Fitz-John Porter

VOL. VI.—No. 290.]

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1862.

[ SINGLE COPIES SIX CENTS. $2 50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1862, by Harper & Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL GEORGE A. McCALL.—PHOTOGRAPHED BY M'CLEES.—[SEE PAGE 455.]

BRIGADIER-GENERAL FITZ-JOHN PORTER.—PHOTOGRAPHED BY M'CLEES.—[SEE PAGE 455.]

THE "WHITE HOUSE."

ON this page we give a picture of the famous " WHITE HOUSE," on the Pamunky, formerly the residence of General Lee, and lately occupied by the Union forces as a depot for stores. This house was burned at the evacuation of the place by our troops. The following letter on the subject, from the pen of Mr. Benson J. Lossing, will be read with interest:

To the Editors of the Evening Post   :

The telegraph brings us intelligence this morning that the famous "White House," which has occupied more of public attention lately than it deserved, has been destroyed by our troops. The account contains the remark that "some Vandal hand set it on fire." As this will be the last of the "White House" itself, but probably not of the repetition of the name of Washington and of the word " Vandal" in connection with its destruction, permit me to say, on the very best authority, that the building in question was not the one whose roof "sheltered Washington during his honeymoon," as has been alleged, nor does the estate belong "to the rebel General Lee."

The "White House" where Washington resided with his bride (the owner) during the first few weeks of his married life was demolished many years ago,

and the late building, some-what different in form, was erected upon its site. This estate, as well as that of Arlington, near Washington city, was the property of the late G. W. P. Custis, the grandson of Mrs. Washington. Mary Custis, the wife of the rebel General Lee, is the sole heir of Mr. Custis, and all his property will remain her possession, according to the provisions of his will, during her natural life, and then become the patrimony of her children. One of her sons, formerly an officer in the army of the United States, but now Colonel of a rebel regiment at Richmond, has, since his marriage in 1850, been the occupant of the "White House" and surrounding estate, the property of his mother. I repeat that the late "White House" was never seen by Washington, and that the estate is not the property of the " rebel General Lee." Mrs. Lee, his wife, is my authority for the assertion.

As the late " White House" itself possessed no rightful claim to our reverence, and never had any more title to the respect of loyal Americans than the modern mansion and estate of any other rebel family on the Peninsula, all talk about its sanctity and of the Vandalism of its destroyers may very properly cease.   B. B. J. L.

POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., July 1, 1862.

This was the house about the non-occupation of which as a hospital some factious and extremely foolish members of Congress made such an absurd rumpus,

THE "WHITE HOUSE," ON THE PAMUNKY, LATELY OCCUPIED BY THE UNION FORCES.