Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, August, 1880Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, August, 1880
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
This ends the record of the residence of the family of General Greene at
Dungeness. That they made it their home for many years is evident--that
they removed here soon after the death of the general is probable. In
the division of General Greene's possessions Dungeness became the
property of Mrs. Shaw, his youngest daughter: she, dying childless, left
it to her nephew, Phineas Miller Nightingale. Mrs. Nightingale, wife of
the grandson of General Greene, to whom this property was given, was
daughter of Rufus King, governor of New York, and granddaughter of Rufus
King, minister to Great Britain during the elder Adams's administration.
The Nightingales, descendants of General Greene, remained in undisturbed
possession until the late war, dispensing unbounded hospitality at their
princely mansion. During the war the house was occupied by Northern
troops until its close, when, through the negligence of some negro
refugees, it was burned. Its ruins alone testify to the wealth of former
years which now is departed, and the broad acreage of untilled fields
and the ruined negro cabins cry out loudly for those who will never
return to bless them.
Let us turn once more to that cemetery in the olive-grove. Another stone
claims our attention, a tablet to the memory of him who pronounced those
glowing words, "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his
countrymen:" "Sacred to the memory of Gen. Henry Lee of Virginia. Obiit
25 March, 1818, aetat. 63." In 1814, General Lee was injured by a mob in
Baltimore, and never recovered. Early in 1818 he arrived at Dungeness
from Cuba, whither he had gone to regain his health. He landed from a
schooner at the river landing, a weak, decrepit old man, in whom it
would have been difficult to recognize the dashing Light-Horse Harry of
the Revolution. A grandson of General Greene's, Phineas Miller
Nightingale, was loitering near the landing. Calling him, General Lee
learned who he was, and despatched him to his aunt, Mrs. Shaw, with the
intelligence of his arrival. "Tell her," said he, "that the old friend
and companion of General Greene has come to die in the arms of his
daughter."
A carriage was sent for him, and he was installed in the southern
chamber above the drawing-room, and everything done to alleviate his
pain that the kindest forethought could suggest. He lingered here some
two months, and then passed away, and was buried in the family
burying-ground. His only baggage at the time of his arrival was an old
hair-covered trunk nailed round with brass-headed nails.
An anecdote is preserved in the family relating to the general's
residence there. One of the servants, Sara by name--commonly called "the
Duchess" from her stately demeanor--incurred his ill-will. General Lee
once threatened to throw his boot at her, and the Duchess turned upon
him and replied, "If you do I'll throw it back at you." This answer so
pleased the old general that he would afterward permit no other servant
to wait upon him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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