Past Life Memory Bank
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North America: The Civil War

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   The first life I remember came to me in several recurrent dreams.  The first wasn't an actual "dream" with images; it was a very deep feeling of severe anxiety, fear, and sadness.  I was asleep, but it was as though I was having this horrible feeling.  Out of nowhere, the words "Cold Harbor" popped into my head.  Then, just as suddenly, I awoke with a start, very disoriented and almost panicking.  At the time, I had never heard of Cold Harbor, which was a minor civil war battle in Cold Harbor, Virginia.  I didn't know what those words meant until almost two years later, when I happened to see them in a book about the civil war. I have been interested in the civil war period since my late teens. Oddly enough, when I studied it in elementary and middle school, I hated it!!!
   I do have other memories from the life I believe I lived then.  I was a young woman, probably in my late teens/early 20's.  Other dreams I've had about this life are a recurrent dream of standing in a room lit by what seems to be oil lamps, because there is a smell like a burning oil lamp in the room.I am standing next to a desk.  I am wearing a long, dark red dress, and I can feel the fabric of the petticoats on my legs. It is cold, and I am very anxious and worried.  I have a terrible feeling of dread as I open a letter. The dream ends abruptly at this point, and several times, I have awoke crying.  I always remember this dream, and I've had it many times.  I think the letter is probably news of  the death of a loved one. I remember little bits of this life here and there, triggered by feelings, smells, or experiences.  In particular, I remember riding a horse, and being quite good at it.  This comes to me most often when I am in a hurry to get somewhere, driving fast.  Also, it comes to me anytime I am driving during a time when there is a storm approaching. My mind takes me back to riding a horse in those same conditions.   I can almost feel the wind as I ride against it.  I remember hearing thunder and feeling electricity in the air.  I was desparately trying to get somewhere-I HAD to get there fast.  It was very important!  I have a feeling of urgency, needing to warn someone of something.  I'm pushing the horse to go faster and faster. That memory has no conclusion, but I believe it was what happened just prior to my death.  I've never experienced that, but I have a very strong sense that is what happened next.  I was probably struck by lightning.  In my present life, I seem to attract lightning, and my car was once struck as I drove through a storm, leaving a scorch mark on its hood.  I also have a problem with electricity-I constantly blow light bulbs, short out small appliances, and have odd electrical things happen near me. :-) Sincerely, Jana
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       The next life I had lived, I discovered in a dream I had in which I had wanted to find out if I had ever known my beloved dog in another life. My dog and I are definitely soulmates. From the moment I first saw her, I felt like we had been together before. In the dream I had, I was a Confederate solider about sixteen years old. I was fighting at Gettysburg. It was very hot. I could see the battle up ahead and my regiment was marching fast into it. I called my dog, Roo, and I saw my dog in her present form running toward me. Then she suddenly changed into a brown collie-like dog--the dog she was then. She was running, the battle shifted abruptly and she was trampled to death. I could hear her screaming and yelping. Absolute terror came over me. I ran from the battle screaming, suddenly realizing what was happening. My dog had been killed before my eyes. I wanted to go home which I knew was Corinth, Mississippi. As I was running, a cannonball hit me from behind, severing my left leg at the knee. I knew I died then. I believe my dog and I were supposed to protect each other in that lifetime and we both failed. That's why we are together again, there's something we have to accomplish. I have a new and deep respect for my dog. When I visited Gettysburg in this lifetime, a incredible feeling of sadness weighed on me until I left that town.
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    When I was thirteen I started having thoughts about being a man called 'Captain Theodore Hope.' Obviously I thought this was an odd name and assumed I was just making it up with my overactive imagination. But it wouldn't go away. So I looked his name up on the internet. Turns out he was a Captain in the American Civil War. Theodore Hope is a pretty unusual name anyway, but the fact that he was a captain as well? I don't know. My name is Emily and I'm from England.
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    I seem to have an inner vision connected with the Civil War.  In my vision, I am walking with a large group of armed soldiers down a long dirt road; I cannot tell whether my companions are Confederates or Unionists in the vision. The time of day seems to be either dawn or twilight, the temperature is cool, and I can smell something blooming, perhaps honeysuckle.  We all seem to be moving with clear intent, as if we are hastening to join a battle.
    I have noticed in my reading about the Civil War that I have some clear connection to the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), and especially a connection to the vicious fight in the Miller cornfield. Perhaps this vision of mine is connected to Antietam, and I was one of the victims (or survivors) of the horrible slaughter in the cornfield.  I can also see in my mind's eye long lines of men suddenly rising up out of the corn with rifles raised and death in their eyes, but again I'm not sure which side of that I seemed to be on. -Steve Parsons, Raleigh NC
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    I remember being either 16 or 17 at the time, but I was kissing a man who was going off to fight in the civil war. He almost started to cry but held it together, at least until he was gone. I of course was crying with all the energy I had left from crying the night before. My guy friend went off to the Civil War and fought with the man I kissed, who I presume is the man I loved. My friend did not come back. My love did. I remember a lot more, but I mostly remember being ready to fly when my love came back. I would like to hear from anyone who thinks they matched this description. About 2-3 years older than me, brown hair, blue-green eyes, and had had gotten shot in his arm, which healed quickly and one of his legs which also healed. I would like to talk to him, for I believe he is my soul-mate who I am trying to find. - Nicole

<>North
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    In 2004 I had a dream that I've remembered to this day. In the dream I was a Union Calvary Captain during the Civil War. I and my men were on horseback and captured about 10 to 20 Rebs. Then the dream shifted and I was wearing civilian old west clothing and was wearing a U S Marshal's badge. Someone in the dream called me Crawley. I've since searched the Internet and found that Crawley P Dake was born in 1836 in Canada and later lived in Michigan. He recruited volunteers and their regiment was the Fifth Michigan Calvary. He was mustered in with the rank of Captain in 1862 and was at Gettysburg where his regiment captured 12 Rebs. He was promoted to major and after being wounded he resigned his commission in 1864.
He worked as a tax collector for the Government and later as a US Marshal over Arizona Territory. He empowered Virgil and later Wyatt Earp as Deputy US Marshal's. I believe I was Crawley P Dake. - Mr. David A. Elser.
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    When I was four or five years old-and it could have been earlier-I had a dream in which I would wake up in a strange bed. I would hear a large crowd of people as if a party were going on. I would walk down a dark hallway to a large set of steps. As I walked down the steps all the voices would suddenly stop. End of dream. This dream would repeat itself two or three times a year until I was around twelve or thirteen years old.Years went by. At age fourty eight I bought a book called "Twenty days" , the twenty days following Lincoln's assasination.There was a brief chapter on Willy Lincoln, who died while Lincoln was still in the White House. He rode his horse one day in the rain, caught cold and from there went downhill until he died. While he was sick, the Lincoln's held a party in the White House, one they felt they couldn't get out of. During the party the Lincolns took turns going up to Willy's room to see how he was. About a month later he died.Willy Lincoln was born  Dec 21 1850, I was born Dec 21 1944. I had one final dream, confirming my suspicions. In this dream I saw a train pulling out of a station. Instinctively I knew Mrs Lincoln was in the last car. I heard her say-in my minds eye-"WHAT WILL BECOME OF MY SON?"The energy from that thought came out of the train like balled lightning, hitting me like thunder. I woke up. His name was William, my name is William.
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    Hi I have a  vague memories of a battle of the civil war. I don't know much because they are small. I was with the north. The dreams I have are:
A cannon broadside from the south. Fifty men dead.
A rifle volley from the north. The south captain is dead.
Horror terrible gruesome stuff. It was indescribable. In the end I have no idea who won. I am downed by a sword.

South
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    I had went to a medium 4 yrs. ago. She had told me that I was an old soul, that I had been around for many years. I keep having these same experiences about living in the Civil War Era. I am always strolling down a long lane with trees and moss hanging down. I am either on the porch of the Georgian mansion or on the staircase I see the beautiful dresses I am wearing, I have dark hair. I see people in uniform I think I could write a diary about this life.I remember getting very sick with a terrible illness. And many people at my bedside. I was elderly. I only remember me in my late 20's and it goes all the way to me elderly. - Thanks, LaDonna
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    When i was four years old i began drawing pictures of a large plantation house with a woman in a big fluffy dress standing in front of it. At first my mother and father thought that i might have just been artistic...but i soon found out for myself that it was so much more. I began having dreams at the age of 14. i had on a beautiful white and blue dress and a straw hat and i was sitting on the front porch of a plantation house. There was a little girl beside me playing with dolls and i must have been her mother because she kept saying "mommy where's paw?" i kept saying, "your paw's fighting in the war." then after having that dream maybe three times over i had a dream that i was pacing around a big oak bed where the little girl lay, sleeping. i could hear hooves in the background, in this dream i was ragged my dress was torn and my hair was a wild mess. As riders got closer, they were holding torches, i grabbed the little girl and wrapped her up in a blanket and headed downstairs, the soilders were in dark blue uniforms and i saw them coming onto the front porch, i ran out what seemed to be a kitchen door, i saw a barn about a 1/4 mile down the road and i was running for it. By that time the little girl was screaming and there was nothing i could do but run i turned to look at the house and it was burning. I have had more dreams i will try to post later but on a tyte schedule today. LOVExOxO Rhiannon
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    In 1986 I did a past life regression with a hypnotist.  The results were startling. My first memories were of being a barefoot boy in the grass near Savannah, GA in 1846.  I watched the boy grow into a man then marry a woman I knew in this life. When the Civil War broke out, I enlisted and took a horse to join up with the 16th Georgia Infantry as part of Stonewall Jackson's unit. Fought in every major engagement of the Valley Campaign and was wounded at the battle of Sharpsburg.  Later received a battlefield commission, by the time of the battle of Cold Harbor was a confederate Captain. At Cold Harbor, the slaughter of the Federal Army was so horrible, that the dead lay in heaps in front of the confederate fighting positions. I and a sergeant climbed out of the trenches and were pushing bodies out of the way so the shooters could continue to fire.  As I turned to jump back into the trench, I was hit from the rear by 3 minie balls.  I saw them exit my chest in a bloody mess.  After dying, I went tothe Summerlands, and from there the memory faded. You can add this to your list, but I would prefer not to hear from anyone except the wife of that lifetime. Her name was Jan Henshaw in 1986, and she lived in Canton, CT.  I have lost all contact with her now. -J. Marc Williams, Wasilla, Alaska
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    I've done many spells and meditations on this and the worse it gets. I was a young man about 17 - 23. I was fighting in the civil war (for the Southerners). I'll never forget all the blood. I remember walking in a battlefield after the battle, looking for someone. I knew this person had to be dead, because the entire battlefield was covered with dead and blood. I walked by a stream and it was running with blood. And the stench! But in these visions or dreams, I am always looking for a friend of mine. I don't think I had much of a family... I wasn't worried about getting home. I also remember I was running away from some Union soldiers. They had dogs searching for me because I had escaped from their prison. I hid in a river right up against the bank, so the dogs couldn't pick up my scent and the men couldn't see me.
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 I have flashes of myself in one of those southern belle dresses during the civil war. I was crying over my dead beau? husband? I wish to find who he was. -Lyeta

Generals
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Robert E. Lee?

    Hello I'm wondering and if I can find out if I have a past life because in all or most of my dreams I'm someone else. Sometimes I can't recognize him but he is very tall, over 6’, and he does have a hat on but can't make of it. Wearing a Confederate Uniform all Grey and he is on a horse. I can see him sometimes in battle but sometimes someone says no get back stay way back in my dreams and sometimes I wake up from that dream in a shock and some people tells me I talk in my sleep sometimes they can actually understand what I am saying but of course I can't cause I'm sleeping, but in any case from that I even have a Confederate flags I have a lot of them and fly them .
    I think I have a past life because of all the dreams I have in my life since the age of 14 to at least 15 is when it all started and then my Dad was saying when he was alive saying about that it might be possible I was brought back to earth from heaven, reincarnation or something, so again in most of my dreams I'm on Horseback with some people in front of me beside me behind me even but that’s all I can see and at times I can see 20,000+ probably a much larger number, like 100,000+ but all I can see is the people who are with me side by side, 10 to 20 people in front side and behind me and some possible down the road.
    In one dream I had it was at night campfire I was on a horse again maybe getting ready for battle but not sure. I can see people in front of me sitting down at the campfire. I'm in the woods so I'm not sure what to make of this.
    There are other dreams not this one all the other dreams were simple dreams but one dream looked and felt so real to me I actually woke up saying something. I don't remember what I said but I felt something on the ground like a sword is next to me, maybe putting my sword down or something, but again all the dreams I have most of them are miltary of some kind.
    I'm going on vacation this year June I'll be there for a couple of weeks, in Richmond, Virgina - want to see a few things out there. I was not interested in Civil War till more and more dreams on my part started happening at the age of 15, and a lot more later in life, but nothing recently. I was talking in my sleep at a friend’s house last week on a Saturday of this month 2010 so I'm not sure again if it might be possible I was actually General Robert Edward Lee but my dad said to me we don't have anyone in the Civil War but I found one person but served with the Yankees and not the Confederate side at all, so I'm not sure what to put all of this dreams that comes and goes in my life I know sometimes dreams are just dreams and most of the time it doesn't mean anything but I think and still think to this day I'm someone else in past time and happen to be alive here in present.
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Gen. John F. Reynolds
    I had a glimmer, I think, of what was a past life. The year, if the dream consists of what I think it
was, was 1863. July 1. I had more of a waking dream that was a glimmer of a past life. I was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, visiting the battle grounds. I was walking around the open area of Reynolds' Woods, reading the monument there that said where the General fell (General John F. Reynolds was shot and killed on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.)
    Well I was walking around the monument, in an ever-widening circle. It was a warm day, probably in the mid-80's. I walked into a cool patch and stopped walking. Something told me to stop. I looked around, and a scene flashed before my eyes. I was surrounded by gun smoke, from both cannons and muskets. The scent was strong. But what was stronger was first, the sense of falling, and the smell of leather and horse sweat. Now, I'm not saying that I think I was General Reynolds. But I'm not saying I'm not, either. When I went to Lancaster, PA, to his grave, I felt an odd pull. I've never once been there before that moment. But I didn't need to look around for the worn tombstone. I saw the words flash before me as well. Not long enough to see what they said, but they were there. It was difficult to read the tombstone, the words were worn almost completely away. But I was still drawn. I have a feeling that I was one of the General's aides, or a soldier nearby. I can't be sure unless I go back. I have no idea of a name, or of a face. But I feel myself drawn back there.  Thanks for listening.... there aren't many people I tell this to that actually believe me. -Becky
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Gen. William T.  Sherman
    I have always been "drawn" to anything related to the Civil War.  I have visited Gettysburg 2 times - and have felt very peaceful there, like it was a place I was very familiar with. I recently purchased the PBS tapes of the Civil War.  I was reviewing the outside of the tapes and saw a picture of a man that stirred something very deep inside of me.  After seeing this picture, I searched the internet to find others photos of this person.  I did - and they have stirred memories that I did not know that I had.  I was romantically involved with this person - and that person is William T. Sherman.
    I remember dancing with him - and not in the formal fashion that people would have danced during that era, but a lot closer, with bent elbows. He was wearing (of course) a blue uniform, not one that he wears in a lot of photos - this was a new one or a nicer one - gold buttons, clean white shirt, high collar. I remember walking out of this room where we were dancing - it was summer or late spring because it was very warm.  I remember holding hands, kissing, etc.  I remember riding horses with him in a huge field during the day.  We walked, talked, this was not a first date type of relationship.
    I am trying to remember more but it is slow. I was wondering if there is anyone else who remembers this - anyone that believes that they were Sherman. Thanks, Janet
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Gen. George E. Pickett
    It all started in June of 2003 when my son had me watch the movie Gettysburg. I thought it was a very well done movie and after viewing it he asked, "Can we go there for vacation?" I said possibly. Erik was 11 then but is into history as I was in High School. But my forte was WWI & WWII. I had NO interest in the 2nd war of Independence. So it was done, in July we would spend 4 days in Gettysburg. My only thoughts on the place are there I could possibly get a few flags (CSA) and belt buckles.
    The Gettysburg Experience begins.....Well, about 3pm in the afternoon we arrive on a Friday and we check in to the Quality Inn on Steinwehr Ave. My wife and daughter are up the stairs 1st with luggage and my son and I are last. I am tired, want something to eat and a cold beer and start the long climb up the stairs. As we turn the corner on the 1st landing I turned to my right and set the bags down and grabbed the balcony handrail. I was facing in what direction I have no idea, as I have never been there, never looked at a map of the town, nor received any info for any source except highway driving instructions to that place. I held the rail and said to my son...."It was there, there over that damned hill!" He said to me "What are you talking about?" I replied, "The battle, the biggest battle was over that damned hill!" Erik asked me "How the hell do you know that?" I replied as my voice started to crack, the tears welled up in my eyes, I felt so strange, sad, terribly sad as if my heart was being burned, my legs got weak, I felt like I was drunk and stuck in one position, the overwhelming feeling of sadness and helplessness was about to overcome my being when I finally belted out as best as I could "Damn it, I can smell it!"
    I have never used that term in such a manner in my entire then 45 years of age. I was stunned to say the least. I cannot speak of it too much in the description of how I felt when I looked at just trees and a hill. I still start to get that feeling of wanting to cry. And I do not cry at Funerals. I have been told I have a hard heart. Years of conditioning in grammar school that "Men Do Not Cry" held me from bursting out in wails of pain that day in July of 2003. I felt something that I never felt in my entire life, I knew something without using my brain to remember it like a phone number or email address. The same mechanisms that I normally use to remember something was not needed and I brushed it off as a fluke of "just being there, the moment of it all" or just plain nuts.
    That vacation we drove by where the hill declines on the other side but were too wound up in the featured sights such as Spanglers Spring, Culps Hill, Devils Den, Little Round Top. I did not mention it again at all that year for the fear of looking foolish to my family. I felt better as we all unpacked and spent the rest of the day at these featured locations and of course the shopping and the pool at the motel. Actually I spent a lot of time taking pictures with my son in the battlefields and buying anything I could find that was Confederate. My wife and daughter were looking at the $4.95 Blue Belly hats and I picked up three Grey Kepis and said "Here y'all go...these are fair to view, better than them damn yank hats!" She said, "What is wrong with you? Did you fall and bump your head more that I know about or are you going South in your old age!" I said, "I like grey, I always like that color better. She said "Yes I do know, every pair of sweats you buy, shirt or pants is always Grey or Black. You are so predictable it stinks."
    Nothing else happened that year as after a few real nice days of sun and touring and spending a lot of hard earned federal dollars we headed back home. I felt sad leaving, never having to find out what was over that hill. All the places we visited had great historical significance and apparently my soul was avoiding to go there and let me just ignore my inner urges to go and seek it out. Unknown as to the significance I was probably better off until more educated as to what happened ìover that damn hillî.
    My son and I agreed to talk the girls into a return visit the next summer. They said ok as long as if they could bask in the sun and shop and we could go play in the battlefields. Erik and I both said" It's a DEAL"!!
    It was now April 2003 and I was having wierd dreams that I had as a child in my pre-teens. I always had this dream of a bearded Union soldier riding on a horse laughing as he rode chasing behind me. I hated this s.o.b. as I knew he was out to get me and for what reason I did not know why. He looks a lot like M.G. John Reynolds, Union. But now I have seen John Reynoldsí picture and it was not he. But he could have been any Yank of that time period. Also I told my wife about a dream that re-occurred when my grandparents became elderly; as I was real close to both of my mother's parents. They were both sick and old and I kept dreaming then that to save their lives I had to amputate the arms or legs with this God awful hack saw. It was dirty and dark and the blade was stained and not like a new Sears Craftsman blade. And it had a wood handle. But always this one scared me the most as I knew in my dreams, it would either save or kill them. After they both had passed on the dreams went away. I really though I was nuts or a serial killer to be!
    Also that April I had a dream of returning to the streets of Gettysburg and talking to strangers, which I have no problem doing because of my profession, but I was wearing a beard. I have a tash that I had since 1982, but never, never a beard. But the people were much more friendly and acted like I was an old friend. So I got up that morning, and I have not shaved my chin spaghetti since then. When it started to get around 3 inches long the stares and comments started at work, on the street up here, but it does not bother me. I am not relenting to anyoneís wishes, I couldn't, and I cannot now. It fits. It's me! Strange thing though it will NOT grow anyplace that is not on the, pictures of MG Geo E. Pickett. I have no real side-burns, my cheeks are fuzzy at times but there is no growth there looks just like the pictures with out a doubt!
    Gettysburg 2004...July 30th We arrive again at Steinwehr Ave. and its another nice hot day except I avoid stopping anywhere near that balcony and march on into our room. We are only a few rooms down from our last yearís spot which is fine. A good view of the pool when the kids are in it and we are on the balcony sitting in the chairs having a couple adult beverages and I picked up a cigar the year before and started smoking them again by this time. Well in the late afternoon of July 30th the girls tell us two war horses to go and shoot your pictures and we'll be in the pool, so off we go. Happy am I, no more gut and emotional crushing feelings as we came in.
    As the afternoon starts to become evening around 5 or 6 Erik and I park on the Emmitsburg Pike searching for this High Water Mark. We were on Confederate Ave. at the start of Picketts Charge by Gen. Lee's statue but it was too hot to walk the mile. So we drove to the Pike and parked and looked around and Erik found it. "It's up there," he says so I drive to another battlefield entrance and we come up on the Penn. Memorial and park by a clump of trees, than he says, "This is it". Ok I reply. Got digital in hand and cigar lit so off we go! Like two children in a candy store we scatter taking pictures and finally walking together reading the monuments. I looked at the memorial for General Lewis Armistead and put my hand on the stone and it started again. I almost cried and I said something strange with my son looking at me like I was loosing it "Howdy Lo, long time." At that moment I raised my eyes and looked at my son on my right and he says I turned white, like I saw a ghost. I did..almost. Not a quarter mile away I am seeing a roof of the Cyclorama Center and I know it because just a 100 feet from its driveway is that damn balcony that you cannot see from this location.
    I know it to be the place I stood a year ago and said what I said about the biggest damn battle over that hill. We were now on that hill's other side and its the HIGH WATER MARK. I said, "Erik, do you know what that building is over there?" He looks and says "Its next to our motel. So, ...the balcony last year oh shit, how did you know...you are starting to scare me". I said "Scare you!" I am beside myself. I can not explain to a now 11 year old why dad is almost in tears, talks to headstones like he knows the people and has a knowledge of a 1863 Battlefield that he in his lifetime has never visited before or even cared to visit. Now I am starting to wonder. If anything, I liked Stonewall Jackson. If I ever were to be someone in my past, I liked Jackson. But he died in May of 1863 and was never here with Lee. I sort of believed in reincarnation, but being brought up Catholic, that as you probably know is a no no. So what the hell is this?
    Back at the Motel Erik flies out of the Explorer to the gate of the pool telling mom and
Katie, "Dad knew it, he freaking knew it!" Diane my wife says what? Erik says" The battle he said was over the hill, it was Pickett's Charge and he knew it last year!!" She said "What the heck are you babbling about?" So we all sat at an outdoor table by the pool and I told Diane & my daughter Katie about my experience on the balcony last year. They said freaky! But laughed it off as a coincidence. Well ok for them, I have to deal with this.
    Evening comes and we eat, and do a little shopping and we end up back on Steinwehr at The Regimental Quartermaster shop. I go off looking at the uniforms, I love wool, and the rest wander the store. I was walking past the main counter when I notice this lady in period dress staring at me. First I thought she might be looking to see if I was checking out the place for a heist or something because I shop looking up down and all around. So this lady finally says "Excuse me sir for asking.." I say"Yes? "Do you re-enact?" No, but I am getting a feeling I probably should."Why do you ask?" She says "Well, sir let me tell you, you are a spittin' image of General George Pickett. "Look Bill or Bob (talking to her boss,) does this gentlemen not look like General Pickett?" Then I get this angry feeling for an instant and say " That's Major General please"...my family stares at me, the boss says "General",  and I say, ì At ease soldier." She was all over me and my wife does the "we need to eat so lets get going ok ??" Yes dear and off we go. Now I am feeling weird & perplexed!. I do remember seeing Pickett in the movie but he was, as I thought then. a loser. Never reached the goal to take the wall, a lost cause if there ever was one. But oh well. But it intrigued me, and now I want to read about this guy.
    Encounter in the Night. We went out and then we all crashed. Sometime during the night I start (what I think is dreaming) that my arm hurts and is burning in the location of my right bicep. I like to sleep with my hand under a cool pillow. It's relaxing and I remember trying to put it there but I could not move my arm...someone was grabbing it and the harder I tried...it burned more. Eventually without actually waking up or opening my eyes I was let free and it felt like an oozing away from my arm. Whatever had me, melted off and the burn felt cooler and gone. I went to sleep. No more events happened except a few more stares and comments about the Pickett look-a-like thing but now we are headed South to Colonial Beach, Virginia.
    We took up a few nights lodging in Montrose Va. at Stratford Hall. The birthplace of Robert E. Lee. I loved it there. The people we so nice and the place was great. The 1st morning I came out of the shower and as I was drying my hair quickly with the bath towel my wife said, "Where did you get the scratches on your back..?"
    "Ok, what scratches?" I say.
    She says "You have a hand print and nail scratches on the middle of your back.. Where the hell did you go the last night in Gettysburg?"
    "Who me?? I said, "To sleep...after my arm stopped burning!"
    She said where and I showed her and (I have a two week old picture of the bruising). "Oh shit," she said, you have a hand print bruised on your inner arm too. Then I told her , the last night in Gettysburg it started to burn so I pulled harder to put it under the pillow and then it was gone. So I went to sleep.
    Well, after traveling back to Gettysburg from Virginia we got lost in Chancellorsville and did not make it back to Gettysburg for lunch but arrived at 3:30 pm and decided to stay one more night. Our Hotel was booked solid so they suggested the other Quality Inn across town. This is the one with the Gen. Lee HQ on the grounds. Well they had one room left and it was above the HQ at 210.00 a night! We took it as I was not prepared to go camping in the woods. But they desk clerk warned me .."it's haunted".  Heck who cares. After being grabbed and scratched and bruised what's a few ghosts ya know. When we finally retired for the night my son and I took one room and my wife & daughter the other. I told them all that I left a light on in the bathroom and all the doors cracked open so anyone who may have to use the facilities during the night could see their way.
    Around 12:10, 12:15 I heard the door to our room starting to squeak open. I woke up and thought my daughter was a little lost and was coming in instead of going to the bathroom directly. I turned on my flashlight and sure enough the door was opening up slowly but no Katie on the other side. Actually there was no one visible opening it. So I regained my composure as best I could and said out loud" Gen.Lee if that is you sir, I am much too tired to carry on any conversation tonight, May we do this next year?" And the door stopped and that was all. We left the next day and my real journey was about to begin researching about the life and habits of The Major General. What I found is partially in the list below.
    These are my clues:
The General: wore a cross around his neck after the Mexican War till the day he died.
Me: have worn one and never take it off for as long as I can remember.
The General: Wore a perfume(arabay) and was smelled a mile away.
Me: I wear a scent on myself that folks tell when I am in a building, so I have been told. Done this for quite a while, 15 years or so.
The General: Swore quite a bit.
Me: Gets in lots of trouble in my day for my language skills and the use thereof!
The General: favored as they said hard drink
Me: I have mellowed but a quart of JD in two days on a weekend by a campfire was
routine.
The General: Had many reoccurring bouts of stomach trouble
Me: Go figure, you abuse your guts as a younger man, what do you get when you are older? Same deal.
The General: smoked cigar and a pipe.
Me: put the pipe away a few years ago. Cigars: just had one on the back porch.
The General: spoke at least three foreign languages.
Me: was good in Latin, German (still use the swear words), Russian, Polish, Arabic, a little French & Italian.
Me: I gave my cat Sam, a 30 lb. male Maine Coon/Siamese mix, several pet names: Chub, Huge,  Sam of course and a phrase that just came out one day. This cat will give paw on request and KISS if you ask him. I called him something that blew me away. I found in later reading that The General: spoke Chinook when he was in Washington state. The words I called my cat sounded out as ìbi bi nac seht a neyh.î  Which in Chinook means "THE ONE WHO KISSES"!
The General: could play a few musical instruments.
Me: Piano, Organ, Guitar in my younger days....
The General: lost two wives and one wife & child in childbirth. The other through plague.
Me: Had children late, my choice, almost needed sedation when my wife went in for it both times. Kept getting panic attacks that the baby and her were going to die during the experience.
The General: His uniform as well as regular clothing were made of cotton and wool.
Me: I love wool and wear a lot of cotton. Hate synthetics!
The General: His father was a military person.
Me: My dad was in the Air Force in WWll and The Marines in Korea. I was a day away from joining up in 1975 when I got called for a job, and decided not to enlist.
The General: had a scar on his right arm/shoulder area from a wound during the Civil War.
Me: Only scar I have is on my upper right arm in the tricep area.
The General: was a 3rd degree Master Mason and a member of the Royal Arch
Me: 3rd degree master Mason for 25 years and partially initiated in the Royal Arch.
Update: As a Mason anyone knows the fraternity has many secrets and clues to finding
Them out. Also the Knights Templar that Pickett was a member of as I was also going through the degrees a few years back has some of its temples believing in reincarnation.
The General: Pickettís mothers name was ìMaryî the birth mother
Me: I was born at St. Maryís Hospital
The General: died on July 30th 1875 in Norfolk Va. at St. Vincent de Paul's Catholic Hospital.
Me: My confirmation name is Vincent de Paul...I never liked it and my father cannot remember why he picked it out for me in the third grade in 1965. This would be my clue as to the confirmation of who I am. Also if any doubt is present, when you are Confirmed in The Catholic faith, this make you a ìSoldierî of Christ. Go Figure. The patron Saint of the Virginia Diocese is St. Vincent de Paul who was chosen to be just that on October 14th in the early 1800's. ````````Clincher: My birthday is October 14th, 1957. There are similar looks of the hospital The General died in and the St. Mary Hospital I was born in. [Pictures available upon request.]
    My wife when she was not even engaged to me, a much younger by almost 10 years walked down our summer camp road to the beach and met me with a Blue Carnation. Her favorite color flower. I still have it in a safe somewhere. After we were married around 1986 or 87 I asked her to stop on a not so busy Highway and dig me out those beautiful blue summer wild flowers as I wanted them planted at the camp. She did. Now I find that Pickett met Sally as she came up to him on a beach. And the blue flower I like so much is the one he picked for her and brought it to her after the battle of Gettysburg. Its encased in glass and is on display with the Pickett Society in Va.
    I also realize I do not like to be followed close when I am driving alone, it irritates me to no end and when I am in a mall parking lot I have been seen ducking my head and shoulders as if the steel beams above were able to strike me. I was asked by a friend, ìWhat are you doing... riding a horse?î Also the church interior pictures of George & Sallys Episcopal Church ìSt Paulsî that they were married in looks extremely like the church Diane & I were married in up here in Amsterdam in New York. [Pictures available for viewing upon request.]
George had a dog named Rufus
I had a cat, a big fat one who was all black but as years went by his fur had a hue of Red in it! As all cats have several names I then called him by the Latin for RED Ö..ergo ìRUFUSî!
More happens every day. And there will always be more I am sure!
A lot has come to light, past dreams as a youngster, urges to collect items of Southern Heritage, etc. and its starting to make some order in my life after what I have gone through. - Paul Karabin aka George E. Pickett
    Afterthought: After the 1st year in Gettysburg I knew I had left something there or needed to find it there. No I do not. I found it with the 1st 5 minutes of being thereÖîthe triggerî.
    In my mind's eye, I could see the hill beyond slope down with a dirt road to the right, small fences along the road but a misty light green grass, as if covered in cloud or smoke. No people just a few small trees, rocks here and there jutting out of the tall grass and as if the wind was in the air a bit the grass tipped north. If I could paint I would. There was no blood yet.