Spared by a general

The article by W. Barksdale Maynard ’88, “Princeton in the Confederacy's Service” (feature, March 23), became interesting to me on a personal level when I read about Gen. Bradley Johnson 1849’s burning of Chambersburg, Pa., in 1864. Among the houses destroyed by his troops was the home of my great-grandparents. Fortunately, they and their children survived, including my grandmother, Mary M. Kennedy, who was 5. She married a Princetonian, Class of 1876, and had three sons who graduated from Old Nassau. Her sons had four sons who in turn became Tigers. That generation produced three daughters who are now alumnae of the best old place of all.

It surprised me to read that Gen. Johnson was “most vindictive and merciless.” At least grandmother was spared.