Army scenes on the Chickahominy

Army scenes on the Chickahominy
Harper''s pictorial history of the Civil War. (Chicago : Star Publishing Co. 1866)

Friday, January 31, 2014

George Washington Parke Custis Painting

The fellow who's image adorns the top of this site at this moment is George Washington Parke Custis. Son of John Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington, ward of George Washington and father-in-law of Robert E. Lee. Builder of Arlington House outside Alexandria, he was also the largest landowner in New Kent throughout the Antebellum era until his death in 1857. His death and the need to settle his estate was why Robert E. Lee spent so much time in the Washington area in the run up to the Civil War.

The image is from the Sneden Diary at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, Virginia, and is an illustration taken from a painting dated 1855.

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