Generals Pierce Young, of Georgia, and Custer were messmates and
classmates and devoted friends at West Point. In the war they were
major-generals of cavalry on opposing sides. One day General Young was
invited to breakfast at the Hunter mansion in Virginia. The beautiful
young ladies had prepared a smoking breakfast to which the general was
addressing himself with ardor when a shell burst through the house.
Glancing through a window he saw Custer charging toward the house at
the head of his staff. Out of the window Young went, calling to the
young ladies, “Tell Custer I leave this breakfast for him.” Custer
enjoyed it heartily, and looked forward with pleasure to the dinner in
the distance. In the meantime, Young, smarting over the loss of his
breakfast and his hasty retreat, drove the Federal line back, and by
dinner time was in sight of the Hunter mansion again. Custer, who was
just sitting down to dinner, laughed and said: “That’s Pierce Young
coming back. I knew he wouldn’t leave me here in peace. Here’s my
picture; give it to him, and tell him his old classmate leaves his love
with his excellent dinner.” And out of the window he went like a flash,
while the Georgia general walked in and sat down to dinner.
* * * * *
Transcriber’s Notes:
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
p. 13: The one-sentence paragraph that starts “I am astonished at
you...” does not belong in this story. It is from another story
entitled “Some of Lincoln’s Jokes” (George B. Herbert, _The Popular
History of the Civil War in America_, F. M. Lupton, Publisher, New
York, 1885, p. 476).