In reminiscences of her husband, General George E. Pickett, of the
Confederate Army, his widow has this to say in regard to the sadness
that filled the Southern heart at the close of the unsuccessful war:
He (General Pickett) gave his staff a farewell breakfast at
our home. They did not once refer to the past, but each wore a
blue strip tied like a sash around his waist. It was the old
headquarters flag, which they had saved from the surrender and
torn into strips, that each might keep one in sad memory. After
breakfast he went to the door, and from a white rose-bush which
his mother had planted, he cut a bud for each. He put one in my
hair and pinned one to the coat of each of his officers. Then
for the first time the tears came, and the men who had been
closer than brothers for four fearful years clasped hands in
silence and parted. (Text.)
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