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. |
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 | CHAPTER XLVI. Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D., |  |
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, 1866. 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 promised.
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, notwithstanding
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 1851 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
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 protested
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 contributed
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 members
of the Southern Bazaar held in Baltimore; seeking positions
for young men and old soldiers; giving counsel on every imaginable
subject, from the proper arrangement of a group of photographs
to the preparation of scientific and historical articles for
the various magazines and reviews[1]
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 benevolence
was sometimes imposed upon, he continued to act upon
the principle that it is better to help several who are unworthy
five thousand and seven thousand fed by our Lord can be supposed
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 Virginia
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.
"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 admitted
to that institution, and his probable annual expenses there.
"My son has pursued a course of selected studies in the academy
here, and during the last year at Washington, Pennsylvania.
His scholarship and character in both institutions were unexceptionable.
My impressions concerning Washington College, Virginia,
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
be beneath and around you and yours! I beg to be very kindly
remembered to Mrs. Pendleton and all your family as if named.
The closing weeks of 1866 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,—
". . . 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
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 Christian
consolation to him, profound admiration and reverence for his
heroic fortitude and dauntless adherence to principle were mingled
with a passionate indignation and revolt against the persecutions
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 faltering
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 constant
use, and sent it with his love to his young friend.
Mr. Thomas A. Clagett to Dr. Pendleton.
"My dear Friend,—Permit me to introduce to your kind and
favorable consideration my young friend Melville Jackson,[3]
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 sociable
in his disposition, and, with watchful care and judicious training,
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 previous
period, from the extraordinarily large number of young
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 prosperity
of yourself and family,
General J. E. Johnston to Dr. Pendleton.
"My dear Friend,—Your note of the 5th 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 recover,
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 conversation
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 qualities
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 Lexington,
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.
General Edwin Lee and his wife had returned to Virginia in
the spring of 1866. Failing health compelled him to go farther
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 hundred
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.
"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-kindness
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.
"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 General
Pendleton, of Virginia,—your honored State,—has had associated
with it sentiments of high estimation and deep and loving
interest in the hearts and circles of South Carolina, and especially
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 Carolina,
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 region),
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 destroyed
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 engaged
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,
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 Edgefield,
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 residence
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.
| CHAPTER XLVI. Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D., | |