



Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed
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WHAT HAPPENED TO ME

BY
LASALLE CORBELL PICKETT
(MRS. GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT)

AUTHOR OF
PICKETT AND HIS MEN; LITERARY HEARTHSTONES OF DIXIE; BUGLES OF
GETTYSBURG; HEART OF A SOLDIER; ACROSS MY PATH; "IN DE MIZ" SERIES;
FOLK LORE STORIES, ETC.

[Illustration: Decoration]


NEW YORK
BRENTANO'S
1917


COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY BRENTANO'S


[Illustration: Faithfully Yours,

La Salle Corbell Pickett.

Jan 17 1917]




DEDICATED TO SELMA LEWISOHN


In my garden a lily grew, blossoming in snowy purity, fragrant sweetness
and stately grace. It held the summer in its golden heart and the love
of the angels crowned its radiant petals. It bade me "good-morning" and
the dawn was bright with promise. It waved a caress to me in the soft
winds of the Junetide noon and the day was filled with light and love.
It shone in mystic silver through the moonlight and my night was aglow
with dreams.

Thus a Lily-Soul blooms in the garden of my life to make it glad with
the glory and fragrance of her blossoming. Many hearts are happy because
of the flowers of Love and Hope and Faith which she has planted. Many a
life which in its early dawn held little promise of good has grown into
usefulness and beauty in the brightness that the Lily-Soul has given of
her own loveliness to light the dim pathway.

In cloudy days the whiteness of the Lily-Soul has shone like a star
through my darkness and the sunlight in her golden heart has illumined
the black veil of sorrow.

LA SALLE CORBELL PICKETT.

October 1, 1916.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                              PAGE
     I. "OUT OF THE EVERYWHERE"                         1

    II. THE FIRST PRAYER                               12

   III. CHURCH VISITORS                                19

    IV. MY SOLDIER                                     30

     V. A KEEPSAKE FOR THE ANGELS                      42

    VI. AFRICAN ROYALTY                                48

   VII. OUR FIRST CURRENCY                             57

  VIII. YULETIDE                                       64

    IX. GREENBRIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS               79

     X. THE BREAKING OF THE STORM                      87

    XI. THE "VIRGINIA"                                 93

   XII. RICHMOND AFTER SEVEN PINES                    103

  XIII. MY WOUNDED SOLDIER                            109

   XIV. THE RED FOX                                   117

    XV. THE SMUGGLED BRIDE                            124

   XVI. BOTTLER, BOTTLER UP                           133

  XVII. ON THE LINES                                  141

 XVIII. THE AMENITIES                                 149

   XIX. THE CLOSING DAYS                              157

    XX. SUSPENSE                                      175

   XXI. "WHOA, LUCY"                                  184

  XXII. GEORGE JUNIOR'S FIRST GREENBACK               191

 XXIII. "SKOOKUM TUM-TUM"                             200

  XXIV. CARPET-BAG, BASKET AND BABY                   207

   XXV. EDWARDS IS BETTER                             221

  XXVI. ONE WOMAN REDEEMED THEM ALL                   227

 XXVII. A FAMILIAR FACE                               237

XXVIII. VISITORS, SHILLING A DOZEN--OUR LEFT-HANDERS  248

  XXIX. BORN WITH EMERALDS--NEMO NOCETUR              261

   XXX. TURKEY ISLAND                                 273

  XXXI. AT THE WHITE HOUSE                            288

 XXXII. UNCLE TOM                                     305

XXXIII. "GOD'S 'TISEMENT"                             314

 XXXIV. CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN                             327

  XXXV. EASTER FLOWERS                                339

 XXXVI. HIS LAST BATTLE                               352




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Portrait of Author                  _Frontispiece_

                                            FACING
                                              PAGE
Abraham Lincoln                                168

Ulysses S. Grant                               288

"I know dear Father was a great man and knew
most everything, but I didn't know he had
God's eyes and could see everything"           330

"Little Brother, be gentle with the flowers;
they die so soon"                              348

"All Quiet Along the Potomac"                  355

The Angel of Peace                             363




I

"OUT OF THE EVERYWHERE"


There are some events with which we have become so familiar by report
that we can scarcely believe they did not happen within our own
recollection. Thus it is with my advent into earthly existence.

Not long before the time