Streets Ahead is the column from London Walks' Pen David Tucker…
Thought I’d give Goose another turn on the spit. You know, Goose from Lynchburg.
This Goose.
(You can catch up with my earlier Goose post HERE.) Lynchburg, Lynchburg...
That the Lynchburg LaSalle was from?
You know, LaSalle Corbelle. General Pickett’s teenage hottie. (He was 42.) Yes, that General Pickett. General Pickett of Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.
General Pickett, the Confederate General who was a personal friend of President Lincoln.
General Pickett who vowed to LaSalle he’d never touch liquor. (You listening, Goose?)
General Pickett who served under General James Longstreet*, the inventor of the trench – “one of the first of the new soldiers, the cold-‐eyed men who...sensed the birth of the new war of machines.”
And, voila, there’s the London Walks Eureka moment. The “connection”. From Goose to our London & the First World War walk. The First World War. The full flowering of “the new war of machines”. And of General Longstreet’s trenches. See what you done set in train, Goose.
Ok, enjoyed the ride while it lasted. But turns out LaSalle – General Pickett’s LaSalle – wasn’t from Goose’s Tennessee Lynchburg. She was from the other Lynchburg, the one in Virginia. You know, the one where General Pickett’s fellow officer, General Jubal Early, died.
And where Nancy Astor spent most of her childhood. Yes, that Nancy Astor,** the first woman to sit as an MP in the House of Commons.
And – like LaSalle – another Lynchburg gal who was dead against alcohol consumption.
But then Goose’s Lynchburg – over in Tennessee – is in a “dry county”. Something in the name?
Jeez, I don’t know. Eyeing up Tube posters. You gotta, er, watch it. It’s maybe borderline train spotting.
*For the record Confederate General Longstreet was a personal friend of Union General and future President U.S. Grant. Even unto wedding vows: U.S. Grant married James Longstreet’s fourth cousin.
**Also for the record, Nancy A’s got a cameo role in our Old Palace Quarter walk. A London Walk costs £9 – £7 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
