Oh, my dear, dear
home, the home of my childhood-my life! Oh, the old time-beaten, moss-covered
house where my eyes first saw the light, and my tongue was taught to lisp its
first prayer; how I have watched your decay, and my proud heart has been ashamed
of your age! My own wicked spirit is now humbled, and I come to you to-day,
where my first prayer was uttered, to offer up the last in the home of my
former happiness. Farewell, dear home, forever!
SOURCE: William De
Loss Love, Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion, pp. 273-4
“Captain Dick Lee” was most likely Richard Decatur Lee (1821–1896), the prominent local planter who built and owned Lee Hall Mansion in what is now northern Newport News, Virginia. A wealthy tobacco planter, he was placed in charge of local civil defenses at the outbreak of the Civil War. During the Peninsula Campaign, Lee Hall served as headquarters for Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Magruder. The diary leaf referring to him was discovered by Dr. Alfred L. Castleman of the 5th Wisconsin Infantry after the Union occupation of Yorktown.
ReplyDelete