In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

CHAPTER 25 "We Pass now Quickly From Each Other's Sight "h the months after Fanny's death, Lawrence gathered together those things most dear to her and most exemplary of her life. He wished to create a memorial to her in the family home. She had cherished the bracelet that he had designed nd given to her on their 10th anniversary, and Lawrence kept it in a small jeweled casket. Treasuring her paintings of Hamlet and Mary Magdalene, Lawrence wrote to Helen Adams. He asked for paintings that Fanny had given to her adoptive father many years before: one of angels, and a Madonna, as well as several landscapes. Though Lawrence explained in his letter that he cared about these paintings as others could not, Helen, then widowed almost 30 years, refused to part with them, claiming her own sentimental attachment. She commented on his efforts to gather Fanny's most prized possessions: "I know the 'treasury' you are putting together will indeed be a choice one, for Fanny could never resist the possible acquisition of beautiful things." Another letter from an old family friend expressed more empathy for both Lawrence and Fanny. In his letter of condolence, James McKeen echoed the sentiments of others regarding Fanny's merciful release from suffering. He also reminisced about the last time he had seen her, for "... she talked with her old time vigor of art and literature, and seemed for the moment to quite forget her blindness and helplessness." Little would change in the Chamberlain home in the coming years, and a visitor to the house several years after Fanny's death remarked, "On every side and in every room of this old mansion can be seen the evidence of her skill and artistic taste."1 330 Lawrence's life would, of course, change when Fanny was gone. There were fewer trips to Brunswick, and he visited Boston more frequently, cherishing his time spent with Grace and her family. Always, the news that "Gennie" was coming was a cause for celebration to his granddaughters. The youngest of the three, Rosamond, today still remembers her grandfather's kind ways and great gentleness , describing him as "just the opposite of pompous." She recalls that her mother, Grace, enjoyed pampering him, and made his favorite popovers for breakfast. But she also remembers her grandfather's "fuzzy" mustache, commenting, "I'd hate to kiss him, I'll tell you that."2 In late October 1905, Chamberlain made a belated reply to a letter from Gen. Thomas Munford, who had commanded Fitz Hugh Lee's cavalry at Five Forks. He began his letter, "The death of my wife, who was a broad-minded, and richly endowed woman who loved her whole Country, in peace and in war, and honored brave men who did manly duty as they saw it in their own hearts, has come upon me since the receipt of your letter, and my delay in acknowledging it is thus to be pardoned." Munford had asked for his writings on the Battle of Five Forks and, Chamberlain, wishing he could have spoken with Munford earlier, asked the Southern commander to criticize his work and add suggestions. Munford was fighting his own battle for the truth regarding the Battle of Five Forks, which he referred to as the "Waterloo of the Army of Northern Virginia and of the Confederate Government." Today, the notorious shad bake that caused the absence of Gen. George Pickett and Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee from the front that day is accepted as fact. But Munford was discouraged from publishing his account of the battle, advised that it would only bring him into acrimonious controversy. Munford declared that in his account , "There was not a word said that could not be substantiated" for "these are facts which have been established, but as the trial of Warren was suppressed, the real story has never been compiled in its true colors—" General Munford accepted his comrades' judgment and left instructions that his paper, "Narrative of the Battle of Five Forks, April 1,1865," be published twenty years after his death.3 Chamberlain's thoughts did not dwell solely on the details of long ago battlefields. Powerful memories softened life's painful losses. In the months after Fanny's death, he finished writing "The Last Review of the Army of the Potomac, May 23, 1865," a narrative both vivid and intimate. Here, Chamberlain declared that all his old comrades -in-arms had passed in review that...

Share