Billups herself tell of the times when
the house in which she lived as a young woman, at Holly Springs,
Mississippi, was used as headquarters by General Grant.
Mrs. Billups, who was a Miss Govan, was educated in Philadelphia and
Wilmington, and had many friends and relatives in the North. Her mother
was Mrs. Mary Govan of Holly Springs, and her brother's wife, who
resided with the Govans during the war, was a Miss Hawkes, a daughter of
the Rev. Francis L. Hawkes, then rector of St. Thomas's Church in New
York. All were, however, good Confederates.
Mrs. Govan's house at Holly Springs was being used as a hospital when
Grant and his army marched, unresisted, into the town, and Mrs. Govan,
with her daughters and daughter-in-law, had already moved to the
residence of Colonel Harvey Walter, which is to this day a show place,
and is now the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Johnson of St.
Louis--Mrs. Johnson being Colonel Walter's daughter.
This house was selected by Grant as his headquarters, and he resided
there for a considerable period. ("It seemed a mighty long time," says
Mrs. Billups.) With the general was Mrs. Grant and their son Jesse, as
well as Mrs. Grant's negro maid, Julia, who, Mrs. Grant told Mrs.
Billups, had been given to her, as a slave, by her father, Colonel Dent.
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