Lee's Tree 2 Traditional Geocache
Mtn State Reviewer: As there has been no response to my prior note, this listing is archived for lack of maintenance.
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Hide is very close to the Lee's Tree stone on Cavendish Road.
Moved the round conainer and all it's contents from the original site. Brought it down so there will be no need to cross the fence.
From September 24th until October 21st, 1861 General Robert E. Lee and around 9,000 Rebel soldiers camped on this ground that Gen. Henry Wise called Camp Defiance. Lee was facing Gen. William S. Rosecrans and Gen. Jacob D. Cox and an army of about 5,200 Yankees that were camped about a mile west of here.
The weather had been terrible with heavy rains and sometimes sleet. When Lee first arrived the only shelter he had was his overcoat, as his wagon wouldn't arrive for another couple of days. The roads were so bad that wagons could haul only half loads and it was said that there were ruts 10 feet deep in places.
Both sides were wanting the other to attack. The terrain was so thick and rough that it would have been much better to be the defenders than the aggressors. But after a while Gen. Lee decided that if the Yankees wouldn't attack him, then he would go after the Yankees. Orders were given for the men to get ready to move. On the night of Oct. 5th, Reb pickets reported that they could hear the rumbling of wagons coming from the Union camp, but this was put off as nothing out of the ordinary. When daylight came on the 6th, Lee was surprised to see an empty hill where just the day before the Union army had been. Rosecrans had decided to retreat to Spy Rock. Lee ordered an immediate pursuit and the Rebs chased him as far as the Stone House, but they didn't catch old Rosecrans.
General Lee stayed in the area for a while but on Oct. 21st, he left Fayette County for good.
It was while Gen. Lee was here that he first saw Traveller, the horse that would carry him throughout the war, and he started to grow his famous grey beard.
The sugar maple tree that he pitched his tent under was cut down in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps for the Daghters of the Confederacy and made into souvenirs.
Had the weather not been so bad, I think this area would probably be known as the Sewell Mtn National Military Park and be ran by the National Park Service. But what a price to have paid.
Again, my thanks to Tim McKinney for allowing me to butcher his fine book, The Civil War in Fayette County WV
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[SPOILER!!!]Whfg npebff gur ebnq sebz Yrr'f fgbar. Ng gur onfr bs n ybphfg gerr.