Neil, one of Enid & Jerry's grandsons, sat with us.
photos by Sandy
Marnie did a 27 person yoga class.
Our 4 year old grandson put on a dancing exhibition at the reception that had everyone howling.
photo by Sandy
When asked where he learned the moves he said they came to him in a dream. By the end of the three-day weekend EVERYONE knew Abel.
A baggage handler at Dulles Airport asked Abel how old he was. Abel answered, and then asked him how old he was.
We even had time to swing over to Manassas before flying back, to show the girls and Chris where Daniel Webster's son Fletcher died in the Second Battle of Bull Run. (We live on one of Daniel Webster's 1,200 acres -- that's why so much interest. Fletcher Drive, down the street from us, is named after him).
Shot through the right arm and chest, Fletcher, a Union Captain, stayed alive long enough to ask a Virginia Rebel soldier to please send his wallet home. Three months later the wallet reached the house on Webster Street in Marshfield.
Members of the 12th Massachusetts hauled a large rock all the way to Virginia to mark the spot where he died during Second Bull Run in 1862 -- or as the Rebels called it, Manassas. The spot is up on Chinn Ridge where the 5th Maine and 12th Massachusetts Infantry, led by Webster, were overrun by Longstreet's Division. The Federals lost both battles.
Nine hundred men died at the 1st Bull Run (also known as First Manassas) and 3,300 at the second. Bull Run is a small stream that still flows north of the battle field. First Manassas is also where Rebel General Barnard Bee said of General Thomas Jackson's Brigade, "There stands Jackson like a stonewall."
It is a beautiful, carefully preserved, part of Virginia farmland where two great Civil war battles were fought. Citizens of Washington D.C. came out in their wagons and carriages to see the first battle in 1861 -- but you can get there in your car in no time from D.C.
All photos © CDB Photography (son in law)except where noted.
