptitude for teaching and managing boys,
and much enthusiasm. But the equally important requisite of
some moderate endowment or reserve fund to meet expenses
was entirely ignored.
With money furnished by himself and friends Bishop Meade
purchased a large, old-fashioned residence, " Howard," with a
hundred acres of land adjoining the Theological Seminary, three
miles from Alexandria, Virginia. The house, with its brick offices,
could, by crowding, be made to accommodate thirty boys for a
beginning, and in the mean time additional buildings could be
put up. After wide inquiry and consultation with Dr. Muhlen
berg and other experienced Church teachers, Bishop Meade
decided that Mr. Pendleton was the man of all others likely to
make such a head-master as his new school required. He there
fore went to Newark to offer the position to Mr. Pendleton, and
pressed his acceptance of it as an important Christian duty.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 73
The question for the young clergyman's decision was a serious
one. His professorship in Delaware afforded a comfortable sup
port for his family, and permitted him to exercise his office as
parish minister usefully and acceptably in the surrounding
country. To give this up and enter upon an untried field ; to en
deavor to build up a large public school, where great outlay was
necessary, without any endowment or fund to begin with, and
where the personal views and opinions of the principal were to
be entirely subordinate to the vague and often visionary ideas of
a miscellaneous and inexperienced board of trustees ; and, above
all, to relinquish for years the preaching of the Gospel as the
main work of his life, was what Bishop Meade and his other
Virginia friends urged upon him. The importance of the issue,
and the difficulty of deciding where he could best use his talents
to the glory of God and the good of men, threw him into a violent
fever, and for some days he was very ill. By the time he regained
his health he had determined to remove to Virginia and take
charge of the Episcopal High School.
Only the most disinterested devotion to duty and hopefulness
of disposition could have influenced him to this decision. The
terms on which the school was placed in his hands were difficult
and unreasonable almost beyond belief. It is hard to understand
how any body of trustees could have exacted them, or any com
petent man, unless his eyes were blinded by religious zeal, no
matter how sanguine and trustful was his nature, have been found
willing to comply with them. No provision was made for any
endowment, present or future. All the expenses of the institu
tion — furniture, scientific apparatus, salaries of teachers, food, fuel,
repairs, and the thousand things for which money is required
in a large establishment — were to come out of the tuition fees.
These were also put at the lowest possible rate. Full-pay scholars
paid only two hundred dollars per annum ; sons of clergymen
were to be taken for one hundred dollars, and poor but deserving
youths were in some instances to be admitted without charge.
Nor was this all. Not only was there no salary attached to the
position of rector, but he was required to pay to the trustees a
yearly tax of thirty dollars upon each pupil over the minimum
of thirty, whether that thirty were all full-pay scholars or not.
Mr. Pendleton saw and appreciated some of the difficulties of

74 MEMOIRS OF
the plan from the first, but was to learn by bitter experience the
impossibility of carrying it out. The prospect of usefulness
overcame his misgivings, and he threw himself into his new and
attractive work with all the ardor of his nature. Mr. Milo
Mahan, afterwards the distinguished theologian and divine, just
graduated from Dr. Muhlenberg's school at Flushing, Long
Island, was engaged as first assistant, to teach the ancient lan
guages. Robert Nelson and John Page, both of them trained by
Mr. Pendleton, and familiar with his modes of teaching, became
the other instructors. The school opened in October, 1839, with
thirty-five students. Its first year was one of much personal dis
comfort, especially to Mr. Pendleton and his family, who were
crowded into two small rooms, but, with this drawback, passed
satisfactorily and encouragingly.
The large building, which has ever since furnished the main
accommodation for the boys, was erected during this year. The
plan chosen for it was in almost all respects contrary to the taste
and judgment of the principal, being ugly without and incon
venient within. Upon him, however, devolved the worry and
responsibility of superintending the building, while becoming day
by day more conscious of its defects. The second year found
the addition in a habitable condition, and the session opened with
one hundred and one scholars. For this increase of pupils a large
increase of teachers was, of course, necessary. Had all the
students paid the full amount, the twenty thousand dollars might
possibly have met the expense of fitting up and maintaining so
extensive an institution. But of the number, fourteen were half-
pay scholars, and five paid nothing. Out of the income thus
diminished, thirty dollars per head were paid to the trustees for
seventy-one boys, and an additional subsidy of three hundred
dollars towards the salary of one of the seminary professors was
exacted. The principal made every exertion to utilize all the
resources at his command and make the school self-supporting.
A fine garden provided an abundant supply of vegetables and
fruit for the household. The farm was brought into a high state
of cultivation, and large quantities of hay cut and sold. Cattle
were bought and fattened for the use of the school. But all
efforts were unavailing to make the income adequate to the
expense.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 75
In all other respects the happiest results were experienced.
Harmony and kindliness prevailed among scholars and teachers.
A high grade of scholarship was established and maintained. A
wholesome religious influence was constantly exerted ; and while
the sound judgment of the principal discouraged any unhealthy
excitement among the boys, his own deep religious experience, his
genuine sympathy with each of them, and the virtue and beauty of
Christianity as exhibited in his daily life so illustrated and recom
mended the truths of the Gospel that an unusually large propor
tion of the High-School boys became earnest and consistent
Christians, and many of them clergymen.
In 1840, Mr. Pendleton's second son was born, and, in fulfilment
of a boyish promise, was named Alexander Swift, after a beloved
West Point classmate of his father.
Bishop Meade's home, " Mountain View," over which Mrs.
Philip Meade, Mrs. Pendleton's sister, presided, was only a day's
ride from the High School, and there was frequent intercourse
between the households. An extract from a letter to his wife,
who had gone to nurse her sister in illness, will tell of the many
and varied claims upon Mr. Pendleton's time and attention.
" Howard, February io, 1840.
"... As you may suppose, I was very anxious about you
in your long stage-ride on Saturday, and but for the tranquillizing
effect of trust in God as your guardian and guide, should have
suffered from corroding anxiety. You must have had a most
uncomfortable day of it, and yesterday was worse. We could
not venture to the Seminary in the morning on account of the rain,
but by the time for night service it had cleared up, and we
ploughed through the mud. We are all well, but how we get
along without you is another question. I shall try to carry on
everything as usual, but that is easier undertaken than done.
Saturday I heard Sue her Greek, made her read in Rollin to
me, heard Lucy read in the prayer-book, and then made them
both spell all the difficult words in the Psalm. Yesterday I read
the Lessons with Sue and made Lucy again read the Psalms.
To-day, Monday, having gone to Alexandria soon after breakfast,
and having to take an algebra class immediately upon getting
back, and that followed by geography and the little boys' Latin

j6 MEMOIRS OF
grammar, I have not yet been able to attend to the little girls'
lessons, but shall do so. They seem quite happy. The house
hold concerns get on pretty well. I gave directions this morn
ing to have some of the bedding attended to, and when the
butcher came, directed him to bring out what is wanted until
next Sunday. I ordered out meal and herrings this morning.
I am thus particular because you will like to hear everything,
and because I shall want your advice from time to time. R. re
marked just now, 'What a difference it makes to be in a house
without any lady !' and all have this feeling."
The survivors of those days can testify to the wisdom and
prudence with which the High School was conducted by Mr.
Pendleton. Gentleness and firmness were combined in his
government ; and in the few instances in which authority was
defied and stringent discipline became necessary, it was adminis
tered with even justice and a pity for the offender which rarely
failed to produce a beneficial effect. Some of his modes of
punishment had a touch of the comical connected with them. A
stolen fishing expedition brought a long day's angling from an
upper window to the boys who had engaged in it. A mock duel,
gotten up to terrify the challenged party, was deprived of all
dignity and amusement by the principals and seconds having to
stand up in presence of the assembled school and drench each
other with water discharged from huge tin squirts.
Mr. Pendleton thus governed the school, conducting its relig
ious services in the week and sometimes on Sunday, and taught
the advanced classes in mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, and
engineering. In addition to these duties, if there was any class
in any department which seemed to make no progress, or any
boy specially hard to teach, he took them in hand, and, by
patience, sympathy, kindness, and his peculiar skill in awaken
ing the dormant mind and imparting knowledge, usually suc
ceeded in bringing forward those whom others had pronounced
hopelessly stupid.
Respected by every pupil, and beloved by all save the few who
found his care and uprightness irksome, he was the chosen com
panion of their hours of recreation. Base-ball was not known in
those days, and " bandy" was the favorite game. After the early

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 77
•
breakfast, in the good weather, it was the school custom to warm
up for the day's work by a vigorous game of bandy. If the
rector remained chatting longer than usual with his family or
guests, a dozen eager boys, crooked sticks in hand, would peer
in at the open door, until some one more venturous than the rest
announced, " The boys are waiting for you, sir," and the over
taxed, overworked principal would soon be at the head of the
throng, racing up- and down-hill and over the fences after the ball.
The strain of the first two years proved too much for Mr.
Pendleton's health. In the vacation of 1841 he took the first
pleasure-trip of his life, going with his wife to the Greenbrier,
White Sulphur, and other Virginia springs. For six weeks they
travelled by stage from place to place, enjoying the wild moun
tain scenery, collecting flowers new and strange to them, and
taking special interest in the records of the rocks as geological
science was beginning to decipher them. A sudden rise in
Cedar Creek caught them under the Natural Bridge, where they
narrowly escaped drowning. A stay at Hot Springs, followed
by a longer sojourn at the White Sulphur, effected so great a
change in Mr. Pendleton's constitution, that for many years he
remained free from the bilious disorders that had so greatly
harassed him.
In October, 1843, Just: au:er the opening of the session, the front
building of the High School took fire from a defective flue, and
nothing but the brick walls escaped the flames. As the fire broke
out in the morning, there was no danger of loss of life ; but a
strong wind was blowing, and for a time the whole establishment
was threatened with destruction. Telling his wife to collect their
children and send them to a place of safety, Mr. Pendleton
devoted all his energies to saving the large, newly-erected school-
house. With the aid of the boys, the Seminary students, and other
neighbors, the roof and side next the flames were covered with
blankets kept constantly wet. Here, where the heat was almost
insupportable, the principal took his place, which he never left
until danger from the fire was over. Little inconvenience and
no loss was experienced by any of the large household ex
cept himself and family. They had almost all of their personal
effects destroyed, and had again to be crowded into two rooms

78 MEMOIRS OF •
in an out-house. The insurance on the burnt dwelling was suffi
cient to rebuild it in a more commodious manner, and the fire
proved an ultimate advantage to the property.
The Oxford movement, begun in 1837, had created com
motions and dissensions among churchmen in America as in
England. The " Tracts for the Times" were read and discussed
by thinking men everywhere. Their teachings, especially that
of " Tract No. 90," were opposed to the views of the Bishop of
Virginia and the great majority of her clergy. Some of the
students at the Theological Seminary were, however, much at
tracted by the earnest tone of the Tracts, and the fascinating
idea presented of the Catholic Church as the infallible spiritual
director and guide, and the dispenser of salvation to all her
children. Mr. Mahan and other devout, earnest seekers after
truth among the teachers and visitors at the High School were,
for a time, not a little inclined towards Dr. Newman and his asso
ciates. Mr. Pendleton, on the other hand, considered the whole
movement and its teachings as contrary to the standards of the
English and American Episcopal Church, and was active in
pointing out and refuting what he thought erroneous to the
younger men by whom he was surrounded. Since he first
turned his thoughts towards the ministry he had been a diligent
student of theology. And now, more than ever, he searched
deeply into the works of the English fathers, that he might bring
the soundest and most able authorities to bear in the long and
impassioned discussions concerning the Church, tradition, sacra-
mentarianism, etc., which often lasted far into the night.
After listening one evening to one of these earnest discussions,
Mr. Pendleton's little daughter inquired, with puzzled curiosity, —
" Mamma, what is the Church ?"
" My dear, that is what your papa and these other gentlemen
have not yet decided," was the sprightly reply.
Pushing her inquiry further, the child was told by her father
that she was " too young to understand ;" but hearing an older
questioner referred " to the Thirteenth Article," she betook her
self to the prayer-book, and there found her ideas so sadly con
fused by its stately and conservative definition that it required
the lapse of a number of years to give her any clear compre
hension of the apparently simple term.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 79
CHAPTER XIII.
PECUNIARY TROUBLE  WITHDRAWAL FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL.
Five years had passed in faithful, energetic labor, — five years
of much happiness in the congenial occupation of teaching and
influencing youthful minds, and in intimate association with the
pious, intelligent, and refined society of the " Seminary Hill."
Among the results of this work, in after-years, were thirty clergy
men of the Episcopal Church and a number of laymen leading
useful, Christian lives in their various spheres. Most of these
received their first serious religious impressions and made public
profession of their faith under Mr. Pendleton's influence and ex
ample. Bishop Whittle, of Virginia, and Rev. Drs. Walker, of
the Alexandria Seminary, and Sprigg, of the Southern Churchman,
were among the alumni of these years.
But the difficulties arising from the inadequacy of the heavily-
taxed income had increased year by year until, at the close of the
fifth session, there was a debt on the school expenses of more
than five thousand dollars. This rested wholly on the principal,
who, in addition to this public debt, had, under a pressing call of
duty, incurred private obligations amounting to three thousand
dollars. He was thus, at the age of thirty-five, encumbered by
a burden of eight thousand dollars of debt, with a wife and six
children to support, and no resources but his education and orders,
a good library, and some scientific apparatus.
That this pecuniary failure was in no way the result of misman
agement is shown in the following resume of the financial state
ment which accompanied the last report made by Mr. Pendleton
to the trustees :
There had been an attendance of three hundred and eighteen
pupils, — sixty-eight of them at reduced charges and twenty-two
who paid nothing. On this number the loss of income was seven
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five dollars ; seventeen hun
dred and fifty dollars had been paid towards the salaries of Semi
nary professors, and five thousand three hundred and twenty-five
dollars per capita tax to the trustees, — making a total deficit of

80 MEMOIRS OF
fourteen thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars. Of this amount,
seven thousand and seventy-five dollars had actually been paid
out to other parties, while the daily necessary expenses for food,
fuel, etc., were left to rest upon the unsalaried principal. To go
on in this way was clearly impossible. Mr. Pendleton therefore
resigned his position in the summer of 1844.
In the report mentioned above he writes, —
"... Of the remarkable success of the institution, during the
five years of its operation, towards the object for which it was
designed. To the close, its literary and religious character are
believed to have been deservedly high. Much and extensive
good was done. Especially was the Divine favor bestowed upon
the work in a remarkable spiritual blessing. And it is a cheering
reflection that, in the youthful hearts turned heavenward in the
institution during these five years, many a stream of mercy took
its rise, to flow on in varying and widening channels, spreading
without end the blessings of the Gospel. Touching the condition
in which the constituent elements of the institution were left on
the resignation of the late Principal, —
" The Trustees, with the property, buildings, etc., remained un
encumbered, towards a reorganization and recommencement of
the school ; and it is to be hoped that this may be accomplished,
with such modifications as to avoid the evils before experienced,
while attaining in some degree, at least, the good formerly at
tempted. . . . The Principal, as the party on whom under the
former arrangement rested all the responsibility, had incurred all
the risk and experienced all the loss. Though his judgment had
from the first disapproved of this arrangement as hazardous, and
likely to prove injurious to himself, yet, with some enthusiasm
in a noble cause, with full confidence in the magnanimity of those
with whom he negotiated (a confidence still unabated), and in re
liance upon the call of a guardian Providence, he had made such
arrangement. All the pecuniary loss, therefore, incident to the
issue before described fell upon him. From this result, severe as
it is, he does not shrink; indeed, there is in it some ground for
congratulation ; for though it must, for a season at least, inter
fere with his usefulness in the ministry and with the comforts of
his family, till, by the blessing of God, he can work through the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 8 1
debt ; still, opportunity is thus left for the institution to be re
opened free of debt or hinderance."
The magnanimity and generous self-devotion of these words are
above praise. And a clear statement of the impossibility of car
rying on the school on the original plan once made, no censure
of others or self-justification is again heard from the sufferer in
the cause. With manly courage and resolute will he braced
himself to meet the emergency, and without complaint to endure
toil and privation until he should discharge the duty of paying
his heavy debt.
The news of Mr. Pendleton's resignation caused deep regret in
the school. The estimation in which he was held may be illus
trated by the words of good Mrs. Monroe, the laundress : " The
Scripture is against you, Mr. Pendleton, for it says, ' Woe unto you
when all men speak well of you.' " The boys and teachers published
resolutions of the most commendatory and admiring character,
and the Seminary professors expressed their feelings in the follow
ing letter : " Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in Virginia, July 12, 1844.
" To Rev. W. N. Pendleton, Episcopal High School of Vir
ginia :
" Rev. and dear Sir, — We have just been informed that you
have resigned the charge of the High School of Virginia; and
considering the relations in which it has stood to the Theological
Seminary, with which we are connected (both being under the
control of the same board of trustees), we cannot allow the meas
ure to be consummated without giving expression to our feelings
on the occasion. Not that we deem it important to speak of our
personal feelings towards you as a Christian and a gentleman : on
that subject it is enough to say that our intercourse, and that of
our families, has been such during your residence here that the
thought of its discontinuance is truly painful to us all. But we
deem it our duty, having been neighbors for so long a time, and
eye-witnesses of your course as Principal of the High School,
and two of us your assistants in teaching a portion of your pupils,
explicitly to testify our conviction of the faithfulness and efficiency
and self-forgetting devotion with which you discharged your most

82 MEMOIRS OF
arduous duties. The respect and affection with which the students
of the High School have always regarded you ; the many fine
young men whose characters have been developed under your
eye, and fitted for usefulness in the various stations of civil life ;
and the very large proportion of your scholars who have become
pious through the blessings of God's spirit upon your instruc
tion, fully attest your efficiency as a guide and governor of youth
and a minister of Christ in the important station you have occu
pied. Of your success merely as an instructor we do not speak.
That was proved and known, especially in mathematical and phys
ical science, in two collegiate institutions before you took charge
of the Virginia High School.
" In conclusion, we have only to hope and pray, in this hour
of separation, that Heaven's choicest blessings may rest upon you
and yours, and that, wherever your lot may be cast, your faithful
ness in all trusts and your efficiency in the execution of them,
and your most unselfish devotion to the interests of Christ's
Church and the cause of Christian education, may be as highly
appreciated as they most assuredly are by, reverend and dear
sir, your affectionate friends and brothers,
" Wm. Sparrow, D.D.,
" James May, D.D.,
"Joseph Packard, D.D.,
" Professors Episcopal Theological Seminary of Virginia!'
The session over and the school broken up, Mr. Pendleton took
his family to Hanover County, where his own parents had come
to reside not far from his wife's father, and set himself to find
the most promising opening for a private school of high grade.
Many of his former pupils were from Maryland. His reputation
as a teacher was well known in that State, and, great as was his
regret to leave Virginia, Baltimore offered stronger inducements
than any other city. To it he therefore decided to remove, and
do what he could in teaching and preaching.*
* The High School was closed for a year, and then reopened on an entirely differ
ent basis. Rev. Drs. Dalrymple and McGuire successively conducted it until it was
again broken up by the advance of the Federal army in 1861. Since the war it has
been one of the most successful schools in the South, under the direction of Mr. L. M.
Blackford. But it gave as many men to the Christian ministry during its first five
years as it has furnished in its after-existence.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 83
CHAPTER XIV.
LIFE IN MARYLAND.
The summer of 1 844 was saddened by the death of Mrs. Pen
dleton's youngest sister, Hughella Page, a bright, attractive girl,
greatly beloved in her family. In August Mr. Pendleton went to
Baltimore, and was most kindly received by the clergy of the city.
They showed their friendliness not only by courtesy and advice,
but more substantially by recommending and endorsing his pro
posed school. Dr. Wyatt, rector of St. Paul's Church, Dr.
Atkinson, of St. Peter's, afterwards Bishop of North Carolina,
and Dr. H. V. D. Johns, of Christ Church, each placed a son
under his tuition, and their example did much to secure him
patronage and insure his success.
Baltimore was so much smaller forty years ago than it is now,
that the location most desirable for a classical school was within
a few squares north of Baltimore Street and west of Calvert.
No house capable of affording convenient school-rooms, and at
the same time accommodating a family, could be found in that
part of the city, and it seemed impossible to incur the expense
of renting two houses.
Mr. Pendleton had therefore nearly determined to send his wife
back to Virginia, where his children had been left, and fight the
battle with debt and hard work alone. A final decision was put
off until the prayerful consideration of another night. That
very evening Dr. Johns called for the purpose of informing Mr.
Pendleton that Sherwood Chapel, near Cockeysville,and St. John's
in the Valley, in Baltimore County, were in need of a pastor.
The parishes were unable to pay salaries sufficient for the sup
port of a rector, and would therefore be very glad to secure the
services of a non-resident clergyman, who could minister to them
on Sundays and occasionally in the week, and Dr. Johns brought
an invitation to Mr. Pendleton to communicate with them.
It was his earnest purpose to connect ministerial duty with his
school-work, but he had supposed that the only field open to
him would be that of a missionary in Baltimore. With devout

84 MEMOIRS OF
thankfulness he listened to Dr. Johns's suggestions. An arrange
ment satisfactory to all parties was soon made with the two
vestries, and Mr. Pendleton became their rector. The salaries
promised, though small, were certain, and he at once rented a
house on Fayette Street, near Charles, for his school, and
another on Lexington Street, a few doors west of Liberty, as a
residence. The children were brought on from Virginia and the
family established on Lexington Street.
" St. Luke's Hall, a classical school for boys," was opened
October i, 1844, with a good number of scholars. Mr. Pendle
ton had not proposed to take any boarding pupils ; but at the
urgent solicitation of their parents he consented to receive three
boys into his family. Mr. Mahan was his assistant for a few
months, when he entered the General Theological Seminary in
New York, and was succeeded by Mr. Robert Nelson in the
school and the family.
Labor as constant and anxiety as pressing as filled up this and
the two following years might well have broken down a vigor
ous constitution and courageous soul. Not only was the daily
routine of school-work performed, but private pupils — classes
of young ladies in belles-lettres and literature, boys who required
" coaching," and special students in engineering — were engaged
and taught at high prices. Sermons were prepared every week
for his churches, to which he went by rail Friday evening or
Saturday morning. The morning service was held alternately
in the parishes, and after a ride of eight miles across the country,
the evening service and sermon in the other. When the morn
ing was given to Sherwood, the rector spent Saturday in visiting
his parishioners in that neighborhood, doing the same thing the
next week at St. John's. No matter in which he officiated in the
afternoon, he was obliged to spend Sunday night at Sherwood,
so as to take an early train Monday morning and return to
Baltimore in time for the opening of the school. Weekly ser
vices in the afternoon or at night were frequently held for the
Baltimore rectors, and on two occasions it happened that under
an urgent appeal for help he rode down from Cockeysville, four
teen miles, after his two services in the country, and officiated at
night in Baltimore, once in St. Peter's and once in Christ Church,
thus riding forty miles on horseback, reading the service, and

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 85
preaching three times in one day. The second of these efforts
came near having serious consequences, a violent headache and
high fever following the over-exertion.
Rigid economy and diligent care on Mrs. Pendleton's part
seconded her husband's labors. Skilful housewifery kept the
family comfortable with the smallest possible outlay. The chil
dren were mainly clothed by their grandparents, and systematically
taught by their mother, the elder ones also receiving instruction
from their father or his assistant in Latin, Greek, and French.
Mrs. Pendleton, in addition to her other occupations, did almost
all the sewing for her household, — no slight task when as yet
there were no sewing-machines. Creditors pressed, however,
notes were falling due, and in the effort to meet such claims
promptly there was a hard struggle to keep the wolf from the
door. Twice the emergency became so great that Mr. Pendle
ton was obliged to pawn valuable scientific instruments to pro
cure food for the family. A third morning came when there was
neither money in the purse nor provisions in the pantry. Leaving
his wife, with the promise to return at ten o'clock and again pawn
his theodolite, he went to his school. Scarcely had he finished
the opening prayer when an envelope was handed him contain
ing six dollars. It was for rent owed by a widow whom he
permitted to occupy the upper story of the school-house, and
from whose scanty means he neither sought nor expected pay
ment, but whose timely relief of his necessities was received with
a thankful heart.
Neither the plainness of their home nor the restricted mode of
life cut Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton off from social privileges and agree
able association. Not only the families of the clergy, but others
who appreciated worth, talent, and good breeding offered them
kind attentions, and friendships were formed which lasted through
life. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel G. Wyman were especially cordial to
the struggling family. Long drives in Mr. Wyman's capacious
carriage and charming Saturdays passed in his hospitable house
were bright spots in the quiet lives of the little folk, while his
thoughtful kindness afforded their parents opportunities for meet
ing literary men, seeing fine paintings, and hearing good music.
The winter of 1844 was a painful era in the American Church,
and when Bishop Meade, fresh from the trial and conviction of

86 MEMOIRS OF
the Bishop of New York, stopped for a brief visit to Mr. Pendle
ton, the little parlor was the scene of long and earnest talk, last
ing far into the night, while different clergymen of the city
listened and argued and lamented as the excitement of the
times pressed upon their hearts.
The friendly relations in which he had once stood to the
Bishop of Pennsylvania made his fault and punishment very
distressing to his former presbyter.
At the close of the first session of his school a change for the
better was made. A house was found on Courtland Street, in a
quiet but central position, capable of accommodating comfortably
both his family and school. This lessened the expense of living
considerably, and avoided the necessity for his absence from
home for so many hours. The second year was as successful as
the first. Mr. Nelson, as Mr. Mahan had done, went to the
Theological Seminary, and Mr. Sterling, of New York, on the
recommendation of Dr. Muhlenberg, became the assistant.
The people of Sherwood and St. John's became much attached
to their rector, and evinced their regard not only by sending sup
plies of provisions, very helpful to his household, but also by
insisting on having his family to sojourn among them for weeks
at a time. These visits to the country, spring and fall, at Colonel
Bosley's stately home, " Hayfields," Mr. Jessop's, Mr. Ander
son's, and other hospitable houses, were cheering and serviceable
to parents and children, both on account of health, recreation, free
dom from household cares and anxieties, and the cordial good
will which subsisted between pastor and people. Finding the
two parishes too heavy a burden, Mr. Pendleton gave up St.
John's in the spring of 1846. The congregation requested him
to assist them to procure another pastor, and he communicated
with different parties on the subject. One gentleman presenting
himself with a letter of introduction, was requested to accom
pany him the next day to St. John's to see the place and people
and, if he chose, preach to the congregation. He delivered a
sermon on " Jonah's gourd," so striking and admirable that Mr.
Pendleton returned to Baltimore much pleased and somewhat
astonished at the unexpected ability of his clerical brother.
Describing- the discourse to another clergyman, the listener
interrupted him in a few minutes, and taking up the theme,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 87
proceeded to give an accurate outline of the sermon. "You
have, then, heard Mr.  preach it ?" " Not at all ; I never saw
him ; but I have read that sermon recently in a volume of Brad
ley's Sermons." The book was sent for, and on examination
was found to contain, word for word, the sermon preached at
St. John's the preceding Sunday. It is needless to say that the
gentleman delivering it was not called to the church.
Various efforts were made by his friends to transfer Mr.
Pendleton to other fields of labor during his residence in Balti
more. Some of the most influential among them sought his
appointment to the chaplaincy at West Point, then vacant, but
the President thought it best to give it to a Presbyterian minister.
Replying to an invitation from the trustees of a large school
in Alabama to become the head of their academy, he wrote in
1847 —
"... Regarding my ministerial duties as those to which I
am first pledged, and as those for which I resigned my com
mission in the army, I have no expectation or intention of en
gaging in any situation where full prominence is not at once
allowed to clerical duties, with a desirable field for discharging
them, and if such is not the case here, my negative response may
be anticipated. The impression has been made, much to my
hinderance as a minister of the Gospel, that in my case clerical
duty is a secondary matter only."
His arduous and incessant labors in Baltimore were so pros
pered by Divine goodness that at the close of the third year of
his school he found himself so far relieved of the burden of
debt as to be able to give up teaching and devote himself wholly
to parochial work. Of this period he wrote years afterwards, —
" By diligence and a reasonable exercise of self-denial I had
the satisfaction of so paying off my debts in a few years as
virtually to fulfil the sacred injunction, ' Owe no man anything.' "
After the lapse of forty years it is difficult to understand, and
almost ungracious to recall, the strenuous controversy and strict
party lines which then divided the Protestant Episcopal Church
in the United States. Nowhere were argument and action more

88 MEMOIRS OF
violent, or division on almost every question of doctrine and
practice more absolute, than between the " High" and " Low"
Churchmen in Maryland. The learned and laborious Bishop
Whittingham believed in and claimed rights of Episcopal prerog
ative almost without limitations ; holding and teaching also the
advanced views of sacramentarianism as promulged in the Oxford
school and advocated in the Oxford Tracts. Against these
teachings and practices some of the most godly, earnest, and
useful clergy and laity of the diocese felt it their duty to pro
test whenever occasion was taken to enforce them. Reference to
the journals of the Maryland Conventions and the Life of Bishop
Whittingham will show how, once and again, when it was claimed
by him as an inherent right of his office to regulate all the
services, whenever he held a visitation, — himself to celebrate the
holy communion, to the setting aside of the parish minister, and
always to pronounce the absolution when in the chancel, a con
scientious rector declining to admit that even his bishop could
lawfully supersede him in his official duties and privileges, was
either brought to trial for violation of duty, or found his parish
ioners deprived of Episcopal visitation and confirmation.
These differences and dissensions are referred to because Mr.
Pendleton was, from the time of his coming into the "diocese, in
sympathy with those known as " Low Churchmen." His con
servative disposition, knowledge of Church standards and laws,
his diligent study of the Oxford Tracts, as mentioned in a
former chapter, together with his readiness and fluency in argu
ment, made him a valuable and welcome addition to the church
party, which, against large odds, contended for the purity and sim
plicity of their Church, and resisted all innovations in her doc
trines, ritual, and ecclesiastical freedom as contrary to the teach
ings of the Apostolic and Anglican fathers, and Romanizing in
tendency. No lay-member of the Convention among the Low
Churchmen was equal in debate to Mr. Hugh Davey Evans and
Judge Chambers. Mr. Pendleton was therefore especially wel
come to the ranks of his party, as being a forcible debater and
well-informed speaker against arbitrary Episcopal rule and dan
gerously erroneous teachings. With pen as well as tongue he
contributed to the maintenance of what he believed true, writing,
in the midst of his other labors in Baltimore, several tracts, called

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 89
forth by the trial of the Rev. Joseph Trapnell and other diffi
culties between the bishop and clergy. The refusal of Dr. H.
V D. Johns to recognize the bishop's right to arrange and
perform all the services at the time of a visitation to Christ
Church had been met by the withdrawal of the appointment.
Years afterwards, during a visitation to All Saints', Fred
erick, a similar question arose between the bishop and Mr. Pen
dleton, which was settled in a rather unusual way. As the
service was appointed for night, there was no difficulty on the
score of the communion. The bishop arrived in the afternoon,
and was received and entertained at the parsonage. When the
hour for service came, the gentlemen proceeded to the vestry-
room, which was up-stairs in one arm of the transept of the
church. Persons in the pews below could hear voices above
them in earnest and prolonged conversation, and the congre
gation became restless at an unusual delay. At length the door
opened and the rector appeared alone, entered the chancel, and
proceeded with the service. His calm voice and reverent man
ner quieted the flutter of excitement which had rustled through
the congregation at his entrance. The service over, he passed
out, as was his custom before the sermon, into the vestry-room,
and soon returned ushering in the bishop, who preached an
excellent sermon and confirmed a large class. When the rector
was alone with his family he told how, after the bishop and him
self were ready to go into the chancel, the bishop had said that
he intended to pronounce the absolution. Mr. Pendleton de
murred. An argument ensued, and at last the bishop took off
his robes, saying he could not go into the chancel at all unless
he were allowed to regulate the service. After a moment of
prayer for direction, Mr. Pendleton decided not to keep the
congregation waiting longer, and telling the bishop he hoped
reflection would induce him to alter his determination, went
down and read the service. On returning to the vestry-room he
found the bishop again dressed in his robes. No word was
spoken, but when the hymn was nearly finished, the bishop rose
and silently accompanied the rector into the church. Solitude
and prayer had decided him to waive the point at issue, and his
sermon and confirmation address were unusually fervent and
instructive.

90 MEMOIRS OF
CHAPTER XV.
BECOMES RECTOR OF ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, FREDERICK, MARYLAND.
Freed at last from the drudgery of teaching, Mr. Pendleton
accepted, in the autumn of 1847, the rectorship of All Saints'
Church in Frederick, Maryland, just vacated by Rev. Dr. Peter-
kin. Outside of Baltimore and Washington, there was no more
desirable or influential parish in the diocese. Dr. Stone, Bishop
Henshaw, Bishop Johns and his brother, Dr. H. V. D. Johns, and
Dr. Peterkin were some of its previous rectors. The people were
thus accustomed to learning, eloquence, personal piety, and sound
doctrine, and not disposed to choose a pastor unworthy in these
respects to succeed such predecessors.
The removal to Frederick was a salutary change. The parson
age was comfortable and partially furnished, and the salary of one
thousand dollars was supplemented by considerable fees. The
society of the town was intelligent and cultivated, and received
the new-comers with cordiality. Leisure from the routine of
school-work gave increased opportunity for study and sermon-
writing, which was diligently availed of. It was Mr. Pendleton's
custom at this time, and for many years of his life, to rise at five
o'clock, and in winter to make the fire in his chamber. After
dressing, he repaired to his study, made the fire, and occupied
himself with his devotions and devotional reading. A short time
before family prayers his children went to him for a brief religious
instruction, after which his little boy's lessons in Latin and Greek
were prepared at his father's knee. The girls were still taught
solely by their parents, but this only son — just seven years old —
was sent to the excellent school of Mr. Bonsai, because his father
believed association with other boys the best thing to develop in
dependence and manliness of character in him. Not from books
alone were the lessons to be learned necessary to fit him for a
useful, honorable life. Intercourse with his fellows must teach
him to estimate himself and them aright : to know that, while the
perfect lessons required by his father would gain the approbation
of the teacher, no excellence of recitation would atone in the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 91
eyes of his playmates for cowardice, falsehood, or meanness. One
boy in a houseful of sisters is apt to become a rough tyrant or a
spoiled darling. Little Sandie was not robust and aggressive
enough for the former, but a delicate constitution and timid dread
of pain threatened to make him too effeminate to satisfy the ex
pectations of his fond parents. Shortly after going to school, he
came home several days in succession and tearfully related to his
sympathizing sisters how Jim Thompson, a boy several years his
senior, had beaten him. For three days his mother heard the
pathetic recital without comment. Then she decided that through
no weakness of hers should her son grow up a milksop. The
next morning, when he was ready for school, she told him that
if he came home crying that day she would give him a whipping.
" But Jim Thompson beats me so hard." " Very well. If Jim
Thompson strikes you, strike him again, and he'll let you alone."
" He is so big, mamma, and he hits so hard." " No matter. If
he strikes you again, and you don't strike him back, I will give
you a good whipping." Nothing further was said, but there
were no more tears or complaints. At the end of a week Mrs.
Pendleton asked, " How do you and Jim Thompson get on
now ?" " I hit him back, as you told me, and he don't fight me
any more, and the boys don't call me ' cry-baby' either," was the
reply. In the spring of 1848, after the close of the Mexican War,
Frederick was chosen as the place for the court-martial sum
moned to settle the difficulties between General Scott and General
Pillow. To it came many of the officers most distinguished in
the brilliant campaign from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico.
Several of these were classmates of Mr. Pendleton, and others
former army acquaintances. The excitement and enthusiasm
over men who had so recently crowned the arms of the country
with victory was eager, and the spectacle of such a military gath
ering rare. General Scott, General Pillow, General Twiggs,
General Cushing, General Towson, with their respective staffs,
besides other field-officers, presented an interesting sight in the
court-room, and, when the daily proceedings were over, occa
sioned a stir on the street and a season of festivity unusual to
the town. This renewal of former friendships was a great
source of pleasure to Mr. Pendleton, and his house was the fre-

92 MEMOIRS OF
quent resort of the officers, who found there relaxation and
recreation after the tiresome routine of the day.
Clerical friends also came from time to time to share his hospi
talities. Dr. Sparrow, from the Alexandria Seminary, was accus
tomed to make him a visit every summer, bringing one or two of
his daughters with him.
When his regular course of life was not interrupted by guests,
it was Mr. Pendleton's custom to spend the forenoon in his study,
reading and writing, except on Monday morning, which he gave
to recreation and rest from the fatigue of the Sunday labors. In
the summer an hour after breakfast was devoted to out-door work,
and by his exertions the small lot back of the parsonage was
transformed into a flourishing garden. Peach-trees were trained
against the walls, grape-vines shaded the porches, strawberries
ripened in the sunniest spots, roses hid and adorned the cow
house, and every nook and corner blossomed into beauty with
flowers. When the season forbade gardening, a half-hour of
vigorous wood-chopping furnished exercise. Visiting from house
to house, going among the sick and suffering, looking after the
poor, and taking a long walk with his wife filled up the after
noons. After tea he again returned to work in his study. Even
ing prayers at ten o'clock sent the family to bed, while he contin
ued to read and write far into the night. But going into his study
did not imply shutting himself in or his family out. Unless some
visitor desired to see him in private, his wife and children were
always welcome there ; and the little ones played on the floor or
learned their lessons in the corner while their father worked on, un
disturbed by any noise they made unless an accent of pain or a
tone of anger was heard. Then he was quick to sympathize with
their trouble or quiet their dissension. Every day he gave lessons
not only to his boy, but to his daughters also, in Greek and Latin,
mathematics, and the higher English branches ; but the time for
these could never be a fixed one. His children knew that when
ever he had a spare half-hour he would call for them, and it was
their pride to be ready when summoned. Sometimes it would be
just before or after dinner, sometimes in the quiet hour before
tea, or, again, not until nine o'clock at night. But somewhere in
the twenty-four hours, except on rare occasions, the lessons were
always crowded in. His wonderful aptitude in understanding

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 93
the difficulties of young minds, and imparting information, made
ten minutes with him more efficacious than an hour with another
instructor. He loved to teach, and, as a natural result, his pupils
loved to be taught. As in former years he had facilitated the
education of his young relatives, so now he took charge of the
orphan son of a brother clergyman, teaching and training him
as carefully as his own boy.

CHAPTER XVI.
FAMILY AFFLICTION.
In August, 1849, his second daughter, Lucy, was taken violently
ill at her uncle Hugh Pendleton's, in Jefferson County, Virginia,
and her parents were summoned to her. Medical skill and loving
care proved unavailing, and she died September 5, in her six
teenth year. Bright, ardent, and impetuous in disposition, fear
less and truthful in character, with a frank, sunny temper and
a most loving heart; tall and well formed for her age, with
regular features, a rosy complexion, clear gray eyes through
which you could look into her very soul, a profusion of auburn
hair, and a voice like a singing-bird, this young girl was a favor
ite with all who knew her and a darling in her home. A few
months before her death she had been admitted by her father to
the holy communion, and thirty-four years afterwards there was
found among his most private papers a note addressed, " My
Father," and inscribed by him, " My dear Lucy's appeal for the
communion." Delirium set in on the second day of her fever,
and the innocence of her character and the completeness of her
surrender to her Saviour were fully exhibited when her thoughts
and words were entirely uncontrolled by reason. Never a
murmur nor complaint escaped her, but her constant talk was
of heaven and the angels who were around her bed. Sometimes
in her unquiet sleep she would begin to sing, until the house
resounded with the hymns and chants she loved so well. In
her lucid moments she was full of gentleness and gratitude to

94 MEMOIRS OF
those around her. A few hours before her death she asked if
she was going to die, and when her mother said, " Are you
afraid ?" she answered, " No, for my Saviour is with me." She
then sent messages to her sisters and brother, begged that the
household might come to take leave of her, and exhorted each
by name to meet her in heaven. Suddenly she stopped, and,
looking upward, exclaimed, " The room is full of angels ; do you
not hear them singing ? And there is my Saviour waiting to
receive me." A lovely smile came over her face, a light, as of
a beam from heaven, shone upon her brow and irradiated the
room. Her consciousness ceased, and in a little while she
breathed out her soul. Her mortal remains were laid beside
those of her grandmother Pendleton at " the Old Chapel" in
Clarke County, Virginia.
A few days after this beloved child was laid to rest, Mrs.
Pendleton was called to Hanover County by the illness of her
father. Mr. Pendleton returned to his work alone. But his
wife, knowing that sorrow for their daughter's death would make
the empty house unendurable, sent the other children to cheer
and comfort him while she remained with her parents. Extracts
from his letters tell of his grief and resignation, his faithful dis
charge of duty, and growth in personal holiness in these hours
of bereavement. " Frederick, Maryland, Sunday night,
September 30.
"... I am enabled to spend a half-hour to-night writing to
you because Joseph Trapnell preached for me, and I am conse
quently less fatigued than usual. You will like to know that
the children are all well and that we are comfortably settled.
They arrived yesterday at three o'clock, dusty and tired, and you
can't tell how disappointed I was, what a shock it was to my
whole being, when, on getting to the stage, I discovered you were
not with them. But not a moment did I regret that you stayed,
save that my selfishness shrinks from a protracted separation.
I felt that for you to remain with your papa and the watchers by
him was right, and by all means would I have you discharge
what on such occasions is both a duty and a privilege, in sharing
the cares of the family and soothing the sufferer's pains.
" When the children got here all things were ready. Aunt

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 95
Nelly had put the house in order throughout. I had provided
eatables at market in the morning, which Mrs. Norris desired me
to send to her house to be cooked, and thus there was a good
dinner ready, to which the hungry travellers at once paid their
respects. Several kind friends contributed to the meal sundry
niceties. " You may not have heard of the trouble and expense to
which the party were subjected in consequence of an accident
which disabled the steamboat descending the Potomac on Thurs
day. They had to remain at Acquia Creek looking for the boat
until sunset, and then return to Fredericksburg, where they
spent the night.
"And now, my love, about your father. He is very com
monly before my mind in the weariness and distress of his body
and the patient endurance of his spirit, and then prayer is my
resort. God be to him indeed ' a very present help' in all time
of trouble; and when he has endured to the end, may he be
borne to enjoy ' good things' forever with the redeemed in
heaven ! . . . We find some interesting things in the yard. A
beautiful rose on the Souvenir de Malmaison, and some others
very pretty.
" Poor Mrs. G  has lost her servant Phil, from a wound
wantonly inflicted with a knife by another boy at the cars on
Monday night. He was never in a state to be conversed with
by me, though I often called for the purpose. I buried him on
Friday. A large and very orderly procession of colored people.
I am going round with a paper to relieve Mrs. G  of part of
the pecuniary loss.
" A letter from Bishop Meade sympathizing with our affliction ;
warm from a great and godly heart.
" I shall proceed at once with the children's lessons. It will
help both them and me in the lonely time while you are away.
About the length of your stay. As I wrote in my last, duty in
such a case is very serious and precious. We have but one
father and mother, and it is a great privilege to render them
special honor, more particularly at a season of such trial. Be
governed, then, in your decision by the condition of your father.
If it seem that the Lord is permitting the close of his life to
draw nigh, stay until it is over and your dear papa has entered

96 MEMOIRS OF
upon the bright day of his eternal joy. Give him always my
love, and tell him that the burden of my prayers for him is that
God will cause his sufferings to work for him a far more exceed
ing and eternal weight of glory.
"... You desire to know how we employ our time. We rise
at six and proceed with the primary duties, as you can imagine.
After breakfast all hands spend an hour or so in the yard, then
S  has the little girls in the house with lessons and work,
and I take Sandie in the study. In the afternoon I have them
reading to me for a season, though that is my main time for
being- out. After tea I read to them until their bedtime. We
have prayers and they retire, leaving S  and myself to read
and work. I have thought much to-day of darling Lucy. This
day month she passed into the unseen world. How long it
seems ! Lord help us to live near Thee, that when we thus
depart our home may be with Thee in Paradise ! We got about
two hundred dollars for Mrs. G  . I married a runaway
couple from Virginia in our parlor day before yesterday, and gave
the fee — five dollars — to her. . . .
" Our precious child whom God has taken, how she comes
before my thoughts ! None of us have ventured to hint at
opening the piano ; it seems to me its sounds will be very pain
ful. How did she use to sit and play and sing at such time as
this, when, sitting in my chair in the study and employed about
my work, I could enjoy her music ! The music fit for heaven,
the Song of the Lamb, is her delight now ; Lord, let no mur
muring mingle with our mourning. Give my tenderest love to
your papa and mamma. Tell him I would gladly give up the
chief part of my sleep to be with him through the weary nights ;
but he must find his support in an infinitely more faithful attend
ant than I could be. As far as I can see it is still your duty to
remain with your parents and to cheer them all in your power,
leaving husband and children to God, and waiting on Him to
show when you can come home.
"... I was called yesterday to a funeral sixteen or seventeen
miles in the country, to bury a maiden lady sixty-seven years of
age. No service at the house, but the body taken into ' Linga-
nore Chapel,' — built for an Episcopal church, but now held by the
Methodists, — and there I had the burial service, and preached to

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 97
a large and very attentive congregation from St. John xii. 26.
It is truly a great work and an unspeakable privilege to proclaim
the glad tidings of the Gospel to miserable and perishing men.
I returned about one to-day, and found all well. No one with
them last night. S  has no distressing nerves, and has even
proposed to stay, with only the children and servants, and let me
go to Philadelphia the 31st,* as Bishop Meade urges, should you
still be detained at ' Rugswamp.' I have not yet determined
whether I shall go if you are still absent. The new church op
posite usf begins to look more like the idea of its projectors, —
incongruous enough to my eyes, with round towers and a Dutch
body attached to an Ionic portico. Still, it is a large and striking
building. ... I am called this morning to marry a couple at
Mechanicstown, some miles beyond Catoctin Furnace. Yours
telling of your papa's improvement and of your expected return
next week has just delighted us. I trust Dr. Tyler's suggestion
may be the true one, and that asthma and not dropsy may be the
difficulty. I trust you may be in the way of duty in returning.
Should any change occur to delay you, do not hesitate to stay
longer. Better disappoint us than violate duty to your parents.
The Lord bless and guide you."
Captain Page died in November. His wife only survived him
until January, when she, too, died, — in Frederick, whither she had
gone to visit her daughter, — so that in four months Mrs. Pendle
ton was called to mourn for her daughter and both her parents.
The General Convention of 1850 met in Cincinnati. To it a
" Memorial" { was presented by the rectors and vestries of the
leading " Low Church" parishes in Maryland, setting forth the
" nature and extent of the claims of episcopal authority asserted
and maintained in the Diocese of Maryland ; the reasons for be
lieving them unfounded ; and the necessity of legislation on the
subject." § All Saints' Parish, Frederick, was second among the
memorialists, and its rector one of the clergymen deputed to see
that their views were properly presented to the Convention.
From Cincinnati he wrote, —

* To a meeting of the E. K. Society. f German Reform.
J Journal of General Convention of 1850, p. 218, Appendix H. \ Ibid.
7

98 MEMOIRS OF
"... Dr. McGuire and myself are most comfortably fixed in
the hospitable home of Mr. John Worthington, a cousin of Mrs.
Ross. On Friday morning at five we left Cumberland, with a
clear sky and a fresh breeze, after a storm the night before, and
in a delightful coach under our own control. About ten at night
we got to Uniontown. Approaching that place brought up before
me the closing scenes of my dear brother's life there. I thought
perhaps the room I occupied might have been the one in which
went up his last prayer and his departing spirit. At five the next
morning we were off, and took breakfast at Brownsville, twelve
miles farther on. Travelled all day, and soon after dark reached
Wheeling, tired and hungry, having taken no dinner, to avoid
delay. Sunday night, you know, we left Wheeling in the steam
boat ; and it was a novel thing to us all to be on board a Western
boat. It is altogether unlike anything on the Eastern waters.
About two hundred passengers were on board. The late rains
had given a good depth of water, and we had a fine, large boat,
the ' Buckeye State.' Monday morning brought us to Marietta,
Tuesday to Maysville, and soon after, the flood, which had been
so considerable above, was found not to have gotten down to this
part of the river, and we several times struck the bottom. At
last, about twelve miles above Cincinnati, we grounded immova
bly, and had to wait for hours until enough of the flood arrived
to float us off.
" The opening services began at half-past ten. Nearly all the
bishops — a most imposing sight — and a fair attendance of depu
ties. Bishop Smith preached a good sermon, — pretty strong
against the novelties that disturb our peace, and, among other
things, the extravagant ' prerogative' notions of the day. Things
thus far look encouraging. But I count little on man. It is
God's cause, and He will vindicate the right as to Him seems
good, and I desire to be no otherwise concerned about the issue
than to discharge the duty that may be laid on me with the rest.
. . . We have a well-laid plan for combined action on the part of
efficient men for bringing in our memorial on Tuesday. It will
be presented by Judge Bullock, of Kentucky, and seconded by
Dr. Stevens, of Philadelphia, and will be sustained all through
the house by such men as Mr. Williams, Judge Conyngham, of
Pennsylvania, Dr. Vinton, of Boston, Colonel Pendleton, of this

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 99
place, etc. But it will be a questionable matter in both houses.
Still, I have a good hope that principles may be set right on the
main questions. I desire that truth and righteousness alone may
be sought and secured by us, and these God can educe from the
effort as to Him may seem good. I shall try to pass a quiet day
to-morrow, and trust grace and peace may rest on us all on the
Lord's day."
The Convention passed a canon authorizing a bishop to admin
ister the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper at his visitations. The
other points made in the memorial were passed over, and, so far
as known, were never afterwards insisted upon.

CHAPTER XVII.
LIFE IN FREDERICK  RESIGNATION OF THE PARISH.
Several years followed the season of affliction spoken of in
the last chapter, unmarked by any special events. In addition to
his two Sunday and two weekly services, Mr. Pendleton was
accustomed to minister at the almshouse and jail, and to hold
occasional services in Liberty and at Catoctin, and also to marry
and bury for miles around Frederick. Nor were his useful
efforts confined to his clerical duties. Frederick was subject to
destructive floods from the sudden rise of the Monocacy River,
running through the town. In one of these a large bridge on
Patrick Street was carried away. To avoid the destruction to
property and hinderance to business consequent upon such a
disaster, Mr. Pendleton was applied to, as a capable engineer, to
survey the banks of the river and furnish a plan for a new bridge
which could resist the force of the swollen current and offer the
least point of lodgement for the debris brought down by a freshet.
This he did without compensation, and so effectually that the
bridge remained uninjured by many successive floods.
In 1852 urgent representations of the importance and needs
of the Church in the Northwest almost induced him to accept a
call to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was, however, dissuaded from

IOO MEMOIRS OF
it by a former West Point friend, — Judge Mason, of Iowa, — who
told him that life in the Northwest at that time was too rough for
a delicate Southern woman, and that his wife would probably be
come a speedy victim to the severe climate and the hard work of
Iowa, where it was impossible to get servants.
In the spring of 1853 the same disagreement arose between
Mr. Pendleton and his vestry which had occasioned the resigna
tion of several of his predecessors. All Saints' Church stood on
a side street, with large stables opposite its front. The building
was ill proportioned, inconvenient in its arrangements, much out
of repair, and every way inappropriate to the wealth of the con
gregation and their style of living. A few of the people were
sensible of this incongruity, and two gentlemen offered to give a
desirable lot or four thousand dollars towards building a new
church. But, even with this encouragement, the rector found his
private and individual efforts to convince the vestry that it was
their duty to have a better place of worship as ^unavailing as those
of their former pastors had been. He therefore, late in January,
1853, preached a sermon on David's address to the prophet Na-
than,-^— II. Sam. vii. 2, — " I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark
of God dwelleth within curtains." The discourse was divided
into two parts, — the general subject, "The leading principles
which should regulate the character of a Christian sanctuary,"
and the particular application, " The state of facts connected with
this present edifice." After being preached it was printed and
circulated among the congregation. Rev. Dr. Andrews, of Shep-
herdstown, Virginia, wrote to Mr. Pendleton concerning it :
" Shepherdstown, February 12, 1853.
"... To-day, in looking over the letters which have accumu
lated in my absence, I find yours of the 5th, which I have read,
and also the sermon, — and the most extraordinary sermon it is,
in some respects, that I have ever read. But for the implication
of a particular congregation, — which would not be right, and with
which the public should not interfere, — I should like to see it
stereotyped, so that it could be had in any quantity, everywhere,
for the edification of the many who need. Certainly it would
tend to 'Edification ;' for I perceive the temple in Frederick is to
be built, though, like David, you will not build it; but, like him,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 101
you will be remembered for having laid up abundantly for some
future Solomon.
" On the score of principle, or doctrine, I would have qualified
your position, apparently taken, that the expensiveness of our
private dwellings should be the measure of the expensiveness of
the house of God. Both may be inordinate, and often are, and
unsuited to the simplicity of the Christian dispensation.
" On the score of expediency (a dangerous department of
morals, I confess), I would have mingled more of the dulce.
But it is much easier for a looker-on, at the distance of seven
leagues, to tell how he might mend a matter than to find a man
within seventy leagues who would have the moral courage to
make such a declaration. Only be humble, and possess nothing
but a calm and charitable spirit, and good will grow out of it.
"The contingencies in this case (touching yourself), which
may be counted upon with certainty from a state of mind which
rendered such a declaration necessary, I shall bear in mind. If
I can further your views in any way, do not fail to let me know.
" Your affectionate friend and brother,
" C. W. Andrews."
As had occurred before at important crises in his life, the con
flict in his mind between expediency and the pressing sense of
duty — the conviction that following the dictates of conscience
would subject him to censure and ill will — gave Mr. Pendleton a
severe illness, and for four weeks he was confined to his room.
Soon after his recovery the " contingencies" referred to by Dr.
Andrews arose. Mr. Pendleton therefore resigned the rectorship
of the parish, and left Frederick in July. The mass of the con
gregation exhibited genuine affection for himself and his family,
and parted from them with many evidences of regret. The two
gentlemen who had offered four thousand dollars for the new
church sent him five hundred dollars, and the whole community
was kind and sympathizing in his trouble and perplexity. In
deed, the Christian friendliness which existed between him and
the other ministers in Frederick was remarkable. It was not an
infrequent occurrence for Dr. Zacharias, the pastor of the German
Reformed Church, to ask his Episcopal brother to officiate for
him at a weekly service, — an assistance which was never refused.

102 MEMOIRS OF
As Dr. Andrews predicted, the temple in Frederick was to
be built. In a few years a handsome and costly church was
erected on the very lot which had been offered to Mr. Pendleton.

CHAPTER XVIII.
REMOVAL TO LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA.
When Rockbridge County, Virginia, was cut off from Augusta,
in 1778, its county -seat was established on the hills along the
North Fork of James River, fourteen miles above the junction
of the two streams, and the same distance north of the Natural
Bridge. The Scotch-Irish colonists of that part of the Old Dominion
had been permitted by the colonial government to take posses
sion of the fertile valley immediately west of the Blue Ridge on
condition, implied or expressed, that they should serve as a bar
rier against the Indians, and prevent their hostile incursions into
the Piedmont country. Brave, hardy, intelligent, enterprising, and
industrious, strong in the faith of their Presbyterian forefathers
and in the courage of their own right arms, they entered upon
their heritage in the untried wilderness undaunted by the difficul
ties and dangers which threatened their security and prosperity.
The resemblances between the new country and their ancestral
Scotland are everywhere apparent, and they planted their settle
ments in localities which might best preserve around them the
marked features of that similarity. But this is the only evidence
remaining of any poetic memories or lingering love of native
land among them. In failing to retain the Indian appellations
for the mountains and streams which adorned the goodly terri
tory, they scarcely ever substituted for them names borrowed
from or suggestive of the country of their birth. Their rude
but substantial stone churches received not their titles in remem
brance of the historic kirks of their Covenanter ancestors, nor
were the burns and crags of the land of Wallace and Bruce
commemorated in the peaks and rivers around them. " Mossy

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 103
Creek," " Tinkling Spring," " Timber Ridge" churches tell how
the salient point of each locality impressed itself upon the sturdy,
unimaginative men, who, like Nehemiah, builded the houses of
God with one hand, while holding with the other weapons of de
fence for wives and children against the dreaded attacks of the
Indians. " Hog's Back," " House Mountain," " Thunder Peak,"
" Buffalo" and " Otter" creeks, evidence the same matter-of-fact
attention to prominent natural characteristics.
Quickly striking deep roots into the soil of their new home,
these resolute and successful settlers became at once genuinely
patriotic in their attachment to their adopted country. In proof
of their sympathy with their fellow-colonists who had struck the
first blow for American liberty in Massachusetts, they called the
county-seat of the new county Lexington.
When General Washington, in 1796, bestowed the donation
made him by the State of Virginia upon Liberty Hall Academy, a
few miles from Lexington, the school was removed to the town and
renamed Washington Academy, which, in 18 12, was elevated into
Washington College. In 1839 the Legislature of Virginia was
induced, by the extreme beauty of the scenery and the absolute
healthfulness and fertility of the surrounding country, to select
the little town as the most desirable place for the State Military
Institute. This was accordingly established there, within a half-
mile of the older college.
Previously to this date the Methodists and Baptists had obtained
a slight footing among the Presbyterians in Rockbridge, and had
built small churches in Lexington and elsewhere. But immigra
tion from the eastern side of the Blue Ridge, where the traditions
and episcopacy of the English settlers prevailed, had been small,
and no Episcopal church had ever been established. The opening
of an important and popular State school attracted young men
and their friends from all parts of the State. A large number
of these was from the tide-water section, and with them came the
desire and need for the church of their homes and their affections.
A feeble flock it was at first. Only by combining with the Epis
copalians in Buchanan, twenty-five miles off, could a vestry be
organized for the two congregations and Woodville Parish formed.
The old inhabitants looked with hostile, jealous eyes upon this
invasion of what they considered their spiritual territory. The

104 MEMOIRS OF
Episcopal Church and its mode of worship were still associated
in their minds, through the traditions of their ancestors, with the
persecutions of Claverhouse and the cruelties of Dundee. Little
by little, and more speedily than might have been expected amid
such uncongenial surroundings, the pure doctrine, devout wor
ship, and apostolic rites of the Prayer-Book took hold upon the
community, gaining the love and adherence of some, and winning
the respect of even those most unwilling to see any good in "prel-
atic forms" and "printed prayers." In 1843, Grace Episcopal
Church was built in Lexington, and three years later, Latimer
Parish, in the county of Rockbridge, was cut off from the original
Woodville Parish.
In October, 1853, Mr. Pendleton accepted a call to Grace
Church, Lexington, and removed thither with his family. The
village was at that time only to be reached by stage. The nearest
railroad communication was at Staunton, thirty-six miles away,
and the journey from Winchester was a three days' stage-ride.
The Episcopal congregation was small and poor, and could only
offer a salary of six hundred dollars, to which the Diocesan
Missionary Society added one hundred dollars. Notwithstand
ing the inadequacy of such an income, the opportunity for ap
proaching and influencing the large number of young men in
the two colleges, and the advantages for educating his only son,
decided Mr. Pendleton to take charge of the parish. A large,
old-fashioned house, much out of repair, had been purchased for a
parsonage. Possession of it, however, could not be had until
January, 1854, and the new rector and his family spent the inter
vening time in narrow and uncomfortable quarters at the village
hotel. The day after reaching Lexington Mr. Pendleton entered his
son, Sandie, as a student at Washington College, and in the after
noon sent the little fellow — just thirteen years old — by himself to
be examined by his future professors. The boy stood the formi
dable ordeal with so much self-possession, and exhibited such
accuracy and advancement in Greek, Latin, and mathematics, as
to elicit high praise from his examiners.
" How could you send that delicate-looking child to face us
alone ? Why did you not come with him ?" asked one of the
professors of Mr. Pendleton.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 105
" I knew that he was well prepared, and my son must learn to
depend on himself and not on me. I wish him to be a good
scholar, but still more a strong, self-reliant man," was the reply.
The superintendent of the Military Institute, Colonel F. H.
Smith, and Major Thomas Williamson, one of the professors
there, had been West Point acquaintances of their new rector,
though several years behind him. From them and the whole
congregation he received a warm welcome, and threw himself
with his accustomed prompt energy into the work of his new
field. Soon after entering the ministry he had expressed his
determination not to permit his family to suffer while he had
health and ability to provide for them. To this end he now took
charge of a day-school for boys, but, finding the drudgery great
and the compensation small, gave it up, at the end of a year, as
hindering more important work and study. Several boys among
his connections had been sent from a distance to be taught and
trained by him, and when he gave up the school continued with
him, to be taught as he thought best, their parents believing that
his influence and such partial instruction as he would give would
prove more to their sons' advantage than removing them to other
schools. The chair of mathematics in the University of Virginia became
vacant in 1854 by the death of Professor Courtenay. Mr. Pen
dleton's friends, and especially his oldest brother, Hugh, urged
him to offer for the professorship. Yielding to their solicitations,
he allowed his name to be sent in to the Board of Visitors,
accompanied by testimonials and recommendations from a num
ber of distinguished teachers and scientific men. Before the time
for the meeting of the board to appoint a new professor he learned
that his West Point classmate and beloved friend, Albert Taylor
Bledsoe, was also a candidate for the place. Immediately he
wrote to the board, withdrawing from the contest, as he would
not place himself in competition with one so dear to him and so
eminently fitted for the vacant chair. He further requested that
all that had been written and said in his own favor might be
considered as additional recommendation to Mr. Bledsoe.*
Secluded as Lexington was from the stir and bustle of busi-
* Communicated to the author by Dr. Bledsoe's widow.

106 MEMOIRS OF
ness, its intellectual life was vigorous and energetic. From colo
nial days the influence of Liberty Hall Academy had maintained
and encouraged education, and its successor, Washington College,
had raised the standard and increased the desire for mental culti
vation among the youth in that part of Virginia. The specially
scientific course of study at the Military Institute had widened
the field of knowledge, and added the department of Natural
Science to the humanities of the older college. In addition to
these strictly educational institutions was another peculiar to
Lexington, and not less active in forming and developing the
mental tastes and abilities of the citizens. The " Franklin So
ciety," incorporated in 1816 as a debating society, numbered
among its members all the men of the town who took any in
terest in meeting and discussing with their fellows the questions
of the day. It had a good hall and excellent library. Regular
debates were held every Saturday night, and public lectures de
livered from time to time on popular subjects. During its fifty
years of existence every conceivable question — social, political,
scientific, secular, and religious — had been discussed by it, and it
wielded a potent influence upon the opinions and character of the
community around it. Ready in debate, fluent in speech, forcible
in argument, and good-tempered in the heat of discussion, Mr.
Pendleton at once became an active member of this society and
a regular attendant at its meetings. Sometimes, however, an un
finished sermon or other pressing work would detain him in his
study on Saturday evening. Not infrequently, when this was the
case, one messenger after another would be sent to urge him to
come down and let the society hear what he had to say on the
subject under debate.
Lamarck, in 1 802, had sounded the key-note for the fierce con
test to be waged by infidelity between natural science and revealed
truth. The anonymous author of " The Vestiges of Creation" had,
some forty years later, published to the world his bold disavowal
of the credibility of the Mosaic genesis, afterwards so strenuously
controverted on the same grounds by Darwin, Huxley, and their
host of followers. To the alleged discrepancies between the
Bible and geology Mr. Pendleton's attention had been given for
a number of years. Unshaken in his faith in the absolute truth
of revelation, he had followed all the discoveries of the growing

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 107
science as Buckland, Lyell, Murchison, Chalmers, Mantell, Silli-
man, Agassiz, and others had unfolded them. To the various
theories propounded by one and another of these teachers he
gave watchful scrutiny, but committed himself to none, feeling
sure that, sooner or later, as Hugh Miller at last set forth, the
" Footprints of the Creator" would be traced through the suc
cessive " creative periods," and the " Testimony of the Rocks"
found to confirm and not contradict the " evenings and mornings"
of the " days" of Moses.
On this special question concerning the " chronology of crea
tion" the men of Lexington were greatly interested at the time
when Mr. Pendleton came among them. His thorough and ac
curate acquaintance with the facts and arguments brought to bear
upon both sides of it at once gave him influence and position as
an intellectual power introduced into the community. About
this time also appeared Nott and Gliddon's voluminous treatise
on the " Types of Mankind," animated by the same spirit of
hostility to the Scriptures, and written with the avowed purpose
of disproving a unity of origin for the human race. Specious
and attractive in arguments and the mode of presenting them,
Mr. Pendleton considered this a still more dangerous attack upon
revelation than that from the geological side. He therefore ap
plied himself diligently to study the subject, and search into all
the facts alleged to support the infidel view of it.

CHAPTER XIX.
AGENT FOR THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.
Meantime the necessities for family support became impera
tive, and in 1855, Mr. Pendleton, with the consent of hjs vestry,
accepted an agency for presenting the cause of the American
Sunday-School Union before the Episcopal Church in the United
States. Extracts from his letters during the two years and a half
in which he was engaged in this work show how he was growing
in grace and wisdom, and how every energy was given to the
doing his Master's work in the various duties devolving upon him.

108 MEMOIRS OF

" Philadelphia, January 27, 1855.
"... Yesterday afternoon and to-day I have been very busy
attending at the Sunday-School Union and calling on the leading
clergy in regard to my work. They are very kind and favorable
thus far, though it is not the season for presenting the subject,
as most of them are just on the eve of having confirmations. I
may possibly preach two or three times to-morrow, though I am
only positively engaged to Mr. Suddards.
" Last evening I went round to deliver Dr. Dunbar's note to
Dr. Bell. He is evidently a man of intellect and science, and,
I should think, as represented by Dr. D., judicious and skilful.
He suffers himself with something of the same gastric soreness I
experience. He enjoined upon me to be much more regular in
my hours of rest, generally retiring by ten ; to take a tepid bath
when convenient ; to apply friction freely to the surface of the
body ; to take systematic but not excessive exercise ; and to use
all care to coax into activity the torpid functions of the liver.
"... Dear love, lean more confidingly on the tender mercy of a
covenant Saviour and unfailing friend. Just think of the promises.
How exceedingly great and precious they are! And though you
and I are both partakers of infirmity, and can with reason from
our hearts address the Lord in the publican's prayer, yet do I
feel assured, on the simple grounds of God's covenant in Christ,
and the evidence of a living, though incomplete, faith on the part
of us both, that, if summoned before the Lord this night, the issue
would be grace triumphant to salvation. And in this joyful hope
will I more humbly and steadily serve God, His Spirit helping
me. So will you, my beloved wife.
" A word for all the children. In their endeavors conscien
tiously to carry out the plan laid down for them, I hope they will
be considerate of the proportion of duties. It is not mere fidelity
in lessons and in order that I desire from them, but consideration,
circumspection, and energy, as under God's eye. And I would
have them all bear in mind the great injunction, 'Seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.' What, my dear
children, are all other things worth without this? What account
need be taken of any other deficiency if this be really had ? In
addition to your own letters, my dear, I should like to get them

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 109
from each of the children in order, — Sandie, Mary, Rose, Will P.,
and Will W., if he will write to me ; and I will reply to each in
turn. It will be good exercise for them, and two of them might
write a week. So that, your letters coming between theirs, I
may hear almost daily."
During his absence from home he found time also to work at
some of the mathematics which came in his son's college course,
thinking that plane and spherical trigonometry and descriptive
geometry were somewhat of a tax for a boy of fifteen.
"February 23, 1855.
" My dear Son, — On the other page I have put the problems,
simplified as well as I could manage in the little time I have had.
I hope you can understand them without much trouble. And I
do not care about your giving any considerable time to them, or
to any of these lessons at present. As the weather may permit,
busy yourself out-of-doors, with the hot-bed and other work in
the garden. Nor do I mean that either to interfere with your play.
" We had a common Irish boy in the stage who afforded a good
deal of amusement by his characteristic humor. A Catholic.
He told us about the ' Dippers,' as a strange sect he had seen in
Buchanan, and in whom he did not believe at all. The notion
of baptizing in old James River was horrible to him, and espe
cially in February amid the ice. Though poor, and under age, he
has been in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, and the United
States. I was a good deal struck by his ready quotations from
the Bible, and his apparent reverence for its high authority. I
earnestly wish you all, my child, may reverently appropriate the
divine wisdom of the holy Scriptures."
Severe illness in his family called him home, but in April he
was again off on Sunday-School Union work. From Boston he
wrote : " Tremont House, April 20.
"... You will be anxious to hear from me as soon as possi
ble. But before I say anything about myself or things around
me I must speak of you all. I cannot hear how you are for some
days, and am unavoidably anxious, though I intrust you all to
God in the hope that grace, mercy, and peace may keep you. My

IIO MEMOIRS OF
main fear is about Martha" (a servant); " her headache may prove
incipient typhoid ; still, as Lucy did not have it she may escape.
... To go on about myself, etc. The cars travelled very fast
between New York and New Haven, gradually emptying them
selves in the towns and villages along the route. It is almost a
continuous village street the whole way. Country in the main
rugged, and perhaps less productively cultivated than I expected,
yet pervaded by a pleasant air of enterprise and thrift, as we have
always thought of New England. As long as light lasted I lived
by my eyes ; afterwards a pleasant-looking gentleman took the
seat by me and we entered into conversation, soon getting on the
Northern and Southern question. He was very earnest anti-
slavery, though quite as earnest against the radical abolitionists.
I, however, set the case before him according to my own convic
tions, and apparently succeeded in modifying his ideas ; and when
we reached Boston he thanked me for the pleasant chat, begged
to know my name, and gave his own as Mr. Edmund Dwight,
son of the Rev. Dr. Dwight, of one of the American Missionary
Boards. " When I awoke this morning it was raining hard, and has been
pouring all day. After breakfast I went to the American Sunday-
School Union Depository, with a letter of introduction from Mr.
Porter ; was very politely treated. Met a member of the State
Senate, who also introduced slavery. He is a conservative. But
he told me one-third of the Massachusetts Legislature is com
posed of the most lawless radicals, — ignorant and undisciplined,
but self-reliant, bold, and active, — ready to push abolitionism to
the very death. Next I went to call on the bishop ; very kind ;
asked me to dine with him to-morrow. Next visited Dr. Vinton;
also very kind. Am to preach for him Sunday morning, for the
bishop in the afternoon or the following Sunday morning. Vinton
took me to the State-House. The Lower House rather a rabble.
The Senate more dignified, but with marks of a condition of things
I should grieve over in Virginia. Boston is unlike all our other
cities ; utter irregularity in the whole chaos of streets ; not half
the ambition in building so striking in New York.
" I am now preparing a sermon for Dr. Vinton's church Sun
day morning. In conversation with him the best plan was dis
cussed, and my quoting the text, ' This people have I formed for

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 1 1
myself,' etc., so took his fancy that he requested me to put my
thoughts for his congregation to that heading. It will push me,
but no matter if it be well done, and I think I can so do it, — and
the fuller occupation the better, here by myself this rainy day.
My Unity article has occupied my thoughts in part, and to work
it up will be an amusement to me in the loneliness of my home
separation. " You must determine what you want about the Convention,
and let me know what I am to get before my return. Let Sandie
ask Mr. Campbell to look at the garret- and cellar-windows, and
see if they ought not to be properly fixed before that time. The
sashes from the hot-bed may do for the cellar, as far as they will go.
It may be well also to continue the walk below the garden just as I
did the other part. I suppose our neighbors will bear part of the
expense and the vestry part. But if not, I would sooner bear the
whole myself than have it so untidy when the bishop and the
others have to walk over it. . . . My letter of Saturday told you
of my preparing for Vinton in the morning a new sermon. In the
afternoon I went to preach the other for the bishop, but he and
his assistant had heard of the one in the morning, and insisted
on my repeating it at Trinity. The people very attentive. I
am having some circulars printed and shall send them to dif
ferent parties. From time to time I take a stroll. The Common
is well worth walking on. You would enjoy it. I have hardly
seen anything finer. As in all other large places, one so entirely
a stranger as I am must find it hard to get acquainted with the
inhabitants. Mr. M. took me to the Athenaeum, containing a
fine library, sculptures, paintings, etc. Besides moving about in
connection with my work, I am writing away at my article for Dr.
Dogget.* I began to write last night, and hope to have some ten
or twelve pages by to-night. ... It is now past six p.m., and since
little past five this morning I have been hard at work : first for
two hours on my Unity article, and then till one seeing about my
circulars, and riding out to Brookline to see Dr. Stone, for whom
I am to preach Sunday morning. Since getting back I have been
engaged in folding and directing the circulars, which will keep me
busy all day to-morrow. I rejoice to hear of Leila being so far
* Editor Southern Methodist Review.

112 MEMOIRS OF
convalescent. Don't let her indulge any humor that may bring
on a relapse. Tell her if she is a good girl I will find something
pretty for her. I shall not be able to reach home before the 12th
of May, and have so little leisure day or night that I cannot give
my thoughts to what may be needful in the way of preparation
for the Convention, so you must among you think and plan, and
let me know what you need. . . . You see I have changed my
lodgings. This hotel is not near so pleasant, but much less costly
than the Tremont. I have not had time yet to see much of the
city. Indeed, except the harbor and the country around, after
the Common and the streets facing it, Boston has not much to be
seen. The residence part is quiet and many of the houses hand
some, but the streets are too narrow. The pride of Boston takes
a different direction from that of New York. There it is full of
display. Here it is of a deeper, loftier tone; a good deal of
simplicity with not a little coldness.
" The common people do not please me in their appearance.
The very sharpening of the wits by continual effort to make
their way so cultivates selfishness that you can see it in every
lineament and motion. This is not prejudice but fact. May the
day never come when all the land is pervaded by the eager race
for benefit to number one thus exhibited ! I went yesterday
afternoon to call on Mr.  . The servant took my name,
and, after keeping me a minute or so in the hall, returned to say
that Mr.  was engaged with company and could not see me.
Of course I shall trespass on him no more. These are the things
I shrink from in such work. To be treated as if I were some
beggar, — and, indeed, not so well as I would treat the poorest
creature that bears the stamp of humanity. But you need not
suppose I care particularly. Not at all. I have learned that
if my comfort is to be a foot-ball for other people's whims, — if
I am to depend on their good opinions of me for peace of mind,
— I am likely to be, as St. Paul says, ' Of all men most miserable.'
No, no. I remember that inward support which is not so easily
taken away, and look to my own mind and my own home for the
satisfaction which, under heaven's goodness, I may be permitted
to enjoy. And if on the whole it be best, — if Providence so indi
cate, — I can, with considerable indifference as to its annoyances,
go on with this work. I am longing for the day when I can start

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 113
homeward. Absence can be borne as a duty, but it is a hard
trial. . . . Yesterday on the street I met the Rev. Mr. Mason,
with whom I have formed a pleasant acquaintance, and he told
me he was on his way to an ordination in Trinity Church, — the
bishop's. I accompanied him as the best thing I could do at the
time. The bishop at once asked me to read the service and join
in the laying on of hands, as it was to the Presbyterate. By the
time it was over it was late enough for me to get to my room
and dress for dining at Mr. Reynolds's, and I barely got there in
time, — half-past two. The bishop and myself the only guests.
After dinner Mr. Reynolds took me a long and beautiful drive to
Cambridge, where we visited, under the escort of two students,
the hall containing their old paintings, library, etc. It is a beau
tiful place, admirably suited to its purpose, but for the withering
influence of Unitarianism ; a blight, by the way, upon all that is
hopeful in the social future of Boston. More than half the upper
circle here is proudly heretical in that way, looking with open
scorn upon the forms of orthodoxy which their fathers cherished,
— Congregationalism, etc., though the Episcopal Church, but for
the inroads of Puseyism, would have won over not a few. In
deed, as it is, through intermarriages, etc., a good many of the
younger Unitarians are brought over to the Episcopal Church ;
and they hardly rest contented under our service, and the preach
ing they hear from the bishop and Vinton and Mason, if any of
the Unitarian leaven remains. After seeing the college we drove
round through beautiful Brookline, one of the gems of the earth ;
through Roxbury, and back into Boston, — twenty miles in two
hours and a half.
" I had engaged to lecture to Mr. Mason's candidates for con
firmation and communicants at half-past seven, so Mr. R. drove
me to the church, where I addressed fifty or sixty persons on
Ephesians vi., dwelling especially on the Christian armor. Had
a good deal of ease in utterance, and the people seemed seriously
attentive. Mason thanked me warmly for my " excellent address.'
. . . To-day Mr. Adams's ' South Side View of Slavery' was
handed me by a gentleman, and I have read it rapidly. Infinitely
more just than Mrs. Stowe's romance. Not hiding the manifold
evils of slavery, but very truly contending, I think, that in itself
it is not sinful, and is even a mighty agency of Providence in
8

"4 MEMOIRS OF
mysteriously working out a hopeful destiny for the African race.
With some modifications — such as establishing some tribunal of
appeal in cases of maltreatment (rather impracticable), legalizing
marriages, prohibiting the sale of children under a given age, say
twelve or fourteen, away from their mothers, etc. — he thinks their
condition would be the best of all the lower operatives on earth.
I could but think of them to-day at Lowell. Those girls — with
their three dollars a week — steaming the livelong day amid the
din of machinery that deadens every sense, standing forever over
the clattering looms or spindles, and inhaling an atmosphere
charged with the mingled fragrance of fish oil and fetid exhala
tions, and with common dust interspersed with cotton or woollen
fibre, seemed to me doomed to a harder lot than thousands of
slave girls.
" About Sue's question as to what the children had better read,
now they have done Virgil, I hardly know. Livy and Tacitus
are both too difficult, and I rather think the question is between
Sallust and Cicero. Suppose she takes either of these as they
may be convenient. But I am suggesting on paper what I hope
soon to be able to settle in person, — very soon after this reaches
you." The first Diocesan Convention after Mr. Pendleton's return to
reside in Virginia was held in Lynchburg in May, 1854. To the
surprise and amusement of the body, a request was made by the
rector and delegate from Grace Church, Lexington, that the next
Convention should be held there. The proposition was at first
treated as a joke, something too preposterous to be seriously en
tertained ; but the earnest appeals and good-natured arguments
of Mr. Pendleton and Colonel Smith carried the day, and in 1855
the Convention met for the first and only time in Lexington. It
was impossible for the Episcopalians to entertain so large a body
of their brethren. In the emergency the Christian people of other
denominations opened their houses and dispensed gracious hos
pitality to clergy and laity. Many of the Presbyterian residents
were then, for the first time, brought into personal association
with Episcopalians. Long-standing barriers of prejudice were
broken down, and from that time a more cordial spirit of charity
and good will was manifest.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 115
In July Mr. Pendleton was off again, making a long and labo
rious tour in behalf of his agency. Going first to Philadelphia,
he spent a week at Cape May with his brother- and sister-in-law,
Mr. and Mrs. P. N. Meade. The rare occasions on which he gave
a few days to relaxation were always enjoyed with the, zest of a
child. From Cape May he wrote to his children, giving a dia
gram of the village and a graphic description of the scene on the
beach :
"... The village of Cape Island, where the hotels are, is on a
sandy, grassy plain. The yards or lawns reach to the border of
the beach, where there is a sudden break or descent of ten or
twelve feet. There the dressing-sheds are constructed ; and, at
eleven o'clock each day, all sizes and ages don their grotesque
attire and go — sometimes barefooted — across the soft sand to the
water's edge. This shelves off so gradually that you may walk
out with ease a great distance to or even beyond the breakers.
Hundreds and thousands of people are here, and a more exciting,
laughable scene you never looked upon. There they are, waist-
deep, men, women, boys, and girls, mingled undistinguishably, for
the dress makes them all alike, and all like ditchers or fishermen.
See that fat, clumsy old lady, squat on the beach, awaiting the
next breaker. It comes up. Over she rolls, with two feet of briny
foam over her. She, half drowned, plunges, tumbles about, gets
her head up at last with a gurgling struggle, and, almost spent,
crawls back where she can get her breath before another wave
strikes her. Next to her is a laughing girl trying to swim, while
a stronger hand holds her belt ; and so on throughout the con
gregated multitude. It is very delightful, and I did wish for some
of you to enjoy it with me. S. would delight in it. The out
landish costumes are very amusing, and the pell-mell in which
you partake, without losing a particle of your own propriety. . . .
You will be glad to learn that the Sunday-School Union Board
willingly accept my proposition. They give eight hundred
dollars for the service I propose, and make it one thousand if
it turn out well. I start on Monday for a Western tour, —
Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland,
Rochester, and several other places, and then home, if the good
Lord prospers."

"6 MEMOIRS OF
To one of his little daughters he describes his emotions on
visiting Niagara: " Niagara Falls, August 29, 1856.
" My dear little Girl, — As I have not written to you yet, a
half-hour shall be spent this morning in writing what you may
claim as your own letter, though it will have to be read to you by
your mamma. You see by the heading of the page where I am.
A letter to your mamma from Cleveland, Ohio, will have let you
know that I was to come on here Monday. I did so, and got to
my room about eight o'clock in the evening. At night the moon
was shining very brightly, and I walked out with a party whom
I accidentally met, and we got a tolerable moonlight view of the
wonderful Falls. But it was two hours after, when everybody
else was asleep, that I got a view by myself that was altogether
the most wonderful thing that I ever expect to see. My rough
sketch will help you to understand something of it. I stood on
the American side, when all living things were as still as death.
Before me was the great, dashing cataract, gleaming in the beams
of the moon ; below, the gulf into which the waters are poured,
sending up its ever-ascending cloud of spray ; under and around
me the trembling earth, whose very rocks are made to vibrate by
the mighty power of the fall ; in my ear the thunder of its roar ;
and above me the vast arch of heaven, clear, quiet, and solemn,
with three objects of surpassing beauty conspicuous, — the silvery
moon, the planet Jupiter, and, I think, Saturn. Your mamma
will tell you about these, and all the hard words I use. And you
can form some notion, young as you are, how all that I saw and
heard made me feel at such a time. It was, I suppose, something
as the Jews felt when they saw and heard the wonderful things in
God's presence at Mount Sinai. Something as the disciples felt
when our Saviour said to the winds and waves, ' Peace, be still ;
and there was a great calm.' Something as we shall feel when,
as I trust we shall, we enter heaven, and look upon the glorious
throne, and listen to the songs of praise."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 117
CHAPTER XX.
WORK IN LEXINGTON.
From time to time until the autumn of 1857 Mr. Pendleton
was absent from home on the business of the Sunday-School
Union. To be so much away from his parish was very trying.
But that the blessing of God rested upon the work there, faith
fully done whenever he was in Lexington, is evident from the
result of that work. In his report to the Convention of 1856
he says, —
" The rector of this parish would thankfully, but humbly, men
tion the work of grace which, in common with other servants of
the Lord in the locality of his labors, he has been permitted to
witness within the last few weeks. An afflictive Providence
eliciting the power of faith, in the case of a young Presbyterian
student of Washington College, seems to have been the occasion
of this spiritual blessing. A very unusual sensibility of mind on
the part of many was soon indicated, and services were held with
more than usual frequency in several churches. My own were
not increased much in number, but in interest. Every word
seemed to be precious. The great inquiry came from many souls ;
and on Whitsunday our hearts were gladdened by the spectacle
of more than twenty young men together at the chancel, bending
the knee for the first time to receive the memorials of our blessed
Lord's dying love. One of these, from a Baptist family, I had,
in the morning, baptized by immersion in the adjacent river, he
preferring that mode as most agreeable to his parents. Three
others were that same day baptized, by sprinkling, in the church.
The solemn impression is on several minds among these educated
youths that the work of the gospel ministry is their calling, and
must be their happiness ; and it is trusted that they may indeed
become faithful ambassadors of Christ."
" The Convention Sermon," that same year, " was preached by
the Rev. W. N. Pendleton, of Grace Church, Lexington, from

118 MEMOIRS OF
a portion of the 21st verse of the 17th chapter of the Gospel
according to St. Luke : ' The kingdom of God is within you.'
A touching allusion was made to the lamented Chisholm and
Jackson (both of whom fell noble martyrs at the post of duty
in the plague-stricken cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), the
latter of whom had been appointed to preach the Convention
sermon."* Mr. Pendleton was also a delegate to the General Convention
which met in Philadelphia in October, 1856.
In 1857, Kenyon College, Ohio, conferred upon him the degree
of Doctor of Divinity. In a letter informing him of the fact Dr.
Andrews wrote, " Seldom in these latter days has the title been
so justly merited."
Notwithstanding the healthy condition of his parish, where the
number of resident communicants had nearly doubled, while
many young men there first confessing Christ had gone out year
by year to other places, the habit of protracted absence from his
people and his home was felt to be unfavorable for them and too
wearing upon himself. He therefore gladly embraced an oppor
tunity which now presented itself to withdraw from the Sunday-
School agency and give all his time to parochial and home duties.
In June, 1857, three months before the close of his seventeenth
year, young Sandie Pendleton graduated with the highest honors
at Washington College. So well had he acquitted himself, and
so unusual was his proficiency in his studies, that in his junior
year, at the age of fifteen, he was appointed by the faculty assist
ant instructor in mathematics, and to this responsibility was
added in his senior year an instructor's position in Latin also.
The " Cincinnati oration" was the highest distinction in the gift
of his Alma Mater, never before or since bestowed upon one so
young. The boy chose as his subject " Our State Character,"
and dashed off in boy fashion a flowery rhapsody on that in
spiring theme. Proud of his work, he took it to his father for
criticism and commendation. The manuscript was read and re
turned, with the comment, " My son, you can do better than this.
It is neither worthy of your theme nor yourself. My advice to
you is not to attempt to patch up so inadequate an effort.
* Journal of Convention of Virginia, 1856, p. 17.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 119
Destroy all you have written, read the history of Virginia and
the men who have adorned it, consider and reflect on what you
read, and at the end of three weeks see if you cannot do better."
It was unwelcome but wholesome counsel, and following it,
young Pendleton did as much credit to his name and training oh
the rostrum commencement-day as he had done in the class
room. His father considered him too young for the University of Vir
ginia, where his course was to be completed. The mental strain
would be too great, and the launching him into the crowd of six
or seven hundred young men too much of a tax upon his char
acter. Besides, like most young Virginians, he must teach to
provide means for the prosecution of his studies. This gave the
opportunity for opening a boarding-school for boys, which would
furnish sufficient support for the family, relieve Mr. Pendleton
from the necessity of even partially neglecting his parochial work,
carry on his son's training under his own eye, and restore himself
to the congenial employment of teaching and influencing youthful
minds. The quaint old parsonage had ere this become, under the com
bined efforts of parents and children, a lovely abode, surrounded
with flowers and embowered in trees. Peaceful and attractive
within and without, it realized the idea of a Christian pastor's
home, where love and charity and cheerful happiness prevailed,
and from whence kindliness and good will, benevolence and wise
counsellings, diffused themselves among friends, neighbors, and
parishioners. These beneficent influences were now to radiate
through a wider sphere. The large attic story was finished and
turned into dormitories, and in September the premises became
bustling and merry with the presence of as many boys as they
could accommodate, and before the second year a wing had to
be added to the house to receive the number of applicants.
Among these boys several were sons of fathers who had formerly
been Dr. Pendleton's pupils. His intimate relations with Bishop
Meade had been resumed on his return to Virginia. Some days
in each year were spent at " Mountain View." * A correspondence
was kept up on all subjects of interest to the Church and the
* Bishop Meade's home in Clarke County.

120 MEMOIRS OF
diocese. To his care and training several of the bishop's grand
sons were now sent, who passed as they grew older into Wash
ington College.
When the Sunday-School Union agency no longer required
his frequent absence from home, it was Dr. Pendleton's habit,
when the weather and roads permitted, to preach from time to
time in different parts of Rockbridge County, wherever two or
three Episcopalians were to be found. To do this he not infre
quently rode ten, twelve, and fourteen miles to his appointed
service, after officiating in the morning at his own church. The
summer vacations were, in like manner, devoted to missionary
work in the counties of Bath and Monroe, west of him. There
was no Episcopal minister within two hundred miles of him in
that direction. He therefore regarded the whole region as partly
under his parochial care. Of these ministrations he says (Jour
nal of Convention, 1857, p. 77), —
" Besides constant labors at home, the rector has sought occa
sion in the summer vacations to render services at points of great
interest farther west. He has done this especially at the Warm
Springs in Bath County, where there is a congregation numbering
not less than twenty-five communicants, and at Union, Monroe
County, where there are about twelve communicants. At the
former five candidates were presented by him to Bishop Meade
and confirmed on his visitation last summer."
Sandie Pendleton entered the University of Virginia in 1859,
his place in his father's school being filled by Mr. Hugh Pendle
ton's son, Dudley. That same autumn the eldest daughter of the
family was married to Edwin G. Lee, of Shepherdstown, and the
happy home circle broken in upon. Her father's first letter to
Mrs. Lee is given at length, so full is it of parental tenderness
and of wise counsel for a newly-married girl.
" Lexington, Friday night, November 18, 1859.
" My dear Daughter, — You are to be in Baltimore on Mon
day, I think, and it will be pleasant to you to find there a letter
from us. That this may be it should go to-morrow morning, and
I therefore indulge myself by beginning to-night. You will be a

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 121
little surprised to see that I am at home, whereas my purpose
was to have gone to-day, on my way to Orange Court-House.
A threatening change in the weather this morning, superadded to
the fact that I was not quite as well as usual, owing, perhaps, to
the regret, dissipation, etc., all combined, connected with giving
you up, satisfied me that my duty lay here rather than away,
under the circumstances. I therefore wrote to Mr. Davis ex
cusing myself, and sending apologies to the kind friends who had
solicited the visit.
" We were glad to learn through the stage-driver from Staun
ton last night that your party had speeded so well on their way.
It was likely, from his report, that you were comfortably housed
by a little after seven. Of course we all travelled with you men
tally, and entertained each other from time to time with sagacious
remarks about the distance of the company from Staunton.
Whether it was that this sort of imaginary journeying wearied
us, or that reaction was coming on after the bustle of some days,
or that the house had a painful sense of loss about it, or however
it was, we all with one consent sought relief from ' tired nature's
sweet restorer' at a marvellously early hour. I hardly think
there was a light down-stairs at nine o'clock.
" To-day, however, misty as has been the outer world, we have
been as bright as a May morning in our faces and feelings. Not,
my dear, that we cease to feel most deeply your separation from
us, but that committing you to the gracious care of our Almighty
Father, and fully confiding in the honorable affection of the
young Christian friend whom, with a double blessing, I have au
thorized to call you ' wife,' we rejoice for you even in the sorrow.
You, too, have felt, and will feel, more or less of sadness at this
permanent parting with home and its loved ones. A home, the
Lord be praised for it, privileged in several ways beyond the
common experience of even the godly and the cultivated, and a
household closely united and most tenderly attached, though
without morbid sentiment. But though you will feel this separa
tion, as it is right and salutary you should, you will not, I hope
and believe, suffer from it unduly.
" The Almighty, among wise ordinances for human creatures,
has so constituted our hearts, that these special affections
which spring up and rightly mature between suitable individuals,

122 MEMOIRS OF
receiving the sacred sanction of parental approbation, and
religious life next to sacramental, take precedence of all others ;
and, in fact, so occupy and satisfy the mind as to compensate
for much else that may be yielded.
" There are, indeed, few more surprising things in the economy
of human life, and few more unsparingly censured by the un
wisely censorious, than this very satisfaction of married persons
with each other. But to me it seems one of the beautiful pro
visions of an endlessly kind providential plan. It does not, I
know, diminish one iota of filial or other attachment, while it
gives to energy of every kind a new and practical direction.
You will both, I trust, find it so. And while happy in each other,
love us all and cherish every friend with a sound and practical
affection, only the more earnest because of your satisfaction in
the way of God's appointment.
" I have hardly a word of suggestion for you, my love, under
your new responsibilities. Be as happy as you can and make
everybody else so, is about the best I can think of. And to this
end live as simply as you can by the lessons of the Bible in their
aim and spirit. Be as confidingly affectionate to your other
father and mother, and sisters and brothers, as you have always
been to us, and they will love you almost as well.
" Tell Mr. Lee I have hardly made up my mind how I shall
address him, whether familiarly to use his Christian name or to
adhere to the more dignified ' Mr. ;' the first the most affectionate,
the last the most respectful. Your mamma insists the latter is
best. I am not so sure. But we will see. The rest I leave for
your mamma. God bless you all. " Your fond father,
"W. N. Pendleton."

CHAPTER XXI.
work in Lexington — Continued.
A few weeks previous to the time of Miss Pendleton's mar
riage, John Brown had put the finishing stroke to his prolonged,
secret efforts to stir up insurrection among the negroes in Vir-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 123
ginia by his armed invasion of her territory at Harper's Ferry.
The commotion then excited and the facts of his capture, trial,
and execution are too well known to need further allusion. Al
though his daughter was going into the very heart of the dis
turbed region, no reference to public affairs was made by Dr.
Pendleton in his letter to her. That he felt deeply on the subject,
however, may be learned from himself.
Writing to a brother clergyman in New York, he says, —
" December 7, 1859.
" My dear Doctor, — I write a line, to yourself, as I am doing
to other friends in the Northern States, to beg that you will
say and do what you can towards such expression and action
in your section of the country as may restore to our people
the friendly spirit which mad abolitionism has so sorely revolu
tionized. " I have never known the fountains of popular sentiment so
thoroughly stirred as they are now in Virginia, and we may de
pend it is not otherwise farther South. Disunion, with its dread
train of strife, animosity, blood, sorrow, retardation to piety and
all happy influences, is absolutely inevitable if the ' irrepressible
conflict,' in every form, is not thoroughly disavowed by the larger
part of the Northern people. And, indeed, without a great
change in feeling and conviction there, I fear the issue must
come at any rate. For instance, the Observer, with the best in
tentions, published an article last week going to show how con
servative the New York pulpit is, and, among other things, gave
an extract from Dr.  's Thanksgiving sermon. But that very
sermon was in itself a most ominous sign of coming evil. For
the doctor allowed himself to hurl anathemas against slavery in
the very breath with which he was disavowing sympathy with
the destructives. It really seems to me amazing that a good
man, with the Bible in his hand, can thus outrage the claims of
peace in the pulpit itself. And it is as certain as any coming
event can well be that these desecrations of churches to work
wrong convictions in the minds of half the country against an
institution providentially existing in the other half must excite
disgust, enmity, and war in the section thus assailed.
" Depend upon it, without something adequate at the North,

124 MEMOIRS OF
we shall have disunion and civil war before another year finishes
its course.
" Pray signify this in the spirit of a man of God, as you can
wisely make occasion. Sad ! sad ! sad ! if the mad passions
now so fearfully aroused work out to a fearful death-struggle !
God help us in the part of peace-makers, and keep His own
people faithful, and the country through them.
" Affectionately your friend and brother,
"W. N. Pendleton."
His forebodings were too soon and too fatally realized.
Small-pox became epidemic in Lexington in the latter part of
1859. The deaths were numerous, and the dread of the disease
caused the closing of all the places of worship except the Epis
copal church. Dr. Pendleton held his regular services, believing
that they would rather conduce to than hinder public health, by
calming the minds of his people and strengthening their trust in
God's care over them. He also contrived to minister to the
families cut off by the disease from the sympathies and assistance
of their neighbors. Standing outside the house, he would ascer
tain their condition and needs, and give them words of cheer.
He then procured such things as they required and deposited
them in a convenient place and watched until some one from the
house to be supplied appeared to take them. Defoe had de
scribed this mode of communication in his " History of the
Plague in London," and it proved most efficacious at this time.
The following letter tells its own story :
" Lexington, Sunday night, January 22, i860.
" My dear Daughter, — It has been nearly a month since you
wrote to me on the recurrence of my birthday, and I have not be
fore been well able to reply. First, I was using up as much writing-
time as possible during the absence of the boys on account of
small-pox, getting ready my first volume for the press ; and when
that was achieved, Sandie gave me quite a tug at another impor
tant work, — viz., to meet some serious questions in his mind in
regard to his own spiritual progress and on certain issues re
specting the great baptismal controversy. He has so much to do

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 125
that I thought it best to clear up matters pretty thoroughly in
this way, instead of sending him to several volumes for the elu
cidations he wanted. And, situated as he is, it is doubly desirable
that he should always be ready to give a reason for the hope that
is in him.
" You and I were alone in remembering the fact — memorable
enough, surely, in the life of a human being — of my numbering
half a century on the 26th of December. It occasioned me seri
ous retrospects and anticipations and suggested needful prayer,
but the predominant feeling with me was fervent gratitude for
the ample and unmerited mercies that have crowned my days.
' Long-suffering and of great kindness,' truly can I testify, is our
Heavenly Father. None others of the family remembered the
circumstance of my passing that notable mile-post in the journey
of life, and I preferred saying nothing about it till a day or two"
after, when all presented congratulations, though no one, I be
lieve, ventured to wish that I might have as long an earthly road
before as behind me.
" In writing to you to-night I have no twinges of conscience.
For it is, I am sure, holy work, like that I have been privileged
to do to-day. Perhaps you may like to know my texts. In the
morning from Isaiah liv. 17, 'The heritage of the servants of the
Lord,' — dwelling on their character as servants, and their precious
inheritance in time and in eternity. In the afternoon from II.
Corinthians iv. 4, 'The glorious gospel of Christ,' — dwelling on
the substance of the glad tidings and the glory thereof. Pretty
good and attentive congregations, notwithstanding another small
pox panic has visited us.
" My book, I forgot to tell you, is to be ' Science a Witness
for the Bible,' — five articles before published, mainly rewritten, —
' Science and Scripture,' ' Human Family,' ' Age of Mankind,'
' Chronology of Creation,' and ' Monuments of Lost Races.'
They will make a book one-fourth larger than Dr. Cabell's.
Afterwards I hope to get ready a volume on ' Human Progress,'
etc. When I go on to see about printing in a few weeks I may
get to see you for a day or two."
The volume here spoken of was published a month or two
later by Lippincott & Co. Bishop Meade, writing to Dr. Pen-

126 MEMOIRS OF
dleton the year before with regard to such a summing up of his
researches, had said, —
" I have read with interest your articles in the Reviews when
they first came out. I should like to see them all, just as they
are, in a volume for my own reading, but think a selection of the
main points would be more apt to find readers and purchasers in
this day of small books and abridgments. We seem to have
dealt much of late in the same authors, or in some of the same.
If you could spend a week here you would devour much that I
have collected.
" If I had not twelve grandchildren now dependent on me for
education, and others coming on, and my own book * to publish,
I would offer to aid in the publication of yours ; for, according to
my experience, authors have to work and pay for it too."
When the book appeared it elicited high encomiums from
many intelligent and thoughtful readers, and but for the storm-
cloud overshadowing the land would have become widely
known. From many letters of approval, Bishop Meade's is
given as highly characteristic. " Millwood, July 14, i860.
" Reverend and dear Sir, — Your daughter and her husband
reached here yesterday, and brought with them your book, which
I have devoured with a good appetite, though not chewing, after
English fashion, so as to digest it well. Having read so much on
the subjects treated of in the last few years, a cursory glance was
sufficient for much of it. I am much pleased with it, — more than
I expected, — and consider it a valuable addition to our religious
literature. Dr. Cabell's book on the ' Unity of the Human Race'
will be much strengthened by one of your articles. Your article
on the ' Monuments of Lost Races' is very interesting. That on
the age of the human race will occasion some diversity of opinion,
and will frighten some good, pious, and sensible persons. Though
I think you have, with your views, managed it with great propri
ety and ability, yet I could wish that you had spoken in stronger
terms of doubt about Bunsen's views of Egyptian chronology.
* " The Bible and the Classics."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 27
You seem to assume, in one or two passages, the truth of his
extension of the post-diluvian period to nearly four thousand
years before Christ. The difference of several hundred years
between the chronologies of the Pentateuchs — the Samaritan and
Hebrew versions — is as much as most of us are prepared to bear.
Nevertheless, you may be right, and I would not have you burnt
as a heretic for leaving it an undecided question. It becomes us
to be very cautious and modest in this age of theological daring.
... In going over your book I have turned down many pages,
to which I wish to refer in completing my own book and in order
to impress some things more deeply on my mind. I wish, there
fore, you would send another copy to Mr. Lee, with his name
written in it by yourself, and charge the same to me, with some
others, — viz., one to my son Richard, one to Bishop Lee, of Del
aware, one to Bishop Burgess, one to Slaughter, and to such
others as you may choose, to the amount of .twenty dollars, in
cluding postage, charging them to me, I paying you when we
meet. I shall send a few lines to the Protestant Churchman
about the book. " Very truly yours,
"W. Meade."
In the summer vacation of this year a tour of preaching was
again made in the western counties, and weeks passed away
from home on important church business. But no press of
public or ministerial duties hindered him in the habitual exercise
and expression of care and love for his household and his absent
children. To a little daughter at school he wrote, —
" One of my objects, my darling, is that we may know exactly
whether there is any risk to your health from over-study and con
finement. Mary G  insists that yon task yourself too closely,
and Mrs. G  thinks that both Mary and yourself had lost flesh,
strength, and complexion when she saw you ten days ago. I
am very much afraid of this. Your system is, I fear, rather too
much like a prison-life at the Institute. That you should all
reasonably improve the time and cultivate your minds with suita
ble studies is right enough. But it is equally right, certainly,
that you should have a fair proportion of freedom and exercise.

I28 MEMOIRS OF
And although I like you, my dear, to get pretty well the lessons
you undertake, I do not want you to have so many things as to
worry you. If you find that your time is too much cut up, or
that you feel tired, fagged, worn down, day after day, speak freely
about it to Mrs. Phillips, and to him, if you can get an oppor
tunity. It is an oversight, I am sure, which they will take pains
to have corrected when attention is called to it. At all events,
never give any of your recreation hours to books. Rather let
the lessons go. Laugh, run, skip about, amuse yourself just as
much as you can, in all the time allowed for it. Snuff all the
fresh air possible. See how much enjoyment you can get and
give, and remember, I regard it as not a whit more your duty to
acquire Latin, French, etc., than it is to improve in strength,
weight, and color. I had rather a thousand times see you mod
erately supplied with tongues, and active, cheerful, healthy, than
to find you learned as Cromwell's ' Latin secretary,' and able to
parlez vous with the savants of Paris, but pale, shrivelled, wasted,
feeble, and broken down for life.
" Don't sit up too late. Be sure to get sleep enough. That and
pleasant amusement, no matter what, in recreation hours, with
all the out-door exercise you can attain, will, by God's blessing,
keep you well and enable you really to accomplish more study
in the long run.
" I send you in this a gold dollar to spend just as you please.
" The others tell you all the news, I suppose, and if they did
not, I should find it a pretty hard matter to pick up much for
you. It is rather scarcer than the mud and water in our streets
this rainy season. The election, so soon to take place for Presi
dent and Vice-President, seems to swallow up all other concerns.
Books, sports, business, courtships, seem all forgotten, and we
hear little of anything but the likelihood of Lincoln's being
elected and the revolution to follow. There is, indeed, danger
enough to make us all look up to Him who alone is wise enough
and strong enough to overrule human passions and make all
things work together for good.
" God bless you, my darling daughter, and make you His own
precious, adopted child. " Ever your fond father,
"W. N. Pendleton."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 29
A letter from his son, written a few weeks later in reply to a
paternal admonition, shows the confidence subsisting between
parent and child. " Charlottesville, December 16, i860.
" My dear Papa, — For two letters I am now indebted to you,
and have intended answering them for several days. The former
I am peculiarly "obliged to you for, and trust the advice you gave
has been of real service to me. I felt that perhaps there was
some measure of apathy growing up within me in reference to
my spiritual state, and that letter with its kind and affectionate
warning came just in time to arouse me to redoubled diligence
and prayerfulness, and now I hope that I have again drawn
nearer to my Saviour. Though there is some danger, as there is
and ever will be in all situations of spiritual declension, that
danger is far less here than might be supposed. The weekly
prayer-meetings, in which we all participate, the regular inter
course of the Christian Association, and, above all, the active
work in which we engage, these, in connection with the moral and
religious tone pervading all here, tend to diminish in a great
degree the force of the temptations lying in every young man's
path, and render it comparatively easier to pursue an outwardly
correct course, and be consistent, than to be otherwise. And my
association with Jim Howard and Randolph McKim, and others
of the most earnest type of Christians, and all looking forward
to the same ultimate work in life, is of such a character as to act
as a safeguard against letting the mere intellectual development
usurp the first place. And I trust that, by the blessing of God,
although, of course, more time must be devoted to the pursuit of
secular knowledge, I am now seeking and shall ever be enabled
to ' seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.'
" Thursday night the Christian Association held a meeting to
pray for God's blessing and guidance for our country, and they
recommended the observance of to-morrow by all the students
as a day of humiliation and prayer; and surely if the arm of the
Almighty be not interposed in our behalf, vain is the help of
man now. . . . This is Monday, December 17, i860, the last day
of the existence of the whole United States. The issue of affairs
is doubtful. I see you rather favor the experiment of separate
State existence. I have only two points settled : to cut loose
9

130 MEMOIRS OF
from the slave-trading States and the extreme abolition States.
Speaking of politics, I saw the notice of the meeting in Rock
bridge and your remarks."
And so 1 860 drew to its close. Seven years had passed since
Dr. Pendleton took charge of Latimer Parish, years marked by
a steady growth in grace and wisdom and by untiring labor in
his Master's cause. When at home in Lexington he constantly
preached twice on Sunday and once in the week carefully-prepared
sermons, and had held two weekly services at the Military Insti
tute. While agent for the American Sunday-School Union and
on his summer tours of mission work the amount of preaching
was much increased. When at home he had taught his children
and other pupils, and had superintended their studies while away,
and, as we have seen, had guided and assisted his son by instruc
tion and counsel. Not only was he a diligent student of theol
ogy, but in addition to keeping up the mathematics, astronomy,
chemistry, and geology acquired in earlier years, he had devoted
himself to the new scientific questions of the day, and had made
himself familiar with ethnology and comparative philology, under
the guidance of Bunsen, Lepsius, Wilkinson, and others, whose
works could often be found only in the great city libraries. The
information thus attained had been given to the public in lectures
and reviews, and at last, as has been mentioned, condensed into
book form. In the practical work of the Church in Virginia
and elsewhere he had taken an active part. Twice during these
years he had been called to that most painful of clerical duties,
sitting on an ecclesiastical court. He had gone to Delaware to
give advice out of his experience as to the establishing there of
an evangelical Church college, and had been summoned to
Sewanee on the same errand. He had written, and was still con
tributing, a number of articles to " Appleton's New American
Encyclopaedia." Thus, to sum up the many and varied occupations of his busy
life is an easy task. So to depict that life that the reader may
enter into the spirit of it, and realize how love to God and love
to man was the moving spring which actuated him to the full exer
cise of all his powers of mind and soul ; may have some conception
of the cheerful kindliness and genial sympathy, the ready help-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 131
fulness and frank cordiality, inviting to trust and confidence;
may admire the noble presence, gaze into the pure soul through
the clear, beaming eyes, rejoice in the winning smile, and hear the
cheery tone of the ringing voice. This is scarcely possible.
One of his school-boys of those years, writing of him, says, —
" Of all the men that I have known, I believe Dr. Pendleton,
of Lexington, was the most completely free from those conditions
of character which belittle the full stature of a perfect man in
Christ. In looking back over a period that covers many of my
youthful years and several of my manhood, I cannot recall an
instance, when either entering into the sports or pleasures of us
boys, at marbles or quoits, etc., or entering so sympathetically as
he always did into the numberless difficulties of the dull and
perhaps the lazy boy in his studies, he did not fully impress me
with his complete Christian character. His patience seemed
boundless, his sympathy was all-pervading ; nothing that a boy
could enjoy, proper in itself, failed to give him pleasure. And
he never failed to increase the boy's pleasure in it by entering
into it himself and giving a dignity to the game, which always
proved vastly pleasing to the scores of boys who thus remember
him. ... I have thought over the acquaintances and friendships
of over thirty years, and I do not recall one person who more
completely eliminated from view of child, youth, or man the
ordinary littlenesses which mar any character, and most of all,
that of a minister of the Gospel."

CHAPTER XXII.
BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR.
In entering upon the responsible task of recording Dr. Pen
dleton's connection with the great struggle for independent ex
istence on the part of the South, and giving the history of that
struggle so far as he was concerned in it, it is neither the purpose
nor desire of the writer to go at any length into the political
questions therein involved. Dr. Bledsoe, in his conclusive treatise

132 MEMOIRS OF
on the constitutional right of secession, " Is Davis a Traitor ?"
published in 1 866, and ex-President Davis, in his " Rise and Fall
of the Confederate Government," have amply set forth the causes
which forced the Southern States to secede, and fully vindicated
their right so to do. With these two writers, his friends from his
cadet days, Dr. Pendleton was entirely in accord, and the views
and principles held by them faithfully represented his own.
But it is necessary to give a rapid glance at the events imme
diately preceding the breaking out of the war in April, 1861, in
order to understand more clearly the state of public feeling and
the circumstances which influenced individual action.
The election of Abraham Lincoln in November, i860, was
followed by the secession of South Carolina, December 20.
Within a month from that date Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, and Louisiana had also withdrawn from the Union, and
delegates appointed by them met at Montgomery, Alabama,
formed a provisional government of the Confederate States, and
elected Mr. Jefferson Davis President and Mr. Alexander H.
Stephens Vice-President.
At this crisis Governor Letcher summoned the Legislature of
Virginia to meet in extra session, giving Lincoln's election as one
of the reasons for such a meeting. The Legislature called a
convention of the people to deliberate and decide upon the part
which Virginia should take, and pending the assembling of the
convention, earnestly recommended all efforts to prevent a dis
ruption of the Union and the war which must ensue. To avert
these calamities they passed resolutions deprecating such disas
trous action, and invited the other States to join them in a peace
conference at Washington, which might " consider and, if prac
ticable, agree upon some suitable adjustment" of the difficulties
which threatened the body politic.
Five of the most experienced, clear-headed, and most conserv
ative of her public men were chosen to represent Virginia in
this conference. They were met by an equal number of dele
gates from twenty other States. And for three weeks these men
from every part of the Union, many of them anxious to save the
country by any honorable means from internecine strife, dis
cussed the situation and the best mode of improving it. Finally
they settled upon a plan for such amendments to the Constitu-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 33
tion as might be accepted by all parties and effect a peaceful
settlement of the points at issue. But their propositions were at
once rejected by Congress, as were also Mr. Crittenden's com
promise resolutions.
Meantime, the Virginia Convention met in Richmond. It was
mainly composed of men who loved the Union and were de
sirous to preserve it, but who at the same time felt that the
seceding States had rights on which the general government
had no authority to trample ; men who would keep Virginia in
the Union at the risk of everything save dishonor and disloy
alty to the principles vindicated by their forefathers. The failure
of peace negotiations at Washington was a deep disappointment
to them. But they still hoped that other efforts might prove
more successful. If only the Federal government would wait,
they fondly imagined that a convention of the " Border States"
might be able to reconcile their hostile sisters on both sides of
them. Mr. Lincoln in his inaugural address had not claimed the
right of coercion. The conservative spirit of Virginia was not,
therefore, without grounds upon which to base its clinging hope
for a peaceable conclusion to the threatening strife.
But determined hatred against everything Southern was over
riding all counsels and opinions tending to moderation at the
North. And as this hostility became more apparent in passionate
invective and open menace, the most patient and peace-abiding
citizens of Virginia began to see no other course before them
but to cast in their lot with their Southern sisters and to stand
by them for good or for evil. The invasion of Harper's Ferry
by John Brown in 1859 had awakened a military spirit among
the young Virginians, especially in the Shenandoah Valley, then
threatened with attack and outrage. The rumors of war, growing
louder and louder for months, had increased the number and zeal
of volunteer companies all over the State, and while the younger
men mustered and drilled and longed for the excitement of war,
their fathers, with grave countenances and determined voices,
began to speak of a conflict as inevitable.
Nowhere had the desire to preserve the integrity of the Union
been stronger than in Rockbridge. John Letcher, the wise,
patriotic, and courageous governor of Virginia, was her favorite
son. Judge John W. Brockenborough, one of the peace com-

134 MEMOIRS OF
missioners, was another son of her adoption.* The other citizens
of the county and of the village of Lexington had something
of the sound conservatism combined with fearless independence
which characterized these two distinguished gentlemen. As
long as it was possible to preserve the Union, as well as the
principles of inherent State liberty for which their ancestors
had contended, they would cling to both. But when it be
came evident that only by violating individual rights and State
freedom could the Union be maintained, they did not hesitate a
moment. To Virginia first and always their allegiance was due,
and when her honor was assailed, each man of them would die
to defend her.
The location of one of the State arsenals, with its guard of
soldiers, and afterwards of the Military Institute, at Lexington had
long made them familiar with the idea and means of such defence.
The daily drill on the Institute parade-ground had taught them
how the arms in the arsenal were to be handled, so that the very
urchins could " go through the manual," " carry arms," and
" charge bayonets" with amusing accuracy and zest. With spe
cial pride and interest they had seen the cadets march off to
Charlestown, to act as the body-guard to Governor Wise, during
the trial of John Brown. Now each man felt that he, too, might
soon be called to the front for far more serious duty in a graver
emergency. The crisis came speedily. Information being received at
Charleston, South Carolina, that preparations were making at
Washington to reinforce Fort Sumter, Major Anderson was
summoned to surrender it to the Confederate States. This he
declined to do, and on April 1 2 Sumter was bombarded by the
forces under General Beauregard. On the 13th the fort surren
dered, and on the 16th President Lincoln issued his proclamation
calling for seventy-five thousand men, in due proportion from the
different States. Governor Letcher, of Virginia, promptly re
fused to comply with this requisition, as did the governors of all
the Southern States still in the Union. On the 17th of April the
Convention of Virginia, in secret session, passed an ordinance of
* Of this eminent jurist it was her boast that not a single one of his decisions had
ever been reversed by the Supreme Court.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 135
secession. Governor Letcher notified all the troops in the State
to hold themselves in marching order, and the hum of military
preparation began to be heard everywhere.
That Dr. Pendleton was strongly in favor of State-rights in his
early manhood has been mentioned. But, like most of his fellow-
statesmen, he wished those rights preserved in the Union. In
his letter at the time of the John Brown raid, he has been seen
deprecating the course pursued by " fanaticism and mad aboli
tionism" at the North as almost sure to result in bloodshed and
misery. As the state of feeling in the country became more ex
cited, he made every effort in his power to promote peace and
stay the rush of popular indignation. Though averse to mingling
in politics, his voice was now raised in the public meetings in
Lexington, counselling calmness and deliberation; and he was
always listened to with attention, because he was known to be
actuated by no particle of fear or self-seeking. Many circum
stances combined to give him a more lively personal interest in
public affairs at this time than that generally felt by clergy
men. Governor Letcher was one of his friends and neighbors
in Lexington, Mrs. Letcher and her sister being among the most
beloved of his congregation. Judge Brockenborough also — a
school-mate of his brother Hugh — was a parishioner, and he
was thus brought into immediate connection with events in which
they played so prominent a part.
In the autumn of i860, Dr. Pendleton had been invited to de
liver a course of scientific lectures to the students of the Theologi
cal Seminary, near Alexandria, Virginia, and had spent part of the
winter in preparing for them. On the 16th of April he left home
to fulfil his engagement, and a few hours before setting out wrote
to his son : "Lexington, April 16, imt) s
" My dear Son, — As I may miss you, I leave this letter.
Serious as is the state of things in the country, and imperative as
may be the call of duty to brave everything in repelling wrong, —
at a day not far distant, — I am very clear that your duty now is
to quiet your mind to the utmost, and to finish your course at the
University. God, my dear son, indicates this for you in the cir
cumstances of the case. It is all-important that you secure the
advantages of the A.M. And I express it with all the emphasis

136 MEMOIRS OF
of my judgment, and of my own concern alike for your happiness
and for the interest we all have in your career, as my decided ex
pectation that you will brace yourself for the full measure of effort
that may be needed for your degree. Say not, my son, that you
cannot command your faculties under the excitements of the
time. Why, if you cannot bring mental agitation into subjection
for so important a purpose when God directs, as I am sure He
does, will you not be too much flurried for calm endurance in a
hundred ways for the trying times we expect ?
" No, no, my son. Possess your soul in patience yet awhile.
If we have real war, your time will come soon enough. Con
siderable delay will be unavoidable, and I still trust God may
frustrate Lincoln's schemes. Much is to be done besides this
movement of militia.
" If it becomes clearly duty by and by, I will bid you go with
my blessing, and looking up for heaven's grace to attend you.
But now — if you come home — return immediately, and stand
firmly in your lot at the University. " Your fond father,
"W. N. Pendleton."
Young Pendleton's own good sense had brought him to the
same conclusion, and he passed all the examinations for the Mas
ter's degree before joining the army in the valley of Virginia.
By the time Dr. Pendleton reached the Seminary Virginia had
seceded. Northern troops passing southward through Baltimore
had been attacked by the citizens armed with clubs and paving-
stones, Maryland and Virginia were in a ferment, and the theo
logical students too much excited to listen to his lectures. From
Alexandria he wrote to his wife :
"As to the state of things and the prospect before us you
know nearly as much as anybody here. Lincoln is so strange
and so misguided that he has himself no idea what he means,
except the Chicago platform and Abraham Lincoln. Things are
very quiet here, but it is the hush of alarm and astonishment.
In Washington you would not suppose yourself in a land of
liberty, — soldiers marching everywhere and everybody seeming
suspicious. Dr. Sparrow approved so much of my suggestion

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 37
about going to talk with Lincoln that I resolved to do it, if pos
sible. I accordingly proceeded to call on General Scott, to get
an introduction to the splitter of rails and of States. Near
General Scott's quarters, however, I met Cassius Lee and Mr.
McKenzie, who assured me that it was impossible to see General
Scott, he being overwhelmed with business, and that, as to going to
see Lincoln, I had as well reason with an Egyptian mummy. . . .
Whether there is any possibility now of avoiding a dreadful con
flict I cannot tell. I fear not."
Before Dr. Pendleton returned home the volunteer companies
from Lexington had marched to Staunton, on their way to Har
per's Ferry. The cadets had been ordered to Richmond, where
the majority of them were assigned to companies, regiments, and
camps of instruction as drill-masters and adjutants. The speedy
and marked efficiency of the Virginia troops was, in no small
measure, due to the presence and influence of this trained and
disciplined element thus distributed among them. The fostering
care bestowed by the State upon her Military Institute was vindi
cated and repaid by the patriotic devotion and gallant service ren
dered her by the noble band of her sons who had there acquired
a knowledge of military affairs. With the corps of cadets had
gone their officers and professors. Most distinguished among
these was Major Thomas J. Jackson, whose Mexican fame was
soon to be eclipsed by a more enduring renown.
Other companies were in process of formation. One, an
artillery company, collected and drilled by Captain John E.
McCausland, of the Virginia Military Institute; another, com
posed of the students of Washington College, under the title
" Liberty Hall Volunteers." Officers and boys were gone from
the Institute. Dr. Pendleton was the only citizen of military
education, and he was more amused than surprised to find him
self called on to drill the " College Company" in infantry tactics.
In a few days McCausland was ordered to Northwest Virginia as
a lieutenant-colonel, and his incipient artillery command also re
quested Dr. Pendleton to instruct them in handling their guns.
Artillery had been his forte at West Point, and a few trials showed
that in the lapse of thirty years he had neither lost his skill as a
cannoneer nor his activity on the parade-ground. At first there

138 MEMOIRS OF
was no idea of active service in his mind, but questionings as to
his duty soon arose. On the morning of the 1st of May he was
unusually long at his private devotions, and told his wife, on
rising from his knees, that he had been asking for Divine guid
ance in the course before him. At family prayers also he was
very earnest. Immediately after breakfast he was called out to
meet two gentlemen, — Mr. John McD. Alexander and Mr. J.
Bowyer Brockenborough, — who proved to be a deputation from
the " Rockbridge Artillery," urging him to become their captain.
At first he declined, and suggested one and another for the posi
tion. But he was the man they wanted, and after further solici
tation he consented to take command of them, at least for a
while. After his death there was found among his private papers
the following statement, written a few hours after he had made
this momentous decision :
" I think it right to record the considerations which influence
me to accept as duty the command of the artillery company at
this place, tendered me this morning.
" In the first place. Defensive war cannot on Gospel grounds, it
seems to me, be condemned. Because, government for the pro
tection of right having God's emphatic sanction, — indeed, being
His own ordinance, — it must, to the extent of its ability, after fair
and full trials for peace, resist aggression.
" In the next place, While all the Southern States of the con
federacy which our fathers bound together by conditional com
pact have for the last forty years pleaded with those of the
North against the violations by the latter of the equal rights
secured to the former in the spirit and purport of the compact,
and against infractions of the letter of that sacred instrument ;
and while certain of the Southern States, under the threatened
tyranny of a hostile and dominant section, had deemed it essen
tial for their own security to rescind their agreement to the federal
compact as really abrogated on the other side, and to form a new
association for themselves, my beloved native State abstained
from all hasty action of that kind and continued, under wrongs
of the most serious character, to plead for justice, equality, and
peace, — even, indeed, as long as such course seemed at all to con
sist with her honor or independence as a State, — the astounding

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 39
call by the hostile representative of the aggressive section for a
force of seventy-five thousand men on her immediate borders
compelled Virginia to arm for her own defence and that of her
sisters, if she would in any measure meet her obligations for the
cause of justice on earth and the welfare of mankind. I cannot
doubt, therefore, that defensive warfare on her part is requisite
and most righteous.
" In the third place. Threatened as we are, for this defensive
stand, with wholesale murder and universal desolation by the
myriads of the North, whose passions have been inflamed by
governmental proclamations, a furious press, and a most unchris
tian pulpit, no man, in my judgment, whatever his calling and his
love of peace, has a right to shelter himself from the common
danger behind the bravely-exposed breasts of his fellow-citizens.
I should therefore deem it my sacred duty, in some capacity,
fairly to share the peril, as well as work for the welfare of my
countrymen. Especially as my dear family, like those of my neigh
bors, claims protection at my hands under God's appointment.
" And in the last place. The captain of this company being
needed for other important service, and there being no other
available to command it who had, like myself, received a military
education and seen some service, I was urged to accept the com
mand, and could not decline without discouraging the men and
the community, perhaps losing the company to the service ; in
juring religion, probably, by allowing some to infer that the
Gospel hope adds little to courage ; and actually denying prayer,
since the call came unexpectedly, and after my mind had been
peculiarly engaged in petitions for Divine direction as to my duty
in the eventful crisis.
" My future course will be determined by such indications as
Providence may present to my judgment. If some one becomes
ready to command this company, and my services are not im
portant in strictly military offices, I should greatly prefer duties
more appropriate to my spiritual relations, and may so signify to
my official superiors.
" Trusting that the Judge of all the earth will accept me in the
covenant of His grace, help me to honor His holy name in the
trying 'position, and restore me, if it be His holy will, in time to
my family and ordinary duties; take care of the dear ones I

140 MEMOIRS OF
leave behind, and deliver us all from the cruel tyranny impend
ing, — I go to the post of danger. Lord Jesus, go with me.
Blessed Spirit, be my guide. Almighty Father, spare the effu
sion of blood, frustrate evil counsels, order for our land conditions
of peace, and make our people that happy people whose God is
the Lord !
" W. N. Pendleton.
"Lexington, May i, 1861."
By this time Major Jackson had been commissioned colonel
and sent to command at Harper's Ferry, where a large body of
troops was assembling. A call from him summoned the Rock
bridge Artillery to join him. The governor gave them permission
to take two brass six-pound guns from the Military Institute.
Captain Pendleton left his home on the 9th of May for Rich
mond, to procure two more guns and the necessary equipments ;
and the company marched to Staunton on the nth, to meet him
at Harper's Ferry.

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY.
The Rockbridge Artillery — the immediate cause of Dr. Pen
dleton's entering into active service — was so intimately associated
with him during the first months of that service, and retained the
influence of that association in so marked a manner throughout
its after-career, that a special mention of it is a necessary part of
the story of his military life.
The original roster of the company, as mustered into service
on the 1 2th of May at Staunton, is still preserved. There were
four commissioned officers, — Captain Pendleton and Lieutenants
John B. Brockenborough, William McLaughlin, and William T.
Poague, — nine non-commissioned officers, and sixty-three pri
vates. A total of seventy-six. A large proportion of them
were men of good social position, of education and high moral
tone ; and the tradesmen, artisans, and farmers among them were
the best of their class. Most of them were young, but here and

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 141
there was seen a head tinged with gray, like that of their reverend
captain. As soon as it was known that Dr. Pendleton had taken charge
of a company numbers of young men from other parts of the
State came to join his command. Anxious parents sent their
sons to be under his care and training, and students from the
colleges and theological seminaries were attracted to it as con
taining congenial spirits. It soon became conspicuous for disci
pline, skilful gunnery, and thorough trustworthiness, and main
tained these characteristics throughout the war. Its excellence
as a training-school was so well appreciated that forty of its
members received commissions. Most of these were assigned
to duty with other commands, and were everywhere recognized
as reliable and efficient officers. Not a few of the best and bravest
fell in battle. The important and responsible positions now filled
by many of the survivors, in civil life, as lawyers, physicians,
clergymen, professors, and merchants, serving their State on the
bench and in the Legislature, still attest the admirable material
which went to the forming of this distinguished band of soldiers.
Their history while under Captain Pendleton can best be gathered
from his letters and reports.
The first letter, narrating their arrival at Harper's Ferry and
warm welcome by Colonel Jackson, is missing. It told of their
being temporarily quartered in a church. The building was
already occupied by the " Grayson Dare-devils," who, wishing to
show their hospitality, assigned the pulpit to Captain Pendleton
as the lodging most suitable for him.
May 21 he wrote to his wife, —
"We are all well and tolerably comfortable. Things are
threatening, but we are pretty well prepared, and will no doubt
acquit ourselves well."
Three days later, May 25, to his brother-in-law, Mr. Meade,
he says, —
" I can readily make room for your boys in my company, be
cause it may be increased to one hundred, and thus allow us two
more guns, — six instead of four. I do not know of any company

142 MEMOIRS OF
where the associations and influences are as good as in mine. I
have prayers at reveille roll-call every morning, and in my quar
ters every night for such officers and men as may choose to
attend, and on Sunday I shall regularly preach. We have a
number of pious men in the company, and this, added to my care
for the morals of the whole, furnishes a salutary influence more
or less felt by all. Perhaps this artillery service is the most
dangerous, as it is, in case of need, the most useful. . . . My
battery is ready for duty, except for want of horses. We need
some eighty of these to make four guns fully efficient.* They
are ordered, and will be here in a few days."
To his wife, the same day, he says, —
" General Joseph E. Johnston has arrived from Montgomery
and taken command. Jackson may be ordered elsewhere.
Sandie wrote me he had accepted his commission as second
lieutenant, Provisional Army of Virginia. If that army can't be
raised he must serve in some other capacity. He says he has
asked for three weeks to try for his degree, and is hopeful,
though not quite sure of it. Edwin Lee is also commissioned
first lieutenant."
The next letters are from " Camp Johnston," Berkeley County,
where a small infantry force and two guns of the battery had
been sent to watch the movements of the enemy and guard an
important road. To a Northern clergyman he writes, —
" Thus to take part in the dreadful work of death is to me
much the severest trial of my life. Loving peace, praying for
peace, preaching peace from the bottom of my heart, I find my
self, in the very name of the Prince of Peace, obliged to see my
own dear country subdued, disgraced, and ruined, and my wife
and daughters exposed to brutal outrage worse than death, or to
fight side by side with my only son, my son-in-law, my brothers,
and dearest friends of every grade, in defence of our hearth
stones. Do you blame me? Bishop Meade does not, I am
happy to know. Indeed, I have the best reason to say that,
* To these four gims the youthful wits of the battery at once gave the names
" Matthew," " Mark," " Luke," and " John."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 143
were he twenty years younger, he too would feel constrained to
place himself in the van of the noble Christian heroes over whose
bodies your friends must pass in their conquest of Virginia."
" Camp Johnston, May 31, 1861.
" My beloved Wife, — I write you again a hurried line.
You see we have changed our camp to a better place. I am
perfectly well, never in better health, and in all respects comfort
able. We have to be very vigilant, surrounded as we are by ene
mies, — traitors in Virginia and others across the Potomac. . . .
My great motive is to do my duty, honor God, and do what good
service I can in the double capacity of soldier and minister of
Christ. I have arranged for general prayer in camp every even
ing under the open sky in good weather. Edwin Lee has his
commission to-day, and is summoned to Harper's Ferry. The
other half of my company, with Bowyer Brockenborough, is, I
hear, sent to Shepherdstown." " Near Winchester, June 18, 1861.
"... Early in the morning, after a delightful rest on the grass
under some trees in a grove by the road-side, with Sandie lying
next me, I write you a hasty line. On Saturday morning, 15th,
we evacuated Harper's Ferry, everything valuable having been
removed and those articles destroyed that might serve the enemy.
That night we encamped two miles west of Charlestown. Next
morning we marched towards Martinsburg. My own prayers
and those with the company the only notice of the Sabbath, so *
far as I know. This army is divided into brigades : Jackson has
command of the Virginia brigade, and my battery belongs to it.
Of course we have the post of danger, of defence, and of honor
able duty in general. The college company is in Winchester.
They will join our brigade. Sandie and Edwin Lee are both
well ; the former drills at the guns with the privates. Edwin, as
Jackson's aide, has much to do." "June 25.
"... It is now just six, and I have had reveille roll-call and
prayers, have shaved, dressed, etc., and had breakfast ! Pretty
good, is it not ? Sandie is asked for by Jackson to attend to the
ammunition of this brigade, so that he will not remain with the
battery."

144 MEMOIRS OF
From a report of the battery the latter part of June we take
the following :
" This company has been .'n active service since its arrival at
Harper's Ferry, — on the 15th of May, — partly at that post, partly
near Williamsport, in Berkeley County, partly at Shepherdstown,
and partly with the entire command, under General Johnston,
after its removal from Harper's Ferry, and with the brigade, un
der Colonel Jackson. It has thus had a large share of marching
and other laborious duty. Meantime, however, it has been drilled
with all the care and constancy practicable. It has suffered un
usually little from sickness or any casualties, has received a
number of additions to its ranks, and is in an excellent state of
discipline and efficiency."
To his daughter Mary on July 21 :
"... You will wonder how we get along in the rain without
tents. Most of the company have the tent-knapsack, — four or
more of which make quite a snug tent for as many persons. We
who have no provision of the kind have to scuffle as best we can.
I got a squad of men to put me up a frame for a shed, and then
covered it with the old table-cloth you had some of you put up in
my trunk, with a couple of sheets, and with my own and Bowyer's
' blanket-shawls. By dint of all this we slept in safety and com
fort ; have kept dry this rainy day, and hope, wet as is the night,
to keep snug through it.
" The enemy is making some movement on the other side of
the Potomac, and we hear rumors that he intends to cross the
river. . . . The boys stand it pretty well. They showed me a
letter to-day from your Aunt Fanny. Bishop Polk had been there,
and described the Great Bethel battle, which he witnessed. Your
aunt seems to think the Yankee soldiers a poor institution. But
all are not so. We must not despise them. More than a few
of them are determined men, however deluded. Did any of you
see the splendid comet last night ? I saw it when returning from
head-quarters, — the brightest I ever saw, with a tail extending
perhaps forty or fifty degrees."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 145
The "movement" of the enemy mentioned proved to be the
advance of Patterson's army across the Potomac. This was
checked by Jackson in what General Johnston calls " the affair
of Falling Waters," on the 2d of July. An account of this ren
contre is given in Captain Pendleton's letter to his wife, published
in the Lexington Gazette of the 18th : " July 6.
"... I had hardly given my letter of Tuesday into the hands of
the messenger when Colonel Jackson rode up to my quasi shelter
and desired me to have the battery immediately ready to advance.
Within fifteen minutes one regiment, Colonel Harper's, and our
battery were marching forward. Information had reached Colonel
Jackson that the enemy had forded the Potomac within the neck,
two miles below Williamsport, and were advancing on us in great
force. We proceeded some three miles to meet them ; Colonel
Jackson wishing, however, rather to feel how strong they were and
to give them a little check than to give them battle in full. For
the latter we were much too far from the main body under General
Johnston. To prevent our risking too much, three of the guns
were halted on the road two miles below our encampment and
only one taken on a mile farther. There the enemy were seen.
Colonel Harper's regiment immediately deployed in the field on
the right of the turnpike, to engage the skirmishers spread out
there by the enemy. Colonel Jackson, with his staff, rode back
to the point in the road occupied by my gun, and directed me to
withdraw it farther to the rear, to a point better situated. Mean
time the enemy began to ply their artillery with great vigor, firing
around our little force a number of balls and shells. We, how
ever, quietly took our position and awaited the best moment for
opening fire with our single gun. That moment arrived when I
saw a body of horse, which seemed to be a squadron of cavalry
about to charge, on the turnpike about a half-mile in front of our
position. At that body I instantly had the gun directed, with
careful instructions how it should be aimed. In another instant
the messenger of death was speeding on its way. The effect was
obvious and decided. Not a man or a horse remained standing
in the road, nor did we see them again. . . . Our next shot was
aimed with equal care at one of their cannon in a field on the left
of the road. The effect was scarcely less. The gunners scattered,

146 MEMOIRS OF
and I am sure that gun fired no more. Meanwhile the balls
whizzed by us with tremendous force and startling music. . . .
In the fight of the day we were all graciously preserved. Two
men only were killed and some eight or ten wounded. On the
other side we hear of a good many killed, besides fifty-five pris
oners taken by Colonel Stuart with his cavalry.
" Colonel Jackson's aides — Thomas Marshall, E. G. Lee, and
A. S. Pendleton — were much exposed carrying orders. David
Moore fired our gun, and J. L. Massie loaded it. . . . The order
from Richmond promoting Colonel Jackson to a brigadiership
has just arrived. He richly deserves it. His part the day of the
fight, as heretofore, was admirably performed. The enemy speak
admiringly of our artillery-firing of that morning : they ascribe
it all to four rifled cannon, although we fired only eight shot from
a common six-pounder."
The " instructions" for aiming the gun on this occasion were :
" Steady, now ; aim at the horses' knees." Nor was this first
lesson on the importance of firing low lost upon the men who
afterwards proved themselves such efficient artillerists.

CHAPTER XXIV
COLONEL OF ARTILLERY  FIRST BATTLE OF MANASSAS.
Captain Pendleton had been three years at West Point with
Generals Johnston and Lee, and two years with Mr. Jefferson
Davis, and the kindly relations of their youth had never been for
gotten. That he had retained the skill as an artillerist acquired
at the Military Academy was shown by the facility with which
his men handled their guns and the excellent discipline of his
company, while his readiness in supplying deficiencies in the
equipment of the artillery pointed him out as one to be relied on
in emergency.* General Johnston, therefore, took the first op-
* Johnston's " Narrative,'' p. 21 : " Caissons were constructed, at Captain Pendle
ton's suggestion, by fixing roughly-made ammunition-chests on the running-parts of
farm-wagons.''

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 147
portunity to place him in a position more suitable to his age and
ability. Mr. Davis, writing to General Johnston, July 13, 1861,
says, —
" I recollect Captain Pendleton well, and when we were all
younger esteemed him highly as a soldier and a gentleman. I
some days since directed that he should have rank as a colonel
and be put in command of the batteries of your army." *

On the receipt of this promotion Colonel Pendleton was ap
pointed chief of artillery by General Johnston, and thus brought
into frequent and intimate, intercourse with him. The cordial
terms existing between them is shown by the fact that the notes
and special directions to Colonel Pendleton are almost always
written by General Johnston's own hand.
Little leisure was given for Colonel Pendleton to become
familiar with the duties of his new and enlarged sphere. The
advance of the Federal troops upon Manassas caused the War
Department in Richmond to summon General Johnston and his
force with all haste to the assistance of General Beauregard, com
manding there. The retrograde movements from Harper's Ferry
and Martinsburg had occasioned much dissatisfaction among the
raw and undisciplined troops. To prevent discouragement now,
the necessity for getting to Manassas with all speed was commu
nicated to them in the following spirited order from General
Johnston : " Head-quarters, Winchester, Virginia, July 18, 1861.
"The commanding general directs the regiments to be in
formed, immediately after they have left the city, that General
Beauregard is being attacked by overwhelming forces. He has
been ordered by the government to his assistance, and is now
marching across the Blue Ridge upon the enemy.
" General Patterson and his command have gone out of the
way to Harper's Ferry, and are not in reach. Every moment
now is precious, and the general hopes that his soldiers will step
* Official Records, vol. ii. p. 977.

148 MEMOIRS OF
out and keep closed, for this march is a forced march to save the
country. " By command. General Johnston.
" W. H. Whiting,
" Adjutant and Inspector-General!'

Excited by the prospect of an impending battle, the Army of
the Shenandoah responded to their general's call and pressed
eagerly forward on the toilsome way, undaunted by the rocky
road, the Shenandoah to be forded, and the Blue Ridge to be
climbed before they reached the long stretch of rough country
between the mountains and the plains of Manassas. Of this
march Colonel Pendleton wrote, a few months later, to a confi
dential friend :
" The Army of the Shenandoah, on the 18th of July, left Win
chester under imperative orders to reach Manassas in the shortest
possible time. General Johnston directed the captains of the
several batteries to report to me as they arrived at Piedmont, —
the station on the Manassas Gap Railroad where the infantry were
to take the cars, — that under my command they might march to
join General Beauregard. By nightfall of the 19th only three
out of five had reached Piedmont, and two of those I had myself
conducted — about eleven p.m., when it was very dark — through
the Shenandoah. Meantime messengers from Manassas reached
General Johnston, which induced him to start me immediately
with the three batteries, — Captain Stanard's, Captain Alburtis's,
and my own. The darkness was intense, the road scarcely prac
ticable for four-wheeled carriages, and the weather very bad.
Men and horses were greatly fagged. Yet I procured guides,
encouraged all, and pressed on. Other messengers from Manas
sas brought me despatches after midnight begging me to hasten.
By judicious rest for teams and men, not exceeding two hours
in all, I reached Manassas, with all safe and in good condition,
about two o'clock p.m., Saturday, 20th instant. This, I may say
without vanity, was a most important performance, requiring as
much energy and judgment as any single service of the entire
campaign."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 149
Colonel Pendleton's letter to his wife, two days after the great
battle of the 21st of July, was read to pieces within the weeks
following the battle. The loss of its graphic description, espe
cially of the part taken by his command, is much to be regretted.
General Johnston in his report, speaking of his own hasty ride to
the left of the field, says, " On the way I instructed my chief of
artillery, Colonel Pendleton, to follow with his own and Albur
tis's batteries." Pressing forward in the direction indicated,
Colonel Pendleton with his eight guns emerged from a growth
of scrubby pines to find themselves close upon Jackson's infantry,
with a large force of the enemy in their front. With an excla
mation of pleasure, Jackson galloped to meet the welcome bat
teries, and pointed out the place for them, on the crest of the
ridge opposite the Henry house.
A second captain had not yet been appointed to succeed
Colonel Pendleton in command of the Rockbridge battery, and
he continued for some weeks to act in that capacity. Accord
ingly, he now took the battery into action, posting its guns and
giving directions for the cutting of fuses and aiming of pieces,*
besides exercising general supervision overall the artillery present
belonging to the Army of the Shenandoah. To what good pur
pose the guns were served during the long hours of that bloody
day the official accounts will tell. General Johnston's report
says, —
" The efficiency of our infantry and cavalry might have been
expected from a patriotic people accustomed, like ours, to the
management of arms and horses, but that of the artillery was
little less than wonderful. They were opposed to batteries far
superior in the number, range, and equipment of their guns, with
educated officers and thoroughly-instructed soldiers. We had
but one educated artillerist, Colonel Pendleton, — that model of a
Christian soldier, — yet they exhibited as much superiority to the
enemy in skill as in courage. Their fire was superior both in
rapidity and precision." And again, " Every regiment and bat
tery performed their part well."

* This statement is given on the authority of the survivors of the battery present at
Manassas.

150 MEMOIRS OF
"Pendleton, of the artillery," is also enumerated among the
officers especially distinguished.
General Beauregard says of the Confederate artillery, —
" The ground occupied by our guns — on a level with that held
by the batteries of the enemy — was an open space of limited
extent, behind a low undulation just at the eastern verge of the
plateau, some five or six hundred yards from the Henry house.
Here, as before said, thirteen pieces, mostly six-pounders, were
maintained in action ; the several batteries of Imboden, Stanard,
Pendleton (Rockbridge Artillery), and Alburtis, of the Army of
the Shenandoah, and five guns of Walton's, and Heaton's section
of Rogers's battery of the Army of the Potomac, alternating to
some extent with each other, and taking part as needed, all from
the outset displaying that marvellous capacity of our people as
artillerists which has made them, it would appear, at once the
terror and the admiration of the enemy." *
In the letter to a friend, quoted just above, Colonel Pendleton
says, —
" Of the part performed by these three batteries f under my
command the memorable 21st of July I need not speak. The
papers, without my cognizance of any writer, have told quite
enough, — not too much that I know of."
The Richmond Whig, among others, had said that " Colonel
Pendleton's guns were handled with a skill and effect which
extorted admiration from all beholders."
Sandie Pendleton's letter of the battle contained some interest
ing particulars. Part of it is therefore given :
" Head-quarters First Brigade, July 23.
"... Ere this reaches you you will, of course, have heard of
our great victory on Sunday. But whether you will have heard
that none of yours were killed or hurt is another matter. It is true

* Beauregard's official report.
¦)- Stanard's, Alburtis's, and Rockbridge.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 151
that pa and Ned Lee and myself are all safe and sound. General
Jackson's finger was broken. The only injury I sustained was a
slight wound in the leg while in a charge of Colonel Cummings's
regiment on a battery of rifled guns, which it took.
" The battle was begun by the enemy opening a heavy fire of
artillery on our right, in order to divert our attention while they
came in force around our left flank, crossing Bull Run, and
attacking us in the rear. But their object was perceived and
troops moved up to meet them. There is a ridge of hills running
nearly north and south, and the enemy's aim was to gain them ;
but we succeeded in getting possession of them, and, as they com
manded all in front, they gained the day for us. General Bee's
command was on the right and first attacked by the enemy, and
fell back, fighting gallantly. Then General Jackson moved up
our brigade to support them and drive back the enemy, which it
did in gallant style. Colonel Harper's regiment, from Augusta,
was on the right of our brigade. Then Colonel Preston's, having
the Rifles and College company in it ; * next, on the left, Colonel
Echol's, and then Colonel Allen's and Colonel Cummings's. The
order was given to fire and charge when the enemy was within
fifty yards, coming up the hill. My horse was killed under me
early in the day, and I had to go on foot. I attached myself
then to Colonel Cummings's regiment, and, as they charged a
battery of rifled cannon, went right into the front. They ran the
Fire Zouaves clear off the field, killing some hundred of them.
The battery came up on the left of the regiment, supported by
the regiment (Ellsworth's) of Fire Zouaves. Colonel Thomas,
of Maryland, bringing up some men to support Colonel Cum-
mings, was shot dead by my side. I helped him from his horse,
and helped lay him out. This was when I was struck by a ball
on my left thigh, merely grazing it. ... I heard that papa was
killed, and put out for him ; reached his battery just as the battle
was over and found him unharmed, — having had his horse shot,
and one ball having grazed his ear and another spent one struck
him in the back. ... In a charge by Colonel Preston's regiment
one fellow ran a bayonet through Bronson Gwynn's clothes, when
he put his gun to his head and blew it literally to pieces."
* Lexington companies.

152 MEMOIRS OF
No need to tell here of the rout of the Federal army. How,
panic-stricken, it ran and ran until it poured into Washington a
terrified mob. Of the men who had driven it back thus demor
alized and defeated General Johnston says, —
" The admirable character of our troops is incontestably proved
by the result of this battle, especially when it is remembered that
little more than six thousand men of the Army of the Shenan
doah," — his own, brought from the valley, — " with sixteen guns,
and less than two thousand of that of the Potomac, with six
guns, for full five hours successfully resisted thirty-five thousand
United States troops, with a powerful artillery and a superior
force of regular cavalry. . . . The brunt of this hard-fought en
gagement fell upon the troops who held their ground so long with
such heroic resolution. The unfading honor which they won
was dearly bought with the blood of our best and bravest." *
In his " Narrative" he further says, —
"... Great were the odds against which the Southern volun
teers contended in the early stages of this action ; their numbers
engaged, gradually increasing, amounted at its close to about
thirteen thousand men of all arms. ... It may reasonably be
inferred that the three Federal divisions on the field were about
two to one compared with the Confederates at four o'clock, and
four to one at noon ; at eleven o'clock the disparity of numbers
was much greater.
"Twenty-eight pieces of artillery, four thousand five hun
dred muskets, almost half a million of cartridges, a garrison
flag and ten regimental colors were taken on the field, or near it
in the pursuit, besides sixty-four artillery horses, with their har
ness, twenty-six wagons, and camp equipage, clothing, and other
military property." f
The news of this total and unexpected defeat was received with
a howl of shame, rage, and revenge at the North. In the South
a psalm of thanksgiving for their wonderful deliverance and suc
cess was mingled with tears for the loss of their gallant dead.
* General Johnston's official report.
| Johnston's " Narrative," pp. 55, 56.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 153
Many supposed that their independence was achieved and the
war ended. Whole companies which had enlisted " for the war"
prepared to return home, and some actually did so. The first
days after the fight were spent in burying first our own and then
the Yankee dead, and in resting from the fatigue and excitement
of the great struggle. The Confederate Congress passed resolu
tions, the day after the battle, inviting the people to unite with
them in returning thanks to Almighty God on the 28th, the
day week of the engagement, and General Johnston issued an
order forbidding any military exercises in his camp, so that all
the troops might have opportunity for joining in the appointed
services. As Colonel Pendleton was riding through a piece of woods
towards a part of the camp where he was to preach, on the
morning of the 28th, he came upon a party of four negro camp-
servants who were engrossed in a game of cards. Getting close
up to them without being observed, he asked, " Boys, do you
think that is a good way for you to be spending Sunday?"
Looking up, one of them answered, with the promptness of rep
artee common among his race, " Master, 'tain't half so bad as
what you done last Sunday." * ¦.„
List of " Artillery and equipments captured and received by
Colonel W. N. Pendleton, July 23, 1861 :
I 30-pounder Parrott rifled gun.
9 10-pounder Parrott rifled guns.
9 12-pounder brass rifled guns.
3 12-pounder brass howitzers.
2 12-pounder boat-howitzers.
3 6-pounder brass smooth-bore guns.
34 caissons (many of them in parts, but the portions capable of being put together
so as to make this number complete).
4 battery wagons.
6 battery forges.
24 horses.
34 sets harness and a mass of pieces."
Made out by Colonel Pendleton at the time.
* How " wonderful" was the success of the small force of the inexperienced artil
lery of the Southern army in this battle may be seen by comparing the tabular reports
of the two forces as given on p. 154.

154 MEMOIRS OF
The artillery force engaged in the battle of Manassas, July 21,
1 86 1, is thus stated in the second volume of the Official Records
in the War Office in Washington :
confederate artillery.
Army of the Shenandoah, — Batteries of Colonel Pendleton, Imboden, Alburtis,
Stanard, Beckham, p. 569.
Army under Beauregard, — Kemper's, Latham's, Loudoun (Rogers's), and Washing
ton Artillery, Louisiana, p. 568.
Mostly 6-pounders, p. 494. FEDERAL ARTILLERY.
Ricketts's, Griffin's, Arnold's, Hunt's, Carlisle's, Ayres's, and Edward's batteries of
United States regulars, the Rhode Island and Seventy-first New York Regiment vol
unteers, — all fully horsed and equipped, except two "boat-howitzers" of the Seventy-
first New York. Twenty-eight of these guns were rifled 10-, 13-, and 20-pounders,
one 30-pounder, eight were 6-pounders, and the remainder 12-pounder howitzers. — Re
port of Major W. F. Bang, Chief of Artillery to General McDowell, Official Records,
vol. ii., series i., p. 345. Of these, Ricketts's and Arnold's entire batteries were cap
tured; all of Griffin's except one gun, five of the Rhode Island rifled 13-pounders,
the big 30-pounder, and others here and there. — Report of James B. Fry, Assistant
Adjutant-General to General McDowell, Official Records, vol. ii., series i.

CHAPTER XXV.
SUMMER OF 1 86l  INCREASE OF ARTILLERY FORCE.
During the weeks immediately succeeding the victory at
Manassas, Colonel Pendleton, as chief of artillery, was engaged
in distributing the guns, caissons, horses, etc., captured from the
enemy. The cannon were especially valuable, and the artillery
captains were eager to replace their old-fashioned iron six-pound
ers by the heavier howitzers and Parrotts taken from the Federal
army. To give him complete control over all these munitions
he was made temporary chief of ordnance, and his previous duties
assigned to Captain E. P. Alexander.
Of this work General Johnston says, " The captured material
enabled Colonel Pendleton to increase and improve our artillery

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 155
very much." * But the need for more artillery was great, and it
was evident that every effort must be made to obtain an increase
of guns, caissons, horses, accoutrements, and, above all, ammu
nition. On the 10th of August, General Johnston wrote to Presi
dent Davis urging an increase of this arm, " by borrowing from
the States or by casting, especially in Richmond," f and asking
particularly for twelve-pounder howitzers. Mr. Davis promised to
have a number of these sent to him as fast as Major Gorgas could
have them made and mounted.^
To expedite this work, and especially to press forward the
making gun-carriages, harness, and all the varieties of material
requisite for the equipping a number of new batteries, Colonel
Pendleton was sent to Richmond, with full authority to procure
cannon, caissons, harness, horses, etc., and, above all, ammunition.
His orders were in an autograph letter from General Johnston :
" Head-quarters, Manassas, August 15, 1861.
" Sir, — You will please proceed to Richmond without delay,
and there be governed by the verbal instructions you have
received. " Your obedient servant,
"J. E. Johnston.
" Colonel W. N. Pendleton,
" Commanding Artillery, Army of the Potomac."
General Johnston's efforts to bring up his artillery to full
efficiency were unremitting. August 18 he telegraphed Colonel
Pendleton in Richmond, —
" Captain Riley tells me that there are four six-pounders
mounted, but without caissons, at Fort Johnston, North Caro
lina. Try and get them." 1
By constant and unwearying diligence Colonel Pendleton ac
complished most important results. A letter to his wife, written
on the 22d, tells of his work up to that date :
* " Narrative," p. 69. -f Official Records, vol. v. p. 777. J Ibid., p. 786.

156 MEMOIRS OF
" Have had a great deal to do here in pushing up artillery
preparations. Will have several batteries at Manassas next
week, and several others the week after, etc. Several difficulties
obstruct the way. Want of tin to make brass ; only one good
foundry here, deficiency of hands, etc. ; and, not least of all, no
suitable head in the War Department. Still, by hook or by
crook we get along. And I trust our force, artillery and all, will
be strong for the work to be done. The Lincoln dynasty will
press the war, I am persuaded, to the bitter end. You are all
improving in health, I trust. Sickness prevails very much in
every division of our army. The news from Missouri very
cheering. . . . My duties about harness, etc., may take me to
Staunton and Lynchburg. If so I shall take Lexington in the
way for next Sunday. I long to be back in the brigade again.
All this equipping work is the plague of my life. But it must be
done, however disagreeable."
General Johnston wrote to him about this time :
" Head-quarters, Manassas.
" Colonel, — I received duly your note in relation to additional
artillery for this army, and asking if you should continue to
attend to that service or return.
" The duty to which you have been attending is, I think, the
most important to which you can attend. I beg you, therefore,
to devote yourself to it until we have reason to believe another
action imminent, when, of course, you will be necessary in the
field. Do not fail to urge the making of twelve-pounder howit
zers. I have faith in them. Let them send guns and equipments
and leave us to organize.
" I enclose a requisition for equipment of a battery of rifles,
which cannot be filled here. Will you see if the authorities in
Richmond can do it ? Do not, however, let them prefer it to the
fitting out of field-batteries of smooth-bore guns.
" Let me know occasionally how you get on.
" Very truly, your friend and obedient servant,
"J. E. Johnston,
" General.
" Colonel Pendleton,
" Artillery."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 57
The want of equipments for the batteries was almost more
difficult to supply than that of the guns. So many skilled me
chanics had gone into active service that workmen enough to
supply the larger establishments were scarcely to be found.
These were, therefore, unable to undertake large contracts for
furnishing the needed artillery supplies.
To contract for them by the dozen or score wherever black
smiths, wheelwrights, harness-makers, and tinners could be found
was the only resource. This was accordingly done throughout
the small towns and villages in the Shenandoah Valley and
Piedmont country. From them, with the aid of a capable work
man here and there, sent home from the army for the purpose,
the necessary equipments were procured. The spirit of the peo
ple at home was stirred within them to assist, as best they might,
their sons, brothers, and husbands who had proved such gallant
defenders in battle. Old men and boys wrought at the forge and
carpenter's bench, while the women made tents, uniforms, and
knapsacks. To visit these small contractors and encourage them, and
wherever it was possible to engage others in the same work, was
part of Colonel Pendleton's most important business. For this
purpose it was necessary to see the cannon-founders and other
workmen in Lynchburg and the harness-makers in Staunton.
Passing from one place to the other in September, he had the
happiness of spending a few days in Lexington and preaching
to his congregation. Here, too, he persuaded some of his neigh
bors to make for him harness, canteens, and other small articles.
This brief visit home — the only one till the winter of 1863 — was
intensely enjoyed, but in a few days he was back at his arduous
task in Richmond.
The want of ammunition for the artillery was even more press
ing than that of larger and better guns. Such, indeed, was the
absolute scarcity of it in the army at Manassas, that had the
Federal general made an advance during the late summer and
autumn no long fight could have been maintained by the Confed
erate forces. General Johnston refers to his deficiencies in this
respect in his " Narrative." * The messages to Colonel Pendle-
* " Narrative," pp. 60, 61.

158 MEMOIRS OF
ton to hurry forward the needed ordnance supplies were frequent
and urgent.*
The government in Richmond made strenuous exertions to
supply all the calls made uponit.f On the 5th of September
President Davis wrote General Johnston, —
" Every effort shall be made to furnish you the howitzers you
want. Colonel Pendleton will give you details. . . . My means
are short of the wants of each of division the wide frontier
I am laboring to protect." %
But the exigencies continued great and pressing. On October
27, 1861, Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Acting Secretary of War, wrote
to Governor Letcher, of Virginia, —

* Telegram. Manassas, August 24, 1861.
To Colonel Pendleton, Richmond.
Our cannon ammunition is all exhausted except six-pounder.
D. D. White,
Assistant Ordnance- Officer.
August 27, 1861.
. . . Most of the very small stock of ammunition on hand when you left has been
issued, and, in fact, I may say that the stock is entirely exhausted. ... If the army
had to take the field just now the scarcity of ammunition would be alarming.
Very respectfully,
C. C. McPhail,
Ordnance Store-keefer.
Colonel Pendleton,
Chief of Ordnance.
Telegram. Manassas, September 12.
To Colonel Pendleton, Richmond.
Send eight hundred James's shot as soon as possible. Lieutenant W. A. Harris.
Telegram. Manassas, September 14, 1861.
To Colonel Pendleton, Richmond.
We are unable to fill requisitions for fixed twelve-pounder howitzers, shrapnel and
shell, or cartridges for James's or Archer's projectiles.
J. G. Barnwell,
Lieutenant and Ordnance- Officer.
f See p. 167. % Official Records, series i., vol. v. p. 830.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 59
" Dear Sir, — We are in very urgent straits for powder, which is
being required on all sides for the defence of the frontiers of Vir
ginia. During your absence the Secretary of State gave me an
order for five hundred barrels of rifle powder to be sent at once to
General Joseph E. Johnston, who made a pressing request for its
immediate transmission, but I learn that your chief of ordnance
has suspended the order. There are also seventy-five barrels of
cannon powder in the Bellona Arsenal which it would be very
important to send to General Magruder for the heavy guns sent
to Yorktown and Gloucester Point. Could you not do me the
favor to put this powder at my disposal ? I will settle for it on
any reasonable terms, and it shall not be used out of the State.
... I am told that you have four twelve-pounder bronze howit
zers not in use. General Johnston is constantly asking for how
itzers, and I will send them also to him if you will let me have
them." *
This was a few weeks after Colonel Pendleton's return to
Manassas. While he continued at work in Richmond the range
of his duties constantly widened as his efficiency became daily
more apparent. The confidence in his ability to comply with any
demand made upon him seems to have been almost unlimited.
" Head-quarters Army of the Potomac, September 27, 1861.
" Colonel, — The general commanding directs me to say that
he wishes you to get the men as well as the guns for Colonel
Stuart, as also the harness for the horses, and not to depend
upon the harness sent to Manassas. Men are wanted now for
several of the batteries, and Colonel Stuart has none to spare
for that purpose. " Respectfully, your obedient servant,
"Thomas G. Rhett,
"Acting Adjutant-General.
" Colonel William N. Pendleton,
"Artillery, Richmond."
Of his return to Manassas Colonel Pendleton wrote to his
daughter Rose from Fairfax Court-House, —
* Official Records, vol. v. p. 922.

160 MEMOIRS OF
"October ii, 1861.
"... Sandie and I came up to Manassas Saturday and on to
Fairfax Sunday morning. I could not preach that morning,
though it was allowed me to get to camp in time to attend the
closing service of a Methodist chaplain attached to Colonel
Cummings's regiment. In the afternoon I preached at General
Jackson's head-quarters. ... I am here now to take command
of the artillery camp. It will be close to General Johnston's
head-quarters, — about a mile and a half from General Jackson's
brigade, — and I shall be very busy getting things in order. . . .
Camp-life is getting more trying as it becomes cold. These
nights are very sharp in an open tent. The order now is to have
a large fire before the tent and to leave the front open all night.
The poor fellows who have but one blanket must find it chilly
enough. I sleep in General Jackson's tent on a camp-bed, which
is tolerably comfortable.
" I find that my shoes were not put up in my trunk ; they may
often be needed for a dry change when my feet get wet. Let
them be looked up, examined, and, if found defective, repaired.
Any pair of boots I have worth repairing had better be fixed
also, as such articles are very costly, and all will be of service."
" October 19.
"... I have now five artillery companies in the corps, en
camped just around my tent, having some six hundred men and
four hundred and fifty horses, with twenty-eight cannon. Sev
eral more will be here in a few days. It makes a very busy
scene. The battle we are looking for seems drawing nearer.
Yesterday afternoon we saw in the distance among the clouds
the enemy's balloon taking observations of our camps, etc."
To his sister-in-law, Miss A. R. Page, he wrote from Centre-
ville, October 22, —
"... You have heard, I suppose, that I have gotten the cap
taincy and quartermastership in my corps for John. He is much
needed, and will, I hope, come in a few days. It will give him
an immense amount of labor, but on that account he will rather
prefer the life, I reckon. He will, of course, belong to my staff,
and live with me. This will be doubly agreeable.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 161
" Camp-life, at all times a trial to one of my age and habits, is
peculiarly so in weather like this, so damp and chilly. Still, I
get along quite comfortably, all things considered, — sleep well,
have a good appetite, and am kept so far from sickness.
" On Sunday, for the first time, I had an opportunity to preach
to my new command. They were very attentive, morning and
afternoon. Good was, I trust, done. Lewis Coleman * is under
my command, and is very pleasant. His lieutenant, Jones, spoke
to me about joining the church."
His immunity from sickness did not continue very long. A
large number of the privates and officers were down with mea
sles, camp fever, and various other ailments incident to the
crowding into camp of men unused to exposure. A letter from
his son, written on November 3, informs his mother that "papa
has jaundice very badly." On the 5th, Colonel Pendleton wrote
himself, to relieve his wife's anxiety, on the same sheet which his
son had begun, —
" When Sandie had written this far, night before the last, he fell
to nodding. I was in bed, and noticing how quiet he was, looked
and found him fast asleep. To arouse him was the next thing,
of course. I then fell asleep myself, but, waking up after some
minutes, found him nodding again ; advised him to go to bed,
which he did. Since then he has been so busy he could not
write. Indeed, yesterday, under orders from the War Depart
ment in Richmond, General Jackson and his staff left here about
twelve, via Manassas, for Winchester. I was sorry to be thus
separated from them, but commit him and the rest to the same
guardian care of God which I endeavor to make my trust for
them as for myself here. I do not yet send for you to meet me
at Orange Court-House, as I at first intended, my purpose still
being to try fairly for a cure here. But I am beginning to have
my doubts about being adequately attended to here. Randolph
Pagef is "ght far °ff and has a great deal to do, and it is not
always practicable to get the most proper medicines. The reme
dies I have taken so far have not affected me much one way or
* Professor of Latin, University of Virginia. f Surgeon to the artillery.
11

1 62 MEMOIRS OF
another. I am as yellow as any white human being you ever
saw, — more like a Malayan than one of the European stock.
Still, although weakened and feeling good for nothing, I am not
seriously sick by comparison with what I so often experience.
On the whole, I have abundant reason to be thankful." " November 7.
"... Until two to-day I was in bed and really very sick, but it
was from the effect of medicine which I took early this morning.
Since dinner I have been more like my well self; had my horse
brought out and rode an hour and a half. The afternoon was
pleasant, the air delightful, and I felt like an uncaged bird.
The yellow has hardly abated any, but I feel so renovated I will
hope for certain relief within a few days. If to-morrow is bright,
I shall ride out early in the morning and be in the saddle most
of the day. It will do me a great deal of good I hope. My
camp needs my presence. Indeed, it is getting time to change
its position, and I mean in the morning to look for a good place
not far off."
His persistent devotion to his duties and the exposure and ex
ertion consequent upon it retarded his recovery, and he was again
very sick. His son-in-law, who had been, on General Jackson's
recommendation, commissioned major and assigned to the Thirty-
third Virginia Regiment, became very ill with camp fever about
this time and went on sick-furlough to Lexington. To Mrs. Lee
her father wrote, — " November 16.
"... Last night I wrote a hurried note to your mamma, telling
her that I had been quite sick again. To-night I have to tell how
much better I am. Although it has been quite cold and very
windy, I have ridden on horseback many hours and been in camp
all the rest of the day.
" I am exceedingly glad you were able to get to Mr. Lee and
that he could escape awhile from camp exposure. I knew he
needed it, and if my earnest advice will influence him he will see
that he has a good stock of health and strength before he ventures
within tent-walls this winter. What the Army of the Valley
may have to do I do not know. But if winter sets in soon,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 163
neither Yankee spite nor Southern spirit can suffice to get up
much of a campaign."

All during his own protracted indisposition he had been un
tiring in his care for the comfort and welfare of his men. The
captains were required to make reports of the number of blankets
their companies had. As in frequent instances the deficiency
was greater than could be supplied from their homes or by the
government, Colonel Pendleton resolved to try what he could
procure for them by personal appeal.
To the Episcopal congregations at Millwood and Berryville he
wrote, —
" Imagine what it must be to men accustomed to those home
comforts in which you still rejoice to pass these chilly nights
within tent-walls, covered by only one blanket ! to perform
guard or picket duty away from all shelter, with no more wrap
ping ! How much suffering must result from this exposure !
How many valuable lives may be sacrificed ! Now, however, we
have but the foretaste of frost ; presently winter will be here, with
its snow, ice, and piercing blasts. What, then, must be the fate
of your gallant defenders if more comfortable wrapping is not
furnished them ? Not only their fate, but that of the great cause
for which they are exposed ?
" Your inquiry at once is, What can be done ? This is the
answer. Give to the cause all the blankets you can spare. Some
households can spare only one, some several ; the aggregate will
be large. The plan generously proposed by some of devoting
their carpets to this purpose, though well worthy of trial in an
ultimate emergency, seems not now best. Because such wrapping
is at once too heavy for a soldier to carry and too unpliable to
keep him warm. Nor is any kind of quilting with cotton good.
Because when once moistened, as all covering in camp is often
likely to be, it is exceedingly difficult to dry. All the blankets,
therefore, you can, devote to the cause."
Officers shared also his care and attention. On Sunday night,
November 24, he writes, — •

164 MEMOIRS OF
"... Again I employ the evening of the Lord's day in writing
to you, and surely I have occasion in doing so to praise God for
His goodness and the mercies I enjoy. Twice have I been privi
leged to meet with the congregation in the Lord's house here, —
disfigured though it be with worse than foolish scribblings on the
walls, — and to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. And
now, while the pitiless snow-storm is pelting hundreds and thou
sands of good men and true in tents frail and cheerless, I am
sheltered in a good house, within a comfortable room. I finished
supper a half-hour ago, shared in part by one of our young
assistant surgeons, Dr. Perrin, of Alabama, — a very nice fellow,
whom I found so sick in his tent from taking cold that I insisted on
his sharing my room. It has perhaps saved him from a dreadful
attack, — likely, indeed, from the grave. He is now much better,
and will soon be well."
Four days later :
"... Lewis Coleman is now an inmate of my room and bed.
Yesterday afternoon I found him so sick that I insisted on his
coming to our room. He is really very sick. He is, as I have
mentioned before, a fine fellow and a capital officer. We are pretty
thick in one room, — not quite sixteen feet square, — Coleman, Dr.
Perrin, John, Willie, and myself. But it was right to shelter these
invalids. Tents won't do for sick men. They are bad enough at
this season for well ones."
Under this conviction he soon took steps to render his com
mand more comfortable. A few days later he says, —
"... I am having a hut encampment made for my corps a mile
and a half back of our present camp. It is in the woods, so that
logs are abundant. We shall also have plenty of firewood and be
sheltered a good deal from the wind by trees left standing on the
north side. It will be vastly more comfortable for the men even
in such rude apologies for houses than in tents, and much less
conducive to disease. We have, in fact, quite a number sick from
cold in various forms, fever, jaundice, pneumonia, etc. It is
doubtful whether these will be our winter-quarters, but, even if
we stay only a week or two, that much comfort will have been

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 165
secured and the men will have the advantage of cheerful work.
Sandie has probably written you that he has his commission as
first lieutenant and aide-de-camp. I am grieved to learn that
Edwin Lee continues so sick. Let him nurse himself until he
feels quite restored."
The number and apportionment of the artillery with the army
under General Johnston at this time is thus stated in a letter to a
friend :
"... It has required, as you in part know, a great deal of varied
care, labor, and responsibility to get up our artillery force to any
thing like dimensions for an encounter with the formidable array
preparing on the other side, and to secure anything like adequate
efficiency in officers and men so suddenly raised for service on
which so much may depend. Success nothing short of remark
able has attended these efforts. Every brigade of this army has
its own battery, — often of six pieces, occasionally of four, — besides
the reserve corps under Major Walton. And in addition to these
I have under my immediate charge, for drill and for action, the
large reserve force of nine batteries, numbering forty-four guns,
with several other batteries expected." *
To one of his daughters he describes his life at this time :
" We are up about sunrise daily, get breakfast in our room as
soon as Jackson f can have it ready, and then generally walk a
mile to my camp. There I discharge all the office business re
quiring my attention, such as issuing necessary orders for the day,
writing official letters, passing judgment upon applications of
various kinds, such as for leaves of absence, for supplies of this
or that which may be needed, etc. Then I ride out on some
field duty, inspecting breastworks, examining the country, etc.,
and now superintending the building of the log huts for my corps.
It will be quite a little city of cabins, with straight streets. The
boys call it ' New Centreville.' If this fine weather lasts a few
days longer we shall get right snugly sheltered from rain,
* See p. 168. ¦(¦ His servant.

1 66 MEMOIRS OF
frost, and biting blasts, and have our poor horses also under
shelter. " But it may very well be that by the time we get things ready
for so much of comfort that we shall have to dash off with all
speed to meet Lieutenant-General McClellan. That he will ven
ture here at this critical season I hardly think. He is too liable
to be caught in the trap of boggy roads, a deep snow, or a spell
of rain that may render next to impossible either his advance or
retreat. ... To return to my history of a day by this one as a
specimen. About twelve I rode to this new encampment, where
axes, hammers, etc., were enlivening the woods with their music.
It was four when my duties there were over. Then other duties
called me to the old camp. These over and my horse being
cared for, your Uncle John and I walked back to our lodgings,
it being dark when we reached our room.
" So our days pass. No great variety, no high excitement,
and very little to stimulate the intellect or stir the heart. You
see, then, what a special blessing it is to get letters from home
and to write in return. I have said nothing about dinner. To
day I took none. Sometimes we return for it to our room, some
times we share the viands of some friend, and sometimes we make
a fast of it. Near the new encampment, if McClellan does not
summon us away, I shall probably be quartered in an humble
road-side dwelling. If so, your mamma might possibly visit us
in the winter. If we are still threatened here I cannot expect to
get away for a long time."
McClellan did not come, but the uncertainty as to his move
ments continued, and Colonel Pendleton, feeling that he could
not ask for a furlough, made arrangements for his wife to visit
him. Her going was delayed by the death of her eldest brother,
Mr. Lucius Page.
On the last day of 1861 he received a letter from Bishop
Meade, who kept up a regular correspondence with him :
" Your letter was an acceptable Christmas gift. I have been
thinking for some time of writing to you about the very topics
of your letter. I fear much demoralization (in its proper sense)

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 167
from the war, though it may be that permanent good can only
result from a protracted struggle and much suffering on our part.
It is the Lord who is ordering all things for His glory, and we
must not only submit, but approve and prefer. . . . There is
a strong persuasion that our enemies will seek the possession of
our part of the valley, in order to build up the railroad and dams
which are so necessary to furnish supplies for Washington and
Baltimore. In order to do this they must occupy Winchester
and hold it during the war. Already they possess Romney with
an army of perhaps ten thousand troops. . . . May God preserve
you both in soul and body, and make you an instrument of much
good in your present position !
" Very affectionately yours in the Lord,
"W. Meade."

statement of guns, carriages, caissons, etc, ordered.
Talbott & Bro., thirty 6-pounder carriages ; no caissons. Ten will be completed in
a few days, and ten each three months till the order is finished.
P. Rham, fourteen 6-pounder carriages and caissons. Four of each delivered, four
will be ready in ten days, and the remaining six in three weeks.
J. R. Cato, three 6-pounder carriages and caissons.
I. & J. Van Pelt, twenty-five 6-pounder carriages and caissons.
Tappy & Lumsden, twenty-five 6-pounder carriages and caissons.
Tappy & Lumsden, five 24-pounder carriages.
Ettenger & Edmond, sixteen 6-pounder carriages and caissons. Deliveries of four
of each will be made every two weeks.
H. M. Smith, ten 6-pounder carriages and caissons.
B. F. Harris, six 6-pounder carriages and caissons.
Anderson & Co., twenty-four 12-pounder carriages and caissons.
P. Rham, six 12-pounder carriages and caissons. Completed in six weeks.
Rice & Wright, forty 24-pounder carriages and caissons.
Anderson & Co., sixty 24-pounder carriages and caissons ; no limbers.
GUNS.
Anderson & Co., twenty-four 12-pounder howitzers; forty-eight 3-inch iron rifled
guns ; sixty 6-pounder carriages and caissons ; twenty-four 6-pounder iron guns.
Noble Brothers & Co., six 6-pounder brass guns ; fifty 3-inch iron rifled guns.
Rice & Wright, forty 24-pounder howitzers.
J. L. Archer, forty 12-pounder howitzers.
F. B. Deane, Jr., & Son, forty 12-pounder howitzers.
J. L. Archer, eighty 3-inch iron rifled guns.

168 MEMOIRS OF
recapitulation.
6-pounder brass guns  6
6-pounder iron guns  24
3-inch iron rifled guns  178
12-pounder howitzers  104 ,I2
6-pounder carriages  219
6-pounder caissons  189
24-pounder carriages complete  45
24-pounder carriages ; no limbers  40
Richmond, August 17, 1861.
Talbott & Bro., Richmond.
J. R. Anderson & Co., Richmond.
Philip Rham, Richmond.
Ettenger & Edmond, Richmond.
H. M. Smith, Richmond.
Rice & Wright, Florence, Alabama.
J. L. Archer, Black Heth, Chesterfield, Virginia.
Noble Brothers & Co., Rome, Georgia.
I. & J. Van Pelt, Petersburg, Virginia.
Tappy & Lumsden, Petersburg, Virginia.
F. B. Deane, Jr., & Son, Lynchburg, Virginia.
B. F. Harris, Charlottesville, Virginia. HARNESS.
Messrs. Cottrell & Co., Richmond, unlimited order. Contracted through Major
Smith, New Orleans, four hundred sets for two horses.
The most perfect list of the distribution of this artillery is the Report of the Artil
lery in vol. v. of the Official Records, pp. 1029-1032 :
Kemper's battery, Virginia, to Bonham's brigade.
Jeff. Davis Artillery, Alabama, Captain Boudurant, attached to Early's brigade.
King William Artillery, Virginia, Captain Carter, to Rodes's brigade.
Wise Artillery, Virginia,  brigade.
Wilcox's brigade, Thomas's artillery.
Toomb's brigade, Blodget's battery.
Ewell's brigade, Loudoun Artillery, Virginia, Captain Rogers.
Dr. R. Jones's brigade, Fauquier Artillery, Virginia, Captain Stribling.
 brigade, Latham's artillery, Virginia.
Elzey's brigade, Baltimore Light Artillery, Maryland.
Trimble's brigade, Courtney's artillery, Virginia.
Taylor's brigade, Bowyer's artillery, Virginia.
 brigade, Staunton Artillery, Virginia.
Wigfall's brigade, detachment Reilly's artillery, North Carolina ; Rives's battery,
South Carolina.
Griffith's brigade, detachment Richmond howitzers.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 169
reserve artillery.
(Colonel Pendleton commanding.)
Ashland Artillery, Virginia, Captain Woolfolk.
Cocke's battery (Fluvanna Artillery), Virginia, Captain Ancell.
Morris Artillery, Virginia, Captain Coleman.
Sumter Artillery, South Carolina, Captain Cutts.
Powhatan Artillery, Virginia, Captain Dance.
Hamilton's battery, Georgia.
Holman's battery, Virginia.
Amherst Artillery, Virginia, Captain Kirkpatrick.
Lane's battery, Georgia. (Major Walton commanding.)
Washington Light Artillery Battalion, Louisiana.
French's brigade, Braxton's battery, Maryland Flying Artillery.
General Gamett's brigade, Rockbridge Battery, Captain McLaughlin.
Heavy batteries at Manassas, Acquia and Potomac Creeks; Cooke's battery,
Brooke's Station.

CHAPTER XXVI.
winter at CENTREVILLE  OPENING of THE SPRING CAMPAIGN.
The beginning of 1862 found Johnston's army lying in the
mud around Centreville watching and waiting for some move
ment on McClellan's part. As the weeks went on and he did
not advance, his intention to approach Richmond by some shorter
and -less fatiguing route passed from conjecture into certainty,
though as yet nothing indicated whether he would move by Fred
ericksburg, the York or the James River. This season of inac
tivity and suspense was full of weariness to the soldiers and of
anxiety and effort on the part of the generals.
In his particular department Colonel Pendleton was busy in
looking after the welfare and efficiency of the artillery and caring
for the moral good as well as the physical comfort of the men
under his charge. During the month of January he had the hap
piness of having his wife with him, in a private house near Cen
treville. Mrs. Pendleton was accompanied by her sister-in-law,
Mrs. John Page. So rare was the sight of a woman that when
the two ladies, with their negro maid, stepped out of the cars at
Manassas an Irishman near by exclaimed, " Lord ! if there ain't

170 MEMOIRS OF
a woman ; and there's another ! and, oh, Lord ! if there ain't a
nigger woman, too !" While Mrs. Pendleton remained at Cen
treville all the home correspondence devolved upon her. One
of the events of her visit was a day spent in camp and a dinner
given at artillery head-quarters. Of this she wrote, —
" Yesterday Betsey and I set off as soon as we could after
breakfast and walked on the slightly-frozen ground to your papa's
camp. Mr. Cameron on foot and Captain Cummings on horse
back were our esquires. We went across to the Warrenton pike,
getting over the fields in our way without wetting our feet. After
a short walk on the pike we found a stream so wide and mud so
deep that we hesitated to attempt to cross it. Just then a wagon
drove up, and we got in. It was one belonging to Radford's
regiment, going on picket. We rode till it was time to go in
from the turnpike ; the cabins are not more than one hundred
and fifty yards from it. The driver was from Botetourt ; I gave
him a pair of nice socks, which I had in my bag, and Betsey
gave him a handkerchief. He seemed much pleased ; said he
should stay in the army as long as it was possible to do anything
against the Yankees. This, I trust, will be found to be the spirit
of all the men when the time for re-enlistment comes. We had
your papa's cabin cleaned out, and laid down the pieces of carpet
which your aunt brought, and made it quite comfortable. The
dinner was in Lieutenant Barnwell's cabin, and as nice a meat
dinner as you need see ; for vegetables we had only dried apples
I brought from home and rice. We had fourteen persons to
dinner." . . .
Early in February, Colonel Pendleton, writing to Bishop
Meade with regard to securing a permanent supply for his
church in Lexington, said of the state of things round Centre
ville, —
" Everything is very quiet here. We are literally fast bound
in mud. This soil is terrible for motion in seasons like the
present. Our winter-quarters generally comfortable, so that the
sickness is less than might be expected. Our church at Centre
ville had to be reopened as a hospital for the men wounded at

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 171
Dianesville, and has been since necessarily closed as a place of
worship. I am having built in my own camp a rude chapel,
sixty feet by twenty-five. Though only one-quarter of the roof
is on, we had service there yesterday, — the floor lifting us out of
the mud, and the sides keeping out some wind. It was a great
privilege, as the two previous Sundays had been such I could
not have service at the door of my own cabin, where the men
had stood some Sundays before. Getting food and forage over
the roads is immense labor now. Yet we have hitherto ob
tained supplies as needed."
To his son, still later, —
" The reason of my allowing so long a time to pass without
writing to you is, a multitude of official details have crowded
upon me within the past two or three weeks. Of these, part re
lated to the re-enlistment and part grew out of certain reports
respecting the artillery force of this army, which General John
ston requested me to prepare under a call upon him from the
War Department.* One of these reports was of a rather deli
cate character, — viz., as to the relative merit, in my estimation,
of the artillery officers of this army. Being called upon for this,
I could not hesitate about it. Yet I would not voluntarily have
presented anything so unavoidably invidious, and even under
official request I could not but submit it with deference and
caution, making it as confidential as possible. Such data look, I
suppose, towards certain promotions in the artillery, provided for
by a recent act of our Congress. You ask about something of
that kind for myself. I know little more than you do. Bledsoe
wrote me that was one object of the act. I am little concerned
on the subject. If best, it will come in time, no doubt.
" My mind has been much more anxious about public affairs
than about private claims the past week or two. These successes
of the enemy f will probably give us a great deal of trouble, not
so much because of their direct as of their indirect bearing. . . .
Still, how the whole is to work we do not know. This, though,
* See p. 178.
f In Kentucky, at Forts Henry and Donelson, and Roanoke Island.

172 MEMOIRS OF
we are certified beyond all peradventure : our cause is as j ust as
ever, and as righteous as ever summoned men to a life-and-death
struggle. So that the straightforward path of duty is perfectly
plain." Early in March it became certain that McClellan was pre
paring for a forward movement, either by Fredericksburg or
the Peninsula.
Looking to such an emergency, the line of the Rappahannock
River had been fortified by General Johnston's orders, so as to
furnish a line of defence, when he was obliged to draw his army
back. That the time had now come for such a movement could
no longer be questioned, and all departments of the army were
ordered to reduce baggage, and be ready to march at speedy
notice. For the better mobilizing of the army, Colonel Pendleton
and his reserve corps was ordered to report temporarily to
General G. W. Smith, so as to move with his command. Gen
eral Johnston informed him at the same time that there was no
intention to place him, except for a brief period, under any of
his subordinate commanders.
On the morning of March 8 the division of General Smith,
with the reserve artillery, moved by the turnpike towards
Warrenton. Four days later, March 12, Colonel Pendleton
wrote to his wife, —
" Camp in the Woods, Eight Miles from Culpeper Court- House,
March 1 2, Wednesday morning, seven A.M.
". . . We broke up at our cabins on Saturday morning, but
did not really set out on our march until Sunday morning.
Then, instead of the happy Communion Sabbath I had hoped,
we moved off on the turnpike towards Gainesville, thence to
Warrenton. And all hands arrived there by ten p.m. I had all
arrangements made for forage, adjusted all the artillery, had
guards posted, made the men comfortable, and then went in to
Mr. Barten's.* They were exceedingly kind, gave us a good
supper, and afterwards a most delightful bed. Monday morning
it was quite rainy, but after a very early breakfast I sallied out,
* The Episcopal rector in Warrenton.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 73
and got all things ready for an early start. By eight we were
off towards Culpeper Court-House. The troops with us were
General G. W. Smith's division and General Longstreet's, with
several regiments of cavalry. At Warrenton General Longstreet
branched off for Culpeper Court-House, whither, as the first
point of rendezvous, we are all bound. General Hill had left
Leesburg two days before, and is also en route to join us via
Warrenton. Jackson takes the track towards Staunton or comes
this way, I don't know which. Monday we made only eight
miles, coming by the Fauquier Warm Sulphur Springs, — the
delay occurred at a weak bridge across the north branch of the
Rappahannock. General Smith feared it would not bear our
artillery. My judgment was different. I believed it strong
enough. We tried it, and got over safely, but with the loss of
several hours.
" Yesterday morning we started again, and reached here safely,
some ten miles, about sunset. The roads, of course, very muddy
and trying our teams very much. Still, we have made good
progress. Last night I slept in camp as snug and comfortable
as possible. ... It is possible the enemy may after a while press
down the valley. If they should threaten Lexington, it may
be well for you to take the family via Lynchburg to Hanover.
. . . We are all in fine spirits. My health was never better,
although when I set out I had a bad headache. Rumor reaches
me of my promotion ; Major Walton, of the Washington Ar
tillery, also being said to have received the same. If the latter
is true I am glad, because there is some jealousy on the part of
those extreme Southerners. ... I find spiritual communion
with heaven very possible and very precious amid these active
scenes."

From Orange Court-House, still farther back, he wrote on
March 18, —

"... I had hoped to worship with them at Culpeper and
preach for Mr. Cole on Sunday, but orders came for a march
early that morning, so we had to put off through the mud, and
a weary way we had. Still, on the whole, we got on pretty well.

174 MEMOIRS OF
Slaughter * met me on the road, accompanied me to the spot
selected for our camp that night, and, after I had arranged every
thing for the comfort of men and horses, took me to his house,
three-quarters of a mile distant. By daylight he came into my
room to report ' bad news.' My horse had been stolen out of
his stable by some marauding soldiers. He lent me one. I
rode to camp, got one from a battery, and proceeded on the
march. About noon Dr. Perrin, riding ahead, saw the horse in
the service of three or four soldiers, who had packed on it their
knapsacks, etc. Of course they gave up the animal and will be
duly punished. I will try to have it as gentle a penalty as may
consist with discipline."
Johnston's army lay around Orange Court-House for two
weeks. The rest was good for men and horses, preparing them
for the toilsome marches before them.
Colonel Pendleton's letters at this time are full of interest,
speaking not only of military matters, but of other subjects
more personal and private. After the news of Kernstown he
wrote, —
". . . Thank God for the safety of Sandie and Edwin Lee and
others of our dear ones in the late fight under Jackson. They
seem to have made a most effective fight. The Yankees suffered
much. I should be better satisfied if Jackson had a larger force,
but he will give a good account of himself in any event. . . .
You ask what I think of the safety of Lexington. At present it
seems to me as secure as any spot in the State. By and by
something may turn up to render it otherwise. But I do not
anticipate any danger of the enemy getting so far into the State
at this time."
A letter from Rev. Dr. Minnegerode, of St. Paul's, Richmond,
written at this time, informed Colonel Pendleton of Bishop Meade's
extreme illness :
" Bishop Meade is very sick : it will grieve you to hear this.
He has a wretched cold and deep-seated cough and looks very
* Rev. Dr. Philip Slaughter.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 75
feeble, with bad nights, loss of appetite, etc. His lion's heart
keeps him up, and his interest in our great contest. He is
anxious to hear about his grandson, and wants you to write to
him at once."
Immediately after this came the tidings of the bishop's death
in Richmond. Of this — a real personal sorrow to him — Colonel
Pendleton wrote to his wife, —
". . . And dear, dear Bishop Meade has been taken to his
great reward 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, for the grace granted
him, and for the bright example he has left us. Our dear State
and country are called to suffer, and will probably have to suffer
more deeply still. But precious is the privilege vouchsafed
them of numbering among their citizens such characters as
Bishop Meade. The world has rarely produced his equal.
Take him for all in all, I have never seen and expect never to
see his like. Though I feel it to the bottom of my heart, I do
not misgive the precious cause of Christ he so lived to advance,
nor the cause of our imperilled country he so loyally cherished.
" Perhaps I ought not to say so strongly I have no misgiving
about the country. Threatened as we are, and with such enor
mous odds against us, I cannot help seeing that if the Lord help
us not mightily we are in great danger of being put under the
yoke by Yankee taskmasters. . . . Disaster seems crowding upon
us on all sides. Nothing, however, decisive has yet appeared, and
we may well trust in God and nerve ourselves to the closer contest
that is coming. Vigor in our authorities and fidelity on the part
of our people may yet be blessed to the establishment of our
birthright of independence. You all at home and we in the
field must cast our care upon Him who careth for us. ... I
have to-night read the last Southern Churchman. It will tell you
all about dear Bishop Meade. What a true, faithful, blessed man
he was ! Great by nature, good by grace, and with them com
bined wonderful. I hardlyknow whether I most grieve or re
joice over him. Perhaps the predominant feeling is gratitude
for all that he was and all that he did. I feel some sadness that
I could not be with him ; that my present obligations seemed to
cut me off from the special Christian Communion at his grave,

176 MEMOIRS OF
etc. But his own expressions even at the last seem to sanction,
as they had done before, my peculiar position in this great
struggle. How thankful I am it was allowed me to be thrown
into intimate relations with him, to catch, as I trust, something
of his spirit and to receive some impress from his strong and
holy character ! . . . I have to-night written to Aunt Judy, and
having ridden thirty miles to-day, and having to get up and go
to camp early in the morning, it may not be prudent for me to
sit up much longer. Heaven favoring us with a few days of
sunshine, our roads will be much better. Work away at the
garden, my love. That was a noble trait of the dear bishop to
the last, to go on with usual matters as if there were to be no
great change. . . . My staff yesterday made me a present of a
very fine horse. I am really much obliged to them. I had
some days ago offered two hundred and fifty dollars for a horse,
but could not get it. They found another of excellent gait and
well conditioned, which they yesterday bought and presented to
me. The kind regard thus evinced claims my gratitude to God
as well as to them."
From Louisa Court-House, April 11, he wrote, —
". . . On Sunday afternoon last we were suddenly ordered to
march towards Fredericksburg. I had preached that morning
to my own command in the open air, the day being delightful.
That night my batteries were on the road all night. I got
shelter and rest on a sofa for some three hours ; by daylight we
moved on, and by three in the afternoon, after making some
fifteen miles, were halted, it being found that the report of the
enemy in force in that direction was incorrect. It had at that
hour begun to rain, — a cold, sleety rain, — and we had to bivouac
without tents for the men, and pass the night in a most uncom
fortable fix. Next morning, in a pouring rain, we were ordered
to retrace our steps. I was in the storm all day without covering
save my old great-coat, but it kept me dry, immense as was the
fall of water. Some miles below Orange Court-House we were
ordered to turn aside towards this place, and after a dreadful
day's march through mud, and across swollen streams and
gullied hills, we stopped for the night, again under pouring rain

WLLLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. J 77
and without shelter. A greater difficulty than all being to get
provender for our seven hundred and fifty horses. Still, by great
energy we got on pretty well. The next morning, Wednesday,
we started again in, if possible, a worse rain, and pressed along
through perhaps the worst roads I ever had to travel. Yester
day, by dint of untiring energy, we reached this point at two
o'clock. " I found here two things to mention : first, a telegram from
General Lee directing me to march my command to Richmond
at once, and there get orders ; and, second, a commission for me
as ' Brigadier-General of Artillery,' dated March 26. So that is
now my strange title. It is very far from elating me. I feel
deeply the responsibility, and can only ask grace, wisdom, and
strength to serve the country according to God's will, and for
His glory, in so important a sphere.
" I thought it best, and General Longstreet, who is also on
the march for Richmond, concurred in the view, to let my men
and horses have a day's rest to-day. To-morrow (D. V.) we
start early on the next laborious march, for the roads are terrible.
We go expecting the great conflict where McClellan seems to
intend it, either in the Peninsula or in North Carolina. Write to
me in Richmond to General Lee's care. I have not heard for a
long time, but trust you all to the gracious keeping of God. His
peace is much with me. Write to Sandie for me, — I don't know
where to direct. May the Almighty shield him !"
The commission as brigadier-general was sent to Colonel
Pendleton with the following autograph note from General
Longstreet : "Louisa Court-House, April 10, 1862.
" My dear General, — I hoped to find you at my room on
my return, that I might have the pleasure to hand you the
enclosed commission as brigadier-general. Allow me to con
gratulate you, and wish you great good fortune and success."
On the same day, April 10, Sandie Pendleton wrote to his
father from Rude's, near Mount Jackson, Shenandoah County :

178 MEMOIRS OF
" My beloved Father, — The work of the day is over, and
I can put off no longer, — allow me, my dear sir, to take your
hand, and with a hearty, affectionate, filial shake, to congratu
late you on your brigadier's commission. I am all the more
pleased at being able to do this because of the certainty that no
honor which has been conferred by the President has been better
deserved or will be more prized, and the knowledge that what
ever duties the new position may impose, they will all be faith
fully discharged. And I assure you that the announcement has
been received by all here with the liveliest satisfaction. General
Jackson desired me to give you his most cordial congratulations
and love. . . . You have heard all about our fight at Kernstown
from the press and my letters to mamma. It was made, General
Jackson says, under orders to keep Banks from moving over the
Ridge, and bring back any force that might have gone. And
we accomplished it, for the whole force is before us now, at
Edinburg, six miles below here, and has been for ten days. Our
army is increasing rapidly, and is in fine spirits.
"We have just gotten yesterday's papers, and while rejoicing
over our victory are saddened and solemnized by the death of
the great and good A. S. Johnston. And are all in raptures
over President Davis's message. How nobly he stands forth in
that paper, — the Christian, the patriot, the friend ! May God
grant us success elsewhere !"

LETTER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO GENERAL J. E. JOHNSTON RE
LATING TO PROMOTIONS IN THE ARTILLERY SERVICE.
Richmond, Virginia. January 27, 1862.
General Joseph E. Johnston,
Commanding Department of Northern Virginia, Centreville, Virginia.
Sir, — Congress has provided by law for the appointment of field-officers of artillery
in the provisional army in proportion to the number of guns in each command. You
are respectfully requested to report as early as convenient the number of guns in each
of the three armies under your command, and a list of the artillery officers in each
army in the order of their merit, so as to assist the President in doing justice to your
meritorious subordinates by proper promotion. It would be agreeable to us to have a
like list prepared separately by the commanders of each of the three armies in relation

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 79
to the officers under his command, so as to compare the estimates made of their
respective merits, and thus increase the probability of doing exact justice to all.
Your obedient servant,
J. P. Benjamin,
Secretary of War.*
Act of Confederate Congress referred to above :
An Act
To Authorize the Appointment of Officers of Artillery in the Provisional Army and
Volunteer Corps.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the President be,
and is hereby authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of Congress,
in the provisional army and in the volunteer corps, officers of artillery, above the rank
of captain, without reference to the number of batteries under the actual command of
the officers so appointed, not to exceed in number, however, one brigadier-general for
every eighty guns, one colonel for forty guns, one lieutenant-colonel for every twenty-
four guns, and one major for every sixteen guns.
Approved January 22,1 862.

CHAPTER XXVII.
TO THE PENINSULA AND BACK AGAIN.
From the neighborhood of Richmond General Pendleton
wrote on the 15th of April. The march from Louisa Court-
House had taken him directly by the " Rugswamp" gate, and very
near many of his friends and relatives ; but under the imperative
orders to come with all speed to Richmond, he did not feel him
self at liberty to diverge from the direct road, even to visit his
old aunt, Mrs. Judith Nelson, — then upwards of eighty years old,
— at her hospitable home, " Oakland," in Hanover County.
" My letter from Louisa Court-House will, I hope, have
reached you and informed you of our march this way. ... By
two, Sunday, we reached our camping-ground, some six miles
from Richmond, on the Brook turnpike, and Mr. John Stewart
most kindly tendered to my staff and myself the hospitalities of
his house. Yesterday morning we rode into the city, and I saw
* Official Records, vol. v. p. 1049.

180 MEMOIRS OF
Generals Lee, Johnston, etc., but received no orders, so we re
main for the present. I hope to get a letter from you to-day. It
will be a precious treat. I have not heard for about a fortnight.
But that I trust you all to the goodness of our Heavenly Father
I should be anxious. . . . Met Dr. Minnegerode on the street
yesterday. He is to have service at twelve to-day, and asked me
to preach for him. I promised, and will do the best I can,
though having no adequate time for preparation. . . . You wish
to know the state of my mind in prospect of the bloody conflict
impending. Of course I feel the hazard, but have very little
shrinking. God can cover my head as He has done before. If
He sees fit to have my days cut short and your hearts smitten by
such an affliction, He can make it work for good to us all, and
will, I am persuaded. . . . About yourselves : in case of a great
reverse to our arms, rendering any residence in Virginia insecure,
I would say, remain at home as long as it seems reasonably safe.
If you find the judicious and strong-hearted around you becom
ing satisfied that Lexington is an unsafe abode, get to Lynch
burg, and then over to Danville in the best way that you can.
From there it would be practicable to find a safe nook some
where in the mountains of North Carolina. I hope to be able
to send you some two hundred dollars or more by the end of
the month. All this to meet a contingency ; I don't expect any
such result. Keep a stout heart, trusting in God."
On the corner of this letter is written in pencil, —
" We march down to the Peninsula to-morrow."
The details of the march to Yorktown are simply the monot
onous trudging day after day through mud and sand, till men
and beasts were wearied out. Once opposite McClellan, the sol
diers had a brief resting spell, while the anxieties and responsi
bilities of the generals became daily more oppressive. General
Pendleton's letters again give graphic accounts of the state of
military affairs :
" Artillery Camp, near Lebanon Church, April 23, 1862.
". . . Under request from General Johnston, I visited York
yesterday for the purpose of judging what artillery arrangements

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. l8l
should be made there, in addition to those already provided.
General Hill, formerly of Washington College, is in command
there. My instructions were to confer with him and learn his
views as well as form my own. We went together round the
works, and examined the locality in general. It is wholly
changed from what you knew in childhood: cut all to pieces
with ditches, embankments, rifle-pits, etc., etc., and with heavy
cannon bristling all over, — the old redoubts, etc., almost entirely
obliterated. The old house * still stands, — used as hospital for
the post. This morning I am going again to General Johnston,
whose head-quarters are about a mile from my camp, to report
the result of my observations yesterday, and afterwards shall
visit some other parts of our line to see what else may be done
in my department. As a general thing, there is little or no op
portunity for artillery in this region. Still, we must look out for
what we can do in an emergency."
A week later he wrote again, —
". . . It looks very much as if we should have to get back
nearer to Richmond before having any chance of a land battle.
On the water, or anywhere near enough to it to give scope to
their heavily-armed vessels, we have no way of meeting them on
terms that admit of success to us. Their large rifle-cannon so
far out-shoot anything we have, at least in sufficient abundance,
that we cannot reply to them with any effect. Some of the
vessels off Yorktown throw cannon-bolts of near one hundred
pounds between three and four miles, whereas our best rifle-
cannon cannot reach them at three miles. We had a rumor
yesterday that Jackson uniting with Ewell had fallen on Banks
and beaten him badly. I trust it is so. Though about our dear
ones there I feel a good deal o anxiety. . . . My health is per
fectly good. Our fare very slim, but enough to keep up strength.
. . . By the way, I had service on Sunday afternoon, — a good
congregation and a delightful time. Good was, I trust, done."
Not only was McClellan's army greatly in excess of General
Johnston's, and his artillery far superior in weight and range, but
* General Nelson's house, Mrs. Pendleton's birthplace.

1 82 MEMOIRS OF
it became evident that, taking advantage of the water communi
cation under his control, he intended moving up York River
and attacking Richmond from the direction of West Point.
General Johnston was therefore under the necessity of with
drawing his forces with all haste from the Peninsula to mass
them near Richmond.
On the 3d of May the retrograde movement began. On the
4th McClellan telegraphed to Secretary Stanton, " Yorktown is
in our possession." It was impossible for the Confederates to
remove the heavy guns from the defences at York, and they
fell into the enemy's hands. A sharp skirmish took place be
tween the Federal cavalry and Johnston's rear on the afternoon
of the 4th. This was followed by a considerable fight on the
5th, at Williamsburg, between the Confederate rear-guard under
Major-General Longstreet and the division of the Federals un
der General Hancock. Of this action General Johnston says,
" We fought for no other purpose than to hold the ground long
enough to enable our baggage-trains to get out of the way of
the troops. This object was accomplished without difficulty."*
Of the movement of the army and the fight at Williamsburg,
General Pendleton wrote, —
" Four Miles from New Kent Court-House,
Towards Richmond, May 8.
". . . Friday we began to fall back, a general evacuation of
that line being determined on, — very wisely, as I think. I was
sent to Williamsburg with my command, and reached there by
sunset that day. We were to have moved on for New Kent Court-
House next morning, but unlooked-for delays occurred in some
movements, so that the general operation by the army was de
ferred till Friday night, and we remained in Williamsburg all day
Saturday. Sunday morning General Johnston reached there,
and most of the troops were on the way. He therefore directed
me to proceed some twelve or fourteen miles. I did so, and by
the evening, when we encamped at Hickory Neck church, we
heard that the enemy had come upon the rear-guard left in
Williamsburg, and had been gallantly repulsed. Monday morning
* " Narrative,1' p. 124.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 83
a division of the army reached me, and again under orders I
moved on through a drenching rain and terrible roads, reaching
a little place called Barhamsville. There we learned of a fight
again, all day Monday, between a pretty strong force of ours
under General Longstreet and a large body of the enemy at
Williamsburg, — the enemy being again driven off, and losing to us
some ten pieces of artillery and several hundred prisoners. Our
own loss, too, was heavy. Williams Wickham was painfully, we
hope not fatally, wounded. Of course General Johnston that
night carried on his plan of withdrawing his forces. And, as the
roads did not admit of hauling the wounded, he was obliged to
leave most of them in Williamsburg.
" This the enemy will claim as a victory, but it was a real and
important success on our part. Tuesday we remained at Bar
hamsville awaiting the coming up of the troops, as it was not safe
to have them far apart, and we found the Yankees were landing
some four miles from us on York River. Yesterday the troops
were so far up that we were ordered on to New Kent Court-
House, — a division going towards the river to attack the Yankee
force there. We heard the firing as we marched. It was only a
skirmish. The Yankees ran back under the shelter of their
gunboats : some fifty prisoners taken and a number of them
also killed. Our loss trifling. I did not lie down till one, but
rested sweetly on my camp-bed. To-day we have gotten this
far, and now most of the army is up. We hear that the Yankees
are pressing close on." . . . " Near Chickahominy, May 10.
". . . We have been striving to get out of the Peninsula trap,
and have so far succeeded. All the army is near here." . . .
" May 12.
"... I trust my letters reach you more regularly than yours
do me. None from home of later date than April 26. I fear it
is owing to hinderance on the mail line towards Staunton;
though, thank God, Jackson has been favored with a victory
beyond the valley, which will, I hope, compel the Yankee force
between Staunton and Winchester to take the back track. For
ourselves, we are all the time under arms expecting a battle.
But thus far, as to the army in general, the fight comes not

1 84 MEMOIRS OF
The affairs which have occurred between portions of it and
various bodies of McClellan's host have resulted in defeat to the
latter, and must, I suppose, tend to depress the spirit of his
troops. . . . Day before yesterday I was requested to march
from my camp near Chickahominy bridge, a few miles down, so
as to be within supporting distance where a fight might take
place. We accordingly came to this point, and kept line-of-
battle order all that afternoon, the enemy being understood to be
advancing. Nothing, however, came of it. We lodged quietly
that night and kept the Sabbath rest yesterday. I had, more
over, the privilege of preaching at eleven to the largest congre
gation beyond comparison I ever addressed, — perhaps the largest
I ever saw, — on the fact mentioned in Acts v., near the close,
that the apostles, when beaten, etc., ' rejoiced that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ.' I
never saw a more attentive congregation. The Lord was with
us, I trust, and the services not in vain. The day passed hap
pily, and was closed by a sort of family worship for my staff. . . .
Dear Sandie and Edwin Lee I have not mentioned in connection
with Jackson's late fight, but from the published lists of killed
and wounded I am encouraged to hope they are both uninjured,
and for this my thanks have gone up to heaven. John is pro
moted, — made major. I have asked for his late place for W'm
Meade." " Near Richmond, May 25, 1862.
". . . Rainy and disagreeable as it was yesterday, I had to
be out most of the day substituting my own energy for some
body else's that ought to have been exercised in getting ready
for action the redoubts around Richmond. These are very well
made and strong, but they are not ready, needing a good deal
of work in adjusting platforms, mounting guns, etc. Generals
Johnston and Smith asked me to take the supervision, because,
as they said, I have the energetic industry requisite. You ask
about my duties as brigadier-general of artillery. Besides all I
had as colonel, I have now general responsibilities as the chief
artillery officer of the Confederacy. This matter of the redoubts
is an instance ; then there are questions from the whole artillery
referred to me, so that I have pretty full employment. . . . Nine

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 85
more batteries have reported to me, so that I have now nineteen
with some eighty-odd guns. They will make some noise in a
battle if nothing more. Things look towards a great fight in a
day or two."
The battle of Seven Pines was fought May 31. A heavy rain
the day before had flooded the Chickahominy and its tributaries,
and turned the country around into a marsh. This rendered the
moving and marching difficult ; but had General Johnston's plan
of action been promptly carried out, the Federal force south of
the Chickahominy might have been destroyed before additional
troops could have been brought to it across the swollen streams.
Unexpected delays, however, in the attack gave time for the
bringing over of reinforcements and rendered the engagement in
decisive. General Johnston was wounded and disabled late in the
evening of the 31st. Fighting was renewed the next morning,
June 1, but with no definite result, and both armies claimed the
victory. Of this battle General Pendleton wrote, June 3, —
". . . Two days ago we had a hopeful prospect of dealing the
Yankee invaders here a heavy blow, but it proved less stunning
than we intended. The flood in the Chickahominy was not
great enough to prevent their crossing pretty freely. . . . The
success, however, was very decided. Several batteries were cap
tured, as were many stores in the camp from which the enemy
was expelled. I had no part in the affair beyond some general
arrangements for the artillery. And, in fact, such is the char
acter of the ground through the greater part of the circuit about
Richmond that field-artillery promises very little. This consti
tutes a very serious impediment in our way. For while the
Yankees creep up along the York River Railroad a yard or two
at a time, and plant heavy guns in position so as to bang away
at our troops, we cannot fairly operate against them with our
movable field-pieces. ... In the conflict the other day we lost
several good officers. Indeed, our men suffered, I fear, more
than the Yankees, — the reason being that we charged their
works and drove them out. Nothing important was gained by
us. General Johnston received a wound, which disables him for
the present, and General Lee is in command."

1 86 MEMOIRS OF
It was not until after Seven Pines that General Pendleton had
leisure to fill up his staff as brigadier-general. His nephew,
Dudley D. Pendleton, became his adjutant-general, and George
Peterkin,* son of a beloved clerical brother, his aide-de-camp.
His original quartermasters, commissary, ordnance, and medical
officers, Major John Page, Captain William Meade, Major B. L.
Wolffe, Major John G. Barnwell, and Dr. I. Randolph Page, were
retained. To these were added as inspector Edward P. Dan-
dridge, and two volunteer aides, Charles Hatcher, of Richmond,
and Thomas M. Randolph, of Clarke County, Virginia.
Writing to Mr. Peterkin — at the time a private in Company
" F" — from Richmond of his appointment, General Pendleton
says, —
" There has been some hard fighting here, and we expect a
great deal more. McClellan wants to creep up inch by inch
with spade and big gun. We must try to foil him, but the
problem is difficult. God will, I trust, help and deliver us. He
has blessed General Jackson and his army."
The spring of 1862 had been a season of anxiety and appre
hension to General Pendleton's family in Lexington. War, with
its dangers, alarms, and privations, was still too new for the
household, composed of women and children, to have learned
thoroughly the patient fortitude and brave submission which
afterwards characterized the women of the South. Not to be
cut off from their dear ones in the army and left in the hands of
the invaders was then the dominant purpose. When Jackson, in
April, turned aside from the Federal front, and marching east
ward, encamped his forces in Swift Run Gap in the Blue Ridge,
the whole Shenandoah Valley was stricken with sudden panic.
Fugitives from Staunton carried the report to Lexington that
the whole region was abandoned by the Confederates, and that
the Yankees were pressing forward to occupy it. Mrs. Pendleton
decided to take her family to Lynchburg with all speed, and
thence in whatever direction might seem best. While the younger
ones packed up for removal, she and her daughter, Mrs. Lee,
* Bishop of West Virginia.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 87
went hither and thither in the pouring rain seeking means of
transportation. The heavy and incessant rains had swollen
James River and broken the canal, the only regular route of
travel. The roads were almost impassable, and the owners of
stages, wagons, and carriages refused to send away their horses
and vehicles when no one knew what tidings the next hour
might bring. Compelled thus to await as best they might the
coming of the enemy, or the relief of their fears, all thought of
leaving their home was relinquished, and never again entertained
during the war. Instead of this, the parsonage became a haven
of safety and rest to many a weary refugee and wounded soldier.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
DEFENCE OF RICHMOND  SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES.
The weeks succeeding the severe check of his advance in the
battle of Seven Pines were employed by McClellan in erecting
powerful earthworks and planting heavy guns to protect the
cautious approach of his army to the immediate vicinity of Rich
mond. This gave General Lee time to increase and strengthen
the very inadequate defences of the city and to bring all available
reinforcements to his army for the impending struggle. June 2,
the day after taking command, General Lee sent for General
Pendleton and requested him to continue chief of artillery, and
to make every effort to bring that arm of the service up to the
fullest possible efficiency.* Of the impression made by his old
comrade upon him, and of the increased activity in the prepara
tions to meet and foil the Federal designs upon Richmond,
General Pendleton wrote, — "June 4, 1862.
" I liked very much General Lee's tone and bearing in the con
ference I had with him evening before last. His head seems
clear and his heart strong. Few men have ever borne a greater
weight than that which now rests upon his shoulders. Of course
* See p. 198.

1 88 MEMOIRS OF
we must contemplate the possibility of our eventually failing in
the difficult task here. It may not prove practicable for our
army to accomplish the double object of protecting Richmond
and beating McClellan. If this be concluded, and we have to
make choice between giving up Richmond and giving McClellan
great advantage over us, perhaps it may be the dictate of wisdom
to give up the capital for a while, that we may secure a good
chance for whipping the Yankee army and striking some other
heavy blows. You must not, therefore, lose heart should any
thing of this kind happen. I have not the slightest intimation
that it is meditated by anybody ; it is the suggestion of my own
mind. Looking at the conditions of the case as I do, I cannot
close my eyes to the possibilities.
" All day yesterday I was in the saddle — from seven a.m. to
six p.m. — reconnoitring the country and seeing what arrange
ments could be made for artillery operations. I have divided my
corps into three battalions, — one under Colonel Cutts, another
under Major Richardson, and the third under Major William
Nelson,* of Oakland. They are camped at different places and
I supervise them all. Besides this, I have still a good deal to do
superintending the armament of the fortifications and conferring
with the chief artillery officers of the several divisions of the
army respecting the adjustments of their several commands." " June 6.
" Our own movements and those of the enemy here are to a
great extent hindered by the extreme wet. More water on the
earth I have hardly ever seen than now, and the soil around
Richmond is of a character rendered peculiarly miry after such
rains. Horses and riders are often in danger of becoming in
volved in some slough beyond extrication in the fields and swamps
all around the city, and as for carriages of any kind, only here
and there can they get along. Artillery is with difficulty moved
at all, and by no possibility can it be manoeuvred to any extent
on a battle-field anywhere near. Still, more or less firing goes
on every day between some batteries the enemy have in position
and certain of ours also placed where they may occasionally pop
at the enemy. In this sort of random skirmishing I take no part.
* His cousin, school-mate, and beloved friend.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 89
My work is superintending such preparations of the general artil
lery force as may make it most effective in an extended fight and
commanding my own reserve corps. I am under more than usual
anxiety for our gallant general and army near Winchester, and for
our dear ones with them. Their exploits have really been glori
ous. With breathless eagerness shall I await the next tidings
from them. . . .
"Your mamma's letter of June 1, with Sandie's of the 26th
ult, have reached me. What a happiness it would be to me to
be permitted, without anxiety, to taste the sweets of my own
dear home ! Everything there — in house, yard, and garden — is,
I well know, delightful. In thought, however, I can enjoy it,
even though denied the privilege of personal presence." " June 1 1 .
"You know, I suppose, much more of Jackson's continued
successes against Fremont, Shields, etc., than I do. I almost
dread to hear lest grief should come with the particulars of
victory. Still, look up and commit all to infinite wisdom and
goodness. . . . Everything is getting enormously high in Rich
mond, — bacon sixty- cents a pound ! butter from one dollar
to three dollars a pound ! etc. If we don't fight soon the peo
ple will have to decamp for subsistence. The army seems to
be pretty well fed. . . . On Sunday I had service three several
times, — at nine, with Cutts's battalion of my corps, near my
head-quarters ; at half-past ten, with William Nelson's, more than
a mile north of this ; at twelve, with Major Richardson's, a mile
and a half west of William Nelson's. How about our church in
Lexington ? Any chance for services at any time ? How I
would delight to discharge my proper duties there again ! And
how I long for you, and home, and all there !" "June 17, 1862.
" Early this Tuesday morning I write, after having finished my
devotions, but before the rest are ready for breakfast. Three of
your letters have reached me. Thanks to our Heavenly Father
for all the comforts you still enjoy. Dear Sandie and Edwin
Lee and Everard Meade and Mr. Allen are also safe thus far
through all the conflicts. Sandie, I learned last night, had a
narrow escape in one of the battles, a shell passing so close as to

19° MEMOIRS OF
stun him for a few moments. This should remind us more dis
tinctly of the exposure and the special protection. . . . You ask
me to tell you all I do. This is scarcely possible where there
are so many things to be attended to. I rise very near sunrise,
having first spent a good long while in silent meditation and
prayer in bed. I then dress as quickly as possible, fix my bed,
and arrange such little personal matters for the day ; then read
my psalms and chapters, and by that time breakfast is ready.
Immediately after, I sign side-leaves, discharges, passes, etc., and
issue such orders as are then needed for the day. Such duties
being attended to, I ride in some direction, seeing that the bat
teries are rightly adjusted or calling to confer with some one or
other of the generals about matters pertaining to my special
service. After dinner one kind of business, then another, claims
attention, and so night finds me pretty tired. Soon after nine I
have prayers, and we all get to bed and are asleep in a marvel
lously short time. I have a nice military family, — not very small.
" On Saturday, as William Nelson had some of my batteries
on picket duty in the extreme front, I rode there and went to the
outer verge, where we could see the Yankees close by and in
full view. They might have shot at us twenty times, but some
how there was no firing. I wanted the men to feel that I would
not put them where I was not willing to go myself. Sunday I
preached to Colonel Cutts's battalion at nine, and then rode into
town and preached for Peterkin. Good was, I trust, done. In
the afternoon I was to hold service with Lieutenant-Colonel
Coleman's command, but a rain prevented. . . . The people in
Richmond seem to feel nearly as safe as if the Yankee army
were a thousand miles away. A good deal of this quiet and
sense of security results from the spirited actions anfl brilliant
successes of General Jackson and his little army." " June 1 9.
"... The tedious duty*to which I referred just now was in
specting a number of heavy-artillery companies in the different
redoubts around Richmond, to ascertain which of them ought to
be retained in commission and which broken up, their officers
reduced to the ranks, and their men distributed among other
companies. The Secretary of War requested me to preside in
the needful but thankless work, and I have been at it all day.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 19I
To-morrow I have to be engaged in a similar duty with some
raw light-artillery companies. If I can break up four or five of
these light-artillery companies, men enough will be distributable
to fill up most of the veteran companies whose ranks have been
thinned by the severities of long and arduous service. ... It is
now, my daughter, five o'clock in the morning. I am refreshed
with sleep and have spent a good while — ever since early dawn —
in meditation and prayer. Instead of getting up to write, I prefer
for this time sitting up in my camp-cot and finishing my letter.
... I had a laborious day yesterday. After needful public duty
in the early morning, I held service and preached to a part of
my command, half a mile off, from nine to half-past ten ; congre
gation large and attentive. That service over, I rode to the Old
Church, on Church Hill, and preached for Dr. Norwood. There,
too, freedom was given me, and the people were very attentive.
After dinner I rode to William Nelson's camp and officiated for
that battalion, bringing the day to near sunset. Hardly anybody
in the State preached to more people than it was my privilege to
do. It is good for me, — I trust it is for others, — for me thus to
exercise my sacred calling while occupying this strange position.
Soldiers come to hear me much more freely than they seem to do
the chaplains.
" Sandie has been promoted by General Jackson's special re
quest ; is now a captain. He has been an extravagant dog about
his horses. He must try and take better care. Mine has very
hard service, and yet I keep him in good condition."
Meantime, General Lee's plans had been maturing for the great
struggle. Jackson's rapid movements and brilliant successes
against Milroy, Banks, Fremont, and Shields in the valley had
so alarmed those generals and the government in Washington,
that any intention to send them to the aid of McClellan was
abandoned. McDowell, also, instead of being sent from Freder
icksburg to reinforce the Federal army before Richmond, had
been ordered to Front Royal to the assistance of Banks, and was
kept for the protection of Washington with his troops, some at
Fredericksburg, others in the valley. To increase the appre
hension of Jackson's prowess and advance upon the Federal
capital, Whiting's division had been sent from Richmond to

192 MEMOIRS OF
the valley, its numbers being greatly exaggerated and its move
ments chronicled in the Richmond papers. Arriving at Staunton
and reporting to General Jackson, General Whiting was, to his
surprise, ordered to return to Gordonsville. Jackson put his
whole army in motion for the same point, enjoining silence and
secrecy upon the whole command, as they marched to co-operate
with Lee in the attack upon McClellan. General Lee's directions
were that Jackson's corps should attack the enemy on his right
flank at Mechanicsville by day-dawn of the 26th of June. But
even Jackson's promptness and the trained activity of his men
could not so speedily overcome the difficulties of the long and
arduous way, — the roads blockaded by felled timber and the ad
vance harassed by the Federal cavalry. When at three o'clock
in the afternoon of the 26th tidings had at length come of
Jackson's approach, A. P. Hill crossed the Chickahominy and
attacked the enemy in his intrenchments at Mechanicsville, and
began the fierce series of battles which drove McClellan from one
fortified position to another, and compelled him at last to take
refuge under his gunboats at Harrison's Landing on James
River, twenty miles below Richmond.
In this attack upon McClellan's right flank, General Lee
massed the main part of his army north of the Chickahominy,
leaving only a small force south of that stream to hold the de
fences around Richmond and protect the city against an advance
of the Federal left. In this disposition of troops, Jackson,
Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and D. H. Hill, on the north side of the
Chickahominy, by repeated and desperate assaults, forced the
Federal army from its strong fortifications at Beaver Dam Creek,
near Mechanicsville, on the 26th, and from the still more formi
dable works at Gaines's Mill on the 27th of June, while Magruder
and Huger were ordered to hold positions on the south against
any assaults of the enemy on the left threatening the capture of
Richmond. " Brigadier-General Pendleton was directed to employ
the reserve artillery so as to resist any approach of the enemy
towards Richmond, to superintend that portion of it posted to
aid in the operations of the north bank, and hold the remainder
ready for use when it might be required." *
* General Lee's report, War Records, vol. xi., part ii., p. 491.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 93
During the night of the 27th the Federal forces north of the
Chickahominy were withdrawn to the south side of the river,
but whether with the intention of retreating to James River, or
of recrossing the Chickahominy lower down and retracing the
road to the Peninsula, could not at first be known. The swamps
along the Chickahominy prevented the moving of troops except
by the roads and bridges. These the enemy held with powerful
artillery, while the fortifications in front of Magruder and Huger
were kept so fully manned as to conceal the enemy's intended
withdrawal of all his force towards James River. By nightfall
of the 28th that intention, however, became a certainty, and on
the 29th the Confederate army was all once more south of the
Chickahominy, and pressed forward in pursuit of the retreating
foe. The bloody battles of Savage Station and Frazier's Farm
on the 29th and 30th were succeeded by the still more desperate
engagement at Malvern Hill on the 1st of July.
To describe these battles in detail, to comment upon the mis
takes and blunders of the several generals, to show, in the light
of twenty years, how different results might have been obtained
if this or that had been done, is not the purpose of these
Memoirs. The part General Pendleton and the artillery had in
them may be best learned from himself. His ready use of the
pen, and the habit of writing in the very early morning, made
letters easier to him than to most of the soldiers. On the
morning of the 26th of June he wrote hurriedly to his wife, —
" We expect the great conflict here to-day. Jackson will be
in the thick of it with our dear ones on the north side of the
Chickahominy. My command is employed with the force on
the south of the Chickahominy, checking the enemy on this
side while a large force attacks him on the other ; and not only
defending Richmond, but pressing this part of the Yankee host
as occasion allows.
" We are all trustful in God and hopeful. To Him I commit
myself for time and eternity. It is possible we may not have a
very severe time this side ; on the other hand, we may have a
desperate fight. I have had a great deal to do in preparation
these few days. Will, if spared, write you fully. God be with
and abundantly bless you all !" 13

194 MEMOIRS OF
" June 28.
" Before setting out for the duties of the day I take a moment
to let you know that I am still safe and sound, and that our
cause is also thus far in good condition. The contest begun
about three o'clock Thursday afternoon, raged fiercely then and
yesterday. The enemy, where attacked, retreating many miles,
but now and then contending vigorously. Most of the fighting
is on the northeast side of the Chickahominy, where my im
mediate duties do not lie. There is, so far as we can yet see, a
fair prospect of breaking up the invading host. Jackson is, we
learn, far behind them. I was out on the lines in saddle yester
day from six a.m. to ten p.m. The battle spectacle which I wit
nessed several miles on our left, across the river, was awfully
impressive as well as greatly exciting. The President was by me
witnessing the same for hours." " Sunday, June 29, 1862,
Artillery Camp near Richmond.
" Being laid up for the day by a little fever, etc., consequent
upon the immense labor and exposure through which I have
passed during the past week, I can take occasion to write you a
brief notice of the fact that McClellan is whipped and his whole
army in full retreat. Poor Julia * is a widow. Mr. Allen was
killed at his post of duty, at the head of his regiment, shot
through the head. She has at least that consolation, that he
suffered no lingering pain. How many other homes are left in
like manner desolate ! God has in mercy spared us. General
Lee told me late last night that he had seen Sandie safe and
sound since the terrific battle. ' A fine young man,' added the
general. Mr. Lee is, I have good reason to hope, also safe.
The main fight was, as I wrote you, on the northern side of the
Chickahominy, my special post of duty being on the southern
side. On this side we had a good deal of cannonading, and
some very sharp infantry skirmishing, but no general battle. I
was, however, as everybody was, exposed to cannon-shot and
shells again and again. William Nelson was in several hot
artillery fights on this side, and acquitted himself most hand
somely, exhibiting as cool, calm gallantry as any man in the
* His niece, wife of Colonel James Allen, of the Second Virginia Infantry.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 195
army. From a commanding position I witnessed the awfully
sublime spectacle of a terrific battle about four miles off.
" In the night, night before the last, the Yankees all crossed
from that side to this, and destroyed the bridges, so that yester
day and last night were full of anxious watching on our part lest
McClellan in sheer despair should combine all his force against
our portion of the army, in which event we might be pushed
back, Richmond fall into his hands, James River be opened to
his boats, and he master of the position, notwithstanding General
Lee's great achievement, and before the latter could recross the
swampy stream to avert the catastrophe. It was this in part
which laid me up. I had to watch the artillery along all the
line, make several important arrangements, etc., all of which
necessitated a great deal of riding in the sun ; and about dusk
the President, with whom I had conversed freely about our
affairs, requested me to have a confidential interview with Gen
eral Lee. This called for another long and rapid ride. Then
other important arrangements resulting from that interview had
to be made, so that I was in the saddle until one at night. Of
course I was broken down. And, besides, a dysentery just then
set in, so that to-day I am pretty good for nothing. Still, the
tidings brought by my aides, sent out for the purpose, and by
others, that McClellan is making off with his army as fast as
possible, satisfy me to be quiet. I have done my duty to the
utmost in my power. No man in the service, General. Lee
excepted, has had more work to do, and I thank God that help
has been given for its discharge thus far.
" You need not be uneasy about me. I am lying on a lounge
under a shady tree in the yard at my head-quarters. Randolph
attends me. I feel better already, and hope a day's rest, a blue
pill, etc., may have me quite well again to-morrow.
" General Lee deserves the gratitude of the country. He is
entitled to the full honor of the masterly combinations which
have brought about this result. But he has been admirably sus
tained by Jackson, Longstreet, D. H. and A. P. Hill, and a host
of others, and by as brave an army as ever contended for country
and right. He tells me the battles exceeded in severity not only
anything he ever saw, but anything he ever read of. God be
praised for such a commander, such generals, such an army, and

I96 MEMOIRS OF
such a victory ! The final results are yet to be seen. They may
be great. They may, by circumstances now unforeseen, be con
siderably reduced. A short time will show."

Monday, June 30, General Pendleton was again in the saddle
to see what could be done in his particular department, and was
on the ground at the battle of Malvern Hill. As he had fore
seen and written, the character of the country about Richmond
rendered the effective handling of field-artillery very difficult, and
that arm of the Confederate forces was of less avail than in the
succeeding conflicts of the war. McClellan had possession of
the bridges and the elevated points and massed his guns upon
them. Especially was this the case at Malvern Hill, where on a
" position of great natural strength he had concentrated his pow
erful artillery." * On the part of the weary and battle-worn
Confederate army attacking this fortified height, " the obstacles
presented by the woods and the swamps made it impracticable to
bring up a sufficient amount of artillery to oppose successfully
the extraordinary force of that arm employed by the enemy,
while the field itself afforded us few positions favorable for its
use and none for its proper concentration." f
" General Pendleton, in whom were happily combined the
highest characteristics of the soldier, the patriot, and the Chris
tian, was in chief command of the artillery, and energetically
strove to bring his long-range guns and reserve artillery into
position where they might be effectively used against the enemy,
but the difficulties before mentioned were found insuperable." %
Sandie Pendleton wrote, July 2, from Willis's Church, —
" Another great fight has come off and again I am safe, with
all our staff. The fighting was terrific, — the most awful artillery
fire I ever imagined, — and our men suffered terribly, rather more
than the enemy, but we compelled them to fall back. They
have gone by the river road towards the mouth of the Chicka
hominy and under cover of their gunboats."

* General Lee's report, War Records, vol. xi., part ii., p. 496. f Ibid.
\ Davis's " Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," vol. ii. p. 148.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. I97
The Confederate attack on Malvern Hill had been fruitless in
dislodging the Federal army from that strong position. The
fear, however, of being again struck in flank and rear, and
having his water communications interrupted, caused McClellan
to abandon his advantage there on the night after the battle
and continue his retreat to Harrison's Landing, lower down
James River. There the approaches were protected by gun
boats, and an attack by General Lee unadvisable, if not impracti
cable. After watching the enemy for some days, the Confederate
army returned to the vicinity of Richmond July 8.
Before this week of battle opened, and throughout its continu
ance, General McClellan insisted, and no doubt believed, that
the Confederate army was largely superior in numbers to his
own.* Had this been so, his advantage in position, in arms, in
artillery, in all the supplies and appliances necessary for the
efficiency of a large army, would have more than equalized his
strength with that of his opponent. But the official returns for
July 20, i862,f give him one hundred and fourteen thousand
six hundred and ninety-one present for duty, while the largest
estimate, at random, for General Lee has never risen above
ninety thousand. Seventy-five thousand is probably the most
accurate estimate ; % and while his force was thus the smaller in
number, it was immensely inferior in arms, ammunition, and
equipments of all sorts ; the artillery especially bearing no com
parison in weight or efficiency with that of the invading host.
The results of the struggle were not such as had been intended
or desired on either side. General .Lee, summing up the aggre
gate of success and disappointment on the Confederate side,
says, " Under ordinary circumstances the Federal army should
have been destroyed. Its escape was due to the causes already
stated. Prominent among these is the want of correct and timely
information; . . . but regret that more was not accomplished
gives way to gratitude to the Sovereign Ruler of the universe
for the results achieved. The siege of Richmond was raised,
* Correspondence, War Records, vol. xi., part iii., pp. 231-282, inclusive.
t Ibid., p. 238.
J Mr. Davis, vol. ii. p. 154, " Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," gives
Lee, on July 20, sixty-five thousand three hundred and ninety-nine ; Jackson's force
added to this will make near seventy-five thousand.

198 MEMOIRS OF
and the object of a campaign which had been prosecuted after
months of preparation at an enormous expenditure of men and
money completely frustrated. More than ten thousand prisoners,
including officers of rank, fifty-two pieces of artillery, and up
wards of thirty-five thousand stands of small-arms were cap
tured. The stores and supplies of every description which fell
into our hands were great in amount and value, but small in
comparison with those destroyed by the enemy." * General
McClellan, at the close of the prolonged contest, found himself
many miles farther from Richmond, the objective-point of all his
operations, his fortifications abandoned, his vast stores destroyed,
his army forced to retreat day after day, disheartened and de
moralized, and congratulates himself and the country that he
has at last ensconced the great host which was to seize the
rebel capital safe under the shelter of the gunboats and out of
reach of the enemy. The national appreciation of such success
was evinced by his removal from command a few months later.

The promptness with which General Pendleton carried out
General Lee's instructions to render the artillery as effective as
possible was remarkable. His letter-book (on file in Wash
ington) shows that as early as June 5 he drafted regulations for
the more systematic administration of the artillery, which, being
submitted for General Lee's approval, were issued on June 22 by
that commander as part of his General Orders No. 71, para
graphs five and six being exactly in General Pendleton's own
words :
"5. The chief of artillery in each division will have charge of all the batteries
thereto attached, whether acting with brigades or held in reserve. A battery duly
assigned to a brigade will, until properly relieved, report to and be controlled by the
brigade commander. It must, however, report to and be inspected by the division
chief of artillery as he may require. When a brigade battery needs relief it will,
when practicable, be made to change places with one of those belonging to the
division reserve. Should this be impracticable, application, authorized by the division
commander, must be made to the army chief of artillery for temporary relief from
the general reserve.
" 6. The army chief of artillery will have general charge of that branch of
* General Lee's report, War Records, vol. xi. , part ii., pp. 498, 499.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 1 99
service and special direction of the general reserve. He will, under instructions
from the commanding general, see that the batteries are kept in as efficient condition
as practicable, and so distributed as to promise the best results. To this end he will
require from the several chiefs of artillery weekly returns exhibiting the condition of
each battery and where it is serving. He will also make the commanding general a
bimonthly report." (War Records, vol xi., part iii., pp. 612, 613.)
The faithful execution of these orders on the part of General
Pendleton and the subordinate artillery commanders brought
that arm up to the efficiency which it maintained up to the sur
render at Appomattox Court-House.

CHAPTER XXIX.
SUMMER OF 1862.
Two days after the fight at Malvern Hill General Pendleton
" received, on calling upon the commanding general, personal
instructions to take to the rear all the artillery not requisite for
the divisions, and to co-operate with the ordnance and quarter
master's departments in having sought for and secured all the
stores wrested from or left by the enemy." * From Richmond
he wrote to his wife, July 6, —
" Active operations have prevented my writing for a week.
We have been down below following and fighting the Yankees.
There have been exceedingly hard fights day after day for a whole
week, the Yankees being driven every time. They were, last
evening, below Westover, and still going.
" General Lee requested me to come back and get all the cap
tured ordnance brought in. I saw Sandie ; safe and sound thus
far. . . . Owing to the movements of the enemy and the nature
of the country, no large artillery force could be placed by us any
where. We had a vast deal that could not be used at all. The
fights on our side were mainly infantry, and very gallant they
were. Oh, the awfulness of the different battle-fields ! Language
cannot describe it !
* Report, War Records, vol. xi., part ii., p. 537.

200 MEMOIRS OF
" What McClellan is going to do we are not apprised. He
may go to Old Point and rally his energies for another attempt.
He may stop in the point between Chickahominy and James,
having gunboats on his flanks, there fortify and refit for his
next effort, or he may cross James River and try ' On to Rich
mond' number three by the south side. We must keep for him
a sharp lookout. Meanwhile, this blow will stagger Brother
Jonathan very seriously. If there is half a chance our army
will be pushed North. . . . Now, I write to urge you to come
down to Richmond as soon as you can. It is best to lose no
time about it, because we do not know how long a respite from
Yankee outrage we shall have. My calculation is you will get
this Sunday morning, leave home Monday, and come down the
Central Railroad Tuesday."
Mrs. Pendleton and one of her daughters went to Richmond
immediately, and remained several weeks under the hospitable
roof of Mrs. Charlotte Bransford, aunt of General Pendleton's
aide, Lieutenant Charles Hatcher. Many of their days were
spent at artillery head-quarters, about two miles below Rich
mond, where the presence of ladies was welcomed as an evidence
that for a brief space the battle-worn soldiers might rest and enjoy
some of the comforts and graces of peaceful life. The rest was,
however, only comparative. Some of the batteries were always
on duty towards the front, those which were stationary were
required to be drilled daily, and the letter- and order-books tell
how diligent were General Pendleton's efforts to fill up the de
pleted companies by the return of all absentees and the bringing
in recruits. The batteries were also rendered more efficient in
those cases where old guns could be replaced by some of the
captured ordnance ; in other instances, where both officers and
men had proven careless of responsibility, companies were
broken up, and the men and guns distributed where they could
be made of more service.
Richmond presented a strange scene in those days. Not only
were the hospitals crowded with the wounded from both armies,
to whom the compassionate women of the city ministered, but in
many a private house the best room — often the parlor — was
given up to some suffering soldier, one of the family, or a com-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 201
rade-in-arms ; numbers of households mourned the loss of their
best beloved, fallen in their defence; a solemn calm pervaded
the population, brought for the first time face to face with the
awfulness of war, and the sorrow and suffering consequent even
upon a series of victories. But along with this was a deep sense
of gratitude, a long sigh of relief from the tension of anxiety
and apprehension which had oppressed the city during the two
months since Johnston's army had retreated from Yorktown,
followed closely by the invading hosts. The thousands of refu
gees from the far South had not yet overcrowded the city;
familiarity with horrors had not engendered the recklessness
which, later on, amused itself with mistimed gayeties; but
hearts grew light at the knowledge that Richmond was safe and
free, and could pet and praise her defenders to her fill ; eyes
smiled through their tears upon dear ones still left to them ; and
strangers and friends coming daily to look for others reported
" wounded" or " missing" were received with cordial and limitless
hospitality. The city kept " open house" for every one who had
fought or prayed for her safety.
Called down one Sunday morning to meet a soldier visitor,
Mrs. Pendleton found General Jackson standing in the hall
awaiting her. His " faded and sunburned uniform" and unas
suming manner had been thought by the spoilt negro servant a
proof that he need not be ushered into the parlor. Sandie Pen
dleton was sometimes with his mother, notwithstanding the con
stant pressure of office-work. Jackson's mountaineers, however,
pined and sickened in the swamps and lowlands, and he longed
for the pure air and familiar sight of his beloved mountains ;
Pope, with his " head-quarters in the saddle," and his brutal
orders and braggart boasts, was en route for Gordonsville ;
Jackson was therefore ordered to that point.
Late in July General Lee desired General D. H. Hill, com
manding on the south side of James River, to make a night
attack upon McClellan's shipping, so as to interrupt, if possible,
his water-communications. General Pendleton was sent over
with a large artillery force to act under General Hill's direction.
This attack, which was made at night, July 31, from Coggin's
Point, is described in General Pendleton's letters. One to his
son is selected, not only for its graphic description, but still

202 MEMOIRS OF
more for its remarkable exhibition of the spiritual tone of his
mind amidst the excitements and harassments of his military
duties : " Richmond, August 2, 1862.
" My dear Son, — Your last letter to your mamma was handed
me just now. She has gone in consequence of my taking part
in an expedition on the other side of James River against the
enemy's shipping. We attacked them terribly night before the
last, — opening forty guns by surprise at midnight. They were
profoundly still in sleep, and were waked up at a rate rarely
experienced even in war. I never witnessed anything more ter
ribly grand than that cannonade in the pitchy dark. How much
damage was done we cannot say ; it must have been serious.
One hundred and fifty ships of all sorts, and the Yankee camp
beyond them, lay stretched before us at from eight hundred
yards to two and a half miles, and by aid of some sight-lines we
had adjusted in the day we knew pretty well how to fire in the
dark. " I came over to have a conference with General Lee, and go
back presently to try and repeat such attacks. We were shelled
after some fifteen minutes, and pretty severely, with long-range
guns, but with slight loss. One man killed by the enemy and
two wounded.
" My main object, my son, in writing, while my time is so
limited, is to say a word respecting your state of mind. You
tell your mamma that camp-life is destroying your religious
character. Take care of this, my dear boy. ' Watch and pray.'
If you do not make opportunities for prayer regularly you will
spiritually die. Let nothing prevent this. My only sure way
for getting a certain time for prayer is to compel myself to
awake early, and then employ the first waking hour in steady
reflection and prayer. Do this, or something like it, and your
soul will live. I find, too, that by dwelling on the several peti
tions of the Lord's Prayer until each word impresses on the
mind its full force and stirs up feeling, I get more of the spirit of
prayer than I have been able to secure in any other way. Be
industrious here, and you will find spiritual health and strength
the sure result. I have hardly a moment, so must stop. Kind

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 203
regards to the general, Crutchfield, Dr. McGuire, Paxton, and
other friends. God bless you ! " Your fond father,
"W. N. Pendleton."
Ten days were spent on the south side reconnoitring the
country and organizing an artillery force for service there. On
the 15 th of August he wrote, — " Artillery Camp near Richmond.
". . . We came over Tuesday evening, the 12th. My mission
on the other side being accomplished and my duties here need
ing attention exceedingly. That night I stayed at Peterkin's
John and Dudley were in to see me before breakfast. I soon
rode to see General Lee, and then had to go to work for certain
preparations of batteries to be sent General Jackson. All that
day and the two following was pushed exceedingly.
" I saw General Stuart at General Lee's from Jackson since the
last fight. He told me he saw Sandie quite well, — that ' he as
usual distinguished himself.' I hope we are thankful."
The fight referred to was the battle of Cedar Mountain,
August 9, of which Sandie Pendleton wrote to his mother, —
" Through the blessing of God we had another victory over
Banks and McDowell, of Pope's corps. It was yesterday after
noon. The fight was about seven miles from Culpeper Court-
House. Ned Lee is safe, and so are all the staff. Nobody from
Lexington hurt. Poague's battery lost nobody. We had some
eight thousand men engaged ; loss about one thousand, among
them General Winder killed. We captured quite a large number
of officers and men, — one brigadier-general, colonels, etc., and
one piece of artillery. Major Holliday, of the Thirty-third,
wounded badly, also Alf. Jackson. Owing to bad manage
ment of some of the officers, incident upon the loss of Winder,
some confusion resulted. But it was soon recovered, and we
drove them at all points. Ned Lee carried the colors of his
regiment and rallied them. The enemy's loss must have been
severe, from his leaving his wounded in some numbers, among
them some officers, as well as the dead. Write to pa, as

204 MEMOIRS OF
William B. Pendleton, captain and adjutant-general, is badly
wounded." One after another the divisions of the army were ordered to
follow Jackson to Gordonsville, and thence no one knew whither.
The movements of the artillery are given from General Pendle
ton's letters : " Artillery Camp near Richmond, August 19, 1862.
". . . This is the last time this season I shall write to you from
here. We are under orders for Gordonsville, and set out this
afternoon. It is now two p.m., and I have been hard at work
since dawn. Yesterday, among other things, I attended General
Winder's funeral. The procession was not very large. Peterkin
read the service. It excited serious reflection, no doubt, in many
who are likely to be exposed to sudden summons. I go now,
not knowing what is to be experienced in the new sphere. But
this I do know, all things work together for good to them that
love God, and with confidence I hope I may say, this I do."
" August 22, Camp near Hanover Junction.
". . . Before we left Richmond I wrote you word we were
under orders for Gordonsville. Information, however, received
respecting certain Yankee movements caused a modification in
our orders. General Lee telegraphed to Richmond that a
column of the enemy was reported to him as advancing on the
direct road from Fredericksburg towards Richmond. Hence a
division and my artillery were ordered to the neighborhood of
the Junction to take post on the south side of the North Anna
River. Yesterday Generals Garland, Cobbs, and myself, with a
number of colonels and majors, rode over the country a great
deal reconnoitring, so as to make sure what to do if the Yankees
come. But we hear nothing of them, and my belief is they are
not going to attempt any aggressive movement now."
" Near Hanover Junction, August 23.
". . . We have here now a considerable force awaiting orders
from General Lee. McLaws is here with his division, and D. H.
Hill will be here this afternoon to command the portion of his
division also here, — a part of it having, before we were stopped

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 205
here, gone on to Orange Court-House ; that part is for the time
commanded by General Ripley. I have to-day your-letter of the
20th, telling me of Sue's and Sandie's sickness. I infer from the
incidental way in which you speak of Sandie's being at home, and
of the sickness of both, that a previous letter telling me of the
beginning of their sickness and of Sandie's getting home has not
reached me. It will not, I trust, be serious with either of them.
Sandie will, I know, regret being detained from his post at this
stirring time. Mr. Stringfellow came to see me, and asked me
to preach at Trinity to-morrow. I will do so if no military hin
drance occur and the weather permit. It will be a great treat to
me to see dear Aunt Judy and all at Oakland."
" Louisa Court-House, August 27, half-past two p.m.
". . . Here, after a march of twenty miles to-day, and waiting
for the cars to take me on to General Lee, meanwhile taking a
loll to rest myself, I write you in a new position, flat on my back.
Your letters since the one of the 20th, telling me of Sue's and
Sandie's sickness, have failed. I am in consequence ignorant
of their condition now, not only so, but uneasy by learning
yesterday that a letter had been received at Oakland saying that
Sandie was doing well, but that Sue was very sick with what was
thought typhoid fever. I trust she may soon be better. It will
not be practicable for me to hear now for some time, as I am
going where letters are not easily transmitted. How we come
to be moving this way I will describe.
" Sunday morning I rode to Trinity, preached, and went home
with dear Aunt Judy, — riding in the carriage with her. We
stayed till next morning, — John, Randolph Page, Dudley, and
myself. When I got back to camp and went to see General
Hill, he begged me to communicate with the President about
some move for us. I accordingly jumped on the cars then
passing, — half-past two o'clock, — and, accompanied by Charley
Hatcher, was in Richmond before five. That night I was with
the President and General G. W. Smith till twelve, considering
what was best to be done, and next morning — yesterday — I
again breakfasted at the President's. Dr. Minnegerode and an
English clergyman, whose name I did not hear when introduced,
were there, as also General Smith. The latter the President

206 MEMOIRS OF
took with myself soon after to his office, and summoning the
Secretary of War, kept all in conference again till twelve. The
decision reached was that all the troops near the Junction and
certain brigades near Richmond called for by General Lee
should be sent him whatever risks might ensue. I started in the
train crowded with troops at two yesterday, and came to Bumpas
Station, above Beaver Dam ; near there my artillery halted for
the night, and I was soon with them. They had marched from
our late camp early in the morning, being ordered by telegraph.
The President wished me to get to General Lee as soon as prac
ticable, after stopping to see that all was right with the artillery.
To-day, therefore, I marched with them to a point a few miles
below this place, where they deflected on a shorter route to
Rapidan Station, and I came on to take the cars with Dudley
and Randolph Page, — our horses, of course, to go on the cars
with us. Barnwell is not very well, hence I left him to take it
leisurely. George Peterkin went home with John night before
last, and had not come up to-day when I left them, hence he
could not come. Charley Hatcher did not meet me at the cars
in Richmond, and has not yet been heard of. He was not well.
Tom Randolph had his horse stolen some nights ago, so he
must take it slowly; and Dandridge's horse is not in good
plight, so he, too, remains with the rear. We go on when the
trains arrive this evening, as they will, loaded with troops. It
will be midnight before we reach Rapidan. I will try to get
quarters at my cousin Eliza Taliaferro's close by.
" What we are going to do I do not exactly know. It looks
like the approach of a great battle. I pray God we may, if so,
be given a great success. The more I see of battles and blood
the more heart-sick I am under the dread necessity which com
pels ns thus to meet a ruthless invasion. But my mind is clear
that we are sacredly bound to meet these people unto death as
in the sight of God! Nor have I one particle of hesitation as to
my own duty in the case, — still imperative.
" How dear Sue and Sandie are I long to hear, but cannot.
The Lord have them and all of you in His gracious keeping.
" P.S. — I just hear that Stuart came within an ace of catching
Pope a day or two ago, — got his uniform and a number of im-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 207
portant dispatches ; * but the criminal was not in his quarters,
hence escaped. Better luck next time."
Hard riding brought him to General Lee on the bloody battle
field of Second Manassas. Jackson had gotten completely be
hind Pope, had cut his communications, and forced him to change
his front, and then, against heavy odds, had held his position by
stubborn fighting until joined by Longstreet's corps. The battle
field was near that of July 21, 1861, and the position of the two
armies on that occasion reversed. Jackson captured Manassas
Junction, with its immense depot of army stores of all sorts, on
the 26th of August, and held it until nightfall of the 27th.
During this time the starving and destitute soldiers were allowed
to supply themselves fully from the captured stores, and the
great amount of material which could not be removed was
burned. He then fell back and posted his men north of the
turnpike near Groveton. Here he attacked the advancing col
umn of the enemy on the flank about sunset of the 28th, and a
bloody conflict of several hours ensued, in which the enemy was
compelled to abandon the field. All through the 29th he was
engaged. The enemy repeatedly assaulted his lines with great
vigor, but without success, and the timely arrival of Longstreet's
corps gave the assistance so much needed. " The battle continued
until nine p.m., the enemy retreating until he reached a strong
position, which he held with a large force." f On the 30th
General Pope again attacked Jackson's position in strong force,
was again repulsed, and in his turn was attacked by Longstreet
and Jackson, and driven " with great carnage from each succes
sive position until ten p.m., when darkness put an end to the
battle and the pursuit." % As at First Manassas, a pouring rain
succeeded the battle; but in spite of this Jackson's command
was pushed forward to intercept the Federal retreat towards
Washington. Coming up with the enemy at Ox Hill in the
afternoon of September 1, Jackson again attacked him notwith
standing the inclement weather and the weariness and exhaustion
of his men. Darkness closed this last of the series of desperate
* Corroborated in Stuart's report, War Records, vol. xii., part ii., p. 732.
f General Lee's report, War Records, vol. xii., part ii., p. 557. J Ibid.

208 MEMOIRS OF
conflicts, and the Federal army continued its retreat to the forti
fications around Washington. In this series of engagements the
Federal loss was not only " seven thousand prisoners, besides
two thousand wounded left on the field, thirty pieces of artillery,
upward of twenty thousand stands of small-arms, and a large
amount of stores, besides those taken at Manassas Junction," *
but their prestige was gone, their men greatly demoralized, their
boastful commander proved incompetent and unworthy, and the
whole nation thrown into great consternation. The Confederate
loss in killed and wounded was seven thousand two hundred and
forty-four,f and the gain in prisoners and material as stated
above ; but here, as at Richmond, the skilful combinations pro
jected by General Lee were rendered ineffectual to the capture
and entire destruction of Pope's army by causes which he had no
power to control.
In concluding his report of the part taken by his command
against McClellan, General Pendleton had remonstrated against
the inadequate use of artillery in the Seven Days' battles, and
had urged that more batteries should be thrown into action at
once, and concentrated upon the enemy whenever possible.J This
advice was acted on with evident success in the battles of Second
Manassas, where the combined fire of the Confederate batteries
had done admirable execution, and repeatedly silenced the op
posing guns and mowed down the lines of advancing Federals.
From this time on the artillery became more and more appre
ciated as a powerful agency not only in opening an engagement,
but in checking the advance of the enemy, silencing his batteries,
and harassing him in retreat.
General Pendleton wrote to his wife, —
"Mr. Foote's, near Haymarket, Prince William County,
Sunday night, August 31, 1862.
" My darling Wife, — Again I am writing to you from a bed,
and this time I am in it as an invalid. Not much, I hope, only
the crisis of a diarrhoea of some two weeks' duration, rendered
worse by hard effort to catch up with General Lee. This I did
* General Lee's report, War Records, vol. xii., part ii., p. 558.
t War Records, vol. xii., part ii., p. 562.
\ Report, War Records, vol. xi., part ii., p. 537.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 209
yesterday about three o'clock on another bloody battle-field.
After delivering the messages sent by the President and tender
ing my services for whatever I could do, disordered and jaded as
I was, I was urged by the general in the kindest manner to find
some comfortable place, rest, and get well. We then remained, —
Randolph Page, Dudley, and myself, — interested in the battle,
though liable to shells every moment, till after five, when we
rode back to our friends, the Jordans, in Haymarket, and they
directed us to these admirable people about two miles north.
They have suffered much, but are still wealthy, and as whole-
souled as any people I ever met.
" There has been severe fighting these two days — that is, yes
terday and the day before — near the old Manassas battle-ground.
The Yankees terribly beaten and slaughtered. We, too, have
lost more than a few. Willie Preston killed, Jemmie McCough-
trey severely wounded in the upper part of one lung, Everard
painfully, though not dangerously, in the arm and side, Hugh
White killed, General Ewell lost a leg, General Trimble lying
with a leg wound in this house, Neff killed, etc., etc.
" General Lee's movements have been masterly, Jackson and
Longstreet have fought with accustomed skill, energy, and
success. We are in a fair way to shake Yankeedom to its centre.
God be praised! Oh, that a just peace might come without
more bloodshed ! My command, with General D. H. Hill's
forces, will not probably get up for some two days yet, so that I
may with an easy mind rest and recruit till then. Randolph is
doctoring and nursing me most attentively. So you may rest
contented. I am as comfortable as I could be anywhere in the
world away from home. Randolph and Dudley rode to-day to
see the wounded boys. They are taken by friends straight
home. They saw Mr. Ed. J. Lee ; come to see about Edwin ;
found he had been too sick to be present for a week or two. He
and Sandie will both regret missing the occasion, but they need
not, as God's hand was in it.
" General Lee got entirely round the Yankees again. He was
on the south side of the Rappahannock. They in full force on
the north side facing him. He kept some batteries, etc., playing
in front, but sent first Jackson with his fine army, and then
Longstreet with his, way round by the head-waters of the Rap-
14

2IO MEMOIRS OF
pahannock to the rear of the enemy, and the first they knew of
it was Jackson's capturing everything at Manassas. Of course
they had to change front and do the best they could. The
slaughter among them has been frightful. They have left their
dead in our hands, and a good many guns, and seem making off
for Alexandria.
" But alas for the noble fellows cut down ! Willie Preston,
one of the best I ever knew ; Hugh White, also of high Chris
tian worth ; Neff, a true man. Thank God they were Christ's
own, and have gone, we may rejoicingly trust, to eternal peace.
" Sue and Sandie, I have taken for granted, are improving.
Somehow, I have not been unhappy about them, though I
long to hear. Tell Mrs. Brockenborough I saw Willoughby,
and he desired me to send word Bowyer and himself were still
safe. " And now, commending you all to God's covenant goodness
and sending tender love to each,
" I am, as ever, your fond husband,
"W. N. Pendleton."

•CHAPTER XXX.
ADVANCE INTO MARYLAND  BATTLE OF SHARPSBURG.
Immediately after the battle of Ox Hill General Lee ordered
his army to march to Leesburg, and there crossed over the Poto
mac into Maryland. In this movement the artillery reserve was
placed in the rear. From Leesburg General Pendleton wrote, —
" September 6, 1862.
" By a direct opportunity to Richmond I write you a hurried
line. Here we are to cross into Maryland. Most of the army
crossed last night and this morning ; we go to-morrow morning.
I am still unwell, but will try to take care of myself. Randolph
blistered my right side to act on the liver ; it has been very sore
riding, but a quiet day has relieved it greatly. When shall I
hear from you ? It is long, long since I had a line ; still, I hope

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 211
for the best. There will be a great deal of warm work in the
operations now entered upon. May God guide, strengthen, and
direct us in them !"
Four days later he wrote from his old home, —
" Frederick, Maryland, September 10.
" Early in the morning, after all arrangements made for setting
out on another march, I employ a few moments in writing to you.
On Sunday last we left Leesburg. I could not spend the day
there, nor even attend church, because so much severer duty
needed my care. About twelve that night we reached the Ar
cadia farm, which you remember. There we have since been
encamped on the banks of a nice stream. After reporting to
General Lee, Monday morning, I spent the day in calling on my
old friends in Frederick. Greater kindness no one ever received.
. . . The parsonage and church both closed. . . . Frederick has
improved a good deal. The cemetery quite an ornament, and
several new churches. . . . To-day we go farther inward ; I
must not indicate where lest my letter fail and give some clue
where I would not have information gotten. Suffice it that Gen
eral Lee seems well to understand what he is about. Yankeedom
seems a good deal stirred up."
"Artillery Camp near Hagerstown, September 13, 1862.
" About to send Captain Barnwell to Winchester for some
long-range guns, I have an opportunity of writing to you again
a few hurried lines. We left Frederick Wednesday afternoon,
10th, and arrived here yesterday afternoon. Of course we could
travel faster, but a considerable force had to be detached by Har
per's Ferry to break up the Yankees there, and we move leisurely
to let those troops get up again.
" Jeff Page met me in the street in Frederick and told me of
you all. It was next to a good letter. Sandie and Mr. Lee
coming on, he says, and Sue better, though she could not be out
to see him. I hope I am thankful for this improvement in the
invalids. I am myself much better ; not quite sound and strong
yet, but improving every day. The people in this region cousins-
german to Pennsylvania Yankees, but we treat them kindly. I

212 MEMOIRS OF
send herein a copy of General Lee's proclamation to the people
of Maryland. We think it very good. When we are to have
another severe battle is not yet known, but it may be almost every
day. It depends upon the movements of the Yankee army.
" This is a beautiful country, but a state of society where all is
one dead level. . . . The people are scared ; but will not take our
money when they can help it. Still, we get along comfortably.
Generally John and myself, with one or two others, find some
place where we get wholesome food. At night we rest pleasantly
in my tent. The weather is delightful ; dust, however, a great
nuisance. Such clouds of it you never saw. The numberless
vehicles of all kinds pulverize the soil till finer than flour, so that
it pervades the whole atmosphere.
" I saw a good many other friends in Frederick after I wrote
you. Poor old Dr.  wanted to know if they joined the
South if I would not go back and live with them again. The
 s, very poor and suffering ; delighted to see me ; never had
a pastor since I left, etc. Sent a great deal of love to you all.
. . . Up here all are strangers to me. Of course I cannot preach
in town to-morrow. Hope to hold service, however, in my own
camp. It is now nearly a month since your last letter received
was written."
On Wednesday, September 1 7, was fought the great battle of
Sharpsburg. To General Pendleton was assigned the duty of
guarding the ford of the Potomac at Shepherdstown, by which
General Lee intended crossing into Virginia should the result of
the battle render such a move advisable. General Pendleton's own
account of his work and its result is the best and most accurate
that can be furnished. " Smithfield, Jefferson County, Virginia,
September 22, 1862.
" Great pressure of work has prevented my writing you for a
whole week. Yesterday week I hoped for a quiet Sabbath near
Hagerstown, but orders came just after breakfast to march. That
evening a battle was fought,* but my assigned place was only
near, not in it. At midnight I was summoned to General Lee.
He directed me to detach some batteries for a point to which he
* At Braddock's Gap, between Longstreet's corps and part of McClellan's army.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 213
intended taking the army, and to conduct the rest by Williamsport
to the Virginia side of the Potomac and make arrangements for
defending the several fords. This gave us a long march day and
night, and brought me to Shepherdstown on Tuesday morning.
There I had much labor in locating batteries, etc., and doing a great
deal towards rendering roads to and from the ford somewhat safe.
The work had to be done day and night. Wednesday a great
battle was fought partly in our sight, with immense slaughter on
each side. The Yankees were too much shattered to renew the
attack next day, so that Thursday was a day of comparative quiet.
My work, however, went on, for I had to look to several fords,
keep roads in order, forward long-range guns, have stragglers
caught, etc., and despatches were coming to me all night, so that I
could scarcely steal a nap. That night General Lee determined to
recross the Potomac to the Virginia side, it being too hazardous
as well as too laborious to get all his supplies so far across so dif
ficult a river. I had again to work like a beaver, as did all my
officers and men, promoting the safe passage of the army, with
its immense trains of artillery and wagons, hence no rest again
that night. By nine Friday morning all had safely crossed and
McClellan's army had hardly found out the move. Now came
my great responsibility. I planted some forty or more guns on
the heights this side the river, and had assigned me some six
hundred infantry to protect the rear of our army and keep the
enemy back. They planted on the more commanding heights
on the other side a number of powerful batteries, compared with
which ours were but as pop-guns, and commenced upon us a
furious cannonade. Under cover of this they sent down to the
river's edge a strong force of sharp-shooters, and with the double
fire of the tremendous cannon and longest-range rifles used by
an immensely more numerous body of men we had to contend
all day.
" I kept a central position and issued orders, all the while en
couraging the infantry to hold their position when from time to
time their commanders informed me they could not withstand the
pressure against them. All held out till dusk, and I had just
issued orders for the withdrawal of all the guns, then for the infan
try to fall back as a rear-guard to the artillery, and for a body of
cavalry to hasten in between the infantry and the enemy, and

214 MEMOIRS OF
these movements were going on when the guard at the ford gave
way before the powerful force pressing them, and the Yankee cav
alry crossed. It was a critical moment. If vigorously pressed,
their opportunity would have given them quite half our guns.
At the time I acted on the supposition that they would press on,
and intending, first, to save all I could, and, secondly, not to ex
pose myself needlessly to capture, I passed, by a short path under
a fierce fire from their heavy guns, towards the road which some
of the artillery had, I knew, already taken. With this portion I
passed on, leaving the rest to the result of my orders, — should
the enemy not press on, — but rather anticipating its capture, with
William Nelson and the other officers.
" All this while it was very dark. After proceeding about a
mile I came up with a body of infantry on the march, and urged
General Pryor, in command, to go back with me, taking a suffi
cient force to drive the Yankees back. He hesitated to assume
such responsibility, and referred me to General Hood, ahead.
He could not be found, and I was referred to another and an
other, till past midnight I reached General Lee. He was of
course disturbed, but determined to do nothing till next morning,
and I lay down, Dudley alone being with me of all my staff;
the rest were all out on different errands, so that who might have
been captured and who not I could not then tell, nor how many
guns were lost. My bed was a handful of straw, my covering
my old overcoat, under the skies. Next morning General Jack
son's force* was sent back to Shepherdstown. I accompanied
him. The enemy was driven across the river again, with a num
ber killed and several hundred taken prisoners. The shelling
from the enemy's big guns was again fierce, and we shared the
danger with the troops, — General Jackson and myself. There
was not much loss. On our return, after midnight, I found the
remaining guns. The Yankee force had been afraid to advance
more than a short distance from the river ; opportunity had been
thus left for the accomplishment of my orders — so minutely given
— for their withdrawal, and all had been brought off except four,
which could not be drawn because the horses were killed by
the furious and continued cannonade. Those four the Yankees
* A. P. Hill's division did the work. See report.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 21 5
found next morning. Our loss was thus only four guns. Still, this
is among military men more or less of a deduction from a man's
standing, and accordingly yesterday morning General Lee, in
giving me some other orders, asked me soon to report the facts,
as well for my own sake as for his own satisfaction and the truth
of history.
" While I regret the loss and the occasion for Yankee glorifi
cation, I am so conscious of having done well my duty, and so
thankful to God for ordering so remarkable a preservation, that
for any temporary cloud over myself I am more than willing to
compound. My present post is Darkesville, some eight miles
from here ; my work, to distribute the artillery captured at Har
per's Ferry and to refit all the batteries of the army as well and
as quickly as possible. I came here to-day partly to look after
those captured guns that had been brought here and partly to
see dear Rose,* John having told me she was here. I am much
better, though not wholly well yet."
The orders under which General Pendleton performed the vari
ous duties enumerated in this letter are written in pencil upon
leaves torn out of a small pocket note-book. Copies of them are
given on page 223. His report — given on page 218 — shows how
arduous was the labor and how successful its result. To hold
the fords of the Potomac with artillery inferior in range and
quantity, and at last destitute of ammunition, and only six hun
dred infantry, until the whole army — wagon-trains and all — was
out of reach, and then to withdraw before superior numbers with
the loss of only four guns, — abandoned for want of horses, — was
an exploit rather calculated to heighten than obscure his military
reputation. But " four guns lost" was a damaging statement
quickly picked up and readily repeated, while the far more im
portant facts — that the fords for miles along the river had been
guarded, the roads cleared, the stragglers sent back to the front,
the whole army assisted in crossing, and the Northern host held
in check for twelve hours with so inadequate a force — were over
looked or forgotten in the universal self-gratulation at being once
more safely on Virginia soil.
* Mrs. Pendleton's sister.

2l6 MEMOIRS OF
Sandie Pendleton's spirited description of the battle of Sharps-
burg as he — Jackson's adjutant-general — saw it, given in a letter
to his mother, written Sunday, September 21, is not out of place
here: "... The positions at Sharpsburg were on either side of An-
tietam Creek, both of them strong, as whoever attacked had to
ascend the rising ground from the water.
" On Tuesday evening, just after reaching Sharpsburg, the
enemy moved up on our left, and General Jackson was immedi
ately sent there with his and Ewell's divisions. We met them
and drove them off, after a sharp skirmish lasting from seven to
nine p.m. At four o'clock Wednesday morning the enemy began
their general attack. It began on the extreme left, where General
Jackson's division was posted, and went on towards the right,
where was Ewell's division. On the left we drove them back
with great slaughter, but as they went towards the centre they
succeeded in forcing us back. By eight o'clock, after severe
fighting and heavy loss, — General Starke being killed and Law-
ton and Jones wounded, — our first line had to withdraw. Then
Hood's division went in, and back went the enemy before them for
half a mile. But on they came in large force, and in an hour the
firing was nearing us. ' Go forward and see how it goes.' And
out to Hood's front line I went. Such a storm of balls I never
conceived it possible for men to live through. Shot and shell
shrieking and crashing, canister and bullets whistling and hissing
most fiend-like through the air until you could almost see them.
In that mile's ride I never expected to come back alive. Out to
the front, and then to find General Hood. ' Tell General Jackson
unless I get reinforcements I must be forced back, but I am going
on while I can.' Off, then, to General Lee with Hood's message
and our appeal for help. ' I'll send McLaws.' And back I went
to Hood. An hour passes ; we fall back sullenly ; now out of
the woods and into the open field, and our men die by hundreds.
Grigsby, in command of General Jackson's division, goes in again
with the six hundred men, — all who can be collected of four
brigades. Hood says, ' For God's sake, more troops !' And off
to General Lee for McLaws, — for until twelve o'clock I was the
only staff-officer on the field. At last he comes. The need is

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 217
urgent, for while our extreme left is still firm, they have forced
back our right and D. H. Hill's left and are pouring up the hill.
' Tell General McLaws to drive the enemy back and turn his
right' The order is delivered. General McLaws goes in, and
back go the enemy and our ground is regained.
" Again comes up the line. McLaws is driven back and the
enemy is right squarely up in our centre, having forced back the
right of the left wing. He conies up the hill. The stars and
stripes float in full view, — and such an artillery fire as is opened !
They stand it for a few minutes and then break and run. We
ask for more troops ; none for us. For now the Yankees come
up and attack on our right. But Hood has re-formed and goes
in again, and the original position is regained, and we have, at
three o'clock, fairly repulsed them on the left and centre. Now
they come up on the right ; they drive off Toombs's brigade and
cross Antietam. And now, at four o'clock in the afternoon, as
they advance on the centre and right, we look anxiously for A. P.
Hill, who has had to march from Harper's Ferry, — and we know
how Wellington asked for Bliicher. Half-past four. Hill is here.
He goes in on the right at a rush ; slaughters all across the
Antietam, and drives them back in a run.
" It is night, and we have, after the first all-day's fight of the
war, fairly repulsed the enemy. We should have gained a vic
tory and routed them, as we made them run two or three times,
had it not been for the straggling. We were twenty-five thousand
short by this cause. The next day we lay there, we holding the
field, and General Franklin sent in a flag of truce to be allowed to
bury their dead, which was refused. Thursday night we with
drew across the Potomac into Virginia, crossing our whole army
— infantry, cavalry, artillery, and trains — at one bad ford, Boteler's
mill. " By ten o'clock on Friday everything was across. We had
left only two disabled pieces of artillery on the Maryland side,
but a good number of our wounded were unable to be moved
and had to be left at the various hospitals. Our loss in the fight
was quite large, and, taking everything into account, I think the
Maryland campaign has not been very successful."

2l8 MEMOIRS OF
PENDLETON TO LEE.
Head-quarters Artillery Corps, September 24, 186a.
General R. E. Lee,
Commanding Army Northern Virginia.
General, — -I have the honor to report the part performed by my command and by
myself in the recent operations of our army, and especially as to service rendered in
defending the Potomac ford at Shepherdstown, in connection with General Jackson's
capture of Harper's Ferry and the battle of Sharpsburg.
In obedience to orders from the War Department on August 19, my immediate com
mand moved from Richmond on the 20th to co-operate with the forces on the North
Anna River, and in compliance with your own direction it marched forward with that
entire force towards your front lines on the 26th.
By request of the President my personal progress to join you was more rapid than
that of the column. After bestowing a day upon requisite arrangements, I committed
the general reserve artillery to Lieutenant-Colonel Cutts, under the senior general,
D. H. Hill, and hastened on to your head-quarters. Some uncertainty as to the route
amid the changing scenes of the occasion and an enfeebling disease in part retarded my
progress, though with medical aid I ceaselessly pressed on, so that not until after mid-day
Saturday, August 30, could I reach you on the memorable battle-field of that day near
Manassas (Second Manassas). Having reported and delivered messages from the Presi
dent, I was kindly urged by you to seek some convenient place in the rear where rest and
medical treatment might relieve the disorder then prostrating me. This, after witnessing
the battle for perhaps two hours with intense interest, I found myself compelled to
do ; and under the hospitable roof of Mr. Foote, robbed though he had been of almost
everything by the unscrupulous enemy, received for a few days the kindest attention.
On Wednesday, September 3, my command had arrived at Sudley, and though still
unwell I joined it and marched with the troops to Leesburg. There, besides other
work, I had preparatory to crossing into Maryland to arrange for sifting out the re
duced and strengthening the more efficient batteries in all the artillery battalions with
this part of our army. Physical exhaustion rendered this task scarce less than severe.
Major Richardson was left in charge of the batteries, sections, feeble horses, etc., de
tained, with orders to take them to the neighborhood of Winchester and there establish
a depot for the recruiting of horses, etc., while the battalions of Lieutenant-Colonel
Cutts and Major Nelson were prepared for advancing.
Sunday, September 7, with the portions of these two battalions not detailed on spe
cial duty, I proceeded to the neighborhood of Frederick, Maryland, and there reported
on the morning of the 8th.
On Wednesday, 10th, the command — excluding Lieutenant-Colonel Cutts's battalion,
which had been assigned to duty with General D. H. Hill's division, and including
the battalions of Colonel J. T. Brown, of Major William Nelson, and of Colonel S. D.
Lee, who had then reported to me — marched with the army towards Hagerstown.
Sunday morning, 14th, we were summoned to return towards Boonsborough, the
enemy having advanced upon General D. H. Hill. When I arrived and reported to
you, a short distance from the battle-field, you directed me to place in position on the
heights of Beaver Creek the several batteries of my command. This was accordingly
done just before nightfall. At midnight I was again summoned to your head-quarters
and directed to send Colonel S. D. Lee with his battalion on the road to Centreville,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 219
and to take the residue of my command by the shortest route to Williamsport and across
the Potomac, and then to enter upon the duty of guarding the fords of that river.
By sunrise Monday, 15th, we had reached the intersection of the Hagerstown,
Sharpsburg, Boonsborough, and Williamsport roads, and there received reliable intel
ligence of a large cavalry force of the enemy not far ahead of us. I immediately
posted guns to the front and on the flank, sent messengers to General Toombs — un
derstood to be at Sharpsburg — for a regiment or two of infantry, set to work collecting
a band of armed stragglers, and sent scouts to the front. These latter soon returned
and reported the road clear for some two miles. I therefore determined to advance
cautiously without waiting for infantry, in order to protect the large wagon-train pro
ceeding by the Hagerstown road through Williamsport. The cavalry, which consisted
of three regiments, escaped from Harper's Ferry, crossed our road perhaps less than
an hour ahead of us. We thus narrowly missed a rather strange encounter. My pur
pose was, of course, if we met, to attempt the destruction of those retiring invaders.
Having crossed the Williamsport ford, I assigned to Colonel Brown its defence and
that of another a mile or more lower down, and proceeded with the remaining battalion
— Major Nelson's — to the neighborhood of Shepherdstown.
By ten o'clock of the 16th the guns were here in position on the heights, overlooking
the ford a mile below the town, and the passage was thenceforward assiduously guarded.
Here other and arduous duties devolved upon the command and upon myself. By
night and by day much labor was needed on the road : the passage of troops had to be
facilitated and important despatches forwarded in different directions, all rendered
the more essential towards General Jackson hastening to Sharpsburg after capturing
Harper's Ferry. This continued through the 1 7th while the battle (Sharpsburg) was
raging and during the night, especially in my having to meet a requisition for all the
long-range guns that could be obtained and possibly spared from the fords. Instruc
tions also reached me to have apprehended and sent forward all stragglers.
On the 18th arrangements had to be made for meeting a demonstration of the enemy
reported at Shepherd's Ford, four miles above. Some cavalry and a small infantry
force of collected stragglers duly organized for the occasion were sent thither, with a
battery. While engaged in these duties I was again summoned to aid in repairing
roads and facilitating the passage of troops. The difficult achievement of recrossing
our army with its extensive train over that single ford — during the night and the enemy
close at hand — having been resolved upon, every available man and officer of my
immediate command and such others as could be gathered were at once set to work
removing obstructions, preventing collisions, having lights at hand as needed, and
promoting the orderly movement of vehicles on the several routes.
After a night thus spent, Major Nelson and myself were by dawn Friday, 19th, in
saddle for the purpose of securing guns from some of the artillery that had crossed and
placing them in position to aid in repelling the enemy when he should appear. Forty-
four guns were thus secured. Of these the character, position, etc , were as follows :
A 10-pounder Parrott and two other rifles, under Captain Maurin, on the right-hand
height, two or three hundred yards from the river ; next him, on the left, a 10-pounder
Parrott, under Lieutenant Maddox. On his left Captain Milledge had four 3-inch rifles
and a 12-pounder howitzer. Next to Captain Milledge Captain Chapman was placed,
with one rifle and one Napoleon. On the left of these and on the brow of the cliff, over
looking the ford and to rake it and its approaches, Captain M. Johnson was placed,
with two 6-pounders and two howitzers. These dispositions were all below the road

220 MEMOIRS OF
leading directly from the ford, along a ravine to the interior. Above that road Cap
tain Kirkpatrick, with two 6-pounders and two 12-pounder howitzers, occupied the brow
of the cliff to cross-fire with Captain Johnson upon the ford and its approaches. On
Captain Kirkpatrick's left, and for a like purpose, was placed Captain Huckstep's battery
of four 6-pounders. On an eminence to his left were planted two io-pounder Parrotts of
Captain Braxton's battery. Still farther to the left and on an elevation more commanding,
though farther from the river, were located an effective 12-pounder Whitworth under Cap
tain Barnwell, my ordnance-officer, and two 10 pounder Parrotts under Captain Harda-
way. Nearer to the river, and still to the left, positions were by Colonel Long assigned
to a battery of four 6-pounders to sweep the road on the opposite shore, and to their left
two 10-pounder Parrotts of a Louisiana battery (the names of their officers are not re
membered) . There being no favorable positions for other guns, the eleven remaining
of the forty-four mentioned were removed beyond range, to be called up if required.
These arrangements had not been all completed when, about eight A.M. of the 19th,
the enemy appeared on the distant heights opposite and found our army entirely and
safely across the ford and on the Virginia side of the Potomac.
They soon brought up and opened artillery much exceeding ours in weight. Still,
our rifles did excellent service in keeping at bay for hours the entire hostile force, —
artillery, cavalry, and infantry, — which in various positions appeared, care being taken
not to waste ammunition in mere long-range exchanges of shot. Our troops that had
been briefly resting in the valleys were now ordered farther inland, to be out of reach
of the shells, etc., so numerously hurled by the enemy, yet near enough to turn readily
upon and perhaps destroy the adverse army should it force the passage of the river and
take position between it and our forces.
From yourself I received instructions to hold the position all that day and the night
succeeding, unless the pressure should become too great, in which event I was at my
discretion to withdraw after dark, it being most unlikely that a discreet commander
would then risk the destruction of his entire army, by getting it across in the night
and being assailed when in disorder next morning, with such a river behind him.
Should I find it best at nightfall to withdraw I was to follow the track of our army.
I was informed also that two brigades of infantry would remain as a support to
the ford, — defending artillery, those of Generals Armistead and Lawton, — these com
manded, the former by Colonel Hodges and the latter by Colonel Lamar. They were
to picket the ford and, screening themselves as well as possible, to act as sharp
shooters on the bank. I was by General Longstreet requested to take charge of these
brigades I did so, and instructed the colonels commanding to keep their force at the
ford strong, vigilant, and as well sheltered as occasion allowed, and to have the
residue well in hand, back of adjacent hills for protection till needed. My directions
were also given them not to fire merely in reply to shots from the other side, but only
to repel any attempt at crossing and to guard the ford. My own position was chosen
at a point central, moderately protected by conformation of ground, at the same time
commanding the general view and accessible from every direction, with as little ex
posure of messengers as any one place in such a scene could be. And here, except
when some personal inspection or order had to be given requiring temporary absence,
I remained for best service throughout the day.
During most of the forenoon the enemy's fire was furious, and under cover of it, in
spite of persistent vigor on the part of our batteries, a heavy body of sharp-shooters
gained the canal-bank on the northern and hostile side of the river. This proved to

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 221
us an evil not slightly trying, since it exposed our nearer cannoneers to be picked off
when serving their guns by the enemy's effective infantry rifles.
From the advanced batteries on the left I was, therefore, applied to for some infantry
to counteract in part this evil, by availing themselves of any cover at hand, to serve as
sharp-shooters on that part of our side. I accordingly ordered to the duty two hundred
of the infantry in reserve.
After some time the cavalry officer commanding at the ford two miles below notified
me that the enemy was before him in force, had planted a powerful battery, and could
not be prevented crossing unless I sent him some infantry. Considering the importance
of thus securing our flank, I judged it proper to send him also an infantry force of be
tween one and two hundred men. Of the extent of loss at Sharpsburg from the two
brigades left with me and of their consequent very small numbers, all told, I had not
been informed when their assignment to my direction was made. In providing, there
fore, for protecting right and left as described I was not aware of infantry weakness
for the ford itself. This was, however, as the evening progressed made to me only too
certain. The enemy's fire which had for a season relaxed became fiercer than before,
and so directed as to rake most of the hollows as well as the hills we occupied. At
the same time their infantry at the canal breastwork was much increased, and the crack
of their sharp-shooters became a continuous roll of musketry. Colonels Lamar and
Hodges both reported to me that the pressure on their small force — the whole of which
remaining I had ordered to the river, and the sum total when all were there was, they
informed me, scarcely three hundred — was becoming too great to be borne. I directed
them to hold on an hour longer ; sunset was at hand, and I had communicated with
Colonel Munford, who promised at dark to be with us ; that by that time I would have
the batteries withdrawn ; they should, after due notice, retire next the batteries ; and
the cavalry should fall in between them and the enemy, so that all would get rightly
out. This plan I judged it under the circumstances best on the whole to adopt in the
discretion left with me, as the reason of the case already indicated seemed not to justify
the sacrifice incident to utmost resistance against any crossing. While these directions
were passing the commanders of battery after battery notified me that their ammuni
tion was exhausted and that they were thus exposed to small purpose. Their request
for permission to retire under such circumstances it was not deemed wise to grant
wherever the movement could be seen by the enemy. In cases where they could get
back unseen it was sanctioned. Instructions were sent to each battery, besides, to retire
in specified order as dusk deepened to conceal them in so doing. It was, of course, a
critical and anxious hour, inasmuch as a dashing force might, on the necessary reduction
of our fire, get across and capture some of our longest-served and latest-removed guns.
Deep dusk had now arrived. Certain batteries as allowed were on their way in
land, while others as directed were well using ammunition still on hand. My own
position was taken near the point of chief importance, directly back from the ford, so
that I might the better know of and control each requisite operation. The members
of my staff vigorously seconded my endeavors under furious fire in carrying orders
and supervising their fulfilment, and everything appeared likely, under favoring Provi
dence, to result in effecting the withdrawal planned.
This prospect was, however, suddenly changed. A number of infantrymen rushed
rapidly by the point I occupied ; arresting them, I learned that they were of the sharp
shooters who held guard at the ford, that their body had all given way, and that some
of the enemy were already on our side of the river. Worn as were these men, their

222 MEMOIRS OF i
state of disorder akin to panic was not justly to be met with harshness ; they were,
however, encouraged to be steady and useful in checking disorder and affording such
tokens as they might in the settling dark of force to make the enemy cautious.
No other means had I of keeping back an advance. All my staff were at the mo
ment absent but two, one of whom was instantly sent to find as carefully as possible
the state of facts towards the ford, the other to secure the orderly retirement of the last
batteries and of everything attached to my own head-quarters, evidences being unmis
takable that the reported crossing was in part a fact.
My personal situation was all the while necessarily much exposed, and now to easy
capture, accessible as it was to cavalry in a few moments should such have crossed and
be coming forward.
The arrival of our own cavalry being now unlikely, I had to determine at once what
duty required of myself. The enemy would doubtless adopt one of two courses, —
either, shrinking from hidden danger, cautiously proceed only a hundred or two yards,
or, more adventurous, push on a force along the chief road as he could find it. In the
former case our guns, etc., would, as considerately instructed, get fairly out of reach,
and this was in the main my expectation ; still, the other course — a pushing, hostile
force — had to be provided for. I therefore proceeded to a point in the road probably
not then reached by any party of the enemy, on foot and leading my horse, and accom
panied by my adjutant and ordnance-sergeant, who had rejoined me along a path still
thundered over by the enemy's shells and crossing the road inland from the river.
Those shells were obviously indicative of no intended advance of any considerable
body of the enemy ; firing on their own troops thus would scarcely be risked. Along
the road I found the rear of our artillery column properly moving. Mounting here, I
rode with the column, and employed the two young officers in moving our hospital
camp and enforcing order along the entire column.
While thus proceeding I learned that General Pryor was resting not far ahead with
the division under his command. Finding him perhaps within two miles of the river,
I made known to him the state of facts and asked of him a detail to go back with me,
that I might at least, were any guns captured, recover them, or endangered secure
them. The general thought the responsibility too serious for him to assume and re
quested me to refer the matter to General Hood, supposed near. General Hood's staff
was found on the march, but himself — -unwell, I was told — I did not see. No one
could inform me where General Longstreet was. To find yourself, then, was clearly
my next duty. This, in the extreme darkness and amid the intricacies of unknown
routes, proved a task of no little difficulty and delay.
At length succeeding and making known to you the main facts, I was instructed to
do no more till morning, when measures would be taken suited to circumstances, and
meantime to secure a few hours of necessary rest. Early the next morning I had the
privilege of accompanying a force under General Jackson sent to punish the enemy,
of attending that honored officer and friend in the exposure incident to his command,
and of witnessing the destructive chastisement inflicted upon the several thousands that
had crossed and remained on the south side of the river. Under the immediate orders
of General A. P. Hill, his division made upon that doomed body of the enemy a resist
less charge to their actual extermination. The furious fire of the enemy from beyond
the Potomac, though necessarily harmful at first, proved far less damaging than it must
otherwise have been, because such direction had to be given their pieces as to spare
their own troops receiving the charge.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 223
This severe work having been accomplished, I found that but four of our pieces had
been lost ; these, their horses being killed and the men being too weary to drag them
away, had been spiked and left. They were next morning found by the enemy and
thrown over the cliffs before General Jackson's arrival to destroy themselves.
About noon of this day, — Saturday, September 20, — returning from Shepherdstown
along the Winchester road, about four miles on the way, I joined our batteries commanded
by Major Nelson. With others similarly instructed by myself, he had been diligently en
gaged the previous evening in causing batteries to be withdrawn in order as directed, and
the anticipated caution of the enemy had allowed them all to get back with no further dam
age than the leaving of one gun apiece by each of four batteries, as already mentioned.
Captain Maurin, an officer of tried merit, was, as said, compelled to spike and leave
a 10-pounder Parrott; Captain Milledge, a 12-pounder brass howitzer; Captain M.
Johnson, also a 12-pounder brass howitzer ; and Captain Huckstep, an iron 6-pounder.
The brass howitzer 12-pounder left by Captain Milledge proves, I regret to report,
to have been a gun marked with the coat of arms of our own commonwealth and be
longing to the Virginia Military Institute, and to have been on these accounts especially
valued. The Confederate States government will, I hope and earnestly recommend,
have of it a facsimile made and returned to the Virginia Military Institute.
Besides these losses we had in the batteries three men killed and four wounded, and
of horses twenty-six killed and disabled. What casualties occurred in the infantry
under Colonels Lamar and Hodges I have not been informed. Those officers have
reported, I take for granted, through their division commanders.
That the immense force of the enemy was so effectually kept back and our army
quietly relieved from disturbance by the persistent vigor and endurance of our com
paratively small repelling strength, and with no greater loss, is assuredly cause for
thankfulness to the Giver of good and occasion for just appreciation of fidelity on the
part of officers and men who performed the service.
Major Nelson's cool courage and persistent vigor throughout the day and in the
trying hour at its close deserve especial mention. His services were of great value.
Captains Hardaway, Kirkpatrick, Braxton, Maurin, indeed every artillery officer from
time to time under my eye and as otherwise known by me, performed stem duty, I am
satisfied, with commendable resolution and skill, as did the men. Captain Barnwell,
of my staff, distinguished himself by the efficiency with which, under ceaseless ex
posure to shells hurled at his position, he managed our accurate Whitworth gun. My
aide, Lieutenant Charles Hatcher, and Sergeant Major Robert Jones also deserve hon
orable mention for the alacrity with which they bore my messages in every direction
under hottest fire. Other members of my staff were for the most part absent on duty
previously assigned. To Colonels Lamar and Hodges and the troops they commanded
credit is justly due for the persevering determination with which they bore during all
the day a fire doubly galling, of case-shot from the enemy's cannon and of musketry
from the vastly outnumbering infantry force sheltered by the canal-bank across the river.
Not until overworn did the handful of our sharp-shooters at all give way, and that
would probably have been prevented could a double number partly sheltered by trees,
etc., have allowed relief in action.
Thankful that so much was done with such partial loss, I have the honor to be, most
respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. N. Pendleton,
Brigadier- General and Chief of Artillery.

224 MEMOIRS OF
For convenience a sketch is annexed of our entire artillery organization for and after
the campaign.
With the First Corps, or right wing, of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded
by Lieutenant-General Longstreet, consisting of nineteen brigades adjusted into five
divisions, served an artillery force of one hundred and twelve guns, — viz., forty-five
rifles, sixteen Napoleons, and sixty-four common smooth-bores,— arranged into six bat
talions of several batteries each, of which battalions one attended each division and
one constituted the corps reserve artillery. With the Second Corps, or left wing,
commanded by Lieutenant-General T. J. Jackson, and consisting of a brigade or
two less than the other adjusted into four divisions, served an artillery force of one
hundred and twenty-three guns, — viz., fifty-two rifles, eighteen Napoleons, and fifty-
three short-range, — arranged into battalions, attached and commanded as in the First
Corps. The cavalry corps commanded by Major-General J. E. B. Stuart had also attached
to it an effective mounted battery, known as Pelham's Horse Artillery, armed with two
rifles and two 1 2-pounder howitzers.
Besides the general charge of all this artillery, — its equipment, organization, and con
stant efficiency for and in action, — the general chief of artillery held, under personal
orders as the commander-in-chief might direct, a general reserve artillery, consisting of
three battalions with several batteries each, having in all fifteen rifle, one Napoleon,
and twenty short-range guns. So that in our artillery service with the Army of
Northern Virginia there were, adjusted as described, two hundred and seventy-five
guns. Respectfully,
W. N. P.
CHILTON TO PENDLETON.
Head-quarters Army Northern Virginia, September 16, 1862.
General, — The commanding general wishes you to have constructed immediately
a wide bridge over the canal opposite the ford. You can either do it by making a
bridge on a level with the tow-path or by digging the banks on either side so as
to pass down and up easily, causewaying the bottom so as to make the crossing
easy. Respectfully, your obedient servant, R. H. Chilton.
Captain Johnson, Engineer, is sent forward, who will attend to the construction of
the bridge. LEE TO PENDLETON. Sharpsburg, September 17 (1862), 4.30 A.M.
Brigadier-General Pendleton,
Commanding Artillery.
General, — I desire you to keep some artillery guarding each of the fords at Wil
liamsport, Falling Waters, and Shepherdstown, and have some infantry with it if
possible. Very respectfully yours,
R. E. Lee,
General.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 225
CHILTON TO PENDLETON.
Head-quarters Army Northern Virginia, September 17, 1862.
Brigadier-General Pendleton, Shepherdstown.
General, — If you have fifteen or twenty guns suitable for our purpose which you
can spare, the general desires you to send them, with a sufficiency of ammunition.
You must not take them from the fords, if essential to their safety. Send up the
stragglers. Take any cavalry about there and send up at the point of the sword.
We want ammunition, guns, and provisions. Respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. H. Chilton,
Assistant Adjutant- General.
P.S. — If you have not as many guns as wanted to spare, send those of long range.
CHILTON TO PENDLETON.
Head-quarters Army Northhrn Virginia, September 19, 1862.
Brigadier-General Pendleton, Shepherdstown, Virginia.
General, — The commanding general says that if the enemy is in force in your
front you must retire to-night. If not in force, being merely an artillery force, with
draw the infantry forces, directing them to join their respective divisions on the march
to morrow, a few guns and a small cavalry force being sufficient to guard the fords.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. H. Chilton,
Assistant Adjutant- General.

15

226 MEMOIRS OF

CHAPTER XXXI.
FALL AND WINTER OF 1 862.
As had been the case after First Manassas, the work which
occupied General Pendleton immediately after Sharpsburg was
the distributing among the batteries of Lee's army the seventy-
three fine guns captured at Harper's Ferry. Since the march to
Yorktown in April that army had been undergoing incessant and
arduous service. This long campaign had been exceedingly try
ing upon the artillery. Men, horses, and ordnance, all were worn
and exhausted by the severe and protracted marching and fight
ing from Williamsburg, through the week of battles before Rich
mond, Cedar Run, the three bloody days at Manassas, across the
Potomac, through Maryland, over the Blue Ridge, at Harper's
Ferry and Sharpsburg, and back across the Potomac again. The
supply of horses and superior cannon taken at Harper's Ferry
was, therefore, most welcome and timely, and battery captains
were eager to replace their disabled pieces by the newer and more
efficient Yankee guns. To see that these were distributed justly
and where they would most conduce to the strengthening the
artillery force was General Pendleton's especial care.
But the capability of field-artillery depends even more upon the
condition of the battery horses than upon the calibre and char
acter of the guns. Bad roads, incessant labor, and insufficient
food added to the casualties of battle had so reduced the number
and impaired the efficiency of the artillery horses as to render it
a matter of extreme anxiety how such a state of things was to be
remedied. Hardship and danger — the unfailing tests of capacity
to discharge duty and face responsibility — had shown that here
and there were to be found batteries which, through negligence,
inefficiency, inaptitude for that special arm, or reduction in strength
from sickness or battle, were encumbrances to the artillery force.
To weed these out, break them up, and distribute officers, men,
and munitions so as to build up other more reliable but too feeble

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 227.
batteries was another laborious and most important duty de
volving upon the army chief of artillery.
Besides these duties specially connected with the artillery,
General Pendleton was called upon to discharge others pertain
ing to the general welfare, — looking up woollen manufactories,
sending detachments after stragglers, etc.,* — and, as before, proved
capable for what was required of him. His report of the opera
tions of his command from the crossing into Maryland to the
withdrawal of the army after the battle of Sharpsburg was placed
in General Lee's hands on September 24, one week after the battle.
Under the urgent necessity to bring up the artillery force to full
strength as speedily as possible he had, by October 2, procured
and examined exhaustive reports from every artillery command,
and had so studied the subject as to be able to lay before General
Lee on that date a report in detail of every battalion and com
pany in the army, with a recommendation in each case as to the
retention or disbanding and distributing of the same.
Anxiety, exposure, and loss of rest during the days and nights
from the 14th to the 20th of September had brought on him a
severe return of the sickness which had attacked him in the
Chickahominy swamps, and all this work was performed in spite
of much prostration and suffering. Of his life from day to day
his letters give the best account : " Darkesville, September 27, 1862.
"... For the last few days I have been too unwell to write, —
with my complaint of long standing. To-day I am better. . . .
Randolph insists I must get a leave of three or four weeks or I
will not get well. I begin to think so myself, but must wait a
little longer. A good deal to be done that I wish to accomplish
before leaving the army, and then it will depend upon the pros
pect before us and how I feel whether I shall consider myself at
liberty to take a brief respite.
" The army has been resting here some days, and is now en
tering, I suppose, upon active work again. But what that work
is to be I at present have no idea, my indisposition having kept
me quietly in my camp for these several days. We are about to
move towards Winchester." . . .
* See letter from General Lee.

228 MEMOIRS OF
" Sunday afternoon, September 28.
"... I have another opportunity of writing a few lines. This
holy day has been too busy for a Sabbath, yet mentally to me a
sacred day. I am resting for an hour or two. The enemy seems
concentrating at Harper's Ferry, so that this army must move to
head them off. This active movement, with the likelihood of battle,
prevents my thinking just now of the furlough I had contemplated.
Indeed, Randolph had given me a certificate that it was essential
for me to leave camp for thirty days, but there is a good deal to do
in my department which no one else can do as well, under the cir
cumstances, and I would not go when a great conflict may be near.
" My disease has been for the past few days very enfeebling.
I am, as you request, extremely careful as to diet. But camp is
a hard place to be nice in that as in other respects. By calling at
houses near by and getting a soft-boiled egg and a little boiled
milk now and then, I hope to get along, — even if ' faint, yet
pursuing.' I know you would not have me leave my post at a
critical time if I can possibly hold out.
" The country around here is doubly desolate. Army after
army has passed over it, and a cloud of locusts were hardly less
destructive ; and now a drought almost unparalleled has parched
it crisp. Winchester I have not yet seen, but it is said to be
greatly injured. I sent you yesterday a check. It will, I hope,
come safely and meet all your wants. Make sure of flour, wood,
and bacon for the winter." " October 2.
"... I have only time this morning for a line to tell you how
much better I am. I was very sick and beginning to despair of
getting well in camp, but got one of the boys to bring me a piece
of pickle from a nice house near by, and extracting and swallow
ing the juice helped me at once. I am now taking nitro-muriatic
acid, and have been living mainly on acid food. It has all helped
me wonderfully, and I am really beginning to feel like myself.
You may, therefore, rest easy on my account thus far."
While he was encouraging his family by enlarging on every
slight improvement in his health, his friends in camp were very
anxious about him. His son wrote home at this time telling of
a visit to the artillery camp :

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D D. 229
" I found pa quite sick, though rather better than he had been
for some days. I made him promise to go home for thirty days,
and he says he will start in five days more, so by next Wednesday
I hope he may be with you."
Meantime, the improvement indicated above began, important
work demanded attention, and the longed-for and much-needed
visit home became daily less possible. From his brother-in-law
Philip N. Meade's home, " Mountain View," in Clarke County,
he wrote, on October 6, Monday, —
" You will rejoice to hear that I am nearly well again. I wrote
you of my feeling better, but the change has been nothing short
of wonderful. . . . Friday General Lee sent me a note express
ing regret at learning of my health being still indifferent and
urging me to take some relaxation. But I was then better, and
besides engaged upon the laborious and delicate task of reducing
and reorganizing the artillery of the entire army. Saturday
morning I finished my report, took it to General Lee, and had
the satisfaction of his most cordial approval. We moved to a
new camp on the Front Royal road, so as to have forage within
reach of our numerous horses ; and having located the camp
three miles below the toll-gate, near White Post, John, Willie
Meade, and I came to ' Mountain View' after dark on Saturday.
All delighted to see us. Their great question whether to stay
or not, if our army has to meet McClellan elsewhere and leave
this region again to Yankee banditti. They will stay, I think.
" Rose and the children, Willie, Philip, and I went to church
at Millwood yesterday. Mr. Jones not there, yet a good con
gregation. I officiated in my uniform, boots and all, just as I
was, without gown, bands, or other clerical token. The people
seemed interested, and heaven helped me, so that good was, I
trust, done. We are just setting out for camp ; a good deal to
do there.
" No development yet. General Lee is working on towards the
passes of the Blue Ridge, in case we should have to meet another
attempt on Richmond by McClellan. Ned Lee I have not seen,
nor Sandie, for some days. We are as distinct as if separated by
half the State."

230 MEMOIRS OF
" October 8.
"... It grieves me that you were all so disappointed about my
not going home, but it was better for me to stay. I hope to get
home later if there is not much active campaigning. I am really
well, with a fine appetite, and full of vigor. It is dreadfully dry.
I never saw so much dust.
" All quiet still. When a move will be made, or what, I do not
imagine. At present we are improving in health and gaining
strength daily. Oh, how I long to be with you and the rest !
Rose, Nan, and Lei I have not seen for more than a year. Am
letting the beard grow all over my face. Pretty grizzly, — but a
great saving of work."
On the same day, October 8, Sandie Pendleton wrote his
mother from General Jackson's camp, near Bunker Hill, —
"... I suppose you are pining for rain and oppressed by the
heat as we are, though you have not the same clouds of dust to
trouble you. It is as hot as midsummer here, and every breath
of air that stirs, instead of bringing coolness, bears as great a
load of dust as ever a wind that blew over the desert of Sahara.
As I look up from this paper I see regiments drilling in the field
two hundred yards from me enveloped in a cloud of dust which
they stir up as they go. I wish we could try a fight with McClel
lan's army about Sharpsburg now. The result would be very
different from that of the battle of September 17. Our army is
twenty-five thousand stronger than then, and in far better condi
tion in every respect. We have been idle now for more than
three weeks, and our generals are not given to inaction. Activity
and motion have gotten to be a necessity for us, as giving some
food to the mind. Now there is nothing to do. Frank Paxton
having charge of the office-work, I have been reading Carlyle's
' Cromwell.' General Jackson is the exact counterpart of Oliver
¦ in every respect, as Carlyle draws him."
Till the 1st of November the army continued in the valley,
watching McClellan and steadily gaining in strength. The diffi
culty of obtaining forage continually increased, and all arms of
the service became anxious for active movements. Later in

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 23 1
October General Pendleton's letters tell of his various important
occupations and continued ill health.
*' Artillery Camp, Four Miles below White Post.
"... Here we are still, you see. Under General Lee's direc
tion, I have had the routes over the mountains explored, and the
capacity of Fauquier, Loudoun, etc., for maintaining an army
ascertained and reported to him. . . . My great work of reor
ganizing the artillery has been accomplished, and if there is to be
no more active campaigning I can be better spared from camp
now than at most other times.
"... Mr. Barnwell has just returned from Richmond — whither
I had sent him — with two twenty-pound Parrott rifle guns. I
some time ago assigned two to Poague and two to a battery in
Colonel S. D. Lee's battalion. They were captured at Harper's
Ferry. The two just brought up I keep in this corps under
Captain Lane of Cutts's battalion. These guns, and two English
Whitworths that fire five miles, make our artillery armament for
the field much more formidable than it has ever been before.
The Yankees will not again have their way with us at long
range any more than at close quarters. . . . You will be pained
to hear that I am not so well. Severely troubled for the last
few days with my old complaint. I reckon. I shall have to leave
camp to get sound again, if for nothing else. Besides, I have
had a bronchial cold, and now, in addition, have a painful boil
under my right arm. Altogether, some experience of bodily
ills. Yet, on the whole, I am comfortable. . . . My condition
requires the greatest possible care as to diet: a boiled egg, a
little chicken-soup, and rice with toast constitute my subsistence.
I am greatly favored in being able to get them."
" October 23, Winchester.
"... I am, as usual, hurried. Have ridden to see General Lee
to-day about various matters ; took occasion to hint about recruit
ing my strength. He says I mustn't want recruiting ; he can't
spare me. I suppose it will not do for me to think of leaving till
winter puts a veto on active movements. I wish we had known
a month ago the army would be here so long, I would have had
you and Rose here at ' Mountain View.' "

232 MEMOIRS OF
While the artillery had been resting and recruiting in the
camp near White Post, Jackson's corps had been moved to a
point between Winchester and the Blue Ridge, where it could
watch the mountain gaps from Harper's Ferry southward. A
division of Longstreet's corps had also been sent to Upperville,
Loudoun County, to watch the enemy in front. "About the
last of October the Federal army began to incline eastwardly
towards Warrenton." * Longstreet's entire corps was therefore
ordered to Culpeper, and General Pendleton with the reserve
artillery was directed to follow.f
Of this march and the stay at Culpeper General Pendleton
wrote, — " Culpeper Court-House, November 6, 1862.
"... On Thursday, 30th of October, I received notice to
march Saturday, 1st of November, and at one p.m. of that day
set the column in motion, the road not being clear till then.
That evening, crossing the two branches of the Shenandoah, we
reached and encamped near Front Royal. Tuesday, soon after
mid-day, we arrived here, — are encamped about a mile from the
village, where streams furnish water for our horses and woods
shelter them and ourselves." . . . "November 17.
"... Yesterday I was again permitted to preach acceptably
to a large and attractive congregation in Rev. Mr. Cole's church.
* General Lee's report.
f In the accompanying order : (Confidential.)
Head-quarters Army Northern Virginia, 28th October, 1862.
Brigadier-General W. N. Pendleton,
Commanding, etc.
General, — General Longstreet's corps will be put in march to Culpeper. General
Jackson's will remain in the valley for the present. His head-quarters are on the
Charlestown and Berryville Turnpike near Long Marsh Run. As soon as Long-
street's corps passes you, I wish you to follow it with your reserve artillery at a con
venient distance to Culpeper, encamping on your arrival at a suitable distance from
his command, where you can procure shelter, fuel, and subsistence. You must make
arrangements to provide forage, etc. , at your camping-grounds on your march. The
reserve ammunition-train will accompany you.
I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. Lee,
General.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 233
There were a great many officers and soldiers. General Lee and
staff among others. They tell me the army seems in motion. I
have for a day or two anticipated the breaking up of our camp here.
" George, of Oakland, who waits upon us, is very complaining.
He says he is ' broke down' and can't stand being here in this
' wide ocean.' We have, with one and another, quite a small
army of servants about my head-quarters. It is a life they like
vastly. So little to do."
Early in November General Burnside superseded General
McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac. His
movement towards Fredericksburg soon became apparent. Gen
eral Lee therefore sent first a small and then a larger force to
occupy the hills on the south of the town.
When General Sumner with his advance reached Falmouth
on November 17, the only Confederate troops on the opposite
side of the river consisted of one regiment of cavalry, four com
panies of Mississippi infantry, and a battery of light artillery.
On that day two divisions of Longstreet's corps, — McLaws's
and Ransom's, with their battalion of artillery, — accompanied
by a brigade of cavalry and Lane's long-range rifle battery from
the reserve artillery, were sent forward to Fredericksburg. On
the 19th General Burnside reported from Falmouth to the
authorities in Washington that six army corps, under Sumner,
Franklin, and Hooker, with several other divisions and a large
cavalry force, had all reached their designated places within
striking distance of Fredericksburg.* This great army of one
hundred and thirteen thousand men f had in front of it for sev
eral days only the Confederate force mentioned above, as the
rest of Longstreet's corps, with the reserve artillery, did not
move from Culpeper until the 19th. Jackson's corps, which had
come from the valley to Orange Court-House, was not ordered
to Fredericksburg until November 26.
Had General Burnside occupied Fredericksburg and the hills
south of the Rappahannock, as he might have done at first
without opposition, General Lee would have been compelled to
take a defensive position farther back. But as the Federal host
* Burnside's report, War Records, Washington, D.C. f Ibid.

234 MEMOIRS OF
sat quietly down upon the north side of the river, the Confed
erate army took possession of the hills on the south side, and
began at once to strengthen the defensive line they afforded.
" The plain of Fredericksburg is so completely commanded by
the Stafford heights" — crowned by the heavy guns of the enemy
— " that no effectual opposition could be made to the construc
tion of bridges or the passage of the river without exposing our
troops to the destructive fire of the numerous batteries of the
enemy. At the same time, the narrowness of the Rappahannock,
its winding course, and deep bed presented opportunities for lay
ing down bridges at points secure from the fire of our artillery." *
The Confederate position was therefore " selected with a view to
resist the enemy's advance after crossing ; and as the hills were
commanded by the opposite heights, in possession of the enemy,
earthworks were constructed upon their crest at the most eligi
ble positions for artillery." f " These positions were judiciously
chosen, and fortified under the direction of Brigadier-General
Pendleton, chief of artillery, Colonel Cabell, of McLaws's divi
sion, Colonel E. P. Alexander, and Captain S. R. Johnson, of the
engineers." %
General Pendleton's letters bring vividly before us the work
and weariness of those days of preparation for the great battle,
and the hardships experienced by the soldiers and the inhabitants
of Fredericksburg and the surrounding country. As it was im
possible for General Lee to prevent the threatened bombardment
of the town, he advised the people to abandon it. And the whole
population, with few exceptions, left their homes to find shelter
where they could.
Winter set in unusually early, and with great severity, and the
intense cold added to the labor of throwing up earthworks, and
increased the sufferings of the army exposed to its rigors day
and night. Provisions were scarce. Tents there were none,
except those used as " head-quarters." Some of the soldiers
were barefooted, and many of them insufficiently clothed. But
they were in good spirits, and bore all their privations with
cheerful fortitude.
Of these things General Pendleton wrote, —
* General Lee's report, War Records. f Ibid. \ Ibid.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 235
"Near Fredericksburg, November 23, 1862.
Sunday night, nine p.m.
"... After a rough march during four or five days of the
past week we arrived here to-day about twelve. Since then have
been busy fixing camps, seeing General Lee, etc. It has been
very little like God's holy day. I have tried to have my own
mind exercised in harmony with the day. I was struck this
evening by a reply made to John by old George. The latter
had been away for an hour or two, no one knew where. On
being reproved, he said he had just learned it was Sunday and
had gone into the bushes to pray.
" What is to turn up here cannot yet be told. The enemy in
very strong force the other side of the river, and two days ago
they summoned the town to surrender. General Longstreet re
plied, it would not be surrendered. That our troops would
not enter the place, and General Burnside's should not. They
threatened to shell the place, and accordingly most of the people
have left." " November 26.
" . . .At present the burden of defence here falls necessarily
on the artillery, and hence I have to be very active and busy. No
gun yet fired, but the Yankees on the other side in full force, and
working like beavers planting batteries. We are, of course, en
ergetic in the same way getting guns in position to keep them
back. To do this systematically requires exact care on my part
to have all the batteries, guns, etc., classified, so that every man
may know his place, and every gun be rendered fully available at
the right point and at the requisite moment. All day Monday I
was out reconnoitring, riding some thirty miles, and yesterday
the same. The Yankees in full view, and we get not only within
cannon-range, but within musket-shot. Just across from Fred
ericksburg they have guns planted to rake the streets. If the
enemy makes a serious effort to cross, it will be a hot time. The
artillery fire will be tremendous on both sides. Burnside has a
serious task before him ; and, as General Lee said to me pleas
antly this morning, he hopes Burnside will eat his turkey and
plum-pudding elsewhere than in Richmond. I am perfectly well,
although in the woods, and sometimes with only one meal a day.
. . . When I contemplate my own part in the struggle here my

236 MEMOIRS OF
feelings are solemn, yet trustful and hopeful. He who notes the
fall of every sparrow holds in His hands my life on the battle
field as everywhere else. And I desire, harder though it then be,
to realize this when the shells crash and the bullets whiz within a
hair's-breadth as when all is quiet and peace around me. It is a
strange position for a servant of the Prince of Peace and a min
ister of the Gospel of Peace. But as I do not delight in war, and
would not hurt the hair of the head of any human being save under
conviction of public duty ; as by prayer, pleadings, and expostula
tion I have earnestly tried for peace, so I trust the blessing of the
peace-maker will not be denied me, though as a soldier of the
Cross I follow the example of old Abraham in endeavoring to de
fend my kindred against cruel outrage. As with that instance of
generous indignation and just courage conspicuously in view, the
pattern patriarch is — in the New Testament as well as in the Old
— honored as the father of the faithful and the friend of God, so,
even under the pacific dispensation of the Gospel, the Lord's
faithful servants and children, though they may not individually
avenge themselves, may, with His approval and by His sanction,
wield the sword of society against public wrong-doers seeking to
subvert social right by iniquitous force. He knows how truly I
mourn over the wrongs which have compelled the best people of
the South to resolve on resistance unto death, and how painful to
me the alternative of seeing all that I most value on earth deso
lated, or of taking myself an humble part in the endeavor, at what
ever cost, to resist oppression. He sees that I desire in all sincerity
to be a faithful soldier of the Cross, while trying also to be a useful
soldier of a much-wronged country. And He graciously accepts,
I trust, my unworthy services, whatever error, whatever sin be
chargeable against me in this as in other portions of my life. The
blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. All this, my daughter, not
for you only I write, but for all at home, and as an expression of
my mind when perhaps such utterance may be of value."
" December 4, 1862.
"... This bright, frosty morning, just after our camp break
fast of fried middling and corn-bread and water, with the addition
of a little butter, the first for ten days, I seat myself to write.
By the way, bacon of any kind in our fare is a great rarity.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 237
The army is fed by beef, beef, beef, all the time. It is so easy to
get along. A great thing for the eatables of an army to trans
port themselves.
" This lovely day all is quiet here, as ever. By and by I shall
ride to the front and take an observation of our amiable friends
across the river. ... It would grieve you to pass through the
streets of poor old Fredericksburg. All desolate and deserted.
Only here and there do you see anybody. Not a house open ;
nothing but desertion and silence. The poor, homeless people
are wanderers on the face of the earth. The Yankees having
threatened to bombard the town, of course all the timid and
helpless moved out as quickly as possible, and hundreds had to
shelter themselves in the woods some miles off as well as they
could. Most have now found refuge with kind friends elsewhere,
but the discomfort of all must be great. Still, they are bravely
patient, even cheerful. Day before yesterday, when I visited the
front, works were going up most busily on both sides. I laid out
some for large guns on our front, — guns just brought up from
Richmond, — thirty-pounder Parrotts, like ' Long Tom,' captured
at Manassas First. . . . We are all pretty hideous now, like so
many wild beasts unshorn. I have not had a razor near my face
for two months. Best friends hardly know me. They stop and
stare when I speak to them, at a loss to determine who it is.
There is no other officer with so much gray beard all over his
face, except General Lee ; and though he is grayer, the mistake
is frequently made of taking me for him. We are not far from
the same size and age. He rather older, I rather taller."
" Ten P.M., December 7, 1862.
"... To-day has been pretty wintiy all day, forming ice, I be
lieve, in the shade every hour, and to-night it is still more pinch
ing ; yet in my tent we are pretty comfortable, thin as are cotton
walls. Very different is it, however, with many of the poor fellows
in camp. There are still a few unprovided with shoes, more with
inadequate clothing, and all without tents. 'They manage to eke
out some kind of a shelter, either with oil-cloths or a blanket over
poles, or brushwood covered with leaves. Nor is the exposure
in such weather all. Camp-fare in our fix is an item of life not
without significance. Our breakfast this morning was a piece of

238 MEMOIRS OF
cold boiled fat middling and corn-bread, washed down with cold
water. It went astonishingly well, tired as we are of intermina
ble beef. For dinner I preferred a little ' hard bread' and water.
To-night we had the treat of a cup of coffee and some fat corn-
bread. . . At this season one of our sorest privations is the imprac
ticability of any kind of public worship. Had it been at all
possible, I should certainly have officiated to some part of my
command. As it was, I could only stay by the fire in my tent.
Bible and Prayer-Book are my only Christian reading. These, of
course, are inestimable, but I feel very much the want of some
others. And to-day I have not been able to enjoy these as much
as I desired, because, mine being the most comfortable tent, most
of my staff spend a good deal of time in it.
" As I am now writing on my knee, with candle propped up
on my bed, old George, having taken refuge from the cold winds
beneath our shelter, lies outstretched near the fire and your uncle
John is in his cot soundly sleeping. Nor is there a single sound
but of the simmering fire before me. You would never imagine
so many thousand men and horses of war were congregated so
near. " But what of the enemy, you will all wish to know. Just as
they have been for the two weeks we have been here. No doubt
Burnside is sorely puzzled what to do. To attempt crossing the
river in spite of us is a hazard he had better not try. To go else
where ' On to Richmond' is a task at this season to try his patience
as well as his nerves, and to stay where he is will probably cost
him as dearly as a lost battle. He had some reason to weep when
McClellan left him in command. Our own term of endurance
here must depend on his movements."
Late in November Jackson's corps had been ordered from the
valley to Fredericksburg. On the 28th of November Sandie
Pendleton wrote to his mother from Orange Court-House, —
" Marching every day has brought us thus far on our way
towards Fredericksburg and the great battle expected. We are
here and ready for our old tramps to the rear. Our corps mus
ters thirty thousand men for duty, in as fine trim and as eager for

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 239
another fight as I have seen men during the war. We are confi
dent that we can handle any sixty thousand Burnside has, and, if
Longstreet can do his part, we'll finish this army for them this
winter."

CHAPTER XXXII.
FIRST BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
For three weeks the two armies lay thus in sight and almost
within hearing of each other. General Burnside's inactivity was
contrary to the views and wishes of his subordinate commanders.
General Sumner had wished to occupy Fredericksburg on the
17th of November. On the 19th General Hooker had urged a
crossing of the Rappahannock by the fords above the town. At
first the Federal commander had waited for his pontoons, but by
the time they arrived the Confederates were so strongly posted
in his front that he wrote to Washington excusing his delay on
that ground.* He then contemplated crossing at Skinker's
Neck, fourteen miles below Fredericksburg, and Federal gun
boats were sent up the Rappahannock to facilitate this plan.
General D. H. Hill's division, of Jackson's corps, with some
powerful artillery, was therefore sent down to Port Royal, and so
effectively attacked the gunboats as to change General Burn
side's opinion of the feasibility of advancing by that route. He
then " concluded that the enemy would be more surprised by a
crossing at or near Fredericksburg" f than elsewhere, and " de
termined to make the attempt" J there. All his preparations
were made by December 10, and the movement of the Federal
army began before daylight on the nth. Pontoon-bridges were
to be laid down at different points to allow the passage of the
troops. The fire from the Stafford heights was so severe that
the Confederate troops who were protecting the crossing below
the town, near the mouth of Deep Run, had to be withdrawn,
and the bridges there were laid down before noon. In the town
itself the sharp-shooters effectually prevented all efforts to con-
* Burnside's report, Appendix D. | Ibid. J Ibid.

240 MEMOIRS OF
struct the bridge until late in the day. About four in the after
noon a furious bombardment from one hundred and fifty pieces
of artillery caused the Confederates to retire, and the bridges
there were completed. During the night, and under cover of
the dense fog, the next day, December 12, the Federal army
crossed the Rappahannock and took position on the plain in
front of Lee's army. Franklin's grand division crossed at the
lower bridges, as did Hooker's Third Corps and Burns's division
of the Ninth Corps. Sumner's grand division crossed opposite
the town. Hooker's Fifth Corps was held in reserve. Burn
side's report gives to Franklin sixty thousand men, to Sumner
twenty-seven thousand, to Hooker twenty-six thousand, — a grand
total of one hundred and thirteen thousand. The effective
strength of the Confederates was about sixty thousand men,
lying from the Rappahannock River above Falmouth on the left
to the Massaponax Creek. The left was held by Longstreet's
corps ; and Jackson's, on the right, held the ground in front of
Franklin's command; D. H. Hill's and Early's divisions of
that corps marching up from Port Royal on the night of the 12th.
The following letters written on the spot give the details of
these two days, nth and 12th. Sandie Pendleton wrote on the
1 ith,— " Head-quarters Second Army Corps.
" My dear Mother, — If the good people of Lexington ever
did hear any cannonading,* their acoustic nerves have surely
been shocked this morning. At any rate there has not been
wanting occasion. This morning the Yankees opposite Freder
icksburg opened a tremendous fire, which woke us all, and
started us out to see what had broken loose. About eight came
a despatch from General Lee stating that the enemy had at
tempted to cross at Fredericksburg, and that Barksdale's brigade
was opposing them. It is now twelve m. and we have heard
nothing further from General Lee. I have been amused at the
various comments of the negroes as to the cause and probable
results of the firing. And it is a fact that we have been so long
without a fight, that our army begins to desire another tilt with

* The firing round Richmond in July, 1862, had been distinctly heard — or perhaps
felt — in Lexington,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 241
the Yankees. The prestige is on our side here. Yesterday
General D. H. Hill (Raw-Hide Hill as he is called from having
moccasins for his men) drove off five gunboats from Port Royal
with his Whitworth gun and Poague's twenty-pounder Parrotts.
This is the second time he has done the same thing."
General Pendleton wrote in the early morning of the 1 3th, —
"... Two nights ago we were aroused by our signal-guns,
and everything made ready for battle. All day, day before yester
day, there was heavy cannonading by the enemy, and brisk skir
mishing from before dawn by our riflemen on the river-bank in
Fredericksburg and below. Our artillery did not fire at all, be
cause no suitable object was presented. The enemy tried their
pontoon-bridges, and by night, under cover of great guns, suc
ceeded in getting down several. Night before the last a good
many crossed into the flat below the town, and a good many
into the town. Yesterday, as the day before, a murky, smoky
atmosphere covered everything, so that there was no discerning
of objects a half-mile off. The Yankees, however, fired a good
deal, and our batteries occasionally. As I rode to the front
early in the morning, General Jackson, Sandie, etc., rode up, and
we went on together to the position of my large guns, — a high
point. They stayed but a little while ; I rode round the batteries
all day. About three the smoke in a great measure cleared up,
and the shelling became severe on both sides. We look for
warm work to-day, or whenever the atmosphere is clear enough.
Alas ! for the blood and suffering and death, and especially of
so many unprepared."
On the morning of the 13th of December the two armies lay
within less than two miles of each other, waiting for the lifting
of the fog to engage in their deadly struggle. Ninety thousand
men and two hundred and twenty pieces of artillery had crossed
into the plain : forty thousand men and one hundred and four
guns under Sumner on the Federal right at Fredericksburg ;
fifty thousand men with one hundred and sixteen guns under
Franklin at the lower bridges.* Behind these, across the river,
were their infantry reserves and a powerful force of heavy artil-
* Reports of Bumside and Hunt.
16

242 MEMOIRS OF
lery, so situated as to sweep the plain in their front and the Con
federate position beyond. The Confederate left, opposite Sumner,
was held by Longstreet's corps. Jackson's corps held the right
from Deep Run to the heights above the Massaponax Creek.
Two hundred and fifty pieces of artillery were posted where it
was thought they would prove most serviceable. The infantry
was in a high state of efficiency and eager to try the issue with
Burnside's men. The artillery had been much improved and re
cruited since Sharpsburg, and was now massed systematically, so
as best to defend the Confederate positions and deal destruction
to the enemy's advance. The delay occasioned by the dense fog
gave time to Generals D. H. Hill and Early to bring up their
divisions from the neighborhood of Port Royal and take the
positions assigned them, — Early in Jackson's second line, D. H.
Hill as the reserve. A. P. Hill's division held the front line
along the railroad and in the woods bordering it. Upon the
heights behind were stationed artillery, with orders not to fire
except upon the advancing enemy. A general attack was ex
pected along the Confederate lines, and officers and men were
watching for their opportunity.
Through the obscurity of the early morning came sounds in
dicating activity along the Federal line ; the words " Forward,
guide centre," were distinguished, and as the mist partially lifted,
about nine o'clock, a large force was seen moving in line of
battle upon Jackson. As they advanced into the plain, Major
Pelham, of Stuart's horse-artillery, opened an enfilade fire upon
them with two guns, which held them in check for an hour, and
did not withdraw until four Federal batteries were turned upon
them.* General Meade then continued his advance by the flank,
his artillery shelling the woods and heights, endeavoring to find
out the exact position of the Confederate lines and batteries.
According to orders, no reply was made tot he Federal cannon ;
but when the infantry had come within less than eight hundred
yards, Colonel R. L. Walker on the right opened upon them
such a storm of shot and shell from fourteen guns on the heights
in their front as caused them " to falter and retreat." f
* Generals Franklin, Reynolds, and Meade all speak of this enfilade firing as
" severe" and " brisk."
f Reports of Lee and Jackson.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 243
About one p.m. a furious cannonade from the Federal guns
announced the main attack on Jackson's entire line. Under the
protection of this heavy and well-directed fire the infantry again
advanced upon A. P. Hill. As before, the Confederate batteries
played upon them destructively. Towards the left the advance
was checked by the heavy artillery fire. Towards the right,
however, they pressed on to the railroad, driving the troops
stationed there, and striking an interval in the line, where a
marsh separated two of Hill's brigades, penetrated the first line,
turned the flanks of those brigades, and thus gained a temporary
advantage. A desperate conflict then took place. The second
line, under Early, came rapidly up, " crashing through the
woods," * and after a severe struggle drove the enemy back out
of the woods and to the railroad. A part of Early's command
then attacked the force sheltered under the railroad embank
ment, and drove them across the plains to their batteries. During
all this infantry fight the artillery was incessantly engaged. The
enemy constantly shelled the woods and heights, and the Con
federate guns poured their concentrated fire into the enemy's
troops wherever they could be perceived.
A tremendous cannonade from the Stafford heights had been
opened in the early morning upon Longstreet's corps, holding
the centre and left of the Confederate position ; but no attack
was made there until towards mid-day. General Sumner being
directed to attack and seize the heights in the rear of Freder
icksburg, ordered forward French's division, followed by Han
cock's. "At eleven a.m. the advance division moved in three
columns of battalions by brigades." f The orders given were to
advance, drive the pickets of the enemy, and go into their works
with them. % " Marye's Hill," the special point of attack, was
defended by an infantry force posted in a sunken road and a
ditch and behind a stone wall at its base ; by the Washington
Artillery on its crest ; by a concentric fire from other batteries
so placed as to sweep the plain in front ; and by a reserve force
of infantry and artillery stationed on the southern slope of the
hill. As the attacking column moved forward, the batteries on
the Stafford heights opened a furious fire upon the Confederate
* A. P. Hill's report. f General Sumner's report. % Ibid.

244 MEMOIRS OF
position with a view to silencing their artillery. But here, as on
the right, the Confederate guns made no reply, and fired only
upon the advancing infantry. Notwithstanding the murderous
fire thus directed upon them, the Federal troops moved bravely
towards the hill ; but when the infantry in the sunken road and
behind the stone wall opened upon them with musketry, their
already depleted ranks seemed to melt away. Hancock followed
French, and Howard Hancock, until at last Hooker's whole re
serve force was ordered into the attack. General Hooker re
monstrated with General Burnside, at first by message and then
in person,* but the commanding general insisted that the crest
must be taken.
This, the sixth and last attack, was made at a critical moment,
when the guns of the Washington Artillery on the crest of the
hill were being relieved by a part of Alexander's battalion. The
Federals, seeing these guns withdrawn, and being relieved for a
time from the galling fire which had checked the preceding col
umns, supposed it to indicate a drawing back of the Confederate
line, and pressed forward with spirit. The infantry in the sunken
road and on the hill had been reinforced, and received the
assault with a terrific fire of musketry ; and the fresh guns on
the crest, coming rapidly into action, opened upon the foe with
such vigor that " the attack was almost immediately repulsed." f
Night found the attack " repulsed at all points, and the day's
work" for the Federal army " a failure." %
" The attack had been so easily repulsed, and with so small a
part" § of the Confederate army, that it was confidently expected
to be renewed the next day, and preparations were made during
the night to receive it still more vigorously. General Burnside,
in his report, says that he " directed preparations to be made for
another attack on the morning of the 14th, but countermanded
the order." Mr. Swinton || says that " he resolved to form the
Ninth Corps in a column of attack by regiments, and lead it in
person to the assault," but desisted on account of the " urgent
entreaties of General Sumner." All day Sunday and Monday
Lee's army lay thus, expecting and hoping for another Federal

* Hooker's report. -f Ibid.
J General Burnside's report. \ Lee's report. || Army of the Potomac.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 245
advance. The night of the 15th was dark and stormy, and
under the cover of the wind and rain the host which had moved
out with so much confidence stole back to their camps under the
protection of their great guns.
Then for the first time the Confederates became aware of the
extent of the destruction and disaster they had inflicted upon
their assailants. Only one of Longstreet's divisions and parts
of two of Jackson's had been actively engaged, though all had
suffered somewhat from the enemy's incessant artillery fire.
Five thousand two hundred and nine in killed, wounded, and
missing were reported on the Confederate side. The Federal
loss is given as twelve thousand six hundred and fifty-three, and
we have seen that upon Marye's Hill Sumner's whole corps,
with part of Hooker's, had again and again been thrown, while
Meade, Reynolds, and Birney had fruitlessly attacked Jackson's
position. The Confederate infantry actually engaged had, as they always
did, fought most gallantly, and those who were compelled to lie
inactive suffered much from the enemy's shot and shell ; but to
the accuracy, efficiency, and persistent bravery of the artillery
was largely due the success of Lee's army in this battle. Gen
erals Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, A. P. Hill, and the other Con
federate generals in their reports speak again and again of the
" rapid," " destructive," " well-directed," " demoralizing," " mur
derous," "accurate," "efficacious" fire and " extraordinary effect"
of their guns at all points, and of the " unflinching courage,"
" unshaken steadiness," " animation and spirit" with which they
were " admirably served," and repeatedly mention with high
commendation individual commanders and batteries.* The
* Where all were so justly praised it will not be invidious to quote from General
Jackson's report the commendation bestowed upon the Rockbridge Battery, General
Pendleton's original company :
" During the day, some of the guns under Colonel Walker becoming short of men
and ammunition, and otherwise disabled from further service, were relieved by Cap
tain Poague's battery with two twenty-pounder Parrotts. These two pieces actively
engaged the enemy's artillery, and afterwards opened on the infantry. ... It is due
to Captain Poague here to state that when, late on the evening previous, he received
orders to move his battery, he was distant some sixteen miles from the battle-field, and
the promptitude with which he responded to the order, by a fatiguing night's march
is worthy of notice." Confederate reports, p. 437.

246 MEMOIRS OF
tribute paid to the Confederate artillery by the Federal com
manders is even more emphatic as to the prominent and impor
tant part it played in the repulse of Burnside's army. Their
reports — from those of Generals Burnside, Franklin, Sumner,
Hooker, French, Hancock, Howard, Couch, Meade, Reynolds,
Birney, etc., to those from the officers commanding brigades,
regiments, and companies — all characterize the fire of the artil
lery opposing their advance as " murderous," " deadly," " terrific,"
" destructive," " continuous," " severe," " galling," " vigorous,"
" furious," " heavy," " cross and concentrated." These epithets
are so constantly repeated — varied by references to the " storm
of shot and shell," " the severe front and enfilading fire" from
the batteries — as to show the power and success of the Confed
erate cannon. In some instances — as we have seen the case
with Major Pelham — special reference is made to the injury in
flicted by particular guns. General Franklin says, " We were
annoyed continually by firing from the other side of the Massa-
ponax from long-range guns." General Birney says that, "At
4.30 p.m. the enemy opened upon our left a battery of Whitworth
guns that enfiladed my command, which annoyed us greatly ;" *
and several times mention is made of " a Whitworth gun planted
on Sunday, 14th, in the head of the Massaponax," f doing great
damage. The consciousness that the position, defended by such an
army, could not be carried, induced the withdrawal of the Army
of the Potomac, and made it necessary for General Burnside to
try some other route to Richmond.
On Sunday, the 14th, Sandie Pendleton wrote to his mother, —
"... I am here at head-quarters and have a chance to write,
because I was badly bruised in the fight yesterday. In the after
noon, as I went with an order to General Taliaferro to advance,
I was struck by a musket-ball, which went through both over- and
under-coats, and was stopped by striking the knife in my pants
pocket. It saved my life, as the ball would have gone through
the groin and fractured the hip-joint. I am very stiff and hor
ribly bruised. I did not leave the field, and shall return this
* Captain Poague's guns, referred to before. f Captain Hardaway.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 247
morning. We held the right. The artillery fire the heaviest I
ever saw, surpassing that at Malvern Hill. On the left, at Fal
mouth, they tried to take the heights and were signally repulsed.
On our side they tried to take the heights, and our artillery
played upon them with considerable effect"
On the 17th General Pendleton wrote, —
"... Well, the Yankees are gone ! The battle of Saturday
proved much more important than we at the time knew. I could
see that the destruction of the enemy was terrific, but had no just
idea of the terrible loss of life on their side. The blow was so
stunning they could not advance again Sunday. Monday, again,
they remained stationary, and we, of course, would not leave our
position, so strong by nature and stronger by art, to attack them
in the plain, taking for granted they must attack us if they ex
pected to accomplish anything. Yesterday morning we looked
for the great fight of the war. But lo ! when dawn appeared no
Yankees remained this side of the Rappahannock, except dead
and wounded. They had used the dark, rainy night to cover
their retreat back to the hills of Stafford, and were out of our
reach. " One Whitworth gun I had in a good position, and able to
shoot four or five miles, was the only one with which they could
be reached ; this fired a number of times at their receding masses,
wagon-trains, etc., with what effect we could not well see. Some
of their long-range guns replied and sent thirty-pound shells
furiously about us, and, serious as the risk was, you would have
laughed to see generals, colonels, majors, and all squatting under
the breastwork every time the flash of one of those large guns
appeared. There is abundance of time after seeing the flash of a
gun two miles off to lie down or get under cover at hand before
the ball or shell arrives. The report comes before the missile,
and then the latter comes with great noise whether it explode or
not. . . . General Jackson's wing off for Port Royal. Burnside
may try there. . . . My hope of seeing you all at home this
Christmas must be disappointed. ... In the hottest part of the
fight the other day, we really supposed that it was only a sharp
skirmish preliminary to the general battle. But they suffered

248 MEMOIRS OF
terribly. The ground was literally wet with the blood of the
slain Yankees, awful to behold ! On all the battle-fields I have
seen nothing like it."
How severe was the blow inflicted upon the Federal army is
shown in their reports, and especially in the congratulations sent
by Mr. Lincoln to that army " on the courage with which" they,
" in an open field, maintained the contest against an intrenched
foe, and the consummate skill and success with which" they
" crossed and recrossed the river in the face of the enemy."
Besides the hardships of camp and dangers of battle, personal
and family anxieties pressed heavily upon General Pendleton at
this time. His parish in Lexington and his own home had
become crowded with refugees, who needed the services of the
Church and the consolations of a pastor. There was no prospect
of his soon resuming his ministerial work there, and after much
consideration he decided that it was right for him to resign the
rectorship and give opportunity for some other clergyman to take
it. On the 24th of December he resigned the parish and wrote
to his wife concerning it, " I feel great ease of mind as approving
this step." To avoid the great trouble of his family being ren
dered homeless by his resignation, he offered to purchase the
parsonage at a fair valuation. The vestry were unwilling to sell,
but the Rev. Dr. Norton — himself a refugee from his church in
Alexandria, Virginia, who became temporary rector in Lexington
— refused to turn Mrs. Pendleton out, and rented the parsonage
to her on reasonable terms.
Colonel Edwin G. Lee, of the Thirty-third Virginia Regiment,
General Pendleton's son-in-law, had been attacked with severe
and prostrating lung-trouble. The hardship, intense cold, and
exposure of the days of watching and waiting for Burnside's ad
vance at Fredericksburg had so aggravated Colonel Lee's symp
toms that he was compelled to yield to the urgent advice of his
physicians and withdraw from the field. A grievous trial it was
to the young soldier — and to his friends — to be thus disabled from
sharing in the hardships and dangers of his brothers and com
rades. Too conscientious and considerate of the rights of others
to accept the unlimited furlough offered him, and leave his duties
to subordinate officers while standing in the way of their promo-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 249
tion, he resigned his commission in the latter part of December,
1 862, and was succeeded in command of the regiment by Colonel
F. M. Holliday, afterwards governor of Virginia. Colonel Lee
was recommissioned and assigned to duty in Richmond in 1 863 ;
volunteered for active service in the spring of 1864, and was
afterwards sent to Staunton to command there and bring out the
reserves of the valley, and made a brigadier-general.
An extract from one of Mrs. Pendleton's letters written the
last week in December, 1862, gives some idea of the growing
scarcity of provisions and increase of prices :
" The object of this letter is to urge you to send to General
Jackson's head-quarters for a box which went to Mr. Lee this
morning. Let me tell you the contents of the box, that you may
be more anxious to get it : Turkey, six and a half pounds of sau
sage, two tin boxes of apple-butter, a pair of chickens, souse-
cheese, four pounds of dried cherries, to be stewed with some of
the three and a half pounds of sugar, two and a half pounds of
butter, half-bushel of dried apples, and two bottles of catsup. Sue
had made a list of the articles and their cost, that Mr. Lee might
charge the mess with them. I will recapitulate for the benefit of
your mess : Turkey, two dollars ; chickens, one dollar ; apple-
butter, three dollars ; butter, two dollars and fifty cents ; sugar,
three dollars and fourteen cents ; sausage, two dollars ; dried
apples, two dollars ; souse-cheese, fifty cents ; catsup, fifty cents ;
and dried cherries, two dollars, — in all, eighteen dollars and
sixty-four cents, besides thirty-seven and a half cents for the
box and one dollar and twenty-five cents' freight for the box to
Staunton. I have wanted to send you a box, but did not mean
to make you pay for it, though it is but right to charge the mess.
These are the prices we paid, except for the sausage and souse, —
they are less than the cost of the meat. If I had known you
would have gotten this box I would have put a ham in it."
It was during this campaign that General Pendleton was found
one afternoon by Major Page busily engaged with needle and
thread. The following interview took place :
" What are you doing, general ?"

250 MEMOIRS OF
" Mending my trousers. The only thing I could find for a
patch was this old piece of a collar."
" Well, it's a great waste of time, for nobody'll ever be able to
tell one end of your shirt from the other !"
It is needless to say that this episode was duly reported by the
victim of it, and was soon known throughout the camp.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
WINTER AND SPRING OF 1 863  BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.
As it soon became clear that General Burnside would not
again attempt to cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, the
necessity for feeding the artillery horses compelled their with
drawal to some locality where forage was more accessible. The
last days of 1862 were, therefore, occupied in moving the artil
lery camps. The reserve artillery was stationed on the north
side of the North Anna River, in Caroline County. Finding it
inexpedient to press for his hoped-for furlough, General Pen
dleton obtained lodgings for his wife and one of his daughters at
Dr. Thomas B. Anderson's, close to his camp, and sent for them to
visit him. Their sojourn of some weeks was a pleasant episode
for the camp-weary soldiers. The camp was on one side of the
river, the dwelling-house on the other. The banks were steep
and the ford bad. Official duties required General Pendleton to
spend the days in camp, and the ladies would often walk over
the foot-bridge and pass the afternoon in his tent. One of their
amusements was to see the general's old sorrel horse trot down
the path after him in the evening until his way was stopped by
the narrow footway; not caring to swim the cold stream, he
would stand till his master was on the other side, then neigh his
good-night and walk back to his stable.
Constant effort was now made to increase the efficiency of the
artillery. The small brass guns of the different batteries were
sent to the Confederate foundry in Richmond and recast into
Napoleons. Great diligence was used to secure forage from the
back country for the horses in all the artillery camps, rigid in-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 25 I
spections of the batteries were required, and everything possible
done to put men, horses, and ordnance into good condition for
active campaigning. The winter was very cold and wet, and the
difficulty of moving in the tenacious alluvial soil between the
Rappahannock and the James almost insurmountable. To lessen
such difficulties, General Pendleton was instructed to have good
bridges built at various points, and to see that the roads in the
country round the artillery camps were repaired.
Nearly two years of war had greatly drained the resources of
Virginia, and the insufficient means of transportation prevented
supplies, still abundant in other parts of the South, being
brought where they were so much needed. The necessities of
the army were, therefore, very great. Clothing, shoes, blankets,
tents, and provisions were all inadequate to supply the wants of
the men. To remedy these deficiencies, and to fill up the ranks
depleted by the expiration of the term of service for which
numbers of the men had enlisted, engaged the attention and
best efforts of all in command. The steady depreciation of Con
federate money rendered the covetous less willing to sell, and
the generous less able to give such articles as were most in de
mand. Still, the mass of the people stood firm in their resolve
to sustain their defenders to their utmost. The diminishing sup
plies at home were divided with the soldiers ; and the knowledge
that if returned to the army as conscripts they would be held in
disgrace by their friends, no doubt induced those who might
otherwise have shirked the duty to re-enlist. With the majority
of the army, however, genuine patriotism and self-devotion was
the motive which animated them to fight so gallantly and endure
so cheerfully.
To lighten the task of feeding the army, General Longstreet,
with the divisions of Hood and Pickett and the artillery battalions
of Henry and Dearing, was sent into the country south of Peters
burg, where the ravages of war had not yet been felt. To Gen
eral Jackson, with the Second Corps and two divisions of the
First Corps, McLaw's and Anderson's, was left the watching and
being ready to meet the Federal army along a line of twenty-five
miles, from United States Ford above to Port Royal below Fred
ericksburg. A keen lookout had, therefore, to be kept lest the
enemy's cavalry should at any time make a dash across the

252 MEMOIRS OF
Rappahannock and attack the artillery camps, necessarily sepa
rated. General Jackson's head-quarters were at Moss Neck, — the
Corbin estate, — about ten miles below Fredericksburg, where he
could watch the Federal army and check its advance either above
or below. A threatened movement about the middle of January
called General Pendleton to the front. Of his father's visit to
General Jackson, and also of his own promotion on the general's
recommendation, Sandie Pendleton wrote his mother, —
"January 20, 1863.
" Here I am a major within two months after my twenty-
second year is completed. I am proud of it and glad that the
promotion has come from recognized merit, and accept it as a
good omen for future success. . . . Sunday the whole party
turned out and went to Grace Church. The ladies here having a
carriage, but no horses, harness, nor driver, I furnished all
three in Buck and our ambulance-team, and they went in fine
style. Mr. Friend preached a good sermon, and I raised the
tunes. Judge of my surprise on leaving the church at seeing pa,
Dudley, and Wash Nelson. Pa and Dudley came over and
spent the night here. . . . We are working as busily as beavers
along our front, not in anticipation of the Yankees crossing, but
lest they may. It is raining to-night furiously, and has been
blowing, but that has ceased, and I hear only the incessant rattle
of the rain in streams upon the tent."
There was no alarm of the enemy's advance after this, and
Mrs. Pendleton's visit was prolonged for some weeks. Much of
this time was passed by General Pendleton in consulting with
other artillery officers, examining and perfecting a plan for re
organizing the artillery so as to insure its greater efficiency. An
acute attack of rheumatism in his left arm added to the trials
borne at this season. The condition of affairs along the front
may be learned from Major Pendleton's letters :
" In Camp, Moss Neck, March 1, 1863.
"... The mud is so intense that no one ever thinks of moving
from camp except under the pressure of duty. Its depth is

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D D. 253
appalling to us uncivilized beings from the mountains. The
whole bottom of the earth seems to have sunk about three feet.
The people here say that there is no possible chance of our
being able to move for six weeks more. . . . Friday we had
a visit from a young Englishman, who has been through the
Indian Sepoy War under Havelock, and who has come over to
take another lesson in the art of war in the West. From the
Old World to the New ; from the horrors of heathen warfare
to the barbarities of Yankee heroes. These last he abhors quite
enthusiastically enough to please the most fastidious Southerner.
He says the English quite admire General Jackson, as they class
him along with Havelock." . . . " Camp, March 10, 1863.
" . . . It is snowing, sleeting, and raining all at the same time.
The most serious objection to it is that it keeps the roads bad,
interferes with military operations, and renders it impossible to
recruit or even keep up our animals. The Yankee pickets along
the river say Hooker is coming across ' the first fair day.'
" Of one thing I am certain, that the struggle has but just begun
in earnest, and that from this time we have to exert all our ener
gies to cope with our foe. . . . As soon as the spring fairly opens
I anticipate cavalry raids from the enemy's immense cavalry
force. They have nine brigades opposed to us, under Stoneman
and Averill."
We have seen how religious interest and services had been
kept up among the artillery from the beginning of the war under
General Pendleton's direction and guidance. A similar state of
things was found in many places among the infantry, and log
chapels had been built in different localities by Jackson's men in
their winter-quarters. To systematize this religious work and
influence and to provide every portion of his command with de
vout, faithful chaplains was a subject which greatly engaged
General Jackson's attention. As a first step towards doing it
effectively he invited the Rev. Tucker Lacy to come to him as a
sort of " staff chaplain," and gave him every aid in doing mis
sionary work among the men of the Second Corps. In the
letter above quoted Sandie Pendleton wrote of Mr. Lacy's join
ing them, —

254 MEMOIRS OF
" We have the Rev. Tucker Lacy here now as a permanency.
The general has given him his finest horse and he shares his
room. He can do a large amount of good if he sets earnestly
to work at it in the right way."
A week or two later he wrote, —
" I suppose you have seen in the Southern Churchman the
' Address from Chaplains, Second Corps' ? It was written by
Mr. Lacy, and is, I think, very good. He has stirred up the
chaplains a great deal and infused some of his own energy into
them, and is doing a good work."
About the middle of March General Jackson moved up nearer
to the front in expectation of an opening campaign, and a stir of
anticipation was felt throughout the army. Letters still give the
most lively picture of affairs.
On March 16 General Pendleton wrote to his daughters in
Lexington, —
" My dear Children, — After a ride of several miles this
morning before seven o'clock, I will write a line to go by Major
Rogers. He kindly offered to take up a little sugar (thirty
pounds) in a bag to you. . . . On Saturday your mamma, Aunt
Anne Rose, and Rose left Dr. Anderson's. They went in an am
bulance to Mrs. Cooke's. I accompanied them. That evening
Sandie came to my camp and Dudley lent him one of the wagon
horses, so that he soon joined us. We all spent together there a
happy day yesterday. I read the service and made a lecture to
the assembled household."
The rumor of movements proved premature, and on April 4
he wrote again, —
"... You must not be disappointed if your ma and Rose stay
longer. My despatches from General Lee indicate that we may
be quiet still awhile. Your ma and Rose came to camp to-day
in an ambulance, and have dined with me. We go on to Dr. Nel
son's presently. The wind blows prodigiously, and I fear rain or
snow to-morrow ; if the weather permits, we hope to go to the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 255
old Fork Church. Bishop Johns is to preach there. My right
arm and hand are nearly helpless from rheumatism."
On the same date Sandie Pendleton wrote of the opening of
the spring weather, —
"... Yesterday I was in one place greeted by a cloud of dust.
We look for the Yankees every day. They started for this side
of the river on the 22d of March, but the snow delayed them.
. . . We are in fine condition. The army stronger than I have
ever known it, and in an admirable state of organization and dis
cipline. The armament and equipment good also. Stuart has
lately gotten two Whitworth guns. I wish you could get us one
or two more for Hardaway."
The good weather was the signal for Mrs. Pendleton's return
home. To her General Pendleton wrote April 15, —
"... I went up day before yesterday, saw General Lee, spent
the night at General Jackson's camp, and had a good deal of chat
with Sandie. Rev. Mr. Lacy has arranged for a weekly meeting
of all the chaplains. It was to take place yesterday at Grace
Church. They begged me to be present. I agreed ; was there
at eleven ; a sermon ; then business, each as he chose telling of
his own work, etc. I was asked to address them, and did so to
good purpose, I trust. By unanimous resolution, I was asked to
preach to them on the conditions of their work at such time and
place as I might designate. I readily consented, and will do it,
the Lord being my helper, as soon as I can. While in the
church I received a note from General Lee, telling me of a de
spatch from General Stuart that the enemy, with a large cavalry-
force, was menacing again at Kelley's Ford, and notifying me to
prepare the artillery to repel an attack, as not impossible. . . .
Colonel Cutts has returned. He says there are quantities of
provisions in his part of Georgia and thousands of beef-cattle in
Florida. By God's blessing we shall get along sufficiently well,
I doubt not, though with hard pinching, owing to the distance
between the food and the mouths.
" My arm is better ; still very sore, but not so helpless or so

256 MEMOIRS OF
painful. General Lee has been very sick. He is now nearly
well." "Artillery Camp, April 22, 1863,
"... Yesterday afternoon George Peterkin and I rode over to
Mr. Wortham's, and I baptized Colonel Alexander's little daugh
ter. He wrote to ask me to do it, and requested I would take a
Prayer-Book, as there was none in the house, — Mr. Wortham and
his wife being Baptists and he and his wife Presbyterians. The
father and mother made the responses ; old Mr. and Mrs. Wor
tham present, and devout. ... I am, D. V, to go up to General
Jackson's to address the chaplains on Saturday. Sandie wrote
me Mrs. Jackson and child were with the general. How I should
rejoice to have you here again! But feel better satisfied you are
at home. It is, I feel, more in the way of duty. They needed
you there, and we may be summoned off any day. They have
put at the lowest point baggage, tents, etc., to be taken by
officers. " We have been faring very smartly since Mol's butter and
Charles's bacon came. As he was paid one dollar and fifty cents
per pound for it he must be quite rich.
" I send a blank half-sheet as a way of getting you some
paper." Two days later he wrote that pouring rains had prevented his
going to the chaplains' meeting, and added, " Bear up cheerfully.
We have a Friend on high who will, as we love Him, make all
things work together for our good."
During the winter General Lee had so thoroughly fortified his
whole line* that General Hooker, who had succeeded General

* An extract from a letter of Major Pendleton — April 26 — describes these fortifica
tions : " The greatest destruction and change in the appearance of the country is from
the long lines of trenches and the redoubts which crown every hill-side from ten miles
above Fredericksburg to twenty miles below. The world has never seen such a fortified
position. The famous lines at Torres Vedras could not compare with them. As I go
to Moss Neck I follow the lines, and have ' a ride in the trenches.' These are five feet
wide and two and a half deep, having the earth thrown towards the enemy, making a
bank still higher. They follow the contour of the ground and hug the bases of the
hills as they wind to and from the river, thus giving natural flanking arrangements ;
and from the tops of the hills frown the redoubts for sunken batteries and barbette
batteries ad libitum, — far exceeding the number of our guns ; while occasionally, where

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 2$7
Burnside in command of the Federal army, had little prospect of
success by any direct attack in front. He therefore determined
to make a feint upon Fredericksburg and move the main body
of his army by the right flank, cross the Rappahannock at the
upper fords, and strike General Lee on his left and rear. Accord
ingly, a large force under General Sedgwick was thrown across
the river on April 28, very near the point where General Frank
lin's grand division had crossed in December, while the main
army was marched in the opposite direction. The attempt to
deceive General Lee proved futile, as he was kept informed by
the cavalry under General Stuart of the Federal movement up
the river and of the crossing of large bodies of troops at the upper
fords, and arrangements were immediately made to meet and foil
their efforts to surprise and flank the Confederate army. To his
wife General Pendleton wrote on the 29th of April, —
" By the time this reaches you, you will already have heard
otherwise of what is going on at Fredericksburg. I have sent up
a good deal of artillery to the front to-day, and all hands march
at dawn to-morrow. General Lee telegraphed me the enemy
crossing just below the town, as they did before. I suppose they
will also come round in large force higher up the river, unless
the whole thing is a sham. It is raining, and we shall have a
rough time on the march if it continues. The Almighty will, I
trust, order in kindness for us, as heretofore."
The Army of the Potomac under General Hooker numbered
at the beginning of May not less than one hundred and twenty
thousand infantry and artillery, twelve thousand cavalry, and
over four hundred guns. The infantry was divided into seven
corps, — First, Second, Third, Fifth, Eleventh, Twelfth. To these
numbers was opposed, under General Lee, a force of less than
fifty thousand infantry, artillery, and cavalry.
By nightfall of Thursday, April 30, General -Hooker had
accomplished the first part of his plan to turn General Lee's
position, and had concentrated four of his army corps at Chan-
the trenches take straight across the flats, a redoubt stands out defiantly in the open
plain to receive our howitzers, and deal death broadcast to the Yankees, should their
curiosity tempt them to an investigation." '7

258 MEMOIRS OF
cellorsville.* These were joined next day by Sickles's Third
Corps and Reynolds's First Corps, giving a force of ninety
thousand men at Chancellorsville, besides the twenty-two thou
sand men under Sedgwick at Fredericksburg.f General Hooker
was so confident of success that he issued on the evening of
April 30 the following order :
" It is with heart-felt satisfaction that the commanding general
announces to the army that the operations of the last three days
have determined that the enemy must either ingloriously fly, or
come out from behind his defences and give us battle on our
own ground, where certain destruction awaits him."
His sanguine anticipations were soon to be signally blasted.
General Lee was promptly informed of the arrival of the Federal
army at Chancellorsville, and made immediate dispositions to
meet and check its advance. Anderson's division had been sent
forward on the night of the 29th towards Chancellorsville, and
finding the enemy advancing in such strong force, took up a
position near Tabernacle Church and threw up breastworks.
McLaws joined him on the right on the morning of May 1.
General Lee had now determined to leave Early's division and
Barksdale's brigade of infantry — nine thousand men — and Gen
eral Pendleton with the reserve artillery of forty-five guns to
confront Sedgwick at Fredericksburg, while he took the rest of
Jackson's corps — twenty-two thousand — and the twelve thousand
of Anderson and McLaws against Hooker's great host at Chan
cellorsville. This move began early on the 1st of May. At
eleven a.m. General Jackson had taken command of the whole
force, and the advance beyond Anderson's intrenched position
was begun by Anderson's division, led by Colonel Alexander's
battalion of artillery. General Hooker had sent forward several
divisions, — apparently to seize the heights several miles from
Chancellorsville towards Fredericksburg. This force was soon
encountered by the Confederate advance, and was constantly

* The Second Corps, General Couch ; Fifth, General Meade ; Eleventh, General
Howard; Twelfth, General Slocum.
f All figures here and elsewhere are taken from the Official Records.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 259
pressed back, with sharp skirmishing of infantry and artillery,
upon the main army at Chancellorsville.
The Federal position here was a strong one, and the com
manding general, for all his boast of dealing " certain destruction"
to his opponent, had intrenched his host with lines of breast
works on the east and south, had ordered up the Fir^t Corps to
assist it, and in trepidation waited to see what his adversary
would do.* General Lee, in the mean time, was examining and
consulting as to the best course for discomfiting the greatly
superior force in front of him. The country round Chancellors
ville was covered with a dense growth of trees and undershrubs,
rendering it very difficult to handle troops, and especially unfa
vorable for the efficient use of artillery.
A direct attack was found unadvisable. But the withdrawal
of the Federal advance before his forces had indicated a lack of
spirit, and the woods screened his movements from observation.
General Lee therefore decided upon the bold measure of again
dividing his army for a flank attack. He accordingly directed
Jackson, with his corps, to deflect by a road leading southwest
from Chancellorsville, and by a detour of fifteen miles reach a
point on the right flank and rear of Hooker's fortified position,
while he himself with the twelve thousand men of Anderson
and McLaws, and twenty pieces of artillery, held the ground in
Hooker's front. This passage of troops towards the south was
detected by the Federal pickets, and was supposed by General
Hooker to indicate " a retreat," and General Sickles, with two
divisions and Pleasonton's cavalry, were sent to reconnoitre and
ascertain the truth. They attacked the rear of Jackson's column
near the Furnace, and were checked by a part of Colonel J.
Thompson Brown's artillery and a small infantry support. To
engage Hooker's attention, General Lee throughout the day
made several demonstrations along the front, and repeatedly
opened with artillery along the front and right, f
At three p.m. Jackson and his army had marched fifteen miles,
and reached a point several miles west of Chancellorsville, and
sufficiently in rear of the enemy to insure the success of his
great exploit.
* Hooker's despatches, May 1 , Official Records. f Hancock's report.

260 MEMOIRS OF
Howard's Eleventh Corps held the extreme right of the Fed
eral army, and from a hill near by the men could be seen sitting
about in groups, — their arms stacked some distance in front, —
talking, lounging, and cooking their suppers, — unsuspecting the
presence of any enemy in their vicinity. Upon these men so
unconscious of their danger, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky,
an avalanche from a snowless mountain, burst the onset of Jack
son's Invincibles : Rodes's and then Colston's divisions rushed
forward in attack, making the woods resound with the piercing
Southern war-cry. Notwithstanding their long, toilsome march,
the men were full of spirit and eager for the fray, and in a few
moments the Eleventh Corps, terror-stricken and demoralized,
was transformed into a flying rabble, abandoning cannon, caissons,
arms, accoutrements, clothing, everything in their headlong flight.
Across the fields, over the first intrenched position at Talley's
farm, up and over the hill at Hawkins's, where Schurz made a
stand for a few moments, pressed the Confederate force. The
thick and thorny bushes tear their clothing and their flesh ; the
difficulty of the way breaks up their lines ; now and again they
stop to fire into a body of the enemy who do not retreat fast
enough ; but still they press on eager and undaunted, until, when
reaching the earthworks at Melzi Chancellor's, two miles only
from Hooker's head-quarters, the whole advance of Rodes's
and Colston's men pour in a disorganized but determined mass
over the defences, breaking up the enemy, and capturing his
artillery and many prisoners. So far the success had been com
plete, and had daylight lasted an hour longer, the victorious host
would doubtless have seized the heart of Hooker's position and
destroyed his army. But night had fallen. Jackson's men had
marched twenty miles, and fought for three of them ; their
ammunition was nearly out ; their brigade and regimental lines
were broken and confused, so that he found it necessary to bring
A. P. Hill's fresh troops to the front before attempting the night-
attack to which he was inclined. While this change was being
made, General Jackson and some of his staff rode forward to rec
onnoitre the enemy's position. As the party returned to their
own lines, they were taken, in the darkness, for a squadron of
the enemy's cavalry, and fired into by the Confederate advance.
Two of them were instantly killed and several wounded, among

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 26 1
them General Jackson himself.* Up to this point the nature of
the ground and the headlong retreat of the enemy had pre
vented the use of any Confederate artillery, but beyond Melzi
Chancellor's house two Napoleons and a Parrott gun were sta
tioned on the plank road and opened fire, to which the enemy's
artillery responded furiously. Shortly after General Jackson was
shot, and while he was being borne on a litter to the rear for surgi
cal attendance, there was a second tremendous cannonade from the
enemy, which did considerable damage to the Confederate artil
lery, and wounded severely Colonel Crutchfield, Jackson's chief
of artillery. General A. P. Hill, Jackson's successor in com
mand, was also disabled by this artillery fire. Brigadier-General
Rodes was then the senior officer on the field, and he immedi
ately made arrangements for renewing the attack the next morn
ing, but at the same time, with his characteristic self-devotion,
concurred with the other brigadiers as to the wisdom of sending
for Major-General J. E. B. Stuart and placing the command in
his hands.t Major Pendleton, Jackson's assistant adjutant-gen
eral, had already sent one of General A. P. Hill's aides to Gen
eral Stuart five miles away, and on his arrival on the battle-field,
Hill formally turned the command over to him. J
On the front and left General Lee had so effectively occupied
the enemy's attention during the day, and especially after the
sound of Jackson's guns announced his attack, that no reinforce
ments had been sent to the right. Now, about midnight, the com
manding general received at the same time from General Stuart
information of Jackson's great success, of his being wounded,
and of Stuart's assuming the command. In reply, General Lee

* Several of General Jackson's staff were absent on duty, among them Major Pen
dleton, who was engaged in ordering forward the rear line. As he was returning to
report he learned of General Jackson's wound, and rode off in haste to bring Dr.
McGuire, the general's skilful surgeon, to his assistance. He found the doctor, in
formed him of Jackson's wound, and dropped from his saddle so suddenly that Dr.
McGuire thought he had been struck by some stray bullet and killed. Distress at the
injury and suffering of his beloved general had so wrought upon him that, as soon as
the necessity for exertion was over, the reaction produced such nervous exhaustion as
to bring on this sudden spell of fainting. A strong stimulant brought him to, and
enabled him to perform the important duties devolving upon him until General Stuart
arrived and took command.
t Rodes's report. % Stuart's report.

262 MEMOIRS OF
instructed General Stuart to continue the attack upon Hooker's
position, and directed Anderson to support him, leaving McLaws
still in the front.
Finding it inexpedient to renew the battle that night, General
Stuart allowed the men to rest while he passed along the lines,
acquainting himself with the ground and the disposition of the
troops.* More artillery came up in the night and was posted by
dawn upon commanding positions selected during the night by
Colonel E. P. Alexander, who succeeded Colonel Crutchfield in
command of the artillery.
At dawn on Sunday, May 3, the attack upon the Federal posi
tion was renewed. General Hooker had increased his defences
during the night, and his men fought more resolutely than they
had done before. But the Confederates had also rested ; they
were encouraged by their previous successes, and animated by a
desire to avenge the injury to their beloved Jackson. The ground
now was also more favorable for the use of artillery. A. P. Hill's
division in the advance, under General Heth, charged the enemy's
breastworks one hundred and fifty yards in their front, drove them
out, and carried in the same way a second and third line. Thirty
pieces of artillery were concentrated upon the ridge held the day
before by the Eleventh Corps, and by their accurate and tremen
dous fire greatly assisted in the vigorous assault upon the enemy.
From point to point, from one intrenchment to another, the im
petuous attack of the Second Corps swept on.f As the enemy
was driven from one breastwork to another, the Confederate
artillery was advanced and engaged the enemy's batteries on the
heights of the central position at Chancellorsville. All three of

* Upon assuming command, General Stuart sent Major Pendleton to General Jack
son to ask what were his plans and dispositions for the next day. The wounded hero
replied that Stuart must use " his own judgment," adding that he had " implicit con
fidence" in him.
¦f Of this attack General Sickles says, in his report, " The vigor and tenacity of the
enemy's attack seemed to concentrate more and more upon my lines near the plank
road and on my left flank. . . . Often repulsed by the concentrated fire of thirty
cannon, in a commanding position and admirably served, and by repeated charges of
infantry, his unexhausted reserves enabled him to press forward rather in crowds than
in any regular formation."
These " unexhausted reserves" were the divisions of Rodes and Colston, which
had marched and fought all of Saturday.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 263
Stuart's lines were now in action. General Lee himself was in
their midst, encouraging them by his beloved presence and his
splendid coolness in the midst of danger. Twice the assaulting
columns on the left of the plank road stormed the works in their
front, and were driven out by a flank attack of the enemy. The
third attack was more successful, the works were held, and the
artillery was pushed forward to their crest ; a tremendous fire
from the guns and sharp-shooters was opened, and in a few mo
ments — by ten a.m. — Chancellorsville was won. Anderson's di
vision had before this united with Jackson's corps and assisted in
driving the enemy, while McLaws, on the right, had kept Couch
and Hancock, of the Second Corps, from moving to aid the troops
opposed to Anderson, and had plied them so effectively with
artillery as to inflict upon them very heavy losses.*
The Federal army now retired within a heavy line of intrench-
ments farther back upon the Rappahannock. General Hooker
had been stunned by the concussion of a shell at Chancellors
ville, and there seems to have been no head left to the force, which
was still more than double that of the victorious Confederates, —
with two corps, the First and Fifth, which had not been at all
engaged. The woods around Chancellorsville and the house
itself were in flames from the shells thrown into them. To care
for the wounded men, and especially for the Federal soldiers in
the burning house at Chancellorsville, was General Lee's first
object. His attention and General Stuart's was then given to
reforming the scattered and battle-weary troops, with a view to
renewing the attack upon the Federal army in its new and strong
position. But this movement was prevented by information from
Fredericksburg. On Friday, May I, General Early had been left with nine thou
sand men, and forty-five guns under General Pendleton, to hold
the position at Fredericksburg, with instructions that if the enemy
should withdraw from his front and move up the river, he also
should join General Lee with as much of his force as could be
spared from his lines. Near mid-day of Saturday, the 2d, Gen
eral Chilton, General Lee's assistant adjutant-general, brought in
person an order to General Early to send most of his artillery,
* Couch and Hancock's reports.

264 MEMOIRS OF
especially the heaviest guns, to the rear where they would be out
of the enemy's reach, and, leaving one brigade behind as a guard,
to move with the rest of his command to Chancellorsville. The
objections against this move and the difficulties of withdrawing the
troops and guns in view of the greatly superior force of the enemy
were obvious. But as General Chilton's orders were peremptory,
steps were at once taken to put them into execution. General
Pendleton immediately ordered twenty-two of his best guns to
move by the telegraph road back to the neighborhood of Ches
terfield Depot, and others were made ready to follow, leaving
only fifteen in position. General Early committed the defence to
General Hays's brigade and one regiment of General Barksdale's,
and moved with the rest of his force by the plank road to join
General Lee. This movement from their front was perceived by
the Federal signal-officers and communicated to their commander,
who at once began to take advantage of the weakening of the
Confederate lines and made ready to advance in heavy force.
General Early learned at the same time of the danger in his rear
and that the order under which he had left Fredericksburg was
an erroneous one. He therefore reversed the head of his column,
and marched back in time to prevent the small force at Freder
icksburg from falling back to avoid being captured in the night
by the overwhelming force of the enemy, and the defensive line
was reoccupied as it had been in the morning. Unfortunately, the
artillery sent back under General Chilton's order had proceeded
too far to be speedily recalled.
Late in the afternoon of the 2d General Hooker was informed
by General Sedgwick that the enemy were evacuating their posi
tion at Fredericksburg, as many men, artillery, and wagons were
seen moving to the rear. In reply General Hooker said, " Their
horses are poor. They cannot but be panic-stricken if you give
them a sharp blow in the night." * About the time of this de
spatch — six p.m. — Jackson struck and doubled up the Eleventh
Corps, and produced such consternation in the army and com
mander at Chancellorsville that General Hooker ordered General
Sedgwick to move at once to his assistance, seizing Fredericks
burg and its defences on the way and destroying any force which
* Official Records.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 265
might oppose his advance. All this he was to do in the night,
and reach General Lee's rear by daylight.
General Sedgwick did move during the night by the flank to
Fredericksburg, the Confederate skirmishers falling slowly back
before him, fighting all the way. This change of direction brought
the Federal force immediately in front of the line, three miles long,
defended only by Barksdale's brigade and the artillery under Gen
eral Pendleton. Learning of the demonstration against the centre,
General Early sent Hays's brigade to support Barksdale on the
left. Attempts were made to turn the Confederate flanks. That on
the right was defeated by General Early, while Wilcox, coming
from Banks's Ford, joined Hays on the left in preventing success
there. Marye's Hill, the key to the Confederate position, was held by
two regiments of Barksdale's and a part of the New Orleans
" Washington Artillery," — the same guns which had defended it
so splendidly in December, 1862. Two assaults upon it had
already been repulsed. While massing his forces for a third
attack the enemy sent a flag of truce, under pretext of caring for
their wounded. This was incautiously received by one of the
regimental commanders, and, the weakness of the defence being
thus ascertained, the Federal column, twenty thousand strong,
advanced in three lines against the position occupied by Barks-
dale, attacking at once on the right, left, and centre. On the
right and left they were driven back by the infantry and artillery.
At Marye's Hill a desperate resistance was made, but the defence
was too weak in men, and especially in guns, to resist the enor
mous odds against them, — " ten times their numbers," * — and were
overpowered and captured, losing a large proportion of the in
fantry and all the guns. To avoid being surrounded, the hills on
the right and left of the captured crest were now relinquished.
Barksdale and the artillery fell back on the telegraph road, and
Hays and Wilcox by the plank road, the enemy following on
both roads.
Two miles back from Marye's Hill General Early halted the
force on the telegraph road, which, being joined by Hays's and
Gordon's brigades, checked the advance of the enemy in that
* Lee's report.

266 MEMOIRS OF
direction. General Sedgwick then pressed forward by the plank
road to join Hooker at Chancellorsville. Wilcox, with one
brigade and Lewis's four guns, fell slowly back to Salem Church,
disputing every step of Sedgwick's advance.*
Information of Sedgwick's success at Marye's Hill and of his
advance to Salem Church, where Wilcox was holding him in
check, made it necessary for General Lee to meet and defeat the
effort to attack him in the rear. McLaws's division and one
brigade from Anderson's were therefore sent to reinforce Wilcox.
These troops had a severe contest with the Sixth Corps, which
made strenuous efforts to seize and hold the heights around the
church. After a sharp struggle the attack was repulsed with
great slaughter, and the enemy driven back upon his reserves.
Night put an end to the combat. On the morning of May 4
General Early, in Sedgwick's rear, moved back towards Freder
icksburg and recaptured the heights in front of the town.f Gen
eral Lee came from Chancellorsville with the rest of Anderson's
division, and a combined attack was made late in the day by
McLaws on the right, Anderson on the left, and Early in the rear.
The enemy was driven back to the river, and under cover of
darkness and a dense fog which settled on the field fell back to
Banks's Ford, and succeeded in crossing to the north side of the
river in spite of a close pursuit and heavy artillery fire from the
adjacent heights. It was now General Lee's purpose to throw
himself upon Hooker's intrenched position at Chancellorsville, and
McLaws and Anderson were marched back thither. A violent
storm prevailed during the night, and when the skirmish-line was
thrown forward to assault the Federal army, at daylight on the
6th, it was gone. On the previous day General Hooker had sent
a flag of truce to General Lee, requesting " the privilege of send
ing a burial-party on the field of Chancellorsville to bury the
dead and care for the wounded." { This request was declined by
General Lee on the ground that " the necessities of war forbid
* Sedgwick says of this artillery, " A section of horse-artillery on our right occu
pied every successive crest upon our line of march and much annoyed our advance."
f General Sedgwick's account of this reoccupation of these works says, " A column
of the enemy fifteen thousand strong, coming from the direction of Richmond, had oc
cupied the heights of Fredericksburg, cutting off my communications with the town."
\ Official Records.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 267
compliance with it." * This reply made it clear that the victori
ous Confederate general and army were on the spot and deter
mined to fulfil "the necessities of war," and General Hooker
delayed not a moment in putting his force beyond reach of an
attack. Great as was the Confederate success in the three days' fighting
at Chancellorsville, and afterwards at Salem Church, it would ap
parently have been complete but for the order by which Early
and so much of the artillery were made to leave Sedgwick's
front. Had the heights at Fredericksburg been crowned with
powerful guns the Federal assault might have been entirely
repulsed, and General Lee left free to drive Hooker out from
his second position on the afternoon of Sunday, May 3. As it
was, the Army of the Potomac was greatly demoralized and
terribly punished. Its losses reached seventeen thousand one
hundred and eighty-seven ; five thousand of these were prisoners,
and four thousand nine hundred and twenty-five from Sedgwick's
corps. There were also captured thirteen pieces of artillery,
nineteen thousand five hundred stands of arms, seventeen colors,
and much ammunition.
The victoiy was dearly bought on the Southern side by the
loss of ten thousand two hundred and eighty-one men and eight
pieces of artillery. The gallant Paxton, brigadier-general of the
" Stonewall Brigade," Jackson's original command, was killed,
and other general officers severely wounded. But beyond all
other losses was that of Jackson himself, f The wound received
by him on the night of May 2 required the amputation of his
* Official Records.
f A pencil note from Major Pendleton to his mother, written after the pursuit of
Hooker was suspended says, — " Sunday afternoon. May 3, 1863.
" While I wait for my horse to be shod I can write to let you know I am still alive
and safe after the terrible danger of yesterday and to-day.
" General Jackson has lost his left arm at the shoulder, and has a ball through his
right hand ; doing well. Crutchfield, leg broken below knee. Paxton killed ; other
losses innumerable. It has been a terrible fight, but glorious victory. I do thank God
for life being preserved. General A. P. Hill is wounded. Major Arthur Rogers
wounded, — arm broken above elbow. Tell his wife, as he asks it. George Bedinger
safe. " Your fond son,
"A. S. Pendleton."

268 MEMOIRS OF
left arm. Fever and pneumonia set in, and on Sunday, May 10,
one week after the victory won by his masterly flank movement
upon Hooker, he breathed his last. On hearing of his wound
General Lee had said, " Any victory is a dear one that deprives
us of the services of Jackson for even a short time." His loss to
the Confederate cause was felt more and more as time went on.
Other commanders were as brave, as patriotic, as devoted as he,
but no one was found who united his rare qualities, — his keen
insight into the military situation, his immediate detection of the
enemy's weak point, daring boldness of plan, swiftness of march,
and vehement rapidity of vigorous attack ; no one, like him, in
spired his own men with absolute confidence in their leader and
themselves, and struck dismay and apprehension into the enemy
wherever he appeared.
The part borne by the artillery in the Confederate successes at
Chancellorsville and against Sedgwick was most important. As
at Fredericksburg in December it had done such gallant ser
vice in repelling Burnside's attack, so in this campaign did it
aid materially in assaulting Hooker and driving his hosts from
one stronghold to another. General Lee said of it in his
report, —
" To the skilful and efficient management of the artillery the
successful issue of the contest is in great measure due. The
ground was not favorable for its employment, but every suitable
position was taken with alacrity, and the operations of the in
fantry supported and assisted with a spirit and courage not second
to their own. It bore a prominent part in the final assault which
ended in driving the enemy from the field at Chancellorsville,
silencing his batteries, and by a destructive enfilade fire upon his
works opened the way for the advance of our troops.
" Colonels Crutchfield, Alexander, and Walker, and Lieutenant-
Colonels Brown, Carter, and Andrews, with the officers and men
of their commands, are mentioned as deserving special commen
dation. The batteries under General Pendleton also acted with
great gallantry."
The Union reports also speak of the " accurate," " heavy,"
"tremendous," "galling" fire of the guns at Chancellorsville; of

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 269
thei- " great accuracy and terrible execution ;" * and of " very
heavy losses from the enemy's artillery ;"f and the same strong
expressions are used of the artillery fire at Fredericksburg and
Salem Church.

Note. — The defeat and demoralization of the Federal army at Chancellorsville, fol
lowing so close upon Hooker's promise of " certain destruction" to his adversary, be
wildered and alarmed the authorities at Washington. At 4.35 P.M. on Sunday, May 3,
President Lincoln telegraphed to Major-General Butterfield, chief of staff, —
" Where is General Hooker ? Where is Sedgwick ? Where is Stoneman ?
'• A. Lincoln."
To which pregnant inquiries General Butterfield replied, —
" General Hooker is at Chancellorsville. General Sedgwick, with fifteen thousand
to twenty thousand men, is at a point three or four miles out of Fredericksburg, on the
road to Chancellorsville. Lee is between." . . .

CHAPTER XXXIV.
SUMMER OF I863  INVASION OF MARYLAND AND PENNSYLVANIA.
The Federal army had recrossed the Rappahannock, and the
Confederates returned to their old camps near Fredericksburg.
Only a day or two was given for rest, and then the work of pre
paring for another contest began. General Pendleton wrote
May 9, —
"... Sandie and I are both well. I saw him for a half-hour
this morning.
" General Jackson is extremely ill from pneu/nonia, taken by
wrapping himself, all wounded and sore as he was, in a wet
sheet. . . . General Lee has issued an admirable order, — you
will see in print before long, — ascribing honor to God for the
great victory, and calling on the army to express thanks in their
* Couch's report. f Hancock's report.

270 MEMOIRS OF
worship to-morrow. I shall officiate somewhere. All quiet here
now, and we are refitting for the next time."
General Jackson died on the ioth of May,* and his remains
were sent first to Richmond and then to Lexington, under
charge of Sandie Pendleton, his adjutant-general, and Lieutenant
Smith, his aide-de-camp. The whole South mourned for the
fallen hero. But in Virginia he was specially beloved, and was
the idol of the people in the valley, whom he had so nobly de
fended and delivered from outrage and oppression. Rockbridge
County and Lexington looked upon him as the bulwark which
shielded them from Northern invasion, and wept for him as the
most honored and beloved of all their gallant sons. In Rich
mond his remains lay in state in the Hall of the Representatives,
wrapped in the newly-adopted white banner of the Confederacy,
and were visited by many thousand citizens and soldiers. They
were then taken to Lexington, where the dying soldier had re
quested to be buried, accompanied by the military escort, by the
general's widow and infant daughter, and a number of sorrowing
friends. The whole population of Rockbridge and the adjacent
counties turned out to render all the honor in their power to
the man whom they had so loved and reverenced, and whose
loss they so deeply mourned. The many wounded and disabled
soldiers assembled, and the Cadet Battalion of the Virginia
Military Institute, where Jackson had been professor, gave a
martial air to the procession which attended the dead hero first
to his own recitation-room in the barracks, thence to the Presby
terian church, where he had been a devout attendant, and finally
to his last resting-place in the cemetery.
" There was a grand funeral cortege. The soldiers sent to
Mrs. Jackson to request to come next the body, and were
permitted to do so. That was the most touching part of the
spectacle." f
* Sandie Pendleton to his father : " May 10, 1863, nine p.m.
" My dear Father, — The general died at 3.15 this afternoon. I go to-morrow
with his remains. " A. S. Pendleton."
f Letter from Mrs. Pendleton.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 27 1
General Pendleton to his wife. "Thursday, May 14, 1863.
"... To-day, I suppose, General Jackson's remains reach
Lexington for interment, and Sandie will see you all. I could
not write after I knew he was going. On Tuesday I met the
chaplains and addressed them. Good will, I hope, result. After
the services Mr. Lacy took occasion to speak to the meeting of
General Jackson's last days. The facts are striking and may
well be preserved. At certain steps of the disease he was de
lirious, and in such states of mind his thoughts seemed filled
with military duty. At one time he would exclaim, ' I must find
out whether there is high ground between Chancellorsville and
the river ;' at another, ' Push up the columns ! Hasten the col
umns ! Pendleton (Sandie), you take charge of that. Where's
Pendleton ? Tell him to push up the columns !' When rational,
as he generally was, he was all composure and contentment.
Soon after he was wounded, when General Lee, fearing he might
fall into the enemy's hands, directed that he should be removed
to a safer position, he charged Dr. McGuire not to remove him
if there was danger to his life from the wounds under the mo •
tion, saying, ' I'm not afraid of the Yankees ; if they get me,
they'll not injure me.' When his wounds had been dressed and
friends saw him, he expressed entire contentment, saying, ' God
loves me, I know. I love Him, I believe, and He has pledged all
things to work together for good to them that love Him. I am
sure this is for my good, and if I am not permitted to see how
now, I am content to await the full explanation in heaven.' ' You
never saw me in a more contented frame of mind than now,' said
he to Mr. Lacy ; and when asked, ' if it be best for you, how is it
with the country ?' he replied, ' It is no doubt best for the country
also, and that will, by and by, be seen.' Mr. Lacy intended to
go with him, when it was hoped he would be able to travel to
Richmond and Lexington, and at first he seemed pleased ; but
after a night he called Mr. Lacy to him and said, ' It would be
setting an example of self-gratification to the troops, and you
had better stay at your post of duty. I have always tried to set
the troops a good example.' His end was perfect peace. A
glorious Christian ! A noble man ! I thank God for intimate

272 MEMOIRS OF
friendship with him, and that Sandie so long enjoyed companion
ship with so pure, so grand a character. Who will fill his place
we do not yet know. Ewell is much talked off. If he can get
about with sufficient ease he will no doubt do well. At any
rate, Jackson's example will be mighty in animating alike com
manders and men. . . . All quiet in our front. The enemy re
organizing, — probably for another great effort. We, too, engaged
in refitting. It will in all likelihood be the bloodiest campaign
of the war. . . . Our food hard but wholesome, — a little bacon,
sugar, biscuits, and water, morning, mid-day, and evening. Our
horses, however, feasting on fine clover-fields." " May 20.
"... You ask how I did during the heavy rains. Very toler
ably. Was out in about the hardest I ever saw, yet did not get
wet. My old great-coat absorbed all and kept me dry. Our
wagons, tents, etc., had all been sent to the rear, and I had not
even a blanket. Did with only one or two hours' sleep in the
twenty-four for several days at the time of the fight, and with
hardly any food. But this is too common in our army to be
thought of." " May 26.
"... I have been exceedingly busy trying to distribute justly,
and according to the necessities of the service, the captured
guns ; also equalizing, as far as practicable, the armaments of the
several artillery battalions of this army, and securing to the ut
most from our means the complete fitness for duty — in the most
efficient manner — of all the artillery. It is much the most com
plex branch of service, and requires ceaseless care and untiring
labor. Few men have worked these two years as I have. And
yet poor were the reward if the applause of men were my
motive ! Of this, however, no matter. I am trying to serve
God in manifold ways and through some trials. He gives me a
large measure of peace of mind, and will enable me, I trust, to
do some good to the country, and promote His glory in the
upholding of His cause and in the salvation of souls.
" Last Sunday morning I preached at General Semmes's brigade.
The congregation was very large. A number of ladies present.
In the afternoon I went with Lieutenant Harris and six or seven
of my staff to a secluded spot on a stream a mile off — a sweet

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 273
place for the purpose — and immersed him. His family are Bap
tists and he wishes to consult their feelings. It was a solemn
occasion. ... I had sent a sort of report to Bishop Johns, as I
could not go down to the Council.* ... By the way, the field-
officers of the old ' Stonewall Brigade' all resign at Colonel
Walker's being made their brigadier, and mention three persons
whom they would have preferred, — Sandie one of the three!
You will be gratified at this. But I fear we are in danger of
worldly elation for him, and my prayer to God is not to expose
him to vanity, ambition, pride, or worldliness in any form, but to
give him an humble, godly, faithful heart."
On the same date Sandie Pendleton wrote of his own restless
ness under the uncertainty as to General Jackson's successor and
the reorganizing of the army into three corps, —
" Head-quarters Second Army Corps.
"... I feel better to-day. I suppose because I am sure now
of my status, and though not content, yet intend to make the
best of it. I went yesterday to General Lee's head-quarters to
ask to be relieved. But he will not hear of any such thing.
He disapproves entirely of any change in the general staff, as
officers have to become acquainted with the duties and with the
command, and change almost necessarily produces confusion and
injury to the service.
" Lieutenant-generals have been made by promoting both
Ewell and A. P. Hill, and we are to have three corps here in
stead of two. When Ewell comes up it will be all straight, for
McGuire and I will go with him, and probably the rest of the
staff." General Pendleton wrote of the change in the formation of the
army, of his son's illness, and other matters, —
"June 1, 1863, near Fredericksburg.
"... Sandie is quite sick with dysentery. I saw him yester
day flat on his back in his tent. Have tried to get him in a
* The Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia met in Richmond a
few days previous. 18

274 MEMOIRS OF
house near by, but cannot. He may have to go away for a few
days. I regret it, as General Ewell has come, and needs Sandie
in the position he has so long filled. Three corps now, — Long-
street's First, Ewell's Second, A. P. Hill's Third. I have to ad
just the artillery to suit. This is part of my work to-day. In
rearranging for these three corps I break up the general reserve,
and assign Colonel William Nelson's battalion to General Ewell's
corps and Colonel Cutts's to General A. P. Hill's ; also make a
new battalion, so as to give five battalions to each corps, — making
fifteen in all, besides the horse-artillery with Stuart's cavalry. We
have about two hundred and seventy pieces with this army, in
cluding Stuart's. ... I had last week a long and pleasing talk
with General Lee on the great question of religion. I visited
him on duty. He was alone and introduced the subject. He is
in earnest. Wept a good deal as we talked of Jackson. He is
deeply concerned for the spiritual welfare of the soldiers. Bishop
Johns is to be up (D. V.) day after to-morrow. If a move occurs
of course it will mar his usefulness. The general wants me to
aid in rendering the bishop's visit as useful and pleasant as
possible." " June 2.
" Sandie came up in an ambulance yesterday afternoon, and I
tried to get him in at old Mrs. Alsop's, who lives within a hun
dred and fifty yards. But she would not consent. I had a good
bed made in my tent, and rendered him as comfortable as could
be. Gave him a good cup of coffee this morning, and then he
went in the ambulance to Dr. Chandler's, where General Jackson
died. I hope he was better this morning, but he is right sick
and very weak."
Bishop Johns did visit the army at Fredericksburg, and Gen
eral Pendleton was informed by General Lee of his arrival at
Mr. Marye's on June 3. But the time had come for General
Lee's forward movement, and the religious services were much
interfered with.*
By the last of May General Lee's preparations for a new
campaign were completed, his plans carefully thought out, and
* See p. 293.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 275
his army in a high state of efficiency. The infantry were divided
into three corps : the First under Lieutenant-General Longstreet,
consisting of three divisions, commanded by Generals McLaws,
Pickett, and Hood ; the Second under Lieutenant-General Ewell,
— the three divisions of Rodes, Early, and Johnson ; the Third
under Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill, — the three divisions of
Anderson, Heth, and Pender. To each of these corps were
attached five battalions of artillery, three of which acted with
the divisions, while two constituted a reserve. The number of
guns with the army — two hundred and seventy — allowed, by
act of the Confederate Congress, three brigadiers, seven colonels,
twelve lieutenant-colonels, and eighteen majors ; there were,
however, at this time only one brigadier, — General Pendleton, —
six colonels, six lieutenant-colonels, and nineteen majors. These
were not thought a sufficient number for the efficient command
of the artillery force, and General Pendleton did not cease to
urge the appointment of the officers allowed, both on the ground
of improvement to the service and as well-earned promotion for
gallant deeds on many a hard-fought field. By the largest esti
mate, the number of troops was sixty-eight thousand three hun
dred and fifty-two ; of these there were fifty-four thousand three
hundred and fifty-six infantry, four thousand four hundred and
sixty artillery, nine thousand five hundred and thirty-six cavalry.
On the 3d of June part of the First Corps set out from its en
campment on the Rappahannock for Culpeper Court-House.
The Second Corps followed on the 5th. Of this move Sandie
Pendleton wrote, — " June 4, Head-quarters Second Corps.
" Your letter of the 1st, which I got yesterday as I lay on a sick
bed at Guinnea's, cheered me so that I feel bound to answer it
this last evening of our stay around Fredericksburg. In the last
week I have been very sick. The excitement of the news of a
move, together with the kind nursing of Mrs. Chandler in the
same room and on the same bed on which General Jackson died,
brought me out, so that I was able to ride in an ambulance up to
camp last night. Am to-day right sharp again, though very
weak. "The campaigns of the Rappahannock are ended for one
season, I believe. At any rate, we are off for parts unknown to-

276 MEMOIRS OF
morrow, which destination means Maryland, I hope. General
Ewell is here in command of the Second Corps, which is dimin
ished by the taking out of one division, — A. P. Hill's. All are
pleased with him. His health is pretty* good now,* and he
seems quite pleased to get back into the field. He manages his
leg very well, and walks only with a stick, and mounts his horse
quite easily from the ground. And then he is pleased with Gen
eral Jackson's staff, and of course we are with him."
The Third Corps remained opposite Fredericksburg. Of these
movements and of the Federal demonstration at Fredericksburg
on the 5 th General Pendleton wrote, —
" Culpeper Court-House, Sunday night, June 7, 1863.
" You see by the heading of this where we are. . . . Evening
before last the enemy began a furious cannonade just below
Fredericksburg. They succeeded in driving off our sharp
shooters, laid down their bridge, and crossed. This kept me up
till late that night hard at work preparing for them. So Satur
day morning by dawn I was at it again, having guns in right
position, etc. Having by nine traversed the most important
parts of our line, I met with General Lee. We remained till
about one. Then it being pretty certain that the move was a
sham, General Lee concluded to move himself on his original
plan, and desired me to do the same. I broke up camp about
three p.m. and started. Got near twenty miles by dark, to the
farm of Mr. Lacy. Then encamped. Not a soul of the family
there, — only fields and houses and a few cattle. (I was so sleepy
last night I stopped, and am now writing just at sunrise, Mon
day, the 8th.) We got good rest Saturday night, started early
Sunday morning, and reached Culpeper by half-past one. I
went to Mr. Cole's and got dinner. General Ewell, Sandie, etc.,
have arrived. I have not seen them. . . . Having assigned the
reserve artillery battalions, I have now no special charge, but
superintend all the artillery, and direct in battle such portions as
may most need my personal attention. This is a better arrange
ment, I think. My work will be much as it has been, but freer,
* General Ewell lost his leg at Second Manassas.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 277
as none of the petty details of one or two battalions will require
my care. We had a pleasant rain on the march Saturday. Hope
you have been similarly refreshed. It is singularly cool since, —
a fire would hardly be amiss."
Sandie Pendleton to his mother. " Culpeper Court-House, June 9, 1863.
"... We reached here Sunday morning, and a day less Sab
bath-like I have never seen. ... A despatch has just come from
Stuart that a large body of Yankee cavalry has crossed the Rap
pahannock at Beverly's Ford in our front. An 'armed recon-
noissance in force,' I presume. I hope it will soon be over and let
us move on. I am anxious to get over into the valley and thence
to Maryland. Yesterday there was a grand cavalry review of
about eight thousand by Stuart and Longstreet, General Lee
and all the other generals. A grand show it was. General
Ewell is in fine health and fine spirits, — rides on horseback as
well as any one need to. The more I see of him the more I am
pleased with him. In some of his traits of character he is very
much like General Jackson, especially in his total disregard of
his own comfort and safety, and his inflexibility of purpose. He
is so thoroughly honest, too, and has only the one desire, to
conquer the Yankees. I look for great things from him, and am
glad to say that our troops have for him a good deal of the same
feeling they had towards General Jackson."
From General Pendleton. "June 10.
"... It seemed yesterday as if we were to have a battle here.
But it proved only a partial engagement. Stuart and his cavalry
were approached by a force of the enemy and had a sharp con
flict. Our troops suffered seriously, but repulsed the enemy
with considerable loss to the invaders. The day before Stuart
had a grand review of the cavalry. General Lee asked me to
accompany him to it, and I did, and had a ride of it, — some six
miles at full run for our horses, down the line and up again, and
then had to sit on our horses in the dust half the day for the
squadrons to march in display backward and forward near us.

278 MEMOIRS OF
This pageant one day and the next a bloody fight, and many of
the poor fellows laid in their graves or groaning with wounds !"
On the 10th of June Ewell's corps left Culpeper for the valley,
and on the 14th drove Milroy out of Winchester, capturing most
of his force, his artillery, and supplies of every kind. General
Rodes took possession of Martinsburg, twelve miles beyond
Winchester, capturing more prisoners and artillery. Of this
fight and the forward movement of the Second Corps Sandie
Pendleton wrote from Martinsburg, June 18, —
" The victory at Winchester was the most complete of the war
as far as stores are concerned. It far surpasses the defeat of
Banks ; thirty pieces of elegant artillery, thousands of small-
arms, vast quantities of clothing and supplies, all the camp and
garrison equipage, every wagon and ambulance with their horses,
are no small prize for our army. But we are not stopping here.
Jenkins, with his cavalry brigade, is already at Chambersburg, —
Rodes's division moving to Hagerstown and Johnson's crossing
at Shepherdstown. We are going to Harrisburg. Horses, cattle,
and stores of all sorts are to be taken at the rate of a dollar
Confederate, — equal to a dollar specie. I am going to get a
horse, — a good one, too. Got some nice clothes from the sutlers
and officers in Winchester. If I can I will get some shoes, etc.,
for the girls, and some kid gloves, — weightier articles I can't
carry." General Hooker only learned from the repulse of his cavalry
on the 9th of June that the main part of the Confederate army
had moved from his front far to his right. He then threw for
ward a part of his own army in the same direction ; but it was
not until the 13th, when Ewell attacked Winchester, that the
last of the Federal force recrossed the Rappahannock at Fred
ericksburg, and followed the main body, which fell back towards
Washington. The returns for the two armies for the month of
May show their strength to have been at this time on the Yankee
side one hundred and nine thousand nine hundred and sixteen
infantry and twelve thousand one hundred and sixty-two cavalry,
on the Confederate side sixty-eight thousand three hundred and

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 279
fifty-two of all arms. But General Hooker had his greatly su
perior force concentrated, so that he might have used it at once
in any direction ; while General Lee's army stretched from Win
chester to Fredericksburg, and was separated by two mountain
ranges and more than one swiftly-flowing river. On the 14th A.
P. Hill marched to Culpeper and thence to the valley. Long-
street and Stuart skirted the eastern side of the Blue Ridge,
guarding the mountain passes, until they neared the Potomac,
when Longstreet also crossed the mountains and the Shenandoah
River, so as to close up with Hill, and follow Ewell, now well
over the Pennsylvania line. The relief to the people of the
valley was great when they found themselves freed from Milroy's
oppression, and they welcomed the Southern soldiers eagerly as
their deliverers. " Berryville, June 22, 1863.
" You are before this aware of our being in this part of the
world, as I wrote of our proceedings since we left Culpeper. . . .
They have done well with Ewell's corps, and are now all in
Maryland. The rest of us are for the present in this region. . . .
Yesterday I preached for Mr. Sutor, — a good and attentive con
gregation. Generals Lee and Longstreet present. After church
I rode to Brother Hugh's. They are well. I gave Gurdon one
hundred dollars to lay out in dry goods for you if he goes into
Maryland, as he expects to. Made a memorandum from your
last letter, — a piece or two of cotton, ditto of calico, ditto of
mousseline, assortments of spools, skeins, etc., of cotton, silk, and
thread, pins, needles, tapes, buttons, hooks and eyes, etc., etc. I
don't know what he will be able to do, and if he gets the things
how I can get them to you, but will try." . . . "June 23.
" Having received orders to march in the morning, I write to
night. I have been privileged to see most of our friends. . . .
This afternoon I sent a servant on horseback to Brother Hugh's,
and got a supply of the finest cherries you ever saw. Sent some
to General Lee and staff, with two nice lemons out of five sent
me by an unknown lady near our camp. Major Taylor sent a
note of thanks for the present, which arrived, he said, most
opportunely, as they were just finishing dinner. . . . We move
on towards the Potomac to-morrow. Yankeedom is greatly

280 MEMOIRS OF
stirred. May the Lord go with us to restrain from evil, uphold
in duty, strengthen for efficient service, protect from injury, and
guide to victory, justice, and peace !"
" Two Miles North of Mason and Dixon's Line, between
Hagerstown and Chambersburg, Friday, June 26, 1863.
" Day before yesterday we marched from Berryville and
camped that night at Darkesville, — just where General Jackson
had his head-quarters two years ago when we were in line of
battle expecting Patterson. Yesterday morning we started at
four and proceeded through Martinsburg. Crossed the Potomac
at Williamsport last evening and camped half a mile north of
the river. This morning we came on through a most disagree
able rain all day, first to Hagerstown, where General Lee got me
to see some good Southerner to learn about roads, etc. I went
with George Peterkin to see a Dr. Magill. Very much of a
gentleman and not less earnest than the most thorough-going
among ourselves. He has been fourteen months in Fort Warren,
and has met a Yankee mob of five thousand so resolutely with
his shot-gun as to prevent their tearing down his house as they
threatened. They were all very kind. A number of ladies
walked through the mud and rain half a mile to see General
Lee. . . . After remaining near Hagerstown some two hours, we
marched on and camped, where we now are, in Pennsylvania.
Ewell and the cavalry ahead of him have swept along before us,
so that we do not see the full harvest of Yankee alarm, etc.
Houses are generally shut, and horses, cattle, etc., are missing.
" Our men are entirely forbearing. No private property taken
by violence, no quiet person molested. A great exhibition of
forbearance after all the outrage perpetrated by the Yankees on
our soil and our friends. But it is right, and will tell for good
by and by. We will take by authority all supplies needed.
Everything at old prices here. And we give only Confederate
money at par. Thus far we get nothing but eatables for man
and beast. Gurdon got nothing. Stores all shut. He returned
me the money. No chance of getting anything while Ewell's
corps is ahead. We expect a great battle before long. Hooker
must of course meet us somewhere in this country. His men

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 28 1
will probably fight harder than they have done. It will, I sup
pose, be the severest struggle of the war. God grant it may
help us to independence and peace. This country has felt no
war. We shall not take vengeance for their atrocious wrongs
against us. . . . The Yankee Episcopal minister in Hagerstown
told Perkins he supposed General Pendleton had renounced the
ministry. ' Not a bit of it,' Perkins told him."
Of their progress northward Sandie Pendleton wrote to his
mother, — " Two Miles North of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania,
June 25, 1863.
" My dear Mother, — As I have spent all the money I have
in the world — seventy-five dollars — in buying dry-goods for you
and the girls, and expect to send them back to Winchester to
Dr. McGuire's this afternoon, I write to let you know the facts
and to enclose the bill. Whether my selection is good as to
taste I don't know. I think the black one for yourself pretty.
Should have bought a silk, but couldn't find any. There are no
shoes or gloves in the place, nor, I expect, will any be found on
our route. The people along the railroad north of our position
run off everything as we advance. But we are collecting large
supplies of all sorts, mostly commissary stores, and sending
them to Virginia. No violence of any sort has been done to
any citizen. No women insulted, or anything done in any way
to emulate the behavior of the Yankees in our country. We
have passed through a most beautiful and highly-cultivated
region, but so orderly has been our march that no damage of
any kind has been done, and you would not know that an army
had passed at all, much less one which had suffered such provo
cations to retaliation and the wreaking of private revenge as
ours. There is no straggling and the men are in elegant spirits.
... In Pennsylvania ! Rather a pleasant feeling to know that
you have a country at your mercy and are magnanimous. The
Yankees must feel rascally after their behavior in our country.
... I am in such a state of excitement that I can't write. I
think of you often and wish you were along. We live elegantly.
I have gotten nothing for myself except what Milroy furnished,
and don't expect to. I send by the same mail one Harper's

282 MEMOIRS OF
Weekly — June 20 — for the picture of the burning of Jackson,
Mississippi. A marked contrast to our occupancy here."
The whole Confederate army was now in Pennsylvania, on the
west side of the mountains. On the 27th of June General Lee
issued, at Chambersburg, an order commending his troops for
their spirit and good conduct on their long and arduous march,
and forbidding all injury and outrage to persons or property.
Up to this time no information had been received as to the
movements of the Federal army. General Stuart, with his cav
alry, had pushed so far to the eastward, that the crossing of the
Potomac by General Hooker — June 25 and 26 — threw the Fed
eral army between Stuart's command and General Lee, who was
thus left without means of ascertaining the movements and
position of his adversary. An advance upon Harrisburg had
been ordered, but, on the night of the 28th, information was re
ceived that General Meade had superseded General Hooker, and
that the Federal army had reached Frederick, Maryland. The
Confederate forces were immediately directed to concentrate east
of the mountains. Ewell, at Carlisle, and Early, at York, were
recalled to join the army somewhere near Gettysburg, towards
which place A. P. Hill and Longstreet moved eastwardly through
the mountain-passes.
The Northern army, under its new commander, was pressed
rapidly on, and on the ist of July Hill's advance met the Federal
cavalry a few miles west of Gettysburg. Whether the encounter
was to prove only a skirmish or the beginning of a serious en
gagement could not, in the absence of cavalry on the front, be
ascertained.

CHAPTER XXXV.
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
A detailed account of the series of sanguinary conflicts on
the heights of Gettysburg on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of July, or any
elaborate criticism of the causes which led to the repulse of the
Southern army and deprived it of the success at one time appar-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 283
ently within its grasp, are not at all within the scope of these
memoirs. The whole subject has been fully and freely discussed
by able officers who were engaged on both sides. But there is
one point, perhaps the most important of all those brought out,
upon which General Pendleton's biographer is called upon to
speak with the utmost clearness and deliberateness of state
ment. The fight begun so unexpectedly on the morning of July 1
proved to be a severe encounter between Hill's advance and the
First and Eleventh Corps of the Federal army. With hard fight
ing the Federals were driven slowly and steadily back. The
artillery battalions of Pegram and Mcintosh took important part
in this attack, occupying one range of hills after another with
their guns as the enemy retreated. About half-past two p.m.
Rodes's division of Ewell's corps, with Carter's artillery, came
upon the scene of action to the northwest. Early's division, with
Jones's artillery, also came into the fight shortly after, farther to
the east. The battle now raged furiously for a short time, when
the enemy was driven through and out of the town with great
loss. Brigadier-General Reynolds was killed and over five thou
sand prisoners, besides the wounded, captured, together with artil
lery and colors. General Lee reached the battle-field about the
same time with Early's troops. General Pendleton, riding with
him, was requested to examine the ground and post artillery
in good position for hastening the retreat of the enemy. To
this end the woods on the right of the Fairfield road were exam
ined, and a road was observed along the ravine back of these
woods.* When the enemy were driven from the town they withdrew to
Cemetery Hill, a very strong position on the south, which they oc
cupied, as well as another height farther to the east. These points
General Ewell was directed to seize if he could do so without
bringing on a general engagement. The near approach of other
Federal troops had been learned; the divisions of Heth and
Pender, Rodes and Early, were much exhausted by hard march
ing and severe fighting, and a further attack that night was deemed
inadvisable. * General Pendleton's report.

284 MEMOIRS OF
" It had not been intended to deliver a general battle so far
from our base, unless attacked," wrote General Lee in his report,
adding that " a battle had become in a measure unavoidable. . . .
It was determined to make the principal attack upon the enemy's
left, and endeavor to gain a position from which it was thought
our artillery could be brought to bear with effect. Longstreet
was directed to place the divisions of McLaws and Hood on the
right of Hill, partially enveloping the enemy's left, which he was
to drive in." *
The reports of Generals Ewell, Early, and Pendleton, written
within a few weeks after the battle, stated that the attack by
General Lee's right, General Longstreet commanding, was ex
pected to take place at a very early hour on the 2d of July.
General Early says, " Having been informed that a large portion
of the rest of our army would come up during the night, and
that the enemy's position would be attacked on the right and left
flanks very early next morning," etc. " The attack did not begin
in the morning, as was expected, and in the course of the morn
ing I rode with General Ewell to examine a position on the left
for artillery." Generals A. P. Hill and Anderson, with their
subordinates, corroborate this expectation of early action on the
2d. General Hill states, "The corps of General Longstreet
(McLaws's and Hood's divisions) was on my right, and in a line
very nearly at right angles to mine. General Longstreet was to
attack the left flank of the enemy and sweep down his line, and I
was ordered to co-operate with him with such of my brigades
from the right as could join with his troops in the attack."
General Anderson's division constituted Hill's right, and Wilcox's
brigade held the right of that division. General Anderson says,
" Shortly after the line had been formed I received notice that
Lieutenant-General Longstreet would occupy the ground on the
right ; that his line would be nearly at right angles with mine ;
that he would assault the extreme left of the enemy and drive
him towards Gettysburg," etc.f General Wilcox says, " The
brigade now (nine a.m.) took its position in line of battle on the
right of the division and the extreme right of the army. . . .
From this till two p.m. nothing occurred."! General Wright, in
* Lee's report. f Anderson's report. J Wilcox's report.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 285.
Anderson's centre, reports that " About noon I was informed by
Major-General Anderson that an attack upon the enemy's lines
would soon be made by the whole division."
General Lee's whole army, with the exception of Pickett's
division and Laws's brigade of Longstreet's corps, had come up
to within striking distance of Gettysburg on or during the night
of the ist of July. General Hood states that his troops "reached
Gettysburg at or before sunrise" that morning, and that himself
and staff " arrived shortly after daybreak." *
What, then, caused the long delay, so unlike General Lee's
usual promptness in the presence of the enemy ? He knew that
the whole of General Meade's army was pushing up to meet him.
Why wait to give them opportunity to arrive and take possession
of the commanding positions towards his right? "All now
agree," says General Early, " that the fullest success would have
attended the effort if the blow had been struck in the morning or
forenoon of the 2d, as it should have been, and as was General
Lee's purpose." f That such was General Lee's intention Gen
eral Long, in his recent " Memoirs of General Lee," General
Hood, in the letter above quoted, and Colonel Taylor \ abun
dantly establish, were there no other testimony.
So long as General Lee lived it could not be becoming for any
of his subordinates to break the silence he so magnanimously
kept as to his apparent failure to seize the great opportunity
before him on the morning of July 2 at Gettysburg ; but when
their beloved leader passed to his rest their lips were unsealed,
and those few survivors who knew felt it their duty to put on
record the facts in the case. General Early, in an address de
livered on the 19th of January,§ 1872, at Lexington, Virginia,
said, —
" In a conference with General Ewell, General Rodes, and my
self, when he (General Lee) did reach us after the enemy had been
routed, he expressed his determination to assault the enemy's posi
tion at daylight on the next morning, and wished to know whether
* " Advance and Retreat," p. 56.
t Southern Historical Society Papers, December, 1877, p. 269.
% " Four Years with General Lee," pp. 96, 97.
§ General Lee's birthday.

286 MEMOIRS OF
we could make the attack from our flank — the left — at the desig
nated time. We informed him of the fact that the ground im
mediately in our front furnished much greater obstacles to a
successful assault than existed at any other point. . . . He then
determined to make the attack from our right on the enemy's
left, and left us for the purpose of ordering up Longstreet's corps
in time to begin the attack at dawn the next morning. That
corps was not in readiness to make the attack until four o'clock
of the next day. By that time Meade's whole army had arrived
on the field and taken its position. Had the attack been made
at daylight as contemplated it must have resulted in a brilliant
victory, as all of Meade's army had not then arrived and a very
small portion of it was in position. A considerable portion of
his army did not get up until after sunrise,* one corps not
arriving until two in the afternoon, and a prompt advance to the
attack must have resulted in his defeat in detail. The posi
tion which Longstreet attacked at four was not occupied by the
enemy until late in the afternoon, and Round Top Hill, which
commanded the enemy's position, could have been taken in the
morning without a struggle." |
On January 19, 1873, a year after General Early made the fore
going statement, General Pendleton also delivered a memorial
address on General Lee at Lexington, which he afterwards re
peated at different points throughout the South and published in
the Southern Magazine for December, 1874. In this address,
speaking of Gettysburg, General Pendleton said, —
" The ground southwest of the town was carefully examined
by me after the engagement of July 1. Being found much less
difficult than the steep ascent fronting the troops already up, its
practicable character was reported to our commanding general.
He informed me that he had ordered Longstreet to attack on
that front at sunrise the next morning. And he added to myself,

* The Second and Fifth Corps, with the rest of the Third, came up about seven in
the moming. At two P. M. the Sixth Corps arrived, after a march of thirty-two miles
from nine p.m. the day previous. General Meade's report.
¦)• Southern Historical Society Papers, December, 1877, pp. 285, 286.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 287
' I want you to be out long before sunrise so as to re-examine
and to save time.' The reconnoissance was accordingly made as
soon as it was light enough on the 2d, and made through a long
distance, — in fact, very close to what there was of the enemy's
line. No insuperable difficulty appearing, and marching up, far
off, the enemy's reinforcing columns being seen, the extreme de
sirableness of immediate attack there was at once reported to
the commanding general, and, according to his wish, message
was also sent to the intrepid but deliberate corps commander
whose sunrise attack had there been ordered. There was, how
ever, unaccountable delay. My own messages went repeatedly
to General Lee, and his, I know, were urgently pressed on Gen
eral Longstreet, until, as I afterwards learned from officers who
saw General Lee, as I could not at the time, he manifested ex
treme displeasure with the tardy corps commander. That hard-
fighting soldier, to whom it had been committed to attack early
in the day, did not, in person, reach the commanding general,
and with him ride to a position whence to view the ground
and see the enemy's arriving masses, until twelve o'clock, and
his column was not up and ready for the assault until four p.m.
All this, as it occurred under my own personal observation, it
is nothing short of imperative duty that I should thus fairly
state." On the 3d of November, 1877, General Longstreet published
in the Philadelphia Times an article on the " Causes of Lee's
Defeat at Gettysburg," beginning it with a letter written by
himself on June 24, 1863, in which he claimed that he had com
municated to General Lee a much better plan for the battle of
Gettysburg than that on which it was fought, but generously
prefers that all the blame for the failure should rest upon himself.
Regretting that he could not in 1877 rest upon that letter of 1863,
General Longstreet then went at length into the blunders and
failure made by General Lee on account of his disregarding his
(General Longstreet's) advice with regard to the Pennsylvania
campaign; flatly denied that he was ordered or expected to
attack on the right early on the morning of the 2d ; assailed
Generals Pendleton and Early abusively, and asserted that he
had disproved their declaration that he was thus ordered by

288 MEMOIRS OF
letters from members of General Lee's staff. Three of these
letters, from Colonels Taylor, Marshall, and Long, simply declare
that they individually were not informed of such an order to
General Longstreet. Colonel Venable goes further, and falls
into the grave mistake of doubting the word of a brother officer
because he was not told of such an order. The question at issue
was not what the commanding general had said to the younger
men who served him so faithfully, but what he had chosen to
communicate to his chief of artillery, with serious responsibilities
resting upon him, for the coming contest, and who was at the
same time his contemporary and life-long friend.
To this attack of General Longstreet upon the veracity of his
statement General Pendleton made no reply. He had, in de
fence of General Lee, affirmed what he knew to be true, and
rested calmly in the assurance that, as true, it must ultimately be
established. General Early, however, published a full and free
reply * to General Longstreet, giving facts and details known only
to himself of the events of the night of July I and morning of
July 2. After giving an account of the conference between
Generals Lee, Ewell, Rodes, and himself, mentioned before, Gen
eral Early goes into the particulars of that consultation : " I
then called General Lee's attention to the Round Tops, the out
line of which we could see, though dusk was approaching, and
suggested that those heights must evidently command the
enemy's position and render it untenable, f . . . adding the sug
gestion that the attack could be made on that side, and from our
right flank, with better chances of success. % . . . The first men
tion of Longstreet's name in connection with the attack was in
this wise : when General Lee had heard our views, he said, in these
very words, which are indelibly impressed on my memory, ' Well,
if I attack from my right, Longstreet will have to make the at
tack ;' and after a moment's pause, during which he held his head
down in deep thought, he raised it, and added, ' Longstreet is a
very good fighter when he gets in position and gets everything
ready, but he is so slow! The emphasis was just as I have given
it, and the words seemed to come from General Lee with pain." §

* Southern Historical Society Papers, December, 1877. f Ibid., p. 272.
X Ibid. I Ibid., pp. 273, 274.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 289
General Longstreet, in the Times, stated that he left General
Lee on the night of the ist "without any orders at all," and
that on the morning of the 2d he renewed his protest against
making any attack at all, which declarations are strangely at
variance with all the reports above quoted, as well as contrary to
his own report, which says, " Laws's brigade was ordered forward
to his division and joined about noon on the 2d. Previous to
his joining I received instructions from the commanding general
to move with the portion of my command that was up around to
gain the Emmittsburg road, on the enemy's left. . . . Fearing my
force was too weak to venture to make an attack, I delayed until
General Laws's brigade joined its division." Later denials can
not correct the impression made by this report, written within a
few weeks after the battle, that whenever he was ordered up he
deliberately chose to disobey the order.
How desperate was the long-delayed attack on the right, how
furiously the battle raged, and how the Confederates drove the
enemy from his advanced positions, out of the peach orchard
and to the base of the Round Tops, other and abler pens have
told with full detail. But the crests of those hills, crowned
with scores of guns, had not been reached, some of the
ground covered had to be abandoned, and of the artillery
left by the enemy as he fell back only four guns could be
brought off
On the left, Ewell had been directed to delay attack until
Longstreet's guns were heard. During all the long hours of the
morning the enemy was occupied in strengthening his already
well-nigh impregnable positions. Late in the day Johnson, on
the extreme left, carried the works in his front to the foot of
Culp's Hill, and Early's troops succeeded in reaching the crest
of Cemetery Hill, but being unsupported could not hold it.
Night closed with heavy loss on both sides, with the Confederate
troops well advanced, but with the strongly-fortified heights from
Culp's Hill to the Round Tops still in the possession of the
enemy. The artillery throughout the day had done gallant
service. The batteries of the First Corps did much towards
preparing for the advance of McLaws and Hood, and followed
the enemy at full run as he was driven out of the peach orchard.
The guns of Hill's corps, in the centre, fired upon the enemy at
19

290 MEMOIRS OF
intervals to prevent a concentration of the artillery opposed to
them and to divert attention from the First Corps. On the left
Andrews's battalion, assisted by the four Virginia batteries of
Graham, Dance, Watson, and Smith, opened a heavy fire at four
in the afternoon, but the contest proved very unequal. The
enemy replied from a superior artillery force on Cemetery Hill,
and the Confederate ammunition running low, most of the guns
had to be withdrawn. Its commander, Major Latimer, here
received a mortal wound.
The success of the second day encouraged the hope that an
early, vigorous, and simultaneous attack next morning would
carry the enemy's positions and secure the victory. " The artil
lery along the entire line was to be prepared for opening, as early
as possible on the morning of the 3d, a concentrated and de
structive fire, consequent upon which a general advance was to
be made." * " Longstreet, reinforced by Pickett's three brigades
(not yet under fire), was ordered to attack the next morning,
and General Ewell was ordered to assail the enemy's right at the
same time." f That time was " at daylight on Friday morning." %
At dawn on the morning of the 3d the artillery on the right was
posted by Colonel Alexander and visited by General Pendleton.
The attack ordered on the left was anticipated by the Federals,
who attempted to retake the works occupied by Johnson's
division the night before. But General Longstreet was again
unprepared. He says, in his paper in the Philadelphia Times, he
was unwilling to obey General Lee's orders. After Johnson, on
the left, was engaged and could not be recalled, General Ewell
was informed that Longstreet would not attack until ten o'clock.§
He was not, in fact, ready for his advance until two p.m., and
then, as he himself states, wished to throw the responsibility upon
Colonel Alexander as to whether and when Pickett's division
should be ordered forward to the assault.
At one p.m. the signal was given for the Confederate cannon,
nearly one hundred and fifty, to open fire ; and then ensued for
two hours the most furious cannonade ever heard on this conti
nent. When the enemy's fire ceased, Pickett's division, followed

* General Pendleton's report. f General Lee's report. J Ewell's report.
\ Ewell's report.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 29 1
by Heth's, advanced to the charge. As they moved forward
into open ground the Federal guns burst out again, pouring into
them a most destructive fire, to which adequate reply could not
be made for want of ammunition. Undeterred by this and by
the hot storm of musket-balls which met them in front, the
gallant division swept up the height with a steadiness and
bravery which elicited the admiration of the enemy. Had they
been supported, as General Lee had ordered, the Federal position
might then have been seized. But their corps commander not
only failed to lead, drive, or order either of his other divisions to
support Pickett's magnificent charge, as General Lee had directed
and intended, but he went further, and forbade General Anderson
of Hill's corps to move forward to assist in the attack, which he
was about to do.
In the February number of the Century Magazine for 1887
General Longstreet saw fit to repeat, and in some respects to
amplify, his previous assumption of superior military wis
dom and skill, his carping criticism on General Lee, and his
charge of falsehood upon General Pendleton. Many officers
have again refuted his assertions on various points. The only
further reply to his discourteous and malign attack on Gen
eral Pendleton necessary here is given in the following let
ter from Bishop George W. Peterkin, of West Virginia, who
was General Pendleton's "tried and trusty aide" throughout
the war : " Parkersburg, West Virginia, April 29, 1887.
" My dear Mrs. Lee, — In reply to your letter of April 20, ask
ing for my recollections of the evening of the 1st and the morn
ing of the 2d of July at Gettysburg, I write briefly. Of course
one occupying a subordinate position, as I did, was not at all be
hind the scenes. Still, as I stood in a very close relationship to
your dear father as his aide-de-camp, and, more than that, owing
no doubt in large measure to the general's long friendship for my
father, I always thought that he admitted me to much more inti
mate relations than my mere official position would seem to call
for. At all events, I may very properly say that I was his con
stant companion during the three years of my service on his staff,
and that he talked very freely to me of all things connected with

292 MEMOIRS OF
the army and the conduct of the campaign as far as such things
came under his observation.
" I will, then, without any further words, state my very distinct
and positive recollection as to the matter in hand. First, — and
this is perhaps the most important thing, — I went with General
Pendleton to General Lee's on the night of the ist. Of course
I did not hear their conversation, but my recollection is perfectly
clear as to this, that as we rode away your father said to me that
General Longstreet was to attack very early in the morning, — this
as coming from General Lee. This statement was made to me
in the familiar manner in which the general usually talked with
me, because I was his constant attendant, and he was largely
dependent upon me for the carrying his orders back and forth.
Now, of course, as to what passed between the general and Gen
eral Lee I do not know, except in the way indicated. Secondly,
I well remember how we started early the next morning, so as to
go over the ground and be ready to help to dispose the troops
(the artillery, of course, specially) when they came up.
" I find in an old note-book, which I kept very imperfectly
and irregularly, this entry made at the time in lead-pencil :
" ' Thursday, July 2, started very early and reconnoitred the
right ; troops on left and centre stationary ; Longstreet moving ;
reconnoitred the front. Guided General McLaws to road along
the creek bottom towards the peach orchard.'
" In explanation of this entry in my memorandum-book, I
would say that my recollection is very distinct that, contrary to
our expectation, General Longstreet did not attack early in the
morning, but that his troops did not get up until late in the day ;
and that then, after starting to go directly across towards the
peach orchard, it was found (for some cause or other I do not
know, unless that by this route the troops were exposed) that
they had better go by some other route. I was then sent by
General Pendleton (at the instance of General Lee, I think, who
knew the general had been over the ground, and that therefore
some one of his staff must know it) to guide the column by the
route indicated. This I did, riding along with Captain Timothy
Dwight, an old college friend. He was on Kershaw's staff, as I
remember. I cannot tell about the hour of day, and, without
stopping now to look up the accounts, I should say that it must

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 293
have been about five p.m. before these troops were in position and
began the fight.
" Of course as to causes for delay or anything of that kind,
one who occupied so subordinate a position, as I did could not
be expected to know.
" The bare facts given above I state without attempting to fill
up the narrative. I am clear and positive about them. You can
make any use you choose of this letter. I may add this, that I
find in my note-book this entry for Wednesday, July 1 :
" ' Moved towards Gettysburg through Cashtown ; got up to
where they were fighting about twelve M. ; went first to the
centre and then to the right ; saw General Ramseur ; camped in
orchard about two and a half miles from Gettysburg.'
" Faithfully your friend,
" George W. Peterkin."

BISHOP JOHNS'S REPORT TO VIRGINIA COUNCIL, 1863.
June 3. — I visited the army on the Rappahannock to make such arrangements as
might be found expedient to enable my brethren of the clergy to render most effectively
such missionary services as were contemplated by the resolution of the last Council.'
When I arrived the several divisions had received marching orders, and before many
hours had elapsed all — with the exception of those brought up in front of Fredericks
burg to resist a demonstration of the enemy at that point — had moved for active service
elsewhere. . . . On my arrival at Hamilton's Crossing I was met by the Rev. J.
McGill, chaplain in the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment, who informed me that in the
Rockbridge Artillery company — then encamped in the vicinity, but under orders to
march in a few hours — there were several persons anxious to receive confirmation.
The necessary arrangements were soon made, and at five P.M., in front of the residence
of Mr. Marye, I preached to the members of that brave band, baptized one and con
firmed six of their number. Before the next dawn their tents had disappeared, and
they were moving to share in the terrible conflicts of the campaign.
During the interval between my arrival and this service I passed some time at head
quarters in communication with the honored and beloved commander of the Army of
Northern Virginia in reference to its religious improvement, to which his example and
counsel happily contribute. If in the life and influence of this Christian general and
other eminent officers, his worthy associates in our eventful struggle for civil and re
ligious liberty, we do not gratefully recognize a most significant encouragement to hope
for a successful issue, we should be justly liable to the charge of slowness to perceive
the tokens of good which have been vouchsafed to us, and criminally delinquent in the
gratitude which they should awaken.
June 4. — In company with General Pendleton I rode out to the head-quarters of
General Ewell, recently appointed to the command vacated by the lamented General

294 MEMOIRS OF
Jackson. The interview assured me the more that the good providence and grace of
God had prepared the way most invitingly for the extension of the Gospel in the army.
On the same day, at five P.M., I preached to the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment under
an arbor which, though very extensive, did not cover the congregation. The Rev. Mr.
McGill, the chaplain of the regiment, reported a goodly number of the men as ear
nestly inquiring " what they must do to be saved." Whilst we were engaged in the
service a courier arrived with orders to march at midnight.
June J. — At five P.M. I preached, near Grace Church, Caroline County, to the
division under the command of General Heth. As our own church was too small, the
appointment for our service was made in a large Baptist church near by, but on arriving
it was found to be full, and more out than inside. It was deemed best to officiate in
the open air. Taking my stand at the rear of the building, with the men seated on
the grass and many on the limbs of the surrounding trees, I ministered to as attentive
and serious a congregation as I ever addressed. The chaplain informed me that here
also many were deeply interested on the subject of religion. I had announced another
appointment to preach for them at five P.M. the next day, but again while I was preach
ing a courier came with the intelligence that the enemy had opened upon our troops at
Fredericksburg and were crossing in force below the town. General Heth's command
was ordered up. They marched during the night, and the next day, when the hour
for my appointment arrived, there was not even a straggler to be found in the vicinity.
It was an anxious day. The occasional booming of the guns from the heights beyond
the Rappahannock, the discharge of musketry between the skirmishers on this side,
and the roll of their drums authorized the anticipation of an early attack. The next
morning, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Friend, I rode up to Hamilton's Crossing to
see if there would be an opportunity for a public service, and, if not, to be at hand to
officiate among the wounded should a battle ensue. We found the troops which had
been brought up in battle array, not knowing at what moment the enemy might at
tempt to advance. All hope of public service was abandoned. Very soon, however,
we were called on by Colonel Leaventhorpe, who commanded a North Carolina regi
ment, and who came to say that he understood I was willing to officiate, and that,
though his officers and men had been on the march during the night, they would be
thankful if we would conduct service for them. I left him to arrange time and place,
and in half an hour he returned to accompany us to an orchard in the rear of the trenches,
where his regiment was assembled to unite in prayer and praise and hear the word of
God. The Rev. Mr. Friend read the morning service and I addressed the congrega
tion. Our appropriate psalms and hymns were accompanied by the music of a part of
the regimental band, which had been accustomed to render such assistance to the Rev.
Aristides Smith, who was detained in Petersburg by sickness. We had scarcely closed
the solemn exercises when a deputation came to ask for a service in the afternoon.
Neither the fatiguing march of the preceding night nor the vicinity of a formidable foe
abated their interest in the divinely-appointed means of grace nor detained them from
their administration. We may learn and profit by this wholesome example. That
same regiment was in the hottest of the fight at Gettysburg, and proved as fearless in
the service of their country as they were ready and respectful in the worship of God.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 295

CHAPTER XXXVI.
AFTER GETTYSBURG  BRISTOW STATION  MINE RUN  HOME ON
FURLOUGH  COLONEL PENDLETON'S MARRIAGE.
The repulse of Pickett's assault virtually ended this "the
fiercest and most sanguinary" battle ever fought in America.
The heavy loss in the three days' fight — about sixteen thousand
in killed, wounded, and prisoners — and the want of ammunition
prevented any further attack by General Lee. All day of July 4
he waited for General Meade to advance in his turn.* But no
aggressive movement being made, the Southern army withdrew
in the night, and fell back across the mountains to the Potomac
to protect their supply and ammunition trains.
On July 8 General Pendleton wrote from near Hagerstown,
Maryland, —
" After a most laborious and fatiguing time night and day for
perhaps sixty hours we reached this neighborhood, and are here
encamped, in preparation for another great battle. If the Yan
kees attack us it will come very soon." . . .
"Near Williamsport, Maryland, July 13.
" This rainy Monday morning, while we are waiting in expec
tation of an attack from the enemy, I employ a half-hour in
writing. Saturday and yesterday I was laboriously occupied in
posting batteries on our lines, giving minute directions to officers,
etc. Our army is well posted, and if attacked will, I think,
prove victorious. . . . We have had so much rain, it has not
* Sandie Pendleton, as adjutant of the Second Corps, carried the returns of that com
mand to head-quarters in person on the morning of this day. Wishing to be encour
aging, he remarked to the commander-in-chief as he delivered the papers, " General,
I hope the other two corps are in as good condition for work as ours is this morning."
General Lee looked at him steadily and replied coldly, " What reason have you, young
gentleman, to suppose that they are not ?"
" I never felt so small in my life," said young Pendleton in telling the story. " I
lost no time in bowing myself out and riding away, firmly resolved never to hazard
any inquiry or conjecture to General Lee again."

296 MEMOIRS OF
been practicable for us to recross the river had it been ever so
desirable. And now, although the water has fallen a good deal
and a little fording is done, cannon can hardly be driven across
without spoiling the ammunition. . . . We are grieved at the fall
of Vicksburg, but no less firmly resolved to resist Northern
aggression to the end. . . . My health continues very good. By
care I manage to discharge a great deal of duty without breaking
myself down, and by proper management generally get good
rest at night, so that I am, most of the time, fresh for the hard
and protracted service incident to my position. By awaking
very early I get a good time for prayer and Scripture reading
every morning, and have my staff stirring betimes. George
Peterkin is my trusty aide, — at all times ready for any work or
any danger. One of the truest human beings I ever knew.
" Willie Meade started for Staunton yesterday with his ordnance
train. He had in charge the bundle of things John got in my
behalf for you in Hagerstown, — I could not properly choose
myself. Some of the articles, you will see, are a sort of non
descript refuse, — shoes of strange sizes, hideous dress-patterns,
etc. I thought you might do something with them all by way
of exchange, if no, otherwise. The cotton, linen, needles, pins,
hooks and eyes, buttons, hair-pins, silk and cotton spools, and
one or two of the dresses will, I hope, prove useful. Willie was
to take the bundle to Mr. Phillips, in Staunton, and get him to
forward it safely." " Near Bunker Hill, Berkeley County, Virginia,
July 18, 1863.
" My last was from near Williamsport, where we were expect
ing another great battle. The weather being very uncomfort
able, the river likely to rise higher, and the Yankees exhibiting
an intention of fortifying, so as to hold a small force in our front
while they operated elsewhere, General Lee concluded to recross
to the Virginia side. This he did on the afternoon and night of
Monday, the 1 3th, and morning of Tuesday, the 14th. The labors
of all in responsible positions were great. Mine were hercu
lean. At General Lee's request I started on horseback round
our lines about one p.m., Monday, the 13th, and was virtually
in the saddle until five p.m., Tuesday, the 14th. In the hardest

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 297
rain all night, posting batteries and fighting them on the hills
our side the Potomac, when our army was nearly across, and an
advance of the enemy came imprudently near, about twelve on
the 14th, and having all guns and ammunition secured. I had to
do everything alone during the last ten hours of the time, as
every member of my staff was either broken down himself or
disabled by having a broken-down horse. My horse and myself
were all this while — twenty-eight hours — without food, and I got
no rest for about forty hours. Still, my strength kept up in
good measure, though my horse could scarcely walk when I
reached camp. This recrossing was a great success on General
Lee's part. The army is recruiting after a very severe campaign.
. . . We have moved up gradually to this point and are awaiting
developments. Our cause is, undoubtedly, at serious disadvan
tage just now. The loss of Vicksburg is in itself not very in
jurious; but Grant's army being set free to co-operate with
Rosecrans is a serious evil. Our failure at Gettysburg and these
events on the Mississippi will give us a vast deal of trouble. It
is a case in which resort to God for help becomes doubly urgent,
while we brace ourselves to the stern duties of the occasion. . . .
William Nelson lost all his clothes and his servant William when
the Yankee cavalry caught part of Ewell's train. I have given
him an old shirt, drawers, socks, towels, handkerchiefs, and
collars out of my scant store." "July 21, 1863.
" Still at Bunker Hill, I write again. ... I have often thought
how anxious you must all be about us. And indeed you have
had reason. For besides one of the bloodiest battles in his
tory, — certainly, I suppose, the most tremendous artillery con
flict ever known thus far on earth, — we have been exposed to a
continuance of weather almost unsurpassed in inclemency again
and again, marching day and night through drenching rain and
mud interminable; our food, too, has been necessarily most
irregular, and sometimes so unattractive as to be turned from by
even very hungry men. Only dry bread, such as camp affords,
and a little poor meat, without condiment of any sort save a little
salt, and no vegetables. This, morning, noon, and night, so
wearies the appetite that the organs well-nigh refuse to perform
their office. Still, by God's helping, we get along cheerfully

298 MEMOIRS OF
and in very tolerable health. I am myself quite well. Lizzie
sent me two days ago a loaf of bread and two or three makings
of tea with sugar enough for it. It is very refreshing. But after
all, what of all these little trials if God be pleased to bless us in
frustrating the wicked purposes of Lincoln and the Yankees. . . .
By this time the bundles sent have, I hope, reached you. I have
amused myself imagining the looks of horror and merriment
with which the girls held up the odd pairs of shoes, and one
or two of the dress-patterns sent, not knowing my idea in
sending them, — viz., that if they could not be used in our house
hold, they could be exchanged somewhere for things more suit
able. The truth is, that amid the solemnities of so much blood
and death I hardly felt that it was right to be bestowing much
effort upon any earthly vanities or even comforts."
Great indeed had been the anxiety and distress in the house
hold in Lexington, for besides the loss of many relatives and
friends, the papers had published the name of General Pendleton
as among the mortally wounded, — confounding it with that of
General Pender, who was thus unfortunate. By exercising much
vigilance the report was kept from Mrs. Pendleton's knowledge
until the contradiction of it appeared. And even then the shock
of it prostrated her for several days.
General Meade's movements made it expedient for the Con
federate army to draw nearer to Richmond." Culpeper, July 24, 1863, eleven p.m.
" From the hour you see I have only a moment to write,
having had hard marching and little rest since leaving Bunker
Hill on Tuesday. By five p.m. were four miles southeast of Front
Royal, — forty-one or forty-two miles. Next day, yesterday, we
reached a point eight or nine miles from here, not camping till
past twelve at night. No dinner, no supper. This morning about
ten arrived here with one corps. The others pressing on. We
are pushing on to head the Yankees stirring again for Richmond."
" Culpeper, July 29, 1863.
" The probabilities now seem that we shall be for some time
somewhere between this place and Gordonsville. . . . You are
all well, I trust, and comfortable in reliance on God notwith-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 299
standing the unfavorable turn in our national affairs. It is un
doubtedly a time to try our faith and fortitude. But God has
not vacated His throne, nor will He, except for wise purposes,
permit iniquity to triumph ultimately. And if, for such pur
poses, although impenetrable by us, He see fit to allow our ene
mies to triumph, we can, I hope, submit to Him even therein, as
did our Saviour under the hands of his enemies, — ' Not my will,
but thine, be done.' "
The Confederate army drawing still farther back behind the
Rapidan and a season of comparative rest and quiet ensuing,
General Pendleton was able to have his wife and one of his
daughters visit him at Orange Court-House, where they were
hospitably entertained for several weeks by his cousin, Mrs.
Mildred Taylor. How pressing were the material wants of the
people of Virginia at this date, cut off from intercourse and
trade with the outside world, an extract from a letter of Mrs.
Pendleton's makes very vivid. On July 26 she wrote, —
" We have not yet got the bundles, but know they are at Mr.
Phillips's. I had something of the same feeling you expressed
about buying, when on such an errand as yours. S  and R 
badgered me into asking you, and it really is a good thing, for
we do need clothes. Mr. E. J. Lee came Tuesday and brought
the trunk he packed himself. In Confederate funds it is worth a
great deal to us all. My portion was four dozen adamantine
candles, a gallon of coal-oil, which he brought in a jug in the
carriage, a pound of tea, ten pounds crushed sugar, three pounds
coffee, three pair of shoes, and a calico dress for myself, but it is
quite red, and I shall give it to one of the girls. Then Mrs. Lee
brought me a beautiful winter dress and a supply of pins and
sewing materials. Sandie sent three pair of shoes, which fit
Mary, Leila, and Nancy. Edmund Lee brought Leila a beau
tiful pair of gaiters. Rose has a pair of Mr. Lee's and I the two
other pair. I hope some of us may be able to wear some of
yours. All you send will be of use, and most highly valued as
coming from you. If you did not get yourself clothes, we will
make you some immediately."
Only those who recall the absolute need of the common trifles

300 MEMOIRS OF
of civilized life here mentioned can appreciate the pleasure and
relief of receiving a supply of such simple things.
Early in September Longstreet's corps was sent to Tennessee,
and about the same time Meade's force was also reduced by send
ing reinforcements elsewhere. There then ensued what has been
called by military writers " a campaign of strategy," or " manoeu
vres," with advantage sometimes on one side and then on the
other. The prestige, at least, was on the Southern side at its
close. The three important events in this series of advances and
retreats were the Bristow campaign in October, the engagement
at Rappahannock Station, and the Mine Run campaign. In the
first of these General Meade was forced to withdraw from his
advanced position to the heights around Centreville, but in a
fight at Bristow Station A. P. Hill's corps lost several hundred
prisoners and five pieces of artillery.
On the 7th of November General Meade, who had again ad
vanced, moved across the Rappahannock, and at Kelley's Ford
partially surprised a part of Ewell's corps, capturing fifteen hun
dred men and four guns.
On the 26th of November the Federal army crossed the Rapi
dan at the fords below General Lee's position. The Confederates
moved also so as to strike General Meade's flank and rear should
he press on towards Richmond, or confront him on strong ground
if Lee's army was the object of his advance. For this purpose
General Lee fell back across Mine Run and took a position on
the west bank of that stream, where strong fortifications were
thrown up to strengthen the natural advantages afforded by the
hills above the run. Here they lay for three days, while General
Meade brought up his army, cannonaded heavily, and made elab
orate preparations for an assault. After waiting thus in vain for
the attack, General Lee determined himself to take the offensive
on the morning of December 2. But when the day dawned the
enemy was no longer there. Finding the Confederate forces so
strongly posted and fortified, General Warren, to whom the open
ing of the battle had been committed, decided that the loss of
life would be too great in any attack on the works, and declined
to sacrifice his men in what was apparently so hopeless an effort.
This terminated active operations for the season, and both armies
went into winter-quarters.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 301
Letters from General Pendleton and his son give interesting
details of these events and of army-life during the period of their
occurrence. Sandie Pendleton wrote August 27, —
"... I got a new commission in Richmond the other day, as
lieutenant-colonel and assistant adjutant-general, to rank from
July 23, 1863. I have reached the end of my tether now, and
shall have to be content with my present grade until the end of
•the war. However, it is a high grade and a good position for so
young a man, — chief of staff of the Second Army Corps."
General Pendleton wrote, — "September I.
" Last night I rode a few miles to Alexander's battalion and
preached for them. It was a very interesting time. Captain
Parker, a good Methodist, is much concerned for the religious
condition of his men. There is unusual interest among them,
and the meeting was large, attentive, and interesting.
" General Lee has not yet returned. Everything is perfectly
quiet. On Saturday a picnic was held near Montpelier.* Your
ma and L  were invited with me. I excused myself, as they
were gone. A rain came up as all hands were going to dinner,
and sauve qui pent soon became the cry. Lawns and silks were
sadly damaged, and there was great scuffling into ambulances,
wagons, and carriages to get shelter, and as for the dinner, it was
well soused with rain-drops." " September 3.
"... What do you think of my sitting up the entire night,
night before last, reading ' Aurora Floyd' ? Sitting with my back
to the front of my tent, I was surprised to find, on finishing the
book and turning round, that it was broad day. I went to bed
and slept soundly about three hours, and got up fresh as a lark
for my usual work. . . . How do you find the quiet life of home
after the stir of army associations ? A little dull, I fear. I was
at the chaplains' meeting day before yesterday, and gave them a
few words of counsel and exhortation." " September 7.
" Last night I officiated to a very large congregation — the
* President Madison's home.

302 MEMOIRS OF
scene very striking — in the grand woods, the deepest darkness
around. Several light-wood torches raised on platforms glaring
on the dense mass of soldiers seated in orderly arrangement on
rough seats prepared for the purpose, and a candle or two on the
primitive stand where I was. My ride home was rough, ex
tremely dark, partly through dense woods, and quite lonely. It
was eleven when I got to my tent. But I had great peace of
mind and a sense of God's approving goodness." " September II.
" Part of this army has moved. General Lee had a grand
review of the Second Corps day before yesterday. A. P. Hill's
corps is to be reviewed to-day. . . . Mr. Hansbrough has asked
me to assist in the services on Sunday, when Bishop Johns is
expected." " September 14.
" I can send you but a line this morning, having to move for
ward and post artillery on the Rapidan. The enemy advancing.
I preached in church yesterday and administered the communion,
the bishop too unwell to come and Mr. Hansbrough sick. Some
two hundred and fifty persons communed, several generals among
them. General Lee was not there ; detained by news from the
front." Of this movement on the front Sandie Pendleton wrote, —
" September 15.
"... The enemy's cavalry came on in large force and drove
Stuart back to the Rapidan, capturing three pieces of artillery.
Our cavalry suffered smartly, but did good execution. Our in
fantry moved out at daylight yesterday, our corps moving down
to watch Summerville's and Raccoon Fords. The enemy
showed no infantry, but only cavalry and artillery."
Three days later his father writes, —
"... I was out on the front lines all day yesterday ; a ride of
some thirty miles. From what I saw I do not judge a fight so
near. But messages from signal-stations and from other quarters
to-day give notice of a great advance of the enemy, and troops
will be moving at daylight in the morning to meet it."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 303
Sandie Pendleton to his mother. " September 23, 1863, eleven P.M.
" Last Saturday we moved down here from Orange Court-
House to Steam's place, formerly the property of Jeremiah
Morton. The house is entirely empty, and I am now writing in
one of the fine parlors, — a magnificent room twenty-six feet square,
with deep bay-windows, pier-glasses, and marble mantel-pieces,
but no furniture except my camp-table and chair. . . . Our corps
guards the river to the east of Orange Court-House, Early
being at Summerville's and Raccoon Fords, and Rodes and John
son at Morton's and Germanna Fords, fords west to east in the
order named, the first being some eight miles below Rapidan
Station and the last near the mouth of the river."
Of General Lee's move on Meade's right flank General Pen
dleton wrote, from near Bristow Station, October 16, —
"... As my last letter notified you, we left our camp near
Orange Court-House on the 9th. I had to take that day a very
long ride by Gordonsville, to arrange for one of the two artillery
battalions, previously stationed near there, being posted so as best
to defend that point, if suddenly threatened, and the other march
ing on with the army.
" While waiting in front of Mrs. Barbour's for the two com
manders sent for to meet me there, and sitting on a stile by
the gate, I was approached by her daughter, a sweet-looking
girl, and urged to go in. I did so, and was amused to find that
they took me for 'the commander-in-chief.' They did not
appear less cordial when the error was corrected. . . . After a
fatiguing march, rendered more tedious by the necessity of
taking by-ways through woods, etc., to prevent being seen from
the enemy's lookout posts, we encamped at dark on the 10th.
" By dawn of the nth we were all once again in motion, and,
as we seemed approaching the enemy, General Lee requested me
to ride in advance and select positions for the artillery in case of
coming upon the Yankees and engaging them. . . . On Monday,
near the Rappahannock River, by Warrenton Springs, we found
the enemy, and as he began to use his artillery it devolved upon
me to press ahead and select positions for our guns. The Yan-

304 MEMOIRS OF
kees were just on the north bank of the river, with considerable
force of cavalry and artillery. Our batteries were brought up
and posted with care, so that they were ready before the enemy
perceived one of them. Sixteen guns opened at once, and the
Yankee batteries ran off within ten minutes. . . . On Wednesday,
the 14th, about three p.m., A. P. Hill came upon and engaged the
enemy. General Lee, General Ewell, and myself, at the head of
Ewell's column, sought views of the enemy on our front. . . .
Meanwhile, Hill had driven off one body of the enemy, but an
other had proved too much for a part of his force and captured
five of his guns. It was a bad business ; somebody's blunder.
There was the finest opportunity to capture ten thousand Yan
kees, with some forty guns, and it ought to have been done ; in
stead of which they took five guns, and after night made good
their retreat and completely escaped. . . . To-day has been
extremely wet. General Lee is quite unwell from lumbago, with
which he suffers very much, so that he could not be out."
" Near Rappahannock Station, October 19, 1863.
" You see by the superscription that we have come back from
Bristow Station. The Yankees have so entirely desolated the
region that there is nothing left on which men or animals can
subsist. On Saturday, the 17th, besides riding round the lines
giving directions to the artillery, I went forward to old Manassas,
Randolph Page, George Peterkin, and Charles Hatcher accom
panying me. The only house of any kind left there is a dilapi
dated shanty, occupied by a poor Irishwoman with her children.
" Our route yesterday from Bristow, as did our ride to Manas
sas, lay by the side of the railroad track. The whole way from
Manassas to this point is one unbroken scene of desolation. Not
a house left standing ! Not a living thing save a few partridges
and other small birds ! No horse or cow, no hog or sheep, no dog
or cat, — of course, no man, woman, or child ! In sight of the river,
on the north side, stands a house with some out-buildings around.
General Lee told me he went there to look at the place. Not a
soul remained. Drills, however, and ploughs of most valuable
kinds had been piled together in the yard by the Yankees and
burned ; wagons, carts, and an elegant carriage had been cut to
pieces and smashed up with axes ; and the negro cabins were in

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 305
general reduced to ashes. Such outrage has scarcely ever been
perpetrated in the wars of the world. Among other instances of
such ruin I noticed a plain place of worship — perhaps Methodist
or Baptist — by the road-side, with about half the weather-boarding
torn off the walls, as usual, defaced by abominable scribb lings which
the profane creatures had perpetrated. Bad as are thousands of
our people, I do not believe they would thus mock the Almighty
by polluting the homeliest structure dedicated to his worship.
" General Lee told me he would not have come back but for the
great number of our men barefooted. ... As the probable close
of active operations for the campaign approaches I find my heart
literally aching to get home. Oh, for that unspeakable privilege !"
Sandie Pendleton wrote, — " Morton Hall, November 10, 1863.
"... Here we are again, having gotten back here exactly one
month from the time we left, and are minus about four thousand
men and nine pieces of artillery which we had when we started,
October 9.
" The papers will have apprised you of the mishap to the
Second Corps at Rappahannock bridge on Saturday evening.
There were too few men to hold the position, and the enemy
made a sudden rush with a tremendous force and carried the
works, getting possession of the pontoon-bridge, so that the men
had no way of escape. Our troops behaved splendidly, and the
Yankee loss was very great. We lost scarcely any in killed and
wounded, but about twelve hundred prisoners and four pieces of
artillery. On Sunday we took up position in front of Culpeper
Court-House and waited all day for the enemy, who did not come
on, and on Sunday night we recrossed the Rapidan, where our
troops are in their old quarters. I don't think Meade will come
on. I earnestly hope General Lee will soon attack him, and let
us retrieve our lost reputation. It is absolutely sickening, and I
feel personally disgraced by the issue of the late campaign, as
does every one in the command. Oh, how each day is proving
the inestimable value of General Jackson to us !"
So the days wore on, the generals having to be constantly on
the alert, watching Meade's movements and trying to divine his

306 MEMOIRS OF
intentions. The difficulties of their position were many. Of
them, as of other things, General Pendleton wrote, —
" There seems much suffering in store for us. The difficulty
of feeding our animals where we have to meet the enemy is
almost insuperable, and with that difficulty others increase, as
feeding our men, whose food horses must draw, and using our
cannon, which must by horses be moved from place to place.
The immense multitudes the Yankees have been able to import
for the war against us have enabled them so far to carry out
their barbarous policy of destroying productions in large dis
tricts of our country as to render the question of supplies a
serious one for the army and the population crowded within our
narrowed limits, and the disturbed state of our currency has so
inflated prices that multitudes can scarcely command subsistence.
. . . Saturday I had a strange call of duty. In the afternoon a
good-looking negro man presented himself at my tent, saying that
he came from Colonel Corley, chief quartermaster of this army,
in whose employ he was, to ask if I would marry him — the ser
vant — that night about nine o'clock, — the place some four miles
off. I felt it right to consent, and although it rained very hard I
sallied out, George Peterkin accompanying me, about half-past
seven p.m. The rain held up, and we only had the discomfort of
a great deal of mud. There was a large negro company, — all
quite proper. The groom responded ' I will' at every pause in
the interrogatory addressed to him, — the bride signifying assent
in her turn by a modest silence. George and I were taken first
to the supper-table and did it some justice, — ham, turkey, roast
fowl, bread and butter, custard, cake, and coffee (rye) in abun
dance. The groom offered to pay me for my trouble, but I told
him I should be well paid if he and his wife fulfilled their vows
and lived happily together. We got to camp again by eleven
without any serious inconvenience.
" Yesterday I preached in the church at the Court-House. A
large and attentive congregation, including General Lee and
President Davis, several other generals, and a number of officers
and soldiers, but not many ladies, as the walking was so bad.
From the deep quiet and apparent interest and the full chorus
with which the closing hymn was sung, as well as on general

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 307
grounds of promise, I trust it was not an unprofitable occasion.
. . . After the delight I anticipate at being at home for a season
before long, the experience of war must be mine for a long time
to come. Yankee malice and lust of power and plunder is still
unsatisfied ; and as Seward has succeeded in cheating the out
side world, we have to struggle against it as well as against the
Yankees." . . .
In front of the enemy at Mine Run General Pendleton wrote, —
" December I, 1863,
just before sunrise and before starting out on our lines.
" We have been in line of battle since Friday. The enemy
square up against us. We have a good position and everything
ready. The enemy holds off from attack, though he may try to
day. His position also strong, and the country is almost im
penetrable from the thick woods. I have frequently seen Sandie.
As usual he is busy and useful. My own duties are incessant."
Again, on returning to camp near Orange Court-House, where
they had been for some weeks, he told of the failure of Meade's
plan: " It was a remarkable case. We confronted the enemy Friday,
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, — the two armies looking, and
often shooting, at each other all the while, and being at points of
the line less than a half-mile apart, and yet they separated with
out closing for mortal struggle ; the aggressor, who had sought
the occasion with a force half as large again as the defender's,
backing out and running off from the contest he had challenged.
General Lee had just made arrangements for attacking them
yesterday morning, when lo! as light dawned, there were no
Yankees there ! They had retreated during the night."
On the same date, December 3, Sandie Pendleton wrote, —
" Meade's coup was not delivered. General Lee had taken up
an advantageous position and awaited attack, which he declined
to make. ... I presume this finishes the campaign here, as the
roads will be an embargo upon travelling with wheeled vehicles.
I should like, however, to have an opportunity of punishing these

3°8 MEMOIRS OF
wretches. They behaved more villanously towards the people
than ever before, — burning houses and plundering. At every
house they took every morsel of food and left the people — women
and little children — actually starving, — tore up the clothing and
burned all the furniture, and so on in outrages too numerous and
horrible to mention. . . . During the late movements here Gen
eral Early has been in command, and, I assure you, he does
admirably. . . . Our men are in fine heart notwithstanding the
bitter cold, for Meade's retreat is almost an acknowledgment of
defeat." Preparations were now made for putting the army into winter-
quarters, and most of the artillery was drawn farther back and
stationed at different points, with a view to procuring forage for
the horses.
Sandie Pendleton's marriage to Miss Corbin, of Moss-Neck,
had been delayed on account of the impossibility of his leaving
his work as adjutant-general of the Second Corps. General
Pendleton deferred asking for a furlough for his long-desired
visit home, hoping to perform the marriage and accompany the
bridal party to Lexington. But as Christmas approached, and
there was no telling when Colonel Pendleton could return from
the valley, whither he had gone with General Early to head off
an advance of General Averill, the general took advantage of a
notification from army head-quarters that he could now be spared
from his post better than at any other time, got his furlough,
and reached his home the night before Christmas. On returning
from church Christmas-day, a telegram from Colonel Pendleton
informed his father that he, too, had his leave of absence and
wished to be married on the 28th. Travelling was so difficult
that it was necessary for General Pendleton to leave Lexington
at once to join his son in Richmond.
He took his Christmas dinner * at home, and then drove to
Staunton in a buggy. The weather was intensely cold and a
driving snow falling ; but after enduring so much exposure in
the field a rough, cold ride all night was not considered when
* Such had become the scarcity of provisions in Virginia that the Christmas pud
ding for this long-anticipated return home was made of dried cherries and sorghum
molasses.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 309
the gratification of his son was in question. As it was, a deten
tion on the Central Railroad delayed the wedding until the 29th
of the month, and the wedding party reached Lexington late on
the ist of January, 1864.

Head-quarters Artillery Corps,
Army of Northern Virginia, November 20, 1863.
General, — In obedience to your instructions, I have carefully reconsidered all the
recommendations for promotion in the artillery service with this army, availing myself
of the matured counsels of General Long, chief of artillery of Second Corps, and
Colonel Walker, chief of artillery of Third Corps, and of General Stuart, for the
batteries serving with the cavalry. The result I have now the honor to report.
The legitimate armament of batteries actually in the field with this army, including
those attached to the First Corps and those with the cavalry, amounts to two hundred
and seventy-six guns.
At present there is a deficiency of guns in some of the batteries, owing to the fact
that Napoleons have not been supplied in sufficient numbers to replace all the six-
pounders and howitzers turned in to be recast, and the additional fact that casualties
in action and the wear and tear of service have deprived us at this juncture of some
pieces and teams, for the replacing of which arrangements are in progress. The
existing incomplete number thus produced is two hundred and forty-four.
As all the elements of our organization, companies, battalions, and corps-groups, are
based upon the legitimate number expected to be restored as soon as practicable, it is be
lieved to be the proper standard by which to adjust our legal proportion of field-officers.
This number entitles us, under the law, to three brigadier-generals, seven colonels,
eleven lieutenant-colonels, and seventeen majors.
We now have on our roll two brigadier-generals, six colonels, six lieutenant- colonels,
and seventeen majors, — viz. ;
W. N. Pendleton and A. L. Long, brigadier-generals.
S. Crutchfield, J. B. Walton, J. T. Brown, H. C. Cabell, R. L. Walker, and E. P.
Alexander, colonels.
A. S. Cutts, R. S. Andrews, Thos. H. Carter, H. P. Jones, W. Nelson, and John
J. Garnett, lieutenant-colonels.
Chas. Richardson, B. F. Eshleman, S. P. Hamilton, R. F. Beckham, Jas. Dealing,
T. J. Page, W. J. Pegram, D. G. Mcintosh, W. T. Poague, C. Braxton, R. A. Hard-
away, J. B. Brokenbrough, John Lane, F. Huger, John C. Haskell,  ¦ Read, Jas.
Rielly, majors.
Of the colonels, Crutchfield is understood to be so far disabled for active field
service, by the effects of a severe wound received at Chancellorsville, that it is due,
equally to the service and to himself, that he be assigned to some position better
adapted to his physical condition. His eminent merit and services deserve reward.
General Jackson desired him to be made brigadier-general of artillery and to continue
in his post of chief of artillery for the Second Corps. This, by General Jackson's
death and his own protracted disability, seems to be now precluded ; but it is hoped a
congenial and useful position may be assigned him, in connection with the defences
of Richmond or with some other department of home defence.
Colonel Walton is also a meritorious officer, for whom some other sphere of duty

310 MEMOIRS OF
seems required, in justice to the service and to himself. His junior, Colonel Alex
ander, is believed to be better adapted to promote the efficiency of the artillery with
the First Corps as its chief, and he must therefore be recommended for promotion to
that position. In this event, however, it is understood Colonel Walton prefers duty
elsewhere. Mobile being mentioned as the locality most agreeable to him. It is
hoped the interests of the service may admit of his being thus accommodated.
Colonel Cabell is another estimable officer whom it is best to transfer to another
position. His worth as a gentleman, his patriotism as a citizen, and his gallantry as a
soldier deserve honorable mention ; but it is believed he could render better service in
a command requiring less prompt activity than that he now holds. It is therefore
respectfully recommended that he be transferred by exchange with Lieutenant- Colonel
Lightfoot to command the battalion of field artillery at Richmond, now under charge
of Lieutenant-Colonel Lightfoot, and that the latter be assigned to the command of
the battalion with this army, of which Colonel Cabell has had charge.
Of the lieutenant-colonels, Andrews, a most gallant and distinguished officer, ought,
in duty to the cause and to himself, to be relieved from field exposure and employed
in less trying service, that he may recover from the threatening consequences of a
dangerous wound received at Cedar Run nearly eighteen months ago. He is admi
rably adapted to usefulness in the ordnance department, and it is hoped a position
therein may be assigned him with an additional grade. Were it really proper for him
to remain in the field, sincerity and merit would together place him first on our list of
lieutenant-colonels for promotion.
Lieutenant-Colonel Gamett may, with advantage to the service, be relieved of his
command and assigned to other duty. He has proved less efficient in the field than
was expected of so well-trained and capable a soldier. It is believed he can be more
useful on conscript service than in his present position. Such change for him is there
fore respectfully recommended.
Of the majors, Brokenbrough, entitled to praise for extended and good service, is
disabled, and will probably long so continue, by the lingering effects of a wound
received at Fredericksburg last December. He ought to be relieved of responsible
connection with this army and assigned some post of comparatively light duty.
To fill the vacancies thus occurring, and others now existing, I respectfully recom
mend, on the testimonials of other commanders, as well as on my own judgment, the
following promotions, — viz. ;
Colonel E. P. Alexander to be brigadier-general and chief of artillery First Corps.
Lieutenant-Colonels Carter, Jones, and Cutts to be colonels ; Majors Dearing, Eshle-
man, Huger, Braxton, Pegram, Mcintosh, Poague, Beckham, Hardaway, and Rich
ardson to be lieutenant-colonels; and Captains Cutshaw, Jordan, Miller, Stribling,
Raine, R. C. M. Page, Watson, McGraw, M. Johnson, Ward, Maurin, Moorman,
Chew, and Breathed to be majors. Our list of assignments will then stand, —
W. N. Pendleton, Brigadier-General and Chief of Artillery.
first corps.
E. P. Alexander, Brigadier-General and Chief of Artillery.
Huger 's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel F. Huger, South Carolina ; Major Jordan,
Virginia. Beckham's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Beckham, Virginia; Major Read,
Georgia.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 311
Eshleman's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Eshleman, Louisiana; Major Miller,
Louisiana. Colonel Jones, Virginia.
Lightfoot' s Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Lightfoot, North Carolina ; Major Ham
ilton, Georgia.
HaskelFs Battalion. — Major Haskell, South Carolina ; Major Rielly, North Caro
lina. second corps.
A. L. Long, Brigadier-General and Chief of Artillery.
Colonel Carter, Virginia.
Page's Battalion. — Major R. C. M. Page, Virginia; Major Moorman, Virginia.
Cutshaw's Battalion. — Major Cutshaw, Virginia ; Major Stribling, Virginia.
Braxton's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Braxton, Virginia; Major Raine,
Virginia. Colonel Brown, Virginia.
Hardaway's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Hardaway, Alabama ; Major Watson,
Virginia. Nelson's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Nelson, Virginia; Major T. J. Page,
Virginia. THIRD CORPS.
R. L. Walker, Colonel and Chief of Artillery.
Pegram's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Pegram, Virginia; Major McGraw,
Virginia. Mcintosh's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Mcintosh, South Carolina ; Major John
son, Virginia.
Poague's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Poague, Virginia; Major Ward, Missis
sippi. Colonel Cutts, Georgia.
Richardson's Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel Richardson, Virginia ; Major Maurin,
Louisiana. Cutts's Battalion. — Colonel Cutts, Georgia ; Major Lane, Georgia.
With the Cavalry. — Lieutenant-Colonel Dealing, Virginia ; Major Chew, Virginia ;
Major Breathed, Virginia.
In this schedule will be noticed two colonels less and one lieutenant-colonel and
three majors more than the literal legal ratio, — an exchange deemed allowable, as
two colonels are, on the numerical scale of the law, more than equivalent to a lieu
tenant-colonel and three majors, and these are needed, as the schedule shows, for the
best organization.
General Long wishes his battalions grouped as above, under Colonels Carter and
Brown. I concur with him in deeming it a good arrangement, and have provided
similarly for the two reserve battalions of the First Corps, on this line, under Colonel
Jones. The best men are believed to be herein presented in such case. At the same time
the fairest distribution practicable is made of promotions in the corps respectively and

312 MEMOIRS OF
among the several States. From the First Corps, including a brigadier-general, there
are seven promotions, from the Second eight, from the Third nine, and from the
horse-artillery four.
These promotions are much needed, and it is believed they will greatly benefit the
artillery service. Encouragement to this arm has not been, as it should be, commen
surate with that in the others. Even with the recommendations now submitted the
number of artillery field-officers will be only about three-fourths of those belonging
to three brigades of cavalry or infantry having anything like the number of men,
companies, etc., constituting this artillery.
I have the honor to be, general,
Respectfully your obedient servant,
W. N. Pendleton,
Brigadier- General and Chief of Artillery.
General R. E. Lee,
Commanding.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
RETURN TO CAMP  SENT TO DALTON TO REORGANIZE GENERAL
J. E. JOHNSTON'S ARTILLERY.
The month of January, 1 864, was passed in Lexington. Long
separation rendered doubly delightful the renewal of home pleas
ures and associations. Old friends extended cordial welcome to
the two soldiers, father and son, and to the sweet young bride,
and past dangers and future hardships were gladly forgotten in
the intense enjoyment of the present happiness. General Pen
dleton's relations with Rev. Dr. Norton, then rector of the parish,
were cordial and fraternal, and he more than once officiated in the
church to crowded congregations, preaching in his uniform in lieu
of the customary black gown, which had been stolen from the
vestry-room. The family party, united for the last time, dispersed gradually.
Mrs. Lee went first, to join her husband in Richmond, where they
went to " room-keeping," as houses were not to be afforded, or
had, in that overcrowded city. Colonel Pendleton and his bride
followed ; and the last of the month the general took their place
as his daughter's guest. By February 3 he had returned to artil
lery head-quarters near Louisa Court-House. As the season and
the roads rendered any advance of the enemy impracticable,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 313
arrangements were made for Mrs. Pendleton and one of her
daughters to join the general for a few weeks.
The constant depreciation of Confederate currency and the
advance in prices rendered the question of living daily more
serious. During his visit home General Pendleton had been able
to make such provision for fuel and food as to insure his family a
moderately comfortable winter. But the expenses of his wife
and daughter away from home could not be met out of his pay.
To provide the necessary funds he determined to sell the theodo
lite and compass which had, more than once, provided bread for
his household. Of these matters General Pendleton wrote, —
" Head-quarters Artillery Corps, near Louisa Court-House,
Wednesday evening, February 3, 1864.
" Here I am, snug again in my winter's tent, and about as
doleful in the exchange from home and its blessings as a wise
man need be. Resolutely have I gone to work, and this in some
measure relieves the shock of so great a transfer. Our camp is
a pretty good one, and my own tent thoroughly comfortable, — so
much so, indeed, that, if the worst comes to the worst, for your
accommodation with me, I can readily shield you both from
rude blasts within these canvas walls. This, however, I do not
anticipate. " I wrote to you Sunday afternoon from Richmond. That
night we went to hear the eloquent Mr. Duncan of the Meth
odist Church, — one of a course of sermons on charity : ' Silver
and gold have I none ; but such as I have give I thee.' Divisions,
— first, a beneficent action; second, an occasion for Christian
charity ; third, the extent of fidelity in such illustrated, — ' such
as I have give I.' It was an earnest discourse from a devout,
simple, active, and fearless mind, pleasingly as well as impres
sively delivered, and calculated to do good. He was extremely
severe upon the pretended charities of self-seeking people, as
well as upon those of concerts, balls, theatricals, etc.
" Monday morning I visited the commissary-general about
Mary, also the chief of ordnance, all to no purpose. They told
me the rule adopted in all such cases is to employ refugee ladies,
and of them the neediest, without friends or home, are first pro
vided for. Of these there are so many that no room remains for

314 MEMOIRS OF
others. This I could not but admit to be right and proper,
although in some instances there has been evasion of it on one
side or the other. It will be some disappointment to Mol, but,
willing as I was to gratify her in her wish to be independently
useful, I really feel better satisfied that she should still be free like
the others in our dear home. By God's blessing our means will
suffice. They can, by the needle, etc., do enough to give them
a sense of something done for themselves and for the common
good, and in due time Divine wisdom and goodness may open
the way for us to act again all together in some co-operative plan
for each. . . . Mr. Brooke will take the theodolite for the Navy
Department if it is not more needed in the army engineering
department. The price I leave him to determine."
Mrs. Pendleton had been about two weeks at the lodging
obtained for her, one and a half miles from camp, when General
Pendleton was summoned to Richmond and ordered on tem
porary duty to Dalton, Georgia.
General Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Army of Ten
nessee, found the artillery in that army in an unsatisfactory con
dition with regard to its organization and command, and applied
to the War Department, in Richmond, for Colonel Alexander to
be sent to take charge of it* General Lee was unwilling to part
with that efficient officer, and General Pendleton was ordered by
telegram to Richmond, and there directed to repair to Dalton to
inspect the artillery and report on its condition,f and give such
advice with regard to its improvement as his experience and
proved efficiency might suggest.
Of his work in Georgia he wrote, —
" Dalton, Georgia, Friday, March II, 1864.
" Here I am, just a week after leaving my head-quarters at
Louisa Court-House, Virginia, with my work of inspection, etc,,
here fairly begun.
From Atlanta, where because of trains not uniting we had to
stay all day yesterday, we came on last night, and reached here
just before day this morning. I had telegraphed from Atlanta
* " Narrative," p. 288. \ Ibid., p. 289.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 315
that I would be here, and General Johnston had ordered an am
bulance to meet us at the depot, but it either did not do so or was
not seen by us. It was raining very hard, as it had done for most
of the night, so we quietly waited under the depot roof for day
light. I then found out the general's quarters and walked thither.
His greeting was most cordial. George and Charlie,* with Sam
and our baggage, were soon sent for, and we were adjusted for
accommodation among the rooms of the general's cottage.
After washing, etc., we shared breakfast with the general's
mess. Very good ; real coffee, and butter made from the gen
eral's own cow, toast, corn-bread, etc. After breakfast I had a
conference with the general, and recommended to him Tom
Carter to be brigadier-general of artillery and Dearing to be
colonel. He at once telegraphed to Richmond to have them
thus promoted and transferred. Beckham is already here, a
colonel, and Bondurant a lieutenant-colonel. They early called
to see me.
" I made an appointment to inspect at twelve to-day the
reserve artillery, constituting about one-third of the whole with
this army, and accordingly at that hour sallied out under the
guidance of Major Preston, General Johnston's inspector of artil
lery, and accompanied by Charlie Hatcher. The general had
kindly mounted me on one of his fine horses, and one of his
aides had supplied Charlie. Lieutenant-Colonel Hollinquist,
commander of the reserve, received us in due form at the usual
drill-grounds of his three battalions, and I made a minute inspec
tion of every gun and caisson, horse, and set of harness, and of
all the wagons and teams, stables, etc. The result was to me
quite satisfactory. The horses are in fair condition, the guns,
carriages, and harness in very good order, and the tout ensemble
indicative of intelligence, care, and energy on the part of offi
cers. I am told this is better than the other artillery I have
to examine. But, at any rate, so far as it is concerned it is
decidedly better than I expected.
" To-morrow Generals Hardee and Hood are to have reviews
of the artillery attached to their several corps from ten to two.
I saw them both to-day. That will give me a general idea of
* His aides, Messrs. Peterkin and Hatcher.

316 MEMOIRS OF
the condition of their artillery. But I must next week visit each
battalion for itself, and make a minute inspection.
" Then I have to submit certain inquiries in writing, to be simi
larly answered, to all the battalion commanders. And when
my own mind is thus enlightened I shall be able to submit to
General Johnston my views respecting the best organization of
his artillery, and also prepare my report for department in Rich
mond. You see I have a good deal of work for two or three
weeks. It will take little less time to learn all I wish to learn,
and especially to make with the officers such acquaintance as
may authorize definite expression respecting them. . . . The
candle by which I write is just giving out, so I must stop. Bed
will no doubt be very sweet to us, long as it is since we un
dressed." " Monday, March 14.
"... Saturday I attended Generals Hardee and Hood in re
viewing the artillery of their corps. Yesterday I stayed in-doors,
intending to be present at Methodist worship, but was misin
formed as to the hour. I therefore improved the time with Bible
and Prayer-Book, Bradley's Sermons, and my little practical com
mentaries. . . . To-day I employed in inspecting minutely all
the artillery of Hardee's corps, — batteries, transportation, horses,
camps, etc. To-morrow I shall give for similar work to Hood's
corps. This will get me through the actual inspection; Then
I have to get in the written replies to my inquiries addressed
to commanding officers, and from the whole make up my mind
as to things needed for best efficiency. One or two thorough
officers are the chief requisite." " March 16.
"... We are still kindly entertained at General Johnston's
head-quarters. I yesterday finished all my field-work of actual
inspection, and am waiting partly for reports from commanders
before I can systematize my own suggestions, and also to hear
the results of our application for Tom Carter to be sent here as
brigadier-general and chief of artillery for this army.
" I have just been to visit Lieutenant-Colonel Bondurant and
his wife. He was a captain for a long time under my command
in Virginia. D. H. Hill brought him out here to be chief of
artillery for his division, first as a major and subsequently for his

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 317
corps as lieutenant-colonel. ... I was out all the forenoon to
day witnessing a grand drill of General Hood's corps. The
weather was cold enough to occasion a good deal of suffering,
yet the array was conducted successfully and in a manner quite
imposing. You would be, and especially the girls, greatly inter
ested in witnessing such a spectacle. Fifteen or twenty thousand
men, including artillery, thus engaged, even with blank cartridges,
make an immense show and mighty noise, and give a very toler
able idea of a real battle." " March 19, Saturday.
"... General Johnston was informed last night from Rich
mond that Brigadier-General Shoup had been ordered to him to
be his chief of artillery. I am sorry they did not promote Tom
Carter and send him, as he has been so thoroughly tried and
found so efficient. Still, General Shoup has the reputation of
being a good officer, and will, I hope, do well. He is a West
Point graduate of somewhere about Fitz Lee's time, was at
Vicksburg, and is now at Mobile. His coming simplifies my
operations. I shall be at liberty now to leave in a few days."
" March 20, Sunday night.
"... I have been privileged to-day to preach to an immense
congregation of officers and soldiers and a few ladies. It was on
our Saviour's agony in the garden. I trust it was a profitable
occasion. I felt it so myself. Was aided to considerable free
dom of thought and feeling, and the congregation was thoroughly
attentive to the end. Since service I have been mostly in my
room reading and resting.
" My time here has passed quite satisfactorily. I have carefully
examined all the artillery, witnessed their reviews and drills, and
submitted to General Johnston my views respecting its best
organization and management. He pretty generally approves,
and matters will -be so far ready for General Shoup when he
comes. In one of my letters I described a grand drill and sham
battle of Hood's corps. On Saturday I attended a great drill of
all the artillery with Hardee's corps, which would also have in
terested you. Mrs. Hardee, a bride of two months, was out on
horseback, attended by two or three of the general's staff. It
would not be safe for ladies to be on horseback witnessing even

318 MEMOIRS OF
a sham battle, as very few horses remain unfrightened near
musket- and cannon-firing. The day we were out with Hood's
the scene was rather wildly enlivened by some half a dozen
riderless horses careering frantically over the hills. They had
unceremoniously deposited their loads on the ground and made
off. One of the dismounted was, I understood, a major-general.
Such a fall may not hurt a man, otherwise than in his pride, but
a lady would hardly bear it with as much impunity.
" I expect to leave here day after to-morrow, — calling by
Charleston on our return for the purpose of taking a look at the
gallant city and its defenders. It will delay us but a little, and
I hardly feel justified in losing the opportunity, while George
Peterkin and Charlie Hatcher are particularly anxious for the
satisfaction. The long, long jaunt in crowded cars day and
night for nearly a week is anything but attractive in prospect,
and will be worse in experience. Still, evils much greater can be
endured." General Pendleton returned to Richmond, and on March 29
laid his report of the artillery in the Army of Tennessee, and his
suggestions regarding it, before the President. Full consultation
was held with him by Mr. Davis and Generals Bragg and Cooper
and the Secretary of War with respect to all he had seen and
learned while at Dalton, and it was determined to send him back
to Dalton to urge upon General Johnston to make, as speedily as
possible, an aggressive movement with his army, so as to distract
the enemy's plans and prevent more troops being massed in Vir
ginia.* These and other considerations were to be personally
pressed upon General Johnston by General Pendleton. But be
fore taking this step he was sent to the front in Virginia for a per
sonal conference with General Lee on the subject of his proposed
mission to Georgia.
Of this and his further movements he wrote to his wife, who
had met him in Richmond on his return from the south, and had
gone with him to Gordonsville, where they separated, she going
home and he to find General Lee :

* " Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," ii. p. 548; " Narrative," p.
301.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 3J9
" Camp near Louisa Court-House,
Sunday morning, April 3, 1864.
". . . How are you and N  this morning after your
thrice-trying ride yesterday? I was anxious about you all
day, and could only commit you to the care of our Almighty
Father and hope that you might find the stage tolerably close
against the driving snow. . . . Sandie and I duly reached
Orange Court-House. His horse was ready for him ; he there
fore mounted and rode to the quartermaster's and got a horse
for me. Meanwhile I walked through mud and rain to Mr.
R  's, meeting Sandie on the way. He went with me, and
pur kind cousin soon gave us a delightful snack. We then rode
on towards General Lee's head-quarters. There we parted.
Sandie rode on to his own head-quarters and I proceeded to
the general's. They all seemed glad to see me, and General Lee
was particularly cordial. With him I had a conference of two
or three hours, and having concluded I moved to leave. He
urged me to stay, and promised to make me comfortable. But
I had arranged with Cousin R  to return to their house that
night, and knew it would incommode the general and his staff
to extemporize another bed in camp. Besides, I had Major John
Rogers's horse, and thought it best to return it. Excusing my
self on these accounts, I rode through the extreme darkness and
reached Dr. R  's some time after nine. I could hardly have
found my way but for a courier who was sent to guide me through
the woods.
" Respecting the question which takes me south, General Lee
fully agrees with the government and with my own convictions.
Appearances now are that Grant is making preparations for a
gigantic effort again against Richmond. If by the course to
which my mission has reference he can be anticipated the most
important results may be achieved. . . . Cousin Nette has most
beautiful bread. I engaged her to have for me a fine large loaf
to take on my trip next Thursday. She also put up two tongues,
so that I am thus far provided for. The bread will be rather
stale, but it will, no doubt, be very good. They were all waiting
for me at the Court-House when I arrived, and after a little while
we rode to camp. All here is in statu quo. The whole country
one vast bed of mud."

320 MEMOIRS OF
" Richmond, Thursday night, April 7, 1864.
" All this time — since Sunday — I have been unable to write to
you. Tuesday I tried to come down from camp in the accom
modation train. The running off the track of a freight-train de
layed us, and it was past nine when I got to Sue's. Since then
my time has been almost incessantly occupied with General
Bragg and the President. Now I can inform you as to my pro
ceedings, as the matter has been arranged this evening. I there
fore write to-night, hoping to be industrious enough to take my
letter to the Central train to go in the mail starting at six.
" The President still thinks it best for me to go, and but for
delays to-day I should start to-morrow morning. My orders
and other papers did not reach me until ten o'clock to-night, —
too late to get transportation and make other arrangements. I
shall thus have the privilege of sharing in our national worship
to-morrow." "Richmond, April 21, 1864.
" You will be surprised to get from here my first letter written
since our detention in Danville on our way south. But I felt
sure I would get back before a letter from Dalton would be this
far on its way to you. I only stayed there two days, as I in
tended, and started back Saturday afternoon, having accom
plished all I could with General Johnston. Got here last evening
about sunset. I have had interviews to-day with the President and
General Bragg with respect to the report of my conference with
General Johnston and the facts important for them to know.
My report will probably be the basis of some early movement
on the part of our army in that quarter, as the proposal of Gen
eral Johnston thus communicated is recognized by the President
and General Bragg as now perhaps the best that can be done.
It would have been better if General Johnston could have agreed
to move some time ago, before the enemy had so far made his
arrangements. ... I had some faint hope of running up to see
you for a day or two, but the indications of Grant's operations
are too significant of immediate work to render it strictly proper
for me to enjoy that privilege. I shall therefore hasten to my
post, only staying here one more day to make some arrange
ments I wish to accomplish."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 32 1
General Pendleton's first journey to Dalton began just after
Dahlgren's raid had alarmed and excited Richmond and all the
country around. When, on March 4, Mrs. Lee received a tele
gram saying that her father and mother would be with her that
evening, it became a matter of serious importance to provide
suitable food for their entertainment. To restrict them to the
customary fare of salt beef, fat middling, and beans was not to
be thought of. Exhaustive visits to the markets and provision-
stores showed that turkeys at fifty dollars apiece were the only
desirable viands in the city. One-half of Colonel Lee's monthly
pay went for his three rooms. Fifty dollars was more than a
third of the other half, but the turkey was bought. It proved a
noble bird, equal to the emergencies of the situation, and by the
aid of bean-soup, corned-beef entrees, and the rare luxury of real
coffee, graced the dinner-table on the three days of General
Pendleton's stay, and gave satisfaction to not a few officers and
soldiers who dropped in. Soldiers in those days were always
hungry, and always fed by their friends as long as a mouthful of
food remained.
One or two amusing incidents of " mistaken identity" occurred
during these visits to Richmond. Going down Broad Street one
afternoon, General Pendleton was stopped by a tipsy Irishman,
who began haranguing and gesticulating violently as he detailed
some fancied grievance. The ladies of the party wished to go
on. The general, however, stopped and listened patiently for a
few moments, then said, " My friend, you are talking to the
wrong person." "Why," said Paddy, "aren't you Mass' Bob?"
" No," replied General Pendleton. " Look and see if you don't
know me." This answer seemed to steady the excited soldier.
He came a little closer, peered into the general's face a moment,
then gave himself a violent slap on the leg, exclaiming, " I'll
swear if it ain't old Artillery !" and with many apologies allowed
the general to pass on.
Dr. Minnegerode's prayers at seven in the morning, in the
lecture-room of St. Paul's Church, were largely attended. Rising
from her knees one morning, Mrs. Lee found the aisle full of
people who were pressing up towards the bench where her
father was still at his devotions. Divining the cause of the
gathering, she said to a lady near her, " That is General Pen-

322 MEMOIRS OF
dleton." " I thought it was General Lee," was the reply, as she
moved back. Others, curious to see and speak to General Lee,
could not be convinced of their mistake until General Pendleton
himself assured them he was not the commander-in-chief.
General Pendleton had been much troubled to find that con
tinued anxiety, the strain of responsibility, and want of accus
tomed food had told greatly upon his wife's health and strength.
In the midst of his pressing duties and long journeys his thoughts
were exercised to devise some amelioration of this state of things.
From Richmond he had written begging her to take more care
of herself. She had informed him of the theft of seven joints
of bacon from her smoke-house. In reply he said, —
"... I regret to learn of the loss of the meat. Seven pieces
of bacon at this season are nearly equivalent to one thousand
dollars of my pay ! We may be thankful it was no worse. My
chief anxiety under this and other trials of the time is that they
worry you out of appetite, rest, and strength. I beg you for my
sake to take the best possible care of yourself. Cherish all the
health, strength, and flesh you can by diet not only sufficient
but agreeable, even though it cost more. What will property or
anything else be to me if you languish or lose health from lack
of adequate nutriment ? I have thought much of your grow
ing so much thinner, and am persuaded it is due to the failure
of a few articles of diet, — tea and coffee and sugar, — in some
form of occasional dessert. It may not be practicable fully to
remedy this deficiency, but something may be done, and I en
treat you at any cost to cultivate your usual good condition by
securing a cup of good tea or coffee twice a day and at least
molasses occasionally. The children will, I reckon, get along
better on slim fare, but at our age nature needs help."
Sandie Pendleton's letters to his mother and sisters continued
as regularly after his marriage as before. Late in March he
writes, —
"... The all-absorbing topic here is the bill passed by the last
Congress to limit officers to one ration, — the same in kind and
quantity as is drawn by the men. The question which interests

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 323
us all under this law, which went into operation Tuesday, is how
we are to keep a servant and ourselves too. It will be pretty
hard squeezing for a while until the negroes learn not to waste."
And again, on April 10, —
"... We are almost drowned out. Rain, rain, rain. The
rivers are all out of their banks and the roads turned to streams
of mud. . . . Everything is getting ready here for the campaign.
Both combatants stripping for their work. General Lee's order
is out reducing baggage, ordering off women and all visitors,
requiring sick and disabled men to be put into hospitals, etc."
Before this time he had settled his young wife in Richmond
with Colonel and Mrs. Lee, so as to be within easy communica
tion and in congenial society, and there General Pendleton found
her on his second return from Dalton.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
FROM THE WILDERNESS TO COLD HARBOR.
Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant was placed in command
of all the forces of the United States early in March. The only
general who had achieved marked success on their side, he pos
sessed the full confidence of Mr. Lincoln and the whole North,
and accepted the responsible post with quiet confidence in his
own judgment and the determination to use all the resources of
the Federal government in his effort to defeat and destroy the
Southern Confederacy. Estimating correctly the immense pre
ponderance of such resources, he began at once massing great
armies in front of General Lee in Virginia and General Johnston
in Georgia, determined to prevent the reinforcing of one Southern
army by the other. General B. F. Butler, with over thirty thou
sand men, was also ordered to threaten and perhaps capture Rich
mond and Petersburg on the south side of James River. A large

324 MEMOIRS OF
force under Sigel was to move up the valley of Virginia and cut
off the supplies for Lee's army from that quarter.
These different armies were directed to move by May 4.*
The Army of the Potomac, between one hundred and twenty-
five thousand f and one hundred and forty thousand! men, — Gen
eral Meade commanding, but General Grant directing its move
ments, — was put in motion on the 3d of May, and crossed the
Rapidan at the fords below Lee's position, turning his line of
defence on the right. General Lee was so well posted as to the
designs of the enemy that on May 2 he predicted to his officers
the crossing of the river at Ely's and Germanna Fords. § The
Federal generals seemed absolutely ignorant of the Confederate
movements, and plunged into the unknown and difficult Wilder
ness country expecting to steal unobserved through its thickets
and plant themselves between Lee's army and Richmond. This
General Lee did not intend. At the time that the Federal army
crossed the Rapidan, Ewell's corps and two divisions of A. P. Hill's
corps were put in motion to intercept its advance. Longstreet's
corps from Gordonsville and Anderson's division of the Third
Corps were also ordered forward. Lee's entire force did not
exceed sixty-four thousand, little more than half of the lowest
number attributed to General Grant.
Moving eastward on two nearly parallel roads, Ewell and Hill
were directed to keep abreast of each other and if possible to avoid
a general engagement until the rest of the troops could come up.
The advance of Ewell's and Warren's corps bivouacked within
three miles of each other on the night of the 4th, unaware of
their close proximity. Ewell's approach on his right flank was,
however, perceived next morning by General Warren, who, sup
posing it only a small force sent to cover Lee's retreat, attacked
about mid-day with some spirit and gained a temporary advan
tage, but was soon vigorously attacked in turn and driven back
with heavy loss. Thus opened the battle which raged fiercely
throughout the day. Ewell's corps of fifteen thousand men, on
the turnpike, fought the Fifth and part of the Sixth Corps, while
later in the day Hill's two divisions, on the plank road farther

* General Grant's report. f Report of General Ingalls, chief quartermaster.
X Swinton. g Ewell's report.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 325
south, successfully repulsed all the " repeated and desperate
assaults" of Getty's division and Hancock's Second Corps.
This was like no previous encounter of the two armies. The
dense and tangled growth, the rough ground, the narrow and dif
ficult roads, prevented anything like manoeuvring. Concert of
action was almost impossible. An officer could scarcely see his
men a dozen yards away. Artillery could be used to little
purpose ; cavalry was as difficult to handle. It was a desperate
infantry struggle. Brigade against brigade, regiment against
regiment, often company against company. Only at a few points
could the Confederate artillery be made available. A part of
Nelson's battalion aided Ewell in repelling attack on the extreme
left, and a portion of Poague's on the right was, by General Pen
dleton's orders, put in position in a clearing on Hill's right, and
" was effectively used in the bloody repulse given by Heth and
Wilcox to a very heavy assault of the enemy." *
Night fell upon the bloody scene without decisive result, though
the Federal army had been checked in its advance and had lost
greatly. Slight breastworks had been thrown up during the day.
These were strengthened in the night, and General Lee sent to
hasten forward Longstreet's fresh troops. Anderson's division
was also on its way from Orange Court-House.
A general attack on the whole front was ordered by General
Meade, to take place at five o'clock on the morning of the 6th.
The attack by Hancock on the right against the weary troops in
his front was for a little while successful. Writing of it as an
eye-witness General Pendleton says, —
"... All night Hill, Heth, and Wilcox remained at their posts
in the thicket, with their men really under arms, and not only
ready for a night encounter, but occasionally exchanging shots
with the enemy.
" By those guns I bivouacked that night, and General Lee very
near. Early next morning (6th) the fight was renewed by Hill,
with his brave division commanders and their sternly-enduring
soldiers. Before long, however, they sent word to General Lee —
by whose side I was on horseback — that they were much worn,
* General Pendleton's report.

326 MEMOIRS OF
and even harder pressed than on the previous day, and must in
evitably fall back if not reinforced. General Lee sent exhorting
them to hold on and promising support ; he also sent to hasten
Longstreet to the rescue. Then, riding to the right gun of the
batteries, just in rear of those brave, suffering, and fighting di
visions of Hill's corps, I dismounted, talked with the immediate
commander of what must be done, and not only directed him to
have every gun loaded with grape, so as to begin sweeping the
enemy so soon as our brave boys should get sufficiently clear
and the blue forms appear, but I went myself to every gun and
repeated the instruction. Not long after, our exhausted fellows
came back in numbers, and occasion arrived for the grape from
those guns to stem and shatter the hastening blue-coats. It
was at this critical moment that General Lee, deeply anxious for
the appearance of Longstreet's column, greeted a score or two
of gray boys who rushed double-quick into the little opening
occupied by our guns and ourselves. The general called out,
' Who are you, my boys ?' They immediately cried out, ' Texas
boys.' The general instantly lifted his hat and waved it round,
exclaiming, ' Hurrah for Texas ! Hurrah for Texas !' By this
nearly a regiment had gathered, and at word from the general to
form they at once did so. The general placed himself at their
left with the shout ' Charge !' Many voices cried, ' General Lee
to the rear !' But he kept his place at the left, square up with
the line, repeating, with his thrilling tone, ' Charge, boys !' Then
a tall, gray-bearded man very near him stepped from the ranks and
grasped the bridle of General Lee's horse near the bit, and said to
him, respectfully yet resolutely, ' General Lee, if you do not go
back we will not go forward.' The general yielded. But the
gallant Texans sprang forward with a shout and the enemy's
advance was driven back.
" Just then General Longstreet arrived, and, after a few words
with General Lee, ordered his corps, as the troops were up or
should arrive, to deploy in the thicket on each side of the plank
road, but more strongly to the right, and to push forward as fast
as possible. He himself rode forward on the road. General
Lee said to me, ' I wish two guns to go down that road with
Longstreet's troops.' I immediately selected two and led them
on. It was touching to hear the detachments belonging to those

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 327
two guns say to their companions left behind, ' Good-by, boys !'
Within two hundred yards, perhaps, we came up with General
Longstreet in the road, bleeding profusely and insensible. Getting
ahead of his troops he had turned back, and being imperfectly
seen by his men on the left of the road, there depressed, and sup
posed to be one of the enemy, he was, like Jackson, shot by one
of his own men, — the ball ploughing through the front of the
throat and embedding itself in his left shoulder. With difficulty
we got him into an ambulance and sent him — dying we supposed
— to the rear."
Previous to this unfortunate occurrence Longstreet's troops
had attacked Hancock on the left flank and were driving him
successfully from one position after another. General Longstreet's
fall occasioned some confusion and consequent delay, so that when
the attack was renewed in the evening the enemy was found too
strongly fortified on his original position on the Brock road to be
dislodged. But Hancock's attack had failed, Burnside's in the
centre had failed, and Warren on the Federal right had been struck
on the right flank and driven in, with a heavy loss in killed and cap
tured. So far the success anA prestige were on the Confederate side.
On the 7th the Federal army refrained from attack, and Lee's
men lay behind their breastworks and watched it. General Lee,
divining the next move, —
" The general chief of artillery" (General Pendleton), " under
instructions from the commanding general, reconnoitred posi
tions on the right, and caused a road to be opened by portions
of the artillery to facilitate a rapid movement in that direction." *
General Grant, meanwhile, determined to push on and put his
whole force between the Confederate army and Richmond, and
on the night of the 7th the Federal army marched for Spottsyl-
vania Court-House, fifteen miles to the southeast, on the main
road to Richmond. General Stuart having informed General
Lee that the enemy's trains were in motion towards his right,
preparations were made again to head General Grant, and what
* General Pendleton's report.

328 MEMOIRS OF
has been termed " the race for Spottsylvania" began. Mr. Swin-
ton says that " by an accident" the Confederate infantry reached
there before General Warren's troops. General Pendleton tells
a different story : " About dusk of the 7th," he says, he " was
directed by the commanding general to send to General Ander
son, who had succeeded to the command of the First Corps, a
staff-officer who could guide that general along the new road cut
out that day ;" that he " went himself to General Anderson, de
scribed the route, and left an officer as a guide. Here a circum
stance occurred which should be specially noticed. General
Anderson stated that his orders were to march by three next
morning. He was preparing to start at eleven that night. Those
four hours anticipated proved of incalculable value next day," *
when Anderson got up in time to assist Stuart's cavalry in
driving back the head of Warren's advance. By diligence, not
" accident," the important junction of roads and choice of position
was gained on the morning of May 8 at Spottsylvania ; and an
effort made that same evening by the two corps of Sedgwick and
Warren to turn Anderson's right and dislodge him was repelled
with heavy loss. Ewell's corps, " after a distressing march
through intense heat and thick dust and smoke from burning
woods, reached the Court-House just in time" f to assist Ander
son's corps in this, their second heavy encounter with the enemy
that day.
The 9th of May was passed in skirmishing, intrenching, and
posting the artillery, here destined to prove more effective than
it could be in the Wilderness.
On the 10th the Federal army made a series of attacks all
along the lines in front, while Hancock's corps, passing round
their left, endeavored to gain the Confederate rear. These efforts
were everywhere repulsed with great loss. Only on one point,
near Ewell's left, a heavy column of the Sixth Corps broke
through the first line held by Dole's brigade, capturing several
hundred men and some guns. But the advantage was only tem
porary. The troops at hand pressed eagerly up, and the assail
ants were driven out of the intrenchments, leaving many dead on
the ground. Here, as before in the Wilderness, General Lee
* General Pendleton's report. \ Ewell's report.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 329
rode to the head of Gordon's troops prepared to lead the charge.
This time the gallant Gordon seized General Lee's bridle in
remonstrance, while the men cried out, " General Lee to the
rear!" General Lee again yielded, and Gordon led the fierce
charge which swept the Yankee intruders out of the works and
re-established the Confederate line.
On the 1 ith General Lee was informed that the Federal army
was preparing for a move still farther to his right. He therefore
directed the artillery on the front line to be withdrawn where the
roads were difficult to follow in the darkness of night, so that the
army could move at any hour. The guns defending a salient on
Ewell's front were therefore sent back, their route being a very
narrow and intricate one. Against this very point, thus weak
ened, Hancock's corps was to be thrown at daylight on the 12th.
Brigadier-General Edward Johnson, commanding in the salient,
during the night perceived the massing of troops in his front, and
the artillery was ordered to return to the lines. The assault,
however, was made at daylight, under cover of a dense fog, before
the guns could get into position. An immense column swept
across the open space in front of the salient, — there was no ar
tillery to mow them down, — rushed upon the works, and by
force of numbers overpowered and captured Generals Johnson
and Stuart, with upwards of two thousand men and twenty guns.
It was the work of only a few moments. Through the breach
thus made the Federal troops "poured in immense numbers,"
but the Confederates had quickly rallied to the threatened point.
So fierce, so desperate, was the fighting, so resolute the endeavor
to drive back the fresh bodies of assailants, so many men fell
dead in their efforts, that the space within the salient was piled
with dead bodies, and has been known as the " Bloody Angle."
From dawn till far into the night this murderous struggle was
maintained. The assailing force was unable to derive the hoped-
for advantage and penetrate the second line at the base of the
angle. The Confederates could not drive the enemy from the
apex of the salient, though they penned him up and mowed him
down within its walls. On both sides artillery was used with
great effect, and the musketry fire was so severe as to cut down
an oak-tree twenty-two inches through, in rear of a Confederate
brigade.

330 MEMOIRS OF
To the right and left of this furiously-contested point the
assaults of the enemy were everywhere repulsed "with very
heavy loss of life." (Swinton.) To this result the steady and
vigorous fire of the artillery greatly contributed. After twenty
hours of this continuous and exhausting " hand-to-hand" battle,
both sides were weary of the strife. The Confederates occupied
a fortified line across the base of the salient, which had been
constructed during the day, and the Northern army was in no
condition for further attack. In one of the hottest moments of
this desperate fight General Lee had again taken the head of a
column prepared to rush into the thickest of the battle, and had
been again prevented by the eager cries of the men from leading
them into the deadly danger.
After the carrying of the salient and capture of General John
son's men and guns on the morning of this bloody day, the
Yankee army had nothing to boast of. Their losses there and
elsewhere along the line were so great that for five days after the
battle General Grant manoeuvred and waited for reinforcements
from Washington. These days of rest were of great service to
Lee's men, who could then recruit their weary bodies and profit
by the welcome rations taken from the knapsacks of the enemy
dead along their front. A strong force was thrown against the
line in rear of the "bloody angle" on the morning of the 18th,
but was repulsed with heavy loss, mainly from the fire of thirty
pieces of artillery on Ewell's line. This last attempt satisfied
General Grant that it was hopeless to attempt to dislodge General
Lee from his strong position, and on the night of the 20th of
May — having received forty thousand fresh troops from Wash
ington — he once more moved towards the right, — " sidling"
towards Richmond.
While the two great armies had thus grappled each other for
two weeks, events of great moment were taking place in other
parts of Virginia. On the 6th of May General Butler landed
his force, thirty thousand strong, at City Point and Bermuda
Hundred, threatening both Petersburg and Richmond.
About the same time General Sigel advanced up the valley of
the Shenandoah with ten thousand or twelve thousand men.
On the 8th of May General Sheridan was ordered to attack
the Confederate cavalry, cut the communications with Richmond,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 33 1
proceed to James River and communicate with General Butler,
replenish his supplies there, and return to the army. From the
time that Lee's army plunged into the Wilderness it was lost
to the knowledge of the outer world. General Lee's brief de
spatches of the fighting there did not reach the government in
Richmond until the day after they were sent. The cutting of the
railroads and telegraphs by Sheridan at Beaver Dam Depot and
Hanover Junction isolated Lee and prevented intercourse with
Richmond for several days. What the anxiety felt there by the
government and people was cannot be told.
General J. E. B. Stuart and his gallant command had thrown
themselves in Sheridan's way and stoutly contested his advance.
Their opposition at the Yellow Tavern, six miles from Richmond,
was effectual in delaying them until the local force in the
city and some brigades from Ransom's command in front of
Butler could be brought up, and the defences on that side the
city be properly garrisoned. But this fortunate rescue of the
capital from Sheridan's unexpected dash was bought by the
death of the gallant Stuart himself, who was mortally wounded
in the fight at Yellow Tavern and died in Richmond the
next day. Stuart's death was a severe loss to the Confederate
army, — the greatest it had experienced save in that of General
Jackson. Sheridan's daring attempt on Richmond was the greatest
danger to which that city was exposed. Butler was easily
" bottled up" by the greatly inferior force opposed to him, and
Sigel defeated at New Market by General Breckenridge with
about one-fourth of his numbers. In this action the Cadet
Battalion from the Virginia Military Institute — all of them mere
boys — took an important part, leaving eight of their number
dead on the field.
After the Wilderness battles General Pendleton wrote in pencil
to his wifex — " On the Plank Road, Sunday morning, May 9.
" Before sunrise I scratch you a hasty line to let you know
God has thus far spared Sandie and myself and those nearest to
us. We have had hard fighting and an important success. But
there is nothing yet really decisive. Important movements on
foot to-day. ... I have gotten through my devotions this

332 MEMOIRS OF
morning, — remembering it is Whitsunday. May the Blessed
Spirit be with us all and abundantly given to our people, and,
indeed, throughout all the earth !"
Again, on the 17th, he wrote, —
" Although I do not know how a letter can be sent to you, I
will get one ready with the little time I can take this day. On
Saturday morning I sent George Peterkin to Richmond to have
for me a confidential conversation with the President instead of
giving him my views by letter, as that might have fallen into the
hands of raiders. George took down a letter to Sue, which she
was to send you as soon as possible. No fighting of importance
for some days. Grant seems to have enough of it at this point,
and appears to be trying to slide on a little eastward. If he does,
we shall of course head him again.
" We have great cause for thankfulness in that the enemy has
so far been repulsed and our lives have been spared. We have
all been many times in the extremest dangers of hot battle, yet
almost as by miracle not one has thus far received a scratch.
Such protection from the hand of God ought to render us per
sonally and more thoroughly devoted to His holy 'service. Be
sides so many perils, we have a good deal of real hardship.
Short rations, little sleep, constant labor, and more or less anxiety
all the time. Still, the spirits of officers and men are wonderful.
Everything is braved and borne not only with resolute determi
nation, but with the most cheerful good humor.
" The constant rains add much to our difficulties, exposing the
men all the time to wet and mud, and rendering the roads almost
impassable. In common with some other officers in responsible
position, I had last night a long ride through as bad roads as I
ever travelled, exploring a new position to head Grant off if he
move that way. The night before I was out all night, putting
some guns in position to meet an attack reported as likely to be
made on part of our lines. I manage, however, to get along
pretty well, and feel this morning quite fresh. Grant is in the
mud too, and will find it next to impossible to move till we have
some dry weather. . . . Stuart's death is very sad. He is indeed
a great loss to us, — next to Jackson. I thank God he died as a

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 333
Christian. ... I frequently see Sandie ; he is well, but generally
worn down and sleepy."
In the letter to his daughter referred to he had written, —
" Sandie had two horses killed under him."
On Lieutenant Peterkin's return Mrs. Lee had written to her
father of affairs in Richmond, —
" You, of course, know of the cavalry raid upon the railroads
and attempt against the city. With them on this side and Butler
below we were really a beleaguered city for some time, and the
booming of cannon and rattle of musketry could be heard in
various parts of the city. ... I will gladly send your letter to
mamma as soon as possible. But no mails have left the city in
any direction since the Yankees landed on the south side, as the
post-office clerks were ordered out with the other city forces.
Mr. Lee is acting on General Ransom's staff, and has done a
great deal of hard riding. He has been out all night several
times, and this evening has gone to Drewry's Bluff. General
Beauregard is in command across the river and has his head
quarters at the bluff."
From Spottsylvania General Grant moved on the 2 ist to the
North Anna River, and from that point onward still to the east
until, after crossing the Pamunkey, on June I, he occupied the
memorable battle-field of Cold Harbor, northeast of Richmond.
Everywhere he had found Lee's forces in his front. At the North
Anna, and again on Totopotomoy Creek, the two armies had con
fronted each other for several days. But, though severe skir
mishing occurred at both places and a sharp cavalry fight took
place on the 28th near Hawe's Shop, the Confederate positions
were so well chosen and so strongly defended by infantry and ar
tillery that General Grant had nowhere ventured to attack them.
The old battle-ground at Cold Harbor reached, with Lee's army
between him and Richmond, with the Chickahominy behind it, the
" sidling" process was no longer practicable. To destroy the Con
federate army and to take possession of the Confederate capital
were the two avowed objects of his campaign. Hitherto all his
efforts to effect either had proved futile, and unless he proposed

334 MEMOIRS OF
withdrawing to James River and his gunboats, as McClellan had
done, he must now once again try the issue of direct battle. To
this end he massed his troops against the Confederate lines in
heavy columns for the attack. The positions of the two armies
were the reverse of those occupied by McClellan and Lee in 1862,
and the disparity in their numbers much greater than it was then.
Some slight advantage was claimed by the Federal commanders
in preliminary actions on the ist and 2d of June, and the whole
army was ordered to a desperate attack on the very early morn
ing of the 3d. The assault was made fiercely and resolutely
along the whole front, and was met by such a deadly fire of mus
ketry and cannon that the assailing force literally melted away.
Thirteen thousand of them lay dead and wounded in front of the
breastworks, behind which the Confederate loss was not more than
as many hundreds.* At one point, in front of Hoke's brigade,
not one of that command was killed, while the ground in their
front " was literally covered with the dead and wounded." f This
decided defeat, accomplished in a brief time, virtually terminated
the campaign north of the James. The Federal troops declined
to move when ordered to renew the attack later in the day.
General Grant asked a truce to bury his dead, and for a short
period the fighting was over.
The campaign had lasted thirty days. Desperate battles, weary
marches, constant exposure and hardship, had been the experience
of both armies ; but the excitement of success, the energizing
consciousness of victory, had everywhere encouraged the hungry,
ragged, weary, and foot-sore Southern troops. But the diminu
tion of their numbers in the loss of many of their bravest and best
men and officers was beginning to tell heavily on their numerical
strength, and to confirm General Grant in his purpose to overcome
them at last " by mere attrition." We have seen that General
Lee had about one-half as many men at the Rapidan as General
Grant brought to attack him. The various reliable authorities
on both sides, with all the data at their disposal at this late day,
put down the Federal loss during the campaign at sixty thousand
men.J that of General Lee at twenty thousand. Grant had been
* Swinton's " Army of the Potomac," p. 487.
t " Four Years with General Lee," p. 135.
X General Humphreys says sixty-one thousand four hundred.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 335
reinforced during this time by fifty thousand men and Lee by
only fourteen thousand four hundred. But Grant had still a
reserved force larger than Lee's whole army to draw upon,*
while boys and old men were the only "reserves" left in the
South, and General Lee was obliged to send detachments in a
short time to protect other parts of the State.
Although comparatively useless in the thickets of the Wilder
ness, the artillery of Lee's army had done gallant and effective
service on every battle-field thereafter, checking the enemy's ad
vance when moving from place to place, and contributing nobly to
the victories at Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. General Pendle
ton's report f of all those operations gives a full account of the
marching and fighting of the battalions and companies in detail.
Extracts from letters make the events of these days very
vivid: "Near Hanover Junction, Sunday, May 22, 1864, 11.30 a.m.
"... We found yesterday that General Grant had slipped off"
from our front at Spottsylvania Court-House, and under cover of
woods, etc., had travelled a considerable distance towards Bowl
ing Green. In this state of facts General Lee concluded that if
he attempted to head Grant off at some point more distant from
Richmond than this he might not be in time, and the force which
might slip by could possibly surprise them in Richmond on the
north side, while Beauregard is attending to Butler on the south
side. We therefore headed yesterday morning for the front,
marched till half-past two this morning, then rested a couple of
hours, and came on here this morning, getting here by about nine
o'clock. Under one of General Breckenridge's staff tents I have,
through the kind hospitality of two or three of his officers, en
joyed a refreshing lunch and delightful nap. Now I am sitting
on the ground, in the shade, at Sandie's tent, with my back
against a pine stump, and writing this on my knee. The particu
lar encouragement for writing now is that Sandie expects to run
down to Richmond to see Kate, and he can get a letter for me
in the post-office so as to insure your getting it before very long.
Whether you have received any of my numerous letters during
* Report of Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War, United States. u
f This report is too long for insertion here, but may be found in full in the United
States War Records.

336 MEMOIRS OF
this busy campaign I really cannot tell, as I do not at all hear
from you. . . . Our whole army is just arriving and bivouacking
about here. The sun is hot, but there is a pleasant breeze. . . .
Oh, how I do long for relief from this uncongenial life ! though I
am willing to endure to the end at the call of duty for so just a
cause. I was asked to preach on this line to a part of Long-
street's corps for this morning, and engaged to do so, provided
no military hinderance prevented. But the hinderance, as you
see, occurred, so I have to spend the Sunday very differently.
It has been as much as I could do to lift up my heart heaven
ward, from time to time, during the morning. . . . General Lee
told me this morning he had just heard from Mrs. Lee that Mrs.
Hill Carter died about a fortnight ago of pneumonia." " May 25, 1864.
"... During a lull in fighting I employ time now in writing
again. It is now three p.m., and I am sitting on the ground in
the yard of an humble dwelling a hundred or so yards from the
railroad depot, — a score or two of officers and their attendants
being loungers near. As I wrote you we headed off Grant here.
He came after, and we have had some sharp skirmishing ; but as
we have taken a good line and fortified it strongly, he does not
attack. His men seem to have vastly less fight in them than
when they first encountered us in the Wilderness. . . . General
Lee is quite unwell to-day. A little rest and good diet will soon
restore his usual vigor, we trust. He is unceasing in his care
and labors, and is animated by a most cheering Christian trust.
I think he has grown most perceptibly in grace and in the
knowledge of God during the past year, and is altogether a most
superior character. He expresses full assurance that the Judge
of all the earth will do right, and entire submission to His holy
will, or rather to His appointments, for himself or the country.
This is my strong conviction. The Lord may not see fit to de
liver us as we pray, but if not, He will cause the wrath of man
to praise Him, its remainder He will restrain, and through sorrow
or joy He will make it ultimately work for good to all who love
Him, and among them ourselves, if such be our hearts. . . . We
have had a serious time as before. Night before last I was
out the entire night, aiding in choosing our line and adjusting

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 337
positions. And all of every day it is the same thing, with occa
sional experience of cannon- and musket-balls very close.
Through all, however, the good hand of God carries me safely
thus far and my health is very good." . . .
" Atlee's Station, May 28, 1864.
"... We came here from the Junction yesterday, — the enemy
having slipped off again and having turned up, according to re
port, down in this direction. We have not come squarely upon
his force to-day, but felt part of it with skirmishing. He crosses
at Hanover Town and gets nearly on McClellan's track. ... I
have some anxiety about the Yankees getting to Lexington
while the troops are all here defending the capital and crushing
Grant. But committing you all, as well as myself, to God's cov
enant goodness, I am strongly hopeful. . . . Can one of the
girls manage for me a pair of summer gloves ? These are in
shreds." . . . " Sunday, May 29, 1864.
"... I visited a house or two after the Yankees left, near the
Junction, which had been in their hands. Such destruction you
never saw. May the Lord forbid them ever reaching your home
or any other large portion of our land !" . . .
"Near Mechanicsville, June 1, 1864.
"... Feeling not quite so well this morning, I do not start
out as early as usual, and have an opportunity of writing a few
lines. . . . On the whole Grant has shown great tenacity of pur
pose, but he has only reached, with a loss of half his army, the
very position he might have started with without the loss of a
man. ... I spoke of not feeling quite well, — a little languor
from fatigue, in part, and in part from sameness of rather indi
gestible diet. I shall keep more quiet to-day in the shade, and
do my work chiefly through the members of my staff. General
Lee is nearly well again. He rides along the lines in a little
carriage. I trust, my darling, you are all comfortable. Send
letters for me now to Sue's care, — Box 11 18. I can send in to
her every day. For myself, I cannot think of going in yet, even
for an hour. No letters from you to myself since that by Ed.
Moore." . . . 22

338 MEMOIRS OF
" Near Gaines's Mill, June 4, 1864.
" My darling Daughters, Sue and Kate, — I write a hasty
line this morning to relieve your anxieties about my recent indis
position. By God's mercy I am entirely relieved. Two days of
considerable fever gave me proportionate trouble, but prompt
medical treatment and a quiet day on my camp-bed were ren
dered effectual to the removal of disease, and I am now fresher
than before, have recovered my appetite, and feel quite strong
again. Indeed, I was able yesterday to ride twenty miles without
half the feeling of weariness I have experienced before. Last
night I slept well, and this morning, after taking the liberty of
rising later than usual, I have eaten a hearty breakfast There
was heavy fighting yesterday, resulting greatly in our favor.
The enemy lost immensely. We miraculously little in propor
tion. In one or two instances a battery or so of ours suffered
very severely. Lieutenant-Colonel Poague's battery had such
experience. He himself seriously wounded, I fear. . . . But on
the whole the day was wonderfully in our favor."
On the 1 3th Sandie Pendleton wrote in pencil on a torn piece
of a note-book, — "Near Spottsylvania Court-House.
" My dear Mother, — After the most terrific fight of the war
we, pa and all, are still safe. . . . Though I had two horses
killed under me I am still unhurt, I thank God." . . .
Across this fragment is scratched in haste, —
" I have this morning declined to be made a brigadier, as I
think I can do more good where I am."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 339

CHAPTER XXXIX.
SUMMER OF 1864  HUNTER'S ADVANCE UP THE VALLEY  SIEGE
OF PETERSBURG.
Richmond was as grateful to the preserving army of Lee in
June, 1 864, as she had been two years before. But there was
more of sadness, more consciousness of the danger still threat
ening, than there had been then. General Grant had been
compelled to desist from attack, but he had not retreated as
McClellan had done, and had declared his intention to fight it
out on that line. The two armies were so close that incessant
vigilance was demanded on the part of officers and men, and little
opportunity was given for accepting the hospitalities of the city.
Colonel Lee had been ordered, May 17, from his volunteer
work on General Ransom's staff to proceed to Staunton, to com
mand the post and organize the reserves in that part of the
valley. His wife and Mrs. Sandie Pendleton remained at their
rooms on Grace Street. Here, from time to time, they were
happy to receive General and Colonel Pendleton, besides giving
shelter to friends detained in the city by the cutting of the rail
roads. The anxieties of the time were greatly increased by the state
of affairs in the valley. Sigel had been succeeded in command
of the invading army by General David Hunter, — one of the few
Virginians who raised, their hands against their native State. As
the troops under Breckenridge had gone to reinforce General
Lee, there was only an improvised force to oppose the Yankee
advance. An engagement not far from Port Republic resulted
in the death of the Confederate general and the defeat and par
tial demoralization of his command.
Hunter had been directed to move to Lynchburg via Char
lottesville, destroying the Central Railroad as he went. To pre
vent this, General Breckenridge with two thousand five hundred
men was sent from General Lee's army to occupy Rockfish Gap
and defend Charlottesville and the railroad. Not caring to engage
this force in the mountains, Hunter advanced by Staunton and

340 MEMOIRS OF
Lexington. Near the former place he was joined by the cavalry
under Crook and Averill, by which his force was increased to
twenty thousand. The progress of this army was marked by
devastation and destruction. The few men in the country joined
the home-guard or took refuge with their cattle and horses in
the mountains. It was impossible to destroy all the growing
crops, but mills and dwelling-houses were burned, captured
soldiers shot, provisions seized, and outrages of various kinds
wantonly committed. In Staunton, Colonel Lee and the post
quartermaster succeeded in saving all the government property.
At Lexington there was nothing belonging to the Confederate
government, but the valuable buildings of the State Military In
stitute and Governor Letcher's house were burned. A sudden
move in the night, occasioned, it was supposed, by the news of
Sheridan's defeat by the cavalry under General Hampton at
Trevillian's Station, prevented the execution of an order issued
to burn General Pendleton's house with several other residences.
The mails were everywhere interrupted at this time, but General
Pendleton held daily intercourse with his daughters in Richmond
by courier, and sent frequent letters to be forwarded to Lexington
so soon as and however it might be practicable. " June 9.
" Although I have no idea how a letter can now be conveyed
to you, I prepare one. Language cannot express the concern I
have felt for you all since it became known that the Yankees
were likely to reach Staunton and Lexington. My trust is
strong in the overruling care of the Almighty that He will not
permit you all to be cruelly injured. . . . Here matters are more
quiet. Grant has been so shaken in the nerves of his army, if
not in his own, that apparently he must get some rest. We are
waiting to see what he will try next. . . . When am I to hear
from you again ? And how can you hear from us ? Sue writes
me that she has communicated with you through private hands.
That will be a comfort to you." " Near Gaines's Mill, June 12.
"... For a week past we have been wholly uncertain as to
the fate of Lexington, and you may suppose how deeply anxious
I have been. To wait upon God, committing you all to His su
preme care, was all my resource. . . . Brother Hugh made his

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 341
appearance with Bob Nelson most unexpectedly day before yes
terday morning. They arrived in time for breakfast. All being
quiet on the lines, I was a little later than usual, and so met
them. Brother Hugh gave me your letter, — a real treat, — and
told me right fully about you all. . . . About five in the evening
of that day Sandie, John, George Peterkin, Charlie Hatcher, and
myself rode into the city. Sandie and I spent the night at Sue's,
Brother Hugh and myself lodging together. Sue had her couch
in the parlor. John and Betsy stayed at Dr. Williams's. . . . Things
with us remain much the same. Both armies entirely quiet, ex
cept sharp-shooting and a few cannon-shots every day. ... I
have never been more in prayer than during this campaign.
Generally, indeed, during the storm of battle my mind is ear
nestly engaged in supplicating God's mercy upon our army, coun
try, and cause, with special mention of our dearest ones. It is
an immense relief to the spirit amid the perils and anxieties of
such critical scenes thus to lay hold of unerring wisdom, infinite
power, and unfailing goodness. I marvel how rational creatures
can forego so great a privilege. Indeed, there are very few who
have not been impressed during the war by the support which
praying men derive from their intercourse with heaven. I hope
to be privileged to attend worship somewhere this morning. . . .
You would hardly know me. I had my hair and beard trimmed
the other day in Richmond. A great relief, and I don't look
quite so old."
Early's corps — eight thousand strong — was sent on the 13th
to meet and foil General Hunter. Learning at Charlottesville
that the Yankee force was advancing on Lynchburg, General
Early stopped at Charlottesville, embarked his command on the
Midland Railroad, and arrived at Lynchburg in time to defeat
Hunter's design to capture that city. The Federal army with
drew in the night, and though followed a considerable distance
and losing heavily in wounded and prisoners, finally escaped
through the New River and Kanawha Valley.
The interruption to the mails continued for several weeks.
General Pendleton had almost daily intercourse by letter, how
ever, with his daughters in Richmond. On the 18th he wrote
from near Chaffm's Bluff, —

342 MEMOIRS OF
" We are off again. Grant has taken all his army to the
south side. We go to meet him as usual. I shall be in Peters
burg some time to-day. You will not be able to hear from me
as constantly as for a week or two past. I do long for intelli
gence from Lexington, but wait the Lord's will, hoping for the
best." On the 22d he wrote his wife, enclosing the letter to Mrs. Lee
to forward in any practicable way, —
" Head-quarters Artillery Corps,
Petersburg, Virginia.
" Remote as is the prospect of getting a letter to you, I cannot
longer refrain from at least writing, in the hope that some way
may be found by which it may be conveyed to Lexington. Day
before yesterday I received a brief telegram from Sandie, dated
Lynchburg, 18th, saying he had just heard from you, — ' all well,'
— but no particulars of how you fared from the Yankees. I
have been all the while as deeply anxious about you all as my
trust in our all-faithful Divine Father and Saviour admitted.
Sue wrote me a few days ago she had seen General Lee's family,
a friend of whom had been in Lexington seeing about their silver
at the time the Yankees approached ; that he was at our house
several times, and, indeed, saw you just before the Yankees
arrived, and that you were all wonderfully calm and unterrified.
Thankful I hope I am for so much encouraging intelligence from
you. Still, I am anxious to learn how you are now provided, —
whether they left you subsistence or whether they took your
meat and flour, killed your cows, destroyed your garden, etc.
The atrocious villany with which they thus war upon defenceless
households would be incredible were it not so universal with
them ; and even with the constant recurrence of such outrages,
they so falsify in their reports, and the outside world so receives
their statements, that it will be difficult to have the truth recorded
in history, or to make mankind believe that a people calling itseli
Christian could perpetrate such enormities. In Prince George
they have let loose their negro soldiers to indulge at pleasure
their brutal passions, and the result beggars description. Rev.
Mr. Piatt and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Meade, who had there

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 343
a happy home, have stated to me some of the facts. . . .
My duties have been engrossing, yet you have been constantly
in my thoughts. Waking and sleeping my heart is with you.
Since we came over here on the 18th, Sue has not been able to
communicate with me so regularly. There we passed notes
every day. I am going to send a courier over to-day. . . . We
are all well. Amid all the exposure of every kind God has
graciously preserved me, and my health is good. We have also
rations sufficient and are reasonably comfortable. I am camped
on the north side of the Appomattox, as are Generals Lee and
.Beauregard, though most of the troops are on the south side.
The enemy's chief effort is from the Appomattox, on the south
east, round beyond old Blanford Church, towards the Weldon
Railroad. . . . On Sunday I was able to get late to church.
Piatt preached. He came to me afterwards and begged me to
preach for him at night. I did so, — on the text from the second
lesson in Titus, ' That blessed hope.' The gracious Spirit helped
me, I believe. Monday and yesterday I was all day on the lines,
adjusting batteries, etc. At times all is quiet as if no armies
were here, then again the whole air is filled with noise of strife,
and the earth fairly trembles under the thunder of battle."
"June 25, 1864.
" Hoping there may be now communication open with Lexing
ton, I indulge myself in writing to you again, intending to send a
courier to Richmond early in the morning with this letter accom
panying one to Sue. He goes by the early train, — three or four
a.m. ; will return in the afternoon, when I hope for tidings from
you. Indeed, I cannot rest until I know what your condition is
since the ravages of the Yankees. . . . We are in all this inter
ruption and anxiety bearing a portion of our share in the great
public distress resulting from the war. I have not expected, nor
can I say I would, as a matter of principle, desire, too much ex
emption from the common experience of trouble connected with
our great resistance of wrong. Anxiety, sympathy, privation,
etc., disturb me as they do others. But if they come as incidents
in the path of duty, surely I ought not to wish to be without my
share of them. Only I would suffer alone, if I could, and spare
all of you, my beloved ones. You, however, would hardly con-

344 MEMOIRS OF
sent to that. ... If no military hinderance prevent, I am to
preach for Gibson to-morrow morning. General Wise expressed
himself very warmly to me about my sermon last Sunday night.
He said the text did him good : ' That blessed hope.' He
thanked me, and spoke at length of sins, struggles, and faith.
Said he ' would not give up his faith in Jesus for all the world
besides.' Yet says the devil makes him kuss sometimes. A
strange but interesting man. The war has greatly humbled him,
he says. He finds himself a poor creature, whereas he thought
a good deal of himself before."
How much cause there had been for anxiety about the defence
less household in Lexington, and yet how they had been merci
fully preserved from serious injury, is best told by letters written
immediately after Hunter's army left, by Mrs. Pendleton and her
daughters : " Lexington, Virginia, Wednesday, June 15, 1864.
"... The Yankees have come and gone. The stand made on
Saturday, June 1 1, by McCausland and the cadets and the burn
ing of the bridge delayed them until four p.m. Then they came
in by Mulberry Hill, crossing the river near Leyburn's mill, —
crowds, crowds, crowds ! I had often wished, if a battle was to be
fought, that I might be near to hear. And I did hear ! McCaus
land fired, and the wretches shelled the town for hours. Shells
fell everywhere in town, — in Colonel Williamson's yard, into Mr.
John Campbell's house, into Miss Baxter's house. One struck
Colonel Reid's front door and almost struck his daughter A  ;
one fell in the garden here ; one struck somewhere near us, as
several small bullets were found in the upper porch here and at
Captain Moore's.
" When they came, great was our consternation. Mary and I
sat on the portico as they poured into town. After crowds had
poured up the plank road after the cadets and filled the fields at
Mulberry Hill, they began to rush into town. Colonel Reid's
yard filled with them, and one clambered over the fence with a
revolver in his hand. He was one of the most ruffianly I saw.
Jack came to call me, saying, ' He wants milk.' My heart beat
so I almost heard it. I prayed for courage and prudence, and
when I saw him I became calm and felt no more fear of the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 345
wretches. I gave him buttermilk. He said he had orders to
search, and I said, ' When your officers come they may search,
but you shall not /' He quietly withdrew. In a few moments I
was called to see five at the kitchen door. I asked what they
wanted. ' Bread.' I said, ' Go out of this room' (the big dining-
room) ' and I will give you all I have.' They asked for meat.
B. Gwynn had given me a shoulder of bacon from the commis
sary's and I had had it boiled. I desired Charles to bring it out
and cut it for them. ' How do you feel about this war ?' said one.
' I should think by this time you would know how every Dixie
woman felt on that subject,' I replied.
" After I had got rid of them I resolved to go to Hunter to
demand protection from the wretches. I could not learn where
General Hunter was, but went to the provost-marshal, an Irish
brute, a Captain Matt. Berry. Mr. Johnson introduced me as
' Mrs. General Pendleton.' He asked, ' The wife of the one who
surrendered at Vicksburg ?' ' No,' I said ; ' he is a general with
General Lee.' He set Mrs. Letcher's house on fire with his own
.hands, putting the lighted matches into the drawers with her
clothes. I came up the street with the promise of a guard, and
found a mounted one in the yard. Captain Moore had brought
one up with him who seemed civil and kind. Mary told me how
the man here, Wilson, had sworn at her for saying, when he un
dertook to tell of the force they had, ' You have not mentioned
all the generals in the valley : Breckenridge and Pickett are there.'
I went to the gate and said, ' Hear how that man swears, and,
Northern man as you are, you must know that is not proper.'
Smith, Captain Moore's guard, said, ' I will try to come to you
myself/ and about ten p.m. he came, saying, ' I have the honor to
be your guard to-night and while I stay in the city.' While I
was away a man broke open a barrel of flour in the dining-room.
Wilson sent him out and kept them all off, or sent them out while
he stayed. We sat in the portico all the time, and as they would
walk up the lane or come in the back way I would go to meet
them and stand quietly before them.
" We all slept in my room, and I had pleasant rest. Sunday
morning both my guard and Captain Moore's were here. I gave
mine breakfast on the porch, and said, ' At eleven o'clock I am
going to read the Episcopal service, as I do every Sunday while

346 MEMOIRS OF
we have no church open.' Wilson went away, but Smith stayed
on the porch, and I read my prayers for the President of the
Southern Confederacy. Before this I had been told they would
burn this house, and went again to find Hunter. But Frank
heard on the street they would not burn either Colonel Preston's
or mine, so I returned. At that time the Institute, Colonel Wil
liamson's, and Colonel Gilham's houses were blazing on the hill,
and Mrs. Letcher's below. After I came up the street, Mary and
I were in the garden, looking at the burning buildings, and spoke
to Dr. McClung, who was passing. Three Yankee officers rode
up and asked if this was Mrs. Pendleton's. Dr. McClung said,
' Yes ;' and I stepped forward and said, ' I am Mrs. Pendleton.'
They said they came to see if I could sell them strawberries. I
said, ' I had in other days had strawberries, but, by the ordering
of a merciful Providence, this year they had not borne.' They
asked some other questions and rode off
" That afternoon a lieutenant and six men came to search.
I stepped forward. He came to search for ' arms and munitions
of war and provisions.' I said, ' I will show you all I have.'
' Men, stay,' he said. ' I should think that one man was enough
to go with an unarmed woman,' I said. And then we went into
every hole and corner. I had part of a barrel of flour and the
one the wretch broke open Sunday morning, — the guard had
made him give back the flour, — a water-bucketful ; but, of course,
I shall not use it, — also ten pieces of bacon, two bushels of meal,
and some salt. We went into the empty cellar, into the garret,
into all the rooms. He looked, — would not see into the ward
robes, — and on the whole behaved well. Mary showed your old
uniform coat, which saw all the fighting from Yorktown to Second
Fredericksburg, asking if it was contraband. He looked at it,
said you had been in the ' regular' army, and went away, doing
the polite by saying, ' You live among flowers.' I felt more re
lieved than I can tell, for Philip Page's trunk was in the locked
room, and under the porch were two guns and one buried in the
cellar, and in the loft over the wing were two cadets' great-coats
and a haversack (captured at New Market) stuffed with cadets'
clothes, with five pairs of shoes tied to it, and a pair of boots.
These things were brought here by the boys the night before they
left, and we were asked to keep them. My cows were not brought

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 347
up Saturday night, and Sunday night I went to the guard at Cap
tain Moore's, saying I wanted my cows. He offered to go for
them. I made Charles go with him, and he separated them from
the ' government cattle' in my lot. They have been in the yard
ever since, eating up all the roses and treading on the verbenas.
" Monday about mid-day Wilson came over to say, ' I want the
key to your cellar to search it : there are guns under your por
tico, and trunks of cadets' clothing.' I had the key brought, and
they (for my guard, Smith, who was kind and went for the cows,
and Mr. Pole's guard were along) called for the pickaxe and went
to work : dug up one gun and found the others. They were told
of them, by whom I do not know, but I have my suspicions.
They asked Frank 'what he wanted with the pick on Friday
morning ?' Now, who told them ? Jack did not. Wilson is a
brute when angry, and swears frightfully, and so I could not keep
them from going into my places. Then into the garret they went,
and there stood the trunk, which they took down to the provost-
marshal. As they were bringing it down-stairs Mary said, ' You
will return the private effects of the poor boys, I hope ?' Wilson
said, ' We only want the uniforms..' ' Do you suppose,' said I,
' that those poor children had any uniforms but what they had
on ?' ' Poor children !' said he. ' They gave us hell at New Mar
ket.' This he had told us twice before, and ' they killed 'nough
of our boys,' he said, repeatedly. Mary went to see the provost-
marshal about their getting the trunk, and told of the guns and
my not knowing of them till they were all put away, and asked
for a written order if they were to be taken. He gave it, and
ordered her to raise her veil and let him see her face. She lifted
the veil and turned from him. While they went down with the
trunk Mary and Leila got down the haversack, put on their
hoops, and hung over them three cadet jackets and a pair of
pants; Rose also hung a pair of pants over her hoop. The
great-coats we threw out on the roof of the kitchen, so that they
could only be seen from one window in an empty room, and then
you had to look well out to see them. The boots and shoes were
hid in the hearth, in the stove-pipe, and behind the pamphlets in
the study. While this Was going on Wilson came into the yard
and asked his usual question, ' Any soldiers in this yard ?' To
keep him from going to the back of the house, where I feared he

348 MEMOIRS OF
might hear moving or see through the closed blinds, I began to
talk to him, and for three-quarters of an hour kept him quiet.
When the girls came down I slackened my fire and he left.
Smith then had to search again, and into every hole and corner
except the loft he went, — under the beds and into the trunks. He
did not like it, for he had some feeling ; but we made him do it,
and then give us a certificate that all had been searched. As
he was searching I said, ' Is this a pleasant business ?' ' No,
madam.' " Night came again and a report that they would go in the
morning, and to our inexpressible relief, as soon as we were
awake, we found them in motion, and by eight a.m. they were
all gone.
" They were like the Israelites in Moab, — on all the hill-sides
and on all the roads. I walked from front to back door all the
time, not in the least afraid of them, and thanking God for being
kept from fear of evil. I saw only the officers I have mentioned.
" The men asked your name repeatedly. Once I said, ' I shall
not tell you.' ' Are you ashamed of him ?' he said. ' No. I am
proud of him. You can ask your generals ; they know who he
is.' I suppose I heard Wilson say twenty times that if he had
power he would burn this house, and yet he would come and sit
on the steps and talk and we have to reply. He told at Captain
Moore's that 'we were the d — dest rebels he had met.' These
guards all belong to ' Camp H, Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry,'
and were detailed as provost-guards. I hope all our friends will
look out for them and punish them. I do not wish Smith killed,
but I should be charmed to hear he was captured. I had an
untold horror of the house being searched again for the Yankee
overcoats. When they were bringing down the trunk, Wilson
shook his fist at me and said, ' Mind, you treat these niggers
good, — they is as free as you is.' I said, ' Do you suppose my
negroes had to wait for you to tell them they were as free as I am ?'
" I do not believe so wicked an army ever existed, at least in
modern times. At Colonel Reid's they were like wild beasts, —
took all the meat, flour, lard, onions. (They took all my onions.)
From Colonel Preston's took everything, — stripped the farm, —
but his negroes took the stock around and brought a good deal
of it back. They robbed Mrs. Letcher of eight barrels of flour

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 349
and all her meat. The two barrels of flour left her were burned,
and as they took everything from the old lady, Mrs. Letcher told
me she breakfasted Monday on dry bread and water. Some one
had sent her flour. Colonel Williamson lost almost everything,
and Colonel Gilham a great deal. They would not let Mrs.
Letcher take anything from her house except a few clothes.
Lizzie took up the crib mattress and the provost-marshal put it
back in the fire.
" Matt White is said to have killed one of their men, and they
took him out to Mrs. Cameron's and shot him in the back with
eight bullets. He is to be buried this evening. God be praised
for delivering us from our cruel foes so far ! May He never let
one of them return except as prisoners !" " Sunday, June 19, 1864.
"... To our great delight Colonel Edwin drove up about
two p.m. yesterday. To know how glad we were to see him you
must be a defenceless woman and have been subjected to what
we were. My horror of the American Yankees is great, but of
the African Yankees ! it is impossible to express it. One came
into the kitchen Sunday morning and introduced himself as
' colored gentleman from head-quarters.' I ordered him out, and
after about the third resolute assurance that he could not and
should not stay there, he went away, saying, ' Them's coming, and
of my color too, that will go where they please.'
" Much as I have written to you, I will be obliged to wait to
see you to tell of all that the enemy did.
" Old Mr. Lee came in yesterday from Buchanan, where he
had gone on the Yankees coming here, in the following original
style : an old Yankee horse left behind, an old side-saddle, which
he found on the mountain near Buchanan, a rope bridle, his
carpet-bag hung over the pommel of the saddle, and he sitting
sideways. They threw shell into Buchanan, attempting to get
at McCausland, and burned Mr. Anderson's fine new house. In
Bedford County they robbed Mrs. Robert Allen of everything.
A little drummer-boy, touched by compassion, asked Mrs. Chris
tian to give him a bag and he would get her some flour: He
filled a pillow-case for her, which she hid under the bed. Such
wretches never lived before, I believe."

350 MEMOIRS OF
Nearly three weeks had passed after the Yankee occupancy of
Lexington before General Pendleton's anxieties about his family
were relieved by news directly from them, then he wrote, —
" Near Petersburg, Tuesday night,
June 28, 1864.
" Rose's letter to Sue, giving an account of your experience
under Yankee insolence, reached me yesterday. I am indeed
thankful that you were so providentially guarded from injury.
He who hears and answers prayer has not been unmindful of the
petitions constantly urged in your behalf. I hardly dared to
hope you would come off so easily. That you are not rendered
uncertain about subsistence from day to day is to me matter of
deep thankfulness. You will, I suppose, have bread enough
until the new wheat can be rendered into flour, and then your
supply will, I hope, be ample. Your meat will hold out some
time. The garden will yield a good deal, even though the
drought, which is parching the fields here, should shorten your
growth of vegetables. Your cows will give you milk and butter
enough to add materially to your comfort, and the sugar, which
you will get with Sue and Kate, or soon after, will help you with
a daily cup of tea and occasionally in other ways. Should the
molasses and other things get on from Augusta,* as they may
when we can repress these raiders, you will have additional com
fortable food. On the whole I am very grateful to God that you
are in proportion so well provided for."
While events had been thus harassing in the valley, General
Grant had begun the series of alternate fortifyings and fights
which finally resulted in the complete investment of Petersburg
and the consequent abandonment by the remnant of the defend
ing army. To follow in detail these battles, raids, and ever-en
croaching occupancy of important points by Grant's army would
be impossible. The most important of them must, however, be
* When in the South, General Pendleton had made arrangements to purchase for his
family one hundred pounds of Georgia sugar, a half-barrel of molasses, and some
cotton cloth. These things could not be had in Virginia, and this small quantity cost
fourteen hundred dollars, — more than a third part of his pay. The difficulty of trans
portation was so great that the sugar reached Richmond only just before this time, —
the molasses and cotton did not arrive until midsummer.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 35 1
noted, and General Pendleton's part in the heroic and desperate
defence set forth. This is done here, as before in the narrative,
mainly from his letters.
An attempt was made to seize Petersburg — then defended by
only a small force, two thousand four hundred, including heavy
artillery and militia — on the morning of the 15th of June before
reinforcements should arrive. General W. F. Smith, with a force
of sixteen thousand men, advanced against the fortifications so
inefficiently manned. The artillery in the redans was so gallantly
served that the Federal commander inferred it must be largely
supported by infantry, and so desisted from immediate assault,
waiting till more troops came to his assistance. Just before
sunset he charged and carried a part of the line in his front.
Hancock's Second Corps came up soon after this, and a forward
movement of the combined forces could have overpowered the
feeble garrison in their front and taken possession of Petersburg.
They, however, rested satisfied with the success gained, and during
the night the force defending the city was strengthened by the
arrival of Hoke's division, which had marched eighteen miles
from Drewry's Bluff. General Beauregard also withdrew most of
the force confronting Butler at Bermuda Hundred for the safety
of Petersburg. A new line in rear of the works captured the
evening before was taken up by these fresh troops, and the
opportunity for taking the city without a desperate contest was
lost. General Grant was, however, resolved to take possession
of the place before Lee's army could be brought to its relief.
To effect this a great part of his army was thrown again and
again, during the evening and night of the 16th and all day of
the 17th and 18th, against the Confederate position. Outnum
bered four to one, the force under Beauregard stoutly resisted
these repeated and desperate efforts to overpower them, and
though forced at some points to abandon the outer line of de
fences, invariably retired to strong intrenchments nearer the city.
Speaking of the result of these four days of assault, General
Grant says, " The attacks were renewed with great vigor on the
17th and 1 8th, but only resulted in forcing the enemy to an in
terior line from which he could not be dislodged." * In these
* Grant's report.

352 MEMOIRS OF
four days the Northern army lost ten thousand men, a number
equal to that of the defending army.*
The Confederate lines in front of General Butler, north of the
Appomattox, had been occupied by his troops when the division
holding them was sent to Petersburg. Pickett's division, from
north of James River, had, however, driven out Butler's men and
re-established the Confederate lines on the night of the 16th.
Not until the 18th of June did General Lee become satisfied
that Grant with his main army was in front of Petersburg, to
which point he moved his own forces as rapidly as possible.
Several days were passed by both armies in strengthening their
positions, and General Pendleton was occupied in examining the
ground with General Beauregard and placing batteries where
they might most effectually damage the enemy.f The works
necessary for the protection of these guns, and along the entire
line, were constructed under a constant and severe fire from the
enemy's artillery and sharp-shooters. The hostile lines were in
many places very close, and at some points so near the city that
shells from the mortars frequently fell there.
As soon as General Grant had his force sufficiently protected
to prevent danger from sudden attack, he began a series of move
ments designed to " envelop Petersburg towards the South Side
Railroad." J
On the 23d General Pendleton wrote, —
" We had an important success yesterday in charging a portion
of the line, — capturing near two thousand prisoners, four pieces
of artillery, etc."
This was an attack by Mahone upon the left flank of the be
sieging army, extending itself for the purpose of taking posses
sion of the Weldon Railroad. The same day a cavalry force of
six thousand men under Wilson and Kautz set out to destroy
the Weldon, South Side, and Danville Railroads. General W.
H. F. Lee, with a comparatively small force, though unable
to prevent the cutting the roads, attacked and harassed the

* Humphreys's " Virginia Campaign," p. 224.
f Pendleton's report. J Grant's report.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 353
raiders; a militia company drove them back from Staunton
River ; General Hampton fought and drove them one whole day.
Turning at last to escape by Reams's Station, where they ex
pected to find friends, they were met by a body of Confederate
infantry and routed by Fitz Lee, losing twelve pieces of artillery,
a number of wagons and ambulances, and a thousand prisoners.
The destruction of many miles of railroad, though temporary,
added to the discomfort and difficulty of supplies in Richmond
and in Lee's army, and so far was a material aid to the Federal
plan for wearing out the Confederate resources.
General Pendleton wrote, June 28, —
" There is a good deal of artillery firing every day and con
tinued skirmishing, with no important result on either side. The
enemy shells the city more or less every day. The people of the
place, ladies and all, bear this outrage upon their pleasant homes
with great fortitude and dignity. The two armies are so fixed in
their attitude of reciprocal defiance that I have not as much labor
in daily rides upon the lines as is requisite when positions are
continually changing. Grant's present locality so screens him
from advantageous approach that we can hardly attack him
without extremely heavy loss." "July 4.
"On Friday morning, ist, I ran over by railroad to Richmond
and saw them all. Sue was so sick that I deemed it a duty to
get to see her, especially as I had all things in readiness in my
department and there was general quiet on the lines. It was
delightful to meet them all. After a pleasant night, oven-like
though the heat was, I came off early Saturday morning. I
hope they got off to-day and will soon be with you. ... I feel
very much for the people of Petersburg. They are obliged to
leave homes through which shells are crashing, and encamp
ments of them in the neighboring woods are not infrequent." " July 9.
" The armies are simply hurling defiance at each other night
and day from their trenches, and receiving from each other
missiles of all sorts, from a Minie bullet to a seventy-pound
mortar-shell, so that there is a continual sense of insecurity to life,
23

354 MEMOIRS OF
especially when any one approaches or leaves the trenches. At
the same time the heat is stifling, the drought extreme, water not
easy to get, even on our side, and the weariness of continual
watching most trying indeed. ... A drier, more terribly dusty,
season I think I have hardly ever known. The very earth seems
parched. This is particularly trying to our horses. ... At one
of my batteries there were some casualties yesterday, one of
which I feel very sensibly. Lieutenant Reese, of Ross's com
pany, Cutts's battalion, a fine young man, who was with us the
first winter at Centreville and whom I have seen a good deal of,
was struck by a thirty-pound Parrott shell and instantly killed.
... I send you a small package of turnip-seed for which I gave
only two dollars and a half! ... I hope to attend Gibson's
church to-morrow. Two shells have struck it, so there will not
be many people." "July 15.
"... Our food is very costly, though sufficiently rough. The
ration furnished is not half enough, and what is purchased costs
somewhere about one hundred dollars a month for each. Coffee
has now given out, and we are like the old woman who lived
upon 'victuals and drink,' — bread, bacon, and cold water our
support. But to beat the Yankees and gain our independence I
would submit to vastly more." "July 20, 1864, Wednesday.
"Your letter of the 15 th reached me yesterday. I wrote that
day, too, to Mary. It did not occur to me that it was the anni
versary of our wedding-day or I would have addressed the letter
to you, in thankfulness for the ten thousand blessings which
through heaven's mercy you have been instrumental in conferring
on me these thirty-three years. The singular concurrence of
day of week and month in this anniversary, occurring as it does
only at intervals, and so few people choosing to be married on
Friday, might have reminded me. But I suppose the peculiari
ties of my situation interfered with those associations which
might have called to mind an event the most important and the
happiest of my life. Next to the unmerited visitations of grace,
which have given me hope of heaven, and possibly to the sacred
influences of my early home, ought I to value you, my wife, as
God's gift for my eternal good, as well as for my earthly happi-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 355
ness. Indeed, I have abundant reason to feel assured that, much
as I owe to that early home, and wonderful as have been the
gracious movements of the Spirit on my mind, you have been
made the instrument to enable me to profit by them to the mod
erate extent I have done. . . . The long separations caused by
this war are indeed a sore trial, — hardly an hour passes but I
long for you and home." "July 22, Friday.
" The enemy is unusually silent. Two days ago I passed
along our lines within very short musket range of thousands of
Yankees and yet not a shot was fired, although our men and the
Yankees, too, were walking about with indifference all along the
respective lines of breastworks. After my observations had been
made, and Charlie Hatcher and myself were riding away, some
cannon-shots were fired, and one or two passed over our heads.
I was shocked to notice two ladies in a carriage, which passed
along a road just back of a very exposed front of our line. For
the last five weeks it has been worth any man's life to ride there
on horseback, — almost to appear on foot. Yet these girls seemed
to have no more idea of danger than if there were no war in the
world. We all repeated the saw, 'Where ignorance is bliss.'
Happily, no cannon, mortar, or musket was fired at them."
" Friday, July 29.
"... Grant, as you may see by the papers, is beginning a new
manoeuvre, — sending a large part of his force to the north side
of James River. He seems to have surprised the troops over
there supporting my old battery day before yesterday, or those
troops did not behave as well as usual.* . . . My idea is that
Grant does not intend a bona fide attempt on Richmond at this
juncture; but as he has, by means of his pontoon-bridge near
Bermuda Hundred, defended by his gunboats, a shorter line to
and fro than we have via Drewry's Bluff, he will try to draw
General Lee over there, and then suddenly recross all his force
to the neighborhood of Petersburg, and make a concentrated
attack either on the line near the town or on that across the
* Four guns of the Rockbridge battery were captured.

356 MEMOIRS OF
peninsula between the James and the Appomattox. ... I was
out till midnight last night getting off some artillery to accom
pany the troops to the north side. We have all along had a
good deal there, but General Lee wanted more, and sent for me
to advise about it near bedtime. The Yankees were throwing
mortar shells at the time, and causing thereby quite an imposing
scene, as luminous curves would appear in the sky, terminating
in a lurid flash with loud report. One of these burst near Lieu
tenant-Colonel Poague's tent, a short distance behind the lines,
and sent a fragment through the tent, though injuring nobody.
As I rode back alone, having sent George Peterkin and the
courier who attended me to carry orders to some batteries, I
perceived one of these comet-like missiles advancing apparently
with precise direction to the spot I occupied in the road. A
ready spur sent my horse twenty steps beyond the line of danger,
and I was as safe for that time as you were in Lexington. So
easy is it, when one is on the alert, to avoid one of these projec
tiles. Of course when many of them are flying at the same
time it is not so easy. We have on the lines a number of bomb-
proofs, — square pits dug in the ground and covered over with
logs and earth. Under these the men lie when mortar shells are
flying and no other fighting is going on. The day before I was
last out on a part of our lines some men were lying under one
of these not sufficiently strong, when a large shell fell on it,
broke through, exploded, and killed three men and wounded
four. The next morning when I visited the place I found it
perfectly easy to step out of the way of a similar shell."
The conjecture here expressed as to Grant's intended return to
Petersburg during the absence of a great part of the defending
army proved correct. Recrossing most of his troops to the
south side, and springing a powerfully-charged mine under the
Confederate intrenchments, he hoped and confidently expected to
surprise, overwhelm, and capture the defences of Petersburg and
take possession of the city before General Lee could reinforce
the thirteen thousand men left to hold his works there. How
signally the enterprise failed and the vastly superior force — sixty
thousand — brought up against the fortifications was repulsed and
defeated is told by General Pendleton the day after :

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 357
" Head-quarters Artillery Corps, near Petersburg,
Sunday, July 31, 4.30 p.m.
" Again this Sunday afternoon I delight myself in writing to
you, and the more so because of a peculiar joy vfe all feel at a
most important success here yesterday, and because also of a
feeling of thankful satisfaction which I experienced from the
services of this morning. The success of yesterday will prove, I
believe, one of the most important of the campaign. You have
seen intimations in the papers about Grant's undermining our
lines. It has been suspected, and we have had countermines
made to try to ascertain the fact and foil the Yankees if it were
so. Nothing of the kind was discovered. Notwithstanding, at
daylight yesterday the enemy sprung a mine on a projecting
point of our line, blew up a battery of four guns, and engulfed a
number of men, how many is not yet exactly known, — perhaps
over a hundred. Of course they were on the qui vive, while our
men were still dreaming out their last nap for the night. The
Yankees, therefore, had it all their own way for a little while, and
rushed into the gap by hundreds. Before a great while, however,
General Elliot, of Fort Sumter fame, who commanded the brigade
there stationed, formed his men and held the Yankees at bay. I
did not hear of the occurrence till breakfast-time. Immediately
after breakfast I mounted my horse and, accompanied by George
Peterkin and a courier, rode to the field near the scene. There
we met General Lee and staff, also lately arrived. Dispositions
were promptly made for a charge upon the Yankees to drive
them back. This brought on a furious cannonade from, I sup
pose, a hundred guns on their side. Under this fire Peterkin and
I walked to the front along a covered way, — that is, a ditch with
earth thrown up on both sides to protect persons walking in it.
At a certain point we had to leave this and cross an open space
swept by cannon-shot of every kind, from ten-pound rifle to sixty-
pound mortars, shells, etc. In the battery to which we went it was
the same. Two of those sixty-pound shells fell and burst within
ten feet of us, but we were preserved then, as later under bullets
and all the multiplied dangers of battle. Our men behaved most
gallantly, and drove back the Yankees at a run, killing a large
number, capturing over four hundred, and recovering all of our
line except the chasm, which could not be at once approached,

358 MEMOIRS OF
and was filled with crowds of the enemy, negroes as well as
whites. A pause now ensued, and arrangements were made on
our side for another charge, to kill, capture, and drive back all
the other adventurous Yankees and regain the remainder of our
works they held. I came out, therefore, to examine another
battery, some three or four hundred yards to the left of where I
had been, and sent George Peterkin with a message to Colonel
Walker about certain guns in an important position. On the
way I met Colonel Weisiger, who had commanded Mahone's
brigade in the charge and been wounded. I got him to mount
my courier's horse and thus get to a hospital or his quarters.
This left me entirely alone, and I felt, liable as I was to be shot,
I might lie on the field and no one know where I was. Return
ing, I met Lieutenant-Colonel Huger, just from a battery nearest
the chasm. He was just visiting a gallant artillery officer —
Major Gibbs, of South Carolina, a brother-in-law of General
Alexander — brought an hour before from the field dangerously
wounded. I accompanied Huger, and found poor Gibbs had re
ceived a Minie ball just below the neck, breaking the collar-bone,
etc. I hoped it was not dangerous, but on full examination the
surgeons found an important artery cut and deemed the wound
almost fatal. His wife was expected in Richmond yesterday, on
a visit to him from the South. I hear to-day he is doing well, as
is General Elliot, who was shot a little lower, through the upper
part of the lungs.
" When the second charge was made I was again on the lines.
As before, the Yankees met it with a furious cannonade and with
heavy skirmishing all along the lines, but to no purpose. Our
troops drove them like sheep, at a run, — killing a great many and
capturing more than in the first charge, — regaining all of our
works. Never was there a poorer failure than the Yankees, in this
attempt, or a nobler achievement than ours. Grant had sent a
large force north of James River to compel us to send a force to
head them off. He then suddenly drew back his men on a shorter
line for this great attack. And yet it was wholly frustrated, with
a loss to them of some twelve hundred prisoners, including a
brigadier and several colonels, besides perhaps two hundred
negroes, seven or eight hundred killed outright, and how many
wounded we do not know. Three thousand is a moderate esti-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 359
mate of their loss ; ours barely a thousand all told, notwithstand
ing the immense advantage given them by the mine surprise. I
spent a most laborious day, hot as it was. Our officers and
soldiers acted most nobly. General Lee, as usual, directed with
consummate judgment. I doubt whether another army in the
world could achieve such a victory with such a shock to begin
with. " I could to-day return thanks with all my heart. I was par
tially engaged to preach to-day to a portion of the artillery ; but,
as I wrote you, some of it had to be moved, so that I was in
doubt about holding service for the remnant at the designated
point. This morning, however, a note was handed me from Mr.
Shippin, informing me that Mr. Piatt would not hold service, as
for some Sundays past, in his yard, near General Lee's head
quarters, and begging me to do so. I immediately replied that,
if the wish were participated in by General Lee and his staff, I
would, but that without an intimation to this effect I should not
feel authorized to accede to his request. Very soon a note re
turned from Colonel Taylor expressing the wishes of all parties
for the service, and I went. The service was profitable to me,
and I hope to others. I preached from the first lesson, — Numbers
xxiii., part of ioth verse, — ' Let me die the death of the right
eous,' etc. I experienced freedom of thought and expression,
and the audience was continuously attentive. The day has been
extremely warm, some say the hottest of the year thus far. It
is now, however, cloudy and cool, a slight sprinkle of rain having
already fallen." " Near Petersburg, Tuesday, August 2, 1864.
"... You will have seen mention in the papers of General
Meade's having sent a flag of truce to get permission to bury his
dead near our lines. It was granted, and from five a.m. yester
day till nine there was no firing anywhere along the works. You
would all have taken interest in visiting the scene of the explo
sion and fight, as hundreds did. The chasm made by the mine is
enormous, and the masses of earth hurled out scores of yards are
almost as large as houses. Some of these masses are almost as
hard as rock. One cannon, carriage and all, was thrown nearly, if
not quite, a hundred yards. Dead negroes and Yankees lay liter
ally in piles in and around the chasm, all slaughtered by our cannon

360 MEMOIRS OF
and by the infantry in their impetuous charges. Lying in the hot
sun Saturday and Sunday, they were disgustingly decomposing
when the work of burial was undertaken yesterday morning ; and
it was instructive to notice the loathing with which the Yankees
took up and bore to the ditches prepared the offensive remains
of their African soldiers, while the living negroes would half lift,
half drag, their putrid brethren. Altogether it was, indeed, a
sickening scene. . . . My good soldier, Major Gibbs, is doing
well. His wife is expected from South Carolina this evening.
His father is already with him. General Elliot was suffering
much this morning, though they have hope for him."

CHAPTER XL.
EARLY'S ADVANCE INTO MARYLAND.
The force sent to foil Hunter's design on Lynchburg had
frightened him off and driven him to retreat through West Vir
ginia. A despatch from General Lee to General Early at Lynch
burg, dated June 18, informed him of Grant's movement on
Petersburg, and advised him " strike as quick as you can, and
if circumstances authorize, carry out the original plan." So
soon, therefore, as Hunter made off, Early turned his face to
wards Staunton preparatory to a rapid march into Maryland.
The most direct route lay through Lexington. Great was the
pleasure of that lately outraged community on receiving their
deliverers, and Mrs. Pendleton had the great happiness of having
her son with her for a few days. In after-years she frequently
recurred to the unalloyed pleasure and perfect confidence of in
tercourse in this, which proved to be his last visit home. Writing
of it at the time to her husband and daughter, she says, —
" Sunday, June 20, 1864.
"Sandie, who came in poorly Friday in advance of Early's
army, leaves us this afternoon for Staunton, and thinks he may
be able to get a letter to you. Yesterday I was comforted by

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 36 1
the batch of notes you had written Sue and Kate up to the 17th.
Your letter written this day fortnight also reached me yesterday.
I thank God for the peace you feel, and trust it may be His holy
will to keep you from all evil of body and soul.
" Sandie has had dysentery, but is quite relieved, he says, by
the vegetable diet and buttermilk. Mr. Norton returned Thurs
day, and we were all so glad to have him back. He will have
no service this afternoon, which we rejoice at, for it is so hot ; it
will be much more agreeable to stay with Sandie quietly than to
be in a fuss about not going to church and not staying with him.
" General Early's army all passed through yesterday. Friday
night Mann Page, Lewis Burwell, Dr. Coleman, and Henry
Douglass stayed here, and yesterday morning they, Colonel Pitzer,
of General Breckenridge's staff, General Gordon, and S. Wilmer,
breakfasted here, and eat raspberries, of which we had our first
dish. " Before breakfast we went down to see the Stonewall Division
pass. As I went in the hotel door Mr. Johnson introduced me
to a distinguished-looking man standing just inside, — ' General
Breckenridge.' I took his offered hand and hoped he had not
breakfasted that I might have the honor of his doing so with
me. He had breakfasted, and I invited him to come and get
some raspberries. He said he would do so between ten and
eleven. All the morning passed, and about two the most pol
ished-looking man I have seen came with General Breckenridge's
regrets that he could not be here. He was Major Stoddart
Johnston, Sandie says.
" Just before dinner yesterday Nelson and R. Jones came in,
then Sandie's chum, Colonel Allen, then Colonel Nelson and
Wilmer. These all dined with me on cold ham, lettuce, and
rice. How I did wish for you ! But as you are doing your duty
I am content. I felt when the Yankees were here that not only
you but every minister in the Confederacy ought to be fighting."
To Mrs. Lee she wrote at the same time, —
" Sandie will put this scrap in his letter. I write to thank you
and Kate for your kindness in sending me your papa's letters, —
the first direct intelligence from him for more than three weeks.

362 MEMOIRS OF
We were, as you may suppose, delighted to see Sandie. He is
now much better, and will, I hope, soon be well. You have
before this gotten some of our letters telling of the Yankee
doings. I hope we are thankful for this great deliverance. Kate,
Anne Rose, and yourself will all be here soon, we hope. Can
you bring my sugar ? If not, you are likely to drink sugarless tea."
Moving rapidly down the Shenandoah Valley, Early's army
crossed the Potomac at Shepherdstown, drove Sigel into the in-
trenchments on Maryland Heights, and then hurried forward
towards Washington. At Monocacy Bridge, near Frederick,
Maryland, General Lew Wallace with ten thousand men opposed
the crossing of the Confederates. A sharp conflict ensued, in
which Wallace was routed with heavy loss, and the victorious
army hastened its march on the Federal capital.
The alarm and consternation produced in the North by this
invasion of Maryland and demonstration on their capital was
very great. The Southern army was magnified to thirty thou
sand or forty thousand men, and fears were entertained of the
capture of both Washington and Baltimore. To defend these
cities, the Sixth Corps from Petersburg and part of the Nine
teenth from the far south were hurried to Washington. Finding
the fortifications there too strong to be attacked by his small
force, — never more than twelve thousand, — Early fell back and
recrossed the Potomac in safety.
" This campaign is remarkable for having accomplished more
in proportion to the force employed, and for having given less
public satisfaction, than any other campaign of the war. ... By
glancing at the operations of Early, it will be seen that in less
than two months he had marched more than four hundred miles,
and with a force not exceeding twelve thousand men had not
only defeated but entirely dispersed two Federal armies of an
aggregate strength of more than double his own, had invaded
Maryland, and by his bold and rapid movement upon Wash
ington had created an important diversion in favor of General
Lee in the defence of Richmond, and had re-entered Virginia
with a loss of less than three thousand." *
* Long's " Memoirs of Robert E. Lee," pp. 359, 360.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 363
Writing to his father of this* movement, Sandie Pendleton
said, —
" Of our general route through Maryland you already know,
but to account for our failure to enter Washington it is only
necessary to call to mind the fearful heat of the nth of July.
The dust was insufferable, and men dropped out of ranks by
hundreds from sheer exhaustion, so that when we reached Frank
Blair's, in front of the works, about three o'clock on that Mon
day, there was not a tithe of our men in fit condition for work.
The fortifications of Washington are tremendous, — every hollow
and gully swept by artillery fire from three-inch rifles and Napo
leons, thirty-pounder and one-hundred-pounder Parrotts, as the
distance varied. And besides the militia there were ten thou
sand veteran reserves there, while the Monday's trains from Bal
timore brought the Nineteenth and Sixth Corps. Our force
amounted to about nine thousand infantry and two thousand
cavalry, — Bradley Johnson being off north of Baltimore, — so,
after lying all day in front of Washington, it was undoubtedly
prudent to withdraw, and I think it showed good management
to come off so well."
From Leesburg General Early moved back into the valley,
and at Snicker's Ferry and the old battle-field of Kernstown
was most successful in defeating the forces under Averill and
Crook. In the last of these engagements a number of prisoners
were retaken who had been captured at Winchester on the 20th
in an unfortunate effort made by General Ramseur against the
enemy. Writing of these movements to his father, Colonel Pendleton
says, — " Bunker Hill, August 1, 1864.
" We are encamped just where we lay after the battle of Sharps
burg. It is too terrifically hot for active operations, and both
sides have to keep comparatively quiet. Life must be almost
unbearable where you are, and I expect, though we get no ac
counts of it, that there is much sickness. How did the ration
of fresh beef we sent down taste ? I wish we had more to send.
. . . We punished the Yankees soundly at Snicker's Ferry, and

364 MEMOIRS OF
again at Winchester last Sunday, the 26th. We went on down
to Martinsburg and stayed there a couple of days, and then pro
ceeded to Williamsport and crossed a party of cavalry, which
went to Hagerstown and burned a large quantity of stores. At
the same time (Thursday) we sent two brigades of cavalry, —
two thousand one hundred strong, — under McCausland and
Bradley Johnson, to Chambersburg with orders to return via
Cumberland, bringing out all the cattle, etc., possible. They
were also to collect one hundred thousand dollars in gold or five
hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks to reimburse Alexander
Boteler, Andrew Hunter, and Ed. I. Lee for the burning of their
houses, and in default of the payment their instructions were to
burn the town. The wantonness of burning those three houses
was perfectly diabolical, and I trust we may have the opportunity
to repay Hunter for it. His men hardly suffered enough at
Winchester the other day, — they ran too easily. The rout was
as utter as that of Banks. Our demonstration this time has
brought the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps to Harper's Ferry."
A few days after this General Early again crossed the Poto
mac and took a position between Sharpsburg and Hagerstown.
The boldness of this move caused the appointment of General
Sheridan to supersede Hunter in command of the forces opposing
General Early. Sheridan was reinforced from Grant's army and
immediately began active operations. Early recrossed the Poto
mac into Virginia and fell back slowly up the valley, followed by
the greatly outnumbering enemy. At Fisher's Hill he offered
battle to Sheridan, but that general, instead of attacking, retired
towards Winchester. General Early pursued and attacked the
retreating column, drove them through Winchester, and captured
several hundred prisoners. Lieutenant-General Anderson about
this time joined Early with Kershaw's division, increasing the
Confederate force to some twelve thousand men. Sheridan's
army at the same date numbered forty thousand, ten thousand
of which were excellent cavalry. During the latter part of Au
gust and first half of September the two armies skirmished and
manoeuvred, the Federal object being "to prevent the Southern
army from gaining the rich harvests of the Shenandoah Valley," *
* Swinton's "Army of the Potomac," p. 556.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 365
while General Early endeavored to keep as many troops as pos
sible engaged against him so as to reduce the army operating
against Petersburg and Richmond.
After the explosion of the mine at Petersburg there was a cessa
tion of actual assaults. Both armies strengthened their defensive
works, and as General Grant extended his line on either side from
time to time in his effort to surround Petersburg, General Lee
was forced to oppose him with equally prolonged fortifications.
When Anderson was sent to Early's aid a second attempt was
made against Richmond on the north side of the James. At the
same time a movement was made to take possession of the Wel
don Railroad on the left, southeast of Petersburg. On August 6
General Pendleton wrote, —
"... Here we have nothing new. The opposing armies are
strengthening their works and reducing force for operations else
where. . . . The weather is so very warm and dusty that I really
feel indisposed for any exertion beyond the necessary duties of
my office. These, to be sure, are quite serious every day. First,
a number of administrative papers to be attended to every morn
ing relative to the working of our whole artillery organization ;
then almost every day some part of the line to be visited, guns
to be put in position, works to be examined, etc. ; and when any
body, from the commanding general down, wants information
touching artillery matters, the chief of artillery has to be referred
to. Nothing objectionable in it all. On the contrary, so much
the better. But in extreme heat like this it about uses up one's
available energies." " Thursday, August 18.
"... You see by the papers, if you get them, that Grant is
trying another dodge, making a real effort below Chaffin's Bluff.
General Lee has been over there all the week ; others of us have to
remain here to Secure these lines, and artillery is of the first im
portance for the purpose. To-day the enemy made a little move
again on the Weldon Railroad and tore up a small portion.
Hearing the firing, I rode in that direction. It was only a few
regiments, easily met and driven back. Heavy rain did not allow
them to burn the cross-ties. . . . We are living roughly now, but
it keeps us all in good health. Only two meals a day, and they

366 MEMOIRS OF
such at times as you could not help laughing at : a few scraps of
the fattest bacon, fried, some fried apples, and bread, — corn or
wheat. Corn and tomatoes we sometimes get for dinner. Yes
terday and to-day we have had a little of the valley beef. How
do you all fare ? Hardly well enough, I fear, to keep your bones
covered." " Monday, August 22, 1864.
"... I was quite unwell Saturday and yesterday, lying in bed
at Mr. Lynch's, whose house is only a hundred yards or so from
my camp. It was a slight attack, brought on by indigestible
food, attended, however, with fever. Mr. Lynch had kindly in
vited me, in case I should be sick, to come directly to his house,
and accordingly early Saturday morning, having been right sick
all night, I walked over and soon went to bed. They have been
very kind, and now I am relieved of all disease, though am hardly
strong enough to be out on the field to-day, as I otherwise would
be, for arrangements are in progress for more severe work. The
movement of the enemy towards our right, briefly mentioned in
my last, turns out more serious than then seemed. We have
punished them seriously, but with some loss to ourselves, and yet
they hold the Weldon Railroad in force and strongly intrenched.
. . . We had rather the enemy should not hold that road, as it is
our most convenient route for obtaining Southern corn and other
supplies. His effort on the north side of the James was a com
plete failure. . . .
" I hope my report of Colonel McDonald's case to General Lee
and the President had the effect of causing Crook to be at once
ironed and celled in just retaliation, as I especially asked that such
measures of just severity might be promptly adopted as might
compel the enemy to relax his cruelty in this case as in others.
Certain it is that soon after my letter such measures were adopted
in Colonel McDonald's case." *

* Colonel Angus McDonald, who was upwards of sixty years old, and much dis
abled with rheumatism, had been captured by Hunter and taken to Wheeling. On
August 5 Mrs. Pendleton had written her husband, " I must tell you of a letter Mrs.
McDonald received last night from Colonel McDonald. He wrote with his manacled
wrists from the jail in Cumberland. On the 9th of July he was handcuffed and thrown
into a cell seven feet by ten. A little girl brought him a Bible, and she took the letter
out for him. It is supposed she furnished writing materials. On the back of the letter

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 367
••August 26, 1864.
. " . . . A good success here again yesterday evening. Two
thousand prisoners and eight pieces of artillery captured on the
Weldon Railroad some miles south of the city."
This was the engagement at Reams's Station, where A. P. Hill
drove Hancock from his intrenchments at that point, inflicting
heavy loss upon him. "August 31, 1864.
"... My ride to-day is to be to the heavy battery at  on
James River. From some facts mentioned to me yesterday by
Colonel Baldwin, our chief of ordnance, I think it necessary to ex
amine at once into the state of things there. The chief difficulty
is ague and fever prostrating the men. I was yesterday along the
lines where we have reason to believe that the enemy is mining
again with a view to another blow up. We are tunnelling also,
and can, I think, foil them. . . . You would be interested to witness
the mortar shelling sometimes at night. The shells with their
fuses burning appear like small stars moving through the sky, and
some of them are thrown to such prodigious height that they seem
as if aimed at the very stars. When exploding high in the air the
noise of their disruption is deafening. The Yankees throw some
as large as thirteen inches in diameter, weighing when filled about
two hundred and fifty pounds. These make a report like thun
der when they burst. Frequently they strike the ground without
bursting, and then the depth to which they penetrate into the
hardest soil is astonishing. I had measured day before yester
day several of the enormous cavities they had made and they
were eleven feet deep. One of them falling on a man would
literally, in Scripture language, ' grind him to powder.' "
" September 12.
" Matters quiet here now. ... I had yesterday fine congrega
tions and most attentive. There seemed to be a good spirit pre
vailing. What a privilege it is thus to minister to men in things
pertaining to God ! Saturday, George Peterkin and I were
is a note saying that if the little girl gets the letter to Mrs. McDonald he binds himself
and his heirs to pay her five hundred dollars. He wrote on the 15th of July. It is
horrible to think of."

368 MEMOIRS OF
shielded again by the Almighty arm. Visiting an exposed point
near the enemy's canal across Dutch Gap, we escaped a shell by
perhaps the sixth part of a second. It exploded just behind us
and very close. A moment later for us, or earlier for it, and we
must have been struck. I desire to be daily more grateful and
devoted."

CHAPTER XLI.
DEATH OF COLONEL SANDIE PENDLETON.
The extension of Lee's defensive line to face Grant's aggres
sive movements on both sides of James River necessitated the
recall of Kershaw's division from the valley, which was followed
in a few days by the disastrous battle of Winchester on Septem
ber 1 8. Early's force of eight thousand five hundred infantry
and less than three thousand cavalry was attacked by Sheridan
with more than three times their number. A panic seized a part
of the hardly-marched, weary, and worn Confederate force, and
an overwhelming defeat was the consequence. Early fell back
to Fisher's Hill, from whence he was again driven on the 22d.
Defeat and disgrace was something new to the officers and
men who had fought and marched and gained victory after vic
tory under General Jackson. In a desperate effort to rally a re
treating skirmish line on the evening of the 22d, Colonel Sandie
Pendleton received a mortal wound through the body, and had
to be left at Woodstock in the enemy's lines, where he died on
the 23d.
The career of this beloved son and gallant young officer has
been incidentally given in the preceding chapters of this memoir.
Endowed by nature with unusual powers of acquisition, a clear,
logical mind, and retentive memory, his mental attainments were
remarkable from childhood. Of a joyous, elastic disposition,
and a generous, ardent, but well-controlled temper, and a charm
ing courtesy of manner, he was everywhere popular among his
associates. The wise and watchful training of his father and
mother had not only been directed to his intellectual and moral
culture, but also to his healthy physical development, so that

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 369
from a delicate child and boy he had become a robust, stalwart
man. The medallist of his class at Washington College in his
seventeenth year, he passed with honor the examinations for a
master's degree at the University of Virginia previous to joining
the army in 1861, after a two years' course and several months
before he was twenty-one years old. Stonewall Jackson, who
had known him as a boy in Lexington, appointed him on his
personal staff so soon as he joined the army in 1861. From
that time — first as ordnance officer and aide-de-camp and after
wards as adjutant-general — he was intimately concerned in the
handling of the Second Corps of the Army of Northern
Virginia. Of its long list of hard-fought battles that of Second Manassas
was the only one in which he was not engaged, being at that
time sick at home. This military training at head-quarters, added
to an intuitive knowledge of character and great personal cour
age, soon made him a man of mark among his brother soldiers.
Three efforts to make him a brigadier-general were unsuccessful,
because he set aside his personal ambition to serve his country
where he believed he could be most useful.
It was the habit of General Jackson, when any question arose
as to the personal characteristics and capabilities of any indi
vidual or body of men in his command, to refer the matter to
young Pendleton, saying, " Ask Captain Pendleton. If he don't
know, nobody does." On one occasion, when the tired adjutant
was summoned from his bed after midnight to decide whether a
suspicious person were an authorized scout or a spy, the general
added, " He is the only man I ever knew who always woke up
in a good humor." A fact which had been noted from his
cradle. Having ratified his baptismal vows in confirmation at the age
of sixteen, he presented from that time the attractive character
of a sincere, active, earnest, healthy-minded young Christian.
His design before the war had been to enter the ministry, and he
frequently expressed his intention to carry out that purpose when
peace should return to his country.
How greatly beloved this noble young man was in his home
has been seen in the course of this narrative. The tidings of his
mortal wound came with crushing force. He had been so often
24

370 MEMOIRS OF
shielded in the midst of danger that his friends had come to be
lieve that he bore a charmed life and was destined to come off
unhurt. Information of his being shot and left behind by
Early's retreating army reached his sister, Mrs. Lee, in Staunton,
where she was with her husband. No amount of money or per
suasion could procure a conveyance to take her down the valley
to pass through both armies and minister to his dying hours.
She had therefore to remain in Staunton and communicate the
sorrowful intelligence to her mother, who reached there shortly
after the receipt of the telegram announcing her son's condition.
Mrs. Pendleton was on her way to Petersburg, where she had
been invited by General Pendleton's kind friends the Lynches to
come down and pay him a visit. Instead of continuing her
journey she returned at once to Lexington, accompanied by her
daughter, to carry the mournful story to the other sisters and
the anxious young wife. Language would fail to tell the sorrow
of the stricken household. And the anguish of each heart was
increased by the thought of the loving father cut off in camp
from home sympathy and consolation. How great and yet how
submissive was that father's grief extracts from his letter home
tell : " Richmond, Saturday night, 10.30 p.m.,
September 24, 1864.
" My beloved Wife and Children all, — It has pleased God
to permit a heavy grief to fall upon us. Our dear Sandie, so
severely wounded and far away, where we not only cannot min
ister to his comfort, but cannot learn of hi3 actual condition.
" The uncertainty and suspense render the trial perhaps even
more distressing. From the weight on my own heart I can
judge somewhat what you all feel. But what precious mercy
we have along with the bitter sorrow ! There is a perfectly wise
and kind Father watching over and ministering to our beloved in
his distant suffering, a sympathizing Friend and great Physician
attending unceasingly by his bed of pain, and a sustaining Com
forter ever with him to soothe his spirit with sweet influences of
peace. He is a child of God, a servant of Jesus, a partaker of
the Holy Ghost. It cannot but be well with him. . . . Oh, how
it extracts the bitterness from affliction to know that it is ordered
by our Almighty Father as part of His boundless plan of right-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 37 1
eousness and love ! . . . Shall we not, therefore, submissively
bow under His dealings ? ' Father, not my will, but thine, be
done.' " To the mother's heart I speak first. God may take to Him
self our precious boy. Often as we have failed in our duty to
that dear child, the merciful and gracious Lord has enabled us
to rear him to be under grace an honor to us, a joy to his sisters,
a treasure to his wife, an ornament to society, and a Christian
hero in his country's service. It may be hard to give him up,
should it please the Master to take him to Himself, but shall we
murmur ? Shall we so look upon earthly and perishable inter
ests as to grieve intensely over disappointment there, and fail to
appreciate the priceless blessing granted us in such a child, and
in the heavenly hopes we can cherish as we remember him?
My darling love, I have thought of this, our dear child, as if now
removed from us, with the precious little Robin we buried in his
infancy, and our sainted Lucy, transplanted, as an opening flower
in the sweetness of early bloom, to the garden of the Lord, with
them and with our mothers and others beloved in that home,
that presence, and that likeness where all are satisfied forever.
... If it be the Lord's will to take him, never will my heart
cease to feel the sorrow that on earth I shall see him no more,
but not then for an instant would I wish him back. . . . Would
that I could be with you all for a season now ! . . . We must
wait in spirit together upon the Lord. I go back Monday
morning. Shall probably preach for Peterkin to-morrow."
This letter was written from Dr. Peterkin's, in Richmond, and
the resignation expressed in it was manifested to all around
him. The conversation turning upon his suspense as to his
son's condition, he said, after a pause, " I know he is in God's
hands. If He sees it to be best for him and best for us He will
restore him. But if He sees best He will take him to Himself.
Either way, God's will be done." He then left the room. Mrs.
Peterkin, struck with the peculiar tenderness on the part of the
young men on his staff towards General Pendleton, asked if they
had any certain information. " Yes," they said ; " we know his
son is dead, but we cannot bear to tell him." Great sympathy
was evinced by all for his grief, and General Lee gave him a fur-

372 MEMOIRS OF
lough of two weeks to go to Lexington. On reaching home he
found some of his family buoyed up by a report that Colonel
Pendleton was not dead, but recovering. The false hope thus
cruelly encouraged was ere long proven to be unfounded, and the
mournful particulars of Colonel Pendleton's last hours communi
cated to his wife and family by Mrs. Dr. Murphy, of Woodstock,
at whose house he died.
Multitudes of brave men met their death with unshaken forti
tude, but this dying soldier manifested also the submissive trust
and resignation we have seen his father exhibit. In the midst of
his intense suffering he frequently exclaimed, " It is God's will ;
I am satisfied!" And when informed by the surgeon — his inti
mate friend, Dr. Hunter McGuire — that his wound was mortal,
he insisted that the doctor should not remain with him in the
enemy's lines, but should fall back with the army, where he could
be of so much service. He then sent messages of love and con
solation to his wife, his parents and sisters, and other friends, ex
pressing for them and for himself absolute submission to God's
will. Mrs. Murphy and her daughters were untiring in their care
for him. The Federal surgeons proffered any aid in their power,
but he was beyond human help, and passed away on the evening
of September 23. On the 28th of the same month he would have
completed his twenty-fourth year. His body was laid in the
Lutheran graveyard in Woodstock, and his grave kept covered
with flowers until the latter part of October, when it was removed
to Lexington and buried in the cemetery there.
Whatever comfort sympathy and appreciation of the dead sol
dier could give was lavished upon the sorrowing family. From
every quarter — from generals, officers, and privates, from citizens,
bereaved parents, and prisoners by flag of truce — came letters of
condolence. General Ewell in his to General Pendleton sent an
extract from his report of the Spottsylvania campaign :
" Lieutenant-General Jackson should be hardly less remark
able for his brilliant campaigns than for the judgment he almost
invariably showed in his selections of men.
" It would be difficult, without personal knowledge, to appre
ciate Colonel Pendleton's great gallantry, his coolness and clear
ness of judgment under every trial, his soldier-like and cheerful

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 373
performance of every duty. On one occasion I expressed a wish
to recommend him to a vacant brigade, but he declined, thinking
his services more valuable on the staff."
General Pendleton returned to camp the middle of October.
During his absence the enemy had captured Fort Harrison on
the north side of James River, but had failed to take Fort Gilmer,
commanding the fortifications at Chaffin's Bluff. An effort to
extend his works on the left at Petersburg had also been de
feated, with severe loss. From this time, indeed, to the close of
the year there were only one or two important fights between the
two armies lying so close together, though there was continual
skirmishing and a gradual extension of the enveloping intrench-
ments. The success of his general plan satisfied the Federal
commander-in-chief to rest in comparative quiet before Lee's
army, and leave Sherman and Thomas in the South and West,
and Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, to carry out the part
committed to them, — desolating the country and cutting off any
possibility of supplies for Lee's army. Intercourse and aid from
the outside world was also to be prevented by the capture of
Fort Fisher, defending the harbor at Wilmington, North Caro
lina, the only port remaining to the Southern Confederacy.
General J. E. Johnston in Georgia, having felt compelled to
fall back from place to place before Sherman's greatly superior
army, had been relieved from his command in July, and his army
turned over to General Hood. Hood, in his turn, was out
numbered and utterly defeated by Thomas in Tennessee, while
Sherman's army, without let or hinderance, laid Georgia waste,
fulfilling literally the description of the Hebrew prophet, " The
land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a
desolate wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them." *
Disaster after disaster also befell Early's command in the val
ley. From the first it had been opposed to three or four times its
own numbers. The men were worn down with marching and
fighting, and destitute of the bare necessaries of life. Weary,
hungry, ragged, and foot-sore, we must not censure them too
severely for their eagerness to obtain the spoils of the Federal
* Joel ii. 3.

374 MEMOIRS OF
camp at Cedar Creek on October 19, after having surprised and
routed the force stationed there. Nor is it surprising that, when
in their turn attacked, they became panic-stricken, and in their
headlong retreat lost guns, prisoners, arms, and, worse than all,
their self-confidence and prestige. After this victory Sheridan
proceeded to burn, devastate, and destroy everywhere with the
most ruthless hand, and when his barbarous work was done,
congratulated himself, his superior officer, and his country upon
his pitiless prowess. The future historian must class Sherman in
Georgia and Sheridan in Virginia with Turenne in the Palatinate,
and marvel that, with all the advancement of science and free
thought, the boasted civilization of the nineteenth century should
have given to the republic of the United States of America the
same brutal policy and relentless execution of vengeance as was
enforced by the French despotism two hundred years before.
Amidst all this disheartening defeat elsewhere the army at
Petersburg continued to maintain a dauntless front, though its
numbers were constantly depleted by sickness and the casualties
of battle, with no possibility of increase, its hardships and depri
vations ever becoming greater and greater, and its labors incessant
and exhausting.
Of the progress of events from week to week General Pendle
ton will tell. His own part in the continued defence and the
evidences of his spiritual advancement in those days of trial and
bereavement will also be best learned from his letters.
" Head-quarters Artillery Corps, near Petersburg,
Sunday night, October 16, 1864.
" I wrote you a hurried letter yesterday morning giving a brief
account of my journey and arrival at camp. After sending it I
rode out to examine into the condition of the artillery on the lines
here. My ride was long. Everything appeared well. The enemy
has extended his lines several miles west, and ours have been cor
respondingly stretched in that direction. They are well adjusted.
. . . This morning I devoted to preparing my sermon, and just be
fore ten started with Barnwell, Cooke, and Dandridge for Pegram's
quarters, five miles off. A large congregation was assembled.
They seemed devout and attentive, and God's blessing, I trust,
was granted. As agreed yesterday, we stayed to dinner. On

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 375
returning I found notes from George Peterkin and Dudley taking
it for granted I would move over to the north side of the James,
but one also from General Lee saying he thought it advisable for
me to remain in charge of the artillery on our lines around Peters
burg. This, therefore, I shall do ; but as everything seems quiet
just here at present, I must ride over in the morning and see
General Lee, there being some matters in which it will be well for
me to consult him.
" Pegram talked with me about our beloved Sandie. He was
with him at the University ; told me he was universally admired
and beloved; said his devout Christian spirit was conspicuous
then ; that he was the most influential student at the institution,
taking the lead in all good works." " October 16.
" Although it is late, and I have had a busy day, I must indulge
myself in writing. I got back this evening from the north side
of the James. Yesterday I rode along our line to the river;
crossed at Chaffin's ; dined at General Lee's head-quarters. To
day we examined the lines over there ; very safe, I think. My
staff all back here with me. It is now some time past ten, and
mortar shelling is making the region re-echo."
Among General Pendleton's private papers there was found,
after his death, a correspondence relating to the dining at General
Lee's mentioned above. The notes are given here as strikingly
characteristic of the two writers :
" Head-quarters Artillery Corps, October 19, 1864.
" My dear General, — I have been so disturbed by an omission
which occurred when I had the privilege of dining with you day
before yesterday that I feel bound to write a brief note of apology,
if it were, as is not unlikely, a misunderstanding of my own. It
was the failure on my part to ask a blessing at the table. I ex
pected to do so, and awaited your request to that effect, but did not
notice one by sign or word. I may, however, have overlooked
such intimation from you, or you may have taken for granted I
would without it say grace. Or you may have for the time for
gotten my sacred office under the military relations in which we
commonly meet. In such case, however, you would, I suppose,

376 MEMOIRS OF
have officiated yourself. At any rate, there was, I infer, some mis
understanding ; and although not one of the more important
matters of life, I would not have it pass on my own part unex
plained. " Let me also for once take occasion so far to lay aside the
restraints of military etiquette as to assure you of the sincere
personal friendship which I feel for yourself, and the fervent
prayer with which I more than daily commend you to God's
gracious guidance and blessing.
" Believe me most truly your friend,
" W. N. Pendleton.
"General R. E. Lee,
" Commanding Army Northern Virginia!'
" Chaffin's, October 21, 1864.
" My dear General, — I have received your note of the 19th.
I had expected you to ask a blessing on our table, and turned to
you with that view. It was my fault, I think, in not making a
more pointed request, which I should have done. Finding you
apparently preparing to take your seat I failed to request your
office, and, as is very frequently the case with me at our informal
camp meals, offered a silent petition of thanks.
" I reciprocate in the fullest manner your feelings of friendship,
which has always been to me a source of pleasure, and am deeply
obliged to you for your fervent, pious prayers in my behalf. No
one stands in greater need of them. My feeble petitions I dare
hardly hope will be answered. " Very truly yours,
"R. E. Lee.
" General W. N. Pendleton,
" Commanding Artillery, Army Northern Virginia.
" Unofficial."
To his wife he wrote constantly of their son.
" Thursday night, October 20, 1864.
" This day has, if possible, brought our dear child and you all
more vividly and constantly before me. It was this day four
weeks that he received his death-wound. . . . Our fallen nature
finds it hard to realize how blessed they are whom God pre-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. ffl
pares and takes to Himself, and how peacefully we may walk
with Him even in sorrow while waiting all the days of our ap
pointed time. ... To dwell on the loss and on the trying circum
stances of his removal, as there is some natural tendency in my
mind, would so accumulate grief as to render it painful beyond
expression and unfit me for duty. Such indulgence, therefore, I
know is not right. ... It seems to me you may, as I try to realize
myself, find pleasing solaces in many natural scenes. The sweet
blue heavens speak of where the beloved of our hearts is now
rejoicing ; the lovely landscape, with its varied beauties, tells of
scenes far more exquisite in which his ransomed spirit from
henceforth delights, and where we may hope to join him in
sacred joy." . . . " Sunday morning, October 30.
" The movements of the enemy here on Thursday and Friday
prevented my making the engagement for service with some
troops as I intended. . . . The satisfaction of having our dear
son's remains suitably disposed where they will be likely to remain
undisturbed, and where ourselves and others who valued him can
visit his honored grave, is a cause for thankfulness. But the
incidents connected with that removal and reinterment could not
but be to you all a reopening of the sources of sorrow, while the
denial to myself of the privilege of sharing with you this sad
tribute to our beloved has been to me a hard sacrifice of domestic
to public duty." . . .
In the next extract given we learn that he wished a sketch of
this beloved son to be prepared, and also how so very many of
his papers and letters were preserved. " November 6.
" About our dear child's memoirs you must all do just what
you severally feel able and inclined to do. Among my vast piles
of papers left with Cousin Mildred Taylor at Orange Court-
House, when we marched on this campaign the ist of May, there
are all the letters he wrote me from time to time for the last two
or three years up to the present campaign. I wish to have all
those packages taken home as soon as I can, and then the dear
child's letters all gathered out, examined, and used as may be
best." . . .

378 MEMOIRS OF
" November 28.
" I am rejoiced that you have arranged for a supply of wood.
It is very wise, costly though it be. Wood for our poor fellows
on the lines is a great problem. No wagon can approach them,
and yet it takes a vast deal. Think of men wet and cold, with
precarious fire, without good shelter, and liable to be shot at any
hour day or night ! Yet they get along surprisingly. I was
both pleased and pained in my walk along the trenches yester
day. Am off again presently. . . . How my heart does cling to
you all ! Our dear Sandie seems as much in my thoughts as the
first week of our mourning, and with an inexpressible sense of
loss. He comes before me in many different scenes : as in his
boyhood, student life, and in the army ; when he and I went to
Moss Neck ; as he stood before me with his beloved bride ; as
we were at home together last winter. But I must try to think
more of him as rejoicing in the Master's likeness and presence,
and awaiting us all there. These habitual thoughts of him are
directly connected with you all. My life is, as it were, a double
one, — with you in spirit, here in necessary business and bodily
presence." " Thursday night, December 8.
" I occupy a little time to-night in writing. I had to be so
hurried this morning because General Lee had sent for me. I
went over, and learned from him of certain movements of the
enemy which required corresponding arrangements on our part.
My share in them kept me out all day. Part of the time was
under pretty severe mortar shelling. . . . Must tell you of my
trip to Richmond to meet Sue and General Edwin. Her letter
did not reach me, but yours of Friday came in time to enable me
to take the cars at 2.30 p.m. on Monday. I thus reached Rich
mond some time before them. From Mrs. Bransford's, where I
promised to stay, I went to the train and met the travellers.
The next day we were a good deal together, though each had
something special to do. I saw the President and Secretary of
War. The President quite sick with neuralgia. Tuesday night
I stayed at Dr. Williams's. The travellers had to be off yester
day morning at seven, — so we had breakfast at 6.30. I accom
panied them to the cars, and took leave as the train started,
commending them to God's gracious care. . . . The President

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 379
talked with me about our dear son. Said what a loss he was to
the country as well as to us. If this world were all, or chief,
what a strange dispensation would be the removal of one every
way so superior ! But in view of the heavenly world to which he
is exalted, it is no longer perplexing. That fine disposition,
those noble endowments and attainments, and the consecrating
grace which rendered him through the Mediator acceptable to
God, find freer and happier scope in the blessed sphere to which
he is advanced. Sure of this, we can combat the sadness, and
find more than comfort in the certainty for him and the hope for
ourselves." " December 14.
" The movements to which I have alluded in my recent letters
have pretty much subsided, without much result on either side.
The enemy made a great effort to destroy the Weldon Railroad,
but were so pressed by our forces that they did but little damage,
— tearing up some ten miles of the track, though burning no
important bridge. We hoped A. P. Hill might destroy the col
umn thus engaged, but either we were too slow or the inclement
weather rendered it impossible. The enemy returned and so did
our troops. There is still, however, some excitement along the
lines and everybody kept on the alert." " December 1 7.
"I send Mary Williams's note, giving the joyful intelligence
that Sue and General Edwin got out from Wilmington safely." *
" December 19.
"At present everything looks quiet here, although there is
random cannonading every day and picket skirmishing day and
night. On Friday, while George Peterkin and myself were on
the lines examining an important point, a severe cannonade broke
* General Edwin Lee had been sent to Canada to carry out some instructions pri
vately given him with regard to matters believed to be of much importance to the
Southern Confederacy. Feeble health prevented his doing active work in the field or
the trenches, but it was believed that his sagacity and prudence, combined with his
readiness of resource and absolute fearlessness, rendered him capable for the work
assigned him. He was therefore given a sick furlough, and directed to proceed to
Montreal and obey the verbal orders received in Richmond. He was permitted to
take his wife, if the officers and crew on one of the blockade-running vessels would
let her go, — some of them being superstitiously averse to having a woman on board.

380 MEMOIRS OF
out, and though no shots came very near us, one of our artillery
officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Moseley, was instantly killed by a
shell, which took off his head, and several soldiers were wounded
at the same time.
" Thus it is, and will probably be all winter.
" Yesterday morning the Yankees fired one hundred guns, and
some of them called over to our pickets boasting that Sherman
had captured Savannah. I take for granted it is so. It is a
serious blow to us and will give much trouble. Sherman ought
to have been effectually dealt with on his march, and this might
have been but for Hood's ill-judged circuit into Tennessee.
The President was, I learn, as much amazed as everybody else at
that strange manoeuvre of Hood's, and shocked to find he had
left all Georgia at Sherman's mercy. The removal of General
Johnston will turn out, I fear, a very great and lasting injury to
us, as he would certainly not have committed this blunder. The
breach between the President and himself is too wide, I am
afraid, to be healed. . . . After all, however, none of these special
losses need cast us down. If we are right, as I believe, God
will in the end bring good out of the struggle, whether He
gratify us or not in the particular form of the result. And while
I greatly desire the full achievement of our independence, I am
willing to leave the issue to supreme wisdom, meanwhile trying
to do present duty as far as I can see it."
General Pendleton was greatly desirous to get home for a few
days at Christmas, especially to baptize a little grandson born
after his father's death. Finding it impossible for him to obtain
leave of absence at that time, he wrote, —
" Thursday night, December 22, 1864.
" You will all be grievously disappointed, as I am, that I can
not get home. General Lee says the enemy is so active every
where that he deems my absence inexpedient. Language cannot
describe my feelings of distress under the privation, and espe
cially that I am debarred the privilege of formally dedicating that
dear little Sandie to God in His own ordinance of baptism. . . .
I had saddle-bags packed and everything ready to start, only
awaiting the furlough from General Lee on his return from

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 38 1
Richmond, where he had been for a couple of days, when his
note came desiring to see me. I went. He wishes me to in
spect to-morrow the heavy batteries at Chaffin's Bluff. So I
have before me that cold ride, for it has turned very cold. That,
however, is a trifle. As I cannot get to you, duty here is best,
no matter how uncomfortable."

Christmas-day brought him additional bad news. Writing
home on that day, he says, —

" May the Infinite mercy commemorated this day fill our
hearts with peaceful gratitude amid the trials in which the season
finds us ! Surely we are blessed with abundant privileges still,
though it has pleased God to lay His hand upon our joys. . . .
Yesterday I was engaged all day in carefully examining the
works at Chaffin's, — so important if the Yankee ironclads come
up through their canal. About seven p.m. we returned to camp,
— fifteen miles. As our cook had gone home I had poor pros
pect for supper, and sent to Mrs. Lynch to be so kind as to give
me a little bread. Immediately one of the boys came to insist
on my going there to supper. On getting back I found two
letters, one from a major of artillery asking of me Christian
counsel, as being, to his feeling, chief of artillery in that respect,
as well as in the military relation ; the other from Walker's
daughter Nannie, begging me to aid them in a great distress.
The Yankees have been there and carried Walker off. He is
quite infirm and could not ride on horseback, so had to walk,
she says, about thirty-six miles, which he could illy do. The
wretches ! Will not God visit them for such abominations ? I
will write to Mr. Ould, but exchanges are not made for citizens
thus abducted."

In a visit to Richmond a few weeks before he had met this
beloved brother, and had written of him, " Walker and I slept
together. He has hardly a gray hair in his head, and altogether
he looks from six to ten years younger than I, but in point of
activity and vigor he is considerably behind me."

382 MEMOIRS OF
" Monday morning, December 26, 1864.
" Having written yesterday I should not do so again, but as
this is a day of special significance to me in my highest relations,
I feel drawn to a special communication with you. I am to-day
fifty-five years old, and the remembrance brings up the past with
its privileges and its sins, its joys and its sorrows, and points to
the future with its trials and mercies, its uncertainty and end.
The most amazing fact that strikes me in the retrospect is that
so much favor has been granted to one so unworthy."
The letters of this period are short, and usually written hur
riedly, on account of the pressure of office-work during the time
not spent in riding and inspection on the lines.
The narrative of the events of 1864, as connected with Gen
eral Pendleton, cannot be better brought to a conclusion than by
quoting a paragraph from his official report for that period :
" In the whole of the eventful campaign of 1 864 the artillery
of the Army of Northern Virginia bore a distinguished part, and
in every portion of the widely-extended field of operation ren
dered signal service. ... It has everywhere and at all times
proved reliable, how great soever the emergency. In the wildest
fury of battle, under ceaseless harassment and exposure from
sharp-shooters and shelling on the lines, on the toilsome march,
amid all the hardships of the trenches, through summer, fall,
and winter, and when steadily breasting the tide of reverse
against friends unnerved or overpowered and foes flushed with
triumph, the brave officers and men of this branch of our army
have almost without exception exemplified the very highest vir
tues of Christian soldiers battling for their faith, their honor, and
their homes."
The members of his staff at this time were Captain Dudley
D. Pendleton, assistant adjutant-general; Lieutenant George W.
Peterkin and acting Lieutenant Charles Hatcher, aides-de-camp ;
Captain John Esten Cooke and Lieutenant E. P. Dandridge, as
sistant inspector-generals ; Major John G. Barnwell, ordnance
officer; Dr. John Graham, surgeon; Major John Page, quarter-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 383
master ; and of them he reports, " It is but just that I should say
they have uniformly discharged their duties with faithful alacrity
and to my entire satisfaction."

CHAPTER XLII.
OPENING WEEKS OF 1 865  SHERIDAN'S ADVANCE UP THE VALLEY.
1865 opened with gloomy prospects for the Southern cause.
Sherman's devastating " march to the sea" had cut off all possi
bility of aid from the Gulf States in the way of either men or
supplies. The troops which were constantly forced to fall back
before his host were consequently disheartened and demoralized.
Hood's unfortunate advance into Tennessee only added to the
discouragement and loss everywhere so distressing. Upon Lee's
army around Petersburg seemed to hang the only hope for any
prolonged struggle and ultimate success. That army was now,
as never before in its severest experience, suffering for food, fire,
and clothing. Every day also added to the hardships and diffi
culties of the people of Virginia, and many a brave soldier felt
his heart fail him at the knowledge that his wife and little ones
were in absolute want. Sheridan's wholesale pillage and wanton
destruction of everything in his progress through the valley of
Virginia had left that fair region utterly impoverished and the
inhabitants reduced to destitution, — unable to provide for their
own necessities, much less to send any material assistance to their
defenders. For a while the severity of the winter kept the armies in front
of Petersburg comparatively quiet, but the utmost vigilance was
required to defend the long lines of intrenchments around Peters
burg against sudden assault by the overwhelming numbers of
the besieging army. The artillery was in constant use day and
night, and General Pendleton's work in superintending and direct
ing that arm of the service was incessant. With the opening of
spring active operations must be resumed, and the almost impos
sible task of getting horses in proper condition and men in suffi
cient numbers to serve the batteries in the field weighed heavily
upon him.

384 MEMOIRS OF
His personal anxieties that his family might be kept in some
comfort were also increased by the information already referred
to, that his beloved brother Walker had been captured at his
home in Richmond County by a marauding expedition up the
Rappahannock, which had committed many outrages, — burning
houses and hauling off old men to prison. Dr. Pendleton's in
firm health had for years unfitted him for active exercise, and the
knowledge that he had been forced to march many miles at the
point of the bayonet, was subjected to hardship and cruelty he
was so unable to stand, and that his wife and daughters were left
without support or protection, was an additional trouble to his
loving brother. No definite information as to the whereabouts
and circumstances of the prisoner could be obtained, and when,
after several months' detention, he returned home, he was so ab
solute a wreck, both in body and mind, that he could give no
satisfactory account of his sufferings and experience. But they
killed him. He died in a few weeks, without ever comprehend
ing the fact of Lee's surrender and that the cause, to which he
was an innocent martyr, had failed.
Where incessant vigilance was demanded from every one, it
was impossible for General Pendleton to leave his post of duty.
He therefore made arrangements for his wife and daughter to
pay the visit to their kind friends the Lynches, which had been
so sadly interrupted by his son's death. Mrs. Pendleton had
received into her household in Lexington her nephew, Frank
Page, and several other boys, sons of relatives and friends, who
wished to attend the grammar school at Washington College.
These youths were a protection and help to the family of ladies,
and their presence in the house enabled the mistress to be away
for a while, and she and her daughter Mary went to Petersburg
towards the last of January.
General Pendleton's letters shall again speak for him.
" January 2, 1865.*
" A happy New Year to you all in a spiritual sense, if under
affliction it cannot be so in an earthly sense. We cannot expect
* The letters of this period are not only very short, on account of incessant work
and interruptions, but have dropped to pieces, or become almost illegible from the
wretched materials used.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 385
to retain our earthly blessings, and may well find our chief hap
piness in those which are spiritual and unfailing. ... It is very
cold, but my tent is comfortable. As I listen to the picket-firing
at night, and sometimes at all hours of the night, I deeply feel
for the poor fellows there meeting death in one of its most dis
tressing forms. Several have been found frozen to death at their
posts when comrades went to relieve them, — one reason, no
doubt, insufficiency of nourishing food." "January 10.
"... We have had here last night and to-day an extraordi
nary rain. Such an outpouring from the skies has not occurred,
I think, for two years. You have probably had your share in
Lexington. I have thought of you and of the leaks in the roof.
How do you get along with them ? Yesterday brought me a
letter from Walker's daughter Nannie, of the 2d. They had not
heard from him, and had no expectation of his being released."
To his daughter, Mrs. Lee, he wrote, — "January II.
"Your letter from Nassau of December 16 reached me last
week, and gave me great pleasure from the assurance that Gen
eral Edwin and yourself were thus far safe. I had not suffered
much from anxiety on your account, as somehow I had the
feeling you would be taken care of. Still, it is a comfort to hear
that you are so far at least safe from Yankee outrage. The
perils of the sea are, in my estimation, as nothing in comparison
with even a moderate risk of falling into their hands. . . . You
must try, my daughter, and enjoy your foreign sojourn, so far, at
least, as not to lose the benefits of it intellectually as well as
physically. The sadness we all feel at the untimely removal of
dear Sandie, although natural, ought not to be indulged, because
it is too far a selfish condition of thought and feeling. We are
almost as sure of his being, through the all-sufficiency of his
Saviour and ours, in heaven as we are that so blessed an abode
has been prepared for God's servants. And this assurance, rightly
cherished, may well authorize the most cheerful state of heart we
can cultivate.
" At home they have, besides the sorrow which we all thus
feel, the additional cares growing out of your absence, General
Edwin's health, my absence and exposure, and their helpless
25

386 MEMOIRS OF
state without any adequate male guardian at hand, and yet they
seem right cheerful. They were all well when your mamma wrote.
The baby, she says, improving rapidly."
Of this beloved little grandson Mrs. Pendleton had written, —
" The baby grows amazingly, and is certainly very sweet and
intelligent-looking, and jumps almost out of your arms. I shall
be curious to see what turn of mind he is of, for the chief objects
of interest to him are things, not persons. He springs at the
mantel-piece and doors and curtains and spreads his broad mouth
as if charmed. He will be a natural philosopher, I expect, and
not a philanthropist." "January 12, 1865.
" My darling Lel, — Although I have time this morning for
only a hurried letter, I must write and address it to you, as your
proper turn. Yesterday I went to General Lee's on business,
and although nothing was said about my getting home at this
time, I become satisfied that it is best for me not now to think
more of it. The burden on him is so heavy that those on whom
he at all leans ought to help him to bear it as well as they can.
" I want your ma and Mol to come now as soon as they can,
having a due regard to you all at home, as well as to my
happiness in their society. I reckon they had better come by
Staunton. If butter can be gotten, Mr. Lynch wants to buy
some in Rockbridge. He will not stand on price much. I
reckon all that can be gotten up to forty or fifty pounds he
would like to have, provided it can be bought. They had
better take with them a good supply of provisions for the way,
so as to save expense while keeping comfortable. Tell your ma
I don't want her to delay about my clothes. Indeed, I am rather
inclined to think it best not to have the cloth cut yet awhile. I
reckon she had better bring all the letters, etc., bearing on our be
loved Sandie's memoir. Any of his to me not sent home are in the
packages of papers I took home last winter. I trust, my daughter,
the rest of you can be comfortable while your ma and Mol pay
me this visit. I would not selfishly take them from you, but it
will be right and proper, I think, for us all. To-day is a sweet,
bright day after an immense rain. I never saw more water fall
in the same time. The streams are very high, and that is the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 387
reason why I shrink from the canal route for them. The reason
why I am so hurried is that I have a great deal of office-writing to
do now. Have already this morning written three business-letters,
and was up last night past twelve on my report of last year's
campaign. Your ma has never mentioned getting the remittance
I sent her for your brother Edwin in behalf of Mrs. McDonald.
I suppose it arrived safely, — two hundred and fifty dollars the
amount. I would send her a check for their trip, but I suppose
she has funds since the return of the boys. If she has not she
must borrow, and I will remit it immediately. The butter for
Mr. Lynch need not be paid for until she gets down and she
gives a check. This is a poor letter for you, my dear, — so many
little details of business, — but the case being as it is there is no
remedy." " January 18.
" Before this reaches Lexington you will have seen the report
of another disaster to our cause in the fall of Fort Fisher.
Whether Wilmington will fall remains to be seen. By looking
at the map you will see that Wilmington is some distance from
the sea, while Fort Fisher is on a point of the beach jutting out
at the mouth of Cape Fear River, which is said to be obstructed
and pretty strongly defended. The chief advantage of the town
to us, now that blockade-running from it is cut off, consists in its
being the point of junction of one or two of our railroads. But we
still have an interior line. This interior line from the South by
which we get corn, especially for our army, passes through Dan
ville and Greensborough and Charlotte, North Carolina, and Co
lumbia, South Carolina, to Kingsville, and thence to Branchville,
South Carolina, where it meets the railroad between Charleston
and Augusta ; and it is this point, Branchville, towards which it
seems Sherman is directing his steps. His getting it will cut us
off from railroad communication with Georgia and the States be
yond and give us still more trouble. . . . All this, my daughter,
I write that you may see on the map what is going on."
From these letters we learn that whenever the weather and the
constant duty of the men in the trenches permitted a congregation
to be gathered, General Pendleton was glad of such opportunity to
preach. When such ministration was impracticable he attended.

388 MEMOIRS OF
church in Petersburg, where he was always urged to take part in
the service.
Mrs. Pendleton and her daughter, accompanied by Mrs. John
Page, spent several weeks at Mr. Lynch's, receiving great kind
ness from their hospitable hosts. The house was distant from
General Pendleton's tent only a few hundred yards, and about
two and a half miles from Petersburg. Two roads led to the
city, and it not infrequently happened that when driving into
town they would find the bridges too dangerous from fierce
shelling and be warned by the pickets that they could not pass.
In wet weather the mud kept the armies stationary, and when a
freeze hardened the roads it also froze up the rivers, and so pre
vented the approach of the gunboats, which frequently shelled
Lee's lines near the James and Appomattox Rivers. On such
occasions Miss Pendleton took several long rides to points on the
line too much exposed in ordinary for such a venture. The ap
pearance of the country — everywhere torn up by trenches and
earthworks, and of the abandoned dwelling-houses riddled by
shot and dismantled by the soldiers — was sad and desolate in the
extreme. The Lynches were rich people, accustomed to exercise a boun
tiful hospitality, and desirous to extend every comfort to their
guests, but the utmost that they could provide was fare more
indifferent than any but war-times would have made endurable.
Corn-bread, black-eyed peas, and bacon were the staple articles
of food, with an occasional fowl, a dish of dried apples, and some
homely dessert compounded with sorghum molasses. The ra
tions served to men and officers were a little coarse corn-meal —
too coarse to be palatable and too scanty to allow of sifting — and
a very diminutive piece of fat bacon.* In the case of officers this
scant provision was divided at once, and half of the meal and
meat given to the negro servant. Often there was no salt to
season the wretched meal. Those troops which were stationed
immediately " on the lines" had a small ration of coffee, and as
General Pendleton was constantly on the front he got his share,
and this furnished the only coffee for the Lynch household.
Miss Pendleton happened one morning to see the breakfast car-
• * Not over a quarter of a pound.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 389
ried into Captain John Esten Cooke's * tent, — two batter-cakes
and a snow-bird !
During this visit General Pendleton was many hours of each
day out on the lines, constantly riding from point to point giving
supervision to artillery matters, besides discharging a great
amount of office-work, but he was able to spend the evenings at
Mr. Lynch's, and always concluded the day with prayers. Mr.
Lynch used to say, " General Pendleton is a good enough Pres
byterian for me when he gets on his knees."
On Sunday, February 5, having accompanied his wife and
daughter to Dr. Piatt's church, that gentleman called upon him
to assist in administering the Holy Communion. General Robert
E. Lee also was at church, and took a seat in the pew beside
Miss Pendleton. Towards the close of the sermon a note was
brought to him by an officer. He read it, but made no move
until the communicants were summoned to the Holy Table. To
the surprise of the congregation, General Lee was the first person
to go up to the chancel-rail. Having received the sacred ele
ments, he remained a. moment on his knees, then arose, returned
to his seat for his hat and gloves, and passed quickly out of the
building. Sad news had thus hastily summoned the devout com
mander. An advance of the enemy on the right had seized the
Confederate position on Hatcher's Run, and the gallant General
Pegram had been killed in a desperate but unsuccessful attempt
to dislodge them.
The unsuccessful errand of the Peace Commissioners, who had
been sent about this time to confer with Mr. Lincoln and ascertain
whether there were any possible terms on which an honorable
peace could be established between the warring sections of the
land, greatly dashed the hopes and anticipations of many persons
in the South. Scarcely any, however, were willing to submit to
Mr. Lincoln's demand for unconditional surrender, and Mr. Da
vis's spirited proclamation aroused anew the patriotism and zeal
of the Southern army and people. To take advantage of this
revived enthusiasm, and to extricate his destitute and diminishing
army from the destructive cordon within which Grant was en
deavoring to enclose it, General Lee was now desirous to with-
* The distinguished novelist and historian.

390 MEMOIRS OF
draw secretly from Petersburg and, abandoning the defence of
Richmond, at least for a time, to establish the army towards the
southwest in the hill country, where the mountains of Virginia,
North Carolina, and Tennessee would prevent its being sur
rounded, and where he could gather to it many detached bodies
of troops at present of little avail.
Of this contemplated withdrawal of the Southern army General
Pendleton wrote in 1873, —
" Weeks before his forced evacuation of the Petersburg lines
our resolute but discerning commander, finding that his force
could not be strengthened as he desired, reached the conclusion
that it was unwise longer to remain there, and silently made
arrangements for getting away. The artillery arm, for the man
agement of which I was, under him, chiefly responsible, being in
such movement most difficult of withdrawal, I was sent for by the
general, and received from him confidential disclosure of his plan
and corresponding instructions. ... In accordance with instruc
tions looking to such an endeavor the artillery was, as far as
possible, at once mobilized."
The enemy's success at Hatcher's Run added another proof
that it would not be much longer possible for the ill-fed and de
pleted army of defence to hold out against Grant's legions. For
days — in sleet and snow and rain, exposed to pelting storm as
well as leaden hail — the Southern soldiers were under arms and
that almost without food. There was "no meat" reported the
Confederate commissary.
To carry out this plan for change of base General Lee directed
the accumulation of provisions at other points, especially Amelia
Court-House, and sent thither all his surplus material.* Look
ing forward to such a move, it was expedient to send away all
visitors from the vicinity of the army, and Mrs. Pendleton and
party left Mr. Lynch's, and his family quickly followed, having no
mind to stay where it was unsafe for other ladies to remain. After
a brief stop in Hanover County, Mrs. Pendleton and her daughter
took the cars for Staunton, where they arrived on the evening of
* Long's " Life of Lee."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 391
February 29, to find the little town in dire alarm and distress.
Early's small force at Rockfish Gap had just been dispersed or
captured by Sheridan's powerful cavalry, and the whole valley
lay at the mercy of that ruthless invader.
Staunton swarmed with paroled prisoners and the advance-
guard of the enemy, whose whole force was approaching. For
fear of capture all male citizens and horses had taken refuge in
the mountains, and there was no possibility of getting on to Lex
ington. Stay at the hotel was equally impracticable, and Mrs.
Pendleton's dilemma would have been alarming but for the great
kindness shown her by the family of Rev. Richard H. Phillips.
Mr. Phillips had been compelled to leave, but Mrs. Phillips took
her friends to her house and made them as comfortable as the
troublous time and their own anxieties permitted.
General Lee's intention to leave the trenches at Petersburg
was overruled by the Confederate authorities in Richmond, and
so while Mrs. Pendleton was cut off from communication with
her family for two weeks, although only forty miles away, her
husband heard from them regularly. From his daughter Rose
he learned of private difficulties as well as public calamities
harassing them. A thief had, on a stormy night, ripped off the
back of the smoke-house and stolen almost the whole of the
supply of bacon, the only meat they had to depend upon for
feeding a family consisting of six white females, four school-boys,
and seven negro servants, several of the latter being old and
infirm. General Pendleton did not know of his wife's detention in
Staunton, while she, on her part, remained ignorant of the loss
of her precious supply of meat. Writing March 2, 1865, General
Pendleton says, —
" Deeply have I felt for you the last six hours, since getting
Rose's letter telling of the robbery last Thursday night. When
I first learned of this loss I felt dismayed, for I could not think
how you could be supplied again. But further consideration has
quieted my mind, and I have already taken some steps towards
your relief. I have written a letter jointly to Mr. James White,
Mr. Tutwiler, and Mr. Steele, requesting their friendly agency
towards having you all supplied with meat and with the addi-

392 MEMOIRS OF
tional flour you will need. I tell them I will pay either in Confed
erate money or in current funds after the war what they may
agree upon as proper. . . . My chief anxiety now is lest you
should so harass yourself as to break down your health again.
. . . Dear Rose ! How she suffered from the feeling of respon
sibility at this loss ! But she did her best. My love to them all.
How I wish I could have the darling baby in my arms !"
On March 12 his daughter Rose wrote, —
" The stage from Staunton has not yet come, and it is thought
will not be in before to-morrow night. I wrote you that mamma
had sent me word to send for her. I sent the boys to inquire for
any sort of a vehicle, and they could procure none, and, even if one
could have been gotten, the cost of going and coming from Staun
ton would have been very nearly, if not quite, four hundred dollars.
So on the whole I think it is a great deal better to wait until a way
is opened. I have heard of no opportunity to send them a letter,
and we hear nothing from them. I don't think mamma has ever
heard of the loss of the bacon, and am very glad your letters are
here to comfort her when she does hear of it. The whole county
is suffering in the same way. I am very much afraid the gentle
men you wrote to will not be able to procure the bacon for you
here. There has been a meeting held to contribute supplies for
General Lee's army. The people will, I think, be much more dis
posed to contribute liberally than they would have been some time
ago, for they are in a state of uncertainty about the coming of the
Yankees. This county has been very heavily drained to feed
General Early's army for many months."
On March 15 Mrs. Pendleton announced her safe arrival at
home, having been obliged to leave her baggage in Staunton.
Her letters of the next few weeks show her desire to lighten her
husband's anxieties about her means of subsistence :
" The gentlemen you wrote to have all called to say that they
will do anything for me. Mr. Steele said he was going about to
hunt up provisions for General Lee's army, and would see what
he could do. ... I am not yet entirely out of meat, and I can

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 393
get eggs occasionally for six dollars. Butter is twelve dollars.
I am mistress of about five and a half barrels of flour and about
twenty bushels of corn, so that present necessities are provided for.
As soon as the weather will permit I shall have the garden done
up. Where do you think I expect to get garden-seed from ?
The Lunatic Asylum ! They gave me peas and snaps and
promised me cabbage-plants."
Through the liberality of a friend, who had heard of the great
loss sustained by General Pendleton's family in the theft of their
provisions, the general received from a fund sent over by an Eng
lish sympathizer several English guineas. These he immediately
transmitted to his wife by the hand of his friend and neighbor,
'Colonel Reid, who carried up the precious gold in a pill-box in
his pocket. The knowledge that she had even a small quantity
of gold was a comfort to him, and he gave her many hints and
directions for making her garden and lots as productive as pos
sible, and in one of his last brief letters from Petersburg, March
22, says, —
" Colonel Thomas Carter goes to Lynchburg in the morning,
and I send by him a package of garden-seed to Colonel William
Nelson, for the latter to send to you by some safe person.
Fifty dollars for these seed."

CHAPTER XLIII.
EVACUATION OF PETERSBURG  SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX.
Sheridan's cavalry, flushed with success, were believed to be
directing their course via Gordonsville to Lynchburg ; a number
of field-guns, for which there were no horses, had been pre
viously sent thither, and now a force had to be detached from
Lee's army to man these guns and protect the town. On the
morning of March 7 General Pendleton was directed by the
commanding general to send men enough to Lynchburg to man
six or eight guns, to report to Colonel Carter, who had been

394 MEMOIRS OF
sent up to take command of this artillery.* A sudden rise in
James River and the destruction of the bridges, however, com
pelled the great raider to change his route, and it was not un
likely that he might make an attempt against Richmond on the
north and west. Artillery here, too, had to be the main reliance,
as no infantry could be spared from the trenches. General
Pendleton wrote, March 17, —
" The raiders have probably passed round to Grant. They
did a good deal of mischief. I was in Richmond to aid in
guarding against them on the northwest. Returned here yester
day. Have been very busy ever since. We look for active opera
tions before long. It will be a very severe campaign. I am
D. V. to preach for Cabell's battalion day after to-morrow." f
Early in February Congress had conferred on General Lee the
title of commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces, a position
which, if given him before, might have led to a state of things
very different from that now pressing upon him. At this time
also a bill for further promotions in the artillery branch of the
service was, after long delay, brought to a favorable conclusion.
We have before seen that in January, 1862, a bill had authorized
the appointment of one brigadier-general for every eighty guns,
a colonel for forty, etc. General Pendleton's own promotion to
the rank of brigadier was, however, the only one made until

* On the note from Colonel W. W. Taylor, A.A.G., containing General Lee's
direction to General Pendleton to select and despatch this force, is a pencil memoran
dum by General Pendleton of the men sent, — " Garber, Jones, and Carrington's
companies." f Camp Callaway, March 16, 1865,
To Brigadier-General W. N. Pendleton.
Dear Sir, — Circumstances with us are so favorable now that I would be very glad
to have you come and preach for us, if the nature of your duties will permit. We
have a commodious church, a large congregation, and a ripe state of religious interest.
I would be glad that you would address us twice, if convenient, and once, at least,
use the ritual of the Episcopal Church. I would be glad that you would consider
yourself my guest. May we expect you next Sabbath, if the weather is favorable ?
I am, with great respect,
Your obedient servant and brother in Christ,
Charles J. Oliver,
Chaplain CabelPs Battalion Artillery.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 395
September, 1863, when Colonels A. L. Long and E. P. Alex
ander were given similar rank, and Colonel R. L. Walker after
the passage of the last bill. This tardiness in acknowledging
the gallant services of so important and efficient a branch of the
service General Pendleton felt as a great injustice to the brave
officers serving under him, and from the seven days' battles
round Richmond he had not ceased to urge that the full allow
ance of promotions should be given to men who so well deserved
it. The slowness of the legislative authorities in acknowledging
the efficiency of the artillery General Pendleton accounted for in
a confidential communication some years later :
" On the ground, probably, that this arm of the service, all-
essential as it is, can never be independent, but always only co
operative with others, Confederate law allowed in it no grade
above that of brigadier. Only such, therefore, was I to the last,
though having under me three other artillery brigadiers, and,
consequently, serving in fact as a major-general. But as no
exaltation of name was, so far as I know myself, a ruling motive
with me, the incongruity never disturbed me. It was about to
be corrected on General Lee's recommendation when irreme
diable reverse befell our army and cause."
This irremediable reverse was now close upon them. Lee's
army seemed melting away. Grant was preparing for vigorous
work so soon as the spring should open. Sherman was almost
within striking distance in North Carolina, and Sheridan drawing
near to lengthen and strengthen the already immense body of
the besieging army. The Richmond authorities had opposed
and prevented General Lee's plan of withdrawing from Peters
burg, and he must remain there against his better judgment and
face the tremendous odds before him. But to sit quietly await
ing the contraction of the deadly coil which must soon surround
him was contrary to the genius and practice of the great soldier.
Frequent and earnest were the consultations as to the best util
izing of the force which still held the long line of defences.* On
the morning of March 25 the chief of artillery was notified to meet
* Constant summons to such consultations are found among General Pendleton's
papers.

396 MEMOIRS OF
the commanding general at five o'clock A.M. at the head-quarters
of Major-General Gordon. General Lee had decided to make a
daring and desperate attempt to break General Grant's line near
the centre by an attack upon Fort Steadman, which, it was be
lieved, could be carried by surprise. The attack was made gal
lantly in the early morning and at first seemed successful, but
" for some reason which has never been made very clear" the
supporting column did not advance promptly to the assistance of
the force which had seized the fort. " One of those unfortunate
failures in combination which have caused the loss of so many
battles here occurred, and the well-devised plan of the Confed
erate commander came to naught . . . whatever may have been
the cause of the fatal delay." * Two days later Sheridan joined
Grant, and preparations were at once made to surround Lee on
his right and seize all his southern communications.
Divining his enemy's purpose, General Lee moved quickly to
the right, with all the men he could spare from the fortifications,
about seventeen thousand, and, as was his wont, attacked him
self the Federal advance. Their foremost divisions gave way,
but the heavy masses behind these could not be successfully en
countered by Lee's greatly inferior force, and he returned to his
intrenchments. Sheridan's advance upon Five Forks the same
day, March 31, was met and driven back by Fitz Lee's cavalry
and Pickett's infantry. Reinforced, however, by two infantry
corps, he carried the position at Five Forks on April 1, and on
the morning of the 2d the whole Federal force was thrown upon
the thin and exhausted Confederate lines, and overpowering them
by their immensely superior numbers, succeeded in taking pos
session of the outer line of fortifications, the Southern troops
falling back behind the inner line of works.
Forts Alexander and Gregg were strong redoubts defending
this inner line, and against them a powerful Federal assault was
directed. Fort Alexander was taken, and, after a desperate re
sistance, Fort Gregg also. Of the two hundred and fifty gallant
soldiers who. held it only thirty were taken alive, — every other
man died in its defence. This was about seven o'clock in the
morning. When General Pendleton joined General Lee at day-
* Long's " Life of Lee."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 397
break, he had sent Lieutenant Peterkin with some directions to
Colonel Hilary Jones. Riding rapidly to deliver this order, and
returning, Mr. Peterkin met General Lee, accompanied by Gen
eral Pendleton and others, drawing slowly back from the vicinity
of Fort Gregg, which had just fallen. There was no Confederate
force close at hand, and an immediate advance might have cap
tured General Lee and those with him. With the enemy thus
within his stronghold, the utmost that General Lee could do was
to maintain a bold front during the day, and withdraw his army
as soon as night came. Tidings of the disaster which had be
fallen the army, and of his intention to evacuate the lines at
Petersburg, were immediately sent to the government at Rich
mond, and arrangements made for withdrawing the army as soon
as the darkness should conceal their movements.
The part taken by General Pendleton and the artillery during
these last days in the trenches is best told by himself:
" Owing to the demonstrations of the enemy on the right of our
lines near Petersburg on the morning of April i, I ordered seven
guns of Poague's battalion, which had been held in reserve near
Howlett's, to march to Petersburg, and on the night of the 1st,
by direction of the commanding general, I ordered down the re
mainder of the battalion, and at the same time ordered the
guns, which had arrived during the day, to proceed on the road
towards the right, so as to be out of sight of the town by dawn.
Those guns were used with good effect near Mr. Turnbull's
house (General Lee's head-quarters) on the morning of the 2d,
where the enemy had unexpectedly massed a heavy force against
that portion of our line, and succeeded in breaking it, and then,
sweeping down towards the city, captured a number of men and
guns along the line. While these guns were well contesting the
ground and holding the enemy in check, Lieutenant-Colonel
Poague arrived with the remainder of his guns, and rendered ad
mirable service in retarding the heavy advance of the enemy
until such troops as remained could be withdrawn into the in
terior line. Three pieces with Major Brander were placed on
the north side of the Appomattox, so as to annoy the left flank
of the enemy and prevent his crossing. On the line and to the
right of the Cox road were placed four pieces of the ' Horse

398 MEMOIRS OF
Artillery,' under Lieutenant- Colonel Chew and Major Breathed.
The enemy had by this time (twelve o'clock) fully established his
line from Fort Gregg to the Appomattox River. In the fighting
attendant upon these operations various batteries of the Third
Corps were captured. The conduct of officers and men was
worthy of all praise, and that of the drivers and supernumer
aries of the artillery, — Third Corps, — who had been by General
Walker, chief of artillery of that corps, armed with muskets, de
serves special mention. Those in Fort Gregg fought until
literally crushed by numbers, and scarcely a man survived.
" In the mean time the firing on Colonel Jones's front, east of
the city, had been severe. During the night of the ist the fire
from mortars and guns was incessant, and the men were very
much exposed throughout the 2d. I saw Colonel Jones on
the line about three p.m., and found his pieces so disposed as
effectually to prevent any attempt of the enemy to improve the
advantage already gained at the river salient.
" I was at Battery 45 during the day, and directed its guns
against columns of the enemy moving down the valley towards
the Weldon Railroad. The officers in charge of that part of
the line deeming an attack imminent, I ordered two pieces of
artillery to strengthen the position.
" In obedience to orders from the commanding general, I or
dered the withdrawal of all the guns at eight p.m. This was
accomplished with entire success. And although the difficulties
on Colonel Jones's line were very great, he succeeded in with
drawing all the guns but about ten, which for the most part
were not provided with horses and not intended to be removed.
Several mortars were also brought off. Every piece that was
abandoned was first disabled. After making all necessary ar
rangements with regard to this movement, and seeing all the
guns safely across the river, about two a.m. of the 3d of April I
moved on by the Hickory road and marched all night." *
The crossing to the north side of the river was a necessity,
since the enemy occupied all the country on the south side, and
the army was pushed on to Amelia Court-House. The relief of
* General Pendleton's report, written at Appomattox on April 10.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 399
getting away from the trenches and being once more in the open
country for a little while buoyed up the spirits of men and offi
cers, and the march of the first night and day was a rapid one.
But the roads were heavy with incessant rains, the scanty rations
were soon consumed, the long wagon-train encumbered and hin
dered the progress of infantry and artillery, and the weary,
hungry men plodded along and urged on their tired teams,
cheered by the hope of finding a good store of provisions for
man and beast at Amelia Court-House. But, alas ! disobedience
or neglect, incompetence or wilful disregard of duty, had failed
to carry out General Lee's direction that an abundant supply of
food should meet him there. " Delay and embarrassment un
avoidably ensued, — men and horses were starving." For nearly
two days and nights they had been without rest or food, and it
was impossible for them to proceed until something of both
could be procured. Foraging parties were, therefore, sent out
to secure whatever food was to be had, and the retreating force
in this way partially depleted and demoralized. Of the progress
to Amelia Court-House General Pendleton says, —
" The march on the 3d was very slow and fatiguing on account
of the immense number of carriages with the army. At night I
bivouacked on the road-side about nine miles from Goode's bridge.*
Amelia Court-House I reached on the morning of the 4th."
The lack of food made it necessary to divide the column, so
that a wider extent of country might afford a better supply of
forage especially. General Pendleton, therefore, "immediately
proceeded to arrange for reducing the artillery with the troops to
a proportionate quantity and properly to dispose of the surplus.
These arrangements were at length effected, and on the 5th Gen
eral Walker moved to the right and west of the line of march of
the army, having in charge all the artillery not needed with the
troops. Ninety-five caissons, mostly loaded, which had early in
the winter been sent from Petersburg to the rear, were here
destroyed." f
* Here the army had to cross to the south side of the Appomattox to push on
westward. •f Report.

400 MEMOIRS OF
All hope of pressing on beyond the enemy's pursuit was ren
dered impossible by the enforced delay at Amelia, and when the
retreat was resumed on the evening of the 5th, hunger, weari
ness, and despondency had lessened the spirit and endurance of
the twenty thousand men remaining of the Army of Northern
Virginia. In the mean time the Federal cavalry had pressed rap
idly to the front, and Grant's whole force advancing by an almost
parallel line, took advantage of the opportunity to seize on the
most important points, and to intercept the retreating troops at the
most unexpected places. And now began a series of continued
skirmishes and fightings accompanied by disaster after disaster.
In the words of one of General Pendleton's staff, " It was a
period in which no note was taken of day nor night ; one long,
confused, dreadful day. There seemed to be no front nor rear,
for firing and fighting might be heard ahead and behind and on
both sides at once. There were no ' head-quarters' except where
the ambulance happened to be." And this confusion was inten
sified by almost absolute starvation. One day a tiny bit of raw
bacon, another a handful of uncooked corn, — part of the scanty
horse-feed, — was all that the general had to sustain life, and men
and horses dropped by the road-side exhausted by want and
weariness. " By ten a.m. on the 6th of April we reached Rice's Station,
South Side Railroad," continues General Pendleton. " Our troops
here went into line, and I chose positions for guns, commanding
the Burkeville road and sweeping the ground to its left. On this
line there was severe skirmishing during the evening, but no
attack by the enemy. The enemy's cavalry, meanwhile, having
attacked our wagon-train about two miles back on the road, I,
happening to be with the commanding general when he received
information of this, was requested by him to see what could be
done to prevent any further loss in that quarter. On the way I
met a few wearied men of Harris's brigade, and taking of them
some twenty volunteers, proceeded with them to the road where
the train had been attacked. While attempting to rescue some
of the property most valuable I discovered a line of the enemy
in a thick pine wood, and supposing it to be but a small body I
prepared for attack thereon, — one of General Cooke's regiments

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 401
having just reported to me in consequence of a message sent by
me to the commanding general. This regiment, however, proved
unable to hold its ground, and fell back some half a mile until
reinforced by two regiments of cavalry. They then again moved
forward, but after regaining the original position the infantry was
recalled by General Cooke, and the cavalry, by my direction, fell
back with a few prisoners they had secured. The enemy had,
meantime, fired our train to prevent anything being saved. They
then seemed disposed to quit, and as nothing apparently re
mained to be accomplished by the small force with me, I directed
it slowly to withdraw towards our main body and myself returned
in that direction." *
Having ascertained from a confidential despatch captured in
Richmond the numbers and plans of the Confederate commander,
General Grant had pushed forward heavy masses of his troops
to points which the retreat must pass, and at nearly the same
time with the fight at Rice's Station the rear half of Lee's army,
under command of General Ewell, was attacked both in front
and rear by a force immensely outnumbering them. Exhausted
by hunger and fatigue, their brave resistance was soon overpow
ered, and with the exception of two hundred and fifty men the
whole command was either killed, wounded, or captured. Gen
eral Lee had gone in person to try and turn the tide of disaster,
but finding such attempt useless he returned to the other troops,
and told General Pendleton on coming up with him, " General,
that half of our army is destroyed."
When night set in the guns along the line were withdrawn,
and the retreat continued towards Farmville, which was reached
on the early morning of the 7th. Here some rations were found
and distributed to the troops, the first they had had since leaving
Petersburg. Short time was there, however, to prepare this food,
for it was necessary again to cross the Appomattox to the north
side, and the enemy being close behind, the bridges were fired to
check, if not prevent, pursuit.
During this time a consultation among the superior officers
was held, and they decided that, in view of the immense force

* General Pendleton's report.
26

402 MEMOIRS OF
which was pressing them and the exhausted condition of their
small numbers, further resistance was unadvisable, as it could
only result in destruction to the remnant of the army without
accomplishing any good.
General Pendleton was deputed to communicate this opinion
of his brother officers to General Lee. His own account says, —
" Fighting was going on, but not very severely, so that conver
sation was practicable. General Gordon had with me an inter
view, told me of discouraging intelligence from the South, and of
a conference which had been held between other responsible offi
cers and himself, and announced their joint wish that, if my views
agreed with theirs, I should convey to General Longstreet, as
second in command, and then, if he agreed, to General Lee, our
united judgment that the cause had become so hopeless we
thought it wrong longer to be having men killed on either side,
and not right, moreover, that our beloved commander should be
left to bear the entire trial of initiating the idea of terms with the
enemy. My judgment not conflicting with those expressed, it
seemed to me duty to convey them to General Lee. At first Gen
eral Longstreet dissented, but on second thought preferred that
himself should be represented with the rest. General Lee was
lying alone, resting, at the base of a large pine-tree. I approached
and sat by him. To a statement of the case he quietly listened,
and then, courteously expressing thanks for the consideration of
his subordinates in desiring to relieve him in part of existing bur
dens, spoke in about these words : ' I trust it has not come to that.
We certainly have too many brave men to think of laying down
our arms. They still fight with great spirit, whereas the enemy
does not. And, besides, if I were to intimate to General Grant
that I would listen to terms, he would at once regard it as such
an evidence of weakness that he would demand unconditional
surrender, and sooner than that I am resolved to die. Indeed,
we must all determine to die at our posts.' My reply could only
be that every man would no doubt cheerfully meet death with him
in discharge of duty, and that we were perfectly willing that he
should decide the question." *
* " Personal Recollections of General Lee."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 403
Less than twenty-four hours after this General Grant himself
sent General Lee a note asking for the surrender of his army.
To this General Lee replied with an inquiry as to what terms
of surrender General Grant proposed to offer, and in the mean
time pushed his army on a long march towards Appomattox
Court-House. Says General Pendleton, —
" As we were leaving Farmville by the bridges which there
cross the Appomattox River the enemy pressed up close after our
rear-guard, and guns were placed in position and used to good
purpose on the heights north of the river. . . . This position was
held all day, and it was not until midnight that the column moved
on. In spite of the terrible roads quite a long march was effected,
and the evening of the 8th saw the head of our column near Ap
pomattox Court-House. I pushed on in person to communicate
with General Walker, and found him with his command parked
about two miles beyond the court-house. While I was with him
an attack, wholly unexpected, was made by the enemy on his de
fenceless camp. To avoid immediate disaster under this attack
demanded the exercise of all our energies. It was, however, at
once effectually repelled by the aid, especially, of the two gallant
artillery companies of Captains Walker and Dickenson, under
command of the former, which, being at the time unequipped as
artillerists, were armed with muskets. They met the enemy's
sharp-shooters in a brushwood near, and enabled a number of
General Walker's pieces to play with effect while the remainder
of his train was withdrawn.
" After a sharp skirmish this attack seemed entirely remedied,
and I started back, having received by courier a note requesting
my presence with the commanding general. When I had reached
a point a few hundred yards from the court-house, some of the
enemy's cavalry, which had under cover of dusk gained the road,
came rushing along, firing upon everything, and I only escaped by
leaping my horse over the fence into a clump of sassafras-bushes,
and skirting along the left of that road towards our column then
advancing, and until I reached a point where the enemy's charge
was checked." * * Report.

404 MEMOIRS OF
When General Pendleton did come up with General Lee — at
about one a.m. of the 9th — he found the general " dressed in his
neatest style, new uniform, snowy linen, etc." To General Pendle
ton's expression of surprise General Lee explained, " I have prob
ably to be General Grant's prisoner, and thought I must make
my best appearance." Since their interview of some thirty hours
before, repeated communications had passed between the Federal
and Confederate commanders, and General Lee had resolved, if
an attempt to cut through the enemy's cordon and push on next
morning should prove unsuccessful, he must then make the best
terms possible and surrender his worn-out little army.
" Having briefly expressed to me his views," writes General
Pendleton, " he desired me, worn and weary, to get some rest,
and closed by directing me, — ' In the morning be governed by
circumstances.' "
In the morning " circumstances" were more hopeless than ever.
The brave little army found itself surrounded and intercepted on
all sides by an immense force, and though a gallant resistance in
front by cavalry, artillery, and infantry succeeded not only in
checking the enemy's advance, but actually drove it back and
captured two guns and a number of prisoners, it was evident to
all that prolonged fighting could only result in the absolute de
struction of the eight thousand men who had been reported
for duty that morning. General Lee therefore requested an
interview with General Grant, and towards one o'clock the two
commanders met and agreed upon terms of surrender.
By the time General Lee returned to his own lines the news of
their surrender had spread through his army, and the conviction
that they had failed to achieve the independence they had so
valiantly struggled for. — that the cause for which they had fought
and bled and for which so many noble Southerners had died was
lost — filled all hearts with an agony of grief too deep for expres
sion. There was some relief to know that the unequal struggle
was no longer to be maintained, — that the weary might rest and
the starving hope for food ; but far stronger than this was the
sense of humiliation, the regret for hopes crushed, and the
anguish of defeat to men so long accustomed to victory against
almost any odds.
As General Lee rode back to his head-quarters the men

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 405
crowded round him, and with tears streaming down their bronzed
faces sought to press his hand, and silently showed their devotion
to the beloved commander whose appearance they had been wont
to greet with shouts of applause.
General Grant appointed as his commissioners to carry out the
details of surrender Major-Generals Gibbon, Griffin, and Merritt.
Those on the Confederate side were Lieutenant-General Long-
street, Major-General Gordon, and Brigadier-General Pendleton.
These officers, as soon as practicable, adjusted articles of the
surrender in detail, and the different bodies of troops were
paroled and disbanded. Notwithstanding the " oppression and
depression" which filled all hearts, there was considerable ex
citement among General Pendleton's staff when they learned of
his appointment as one of the commissioners of surrender, and
a general desire to enable him to make the best appearance
possible. To brush up his well-worn gray uniform, tarnished
and defaced by the long winter on the lines and the hardships
of the march, was all that could be done for his clothing. Even
if they had possessed better, the stout soldier of fifty-five could
not wear the apparel of his younger, slenderer attendants ; but
they, too, were in such woful case that only one among them
could be made neat enough to accompany him. The most they
could accomplish to better his outfit was to mount him upon Dr.
Graham's handsome black horse instead of his own " old Brown,"
and to put upon his hands a pair of new gloves belonging to
another staff-officer. And so, accompanied by Mr. Peterkin, he
rode to General Gibbon's head-quarters, where the details of the
surrender were agreed upon and signed by the six commis
sioners. Then came the leave-taking between himself and his beloved
commander, when both were affected to tears, and other officers
who had come on a similar errand wept in sympathy. Then the
sad parting among the military family at artillery head-quarters,
endeared to each other by the common dangers and hardships
of their arduous campaigns ; and finally the starting homeward
in the ambulance, accompanied only by Dr. Graham, who was
also a resident of Lexington. Before this departure the whole
army, including stragglers, had been paroled and disbanded. In
concluding his final report on the 10th of April, General Pen-

406 MEMOIRS OF
dleton stated that " of two hundred and fifty field-pieces belong
ing to the army on the lines near Richmond and Petersburg only
sixty-one remained and thirteen caissons" to be surrendered.
The rest had been captured or abandoned on the retreat.
After the morning of the 9th the starving Southerners had
been fed by rations issued on General Grant's orders, who in this
as in other arrangements connected with the surrender showed
himself a magnanimous conqueror. Respect and admiration for
his foe must have largely filled his mind. Not only had General
Lee held him at bay for many months with an ill-fed and half-
clothed army not one-third as large as his own well-equipped
and nourished troops, but, after disaster which might well have
appalled the boldest, had withdrawn the remnant of that army
successfully from his front, and after struggling for a whole week,
not only against overwhelming numbers, but against starvation
and deathly fatigue, both officers and men had been ready on the
very morning of the surrender to fight to the death to defend
their rights and homes. Knowing the small number — " not
more than twenty-five thousand men" — who began the retreat
from Petersburg, and the enormous hosts which Grant sum
moned to surround them, we can but marvel at the steady and
determined spirit which animated them under circumstances well
calculated to fill them with despair.
When, on April 10, the troops were paroled there were only
eight thousand with arms, and counting stragglers, civilians, and
all who claimed to form part of the army, there were only
twenty-eight thousand three hundred and fifty-six of all arms.
The Army of the Potomac was, when the pursuit began, one
hundred and twenty-one thousand strong, and must have num
bered one hundred thousand at least at this date.
All the circumstances and experiences connected with the
surrender of Lee's army were so painful that General Pendleton
rarely spoke of them. Once or twice he began a narration of
them to his daughter, Mrs. Lee, who was in Canada at the time,
but emotion choked his utterance, and he put it off until " some
other time," which time never came. Writing to her some six
weeks after the sad conclusion of hostilities, he said, —
" You were, no doubt, greatly astonished and shocked at the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 407
suddenness with which our army and cause failed after the break
up at Petersburg and Richmond. It was to some extent a matter
of surprise to us who were on the spot. But the truth is the
enormous disparity of force was experienced then as never before,
and the conviction of it, added to all their long privations, so dis
couraged the majority of our soldiers in the ranks as to take all
the fight out of them. And, therefore, when the disaster of a
broken line at Petersburg occurred, and we had to evacuate at
night, and then continue retreating a week or more, mainly at
night, while offering battle in the day, with a vastly outnumbering
force of cavalry, as well as of other arms, literally surrounding
us, our men scattered in the woods, etc., until the army melted
away to a mere handful, so that at last we had only some seven
thousand muskets to oppose Grant's multitude. Still, battle was
delivered on the very morning of the surrender, with habitual
spirit and triumphant success by the brave remnant of the heroic
Army of Northern Virginia up to the very moment of recall to
our troops by General Lee. The South was really exhausted
and could do no more, hence with the failure of this army the
rapid collapse of the entire cause."

CHAPTER XLIV.
RETURN HOME  RESUMPTION OF PARISH WORK — CONDITIONS OF
DAILY LIFE.
The first tidings of the culmination of disaster at Appomattox
came to the household in Lexington on Wednesday, April 12,
from a crippled soldier friend, who with faltering voice and
streaming eyes related to them the rumors that filled all hearts
with dismay. For two days they kept the sad news from Mrs,
Pendleton, fearing it would be injurious to her enfeebled health.
Late in the dusk of Good Friday, April 14, when the rain was
pouring in torrents, the sound of an approaching vehicle was
heard, and in a few moments the beloved husband and father
was restored to his home. So great, however, was the pressure
of disappointment and defeat, — nay, ahnost of despair, — that this

4°8 MEMOIRS OF
home-coming so long and earnestly desired was announced and
welcomed with hushed voices and solemn steps, as though some
form beloved and dead were being borne to its last home. The
household mourned not only their lost cause and their own gal
lant dead, but shared the universal grief of their bereaved and
conquered Southern Land. To repine under calamity was, as
we have seen, contrary to the character and principles of the
family, and the comfort of being once more together and the
knowledge that bloodshed and devastation had ceased, cheered
them amidst their sorrow. Then there was the dear baby to
brighten them, and household cares and duties to occupy and
divert their minds.
It is almost impossible for those who did not experience it, to
realize the absolute disorganization of affairs in Virginia at this
time. There were no mails, no public conveyances, no banks, no
money. Those officers and men of the paroled army who were
so fortunate as to possess horses were, by the terms of surrender,
allowed to take them home ; others had to make their way
thither on foot, depending on the kindness of the people along
the road for food and lodging.* Nothing more strongly testifies
to the honor and virtue of Southern manhood than the fact that
throughout the wide extent of territory traversed by thousands
of penniless soldiers thus returning home there were so few in
stances of marauding and maltreatment of the country people.
On returning from church on Easter Sunday, April 16, where
General Pendleton had accomplished his ardent desire and had
dedicated his little grandson to God in baptism, the parsonage
porch was found full of soldiers, who had come thither sure of
welcome and refreshment. Welcome was abundant, but where
with to feed so many hungry men was a serious perplexity. Mrs.
Pendleton's sole remaining piece of meat — a small ham — had
been boiled the day before and not much of it remained. A
kind lady in Lynchburg had given the general two beef-tongues
and a box of sardines, but the tongues were uncooked and the
sardines not a mouthful around. There was bread and milk, a

* Going down-town one morning, Miss Pendleton saw six one-legged soldiers sitting
on a pile of plank ; they seemed cheerful and uncomplaining, and expected to limp
safely to their homes in Tennessee and North Carolina.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 409
pot of coffee from a precious hoard kept for sickness, and a little
winter lettuce. True, this was better fare than the war-worn sol
diers had been accustomed to for long months, but not sufficient
in quantity or quality to satisfy a hospitable Virginia hostess.
While the ladies were discussing the possibilities of providing
more dinner, one of them was summoned to the kitchen, where
she found a negro woman with three dozen eggs. To provide
some scanty mourning for their brother the young ladies had
sold such of their dresses as could not be colored black. This
negro woman had bought one of these dresses in October, pay
ing down three hundred dollars Confederate money and prom
ising the other two hundred dollars when her hens should lay.
That time had now come, and having some association in her
mind between Easter and eggs, she had trudged into town three
miles that Sunday morning with them, thus relieving Mrs. Pen
dleton's anxieties and her guests' hunger. One of the latter de
scribed the dinner as the most delicious he had ever eaten.
Yankee adventurers soon pervaded the country and opened
variety stores, selling their wares at exorbitant prices, and ab
sorbing the small hoards of gold and silver which the negroes —
who had been clothed and fed by their masters — alone possessed.
Although there was no way of getting money for supplies, the
soldiers continued to claim hospitality, and the question of food
became daily more pressing. Had not some small stock of pro
visions remained in possession of the Confederate commissary,
from which the paroled soldiers could in the first weeks get an
occasional ration, there would have been several times absolutely
nothing to feed them on.
So soon, therefore, as the late spring and incessant rains made
it practicable, General Pendleton devoted his time and labors to
the planting his garden and lots near the town. One of his
riding-horses proved unfit for such work ; but with the other
and his son's riding-horse his lot was ploughed by himself and
the school-boys, and corn planted with the assistance of his
daughters. More than once it happened that weary and hungry
soldiers accosted the roughly-clad, mud-stained, gray-haired man
they saw digging and planting, with the request that he would
show them where they could get something to eat, and on being
taken at once to his own house, were overwhelmed with con-

410 MEMOIRS OF
fusion to find that they had mistaken the beloved and honored
general for a day-laborer.
Many weeks passed before the United States government es
tablished any postal facilities. In the mean time the only way to
communicate with the absent daughter was to send letters by
private hand in the hope that they might reach Mrs. Edmund J.
Lee in Shepherdstown, and be by her forwarded to her son and
his wife in Canada. Many of these letters never came to hand,
others remain to tell their story. " Lexington, Virginia, May 26, 1865.
Friday night, in mamma's room.
" Our hearts were inexpressibly cheered this evening by the re
ceipt of your letter of May 11, which is the only intelligence we
have had direct from you since that written March 3, by Mr. West.
Your mother writes that she has sent us all of your letters, but not
one of them has ever reached us except E  's, giving the de
scription of your first journey. We embrace every opportunity of
sending letters to points where they can be mailed. You would be
more than surprised to see how quiet and comfortable we are here.
The enemy has paid us but one short visit, of which mamma
wrote you this week. There were three hundred, and they stayed
only two or three hours, their sole errand being to arrest Mr.
Letcher, — on what plea no one knows. There are as yet no
' Freedmen' here, and our ' servants' are still in statu quo. Mr.
Slow was permitted to go with Henry Douglass to Jefferson, to
visit his family, some time ago. Mrs. P  's Harriet had to be
notified to leave three days ago, as she seemed inclined to assert
her equality. Their benefactors tell them in proclamations that,
though ' free,' they do not share their masters' property, and will
have to work to support themselves even harder than they have
done heretofore. We have an armed patrol which keeps perfect
order and makes them stand in some fear. Dudley has been with
us since Tuesday. We never hear a word from Richmond, though
papa has received forty dollars of the one hundred dollars.* We
* Before leaving Richmond, General Edwin Lee had felt it necessary to make some
provision for his wife, in case he should be captured by the blockading fleet and she
forced to return home. He therefore sold all their household and personal effects, and
brought a hundred dollars in gold, which he committed to safe-keeping in Richmond ;

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 411
could not live without it. Papa has gotten both gardens in fine
order, and the rain, which has been falling all day, will help all of
his pets. The big lot which we planted in corn seems to bid fair
to repay our labors, and I hope our patches of watermelons and
muskmelons will flourish too. The whole atmosphere here is
redolent with the sweet perfume of the thousand roses which
delight our eyes. The bushes were much killed by the severe
winter, but the bloom, though not so profuse as I have seen it,
is very beautiful. We have had three little dishes of straw
berries for our tea, and sugar with them too. But the baby
grows beyond everything here. He is devoted to both of his
grandparents, and it is amusing to see their efforts to entice
him to leave the arms of one and go to the other. The little
monkey has had so little experience of the good things of this
life that he refuses both sugar and strawberries. We got the
four dresses by Mr. Charles Lee, and we cannot express our
gratitude and thanks for them. Nancy and Rose took the cali
coes, mamma the chally de laine, and the other is put by for
Leila. . . . Papa is sleepy and tired by the setting out of several
hundred cabbage-plants, so we must leave him the privilege of
retiring. We are afraid to look into the future, *and can only
trust ourselves in the hands of our all-seeing and all-merciful
Father, who doeth all things well."
" Lexington, Virginia, Thursday, June 7, 1865.
" My dear Child, — Your letter of May 25 reached us yesterday
in a bundle, sent by Mrs. Lee, containing two mousseline dresses
and a dozen beautiful handkerchiefs. . . . You ask how we get on.
Much as usual. The ' Freed' have not left yet, but will do almost
nothing. We have plenty of flour, but not a bit of meat, though
we have only been a few days with a dinner of herbs. This day
week we had dried apples, lettuce, and our Georgia molasses.
The next morning before breakfast Colonel Gilham sent me a
fore-quarter of nice mutton, which made us comfortable dinners
for four days. Yesterday and to-day we dine on herbs. True

and after the surrender, this money, with twenty dollars sent them by Bishop Johns,
was all the family in Lexington had for several months. It is curious to remember
that the articles which brought the highest price were General Lee's wedding suit
and some bridal finery of his wife.

412 MEMOIRS OF
to my resolution not to open the molasses until your papa's re
turn, we have it now in this our scantest time. We opened it on
the day you wrote last, Ascension Day. Dudley was here, so
Mary made a good pudding of the cherries we dried last sum
mer, and we thought it delightful. Lest you have not received
our letters, I must tell you again that your papa is at work fre
quently from five in the morning until six in the evening. I
trust it may please Heaven to give us fruitful seasons and a
rich reward for all his labors. He has the garden in beautiful
order. . . .
" Our oppressors have as yet established no mails. I hate to
be indebted to them for even what will be a comfort to us. No
letter from Anne Rose since April. . . . Your papa says I must
tell you both he waits on Providence. If they infringe his parole
he will appeal to General Grant. If you have not received our
letters you don't know that Mr. Norton left the Tuesday after
your papa got home, and the vestry asked your papa to take
charge of the parish until they get a minister, saying frankly
that they can pay him nothing. I suppose we will stay until
they can afford to pay him, and that will be a long, long time.
The house leaks dreadfully, but still we are comfortable. . . .
Why we are so prostrated I cannot see. I cannot think we are a
dead people, and that all that we have done and suffered is for
less than naught I cannot believe.
" Our enemies are now hunting poor Governor Smith ' like a
flea in the mountains.' Last night seventy-five men rode up to
General Smith's and searched for him. Colonel Massie's house
was searched too. It is said three negroes went to Staunton and
reported the poor man here. We hear these seventy-five soldiers
are come to stay ; they are encamped in General Smith's meadow
opposite the Institute grounds. Your Uncle Philip's negroes had
gone, and most of them from Oakland. Betsey wrote that John,*
Bob,f and William, J with two women, were replanting corn.
Dear Aunt Judy quite well. She still has President Davis prayed
for. The two last Sundays your papa has omitted the prayer.
It seems right, but is very painful. . . . Mrs. Letcher has heard
of Governor Letcher from a friend in Winchester, who went to
* Major Page. f Rev. Dr. Nelson. J Colonel Nelson, of the artillery.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 413
see General Torbert to inquire after him. He is in a comfortable
room in the arsenal, closely guarded, and not allowed to write
to her. . . . Our baby is very sweet. I trust he may escape
measles, which are all around us." " Lexington, Virginia, June 12, 1865.
" My dear Daughter, — Your Cousin Bob, who came on a
brief visit last Friday, leaves us to-morrow morning, and as he
expects to take a trip on business as far as Washington, and
probably to New York, his going furnishes an opportunity not to
be lost of communicating with General Edwin and yourself.
Your last letter written on Ascension Day duly reached us,
greatly to the comfort of all the household, for hopeful as we
are that you will both continue safe and well where you are,
we are always anxious to hear freshly and definitely of your
well-being. " I have not much to tell you in the way of news. Indeed, of
the general course of events you are kept by the Northern papers
better informed than we are. Papers frequently reach here, —
Northern, Richmond, and Lynchburg, — but it is not often that I
can permit myself to encounter the irritation of reading them.
There seems still to be some uncertainty as to Andy Johnson's
purpose respecting officers and others excepted from the Amnesty
Proclamation, — whether he intends confiscation and banishment,
or either one without the other, or some other infliction, or a final
exoneration. I am not particularly anxious about my own des
tiny in the case. Satisfied as I am that duty in the sight of God
has been my aim, and that our cause is and has always been a
righteous one, I hope I can meet the trial that may come in the
right spirit and still possess my soul in patience, relying upon
those supports which the Almighty will not withhold from His
servant looking to Him in trouble. But the fact is I do not be
lieve the shrewd Andy will violate Grant's parole, notwithstand
ing the blood-and-thunder announcement of malignant judges,
charging grand juries, etc., etc. Our parole pledges the honor
of Grant and his superior subordinates that so long as we re
main at our homes obedient to the laws recognized in the section
where we reside, we shall be in all respects unmolested by the
Federal authorities. And although some wretches affect to

414 MEMOIRS OF
regard this as a mere military arrangement not to be respected
in civil relations, that pretext is too flimsy to cover their treach
ery. This view I shall, if at any time molested, endeavor to
present in the way of protest to Grant and his associates. Nor
can I believe they will disregard it. And on this ground
none of the stories about the arrest of General Lee, etc., much
affect me. I do not believe they will venture to harm him or
any of us.
" But even without this our condition is bad enough. At one
swoop they have robbed the South of two thousand millions of
dollars' worth of property vested in labor. The desolations of
their unscrupulous warfare have diminished our values by fully
as much more, besides all the loss of capital incident to the ex
penses of our own defensive effort, so that our people have since
this time four years ago been divested of, I suppose, about
five thousand millions of dollars' worth of capital. This is only
a minor element in our situation. Thousands, ay, tens of thou
sands, of our noblest population have been shot down by Ger
man, Irish, negro, and Yankee wretches invading our homes
under the impulse of Northern envy and malice, stimulated by
fanatical madness in some, lust of power and plunder in others,
and iniquitous passion in all, though sought to be covered over
by the shallow pretence of virtuous devotion to constitutional
liberty, as represented by the best government the world ever
saw. Sad as this is it is not half. We have no country left, nor
hope of one for an indefinite period. Few dare say their souls
are their own. None can write, or at least publish, what they
know to be truth in opposition to Yankee authority. No one
can vote without Andy's permission, nor trade, nor perform any
function involving relations with society without permission of
the same functionary. Soldiers are quartered all over the land,
and with the insolence of rowdies arrest whom they please.
Our people are for the most part disarmed and exposed to insult
and attack from the negroes let loose. These are thrown broad
cast upon our society, idle, improvident, homeless, helpless, to
perish by thousands. Yankee adventurers are appearing among
us with money to cheat our people out of their little remaining
coin. Our banks are all said to be ruined. Contracts made
since the war are pronounced by Andy and his tool, Pierpont,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 4*5
invalid. We have no country, no currency, no law. When such
facts and the prospect they exhibit rise before me, I feel almost
thankful that so many of our beloved have been taken from the
evil here. For ourselves, we are much favored by a kind Provi
dence. Our servants remain much as they have been, but Martha
is getting ready, I believe, for a trip to Richmond. Poor creatures,
they little dream of the difficulties freedom will bring them.
They cherished the absurd idea that they would exchange places
with us, — be gentlemen and ladies in our homes and have us for
their negroes. To find themselves still black, with woolly heads,
is to them an immense disappointment. Altogether the case is
gloomy enough. Still, we have thousands of sensible and brave
men and true-hearted, heroic women who, while submitting to
evil at present unavoidable, will cherish their own country and
its principles in their inmost being, and keep alive that noble
character which has heretofore distinguished us, hoping for some
ordering in the future by which divine Providence may yet enable
us to achieve the independence which is our birthright and of
which we have now been despoiled by a mighty combination. . . .
It may be one reason why Supreme wisdom has allowed us to be
so overwhelmed, — that we must cease to be such comparative
idolaters in our estimate of Virginia and our character and privi
leges as freemen ; that we must be content to live without a
country, having our hearts engrossed with that better land where
no sin enters, and where peace and charity prevail forever. Our
Saviour and the apostles lived thus under foreign domination.
So lived many of the martyrs. And surely we may well follow
their example in giving our affections to that better countiy of
which, by God's grace, no earthly malice or power can despoil
us. While I have been writing this, Kate has just received a
letter from her friend, Miss Sallie Munford, in Richmond, telling
among other things of the fact that Colonel Walter H. Taylor,
General Lee's adjutant-general, and a number of other officers
have been summoned to give evidence against General Lee as
charged with high treason, and that the expectation is general
that he will be tried. This may be so. But I still do not feel
that they will so outrage the common judgment of mankind as
to attempt violence towards one admired throughout Christendom
for his extraordinary virtues. A creature named Underwood,

41 6 MEMOIRS OF
appointed, as a tool of tyranny, judge of the eastern district of
Virginia in place of Judge Halyburton, has recently charged the
grand jury in Norfolk in the most furious and bloody manner to
indict rebel leaders, urging among other things that the parole
on surrendering was only a military arrangement entitled to no
consideration by the civil authorities. I shall write this morning
to Major-General Gibbon, who was their ranking officer on the
commission for adjusting the terms of surrender for our army,
calling his attention to the solemn compact by which they pledge
that we should be ' in all respects unmolested by the Federal
authorities,' and claiming its fulfilment as an obligation of honor
on himself and his associates. . . .
" But enough of all this. We get on in considerable comfort.
Sometimes, just now, without meat for a few days, but then with
abundance of bread, milk, and butter, and a supply of fruits and
vegetables. The fruit of my labors in the garden is beginning to
appear. Everything flourishing. My lots, too, are doing very
well. I employ myself also in reading, and before long shall
begin writing, first the memoir of our beloved Sandie and then
recollections of the great struggle.* Of course foreign publica
tion only can be secured. The little Sandie improves daily. He
is certainly a very fine and uncommonly sweet child, so good
and sweet-tempered. . . . We have not yet received the remain
ing sixty dollars of the one hundred dollars from Mary Williams.
Kate is to have thirty dollars of it when it comes. I must stop.
All send love. God bless you both. " Your fond father,
"W. N. Pendleton."
The letter from Canada in reply to this is given in part, as
showing how matters looked from different stand-points, and
forming a connecting link in the history of this period.
* A year later he wrote, —
" Difficulties of one kind and another keep me very backward in my own writing.
So much to be looked after while means of subsistence are so limited. I must try to
economize time."
These difficulties hampered him to the end.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 417
" Chambly, C. E., June 23, 1865.
" My dear Papa, — It was an unspeakable pleasure to me to re
ceive your long letter last night. It is our greatest comfort to be
able to communicate with our friends and loved ones, and to feel
that we need not dread the interruption of this precious inter
course at any moment. I am so thankful, too, that you are safe
and comparatively so comfortable. I hope you will soon get the
rest of the money from Richmond, as I am sure it will contribute
to your comfort. For a while I was most anxious about your
personal safety, especially after the indictment of General Lee.
But now I begin to believe that your view of the case is the
correct one, and that General Grant means to have his parole
respected. The papers say that Stanton ordered him to be ar
rested, but General Ord refused to do it, saying he would resign
first. Then Grant interfered and said it should not be done. This
has been a comfort to me, for, even if they do try and find him
guilty, it will be absurd to talk of punishing a man whom they
cannot even arrest. And safety for him will be safety for all his
army. I cannot think either that wholesale confiscation will take
place, for the Northern papers are beginning to be very earnest
upon the utter impoverishment of the South and the absolute
necessity of letting the people alone, and giving them securities
for their remnant of property to insure anything like recuperation
of the energy and prosperity of the country. I think that North
ern financiers will ere long take the alarm also, and — out of sheer
selfishness, the consciousness that Southern productiveness is the
necessary basis of Northern wealth — will influence the law-makers
and tax- voters to something more of justice towards Southern
property-holders. As to the papers, I don't wonder at your being
disgusted with them, and yet, situated as we are, we read them
eagerly, for through them only can we gain the least idea of the
conditions of the people and state of things at the South. And
the changes and phases of public feeling at the North are not
without importance to us. I am (D. V.) certainly coming home
as soon as I can get an escort, but you must not say a word
about it. I do trust most earnestly that matters may subside by
winter, so that Edwin can get a pardon and permission to return.
Do you think us utterly demoralized for talking of such a thing ?
I assure you we don't feel so, and the dose will be a nauseating,
27

41 8 MEMOIRS OF
bitter one, take it when we may. But I don't think it will be so
bad as exile. None know the horrible dread of that but those
who have experienced it. There is not, I believe, the smallest
prospect of Southern independence until the final breaking up
into many governments of the overgrown United States power,
and if it is to become a republic, I for one don't want to see it.
They must all drift into anarchy or tyranny. There is nowhere
that the masses of people can go and be better off; and if we are
to live under the Yankee rule, hateful as it is, I cannot see dis
honor or perjury in promising to obey the laws. As for the
amnesty oath, as Dan Lucas says, you only swear to support the
Constitution and everything heretofore done in violation thereof.
But for the future don't bind yourself to anything but the Con
stitution. I must confess Pierpont is a harder mouthful for me
than Johnson. But if he is not the governor of the State no
one else is, and I suppose bad rule is better than none. To do
the creature justice, I think he does in a measure desire to amel
iorate the condition and gain the approbation of his unwilling
subjects. And while I share your cordial contempt for the men
who have so quickly rushed forward to take him by the hand
and make what they can for themselves, still I am inconsistent
enough to be rather glad that they have done it. He is said to
be so immensely flattered at their notice as to have some dawning
aspirations after the name and manners of a ' Virginia gentleman.'
And low as their standard and influence is apt to be, it must be
better and more for the interest of the State and people than those
of the miserable creatures who surround him in Alexandria. Of
course this is the way matters look from outside to one disposed
to try and find the best in what is all so bad.
" I am truly glad your garden and lots promise so well. We
only realize how our land is favored by residing elsewhere. This
is a bleak, barren land at best. Such a climate must be unpro
ductive. Sunday and Monday were intensely hot, — ninety degrees
in the shade, — and men and horses having sunstrokes. To-day
is uncomfortably cool : we have on thick clothing and the windows
all down. Still, the people might do much more in the way of
fruit and vegetables if they had any energy. It never seems to
occur to them that where plums, strawberries, and raspberries
grow so abundantly wild they can be improved and cultivated in

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 4X9
the gardens. I assure you, seeing the thriftless, untidy, ignorant
French and English Canadians has given me a certain sort of
respect for the tidy, notable Yankee ways, much as I hate the
people." Letter to General Gibbon. " Lexington, Rockbridge County, June 13, 1865.
" General, — As one of the commissioners for adjusting the
terms of surrender at Appomattox Court-House, April 10, 1865,
I address you a brief appeal in view of occurrences recently
reported. " First. I respectfully remind you of the condition of surrender,
— that officers and men thus submitting should, so long as ob
serving their own pledge and obeying the laws prevailing where
they reside, remain ' unmolested by the Federal authorities.'
" I observe that Judge Underwood charges the grand jury in
Norfolk to disregard this solemn assurance as a mere military
arrangement, not binding upon the civil authorities. You will
recollect that at the time it was understood to be a solemn com
pact, rigidly binding on both sides and accepted on the venerable
sanctions of truth and honor. Surely you are aware that brave
men, who had for nearly four years encountered every form of
danger and privation in defence of rights they believed justly
theirs and wrongly assailed, would not have laid down their
arms, but would have battled on unto death, selling their lives as
dearly as possible, however great the odds against them, had they
supposed it possible the pledge of honor for their protection
could be disregarded afterwards, and that pains and penalties
even to the halter about their necks were to be inflicted. Fully
believing yourself and your associates to be actuated by genuine
sentiments of honor, widely as I differ from you in the estimate
of governmental relations connected with the war, I appeal to
you to exert such influence as you rightly can towards averting
the inflictions now sought by prejudice, passion, and unopposed
power to be visited upon the defenceless men who relied upon
your integrity in so critical a transaction. For myself I cannot,
without falsifying my convictions, apply for executive ' clemency.'
Because wholly conscious of having but the most virtuous inten-

420 MEMOIRS OF
tions in my share of the late defensive struggle, on my part, I
cannot do or say anything which signifies that I condemn myself
therefor. I am perfectly willing to submit my whole record in the
case to any just tribunal on earth, and more than willing to meet
the final adjudication of my course by the unerring Judge on
high. At the same time, included as I am in two of the classes
excepted from the benefit of President Johnson's late proclama
tion, — viz., as a graduate of West Point and as above the rank
of colonel in the late service, — and having upon me family and
other obligations, which render peculiarly desirable exemption
on my part from further suffering under war measures, I wish as
far as possible to avoid inflictions that may be intended. My
original resignation from the United States army was after the
usual three years' service thirty-two years ago, and with full
sanction of the authorities, for the purpose of doing such good
in the land as I could in the capacity of a Christian minister and
a college professor. When my native and beloved Virginia
seceded and called upon her sons to aid her in repelling invasion,
I was, as for thirty years I had been, employed as a parochial
clergyman. The furious threats of Northern violence embodied
in the cry uttered by leading journals ' Booty and Beauty' in
duced me to yield to the appeal of a volunteer company here
formed May I, 1861, and to accept commission from the governor
of Virginia as its captain. And as the cry of Northern passion
seemed to become more furious, and as the pressure of power
against Virginia increased, I never found myself at liberty to
withdraw from a service thus entered upon. The value attached
to what were, or were supposed to be, my services to our endan
gered South caused promotion to be tendered me, and for reasons
prevailing with me from the first I did not feel at liberty to de
cline, hence my final relation to the Confederate service. So far
as in this brief recital there is explanation which may be favor
ably interpreted, I shall be obliged to you if you can secure to
me the benefits thereof. At the same time honesty obliges me
to add that my convictions remain wholly unchanged respecting
the rights of the States, and the great wrongs inflicted on Vir
ginia and her Southern sisters by their Northern copartners, in
the flagrant violation of the compact of union by the latter which
compelled the former to seek redress by separation. As it has,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 42 1
however, pleased the Almighty Ruler of the world to permit us
to be overwhelmed, I accept the necessity of the position, and
am willing to submit myself peaceably to an authority which,
whatever I think of its justice, I cannot resist to any good
purpose. " Respectfully your obedient servant,
" W. N. Pendleton,
"Late Brigadier-General and Chief of Artillery,
"A.N. Va., C.S.A.
" Major-General John Gibbon,
" Commanding Twenty-fourth Army Corps, U. S. A!'
Rev. Dr. Peterkin to Dr. Pendleton. " Richmond, June 15, 1865.
" Rev. and dear Brother, — Bishop Johns was here last week
and left one hundred dollars, which some one had given him
(I think) for any of our clergy. He directed me to send twenty-
dollars each to five of our brethren, of whom you are one. I
have nothing to do but obey orders, and you will find the amount
enclosed. The other enclosure, a gold piece, ten dollars, I pre
sume George has written about. I think it came through Mrs.
Dr. Williams. I heard from ' E. G. Lee' under date June 5, Mon
treal, Canada West. His health has greatly improved. It seems
the order of Providence that the North should overrun the South
in the New World as in the Old. But here, as there, the South
may impress the North with its civilization and religion, and be
the real conqueror in the end. I doubt not, however, that you
leave all in the hands of God. I have been greatly comforted by
four lines, the author of which I do not know, — viz. :
" ' With patient mind thy course of duty run ;
God nothing does, or suffers to be done,
But thou wouldst do thyself, if thou couldst see
The end of all events as well as He.'
"With kindest regards to Mrs. Pendleton and the young
ladies, I am, " Affectionately yours,
"J. Peterkin."

422 MEMOIRS OF

CHAPTER XLV.
PERSONAL INDIGNITIES  CLOSING OF THE CHURCH  RALLYING
AGAINST DISASTER IN THE STATE AND DIOCESE  REOPENING
OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE AND THE VIRGINIA MILITARY IN
STITUTE  RETURN OF VIRGINIA TO CONNECTION WITH THE
GENERAL CONVENTION.
The occupation of Lexington by Federal troops became a
source of much annoyance to the people of the town, and Gen
eral Pendleton seemed a special mark for indignities and petty
insults. He had given up using the prayer for the President of
the Confederate States since that government had ceased to exist.
But taking the ground that there was no " civil authority" in Vir
ginia or the South, that military power had no control over men's
consciences or their prayers, and that the Episcopal Church in the
Southern dioceses had formally set aside the prayer in the Prayer-
Book for the President of the United States, he also omitted it,
using in its stead a prayer for rulers and all in authority compiled
from different petitions in the Prayer-Book.* Most of his con
gregation and the vestry sympathized in his views and approved
his course, while a few — from fear, policy, or a real preference for
Yankee character and rule — professed to be greatly outraged at
his action. In some way the omission of the prayer for the Presi
dent of the United States was reported to the officer commanding
in Lexington, and General Pendleton was confidentially, informed
by a young lady friend living a few miles out of town that he had
" given great offence to the powers that be" on Sunday, July 9 :
that his sermon on that occasion was pronounced " very inflam
matory," and that it was threatened that " if he did not mend his
ways" he would be put under arrest and his pulpit given to a
" loyal man."
On Sunday, July 16, one of the Yankee officers, accompanied
by several armed men, came clattering into church, and there was
* A prayer almost identical was used for months in St. James's Church, Richmond,
and other places, without any notice being taken of it by the military.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 423
apprehension in the congregation lest they should commit some
outrage during the services, as had been done elsewhere. Gen
eral Pendleton, however, proceeded calmly with the service and
sermon, but on returning to the vestry-room was arrested and
conducted to the dirty, uncomfortable guard-room, where he was
detained until late at night. This arrest was accompanied by great
brutality of language and manner, the superior officer replying
to a remonstrance addressed to him, " Damn the proprieties !"
They also demanded the sermon, which had been, as was fre
quently done, handed to a deaf parishioner to read. General
Pendleton refused to give up either this sermon or that of the
previous Sunday* until he had them copied. Accordingly, on
Monday morning he was escorted under guard to a room in the
court-house, where the copies were made by a gentleman of the
congregation. The Federal officer then asked to see the original,
averring solemnly that he would give it back as soon as he had
examined it. Immediately, however, upon receiving it he put it
in his pocket and absolutely falsified his promise.
From this time the church was closed by military authority
for a number of months and a series of annoyances practised.
General Pendleton was stopped by soldiers, who cut the brass
United States buttons from his gloves. His daughters covered
the Confederate States buttons on his gray uniform — the only
coat he possessed — with black cloth and thus saved them from a
like fate. The wooden head-board which marked his son's grave
was scribbled over with improper language and mutilated by the
soldiers' knives. He was forbidden to leave home, even to pre
sent in person an application he wished to make for the vacant
mathematical professorship at the University of Virginia, and
every written or spoken remonstrance was replied to with rude
insults by the illiterate men to whom was committed an arbitrary
power over thousands of their fellow-creatures.f
* Both these sermons had been written in Maryland twelve or fourteen years before.
X One or two specimens are given as historical curiosities.
" Head-quarters U. S. A. Forces, Lexington, Virginia, July 24, 1865.
" To Rev. Mr. Pendleton, Lexington, Va.
"Sir " in reply to yours received I can only state that I was ordered here to relieve
Lt.-Col. McLeester and receive my instructions from him his instructions in your

424 MEMOIRS OF
While the church was thus closed, service was held every
Sunday at the parsonage, and the Holy Communion there
administered at the regular times. Finding himself, however,
constantly hampered and his usefulness impaired by the military
persecution practised against him, General Pendleton yielded to
the solicitations of some of his friends, especially of his eldest
daughter, and in the late summer took the required " amnesty
oath" and made a formal request to the Federal authorities to be
restored to his civil rights as a citizen of the United States.
The midsummer brought to the household a great joy in a
visit from the absent daughter, and a bitter sorrow in the death
of the beloved little grandson, the child of so many hopes and
prayers. His baby life had been the one bright influence amid
long months of hopeless sadness, and his removal seemed to
deepen and intensify the unappeasable sorrow for his father's
death. He passed from earth to join that father's glorified spirit
before he was a twelvemonth old.
A people who, like the Virginians, had endured the shock of bat
tle and the tramp of contending armies for four years — who had
given their all for what they believed the sacred rights bequeathed
them by their forefathers — could not be expected to sit supinely
down amid the ruins of their hopes and their fortunes and make
case is that you are not to leave this county until I hear from him in case he neglects
to notify me until August the Ist."
" Head-quarters U. S. Forces, Lexington, Virginia, August i, 1865.
"Gen. Order No. I. . . .
" You will be required to abide by the following. I. You are not to use any Trea
sonable Language in the pulpit. II. You are not to use any disrespectable Language
against the U. S. Officials in any way. HI. You will be required to pray for the
President of the U. S. & the Officials thereof. Any violation of the above will sub
ject you to immediate arrest & you will be sent to Hd. Qrts. for trial.
"N. R. Banker,
" Capt. Comdg. Post."
" Lexington, Virginia, September 30, 1865.
" Your quibbling would be impertinent were it not contemptible. When you are
prepared to use the prescribed form of prayer — not a garbled quotation from another
part of the Prayer-Book — I will request the proper authorities to permit your church
to be opened.
" Robert C. Redmond,
"Maj. Comdg."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 425
no effort to retrieve their losses and wrest what energy and reso
lute diligence could acquire from the hands of destiny. With the
same fortitude and industry we have seen exhibited by General
Pendleton, Southern men everywhere set to work to do what the
time made possible to better the condition of their families, their
country, and themselves. Gallant officers who had been used to
command armed hosts ploughed and planted their desolated
fields ; men of high breeding and broad culture drove street-cars
and drays, acted as night-watchmen, went into the woods and cut
cord-wood by the day, turned their 'hands and their labor to any
and every occupation which could procure the necessaries of life for
their families and give them time to look for better employments ;
and all this without lowering their manhood or losing one particle
of their self-respect or the respect of their countrymen. True,
it seemed at first a hopeless task to restore anything like pros
perity and comfort to a land and people so bereft and devastated.
When Mrs. Lee, early in August, went from Shepherdstown, on
the Potomac, to Lexington, the journey had to be made by private
conveyance to Winchester and from there by stage, and along
the hundred and fifty miles of road there were not two miles of
fencing standing, nor any cattle, hogs, or sheep to be seen. Soli
tary chimneys, burnt bridges, and broken mills marked the track
of Sheridan's ruthless invasion, and the whole land lay deserted
and voiceless, a spectacle to move even an enemy to compassion.
And as was the valley so was the greater part of the State, — a
wide, open wilderness. Little by little the condition of affairs
improved. A bounteous nature and genial climate favored the
out-door labors everywhere and hid the scars of battle under an
abounding verdure. Men gathered up the remnants of their fallen
fortunes and turned them to what use they could ; smaller homes
were built out of the debris of stately dwelling-houses ; neighbor
hood and county government was gradually taken hold of by the
residents, who knew the needs and requirements of their sections ;
and the marvellous activity and prosperity which to-day marks
Virginia, from the ocean to the Ohio River, is the outcome not of
immigration or Northern capital, but is the legitimate result of
native energy and indomitable resolution. It furnishes one of the
most unanswerable proofs of the doctrine of heredity, and illus
trates the profound truth of the maxim noblesse oblige. The men

426 MEMOIRS OF
who to-day control the destiny and conduct the ever-improving
fortunes of Virginia are the soldiers and sons of soldiers of 1861
-1865. Nay more, in immense proportion, they are direct de
scendants of those fearless spirits who first planted Anglo-Saxon
civilization on this continent, and who, after creating an empire
here, first vindica'ted their right to govern it according to their
own principles and then gave to the Federal Union the mighty
territory from the Ohio to the lakes and the Mississippi, — and that
without recompense, even almost without acknowledgment.
Washington College, Lexington, had been kept open as a
grammar school during most of the war. Now the trustees felt
it their duty to restore it to its former collegiate position. They
therefore offered the presidency of the college to General Robert
E. Lee, who was living in retirement in Cumberland County.
Other organizations, insurance companies, railroad corporations,
etc., also proffered that great soldier highly-lucrative positions,
but believing that in becoming a college president he could do
work at the same time more useful to his oppressed section and
more congenial to himself and family, he accepted the place in
Lexington, and in the fall of 1865 removed thither with his
family. His coming was an inexpressible gratification to his old
friend, who became by this move his pastor, and the relations of
cordial intimacy thus rendered permanent became a great com
fort to both noble men amid the ruin and disappointment of hopes
and aim's they had striven to achieve for their beloved Virginia.
The Virginia Military Institute also, so utterly crippled and
destroyed by fire and sword under General Hunter's ruthless
hand, was by the wonderful energy and unremitting diligence of
its devoted superintendent, General Francis H. Smith, set upon
its feet, and in the fall of 1865, some six months after the down
fall of the hope of Southern independence, both these educational
institutions entered upon a new career of usefulness and honor.
The odds against them were great. Washington College was
the better off, for her buildings were in a condition of tolerable
soundness, though she had neither apparatus nor library fit for
use, and her endowments were absolutely unproductive. At the
Institute there were neither buildings, books, nor equipment of
any kind. But it was resolved to do the best possible with
temporary appliances, and at all events to open both colleges.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 427
Marked success accompanied both efforts from the outset, and
though the general destitution of money prevented many parents
from sending their sons, the very liberal terms offered drew to
gether numbers of youths and young men whose education had
been interrupted by their country's call to arms. These students
and cadets had to be accommodated among the residents of the
town, to which their coming gave a fresh and vigorous activity.
General Pendleton's old house was, among others, filled to over
flowing with young relatives, sons of his old friends, or young
soldiers desirous of carrying on their studies. A number of
these latter, wholly unable to pay for their maintenance and in
struction, were not the less willingly taken into the household,
trusting to the rectitude of themselves and their friends to make
compensation *dien they should be able so to do. With no
salary from the church and so many of the large family con
sumers and not producers, it became necessary for the daughters
to engage in teaching. Work at home their father did not object
to, but it was a serious trial to him to have them leave home, and
one in which he never freely acquiesced.
In September, General Pendleton attended the Council of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, which met in Richmond,
and decided by a large majority not to make any overture to the
General Convention, which was to meet in October, but elected
delegates to the Council of the Southern Church, which would
assemble in November, some weeks later. When the General
Convention did meet, Bishops Atkinson, of North Carolina, and
Lay, of Arkansas, went to Philadelphia, and after an informal
conference with the presiding bishop, Horatio Potter, resumed
their seats in the House of Bishops, " trusting to the honor and
love" of their Episcopal brethren to do them or their Southern
coadjutors no wrong. Christian charity and an ardent desire for
the unity of the Church so far triumphed over partisan and sec
tional feeling that in the legislation and published expressions of
this memorable convention a genuine spirit of kindness and
good will towards the Southern Church was manifested, and a
liberal hand extended to help it in its time of great need ; and
when the Southern Council, at which were represented the five
dioceses of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and
Mississippi, met in November at Augusta, Georgia, it was re-

428 MEMOIRS OF
solved that any one of them might return to its former connec
tion with the Northern Church, while, at the same time, any two
of them which might agree in desiring to preserve the separate
organization of the Southern Church were authorized to do so.
The old prayer for the President of the United States was also
adopted, coupled with a resolution that each bishop might use
his own discretion as to the time for its introduction. Bishop
Johns had some months previous requested his clergy to use the
prayer, so that by this action of the Southern Church one of
General Pendleton's chief objections to such use was removed.
President Johnson's order forbidding military interference with
religious services, and the gradual restoration of some civil gov
ernment in Virginia obviated the others, and on these grounds
General Pendleton again applied on December 2rto the Federal
commander in Lexington to have the church opened, and de
clared his willingness now to use the prayer which had been for
so long a barrier to his freedom of ministerial action. The em
bargo on his church was raised only by the departure of the
Yankee soldiers in January, 1866.
Although he had been prevented from the regular exercise of
his clerical functions, work of other kinds multiplied upon him.
As soon as postal facilities were re-established, letters poured in
upon him from old and young soldiers advising with him as to
their future course, or asking his recommendation to some de
sired position ; from parents seeking counsel as to the education
of their sons ; from clergymen and bishops discussing with him
the grave questions which affected religion and the Church
throughout the South. Men had learned more than ever during
the four years of trial just passed to look to him as one whose
large experience and calm judgment could safely be relied on in
time of doubt or emergency, and whose unbounded good will
and helpfulness could never be overtaxed. Influenced by this
confidence in his efficiency, the trustees of Washington College
requested him to make an effort to secure some additional en
dowment for their impoverished institution, and enable them to
add several important chairs to their former limited curriculum,
and to this end he visited Richmond, Baltimore, and New York,
and laid the matter persuasively before a number of wealthy and
influential parties. The long interruption to their studies made

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 429
college work more than usually difficult to most of the young
men who now assembled in Lexington, and finding General Pen
dleton always able and willing to help them on, it became their
custom to apply to him constantly to construe difficult sentences
in Greek or Latin, to solve abstruse mathematical problems, or
to unfold to their bewildered minds the intricacies of logic or
science in its various branches. It is not too much to say that
hours were thus occupied daily in instructing not only the youths
in his own house, but their friends also, and the salutary influence
of the broad culture and untiring kindliness then given to their
aid is to-day bearing fruit in many parts of our land.
During this fall some of General Pendleton's former parishion
ers in Frederick, Maryland, gave a most gratifying and acceptable
evidence of their affectionate remembrance by sending through
the saintly Miss Eleanor Potts a large box of dry-goods to the
household in Lexington. All the articles in this box were care
fully selected to suit the necessities of the different members of
the family, were of the very best materials, and comprised every
thing needed to fill the wants occasioned by four years of wear
and tear with no means of procuring new clothes. Not the least
pleasing portion of the packages was that containing a complete
outfit for General Pendleton, — black broadcloth suit, under
clothing, handkerchiefs, hat, and gloves. Mrs. Sandie Pendleton
and Miss Page were also generously provided for. This box
Miss Potts sent to Shepherdstown to Mrs. E. J. Lee, accompany
ing it with a letter telling for which individuals certain articles
were intended, and giving a list of the generous donors. Only
those who can recall the privations and expedients to which the
women of the South had been reduced for wearing apparel, sew
ing materials, etc., can form an idea of the comfort and delight
of Dr. Pendleton's wife and daughters at finding themselves once
more, through the kind thoughtfulness of their friends, in pos
session of a full supply of neat and appropriate clothing, and
their work-baskets and toilet-tables fitted up with appliances once
considered necessary, but now by long deprivation become highly-
prized luxuries.
The same diligence in endeavor to restore what was wasted
and weakened by four years' decay characterized General Pen
dleton in Church affairs. As he had been constant in preaching

430 MEMOIRS OF
the Gospel amid the interruptions and distractions of army-life,
so now he used all his powers to promote the cause of his
Master, and until failing health prevented he was a prominent
figure in all the proceedings and interests of the Church. The
Southern Churchman of this period contained frequent articles
from his pen directed to the maintenance of a pure faith and
practice ; he also was an active agent in the organization of the
Convocation of Southwest Virginia, and gave his services to the
associations held by its members in various places. Wherever
opportunity offered he preached in different parts of Rock
bridge County and in the vacant churches in Botetourt, gradually
extending these missionary labors to Bath and Monroe Counties.
When the Episcopal Council met in Alexandria in May, 1 866,
the principal and absorbing question was the resumption by the
Diocese of Virginia of its former connection with the General
Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United
States. Bishop Johns's strongly-expressed wish for the immediate
renewal of such relations had been overruled the fall before.
Now, feeling that General Pendleton was regarded as the most
likely leader of any opposition to such a measure, the bishop
appealed to him if he could not advocate union with the Northern
Church, at least to refrain from antagonizing a resumption of
fraternal relations. Finding that, whatever General Pendleton's
personal feeling might be, his judgment approved the step, the
bishop appointed him chairman of the committee to consider the
subject. This committee reported the following resolution :
" Whereas, The conditions which rendered necessary the sep
arate organizations of the Southern dioceses no longer exist, and
that organization has ceased by the consent and action of the
dioceses concerned ; and whereas the Diocese of Virginia, un
changed as are her principles, deems it most proper, under ex
isting circumstances, to resume her interrupted relations to the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States ; therefore,
" Resolved, That this diocese do accordingly now resume its
connection with the General Convention of the Protestant Epis
copal Church in the United States." . . .
This result of their deliberations General Pendleton presented
with a weighty argument for its adoption. His brother-in-law

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 43 1
and companion through the war, Major John Page, followed him
in a speech full of wit and pleasantry, and when the vote " by
ayes and noes and by orders" was taken, fifty-seven clergymen
and thirty-six laymen responded in favor of the resolution, while
nine of the clergy and eleven of the laity opposed it. The
members of this small minority expressed themselves as deeply
disappointed to find General Pendleton heading the movement,
when they had relied upon him to take a stand against it, and
believed that with his influence they could keep the diocese to
itself, at least for some years longer. Of this action General
Pendleton wrote his wife, — ¦• Alexandria, May 19, 1866.
"... The papers will show you somewhat of what we have
done. I have participated in the return of the diocese, as on the
whole under the circumstances was the right thing. We will
talk it over. All friends thank me for my part. My conscience
is peaceful under it, though the necessity of the step grieves
me. The question also arose at this Council whether a division o f
the diocese was not desirable; but at Dr. Pendleton's suggestion
was amended by an enlarging both of the committee and their
work, and extending the scope of their inquiry to the question
whether it would not be better for the diocese to have an assist
ant bishop. This subject occupied much of his time and atten
tion during the next twelve months. Numerous letters passed
between himself and others, — members of the committee and in
fluential clergymen and laymen of the diocese. Dr. Pendleton
was on principle opposed to the subdivision of dioceses and mul
tiplication of bishops; he believed that "small, weak dioceses
make small, weak bishops," and that the money used to carry on
the " machinery" of different dioceses might be far better em
ployed in supporting missionary work throughout the Church's
borders. In Virginia he had seen assistant bishops prove a
most efficacious mode of strengthening the Church and preserv
ing sound doctrine, he therefore threw himself earnestly into
the work of the committee, and took vigorous part in a contro
versy which was waged for months in the Church papers.
The death of the Rev. Mr. Kinkle devolved the chairmanship

432 MEMOIRS OF
of the committee upon Rev. Dr. Andrews, who wrote General
Pendleton on March 18, —
" If I write the report I shall look to you to take the laboring-
oar in debate. I wish you would give me an outline of what
you think the report should contain."
Notwithstanding the wide difference of opinion among the
committee, they reported to the Council in Staunton in May,
1867, that though a division of the diocese might be required at
some future day, they recommended the immediate election of an
assistant bishop, and the Council elected the Rev. Francis M.
Whittle, of Louisville, Kentucky, to that position. Mr. Whittle
had become a communicant at the high school where he was
first a pupil and then a teacher during Dr. Pendleton's mastership,
and the affectionate relations there established between the two
continued through life. Replying to one of General Pendleton's
letters urging his acceptance of the bishopric, Dr. Whittle wrote
on July 2, —
" You have certainly made it look very much like it may be
my duty to go to Virginia, and I am trying to give due weight to
all you have said."
The report on the state of the Church, read by Dr. Pendleton
at this Council, contained the following suggestion :
" Every settled pastor within our borders can, if duly alive to
this important cause (diocesan missions), awaken a lively interest
in it on the part of his people. And more than that, he can make
occasion for useful labors in some needy neighborhood within his
reach. And by wise combination and diligent effort the settled
clergy may accomplish incalculable good in well-arranged mis
sionary tours."
At the Council which met in Lynchburg in 1 868, General Pen
dleton was among those nominated to be sent to the General
Convention in October. The general immediately rose and de
sired that his name should be withdrawn, stating that as Virginia
had decided to renew her relations to the Northern Church, it
was eminently proper that she should do nothing to prevent

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 433
those relations being as amicable as possible ; that he felt sure he
would be personally obnoxious to a large part of the General
Convention, and his appearing as a member of the body calcu
lated to prejudice the interests of the Virginia Church. General
Robert E. Lee, who had been nominated, also declined to be
voted for, as the reasons urged by his rector would apply with
even greater force to himself. But for the stand thus taken by
themselves, there is no doubt that these two representative men
would have been chosen as among the fittest exponents of the
views and feelings of their brother Virginians. At this same
Council, as chairman of the Committee on Missionary Work, Dr.
Pendleton read the report, which recommended several practical
measures, which have since proved most efficacious in building
up the waste places and in strengthening and enlarging the
Church in Virginia, such as stated collections, the employment
of itinerant missionaries, and especially reiterated the recommen
dation of the previous year, " That each settled minister of the
diocese ought to consider himself free, and indeed called upon
once or more during the year, with the approval of his vestry,
for such interval (from one to four weeks) as may be deemed
best, to intermit accustomed local duties for the purpose of ren
dering missionary service at points to be agreed upon by consul
tation with the bishop and Missionary Committee, such service to
be rendered by the clergy — singly or in pairs or small groups —
as may be judged best in cases as they arise." This, the habit
of himself, his dear friend Dr. C. W. Andrews, and some others,
was known to have effected great good throughout the regions
where such services were given.
Rev. C. W. Andrews to Dr. Pendleton. " Shepherdstown, July 20, 1866.
" My dear Brother, — I propose to give a month to extra
preaching in the missionary field embraced in our Convocation,
but also going over into Amherst at the earnest solicitation of
Brother Smith ; but it occurs to me that I may be intruding into
your bounds, of which I wish to be informed, though I am not
sure that the authority of ' Convocation' has come as yet to be
much respected.
" But I wish to take you and General Lee in the way, and
28

434 MEMOIRS OF
propose being in Lexington about Friday, August 30. If you
want any extra services about that time shall be ready to serve
you." ... " Shepherdstown, August 9, 1866.
" Dear Brother Pendleton, — I received yours from Abing
don to-day. I believe it is the plain duty of ministers in the
neighborhood of destitute places to give them at least one ser
vice in the year. I have been in the habit of doing this for
years without asking any questions of vestries. Others, also, by
doing the same thing have kept these places alive, and some of
them growing. . . . Had I known that the Lees would not be at
home I should have arranged differently, but as everything is
fixed, suppose I shall adhere to the plan, unless you will come to
Staunton and spend the Sunday there, which I had intended for
you, and let us have a big meeting there, should Brother Latane
wish it, which, judging others by myself, I assume that he does.
He writes me very urgently to-day to meet him on the 1 ith and
1 2th at Ayletfs, in King William, where there is the loudest call
for services and, he thinks, the greatest promise of usefulness.
If C  , who is spending the summer here, will preach for me,
I have half a mind to go. My tour up the valley I propose be
ginning on the 20th, stopping at Middletown, and shall, I sup
pose, have services once or twice a day from there on to Staunton.
Let me hear from you before you leave for Bath." *
" September 17, 1866.
" I got through all my appointments and hope some good was
done, especially in Amherst, which was the only point of expec
tation in that line beyond our Convocation limits." . . .
" Shepherdstown, March 31, 1868.
"... Much as I should enjoy a good long talk with you, and
still more a series of preachings, prayers, and exhortations, inter
spersed with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, this pleasure
will not be mine shortly unless you will come down here, where,
if you will come, we will certainly have them with this difference
and additional satisfaction to me, that the preaching, etc., would
be in your hands." * On a similar missionary tour.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 435

CHAPTER XLVI.
AGAIN RECTOR OF LATIMER PARISH  PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES 
CONSTANT WORK  AID FOR SOUTH CAROLINA  LETTERS.
We have somewhat anticipated the course of the daily life
while speaking of diocesan affairs. General R. E. Lee was
chosen a vestryman soon after coming to Lexington, and at its
first meeting in April, 1866, after a preamble expressing their
approval of Dr. Pendleton's course during and since the war, the
vestry passed the following resolution : " Resolved, That we
tender to our beloved pastor our cordial, gratified sense of the
zeal, ability, and devotion he has exhibited in his sacred office,
and that he be invited by the vestry to take the regular charge
of this parish," and took measures to raise a salary for him, to
begin January, 1 866. So uncertain, however, were the means to
be relied on that it was not until April, 1867, a year later, that
the small stipend of eight hundred dollars was definitely prom
ised. The first pressing need was to repair the leaking roof and
dilapidated windows, blinds, vestibule, and fences of the church,
and to procure stoves and lamps, that the building might be in
such condition as "to promote the comfort and order of the
congregation." The old parsonage was in so ruinous a state that, to render it
tolerably comfortable for the family and the youths who crowded
into it, a considerable amount of repairing was necessary. This
had to be undertaken at General Pendleton's own expense, not
withstanding the want of income which constantly harassed him ;
the repairing and refurnishing of the house had therefore to be
done on credit. The obligations thus incurred he expected to
meet from the payment of a debt of over three thousand dollars
due him. He had in 185 1 invested a small sum belonging to Mrs.
Pendleton in a lot on the outskirts of Chicago which he had sold
in 1859, taking in part payment about thirty acres of land close to
Lexington and notes for the balance. These notes the purchaser
had voluntarily renewed in the fall of 1865, and upon the strength
of them General Pendleton thought himself justifiable in incurring

436 MEMOIRS OF
liabilities which could be met as they became due. The debtor,
however, proved as fertile in evasions and excuses as he had been
ready in promises. Not one cent of the debt was ever received,
and he was equally careless that his own notes should be pro
tested or his too confiding creditor distressingly hampered for
years by this lack of honesty. Indeed, looking back over the
records of these years, it is hard to understand how General
Pendleton could work so steadily and preserve so brave and
cheerful a spirit under a pecuniary pressure which would have
utterly discouraged most men. Fifty dollars sent him by Bishop
Johns in January and one hundred and nineteen dollars con
tributed by the congregation was the only money, except the
board from the students, received in 1866 up to the call to the
parish above referred to.
In July of this year the trustees of Washington College sent
him a check for one hundred dollars, accompanied by a note of
thanks for the services rendered by him to the college during the
year, and regrets that the amount fell so far below the intrinsic
value of his gratuitous and disinterested exertions.
The worry of his own business matters did not deter him from
sympathy and helpfulness for others. The correspondence of
this period shows him occupied in distributing to the most needy
of whom he could hear a fund placed at his disposal by the mem
bers of the Southern Bazaar held in Baltimore ; seeking positions
for young men and old soldiers ; giving counsel on every imagi
nable subject, from the proper arrangement of a group of photo
graphs to the preparation of scientific and historical articles for
the various magazines and reviews * struggling for existence in the
South. A constant hospitality was also — now as always — exercised by
himself and family, and the ready welcome extended to all friends
made the parsonage a favorite resort for old and young. " Never
turn away thy face from any poor man" was an injunction literally
fulfilled by Dr. Pendleton, and, although his unsuspicious benev
olence was sometimes imposed upon, he continued to act upon
the principle that it is better to help several who are unworthy
* These were sometimes delivered as lectures before the Franklin Society previous
to publication.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 437
than to refuse assistance to one deserving person. " Not all the
five thousand and seven thousand fed by our Lord can be sup
posed to have been meritorious, and yet the necessities of all were
relieved without question," he frequently said, when told that he
too readily gave charity to all who sought it.
He was also much concerned at this time to have prepared for
the use of Southern schools a series of text-books which should
be of higher tone and more accurate scholarship than most of
those hitherto furnished by Northern writers and publishers.
Especially was this desirable in United States history, all the
text-books on the subject being sectional in spirit and wholly
unfair to the South. A number of letters on this subject passed
between himself and some of the leading Southern educators.
Learning that several of the professors at the University of Vir
ginia were preparing such text-books, it seemed best to postpone
any combined action of States or teachers until these books were
offered for public inspection.
Rev. Dr. Zacharias to Dr. Pendleton.
" Frederick, Maryland, September 14, 1866.
" Rev. Dr. Pendleton.
" Dear Brother, — I have a strong desire to send my son
George, a lad of eighteen years, to Washington College, Virginia,
and hence beg to be excused for troubling you with a note of
inquiry concerning the conditions under which a student is ad
mitted to that institution, and his probable annual expenses there.
" My son has pursued a course of selected studies in the acad
emy here, and during the last year at Washington, Pennsylvania.
His scholarship and character in both institutions were unexcep
tionable. My impressions concerning Washington College, Vir
ginia, are so favorable that I feel strongly inclined to place my
son there, if circumstances as to conditions and expenses will
admit. Living, as I believe you do, in the neighborhood of the
institution, I have therefore ventured to trouble you with this note.
May I beg an early answer ?
" Permit me to say, in conclusion, that I still retain a very
pleasing remembrance of your esteemed family and yourself
whilst we enjoyed your residence in our midst. I still look back
with delight to those days, though since then how many a weary

438 MEMOIRS OF
and sad hour have we passed ! May the everlasting arms ever
be beneath and around you and yours ! I beg to be very kindly
remembered to Mrs. Pendleton and all your family as if named.
" Truly yours in Christ,
" D. Zacharias." *
The closing weeks of 1 866 were saddened by the departure for
China of Dr. Pendleton's dear friend and cousin, Rev. Robert
Nelson, who, having recently returned to Virginia at the breaking
out of the war, had by it been detained for five years from his
missionary labors. Dr. Pendleton could not leave home even to
take leave of his friend. Mrs. Pendleton, however, went to spend
with the family their last days in Virginia. To her Dr. Pendleton
wrote, — "November 19, 1866.
"... What a week to be remembered at ' Oakland' is this last
week of Bob's sojourn there with his family, under the roof with
his dear old mother, and amid the scenes consecrated by so many
precious memories ! His departure on the great Christian errand,
for a heathen land so far away, while our beloved aunt is drawing
so near the term of a very protracted pilgrimage, is to me very
impressive as illustrating the" supremacy of those great concerns
and those precious hopes which lie beyond this season of duty,
separation, and trial.
" I do not wonder Aunt Judy is, as you say, very calm in the
prospect of their departure. Bitter as is to her the certainty of
seeing them no more this side of heaven, greatly modified to her
is that bitterness by the sweet assurance that they are doing the
Master's work, and will ere long meet her in that holy home
where loving hearts are no more lacerated by long farewells.
The near prospect of heaven so reduces the significance of all
earthly experiences that incidents otherwise most engrossing
cease greatly to stir the mind. May she have a still brightening
view of that good land, and find it tranquillizing and delightful
even to the end !"
In April, 1867, Dr. Pendleton delivered, at the request of the
faculty of the Theological Seminary near Alexandria, the course
* Dr. Zacharias was the German Reformed pastor in Frederick.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 439
of scientific lectures prepared for the purpose six years before,
and which the opening hostilities in April, 1861, had prevented.
During this absence from home he had the painful pleasure of
visiting his honored friend, President Davis, in his cell at Fortress
Monroe. Many fruitless efforts to see Mr. Davis had been made,
but only now was the privilege granted. At this meeting with
the noble martyr of the Southern cause, and administering Chris
tian consolation to him, profound admiration and reverence for his
heroic fortitude and dauntless adherence to principle were min
gled with a passionate indignation and revolt against the perse
cutions and indignities inflicted upon him as the representative of
the Southern people, and General Pendleton could never tell of
his sojourn in the cell with him without a flashing eye and fal
tering voice. When he was leaving home his daughter Rose told
him to ask Mr. Davis to send her " something he had used, —
one of his handkerchiefs." In reply to this request Mr. Davis
said he could not send a handkerchief, for he had but two ; but
he wrote his own name and Miss Pendleton's in a little book of
sacred verses, " The Changed Cross," which bore marks of con
stant use, and sent it with his love to his young friend.
Mr. Thomas A. Clagett to Dr. Pendleton. " Leesburg, March 5, 1867.
" My dear Friend, — Permit me to introduce to your kind and
favorable consideration my young friend Melville Jackson,* the
son of Dr. S. K. Jackson, now of Norfolk, and for many years
my family physician and friend. Young Jackson is a descendant
of that family of Jacksons that gave our Church five valuable
ministers ; he is a grandson of Rev. Edward Jackson, long rector
of our congregation in Winchester. Melville is a communicant
of our Church, and, as far as my observation extends, consistent.
He is possessed of a mind far above mediocrity, amiable and soci
able in his disposition, and, with watchful care and judicious train
ing, I doubt not he will make ' his mark' in the world and most
probably in the Church. He will be necessarily exposed to many
temptations in Lexington, more so at this time than at any pre
vious period, from the extraordinarily large number of young
* The present assistant bishop of Alabama.

440 MEMOIRS OF
men congregated there, not only from Virginia, but from all the
Southern States. A safeguard against which he will find in your
pastoral care, to which I commend him.
" Providence permitting, I hope to shake you by the hand next
summer at Staunton, prepared to co-operate with you in reference
to your action on the subject of the division of the diocese.
" With the kindest wishes for the health, happiness, and pros
perity of yourself and family,
" Believe me truly your friend,
'Thomas A. Clagett."
General J. E. Johnston to Dr. Pendleton.
" Rockbridge Alum Springs, August 7, 1867.
" My dear Friend, — Your note of the 5 th instant was received
in due time, and gave great pleasure to Mrs. Johnston and myself,
although we cannot hope that she will be able to make such a
drive as that to Lexington for ten or fifteen days yet. She has
had a severe illness since your visit, and is just beginning to re
cover, and is, of course, very feeble. Be assured, however, that
we will not let an opportunity to see Mrs. Pendleton and yourself
escape. ********
" I wish very much that I could make you forget our conver
sation in relation to Mr. Davis. It is very pleasant to think well
of people, and much the reverse to think unfavorably of them.
Therefore there was something very like malice on my part in
saying anything calculated to shake your belief in the good quali
ties of our late President. Selfishness made me, in love for my
own opinion, forget you.
" Your visit made us so happy that Mrs. Johnston hopes that
it may be repeated before she is able to make the journey to Lex
ington, and that Mrs. Pendleton may come with you. She sends
her love to you both, in which I join. The enclosed picture is
for my sweet young friend of last summer.
" Affectionately yours,
"J. E. Johnston."
General Edwin Lee and his wife had returned to Virginia in
the spring of 1866. Failing health compelled him to go farther

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 44 1
South for the winter. The accounts given by Mrs. Lee of the
destitution in South Carolina during the winter of 1867-68 so
moved the sympathies of the Episcopalians in Lexington that a
fair held by the little girls of the congregation realized two hun
dred and two dollars for South Carolina. This benefaction was
acknowledged in the two following letters.
Bishop Davis, of South Carolina, to the little girls of Grace
Church, Lexington, Virginia. " Charleston, South Carolina, May 31, 1868.
" My dear little Girls, — I have received from your beloved
rector a check for one hundred and two dollars, to be distributed
among the sufferers in this State. I thank you very much for it,
and I thank God for having put it into your hearts, dear children,
to seek to do good to those who are in distress, for the sake of
your dear Saviour, who has done so much for you and for all of us.
" Let His example of gentleness and mercy and loving-kind
ness be ever in your minds and hearts, and may God bless you
and give you His Holy Spirit to dwell with you, making you
fruitful in every good work, and preparing you for His kingdom
in heaven.
" Your gift will bring much comfort to suffering hearts, and I
give you a bishop's blessing in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. " Very affectionately your friend,
"Thomas L. Davis."
" Beaufort, South Carolina, May 31, 1868.
" The Rev. Dr. Pendleton, Lexington, Virginia.
" My dear Brother, — Yours, containing a check for one
hundred dollars, reached me this morning, and I hasten, before
the mail closes, to tell you how much I was gratified by, and how
grateful I am for, your most kind remembrance of me and our
poor and troubled people.
" You are quite wrong in supposing that you are unknown to
me. Somewhere, some years ago, I had, I think, the pleasure of
meeting you, and since then, during the war, your name as Gen
eral Pendleton, of Virginia, — your honored State, — has had asso
ciated with it sentiments of high estimation and deep and loving
interest in the hearts and circles of South Carolina, and especially

442 MEMOIRS OF
in the circles of the Barnwell and Rhett families, of which my
wife, who lived just to return with me to her old home and die,
was a member, and whose scion, John G. Barnwell, our children
delight to call cousin : the father of whom has ever been a most
dear and cherished friend and parishioner. Your name, then,
often mentioned in our family circles, as elsewhere, is one dear to
us, and now renewedly so by your thoughtful, brotherly memory
of us in our affliction, and that, as I have often had occasion to
say, is peculiarly great and oppressive. No part of South Caro
lina, no section of any of the Southern States, has met with the
treatment which this parish — St. Helen's (or county, as you would
speak) — has met with. Everywhere but here property has been
restored. Some bitter Abolitionists, led on by a smooth-faced
yet fierce and fanatical renegade South Carolina Baptist preacher,
Brisbane (just elected by the negroes to Congress from this re
gion), determined to make the beautiful town and island embraced
in the parish an ' American Liberia.' So the government seized
and disposed of, according to their good pleasure and with that
view, every house and lot in the town of Beaufort and every foot
of land in the parish. And what the result ? I will not say
another Liberia ; I would rather say another — almost another —
Hayti ! The church and parsonage have been restored. The
church was used as a hospital : the pews, pulpit, and organ de
stroyed or greatly injured. The parsonage was used as a sutler's
shop : the partitions torn down, etc., to fit it for the purpose, and
left in a very desolate condition. And then to the original and
rightful proprietors deepest poverty, — poverty the more painful
and oppressive because of their former condition and attributes,
personal and social, — but, as I will add, borne with wonderful
patience and child-like submission to God's wise and blessed will.
The end is not yet !
" I am happy to say that our friend J. G. Barnwell and his
brother Robert did not lose their plantations. Their father, now
living in Columbia, lost one of his, which was on Port Royal
Island. But his sons' plantations, though close by, were not in
the doomed parish, and so were not confiscated. They are en
gaged in planting. Last year, from the unfavorableness of the
season and the greatly disordered condition of the negro laborer,
they grievously failed. This year, I hope, in God's goodness,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 443
they may succeed better. I meet them occasionally, and shall
gladly convey your message.
" My brother, Rev. Edward T. Walker, driven from his home
and parish during the war, has been and is still living at Edge
field, South Carolina. He has been a heavy sufferer by the war.
His very valuable plantation on Port Royal Island was seized by
the government and is now held by it, and the use of it they let
the negroes have to live on, or, rather, starve on. There is no
prospect of its restoration by the present government. Bruce
Walker's home for years has been in Columbia. His fine resi
dence there escaped the torch of the Vandal Sherman, though
fearfully visited and plundered. As to the remnant of our people
here in Beaufort (returned when the Confederacy failed), deprived
of all their property, they cannot well be poorer than they are.
They returned here from their suffering exile in poverty, hoping
they might get back their houses in Beaufort and their estates ;
but this hope has pretty much died out, and they cannot leave,
as they would gladly do. They are too poor to move, — a large
proportion being widows, maidens, and orphans. It is by sewing,
etc., working with their hands in the hardest toil and drudgery,
they manage in some sort to live, — merely to live, — and that from
day to day. Some few by foreign aid have bought back their
beautiful houses from the government, but not more than two or
three have back their plantations ; and, got back, all worthless to
them. No white man can safely live in them. And the negroes
on this island can get oysters, crabs, fish, etc., so easily they will
not work ; no dependence can be placed in them. What the poor
creatures — negroes, I mean — will come to is dreadful to think of.
But the Lord's paths are even in the great waters, — even as in the
swellings of Jordan !
" Should you offer the enclosed note to your little girls I think
it will do as an acknowledgment, and please get one of them to
copy it and send it to the Southern Churchman ; or, if you think
good, modify it and send as from me for publication. This, I fear,
confused letter is a private one, though its facts and statements
you will please use as may seem good to you, but not using my
name specifically. " Yours gratefully and faithfully,
" Thomas R. Walker."

444 MEMOIRS OF

CHAPTER XLVII.
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS IN LEXINGTON  EFFORTS TO ENLARGE
THE CHURCH  PAROCHIAL AND FAMILY TROUBLES  DEATH OF
GENERAL R. E. LEE  LETTERS.
The large number of students, — seven hundred in the two
schools, — with their professors and the families attracted to Lex
ington to educate their sons, gave wide scope to the rector's
activities. Among the professors were not a few men of note. General
Robert E. Lee, president of Washington College, was assisted
by an able and distinguished faculty. Four of these — Judge John
W. Brockenbrough, head of the law department ; Colonel Wil
liam Preston Johnston, now the accomplished president of Tu-
lane University, New Orleans ; Colonel R. H. McCulloh, widely
known as a chemist and mathematician ; and Professor Edwin S.
Joynes, the thorough and competent linguist — belonged to Dr.
Pendleton's congregation. At the Military Institute, General F.
H. Smith, the superintendent, collected an equally brilliant corps
of professors. Of these may be named Colonel Thomas Wil
liamson, of the original faculty; General Custis Lee, who suc
ceeded his father as president of Washington College ; Commodore
Matthew F. Maury, the world-renowned pathfinder of the winds
and waves ; Captain John M. Brooke, of the old United States,
and afterwards of the Confederate States, navy, whose successful
invention for telling the character of the ocean's bed had made
possible the laying of an Atlantic cable ; and Colonel Marshall
McDonald, whose ardent love for natural history developed in
one direction has made him the great authority on fish-cul
ture, and placed him at the head of the United States Fish
Commission. A military training seems to incline men's minds to the orderly
mode of worship of the Prayer-Book, and not only these pro
fessors, but almost all of their coadjutors were Episcopalians.
With these gentlemen and their families, as with the Episco
palians of the town proper, Dr. Pendleton's relations were of the

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 445
most intimate and affectionate character, while he was also on
terms of cordial friendliness with those members of both facul
ties, and with the citizens, who belonged to other branches of the
Church catholic. The records of the vestry show that body to
have been of professors and private citizens in about equal
proportions. The accommodations of the little church were too limited for
this increased number of Episcopalians, and so early as 1 868 he
began his efforts to enlarge or rebuild it. Some of the old
church members were opposed to both schemes, and Dr. Pen
dleton at first confined his endeavors to the raising a sufficient
sum for building a Sunday-school and lecture-room. From the
poverty of the South no aid could be expected ; the congregation
could barely pay their current expenses, and he therefore ad
dressed himself to various churchmen in the Northern cities,
from some of whom he received considerable help. Writing to
Bishop Horatio Potter, of New York, on the subject, General
Pendleton said, —
"... Your own friendly part in the public move some time
since in New York to aid the college here, presided over by Gen
eral Lee, furnishes the encouragement under which I write.
" The case is this : The church here, of which I am rector, is
at once very important and very poor. ... It was not, like so
many other churches in Virginia and farther south, demolished
during the war, but it was somewhat defaced and otherwise in
jured. Our people, however, are, as you doubtless know, crippled
in means and unable to do more than struggle for bare subsist
ence, material and spiritual. Of their deep poverty the congre
gation has, since the war, besides moderately contributing to my
support as their rector and providing for essential repairs, paid
an old debt of several hundred dollars, and raised between two
and three hundred dollars for our starving brethren in South
Carolina. " But, bishop, much more needs to be done, and the good
people cannot do it. The church building requires considerable
outlay for its actual protection, and more sittings are needed for
the accommodation of the large number of students attending.
In addition, it is extremely important that we should have a plain

44^ MEMOIRS OF
structure for Sunday-school purposes. My Bible-class instruc
tion to the young men of the college is greatly hindered by want
of a room in which to meet them. Such a room and two others for
Sunday-school children of medium and youngest age are almost
essential ; they could be provided in a structure of the kind
proposed for twelve hundred dollars.
" The importance of these appliances may be in part estimated
from the fact that there are attending the two institutions here —
Washington College and the Virginia Military Institute — some
seven hundred young men, mainly from the South. Probably
more youths of intellect and culture attend my ministrations
from Sunday to Sunday than are instructed by any clergyman in
the city of New York. But we are utterly cramped and crippled
for want of means. The total ruin which has fallen upon Vir
ginia and her Southern sisters is not imagined by persons at the
North. . . . Multitudes can do nothing more than just subsist,
many are absolutely starving; and the limited number who,
through some special adjustments of Providence, are in a condi
tion rather better, have still to struggle very hard to maintain
Christian worship and ordinances, educate their children, etc. . . .
The actual state of affairs, bishop, could you see it, would send
a shudder through your soul. . . . Can you, will you, do any
thing for us ? No human soul knows of my writing. I have
conferred about it with none but our common Lord. Any sum
contributed will be thankfully received and faithfully applied.
Indeed, I should wish it sent to the vestry and not to myself."
To Mrs. Pendleton, who was absent from home, her husband
wrote in November, —
" I have been busy all day having the monument put up over
the graves of our dear son and grandson. It is very simple and
impressive.* In admirable taste, I think. The inscription for
the father on the face next the walk at the head, that for the in
fant son opposite, against the heads of the graves.
" We are always anxious to hear of dear Aunt Judy. It will
be hard to give her up when at length she is taken to her reward,
happy as will be the change to her. It is a chief regret to me
* A solid white marble cross about six feet high.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. AA7
that, I cannot get to see her. She will accept my tender love by
proxy instead, as duty forbids my leaving home."
During this same November General R. E. Lee, as chairman
of a committee on the church finances, reported to the vestry
that of the rector's eight hundred dollars' salary two hundred
and thirty-one dollars for 1867 and 1868 was in arrears, and
urged that not only should this deficiency be at once made good,
but that, " in order to relieve him from the weight of pecuniary
embarrassment, and to enable him to perform his pastoral duties
with efficiency, his salary for 1869 be increased to at least one
thousand dollars, and if possible to twelve hundred dollars."
Very little over the one thousand dollars was raised, and the
obligations incurred in 1865 continued to harass him for years.
During all this time Dr. Pendleton was untiring in his efforts
to win the young men thrown under his influence to Christ. He
held service with the cadets on every Tuesday and Thursday
evening, and, in conjunction with the other ministers in the
town, conducted daily morning prayer at the college. These
labors and the prayers of the Christian people were rewarded in
the spring of 1869 by a wide outpouring of the spirit, and after
weeks filled with pastoral duties and the giving religious instruc
tion, in which he was assisted by Rev. Dr. Walker and others,
he had the happiness of presenting to Bishop Johns for confir
mation on the 17th of May a class of sixty-six. Four only of
this number were females, sixty-two were students and professors
in the two schools, and of these the Military Institute furnished
four professors and forty-nine cadets. Four other cadets were
admitted to communion a few weeks later.
His work and encouragement at home only increased his in
terest in the cause of the Church in the diocese, and especially
within the bounds of his Convocation.
Bishop Whittle to Dr. Pendleton. " Alexandria, August 31, 1869.
" My dear Dr. Pendleton, — Your letter of July 27 was duly
received. . . . More than a dozen additional ministers might well
be employed in the diocese to-day, but I do not know where
they are to be had or the means to support them. . . . All we
can hope to do, I am persuaded, in many places and under

448 MEMOIRS OF
present circumstances, is to keep alive the things that remain. I
am very glad you feel so much interested in this part of the
field. My sympathies were very much moved by what I saw in
Amherst. I trust you will never hesitate to write and suggest
anything you may think I can do for this or any other part of
the diocese." "Lexington, Virginia, September 6, 1869.
" My dear Mr.  , — You ought not thus to keep me in the
dark as to what you may be able to do.
" My situation is so distressing as to deprive me of sleep. I
am sued by different parties in consequence of your disappointing
me so entirely. Unless you can raise for me at least five hundred
dollars by ist October I know not what to do. I have no prop
erty that can be sold to any purpose. And if I had it ought not
to be sacrificed, large and helpless as is my family, advanced as
is my life, and very small as are my resources. . . .
"W. N. Pendleton."
Rev. Dr. Andrews to Dr. Pendleton.
" Shepherdstown, September 9, 1869.
" Rev. and dear Brother, — Yours of 6th received. With
respect to your church, if I can do anything per aliam I shall
be very glad. . . .
" I had you in hand two nights ago, without your or anybody's
knowing it, except Edmund Lee, who, I believe, takes you for an
oracle, as I do, indeed, on all points except whiskey and ' dino-
theria.' He had reported you as having silenced some objection
to your example in drinking a glass of whiskey by saying, ' Let
him follow my example (i.e., not go beyond me) and he will be
safe enough.' So I had up my friend the Rev. Dr.  in a
temperance address, and having it all my own way, easily demol
ished him. But Mrs. Lee told me that Edmund was concerned
lest he or I had done you some wrong. I told her to tell him
not to be alarmed, that my friend Dr. Blank was also my friend
General Blank, and that he would either fight or surrender, and
had smelt too much powder to be demoralized by such an
attack. " You will probably agree that upon payment of one hundred

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 449
dollars to your church there shall be no renewal of hostilities on
your part, it being understood as a part of the compromise that
upon condition of figuring no more in my temperance addresses
' Dr.  ' shall take the pledge." "Shepherdstown, September 15, 1869.
" Yours received. My friend Rev. Dr.  drinking whiskey
at a bar or such like place, as reported to me by a gentleman in
justification of his own views and practice, and suitably treated
by me in the abstract, turned out at next hand to have been at
his tent door, at the next inside of his tent, at the next the
whiskey was turned into wine, and that at his own table, and as
this must have been at his own expense, I am doubtful about
even that, not on account of his liberality, which is well known,
but because I am doubtful whether he had the money. Still,
your letter develops a considerable amount of heterodoxy, which
may give me some trouble in the future. . . . Will do what I can
for your church elsewhere."
It having become evident that the Sunday-school room pro
posed the year before would not meet the want for more accom
modations in the church itself, it was determined to make a
strenuous effort to enlarge or rebuild that ; and, as heretofore,
the main work of raising the money devolved upon the rector.*
He therefore, with the approval of his vestry, left home in
October to visit the Northern cities again, and do his utmost to
obtain the needed funds. During his absence the Lexington
church was supplied by different clergymen, with an occasional
lay service. His daughters Mary and Rose accompanied him as
far as Baltimore to visit friends there, and being with them a
good deal rendered this sojourn from home less trying to him
than were most others. To them their mother wrote on Friday,
November 12, —
" My dear Children, — You may be surprised at the contents
of this letter.  came last Saturday with money to pay his
* A check for eight hundred and five dollars, the proceeds of a concert held at the
Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs for the Lexington church, was sent to General
Lee in August by Mr. W. W. Corcoran. 29

45 O MEMOIRS OF
debts, and to my surprise he owed us two hundred and five
dollars. This was all down in a book. I demurred to it, but he
said ' yes,' and I didn't feel it right to say ' no.' I am truly
thankful for it to him and to the Giver of all good. It will pay
my debts, enable us to live, and I can send you this sum — ten
dollars — for each of you. To you it is not half as much as I owe
you. I only wish it were more."
General Pendleton raised during this tour several thousand
dollars,* and enlisted the sympathies of many who did not seem
at first likely to listen to his appeal. Among these Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher sent him a check for fifty dollars and two letters
for Mr. A. T. Stewart and Mr. Claflin, and expressed the hope
that he might " find raising money in New York much easier
than it usually is." His own account for personal expenses,
" eighty-six dollars," shows how little of self-seeking there was
mixed up with his errand.
The records of this year cannot be more fitly closed than by
an extract of a birthday letter written Dr. Pendleton. "December 26, 1869.
"... The New Year of your life and of time come in so near
together that for them both at once I can wish you many, many
returns, and all of heaven's best blessings, temporal and spiritual.
I was thinking this morning about your age. Can it be possible
that you have reached your sixtieth birthday, or have I added a
year to the days of your life ? I could wish heartily that you
might be spared to see a hundred and sixty, to diffuse happiness
and kindliness and the blessings of Christian charity around you
as you always have done. But I think you would scarcely wish
to be kept out of heaven that long. So without looking farther
into the future than God intends us to see, I only pray Him that
your beloved and useful life may be spared to your family and
the Church just as long as His infinite love and mercy can grant
it, and that then an abundant entrance may be given you to the
fulness of joy amid the pleasures at His right hand."

* One thousand dollars of this was part of a legacy left by Mr. Dorsey, of Howard
County, Maryland, for the aid of the South.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 45 1
Dr. Pendleton was not harassed alone by narrow means during
this period of his life ; the usual trials of a parish minister fell
to him also. Choirs which produced other discords than those
of sound; an unavowed but very real jealousy between the
schools, which sometimes occasioned a factious spirit and en
counters of sharp words between their representatives; and,
above all, that heaviest of ministerial responsibilities, the neces
sity for dealing out admonition and discipline to erring church
members, gave him bitter pain and anxiety, which only his de
votion to duty, and determination, by God's help, to discharge his
ordination vows with fidelity enabled him to endure with steady
patience and Christian cheerfulness. Only those nearest to him
knew how his soul was tortured when he felt that he must do
that which might seem to some unjust, to others unkind, and
which would surely cause sorrow and dislike in the case of the
parties immediately concerned, but which was realized by him as
a solemn obligation which he must fulfil. The courage which
faces death on the battle-field falls far short of that which thus
enables a loving, sensitive, Christ-like soul quietly to follow the
dictates of conscience, knowing well that disapprobation and hos
tility and even contumely must ensue to itself as well as pain and
reproach to those dealt with. The tender sympathy with which
he welcomed back every erring brother brought to see the danger
of his course, and his loving joy over each evidence of true peni
tence, not infrequently made earnest friends of those who at first
seemed likely to become inveterate enemies.
Sickness and sorrow in his own family added to his anxieties.
To his wife, absent from home with an invalid daughter, he wrote
in the spring of 1870, —
"Your letter of yesterday saddened me by its tidings of
-'s suffering condition. I had not expected any great change

from the trip, but hoped she would experience some benefit.
Still, God knows better than we do, and His hand is in sickness
as in all other dispensations. ... I can fancy you all in the
chamber and parlor, talking over matters since last you met.
Could I be there, too, it would be to me one of the choice treats
of my life. Among all the memories most precious in my mind,
those are perhaps dearest to me which cluster around those dear

452 MEMOIRS OF
places and people in Hanover, identified alike with my own parents
and home and with the great waking up of my soul when it was
inspired with soul-love for you.
" How sweet the recollections are of ' Springfield' and its re
curring visions, with sister Lucy and yourself as almost angels
to my boyish eye, with the venerable old lady of Revolutionary
honors, and sweet, sad, woe-stricken Aunt Judy Carter !
" Then the associated visions of ' Rugswamp' and ' Edgewood'
and ' Montair' and ' Oakland,' — the latter from my childhood, —
and all with the heyday of our happy young married life ! Then
the sober scenes of later years, — the decline of our parents, the
departure of all that generation, the great change in all the con
ditions of life ; and now the dear ones at ' Oakland' left, and our
selves, with a few others, the connecting links between those old
scenes and the hard practicalities of the new age ! I am not much
given to romancing in this day of trial, but sometimes it is very-
pleasant to indulge feeling in that way."
To his invalid daughter he also wrote, —
" My Dear, — Try to be a yielding invalid. A great deal of
discomfort you may avoid, or at any rate moderate, by learning
to manage yourself under sickness. Try, my daughter, to make
up your mind to it, and be passive, acquiescent, and cheerful, like
dear Mrs. Lee, in her helpless and hopeless pain and unmovable-
ness. Employ yourself in any pleasant way not too much taxing
your eyes and strength. And if the disease laid on you by the
Almighty prevents your sleeping, be as prayerful and patient
under it as you can, and make it a rule to speak in a cheerful
tone of voice, even though you may feel much more like crying."
In August of this year Dr. Pendleton's son-in-law, General
Edwin G. Lee, after years of failing health, died suddenly at the
Yellow Sulphur Springs, whither he had gone for a few weeks
with Dr. Pendleton and two of his daughters. Of this gifted
kinsman General Robert E. Lee wrote, —
" Hot Springs, August 27, 1870.
"... I am truly sorry to hear of Edwin Lee's death. He
was a true man, and if health had permitted would have been an

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 453
ornament, as well as a benefit, to his race. He was certainly a
great credit to the name."
General Lee himself died on October 1 2. So that in a few
weeks there was added to family affliction the sorrow, little less
poignant to Dr. Pendleton, of laying to rest the friend whom he
had loved from boyhood ; who was to him the perfect pattern of
all that was to be loved and honored as a man, a patriot, and a
Christian; the commander whom he had trusted and followed
implicitly from Richmond, in 1862, to Appomattox, in 1865 ; and
upon whom for five years, in the cherished intercourse of daily life
as parishioner and vestryman, he had learned to depend for that
true sympathy and encouragement so dear to a pastor's heart.
But his grief for General Lee was not only that of a man for his
friend, a soldier for his beloved captain. He mourned for and with
the Southern people, that there should be taken from them, at the
time when they most greatly needed it, the influence and example
of the man who in his life so thoroughly combined a patient sub
mission to the authority of the United States government as
established by force of arms after a mighty struggle, and an un
conquerable devotion to the principles of State and individual
liberty for which he had fought and suffered, and a determination
to do his whole duty as a Christian man and a Virginian, though
debarred by Presidential proclamation from the free exercise of
his rights as an American citizen. Grief and sympathy for his
overpowered and oppressed country may truly be said to have
broken General Lee's heart. Sorrow for his friend and captain
and for his fellow-countrymen threw a shadow over General Pen
dleton's later years. Fitly to commemorate General Lee's char
acter and to impress his example upon the Southern mind became
at once strong moving springs of his life.
A great rain which fell at the time of General Lee's death, —
October 12, 1870, — by destroying railroads and bridges, isolated
Lexington from the outside world, and gave cogency to the de
termination of Mrs. Lee and his family that the little town should
be his last resting-place. Immediately after the funeral a memo
rial association was formed, with General Pendleton as president,
having for its object the erection of a suitable monument to mark
General Lee's burial-place. In deference to Mrs. Lee's prefer-

454 MEMOIRS OF
ences a marble sarcophagus, with a recumbent statue of the great
soldier, was decided upon, and Mr. Edward S. Valentine chosen
as the sculptor.
On the day after General Lee's interment Dr. Pendleton made
a call at Commodore M. F. Maury's. A little boy, two years
and a half old, ran before his nurse to the door, and on seeing
Dr. Pendleton drew back with astonishment, exclaiming, " Why,
I thought you was dead under the roses !" And it took some
persuasion to convince him that he was not talking to General
Lee.

CHAPTER XLVIII.
MONUMENT AND MEMORIAL CHURCH FOR GENERAL R. E. LEE PRO
POSED  SOUTHERN TOUR TO RAISE MONEY — SCHOOL FOR LITTLE
BOYS  FAILING HEALTH.
At a vestry-meeting held September 28 a communication from
the rector had set forth the urgent necessity for immediately en
larging or rebuilding the church, and had offered, should the
vestry agree, to go on a further tour to raise additional means.
To this statement he added a representation of the inadequacy
of the salary — one thousand dollars — for his support, and re
quested an increase, if possible, at the same time offering his
resignation, to take effect at the end of a year, should the con
gregation believe that a younger or a different pastor could serve
them better.
In reply to this, the vestry immediately began to consider
means for raising the funds to enlarge or rebuild the church, in
creased the rector's salary to twelve hundred dollars for the
ensuing year, left it to him to decide upon the question of another
collecting tour, and postponed for two weeks the consideration
of the latter part of the rector's letter. When the day for meet
ing again, October 12, came, all hearts were filled with mourning,
and nothing could be considered but the great loss just sustained
by the Church and country. At a meeting a few days later,
however, they unanimously declined to receive the rector's resig-

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 455
nation unless he felt that the material interests of himself or
his family required it, and requested he should at once make the
tour of collection proposed. They also determined to build a
new church as a memorial to General Lee, and issued a circular-
appeal for contributions. This appeal stated that " the very last
hours of his (General Lee's) active life, in a meeting of the vestry
over which he presided on the evening of the 28th of September,
only a few minutes before he was stricken with his fatal attack,
were given to the consideration of the subject herein presented.
Himself chairman of the committee charged with the task of
rebuilding, he had just been earnestly engaged in devising the
means by which a fund could be secured for this purpose, and
this object was among the very last which occupied the thoughts
of his noble and unselfish mind. The accomplishment of this
object, therefore, in the spirit of his enlarged designs, the vestry
now regard as a sacred duty to his memory." From this time
the completion and proper accommodation of the recumbent
statue and the erection of the Memorial Church became objects
of engrossing interest and untiring exertion on Dr. Pendleton's
part. Before the end of October he had set out on the laborious and
irksome work of procuring funds for the Memorial Church, and
wrote of his occupation to his wife and daughters, —
" Richmond, October 31, 1870.
" Saturday I began operations, but saw only a few persons.
General Anderson subscribed for us three hundred dollars. To
day I am at it again, and have secured, I hope, two hundred
dollars more. Saturday I saw Dr. Minnegerode. He engaged
me to preach for him Sunday night, preferring the morning him
self, as Mr. Davis was expected, as he wished Mr. Davis to hear
him as his old pastor. But when we met yesterday at church he
thought the President had not come, and asked me to preach
then. I accordingly did so, and behold Mr. Davis was one of
the large congregation. I preached without manuscript from
part of I Cor. xiii. 1 2, ' Now we see through a glass, darkly ; but
then face to face,' — felt very free in speaking, and the congrega
tion seemed attentive and impressed. I went to Minnegerode's
to tea, and Mr. Davis was there. He looks well, but sad."

456 MEMOIRS OF
" November 3.
" I have been so constantly going and am so tired out that I
feel like doing very little to-day except resting for the soldiers'
meeting to-night. Have done next to nothing about my special
mission since Monday, because the Fair matters and those per
taining to this memorial soldiers' gathering, which could not be
put off, have really occupied me day and night. Last night and
the night before I was up till two o'clock concocting the best
programme towards harmonizing elements that threaten to be
conflicting in regard to monumental plans, and have earnestly
tried, in the most disinterested spirit, to contribute all that my
mind and conscience could suggest to the common fund of rea
sonable plan for so commemorating General Lee as to do good
here and at Lexington, while holding forth to honor his char
acter in connection with the great cause which he represented.
We shall have a very large and significant assembly, and you
will be gratified to know that Mr. Davis is to preside. He is en
thusiastically received here. . . . The papers will have told you
of occurrences at the fair-grounds on Tuesday. I went out, and
being seen in the crowd by General Early, who, with President
Davis and others, was on the platform, was so beckoned up that
I could not with propriety decline. Mr. Davis was enthusiasti
cally cheered and called on to speak, which he did most grace
fully for two or three minutes. Early was then shouted for, and
said a few words. Then the crowd called on me, and I spoke
but a moment ; and finally Colonel Withers was summoned, and
did as the rest had done. The whole scene gratifying and
inspiring. " That morning, at Valentine's request, I had been two hours in
his studio with General Lee's uniform coat on, that the artist
might get the details of his military bust with life-like truth and
effect. After tea I went to the Exchange, where General Early
was, and where, with Allen and others, I was at work for the
soldiers' gathering until considerably after twelve. Yesterday
morning I had to be at the Exchange with Early a little after
seven, and then get way out to Gilham's to breakfast to meet my
old chum Lloyd Beall. After breakfast Gilham took me afoot
to the fair-ground, — a long way. There I had the chief work of
passing judgment on the flowers, and how I did wish for you

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 457
and the girls ! The collection not very large at this season. No
fuchsias or verbenas, and only a few fine roses. But flowering
shrubs, leaf-plants, chrysanthemums, etc., luxuriant and beautiful.
Some chrysanthemums the most exquisite I ever saw, as large
as the largest rose and much more double, of the purest white
blended with delicate pink.
" Squeezing through the crowd to make our award was hard
work, but accomplished in less than two hours. I then started
for the cars to get home, being very tired, but met Colonel
Nelson, who had just arrived, and went about with him for nearly
two hours more. At last, worn down, I got to Peterkin's, and
actually had to go to bed, whence I was waked up at four for
dinner. Afterwards I did not go out, but again last night sat up
later than I had intended to write up the ideas indicated by Early
and others about the meeting for to-night. After breakfast this
morning I went to see Mr. Davis, then to the Exchange, and
thence to Valentine's studio again, from there to Mr. Isaac's
office, where I began this letter, but at twelve, remembering
Thanksgiving-day, I went to St. Paul's as a worshipper, and after
service came home to finish this."
" November 19, 1870, Louisville, Kentucky.
"... No letter here for me. It is a trying disappointment.
My whole heart is with you and my own people, and this wan
dering about as a beggar, even for so important an object, is a
grief my good friends can hardly appreciate." *

* Not only were ' these wanderings and personal solicitations trying, but the mail
brought many letters full of unkind feeling and even of insult. One of these is given
as a specimen.
" (Stamp for return postage.) " Cemetery Hill, Gettysburg, May 7, 1874.
" Rev. Major Pendleton.
" Dear Sir, — Enclosed you will find a small contribution for the church you are
erecting to commemorate the virtues of that truly good and loyal man, General Robert
E. Lee.
" May we ask you to aid us in a somewhat similar enterprise that we have in hand ?
We are desirous that the South should co-operate with the North in the erection of a
suitable monument to commemorate the virtues of that great and good man, John
Brown, of Ossawatomie, of blessed memory. The inscription will record the fact

458 MEMOIRS OF
" Louisville, November 24.
" This morning all the Episcopal churches united in Thanks
giving services * at St. Paul's. I preached, after an hour or two
of meditation, and was grateful for the freedom of thought and
utterance I had and the solemnized appearance of the congrega
tion. Dr. Norton said in the vestry-room after it was over, ' I
don't often say anything about sermons, but that was the best
Thanksgiving sermon I ever heard.' It was God's blessing in
answer to prayer and a sincere purpose to honor Him and do
good." " Memphis, Tennessee, December 14.
" To-morrow I expect to start for New Orleans. . . . By re
quest I last night made an address in Carmichael's remote little
church on General Lee's life and work since the war, with which
the people are much delighted. A long report of it appeared in
this morning's paper. By the bishop's request I made again to
night, in another little church, an address on the same general
topic. He is to have collections taken up for us. ... I have been
at this hotel all the while with Mr. and Mrs. Davis. He is work
ing very hard on his insurance company work.
" My love, the more I see, the better I am satisfied with our
lot, plain in some respects as it is. We have many mercies."
Hastening from New Orleans to Selma, Alabama, General
Pendleton spent the Christmas of this year at General Hardee's,
where he had the pleasure of meeting his daughter Rose, who
was teaching Mrs. Hardee's nieces, some miles away in the coun
try. His course then lay through Augusta to Savannah, and on
home again by the last of January, 1871. This tour realized

that the monument is erected by the combined efforts of those in the North and South
who sympathized with him in his noble efforts in the cause of human freedom.
" On one side will be inscribed two lines from that good old hymn, —
" ' John Brown's body lies u mouldering in the grave.
But his soul goes marching on.'
" Please remit amount to B. F. Butler, Treasurer, Arlington Heights.
" Yours sincerely, " Stevens Thaddeus."
* The national Thanksgiving, that in Richmond being the Prayer-Book day.

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 459
three thousand five hundred dollars, to which Mr. W. W. Cor
coran added a check of five hundred dollars for the church and
one thousand dollars for the monument.
Colonel Thomas G. Jones to General Pendleton.
" Montgomery, Alabama, January 20, 1871.
" My dear General, — According to promise, I send the
memorial address delivered by Hon. Daniel Clopton, of this
place. I have ventured to send an address delivered by myself
at Winchester, Virginia, about one month before General Lee's
death. I, of course, claim no merit or eloquence for the address,
and send it simply as one among a thousand things which show
how completely General Lee's example permeated through almost
every sentiment and relation of Southern life. There was no
gathering and entertainment nor custom in which the young
men of the South participated whose tendency to evil could not
be banished at once by a simple allusion to General Lee's exam
ple. As far as regards the young men of the South who were
turned adrift at the end of the war, General Lee's life and exam
ple were, if it were possible, more valuable to the country than
during the war. His determination to remain in the country re
strained hundreds of young men in every community from that
despairing search of honor and liberty in foreign lands which
often leads to death, always to misery. I well remember a brave
but dissolute young man here, who was wont to ' loaf and whine
about what he had suffered and lost by the war, and complained
of want of appreciation of his services by the people and that he
could get no easy work. The day it was announced that General
Lee was going to Lexington to take charge of the college this
young man was around a drinking-saloon, when his elder brother,
who was very much like 'the younger, said, ' Bill, they say old
Marse Bob had a heap of soft places offered him, and now he is
going to teach a school. If he can go to work as a teacher from
being a general, I reckon you and I need not be ashamed to
work on the farm.' It acted like a charm, and to-day the two
brothers are thrifty farmers."
********
General Joseph E. Johnston to General Pendleton.

460 MEMOIRS OF
" Savannah, January 25, 1871.
" My dear Friend, — I enclose the check of Messrs. Ketchum
& Harbridge for one hundred dollars, drawn to your order, on
the Fourth National Bank of New York. . . . We were wishing
all day yesterday that you had stayed until to-day. And to-day
we are wishing that you were staying till to-morrow. And we
shall be always wishing and hoping that you will come again, —
Mrs. Pendleton with you. " Affectionately your friend,
"J. E. Johnston."
Following a suggestion of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, Dr. Pendleton
took measures during this visit to the South to secure a few little
boys to be taught and trained at his home, mainly by his wid
owed daughter, he having a general supervision and ultimate
authority over them and taking some part in their instruction.
The school thus begun, to which was added a considerable num
ber of day pupils, was continued for ten years, and proved an
instrument of usefulness, besides furnishing the chief support for
his family.
The necessity of becoming again a teacher and guardian of
little boys, at sixty years of age, would be to most men very irk
some. But Dr. Pendleton's love for children and fondness for
teaching made the drudgery not so grievous to him, and, indeed,
he was able to derive from it a considerable amount of pleasure.
The amusements of the boys were never too trivial to interest
him nor their troubles too slight to excite his sympathy. It was
his custom to pass an hour or two with them in the evening,
when they gathered round his chair, eagerly asking for war
stories or pressed up to overlook and criticise the games of chess
or draughts he played with one and another of them. The young
est was usually the first antagonist chosen, and when the little
fellow proved the victor, no one was more pleased or amused at
his exultation than " the general." One characteristic illustration
of his ever-ready sympathy and helpfulness is given. A youth
of seventeen who had passed from the home school into Wash
ington and Lee University, but still remained under General
Pendleton's care, came into his room one evening in much trouble.
The young gentleman was dressed for his first " grown-up party,"

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 46 1
and found, to his disgust, that the new shoes provided for the
occasion were mismatched, while the old ones were unwearable.
Everybody in the house was willing, but no one able, to assist
him, and it looked as though he must stay at home. In his
emergency he came to the general for sympathy. The old gen
tleman listened to his grievance, jested with him a little, and then,
after a moment's reflection, inquired of his wife what had become
of a pair of patent-leather shoes which had been presented to him
self a year or two before. No one else remembered the shoes,
but he had them hunted up from the closet where they were
stowed away. They proved an excellent fit, and the student
went on his way rejoicing, and more convinced than ever that
" the general can always help a fellow out."
The constant strain of mind and body under which he had
worked for many years, the hardships and exposure and griefs
of the war and the trials of life since, had already begun to tell
on Dr. Pendleton's health, and when to these were added the
sorrows of the past year and continued anxiety for his invalid
daughter, even his powerful constitution could not bear up unin
jured. From the summer of 1871 he became subject to sudden
and alarming attacks, varying from the simple suspension of
consciousness to violent illness. His physicians prescribed abso
lute rest, but to his active nature and energetic character this
seemed impossible. Incessant and vigorous work had become a
necessity to him, and, except when actually incapacitated by tem
porary feebleness, he continued to exert his faculties of mind and
body for the good of those around him. Any privations as to
food or amusement, any torturing treatment, or nauseous reme
dies, he unhesitatingly submitted to ; but to be idle, to give up
his Master's work while he had any ability left for His service,
was not to be considered. Nor could any degree of pain, any
continuance of weakness, not even the apprehension — very dis
tressing at the time — that under God's ordering he might be in
capacitated for work and become a burden upon others, produce
more than a brief depression of his bright and hopeful Christian
spirit. " Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" seemed
the involuntary expression of his inmost soul. The agony of
intense earache, the protracted suffering and debility of dan
gerous carbuncles, nights of sleeplessness, nor weary days were

462 MEMOIRS OF
ever permitted to lessen the habitual cheerfulness of his voice
nor to occasion one murmuring utterance. In the relaxation of
slumber he might moan and sigh, but once awake again no
sound or sign of impatience or suffering escaped him. When he
could work he would ; when God's hand obliged him to refrain
from that activity which was so dear to him, he yielded to his
Father's will with the sweet submission of a loving child. Look
ing over the records of these latter years, we find that his age
and weakness accomplished more than youth and strength
sometimes achieve.
During the intervals of comparative good health he was, as
formerly, actively engaged in the work of his parish and the
diocese. Elected a trustee of the Theological Seminary and
Episcopal High School near Alexandria in 1872, his interest and
efforts for the good of both institutions were unvarying, and he
was especially desirous to raise the standard of scholarship at the
Seminary, as a long step to which end he favored abolishing the
preparatory department, and requiring postulants to come to the
Seminary prepared to begin the regular course. Such intellectual
training at a good college or high school would, he thought,
tend to broaden a young man's mind more than could be
expected in a course of five or six years at the Seminary itself.

CHAPTER XLIX.
NEW CHURCH BEGUN  VOYAGE TO HALIFAX AND ENGLAND 
DEATH OF MISS AND MRS. LEE  SECOND TOUR TO RAISE MONEY
 CONNECTION WITH DIOCESAN WORK  LETTERS.
In the early summer of 1872 the vestry thought they could
safely begin the building of the new church. The old one was
accordingly pulled down and preparations made for putting up a
stone one on the same lot, but farther back from the street. The
severe and prolonged financial depression which began soon
after prostrated the resources of the country to such an extent
that it was not until June of 1875 that the basement of the new

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 463
building was ready for use. In the three years thus elapsing the
congregation was kindly permitted to worship in the Methodist
church on the morning of the first and the afternoon of the
other Sundays of each month. No charge was made for this
extension of Christian fellowship, but the vestry gladly contrib
uted out of their slender means several hundred dollars towards
the expenses of the Methodist congregation.
In the summer of this year a sea-voyage was prescribed for
Dr. Pendleton. His own slender means did not permit his going
farther than Halifax, Nova Scotia, whither he sailed, accompanied
by his daughter Leila. Through the instrumentality of Captain
Matthew F. Maury, Messrs. Allen, however, sent him a free pas
sage to and from Liverpool on one of their fine steamships, and
kind friends in Baltimore and New York generously made it
possible for him to make use of it in a short visit to England
and France. Both himself and daughter proved excellent sailors ;
the weather was fine and the ocean travel yielded unmixed
pleasure. In London he was the guest of Rev. Dr. Tremlett, and
there, as elsewhere, met with great kindness. The number of
Southerners abroad prevented any feeling of loneliness ; the en
tire change and recreation proved of great benefit to his health,
and though not an enthusiastic sight-seer, he greatly enjoyed
visiting the scenes of historic interest to which he had access.
After climbing to the highest point possible on St. Paul's Church,
London, he was much amused at a stranger saying, " You must
be an American ; only Americans make such foolish climbs."
On this journey his tendency to work showed itself. Sent
abroad to rest, he preached on shipboard, and again in England
where opportunity offered, and returning home much invigorated
and refreshed, soon began the preparation of his " Personal
Recollections of General Lee" formerly referred to. This he
first delivered in the chapel of Washington and Lee University,
at the request of the faculty, as a memorial address, on General
Lee's birthday, January 19, 1873, and afterwards repeated at
many points in the South for the benefit of the Memorial Church.
This exertion, added to such parochial work as he could per
form without any church, and the anxiety to get the new one in
habitable condition, together with causes of anxiety at home and
around him, proved very detrimental to his health, and several

464 MEMOIRS OF
times during the next two or three years his life seemed ebbing
away. In the spring of 1873, shortly before setting out on his South
ern tour, he performed the painful service of burying his valued
friend and parishioner, Commodore Maury. Among the sad
consequences of his death was the removal from Lexington of
his wife and daughters and the family of his son, Colonel R. L.
Maury. Dr. Pendleton's intercourse with them had been very
intimate and affectionate. The younger family had been inmates
of the parsonage for several years, and the breaking up of such
cordial associations was a great trial to the pastor and his
family. In the late fall of this year additional sorrow came to Dr.
Pendleton and his household in the death of General Lee's
daughter Agnes, followed in three weeks by that of her honored
and beloved mother, Mrs. Mary Custis Lee. These Christian
women had, during their eight years' residence in Lexington,
endeared themselves to the community, to the church, and es
pecially to their pastor, whose hands they strengthened by love
and good works. The influence of the daughter helped to ele
vate and refine all who came in contact with her, and her labors
among the poor and suffering brought whole families to the
chancel for baptism, while the mother, in her Christian fortitude
under constant suffering, her cheerful activity in laboring with
her hands for the church, although unable to stand or move
without assistance, and her unfailing sympathy with the sorrows
and joys of others, when her own pain, helplessness, and be
reavement might well have engrossed her thoughts, illustrated
what the faith of the Gospel can do to ennoble and purify true
womanhood. Mrs. Lee had been a fit helpmeet to her husband,
and after his death the desire to build the new church as he
would have thought worthy of the house of God, and to honor
his memory in so doing, became the ruling desire of her life.
In 1874, when the minds of Virginia churchmen were much
exercised on the growth of ritualism and the question of Prayer-
Book revision, Dr. Pendleton was a member of the committees
on these subjects, and took vigorous part in the discussion of
them, both with his pen and in the Council. In October of this
year he was present in New York during the General Convention,

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 465
and frequently in consultation with the Virginia delegation, whpse
position on the great questions of the day was in sympathy with
his own.
Dr. Pendleton to his wife : " New York Hotel, October 7, 1874,
5.30 P.M.
"... At 2.40 p.m. we left Baltimore per fast train for New
York. Dr. Minnegerode and Judge Parker, the first persons we
saw, made the trip agreeable. Came with them straight to this
hotel. Must probably stay here, costly as it is. A number of
friends here. Leila gone out, while I write, with Bishop and Mrs.
Whittle to the Church Congress for this evening. I concluded
not to face the rain, having taken last night a little cold in the
head. Saw the bishops, etc., in St. John's Chapel this morning.
Love to each one of you and to the young men and the boys."
In March of 1875 Dr. Pendleton found himself so enfeebled
by protracted illness that he requested the vestry to procure the
services of an assistant or associate rector, and desired them to
take half the sum hitherto paid himself to add to the salary for
such additional minister. On Trinity Sunday, 1 ith of June of
this year, the congregation had the happiness of again assembling
for worship in their own church, the basement of which had been
completed and fitted up through the exertion and self-denial of
themselves and generous contributions from outsiders. Dr. Pen
dleton baptized four children, preached from Ps. cxxii. 1 , " I was
glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the
Lord," and administered Holy Communion.
In October the Convocation, of which Dr. Pendleton had for
nearly ten years been so active a member, met once more in the
new basement, and shortly afterwards the Rev. G. W. Nelson
became associate rector of the parish. The burden upon the
congregation of providing for the two ministers — five hundred
dollars and the parsonage for the rector and twelve hundred
dollars for the associate rector — was, however, so obviously be
yond their means that Mr. Nelson felt it his duty to resign after
holding the position a little more than a year.
Not long after this, in 1 877, feeling greatly concerned for the
growth of the Church in Lexington and the outlying stations in
3°

466 MEMOIRS OF
the surrounding country, Dr. Pendleton requested the vestry to
secure as his assistant Mr. James R. Winchester, recently or
dained deacon. Mr. Winchester was an alumnus of Washington
and Lee University, had acted as lay-reader in Grace Memorial
Church for several years, and during his seminary vacations, and
had become a candidate for orders under the recommendation of
the vestry, who were very fond of him. To secure his services Dr.
Pendleton not only offered to furnish for him a home and board,
but requested the vestry to take from the six hundred dollars
paid himself two hundred dollars towards the second salary.
" In view of the great difficulty of providing for their large debt,
and the stringency of the times," the vestry did not find it expe
dient to call an assistant, but assured their rector of " the gratifi
cation with which they witnessed his heroic efforts to sustain the
burdens placed upon him," declared their " earnest wish to make
these burdens as light as possible," and that he would find the
congregation " satisfied with whatever ministrations his strength
was fully equal to. His own ability, with constant reference to
the preservation of his health, should be the measure of his
labors. Under the blessing of God these may be as effectual as
more elaborate efforts."
His regular " ministrations" from this time to the close of his
life consisted of one service and a sermon on Sunday, an after
noon service and lecture on Wednesday, a service at the V. M. I.
every Thursday evening, communion on every first Sunday, and
three weekly services in Lent. For several summers after this
time the bishop, at his request, sent Dr. Pendleton a theological
student to help him as he thought best. The Rev. J. Thompson
Cole and the Rev. F. M. Burch assisted him in this way year
after year. Alternating with these young assistants he held ser
vice during the summer months at Goshen, Glenwood, and
Balcony Falls, laying the foundations for the churches since
established at those points.
J Work among the colored people also occupied him. A colored
§ Sunday-school flourished in his church for some years before his
I death, and his daughter Rose taught a mission parish school for
I young negroes in Lexington for several years, and only gave up
the work when funds to carry it on utterly failed.
To this ministerial work and the numberless daily calls upon a

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 467
busy, helpful man, he added regular teaching of the boys in his
house, diligent attention to whatever could provide for the wants
or increase the comfort of his household, and untiring efforts to
secure money for completing the Memorial Church and the
monument for General Lee's tomb.
Valentine's recumbent statue was finished in 1875, brought to
Lexington, and securely stored until some suitable place to con
tain it could be provided. General Pendleton preferred an inde
pendent mausoleum, but the majority of the committee decided
to build the present structure in rear of the University Chapel,
and he became active in endeavor to have it finished.
In May of 1 876, a few weeks after the death of Bishop Johns,
two requests for a division of the diocese were laid before the
Council, — one from West Virginia asked that it should be set
off as an independent diocese, and another desired that Virginia
itself should be divided by the line of James River into two dio
ceses. To both of these propositions Dr. Pendleton was opposed
on the same grounds he had taken ten years before. West Vir
ginia became a diocese in 1877, and in 1878 the question of
further division was settled for the time by Bishop Whittle, who
declined to sanction it because he believed that a large majority
of the people of Virginia were opposed to it. In this year and
again in 1879 Dr. Pendleton was active and energetic in con-
ciliar work, being a leading spirit in recommending to the Coun
cil that the original voluntary Convocations, which had been
productive of so much good in the State, should not be super
seded by a canonical Convocation system, with metes and
bounds laid down by the Council, and also that the vestry law
in the diocese should not be changed. Both these recommenda
tions received the sanction of the Council.
Dr. Pendleton to his wife. " Lexington, March 5, 1878.
" My dear Love, — It is now a quarter to ten a.m., and by our
chamber fire, with breakfast done and things attended to and all
well, I scratch you off another note. . . . The day is pleasant
and you will have a comfortable ride, I hope. Your arrival at
' Oakland' will be a delight to all parties, and I enjoy it myself in
idea. The late pleasant weather is no doubt freshening up things
there as here.

468 MEMOIRS OF
" Lell and I finished tying up the raspberries yesterday, and
to-day John is cleaning up around them. As soon as that is
done he is to mulch the roses. The tomato-seed in your box
are coming up. I water them regularly.
" Yesterday was, you know, court-day, and there were crowds
of country people in town. Some one told me the fragrance in
the court-house was unendurable. A poor, bad negro woman
was on trial under charge of murdering her step-child, three
years old, and crowds of her race were in attendance." " March 25, 1878.
"... Dr. Madison asked me Saturday to administer to him
yesterday after the Holy Communion, and desired Dr. Barton
and Colonel Williamson to partake with Mrs. Madison and him
self. Accordingly, at five p.m., we had for him that sacred ser
vice. He was sitting up, but coughed most distressingly. He
is in a calm frame of mind, with Christian trust decided and facul
ties active and clear. The free play of his thoughts, the sweet
ness of his disposition, and the freshness of his remarks, now
and then partaking of humor, and all pervaded by loving reli
ance on the gracious Saviour, are most remarkable ; indeed, not
less than beautiful and wonderful. . . .
" Late Saturday I was visited by a young McCown, that he
might ask me to take his place in opening the debate at the
Franklin that night on the question, ' Is the division of the
Christian Church into sects an evil ?' He was on the affirmative,
and as that, on the whole, is my conviction, I agreed to take his
place accordingly. At 7.30 p.m. I was there, — all my prepara
tion for yesterday being done, — and when the question was
called, arose and proceeded to give the arguments in order for a
half-hour, holding my watch in my hand."
In February, 1879, Bishop Whittle addressed to the rectors
and vestries of the diocese a pastoral letter on a subject on which
Bishop Johns and himself had more than once instructed the
Council,— the introduction of innovations and novelties into the
service in Virginia churches. Finding these instructions without
avail, the bishop now pronounced to his presbyters and their
congregations his "godly monition" and "godly judgment" that

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 469
" the services of the Church should be conducted as prescribed
by the Rubrics in the Book of Common Prayer, without adding
thereto or subtracting therefrom," and going on to state that the
introduction into the Church of evergreens and flowers at Easter,
or of fruits, flowers, and vegetables on Thanksgiving-day, and
also the use of different-colored altar-, pulpit-, and desk-cloths
at different seasons in the ecclesiastical year, were " novelties,"
" innovations," and " new and , strange things in the Church in
Virginia, and ought not to be done or allowed."
This letter created quite a ferment in the diocese. Fair-colored
altar-cloths, etc., were not widely used, but flowers at Easter had
for several years been placed in churches of the most conser
vative tone. Among these was Grace Church, Lexington, and
it had become, there as elsewhere, a labor of love in the house
holds to provide plants for such decoration. Mrs. Pendleton
and her daughters had taken part in this movement with the
full approval of the rector. But he immediately acquiesced in
the bishop's decision, notified the congregation that he felt it his
duty to forbid any flowers at the approaching Easter service, and
at once began to use all his influence to strengthen the bishop's
hands. In the ensuing Council, when the whole subject came
before that body, he was one of the committee which declared
that the bishop had the right to regulate such matters of ritual,
and urged upon the clergy and laity that it was their duty to
yield " cheerful and willing obedience" to the bishop's views and
admonitions. When in 1 880 the subject of providing for increased episcopal
visitations, either by electing an assistant bishop or dividing the dio
cese, was again brought before the Council, Dr. Pendleton was an
earnest advocate for an assistant, and one of the committee which
recommended that the General Convention be requested to give its
consent to such an election, on the plea of extent of territory ; and
very great was his disappointment when this request was refused
by that body. Not foreseeing that in the next three years the
temper of the general Church would have changed and Virginia
allowed an assistant bishop, the venerable presbyter now began to
study up the question of division and settle in his own mind what
dividing line would best promote the interests and preserve the
evangelical tone of the Virginia Church. In investigating this

470 MEMOIRS OF
subject he was untiring in collecting information as to the needs,
claims, and resources of the different portions of the diocese.
It is not a little significant of the wisdom of his final decision
that, when in 1891 the committee appointed the previous year
met to determine some line of division to present to the Council,
they unanimously agreed to recommend one presented by Dr.
Hunckel, of Charlottesville, which was the very line suggested by
Dr. Pendleton and drawn by his own hand. Not only in this
direction did he, as it were, foresee and voice the judgment of
his brother churchmen, but he not infrequently declared that if
Virginia could secure an assistant bishop, " Randolph, of Balti
more," was the man to whom his vote would be given. Again
and again during these years he tried to get the Council to meet
in Lexington, and was greatly pleased when such meeting was
agreed to in 1882. Circumstances, however, prevented this, and
the bishop appointed Richmond instead.
Dr. Pendleton to his wife, absent on a visit to her brother in
Hanover County. " Lexington, Virginia, September 26, 1880.
"... I am entirely well, and have been ever since you left.
My course of life day and night is precisely as you witness it,
except for missing you all the while. The girls take your place
in handing me the well-meant though disagreeable draughts, and
I am as comfortable as I can be without you. ... If you meet
with any of the residents around give them my love. It is not
very likely that meeting between them and myself will occur
again till we are removed to a ' better home.' " " October 14, 1880.
"... Delighted shall we be to have you at home again. But
don't hurry, now you are one of the circle not likely to be all
together again soon, if ever, this side of Paradise.
" The forest hues you describe I well recollect. We have the
like here ; very beautiful. Mrs. Graves, Mrs. Judge Lea's niece,
of the Baptist Mission in China, told me to-day this forest color
ing in autumn not only occurs nowhere else, but can't be realized
as actual by residents elsewhere. She is preparing cases of the
leaves to take with her for persons to see."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 47 1
" October 23, 1880.
" Lell wrote yesterday, and therefore as I was busy on my
sermon I did not, and besides other duties I had to acknowledge
Mr. Davis's letter, and let him know I will do the best I can in
furnishing, as he requests, the names of artillery officers he
wishes to mention in his book. . . . They are shingling the
house, and making both a noise and a litter. Leila had the
parlor put in winter dress yesterday, and will go on fixing as she
can. They are busy with new carpets and old. The new one
bright and pretty. . . .
" Colonel Johnston is elected president of the institution in
Louisiana where Colonel McCullough is. We shall be grieved
to lose them from our circle. The Peabody place will most
likely be given to some Northern man. Small chance have
Southerners under radical supremacy. But I don't intend to
touch on politics. In the end, the Judge of all the earth will
have justice done, and for that we must wait. . . . Our chamber
nearly fixed for the winter. Very snug. The Franklin stove
from room over the parlor brought down for us. Doesn't smoke !
Many blessings, indeed, to be thankful for."
Ex-President Jefferson Davis to General W. N. Pendleton.
" Beauvoir, Mississippi, January 9, 1880.
" My dear Friend, — I am deeply grieved to hear of your re
cent illness, and write at once earnestly to request you not to tax
your strength by efforts to comply with my late request for infor
mation on military affairs. We are too old to disregard monitions,
and I love you too dearly to be willingly the cause of over-exertion
on your part.
" With earnest prayers for you and yours,
" I am ever faithfully, "Jefferson Davis."
" Beauvoir, Mississippi, October 14, 1880.
" My dear Friend, — It is true that I have not often written
to you. It is equally true that you have never been long absent
from my memory, and never removed from the high esteem and
tender affection with which I have for many years regarded you.

472 MEMOIRS OF
" It was not, however, to give you this, which I hope is an un
necessary assurance, that I now write to you. In the prepara
tion of the work on which I am engaged I wish to illustrate it
by a group of the most distinguished and worthy officers in that
arm of the service of which you were the head.
" Will you send me the names of those you would thus distin
guish not only in the Army of Virginia, but elsewhere, and
whether commanding divisions or battalions or batteries of artil
lery ? We cannot hope to rescue all the brave and meritorious
from the forgetfulness which naturally results from the onward
movement of the busy world, but I wish to do something for
those who deserve most, but perhaps did not acquire all the dis
tinction they merited. I shall not attempt to imitate ' Old Mor
tality,' but I have a great respect for the character saved from
oblivion by Sir Walter Scott.
" Mrs. Davis joins me in kindest remembrance and best wishes
for you and yours. " Ever truly your friend,
"Jefferson Davis."
" Beauvoir, Mississippi, December i, 1880.
" Rev. and dear Friend, — I received your note and subse
quently the fulfilment of the promise it contained of your letter
of the 24th instant. Did I not know that the labor you per
formed in preparing the sketch was for a cause as near to your
heart as my own, I would apologize to you for the tax my
application imposed.
" I have not contemplated anything like a minute account of
campaigns and battles, because I knew that could, and I hoped
would, be better done by those who were actively engaged in
them. I wish, in general terms, to correct some prevailing errors
and to do justice to some from whom it has been withheld; also
to show under what great disadvantages we labored from want
of the material of war and some improvident waste of the little
we had.
" In this last connection, I would be glad if you could give me
a summary statement of our losses in heavy guns by the retreat
of the Army of the Potomac and that of the Peninsula.
" If you could add a sketch of the battle of Gettysburg, and

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 473
the condition and possibilities of affairs at Dalton when you visited
it, say within the next six weeks, and could let me have it, I
should be very grateful.
" I have devoted most of my time and attention to the vindica
tion of our cause and conduct. Not being a Bookwright, I am
very apprehensive that I shall fall very far short of fulfilling the
wish which stimulated me to write. The assistant whom I em
ployed to collect material for the narrative portion of the work
has utterly failed me. He is, however, entitled to the excuse of
finding those to whom I directed him to make application either
negligent or unwilling to incur the responsibility of a reply, so
that when I expected it to be all ready, I have had to go to work,
as I would have done, but for that dependence, long ago, and at
the last moment find myself hurried.
" Our people, after making sacrifices and performing heroic
deeds unsurpassed in any age or country, seem — like the ship
which, having braved the storm, goes down in calm — to be now
ready to surrender their birthright for less than a mess of pot
tage. " My efforts to vindicate their cause will find, therefore, little
favor with this generation. Perhaps they may arraign me for
disturbing the harmony about which they prate, and of which
the only evidence is to be found in their humiliating concessions.
If, therefore, my object had been to gain applause, reason would
teach me that I had better burn what I have written than have
it printed. " I have not lost my faith in the people, if they could only be
aroused to the use of their sober judgment. But grinding pov
erty on one side and gilded wealth on the other have worked the
corruption which preceded the downfall of all ancient republics ;
and the body of the people, whose only interest must be in good
government, run idly about, as in Athens, to ask, ' What news ?'
In the eternity of truth and the government of the world by
Him who ' doeth all things well' rests the only hope which is left
to me. I do not expect to see a restoration, but shall die hoping
— almost believing — that it will come, and that the example of
our forefathers will in sorne future generation be emulated by
their posterity.
" I ardently desire to see you again, and to hear again from

474 MEMOIRS OF
your lips such prayers as you offered before we shared our nar
row bed near Frazier's farm and Malvern Hill.
" My wife joins me in cordial wishes for you and yours.
" Affectionately your friend,
"Jefferson Davis."

CHAPTER L.
GOLDEN WEDDING  ILLNESS  WORK TO THE LAST  DEATH.
In July of 1881 Dr. and Mrs. Pendleton celebrated their
golden wedding. It was an occasion to be remembered for the
happy thankfulness which irradiated the faces of the handsome,
aged couple, and the harmony and kindliness of the large con
course assembled to congratulate them. A touching service was
held by their friend and cousin, Dr. Robert Nelson, returned
from China for good, and several persons were present who had
witnessed the marriage fifty years before; while a great many
letters of congratulation and a number of costly and substantial
presents gave evidence of wide-spread affectionate good-will in
Lexington and elsewhere.
Rev. Dr. Hoge to Dr. Pendleton. " Richmond, July 20, 188 1.
" My dear Dr. Pendleton, — I have just read with deep
emotion the interesting account in The State of this afternoon of
your 'golden wedding.' Had I known in time that such an
anniversary would be celebrated on the 15th I would have sent
my hearty congratulations earlier. But now will you not permit
me to unite with your friends in Virginia and all over the country,
with Mrs. Preston, in saying, —
" ' So I can only ask, as one
Who fain would twine my bit of spray
Into your wreath, God's benison
Upon your Golden Wedding Day' ?
"MOSES D. Hoge."

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 475
Bishop Lee, of Delaware, to Dr. Pendleton.
"Wilmington, Delaware, July 12, 1881.
" My dear Dr. Pendleton, — Please accept for Mrs. Pendleton
and yourself my sincere congratulations on your being permitted
to celebrate your golden wedding.
" Fifty years of wedded happiness is a boon granted to very
few in this uncertain world.
" Wishing you both a very pleasant occasion, and a continuance
of divine blessings, I am, very truly, yours,
"Alfred Lee."
General Humphreys, U.S.A., to Dr. Pendleton.
" Washington, July 11, 1881.
" Dear General Pendleton, — I have this moment received
the invitation of yourself and Mrs. Pendleton to your golden
wedding on Friday next.
"Appreciating fully the delicate compliment this invitation
conveys, I regret exceedingly my inability to be present. Let
me, however, offer Mrs. Pendleton and yourself my hearty con
gratulations at the golden return of a day that marks the great
event of one's life, and my wishes for a long continuance of
happy days to yourselves and household. " Faithfully yours,
"A. A. Humphreys."
Honorable A. J. B. Beresford Hope to Dr. Pendleton.
" Arklow House, Connaught Place, W.,
July 13, 1881.
" My dear Dr. Pendleton, — Many thanks for your touching
remembrance. All happiness to you and to Mrs. Pendleton for
many more years to come.
" For me there is no golden wedding in prospect, for she with
whom I had hoped to keep it was called away this spring, and
has left me thoroughly desolate. God be thanked, Paradise is
near and duty survives, though happiness is dead.
" Yours very sincerely,
"A. J. B. Beresford Hope."

476 MEMOIRS OF
Thomas Nelson Page to General Pendleton. " Richmond, July 13, 1881.
" My dear Uncle and Aunt, — I had hoped to be with you on
the 15th, and give in person my congratulations and good
wishes for the past and the future. It is impossible, however, for
me to get away at this time, so I am forced to content myself
with a note. Although I may not be able to express myself so
satisfactorily in this manner as I could were I present, I am
sure that you have not now to learn that every good wish I can
find in my heart is yours. I find upon glancing back over my
own life that my single valuable possession — my education — is
due to your kindness, and the gratitude which I feel is not dimin
ished by the fact that two generations of my house are indebted
to you in the same way. Besides this, the kindness and love for
which I am indebted to you place me under an obligation which
I can never repay. So far, however, as good wishes go towards
paying it I give you all I have, for I hope that the remaining
years, during which you may be spared to each other and all of
us, may bring you as much happiness and enable you to do as
much good as all the half-century which you have just finished.
I cannot say more, but I send you my best love for now and
always, and am your affectionate nephew,
"Thomas Nelson Page."
To Dr. and Mrs. Pendleton on their golden wedding day.
" Suppose the grant were given, — that you,
Who stand amid the smiles and tears
Of friends who gather here to view
Your wedded path of fifty years,
" Might backward turn the tide of time,
And in your youth and beauty bright
Might kneel as in your early prime
A Bride and Bridegroom here to-night, —
" Would you accept it ? Would you blot
The past with all its joy and pain,
And venture for, you know not what,
Another fifty years again ?

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 477
" Nay, that you would not ! All the bliss
Of all your past is fixed secure :
A love-troth as supreme as this
Is safe as heaven is, and as sure !
" There might be less of cark and care,
There might be less of earth's alloy ;
There could not — could not, anywhere,
Be more of life's divinest joy !
" And what is care, and what is loss,
When the divided burdens fall
Half on each heart? 'Tis scarce a cross
When both together bear it all.
" You have the best life holds in store, —
Fair fame, true faith, contentment, love,
Children, and friends, and home, and, more
Than all, the heaven that waits above.
" So I can only ask, as one
Who fain would twine my bit of spray
Into your wreath, God's benison
Upon your Golden Wedding Day !
" Margaret J. Preston.
" Fojcleigh, Maryland,
July 13, 1881."
Judge J. N. Lea to General Pendleton. " Col Alto, December 26, 1881.
" Dear General Pendleton, — I regret exceedingly that owing
to a recent attack of illness, from which I have not yet recov
ered, it would be imprudent for me to be out in such threatening
weather, and I am therefore deprived of the pleasure of paying
my respects and tendering my congratulations to you on the re
turn of your seventy-second birthday. One who has filled so
large a sphere of usefulness as you have is well entitled to those
congratulations. Is not the man to be congratulated who at the
age of seventy-two years finds himself in relatively good health,
surrounded by appreciating friends, from whom he receives
honor, love, obedience, ' and all that should accompany old age,'
and can look back upon half a century of useful labor, spent in
the service of his Maker and of his fellow-men ? . . .
" Yours very sincerely,
"J. N. Lea."

478 MEMOIRS OF
Dr. Pendleton to his sister, Mrs. Mildred Pendleton, Augusta,
Georgia. " Lexington, Virginia, January 4, 1881.
" Dear Sister Mildred, — If any one had told me, when I
got your letter in reply to mine, some six months or so ago, that
I should have let all this time pass without writing to you again,
I could not have believed a word of it, and should certainly have
set him down as no prophet, and might even have regarded his
suggestion as a sort of charge to call for denial. Yet so it has
occurred ; and while much work to do, and being at times not
altogether well, constitute a sort of excuse for such delay in per
forming a duty which is really pleasant when actually set about,
I have to confess that the tardiness is a fault for which you have
a right to blame me, and for which I must try to make amends
by guarding against it in the brief future before us.
" A letter from Mary Williams, in Richmond, the other day,
told of one she had received from you, which let them know that
you are in not uncomfortable health for a grandmother approach
ing fourscore, and this is a gratifying piece of news to Anzolette
and all the rest with me. For, though my pen is so slow to move
towards you and yours, far otherwise is it with my heart. In all my
regular devotions, day by day, you are distinctly remembered with
tender love and earnest intercessions, embracing, too, all of yours.
" When you let us hear from you, tell us as distinctly as you
can about each of your children and grandchildren.
" As for myself and mine, so much have we to be thankful for
that I hardly know how to speak of it. Anzolette keeps in the
main so well. My strength and spirit so kept up to serve my
parish with the loving approval of the people in general. Our
daughters kept in health and employed usefully and happily.
And creature comforts abundant, even during the Arctic weather
lately upon us, — thermometer twenty degrees below zero ! Yet
our home delightful ! Mercy far beyond all we could justly ex
pect. And though, like our Master, poor, yet with a little pro
vision — not less than wonderfully ordered by Providence — for our
five daughters, to help them against want and to continue useful
when their mother and I go to the better country. Should Anzo
and I live till the 15th of next July, our golden wedding comes.
A little over a week ago — Sunday, December 26 — I numbered

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 479
my threescore and eleventh birthday. The Lord still keep and
bless us, and bring us to a happy meeting in Paradise." "May 31, 1881.
"... To learn of yourself and all of you, as you fully men
tioned in your last, was a satisfaction. That you were still able
to get to church, generally on Sunday and sometimes in the
week, called for my thanks to the Sustainer of your strength.
Approaching fourscore as you are, to be thus supported beyond
the threescore and ten term should awaken especial thankfulness.
" Anzolette and I are both thus favored and called upon for
peculiar gratitude, getting smartly beyond that term as we are.
But you are some eight years my senior, and while at middle life
that interval seems a comparative trifle, it is towards the latter end
found a serious matter.
" That we have objects of love to cling to, rendering life more
or less desirable even after most of our immediate generation are
gone, — and that we are privileged to expect with glad hope our
great change, — is one of the striking instances of our Father
making all things work together for good to them that love Him.
" You have probably seen in some of the papers accounts of
our Diocesan Council in Danville. Anzolette would not under
take the journey, but our daughter Rose went with me. Owing
to interference with canal travel from here to Lynchburg, we went
round by Charlottesville, and spent a day or two with Virginia and
Dr. Robert W. Nelson. William Nelson, of ' Oakland,' and Rev.
Dr. Bob, missionary, returned from China, were at Virginia's with
us, and went with me and Rose to Danville. George Dame, who
married Uncle Carter Page's daughter Mary Maria, is rector of
the church in Danville, and has been, to good purpose, for forty
years. Three sons, clergymen, were with him in the service on
the opening day of the Council, when his handsome new church
was consecrated. A rare spectacle among men ! George Dame,
though perhaps looking older, lacks three years of being as old
as myself. He still works actively. The man now alive who has
on his shoulders the heaviest weight — England's prime minister,
Gladstone — is just one day younger than I am. Colonel Ed
mund Pendleton, a distant shoot from our old stem, and a lead
ing lawyer of this region, living here now, is, I reckon, fifty-odd,

480 MEMOIRS OF
perhaps sixty. His wife told me one of her grandmothers lived
to eighty-nine, another to ninety-eight ; and there is, within a
stone's-throw of us, an old lady over one hundred, who recently
walked on the street ! For neither you nor ourselves ask I so
to linger, but that all the days of our appointed time we may be
enabled to work and wait till our change come, and then find it
far better to depart and be with Christ."
In the summer of 1882 a long and desperate illness brought
Dr. Pendleton to the verge of the grave. This sickness served
to show the love of the congregation and community for their
old pastor and friend, and night and day his family and physi
cians were encouraged and assisted by kind attention and faithful
nursing from different gentlemen. God blessed their efforts and
prayers and restored him to even more than his usual health, so
that he was able to resume his services in the sanctuary.
To Mrs. Mildred Pendleton, Augusta, Georgia.
" Lexington, Virginia, December 22, 1882.
" My dear Sister, — You will be gratified to see my hand
writing after so long a time. For between two to three months I
have been kept from almost every kind of exertion of mind or
body by medical direction in consequence of a prostrating ill
ness, which in the earlier portion of that time was for days ex
pected every hour to end my earthly life. At length, however,
I am entering upon accustomed duties, and gladly, among them,
at once send you this Christmas greeting, having just directed to
you a Christmas card.
" Although you have reached the term pronounced by Supreme
authority ' but labor and sorrow,' and next Tuesday, 26th, com
pletes for me only three years over threescore and ten, you
are, in some respects, I reckon, quite as active and reliable as I
am. The visitations occasionally sent upon me of suspended
consciousness for a few minutes, although seeming to result in
slight harm, occasion constant concern and watchfulness on the
part of my home people lest at some time especially unsuitable
a visitation of the kind occur. Then, whether connected with
that infirmity or not I do not know, I am quite uncomfortably
deaf, so as to miss a chief part of conversation where I am and

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 48 1
to risk not regulating aright the pitch of my own voice in desk
or pulpit. And besides, what is still more serious, to remedy
failing memory, I have to be far more studious and otherwise
constant in employment towards retaining accuracy of knowl
edge requisite for a teacher, above all, of saving, revealed truth.
Still, the Lord enables me to retain a good degree of strength
of body and, I trust, of mind, to rest refreshingly and to
enjoy sustaining food, and to share cheerfulness of disposition
perhaps beyond the average. And I am granted a very com
forting measure of confiding and affectionate esteem, on the part
of the community as well as of the congregation under my pas
torate. For all this my wish is to be truly grateful, while com
mitting unanxiously my earthly as well as my eternal future to
unerring goodness in Christ our Saviour. Anzolette experiences,
too, infirmities from wearing years, though also sustained by
blessings and hopes. We are through Providential kindness
comforted with moderate means, and altogether the lot granted
us is full of goodness and mercy.
" And now, dear sister, to yourself, as the closing time comes,
experience is given, I pray and trust, of the sure hope on high.
The Lord still keep and bless you and bring us to a happy
meeting in Paradise. " Your loving brother,
" W. N. Pendleton."
Rev. Dr. Robert Nelson to Dr. Pendleton.
" Brooklyn, New York, January 9, 1883.
" My dear Cousin, — It is in due course to begin by wishing
you and all your household not merely ' the compliments of the
season in the phrase, " A Happy New Year," ' but within this
outside wrapper are enclosed our heartiest and most sincere de
sire that the best of the Father's blessings, and the richest of the
Saviour's love, and the most gracious gifts of the Spirit may
abound to you in the year on which we are permitted to enter.
To you two especially, my dear and venerable cousins, as com
pared with whom, though past my threescore, I still feel but
a child, I tender my warm congratulations, with most earnest
wishes that at your eventide you may have light glowing."
31

482 MEMOIRS OF
Dr. Pendleton was by nature benevolent and sympathetic, and
the trials and experience of his long and varied life had deepened
and strengthened these characteristics. His own sorrows taught
him to understand the griefs of others and to administer to them
gracious consolation; from sickness and suffering he became
more compassionate for the bodily ailments of his fellows, and
more tolerant of all their infirmities of temper or character;
chastened and trained in the school of God's discipline, he learned
that Christ-like forbearance towards human frailty which loves
the sinner while loathing his sin. This heart-felt sympathy made
him the friend and consoler not of his own flock alone, but of
all who were in trouble. To hear of suffering or trial anywhere
in the community was to him an immediate summons to render
what aid or comfort he could, and everywhere his presence and
voice seemed to carry something of his Master's strength and
consolation. His desire to help and benefit all around him led
him sometimes into incongruous companionships. In his morn
ing and evening walks he not infrequently joined himself to one
and another working-man going to and fro to his daily task, and
while chatting pleasantly on the business and news of the day,
found opportunity to speak some word of Christian admonition
or suggestion. So much was he wont in this apparently casual
intercourse to interest and influence for good persons looked
upon by others as utterly godless and impracticable, that he
might be seen walking and talking with an avowed unbeliever or
miserable drunkard, and upon being laughingly told by his
daughters that it would go hard with him to be judged by the
company he kept, his smiling reply was, " Poor fellow, he can't
hurt me, and I may do him some good." Such cordial inter
course with his fellows gained for him the confidence of all who
knew him, and individuals who would not suffer an approach
from other men on the subject of religion would listen respect
fully to his kind and faithful admonitions. On the morning when
the tolling bell announced his sudden death a journeyman-car
penter stopped one of the vestrymen, and after expressing his
sympathy for the family said, " He was a friend to everybody.
He often stopped and chatted with me, and he never spoke to a
man without doing him good." Not long after this a poor sew
ing-woman told his daughter, " If I miss him so much I don't

WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D. 483
see how you can live without him." " I did not know you saw
much of him," was the reply. " Well, I didn't," said the woman ;
" but you know he passed by my house three or four times every
day, and I never heard his soldier step or the click of his cane
on the pavement without feeling that there was one good man in
the world who would always help me if I went to him. Oh, I
do miss him dreadfully !"
The end of this life of labor and beneficence came' suddenly
and without pain. January of 1883 was cold and stormy, and
there was sickness and privation among some of the poor in
whom Dr. Pendleton was specially interested. On Sunday, the
14th, he preached as usual in the morning, and after dinner took
a long, cold walk over ice and snow to visit a poor family, and
carry to them material as well as spiritual comfort. On Monday,
15th, he was unusually well and bright, and not only performed
his customary duties, but, to fulfil a promise made to his wife,
began preparation for the next Sunday. At nine o'clock he
stopped writing at his desk, chatted cheerfully with his family
until ten, had family prayers, and retired. A few minutes after
eleven his daughters were summoned by a call from their mother,
and found him gasping and struggling for breath. He never
roused, and in a moment all of this life was over.
His funeral was the first service held in the church, the com
pletion of which he had so ardently desired, and a few months
afterwards General Lee's monument was unveiled. By unre
mitting exertion at home and great liberality elsewhere both
these memorials were brought to a gracious completeness ; but
he who had done so much and longed so eagerly for such a con
summation was not permitted to witness it. God called His faith
ful servant to come up higher to the temple not made with hands.
This record of his life is fitly closed in the words of his vestry :
"A student from his youth, learned in theological lore, an
accomplished and ripe scholar, and well versed in the exact
sciences, he came to his sacred profession well equipped for its
difficult duties, and his writings and discourses remain to attest
his high literary culture and evangelical creed.
" It is but simple justice to say of him that he was an humble,
obedient, and devoted servant of God, a Christian of great sin-

484 MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM NELSON PENDLETON, D.D.
cerity and purity of character, a minister of the Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ, ' thoroughly furnished unto all good works.'
Ever diligent in the work of his Master, loyal to his convictions,
courageous in meeting all the responsibilities of his high office,
with an ear quick to hear and alert, ever responsive to the calls
of suffering humanity, firm but charitable in reproving, given to
hospitality, and in his own daily walk setting before his people a
noted example of godly living, — the memory of his virtues and
of his good deeds rests as a blessing and a benefaction on the
parish which he so long and so faithfully served. Severely
afflicted with disease in the closing years of his ministry and
his life, death walked beside him as he trod the path of his daily
duties, but not to disturb the serenity of his soul or chill the
ardor of his zeal. It but gave him opportunity to take pleasant
glimpses into that blessed future which lay plain to his eye in the
eternal domain beyond the grave.
" The last day, and almost the last hour, of his earthly exist
ence found him still employed in the active service of his Divine
Master, and he fell, as he desired to do, with his Christian armor
on. He expected his summons not with presumptuous boldness,
but with submissive and cheerful calmness, and we feel comforted
in the belief that, when it came, he was ready to depart, ' having
the testimony of a good conscience, in the communion of the
Catholic Church, in the confidence of a certain faith, in the com
fort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope, in favor with God,
and in perfect charity with the world.'
" The massive and beautiful church edifice in which we are now
met, the completion of which is largely due to his persistent
energy, is, perhaps, the best monument to him, and it must be
thought a happy circumstance that its entire completion was
coincident in time with the close of his well-rounded life." *
Mrs. Pendleton survived her husband only a twelvemonth,
passing away almost exactly as he had done, — suddenly in the
night on January 15, 1884. Their mortal remains repose, in the
hope of a joyful resurrection, in the cemetery at Lexington
beside the graves of their son, grandson, and son-in-law.
* Upwards of twelve thousand dollars were raised for the building of the church by
Dr. Pendleton and his youngest daughter.

INDEX.

A.
Alburtis, Captain, 148.
Alexander, E. P., 154, 234, 244, 256,
258, 262, 268, 290, 301, 310, 314, 358,
395-
Alexander, Fort, 396.
Alexander, J. McD., 138.
Allen, Cadet, 29, 43, 49.
Allen, Colonel James, 194.
Allen, Colonel William, 361,456.
Amelia Court-House, 398, 399, 403.
Anderson, R. H., 258, 262, 263, 265,
266, 275, 284, 285, 291, 324, 325, 328,
304, 365-
Anderson, Dr. Thomas B., 250, 254.
Andrews, C. W., 100, 102, 432, 433, 434,
448.
Andrews, R. Snowden, 268, 290, 305,
310.
Angle, Bloody, 329, 330.
Antietam Creek, 217.
Appomattox Court-House, 398, 407.
Appomattox River, 343, 352, 356, 388,
397. 398, 401, 4°3-
Artillery, Horse, 224, 242, 246, 398.
Artillery, Rockbridge, 138, 140, 150,
293. 355-
Artillery, Washington, 243, 244, 265.
Atkinson, Bishop, 83, 427.
Averill, General, 308, 340.
B.
Banks, General, 178.
Barksdale, General, 240, 258, 264, 265.
Barnwell, John G., 170, 186, 203, 211,
220, 231,374,382,442.
Barten, Rev. Dr., 172.
Beall, Lloyd J., 27, 456.

Beauregard, General, 148, 150, 333, 335,
35'. 352.
Beckham, R. F., 309, 310, 315.
Bedell, Bishop, 67.
Benjamin, J. P., 158, 1 79.
Birney, General, 245, 246.
Bledsoe, A. T., 27, 57, 105, 131.
Bondurant, Colonel, 315, 316.
Bragg, General Braxton, 318, 320.
Breathed, Major, 310, 311, 398.
Breckenridge, General, 331, 335, 339,
345. 361.
Bristow Station, 300, 303, 304.
Brockenborough, Judge, 133, 135, 444.
Brockenborough, J. B., 138, 140, 143,
210, 309, 310.
Brooke, John M., 314, 444.
Brown, John, 122, 133, 134.
Brown, J. Thompson, 218, 219, 259, 268,
3°9. 31 '•
Bunker Hill, 296, 297, 298.
Burns, General, 240.
Burnside, General, 233, 235, 238, 239,
242, 244, 248, 250, 257, 268, 327.
Butler, B. F., 323, 330, 331, 333, 335,
352. C.
Cabell, H. C, 234, 309, 394.
Carter, Thomas N., 268, 283, 309, 310,
311,315,316, 393.
Chambersburg, 278.
Chancellorsville, 250, 258, 259, 262, 263,
264, 266, 267, 268.
Chandler, Dr., 274, 275.
Chew, Colonel, 310, 311, 398.
Chickahominy, 184, 185, 193, 196.
Chilton, General, 224, 225, 263, 264.
Clagett, Thomas A., 439, 440. 485

486

INDEX.

Cold Harbor, 333, 334.
Cole, Rev. John, 173, 232, 276.
Coleman, Lewis, 161, 164, 190.
College, Bristol, 55, 56, 67.
College, Newark, 68.
College, Washington, 103, 104, 426.
Colston, General, 260, 262.
Colton, Rev. Dr., 55.
Cooke, General J. B., 400.
Cooke, John Esten, 374, 389.
Cooper, General Samuel, 318.
Corley, Colonel, 306.
Couch, General, 246, 258, 263.
Courtenay, Professor, 47, 48, 50.
Cox, Miss Margaret, 57, 59.
Crook, General, 240.
Crutchfield, Colonel, 261, 262, 267, 268.
Culpeper, 232, 275, 276, 277, 298.
Cutshaw, E. S., 310, 311.
Cutts, Colonel, 188, 189, 190, 218, 231,
255.274.30°. 3IO> 3". 354-
D.
Dahlgren's raid, 321.
Dalton, Georgia, 314, 318, 320, 321, 323.
Dance, Captain, 290.
Dandridge, E. P., 374, 382.
Darkesville, 227.
Davies, Professor, 50.
Davis, Bishop, 441.
Davis, President, 132, 147, 158, 205, 206,
218, 306, 318, 320, 378, 380, 389,412,
439. 440. 455. 456, 47', 472, 474-
Dearing, Major, 267, 309, 311, 315.
Deep Run, 239, 242, 280.
Dickenson, Captain, 403.
Dole, General, 328.
Douglass, H. Kyd, 361,410.
Drewry's Bluff, 333, 351, 355.
Dwight, Captain Timothy, 292.
E.
Early, Jubal A., 240, 242, 243, 258, 263,
264, 265, 266, 267, 276, 277, 278, 282,
285, 288, 303, 304, 308, 341, 360, 361,
364, 368, 373, 456, 457-
Elliott, General, 357, 358, 360.
Eshleman, B. F., 309, 310, 311.

Ewell, General, 181, 209, 218, 272, 273,
274. 279, 282, 285, 303, 304, 308, 341,
360, 365, 368, 373, 456, 457.
F.
Farmville, 401, 403.
Fisher's Hill, 364, 368.
Fort Fisher, 373, 387.
Franklin, General, 217, 233, 240, 241,
246.
Frederick, Maryland, 90, 97, 211, 212,
218, 282, 362, 429.
Fredericksburg, 233, 238, 240, 243, 257,
263, 276, 278.
Fredericksburg, first battle of, 239-248.
Fredericksburg, second battle of, 265-
269.
Fremont, General, 191.
French, General, 244, 246.
Friend, Rev. Mr., 294.

Garber, Captain, 394.
Gardner, Captain J. L., 45.
Garland, General, 204.
Garnett, John G, 309, 310.
Getty, General, 325.
Gettysburg, 282-293.
Gibbon, General, 405, 416,419.
Gibbs, Major, 358, 360.
Gibson, Rev. Dr., 344, 354.
Gilham, Colonel William, 346, 349, 411,
45°-
Gordon, General J. B., 265, 329, 361,
396, 402.
Graham, Captain Archie, 290.
Graham, Dr. J. L., 382, 405.
Grant, General U. S., 319, 323, 324,
327. 329. 333. 334. 342, 351. 356. 358,
389> 399. 4°°. 4°2, 403, 404, 405, 406.
Griffin, General, 405. H.
Hagerstown, 212, 218, 219, 278, 280, 295,
296.
Hampton, General Wade, 340, 353.
Hancock, General, 243, 244, 246, 263,
325. 327. 328, 367.

INDEX.

487

Hardaway, Captain R. A., 220, 223, 246,
255. 309. 3'°. 3H-
Hardee, General, 315, 316, 317, 458.
Harper's Ferry, 215, 217, 218, 226, 228.
Harrison's Landing, 192, 197.
Haskell, John, 309.
Hatcher, Charles, 186, 200, 205, 206,
223,304,315,318,341,355.
Hatcher's Run, 389, 390.
Hays, General, 264, 265.
Henry, Rev. C. S., 55, 59.
Henry, Major, 251.
Heth, General Henry, 275, 291, 294, 325.
High School, Episcopal, 73-77, 462.
Hill, General A. P., 192, 195, 217, 222,
242, 245, 260, 262, 267, 273, 275, 276,
279. 283, 301, 304, 324, 325, 367, 379.
Hill, General D. H., 192, 195, 201, 204,
217, 218, 239, 240, 241, 242, 316.
Hodges, Colonel, 221, 223.
Hoge, Dr. Moses, 474.
Hoke, General, 334, 35 1.
Holliday, Frederick M., 203, 249.
Hood, General J. B., 214, 216, 222, 251,
275, 284, 285, 289, 315, 316, 317,373,
380.
Hooker, General Joseph, 233, 240, 244,
245, 246, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 263,
264, 266, 267, 269, 278, 282.
Hope, Hon. Beresford, 475.
Howard, General, 244, 246, 258, 260.
Huckstep, Captain, 220, 223, 246.
Huger, Colonel Frank, 309, 310, 358.
Humphreys, General, 352, 475.
Hunter, General David, 339, 341, 345,
366, 367. I.
Institute, Virginia Military, 103, 134,
137. 223, 224, 273, 274, 331, 412,
426, 444, 447, 466.

Jackson, H. Melville, 439.
Jackson, Thomas J., 137, 140, 141, 144,
145, 160, l6l, 172, 193, 194, 195, 201,
207,208, 214, 216, 219, 222, 224, 232,
233, 240, 242, 245, 251, 254, 256, 258,
260, 264, 269, 270, 271, 277, 331.

Johns, Bishop, 255, 273, 293, 302, 421,
428, 430, 436, 448, 467.
Johns, Dr. H. V. D., 83, 84, 89.
Johnson, President Andrew, 413, 420,
428.
Johnson, General Bradley, 363.
Johnson, General Edward, 275, 290,
329-
Johnson, Mar., 219, 220, 223, 310,
3"-
Johnson, Captain S. R., 224, 234.
Johnston, General A. S., 178.
Johnston, General Joseph E., 27, 142,
144, 146, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 160,
172, 181, 184, 185, 314, 319, 323,373,
440, 460.
Johnston, Major Stoddart, 361.
Johnston, William Preston, 444, 471.
Jones, Colonel Hilary P., 283, 309, 310,
3".397.398.
Jones, Robert, 223, 361.
Jones, Colonel Thomas G., 459.

K.
Kernstown, 363.
Kershaw, General, 292, 364, 368.
Kirkpatrick, Major, 220, 223.

Lacy, Rev. Tucker, 253, 254, 255,
271.
Lamar, Colonel, 220, 223.
Lane, Captain John, 231, 309, 311.
Latimer, Major, 290.
Laws, General, 289.
Lawton, General, 220.
Lea, Judge J. N., 477.
Leavell, Rev. William T., 67.
Lee, Bishop Alfred, 475.
Lee, General Custis, 444.
Lee, Ed. J., 209, 299, 364, 410, 428.
Lee, Edwin G., 120, 142, 143, 146, 151,
162, 165, 187, 203, 248, 321, 333, 339,
343. 349. 378, 410, 421, 440, 452.
Lee, Fitz, 317, 353, 396.
Lee, Mrs. Mary Custis, 452, 453, 464.

488

INDEX.

Lee, General Robert E., 27, 28, 42, 187-
198, 205-210, 214, 227, 230, 232, 233,
240, 245, 256, 260-268, 274-280, 287,
296, 297, 300, 302, 304, 314, 320, 323,
328, 33'. 333. 334. 336, 375, 376, 389,
39°. 394. 399. 4°2. 4°3> 4°4, 426, 433,
435. 444, 447. 453-
Lee, Thomas J., 27.
Lee, W. H. F., 352.
Letcher, Governor John, 132, 133, 134,
'35. 158, 34°. 348, 410, 412-
Lightfoot, Colonel Charles, 310, 311.
Lincoln, President, 128, 132, 133, 136,
248, 269, 323, 389.
Long, General A. L., 288, 309, 311, 395,
396-
Longstreet, General James, 173, 177, 182,
183, 192, 195, 207, 209, 210, 220, 222,
224, 232, 233, 235, 240, 242, 243, 245,
251, 275. 277. 282, 284, 287, 289, 290,
300, 324, 328, 402.
Lynch, Mr., 366,381, 384, 386, 387, 388,
389, 390. M.
Magill, Dr.,280.
Magruder, General J. B., 27, 29, 159,
193-
Mahan, Rev. Milo, 74, 78, 84.
Mahone, General William, 352, 358.
Manassas, first battle of, 147, 148, 150,
I5I-I54-
Manassas, second battle of, 207, 208, 218.
Manassas Junction, 207, 208.
Marshall, Colonel Charles, 288.
Marshall, Thomas, 146.
Martinsburg, 278.
Marye's Hill, 243, 245, 265, 266.
Mason, Rev. Dr. Richard, 69, 70.
Mason, Rev. L. R., no, 112, 113.
Massaponax Creek, 240, 242, 246.
Maurin, Captain, 310, 311.
Maury, Captain Matthew F., 444, 454,
463. 464-
Maury, Colonel R. L., 464.
McCausland, General, 137, 344, 349, 364.
McClellan, General, 166, 169, 172, 177,
186, 187, 195, 197, 200, 208, 213, 229,
23°. 233. 334-

McDonald, Colonel Angus, 366.
McDonald, Colonel M., 444.
McDowell, General, 191.
McGill, Rev. John, 293, 294.
McGraw, Captain, 310, 311.
McGuire, Dr. Hunter, 203, 261, 273, 372.
Mcllvaine, C. P., 30, 57.
Mcintosh, Colonel D. G, 283, 309, 310,
3»-
McLaughlin, William, 140.
McLaws, General, 204, 216, 217, 251,
262, 263, 266, 284, 289, 291.
Meade, Bishop, 34, 49, 72, 73, 125, 126,
127, 142, 174, 175.
Meade, General, 242, 258, 282, 285, 286,
298, 3°°> 3°5> 3°8, 324. 326. 359-
Meade, Mrs. Fanny, 71, 75.
Meade, Philip N., 71, 115, 229.
Meade, Captain William, 296.
Merritt, General, 405.
Miller, Captain, 310, 311.
Milroy, General, 278, 279, 281.
Mine Run, 300.
Minnegerode, Rev. Dr., 174, 180, 205,
321, 455. 465.
Moore, Bishop, 52.
Moore, Captain David, 344, 345.
Moore, David, 146.
Moore, Edward, 337.
Moorman, Captain, 310, 311.
Mumford, Colonel Thomas, 221.
N.
Neff, Colonel, 209, 210.
Nelson, General, 13, 31.
Nelson, Hugh, 14.
Nelson, Mrs. Judith, 179, 205, 206, 412,
438, 446.
Nelson, Lucy, 7, 14, 15.
Nelson, President, 12.
Nelson, Robert, 56, 74, 84, 341, 412,
438> 474. 479. 481.
Nelson, Secretary, 12.
Nelson, Thomas, 12.
Nelson, Washington, 252, 465.
Nelson, Colonel William, 188, 189, 190,
191, 194, 214, 218, 219, 223, 274, 297,
310, 311, 325, 361, 395, 412, 479.

INDEX.

489

New Market, 331, 346, 347.
Norton, Rev. George H., 248, 312, 361,
412. O.
Oliver, Charles J., 394.
Onderdonk, Bishop H. M., 69, 70.

Packard, Rev. Joseph, 55, 56, 82.
Page, Anne Rose, 52, 160, 215, 254,
412.
Page, Anzolette E., 31, 34, 41.
Page, Captain Francis, 31, 32, 97.
Page, Mrs. Francis, 31, 32, 97.
Page, Frank, 382.
Page, Dr. I. Randolph, 186, 205, 206,
209, 210, 227, 228, 304.
Page, Major John, 70, 74, 150, 166, 186,
205, 206, 249, 341, 382, 431.
Page, R. C. M., 300.
Page, Thomas Nelson, 476.
Patterson, General, 280.
Paxton, General Frank, 203, 230, 267.
Peace Commissioners, 389.
Pegram, Major W. J., 284, 309, 310,311,
375-
Pelham, Major, 224.
Pender, General, 275, 283, 298.
Pendleton, Dudley D., 12, 120, 186, 203,
205, 206, 209, 216, 252, 275, 362, 410,
412.
Pendleton, Edmund, 7, 15, 18, 21, 25.
Pendleton, Gurdon, 16, 70, 279, 280.
Pendleton, Hugh, 16, 22, 30, 52, 93, 279,
34°. 341-
Pendleton, James, 16.
Pendleton, Judge, 8, 9, 10, II, 12.
Pendleton, Judith, 16, 30, 61.
Pendleton, Lucy, 60, 75, 93, 94.
Pendleton, Mildred, 16, 30, 36, 478, 480.
Pendleton, Robert, 16, 61.
Pendleton, Robert N., 12.
Pendleton, Sandie, 91, 104, 118, 120, 129,
i36- »43, 146. 15°. 161, 177, 191,196,
202, 203, 215, 238, 245, 246, 252, 255,
256, 261, 262, 267, 270, 271, 273, 281,
295. 3OI> 3°2, 3°4. 3°8, 320, 322, 323,
33°, 338, 36°. 3°3. 368-374, 375. 380.

Pendleton, Walker, 16, 21, 26, 30, 381,
382.
Perrin, Dr., 164, 174.
Peterkin, George, 186, 206, 256, 280, 291,
292, 293, 3°4, 306, 3>6, 318. 331. 333,
341, 356, 357, 358, 369, 3«o, 382, 397.
4°5-
Peterkin, Rev. Joshua, 90, 371, 421.
Phillips, Rev. Richard, 296, 297, 391.
Pickett, General, 251, 285, 290, 345, 396.
Pierce, Major, 50, 51.
Pierpont, Governor, 414, 418.
Poague, Colonel William T., 140, 231,
242, 245, 246, 309, 310, 311, 325, 338,
366, 397-
Polk, Bishop Leonidas, 27, 144.
Pope, General John, 206, 207, 208.
Port Royal, 239, 241, 247, 251.
Potter, Bishop Horatio, 427, 445.
Preston, Major J. T. L., 346, 348.
Preston, Mrs. Margaret J., 477.
Preston, Willie, 209.
Pryor, General Roger, 214, 222.

Raine, Captain, 310.
Ramseur, General, 293, 363.
Randolph, Thomas M., 186, 206.
Ransom, General Robert, 233, 331, 339.
Read, Major, 309.
Reese, Lieutenant, 364.
Reid, Colonel S. McD., 344, 348.
Reynolds, General, 246.
Richardson, Major Charles, 188, 189,
218, 309, 310, 311.
Rielly, James, 309.
Rodes, General, 260, 262, 275, 278, 283,
285, 288.
Rogers, Major John, 319.
S.
Scott, General, 46, 91, 137.
Sedgwick, General, 264, 265, 266, 267,
268, 269, 328.
Seminary, Theological (Episcopal), 72,
79. 82, 136, 438, 462.
Semmes, General, 233, 240, 242, 243,
244. 245. 246, 272.

49°

INDEX.

Sharpsburg, battle of, 212, 214, 218, 219,
221, 224, 242.
Shepherdstown, 212, 213, 214, 218, 219,
224, 278, 362, 410, 425.
Sheridan, General, 330, 331, 364, 368,
373, 374, 383, 395, 396, 425-
Sherman, General, 373, 374, 395, 396. 443.
Shoup, General, 317.
Sickles, General, 259, 262.
Sigel, General, 324, 330, 331, 362.
Slocum, General, 258.
Smith, Captain 290.
Smith, Colonel F. H., 105, 426, 444.
Smith, General G. W., 172, 173, 184, 205.
Smith, Lieutenant James, 270.
Society, Franklin, 106, 436, 468.
South Side Railroad, 352, 400.
Sparrow, William, D.D., 82, 92.
Spottsylvania Court-House, 328, 335.
Stanard, Captain, 150.
Stoneman, General, 269.
Stribling, Captain Robert, 310, 311.
Stuart, General J. E. B., 203, 206, 224,
255, 261, 262, 274, 277, 282, 309, 328,
331. 332-
Swinton, 244, 324, 330.

Taliaferro, General, 246.
Taylor, Colonel W. H., 279, 285, 288,
359. 394, 4'5-
Thayer, Colonel, 28, 50.
Theatre, burning of, 19, 20, 21.
Thomas, General, 373.
Trimble, General, 209. U.
Underwood, Judge, 415, 419.
V.
Valentine, E. S., 454, 456, 457.
Venable, Colonel, 288.
Vicksburg, 296, 297.
Vinton, Rev. Francis, 27, 1 10.
Volunteers, Liberty Hall, 139.
W.
Walker, Captain, 403.
Walker, Rev. Cornelius, 79, 447.

Walker, Rev. Edward, 443.
Walker, General R. L., 242, 245, 268,
3°9, 3", 358, 395. 398, 399, 4°2.
Walker, Rev. Thomas R., 443.
Wallace, General Lew, 362.
Walton, Colonel, 150, 165, 173, 309.
Ward, Captain, 310, 311.
Warner, Professor, 40, 44.
Warren, General, 300, 324, 328.
Washington and Lee University, 460, 463.
Watson, David M., 290, 300, 311.
Weisiger, Colonel, 358.
Weldon Railroad, 343, 352, 365, 366,
367, 398.
West Point, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 48, 49, 50,
146, 420.
White, Hugh, 209, 210.
White, Professor J. J., 391.
Whiting, General, 191, 192.
Whittingham, Bishop, 88, 89.
Whitde, Bishop, 79, 432, 447, 465, 467,
468.
Wickham, General, 183.
Wilcox, General Cadmus, 265, 266, 284,
325.
Wilderness, battle of, 323, 324, 328, 331,
335-
Williams, Dr. J. E., 341, 378, 421.
Williamson, Colonel Thomas H., 105,
344. 349, 444, 468.
Williamsport, 219, 224, 279, 295.
Wilmer, Skipwith, 361.
Wilson, Private, 347, 348.
Winchester, 227, 228, 232, 278, 279, 364,
368.
Winder, General, 203.
Wise, General Henry A., 344.
Wolffe, Major B. L., 186.
Wright, General, 284.
Wyman, Samuel G., 85.
Y.
Yellow Tavern, 331.
Yorktown, 180, 181.

Zacharias, Rev. Dr., 101, 437, 438.