September 2007
The Lee Tomato
Even in war, vegetables were grown to be shared by Nancy Bondurant Jones/nbjrawley@aol.com
A photo caption in a recent Martha Stewart Living magazine suggests a salad of roasted beets, refrigerated overnight, and then combined at the last minute with heirloom tomatoes. I'm not certain what constitutes an heirloom tomato but I can think of no tomatoes more deserving of that heirloom designation than those of Gen. Robert E. Lee. You actually may have enjoyed one this summer from seeds saved and passed down through generations of Virginians. The story of Lee tomato supposedly still around from that distinguished ancestry begins in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. II.On page 277, Confederate Major Roy Mason, Lee's aide, penned the following account:
One day in June 1862, General R. E. Lee rode over to General Charles W. Field's headquarters at Meadow Bridge and asked for me an aide on his staff He said, "I have some property in the hands of the enemy, and General McClellan has informed me that he would deliver it to me at any time I asked for it."
Then, putting aside his jesting manner, he told me that his wife and daughter, Mary, had been caught within the Federal lines at the residence of Gen. W.H.F. Lee, his son, and he desired me to take a carrier and proceed with a flag of truce to Meadow Bridge and carry a sealed dispatch to General McClellan. At the Federal headquarters I would meet the ladies, and escort them to Mrs. Gooch's farm, inside our lines.
Mason started out expecting to pass easily onward to McClellan's headquarters. The reality proved more difficult. The chief officer at the bridge refused to let him by until he had received permission to do so. Then, after blindfolding Mason, the officer sent a messenger to McClellan. Several uncomfortable hours passed for the blindfolded prisoner awaiting word that he could be brought through the lines to meet with the Union general. Finally authorization arrived, so the officer escorted the major to complete his mission.
I was then led through the camps, where I could hear the voices of thousands laughing, talking, or hallooing. After riding an hour, a distance, as I supposed, of three or four miles, I reached headquarters and was relieved of my bandage. The general came out and gave me a hearty welcome; and when he heard that I had been blindfolded, he was so indignant that he placed my guide under arrest. I had never seen him so excited.
He asked me into his house, produced his liquors, and gave me a dinner of the best, after which we discussed the situation at length. He asked me no questions which it would compromise our cause to answer, but we calmly reviewed the position of things from our separate points of view, and he inquired anxiously after all his old friends. (Gen. McClellan and my brother-in-law, Gen. Dabney H. Maury, C.S.A., had been classmates and devoted friends, and the general had visited my father's house and my own at Fredericksburg.)
About three o'clock in the afternoon we saw a carriage approaching. The curtains were cut off, and it was drawn by a mule and dilapidated old horse, driven by a Negro of about 10 or 12 years, and followed by a (Union) cavalry escort. Gen. McClellan, jumping up hastily, said, "There are Mrs. Lee and Miss Mary now!"
As the carriage stopped before the door, Gen. McClellan greeting the ladies with marked cordiality, at once introduced me and remarked that the general (her husband) had chosen me as her escort through the lines, and that by a strange coincidence, he (McClellan) had found in me a personal friend. He offered to accompany us in person to the river, but this was declined by Mrs. Lee as entirely unnecessary.
When Mason and the ladies reached their own pickets, cheer after cheer went down the long line of soldiers. And once at the Gooch farm, they were greeted by a large assembly of officers to honor the wife and daughter of their chief.
Then Major Mason writes of an unexpected bonus from Mrs. Lee:
Before leaving for Richmond, Mrs. Lee handed me from a basket, under the carriage-seat, two fine tomatoes, the finest I had ever seen, remarking that she supposed such things were scarce in the Confederacy. The seeds of these tomatoes I preserved, and, some years after the war, General Lee ate some tomatoes at my table, and praised them; whereupon we told him, to his astonishment, that those were the Lee tomatoes, and that thy had been distributed all over the State under that name, from the seed of those given me by his wife.
And so, dear readers, if you ate an incredibly good tomato from a local garden this summer, you may have tasted a Lee tomato. Quite possibly such still exist, grown from seeds passed annually through generations, and from seeds first saved from tomatoes raised by Gen. and Mrs. Robert E. Lee. Sadly, I'm not acquainted with anyone from those generations.
On the other hand, according to Mrs. Alice Trissel, your taste treat may have sprouted from seeds passed down of the Blosser tomato. This local special, grafted by Samuel Blosser at his greenhouse in Dayton during the 1920s, remains in demand ”but that's a story for another day."
A bit on the Blosser tomato
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If anyone knows where I can find this please send me the link or post it here.....If I get lucky enough to find even a few, I will plant them separately and save every seed possible! These are tied with the Brandywine as my very favorite 
have an awesome day, CynthiaM.
Sounds like we could take others too. lol.
