Ebbitt House, Sept. 5.
I hope you are not entirely without starch this damp, sticky day, and that you have kept “Manassas”[1] busy all the morning bringing wood for the fire. Since my note we have had the confirmation of Jeff. Davis’ death, reported yesterday. If he is really gone, I suppose we mustn’t abuse him, but the fate is much too good for him.
We won’t go down to camp again till we hear from you, as you ask, but meantime I am anxious to know what your plans and prospects are, and what the order to be “ready for instant action” meant. . . .
We had a charming dinner with General Scott yesterday, and shall value the remembrance of it all our lives. We are the only ladies except Mrs. Thomas Davies whom he has entertained at his table during the war. We ought to feel highly honored, and we do. There were only the three aides present, and it was all very social and pleasant, but they didn’t tell any state secrets. The General looked very well indeed, but showed his feebleness when he attempted to leave his chair. He spoke in high praise of the hams, which we suppose to be the humble cause of the politeness to us, and toasted the “absent Adjutant” in a bumper of sherry.
Georgeanna takes exceptions to the word “charming” in connection with that dinner, and perfectly recalls it as a fearful joy, where none of the aides dared speak unless spoken to, and she and Eliza hardly then. Jane Stuart Woolsey, however, writing from Lenox and rising to the occasion, said: “Georgy’s letter received last night with its gorgeous item of your dinner at General Scott’s was very interesting. You are lucky to be so honored above all other women, and will consequently be able to brag to your posterity to the third and fourth generation of them that hate you.”
[1] A “contraband of war” freed by the 16th N. Y.