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. |
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXII. |
| XXIII. |
| XXIV. |
| XXV. |
| XXVI. |
| XXVII. |
| XXVIII. |
| XXIX. |
| XXX. |
| XXXI. |
| XXXII. |
| XXXIII. |
| XXXIV. |
| XXXV. |
| XXXVI. |
| XXXVII. |
| XXXVIII. |
| XXXIX. |
| XL. |
| XLI. |
| XLII. |
| XLIII. |
| XLIV. |
| XLV. |
| XLVI. |
| XLVII. |
| XLVIII. | CHAPTER XLVIII. |
| XLIX. |
| L. |
 | CHAPTER XLVIII. Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D., |  |
CHAPTER XLVIII.
MONUMENT AND MEMORIAL CHURCH FOR GENERAL R. E. LEE PROPOSED
—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 enlarging
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 requested
an increase, if possible, at the same time offering his
resignation, to take effect at the end of a year, should the congregation
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, increased
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 meeting
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 resignation
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,—
"Saturday I began operations, but saw only a few persons.
General Anderson subscribed for us three hundred dollars. Today
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 himself,
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 1 Cor. xiii. 12, 'Now we see through a glass, darkly; but
then face to face',—felt very free in speaking, and the congregation
seemed attentive and impressed. I went to Minnegerode's
to tea, and Mr. Davis was there. He looks well, but sad."
"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 pertaining
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 reasonable
plan for so commemorating General Lee as to do good
here and at Lexington, while holding forth to honor his character
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 enthusiastically
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 enthusiastically
cheered and called on to speak, which he did most gracefully
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
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."
". . . No letter here for me. It is a trying disappointment.
My whole heart is with you and my own people, and this wandering
about as a beggar, even for so important an object, is a
grief my good friends can hardly appreciate."[1]
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.
"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
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,—
But his soul goes marching on.'
"Please remit amount to B. F. Butler, Treasurer, Arlington Heights.
"This morning all the Episcopal churches united in Thanksgiving
services[2]
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 congregation.
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."
"To-morrow I expect to start for New Orleans. . . . By request
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 tonight,
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 working
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 country.
His course then lay through Augusta to Savannah, and on
home again by the last of January, 1871. This tour realized
added a check of five hundred dollars for the church and
one thousand dollars for the monument.
Colonel Thomas G. Jones to General Pendleton.
"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 example.
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 example
were, if it were possible, more valuable to the country than
during the war. His determination to remain in the country restrained
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.
"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.
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 widowed
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 number
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 irksome.
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 youngest
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 Washington
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,"
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 gentleman
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 himself
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 uninjured.
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 absolute
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 temporary
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 remedies,
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 distressing
at the time-that under God's ordering he might be incapacitated
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 dangerous
carbuncles, nights of sleeplessness, nor weary days were
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. Looking
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 XLVIII. Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D., | |