From The Daily Dispatch, 4 September 1867, page 1 column 4
An Interesting Fact. The largest, most thrifty-looking, and by far the best appearing tree in all respects, now in the Shockoe Hill Cemetery is what is commonly called a "weeping willow." A fact connected with the history of this tree possesses sufficient interest to make it known to the public. It was raised from a slip or twig which was taken from the grave of Napoleon Bonaparte at the island of St. Helena. This slip was preserved in a bottle, and brought to Richmond on board a vessel chartered or owned by Messrs. Ralston & Pleasants, a firm well known in Richmond during the first quarter of the present century, and largely engaged in trade with foreign countries. The willow we now write of stands in the lot owned by the family of the late General Bernard Peyton. The remains of the General and many of his immediate connections repose beneath the drooping branches thereof, which would no doubt arrest the attention of every visitor were its early history more generally known.