ons and in turn sold the house to William C. Yeaton,
who owned it for some twenty-odd years. This family planted many
tropical trees, the unique magnolia and the lemon trees among them. In
1883 the house was sold at public auction for one thousand dollars to
Mary E. Fleming, widow of Dr. Robert F. Fleming, "she being the highest
bidder."

It is a strange coincidence that to this Alexandria home of the
Fitzhughs came, about 1818, the widow of a gentleman active in the
affairs of the nation. He had commanded, during the Revolution, a Legion
bearing his own name; he had served as governor of his state from 1792
to 1795; as a member of Congress from 1799 to 1801, and he it was who
prepared the memorial resolutions which were presented when word reached
Philadelphia of Washington's decease, declaring him in immortal words:
"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow
citizens." In fact, he liked the phrase himself and used it with a
slight modification in the halls of Congress when making his celebrated
eulogy of Washington.

This widow then resident in the former home of William Fitzhugh was Mrs.
Henry Lee, born Anne Carter of Shirley. Exiled from Stratford when her
eldest stepson came into his patrimony, she and her husband, General
Lee, known to all Virginians as "Light Horse Harry," moved to
Alexandria. The Lees occupied several houses from time to time, but on
October 14, 1824, Mrs. Lee was at home in the house on the northwest
corner of St. Asaph and Oronoco Streets and she received a visitor of
such importance that it made history. The guest, who was no less a
personage than General the Marquis de la Fayette, came to pay his
respects to the wife of his friend. This visit was witnessed by the
young Quaker, Benjamin Hallowell, who had moved into the house next door
with his bride of a day, and stood in the doorway to watch the Marquis
go by. Moreover, the Marquis saw the young couple and "made a graceful
bow."

Mrs. Henry Lee, with her family of boys, occupied this house for seven
years. Robert Edward's room adjoined hers, on a lower level, being
connected by a small stairway.

Shortly after Mr. Hallowell opened his school, Robert E. Lee went to him
in February 1825, for instruction in mathematics, preparatory to going
to West Point to prepare himself for the Army.

Naturally the friendliest intimacy existed between the family at
Arlington and the house on Oronoco Street. And so, two years