One thing that you will see when reading this blog is that entries will retreat into the past as they seem to apply or come to mind. I hope that as long as we continue with the minutes from where we left off, these entries that give us a view into the events that preceded the girls attending school here, may serve to broaden the understanding and attitude that Mrs. Fleet and her daughters had in regard to teaching and caring for these students, many of whom were boarding here. I think the background that brought this family to the era of the homeschool for young ladies, only helps us to understand better not only what the family had been through, but from what various circumstances some of the girls may have come from as well. Events that happened here were not unlike some of the experiences these girls may have had also.
As mentioned in an earlier blog, I wanted to add a photo of Mrs. Fleet's dress from about 1858. This would have been her dress when she was in her mid 30's and probably one she would have worn to church. Mrs. Fleet must have been all of 4'10" ~maybe! Her dress measures 48" in total length from the neckline to the bottom of the hemline. So she was petite to say the least. One thing that always stands out in my mind about her gumption relates to a story during the Civil War. Her son Benny had passed away March 2nd 1864 and in June some Yankees came to Green Mount. After the affair had ended she wrote to her oldest son Fred, who had been wounded at the Battle of the Crater in Petersburg and was at a cousins house being cared for in that same town. Having received a letter from him that he was being cared for she replied in a letter to him this account:
"I have been through so much and suffered so acutely that my strength has well nigh failed, but I never felt so little like giving up in my life. We have a plenty left to live on and though all of the servants are gone but Milly, Mary and her children, I don't work any harder than I did before, I can't. We had a sale on Friday week to dispose of some of the hogs, &c. and realized $2233.85 from 25 hogs, one head of cattle, three lambs, some fish, vinegar and useless things about the house and plantation. I am afraid you will hear dreadful accounts of the Yankees' depredations but don't be uneasy, the Lord will provide. They left most of the corn at Old Hall, they took all of the cattle, sheep, hogs (except a pig or two, a few old fowls-enough to give you something to eat if you can only come home). They left the garden, the house, the farm and all of us alive.
Lou will tell you some of the proceedings of Saturday, Sunday and Monday and leave Tuesday for me. On that day we saw some deserters enquiring the way to the Rappahannock (river) and congratulated ourselves that the worst was over. About eleven o'clock three Yankees stopped at Milly's house, rested awhile under her porch and then walked to the barn and went to sleep under the apple tree. After a little 4 more came from Sam Wilson's into our front porch, one walked right into my chamber and commenced searching my wardrobe, I thought of my watch which was in the bureau, came in and got it out and met Lou at the door. I then went down into the cellar to hide the milk for that and the bread was all our dinner and when I came back one of the children told me two of them had Sister in the chamber with the door locked. (This would be Florence-see her photo in a previous blog) Imagine my feelings! I don't know how many seconds passed not many - my mind was complete chaos - but the door opened, my child came running to me and threw her arms around my neck and commenced screaming, one of the men pointed his gun at us and gritted his teeth. I told him to shoot and stood perfectly still. One of them took her hand and told her to hush, they wouldn't hurt her. I said, "Take your hand off my child." He then said "Take her in your chamber and lock the door inside and he shan't come near." I carried her in the chamber, gave her water, threw some in her face, fanned her and so kept her from fainting. She asked if I thought the Lord would protect us now - If I thought he could. We prayed together and she told me what had alarmed her so much after locking the door, one of them, the greatest devil of the party asked her how old she was, she replied, "Thirteen." The other one said "That's too young." He told her to hold his naked sword while he tried to unlock Pa's desk with a bunch of keys out of his pocket. The other one asked her for the gold and silver. She had presence of mind to tell him if he would let her go out she would get it. When she got out she got three teaspoons (the only ones we had) and handed them to him. He said he didn't want them, he wanted money.
Just then I came up and we locked ourselves in the chamber. One kept guard at the door while the other went all over the house helping themselves to whatever they wanted. After a while they went out to Milly's house, drove away Joshua and frightened the women almost to death. Mrs. Dunn then thought of the men at the barn and went around and claimed their protection. They came to the house and sat in the yard by the porch. Just then David, who had walked with Peachey home (just think if she had been here) came up and the four demons in human shape gave him their canteen to fill with water. Upon carrying it to them they made him drink some to see if it to see if it were poisoned and then laid down under the apple trees to play cards till night, apprehending no danger. Mark all the points and see the hand of the Lord. In about an hour more or less, we saw a young man ride up about Benny's appearance who called on the three in the yard to surrender, they did it at once and I seeing five or six other of W. C. Fleet's men ride up, ran down to the gate and begged them to go and take the others. The same youth, Henry Lewis, started down with David to pilot him and I had the great satisfaction of seeing them taken. That was a scene, I assure you. Milly started down to the gate clapping her hands and thanking God. All of us ran down and I told our men to take care of them and not let them go till they heard from me. That evening Sam Wilson's daughters came and told us of the men's shameful conduct at their house of their saying they wanted to stay all night and sleep with them. Next day Pa came up and got some clean clothes and I told him all about it and some of our men heard the Wilson story and they said to me they should never annoy another woman and they never will. But there are plenty more like them, and if I were a man I would never take a prisoner I would consider it my duty to rid the world of all such monsters. God can have mercy on them he chooses but if I could, I would rid our fair Virginia of every foe who presses her soil. Of the hundreds who were here there might be three or four who might be termed gentlemen - if they had not been Yankees. About as many more men - all the rest were brutes and demons in human shape.
Then after some description of Pa being so distraught over the situation and his hands having fled and his fields in ill shape she writes... I have not seen a word about your coming home. You don't know how many hopes and dreams I have about your being able to spend a month or so at home with loving hands to wait on you and loving hearts to anticipate every want...
I'm not sure where Pa was when all this occurred, but most likely away from the house attending to a sick patient or off conducting some business as was often the case. One thing, with him being a doctor, Yankees would have most likely taken him as well if they had an opportunity to do so, because he could have been forced to tend to the sick or wounded on their behalf.
This is just one of the many examples that shows Mrs. Fleet's spunk and determination to take care of her children. Please remember that she was a loving woman and she was caught up in a most brutal war and had lost her son Benny and feared for the safety of Fred and all her family and friends, just like you or I would have. It was a different time, and we cannot judge and we certainly don't know exactly what she felt. I would only hope that I would have had even half as much courage as she. None of us knows what we would have done in the same circumstance.
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