after
leaving West Point, Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, Corps of Engineers,
married, on June 30, 1831, Mary Custis, granddaughter of William
Fitzhugh, and great-granddaughter of Martha Washington.

General Lee always loved this house and after defeat he came back to
Alexandria, which for some time had been in command of the Union forces,
to take farewell of his family and friends and went again to look once
more upon the scenes of his childhood. The story is told that people
next door were startled to see a man peeping over the wall. Upon
investigation, it proved to be General Lee, who had climbed upon the
wall to look into the garden. He apologized, saying, "I just wanted to
see if the snowballs were in bloom."

To this day the garden, as the house, retains its integrity. All the
growing things associated with old gardens are there--the lilacs,
boxwood, magnolias, lemon trees, iris, syringa, lilies, jonquils,
jasmine, honeysuckle--and General Lee's remembered snowballs.

[Illustration: George Washington Parke Custis; grandson of Martha;
adopted son of George Washington; husband of Mary Fitzhugh;
father-in-law of Robert E. Lee. By Saint Memin. (_Courtesy Corcoran
Gallery of Art_)]

[Illustration]

Chapter 20

George Washington's Tenements

[123 South Pitt Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Fred Latimer Hadsel.
125 South Pitt Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Harlan Trott.]

On the corner of Pitt and Prince Streets stand two little frame houses
that possess the distinction of being the only buildings in Alexandria
built on George Washington's lots and dating back to his time. Their
history is fairly complete and may be compiled by anyone taking the
trouble to search the records housed in the Alexandria clerk's office
and balancing those data against the well kept accounts and writings of
General Washington.

Alexandria had outgrown her swaddling clothes by 1761 when the trustees
petitioned the assembly for permission to extend the limits of the town.
This was promptly granted. New acreage was added, divided into lots and
sold at auction as formerly. General Washington bought, at the sale held
on May 9, 1763, two half-acres of ground, numbered on the plat as 112
and 118, which he took up later for approximately L48. For the former,
the subject of this sketch, on the northwest corner of Pitt and Prince,
he paid L38. On the latter lot at Pitt and Cameron Streets he built his
town house six years later. As early as 1760