Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/11/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 09:09 PM 11/9/03 -0800, Ted Grant wrote: >> BTW, I don't know if that other Grant made it through here, but his >> predecessor, McClelland made a mess of things on his way to Richmond.<<<, > >Thanks Mike, >Look forward to a hand shake and visit. :-) > >I believe one of them became President? Am I correct? >ted Ted To my fairly certain knowledge, Ulysses Simpson Grant never set foot in Virginia save for his jaunt from Washington, DC, to Richmond and the left hook over to Appomattox. (The events after the Southron surrender are more than a bit sad. Grant and Lee each appointed commissioners to handle the surrender, while Grant withdrew to Washington and Lee to Richmond. Lee appointed "Old Pete" Longstreet as his Commissioner, while Grant appointed Joshua Chamberlain as his. When Longstreet went over to the McLean house to arrange the surrender terms, he walked by an office where Grant was working. Grant and Longstreet were long-time best friends and Longstreet had been Grant's best man. As Longstreet walked by the open door, he said, "Hello, Sam", to which Grant replied, "Hi, Pete". They would not meet again for a couple of years, though Longstreet did well out of the Grant Administration (Grant was US President from 1869 until 1877.) And the Yankee General, Meade, crossed the line to seek out HIS long-time friend, Robert Edward Lee. Lee, whose own hair had turned grey during the Civil War, looked at Meade and said, "George, your hair is grey!" to which Meade replied, "Bob, it's all your fault", and the two men laughed. Lee took over the Presidency of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, in the fall of 1865, and died there in October, 1870. I had the grand privilege of studying at what is now Washington & Lee University between 1968 and 1972.) The Civil War is rife around here. I am a five hour drive from Chickamauga, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Petersburg, Appomattox (which I have never visited, though I drive by it frequently), Bull Run/Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Antietam/Sharpsburg. In fact, the only Civil War battle sites not immediately available are Shiloh and Vicksburg, while Atlanta is about eight hours away. Roanoke, Virginia, was rather sheltered from the Civil War. The folks around here elected Republican delegates to the US Congress and Whig delegates to the Confederate Congress and tried to keep from getting shot. In the eyes of the people around here, this was the "Plantation War", and was not a conflict that they had a lot of interest in fighting, loyal Virginians though they were. But, of course, after the War, this was all overlaid by the "Bloody Flag" and it was forgotten for a century that western Virginia was less than enthusiastic to support separation from the Union. Marc msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html