THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 25, 1995 TAG: 9506230190
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: BY CAROLE O'KEEFFE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Gen. George E. Pickett made history in the mid-19th century, all the way from the western U.S./Canadian border to Gettysburg and Chuckatuck.
In 1859, when Canada and the United States were on the verge of war, an American settler named Lyman Cutlar killed a Canadian pig that had strayed onto his farm on San Juan Island, near Seattle. Pickett and a 66-man unit were sent to settle the dispute over reparations for the pig and to do so without angering the British, who were defending their interests with five man-of-war vessels and a couple of thousand troops.
Not long after U.S. and British troops established encampments on opposite ends of the island, Pickett resigned his commission to enlist in the army of his native Virginia. It is not known how the matter of the pig was settled, but there was no war, and Pickett was soon back on Virginia soil.
During the seige of Suffolk in 1863, while Northern troops occupied the little town, Gen. Pickett was not only defending his neighbors, he was also in Chuckatuck courting LaSalle Corbell.
According to Frances Watson Worrell, a writer in a Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society book called ``The Quiet Regiment,'' Pickett was camped 30 miles from Corbell's aunt (Mrs. Eley) at Barber's Cross Roads.
``Each night Pickett would steal away from his camp and cross enemy lines to be with LaSalle. Because of his visits, Mrs. Eley's house was subsequently burned by the Union soldiers in retaliation of Pickett's visits.''
Conducting a courtship under such circumstances was difficult at best. She made many trips to Petersburg and Richmond to be with ``my soldier,'' as she called him.
Plans were being made for a wedding, and the friendships Corbell was making would help the couple arrange time off for the general for the nuptials.
Furloughs were not being granted. Gen. Longstreet was not able to grant Pickett's request for time off, but he was able to assign the general to special duty in Petersburg and Richmond, which would allow him time to be married.
Corbell had to find a way to get out of Chuckatuck, then part of Nansemond County. Her uncle, Dr. John T. Phillips, helped. As a doctor, he was able to move more freely than many others. He escorted her out of the county to Waverly Station, under Confederate control, where family members got her the rest of the way to Petersburg.
The two were married on Sept. 15, 1863, at St. Paul's Church.
A mere 2 1/2 months earlier, Pickett had fought in the biggest battle of the Civil War: at Gettysburg.
The climax there came on the afternoon of July 3, when Robert E. Lee attacked the Federals with a column of 15,000 troops, led by none other than Gen. Pickett.
The Federals repelled the attack and the following day, the Confederates began a slow, sad retreat to Virginia.
Pickett was 38; his bride, 15. After the wedding, everyone feasted on birds that had been paddled to death. Ammunition was too precious to waste.
Mrs. Robert E. Lee sent fruit cake.
President Jefferson Davis attended.
The bride's dress had been smuggled by friends out of Norfolk. After the wedding, the couple returned home to the reality of war.
Both survived, however, for many years in this area, where Pickett worked for an insurance company until his death. After his death, Corbell wrote many accounts of her husband's wartime feats. MEMO: Information about the pig came from Thad T. Williams of Suffolk, a local
history buff.
by CNB