Library of Congress Reference address: 1644 31st St NW, Washington, DC 20007 This beautiful home was built in 1816 by Martha Washington's granddaughter, Martha Custis Peter. During the war it was owned by her descendent Britannia Peter Kennon. Mrs. Kennon was a first cousin to Mrs. Robert E. Lee. Mrs. Kennon had to allow Union soldiers to be quartered here or else her home would have been turned into a hospital. The war was not permitted to be discussed in her presence and she refused to rent a room to Julia Grant, wife of General U.S. Grant. During the war her nephew Orton Williams resigned his commission in the U.S. Army in order to join his cousins and uncle Robert E. Lee in the Confederate Army. In the fall of 1863 he and a cousin, Gip Peter, were captured behind enemy lines dressed in Union uniforms. Within hours a drumhead court of officers, awakened in the middle of the night, condemned them. They were hanged by morning. In 1864 Gip’s brother Dr. Armistead Peter received permission to retrieve their remains from Franklin, Tennessee and return them to Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown for burial. In a letter written three years later General Lee said of the event, "my blood boils at the thought of the atrocious outrage against every manly and Christian sentiment." |
Last updated: January 5, 2024