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diff --git a/36969.txt b/36969.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e3845f --- /dev/null +++ b/36969.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11904 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Women of the Confederacy, by J. L. Underwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Women of the Confederacy + +Author: J. L. Underwood + +Release Date: August 4, 2011 [EBook #36969] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY *** + + + + +Produced by Katherine Ward and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + +THE WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY + +In which is presented the heroism of the women of the Confederacy +with accounts of their trials during the War and the period of +Reconstruction, with their ultimate triumph over adversity. Their +motives and their achievements as told by writers and orators now +preserved in permanent form. + + +BY REV. J. L. UNDERWOOD + +Master of Arts, Mercer University, Captain and Chaplain in the +Confederate Army + + + New York and Washington + THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY + 1906 + + Copyright, 1906 + By + J. L. UNDERWOOD + +[Illustration: _Yours Truly, J. L. Underwood_] + + +DEDICATION + +To the memory of Mrs. ELIZABETH THOMAS CURRY, whose remains rest under +the live oaks at Bainbridge, Ga., who cheerfully gave every available +member of her family to the Confederate Cause, and with her own hands +made their gray jackets, and who gave to the author her Christian +patriot daughter, who has been the companion, the joy and the crown of +his long and happy life, this volume is most affectionately +dedicated. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + I SYMPOSIUM OF TRIBUTES TO CONFEDERATE WOMEN 19 + Mrs. Varina Jefferson Davis 19 + Tribute of President Jefferson Davis 20 + Tribute of a Wounded Soldier 21 + Tribute of a Federal Private Soldier 21 + Joseph E. Johnston's Tribute 22 + Stonewall Jackson's Female Soldiers 23 + Gen. J. B. Gordon's Tribute 23 + General Forrest's Tribute 24 + Tribute of Gen. M. C. Butler 24 + Tribute of Gen. Marcus J. Wright 26 + Tribute of Dr. J. L. M. Curry 26 + Address of Col. W. R. Aylett Before Pickett Camp 28 + Gen. Bradley T. Johnson's Speech at the Dedication of + South's Museum 28 + Governor C. T. O'Ferrall's Tribute 30 + Tribute of Judge J. H. Reagan, of Texas, + Postmaster-General of Confederate States 32 + General Freemantle (of the British Army) 33 + Sherman's "Tough Set" 33 + Tribute of General Buell 34 + Tribute of Judge Alton B. Parker, of New York 34 + Heroic Men and Women (President Roosevelt) 35 + The Women of the South 36 + Eulogy on Confederate Women 41 + II THEIR WORK 70 + Introduction to Woman's Work 70 + The Southern Woman's Song 71 + The Ladies of Richmond 72 + The Hospital After Seven Pines 73 + Burial of Latane 73 + Making Clothes for the Soldiers 74 + The Ingenuity of Southern Women 75 + Mrs. Lee and the Socks 77 + Fitting Out a Soldier 77 + The Thimble Brigade 79 + Noble Women of Richmond 80 + From Matoaca Gay's Articles in the _Philadelphia Times_ 81 + The Women of Richmond 82 + Two Georgia Heroines 83 + The Seven Days' Battle 83 + Death of Mrs. Sarah K. Rowe, "The Soldiers' Friend" 92 + "You Wait" 93 + Annandale--Two Heroines of Mississippi 95 + A Plantation Heroine 98 + Lucy Ann Cox 100 + "One of Them Lees" 101 + Southern Women in the War Between the States 101 + A Mother of the Confederacy 104 + "The Great Eastern" 105 + Cordial for the Brave 106 + Hospital Work and Women's Delicacy 107 + A Wayside Home at Millen 108 + A Noble Girl 110 + The Good Samaritan 110 + Female Relatives Visit the Hospitals 111 + Mania for Marriage 116 + Government Clerkships 117 + Schools in War Times 118 + Humanity in the Hospitals 118 + Mrs. Davis and the Federal Prisoner 119 + Socks that Never Wore Out 120 + Burial of Aunt Matilda 120 + "Illegant Pair of Hands" 121 + The Gun-boat "Richmond" 122 + Captain Sally Tompkins 124 + The Angel of the Hospital 125 + III THEIR TRIALS 127 + Old Maids 127 + A Mother's Letter 129 + Tom and his Young Master 130 + "I Knew You Would Come" 131 + Letters from the Poor at Home 132 + Life in Richmond During the War 133 + The Women of New Orleans 140 + "Incorrigible Little Devil" 141 + The Battle of the Handkerchiefs 142 + The Women of New Orleans and Vicksburg Prisoners 144 + "It Don't Trouble Me" 147 + Savage War in the Valley 147 + Mrs. Robert Turner, Woodstock, Va. 148 + High Price of Needles And Thread 149 + Despair at Home--Heroism at the Front 151 + The Old Drake's Territory 152 + The Refugee in Richmond 154 + Desolations of War 155 + Death of a Soldier 156 + Mrs. Henrietta E. Lee's Letter To General Hunter 159 + Sherman's Bummers 161 + Reminiscences of the War Times--a Letter 163 + Aunt Myra and the Hoe-cake 164 + "The Corn Woman" 166 + General Atkins at Chapel Hill 167 + Two Specimen Cases of Desertion 167 + Sherman in South Carolina 171 + Old North State's Trials 173 + Sherman in North Carolina 175 + Mrs. Vance's Trunk--General Palmer's Gallantry 177 + The Eventful Third of April 178 + The Federals Enter Richmond 181 + Somebody's Darling 183 + IV THEIR PLUCK 185 + Female Recruiting Officers 185 + Mrs. Susan Roy Carter 186 + J. L. M. Curry's Women Constituents 191 + Nora McCarthy 192 + Women in the Battle of Gainesville, Florida 194 + "She Would Send Ten More" 195 + Women at Vicksburg 196 + "Mother, Tell Him Not To Come" 198 + Brave Woman in Decatur, Georgia 201 + Giving Warning To Mosby 204 + "Ain't You Ashamed of You'uns?" 211 + False Teeth 212 + Emma Sansom 213 + President Roosevelt's Mother and Grandmother 215 + The Little Girl at Chancellorsville 217 + Saved Her Hams 217 + Heroism of a Widow 218 + Winchester Women 219 + Sparta in Mississippi 219 + "Woman's Devotion"--A Winchester Heroine 220 + Spoken Like Cornelia 222 + A Specimen Mother 223 + Mrs. Rooney 224 + Warning by a Brave Girl 226 + A Plucky Girl With a Pistol 227 + Mosby's Men And Two Noble Girls 228 + A Spartan Dame and her Young 230 + Singing Under Fire 231 + A Woman's Last Word 232 + Two Mississippi Girls Hold Yankees at Pistol Point 233 + "War Women" of Petersburg 234 + John Allen's Cow 235 + The Family That Had No Luck 235 + Brave Women at Resaca, Georgia 237 + A Woman's Hair 238 + A Breach of Etiquette 240 + Lola Sanchez's Ride 241 + The Rebel Sock 244 + V THEIR CAUSE 246 + Introductory Note to Their Cause 246 + "When This Cruel War Is Over" 246 + Northern Men Leaders of Disunion 247 + The Union vs. A Union 248 + The Northern States Secede From the Union 253 + Frenzied Finance and the War of 1861 255 + The Right of Secession 260 + The Cause Not Lost 262 + Slavery as the South Saw It 262 + Vindication of Southern Cause 263 + Northern View of Secession 266 + Major J. Scheibert on Confederate History 268 + VI MATER REDIVIVA 271 + Introductory Note 271 + The Empty Sleeve 272 + The Old Hoopskirt 273 + The Political Crimes of the Nineteenth Century 276 + Brave to the Last 280 + Sallie Durham 281 + The Negro and the Miracle 283 + Georgia Refugees 284 + The Negroes And New Freedom 286 + The Confederate Museum in the Capital of the Confederacy 287 + Federal Decoration Day--Adoption from Our Memorial 290 + The Daughters and the United Daughters of the Confederacy 291 + A Daughter's Plea 293 + Home for Confederate Women 297 + Jefferson Davis Monument 297 + Reciprocal Slavery 299 + Barbara Frietchie 302 + Social Equality Between the Races 304 + Dream of Race Superiority 308 + Roosevelt at Lee's Monument 311 + + + + +PREFACE + + +It is remarkable that after a lapse of forty years the people of this +country, from the President down, are manifesting a more lively +interest than ever in the history of the women of the Confederacy. +Bodily affliction only has prevented the author from rendering at an +earlier date the service to their memory and the cause of the South +which he feels that he has done in preparing this volume. His friends, +Dr. J. Wm. Jones, and the lamented Dr. J. L. M. Curry, of Richmond, +Va., made the suggestion of this work several years ago. They both +rendered material assistance in the preparation of the lecture which +appears in this volume as the author's tribute in the Symposium, and +to Doctor Jones the author is greatly indebted for the practical +brotherly assistance he has continued to render. + +Thanks are due to the Virginia State Librarian, Mr. C. D. Kennedy, and +his assistants, for kind attentions. The author is under obligations +to the lady members of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society of +Richmond, especially to Mrs. Lizzie Carey Daniels, Corresponding +Secretary, and Mrs. Katherine C. Stiles, Vice-Regent of the Georgia +Department of the Confederate Museum. In many ways great and valuable +service was kindly rendered by Miss Isabel Maury, the intelligent +House Regent of the Museum. To his old Commander, Gen. S. D. Lee, now +General Commander of Confederate Veterans, he is under obligation for +his practical help; also to Gen. Marcus J. Wright. In making +selections from the works of others, great pains have been taken to +give proper credit for all matter quoted. The author's home has been +for more than thirty years his delightful Pearland Cottage, in the +suburbs of Camilla, Ga. On account of his afflictions he has moved his +family to Blakeley, Ga., while he himself may remain some time for +medical treatment here in Richmond. The book is sent forth from an +invalid's room with a fervent prayer that it may do good in all +sections of our beloved country. Much of the work has been done under +severe pain and great weakness, and special indulgence is asked for +any defects. + + J. L. UNDERWOOD. + + Kellam's Hospital, + Richmond, Va. + + + + +INTRODUCTION BY REV. DR. J. B. HAWTHORNE + + +RICHMOND, VA., _January 30th, 1906_. + +Only within the last two years have I had the opportunity to cultivate +an intimate personal acquaintance with Rev. J. L. Underwood, but as +the greater part of our lives have been spent in the States of Georgia +and Alabama, I have been quite familiar with his career through a +period which embraces a half century. Wherever he is known he is +highly esteemed for his intellectual gifts and culture, his fluency +and eloquence in speech, his genial manner, his high moral and +Christian ideals, and his unflinching fealty to what he believes to be +his country's welfare. No man who followed the Confederate flag had a +clearer understanding or a more profound appreciation of what he was +fighting for. No man watched and studied more carefully the progress +of the contest. No man interpreted more accurately the spirit, +purposes, and conduct of the contending armies. When the struggle +closed no man foresaw with more distinctness what was in the womb of +the future for the defeated South. His cultivated intellect, his high +moral and Christian character, his personal observations and +experiences, his residence and travels in Europe, his extensive +acquaintance and correspondence with public men, North and South, and +his present devotion to the interests of our united country, render +him pre-eminently qualified for the task of delineating some features +of the greatest war of modern times. + +I have been permitted to read the manuscript of Mr. Underwood's book, +entitled, "The Women of the Confederacy." I do not hesitate to +pronounce it a valuable and enduring contribution to our country's +history. There is not a page in it that is dull or commonplace. No man +who starts to read it will lay it aside until he has reached the +conclusion of it. The author's definitions of the relations of each +sovereign State to the Federal Union and of her rights under the +Federal Constitution are exact. His argument in support of the +Constitutional right of secession amounts to a demonstration. His +interpretation of the long series of political events which drove the +South into secession is clear, just and convincing. His tributes to +the patriotism and valor of the Southern women are brilliant and +thrilling without the semblance of extravagance. His description of +the vandalism of Sherman's army in its march through Georgia and South +Carolina cannot fail to kindle a flame of indignation in the heart of +any civilized man who reads it. His anecdotes, both humorous and +pathetic, are well chosen. + +The section of this book which relates most directly to "The Women of +the Confederacy," including Mr. Underwood's tribute in the Symposium +to their memory, is by far the most thrilling and meritorious part of +it. Into this the author has put his best material, his deepest +emotions, his finest sentiments, and his most eloquent words. To the +conduct of Southern women in that unprecedented ordeal, history +furnishes no parallel. Through many generations to come it will be the +favorite theme of the poets and orators. + +I need no prophetic gift to see that this book will be immensely +popular and extensively circulated. Its aged and afflicted author has +done a work in writing it which deserves the gratitude and applause of +his fellow countrymen. + +J. B. HAWTHORNE. + + + + +INTRODUCTION BY REV. DR. J. WM. JONES + + + J. WM. JONES, + _Secretary and Superintendent_, + _Confederate Memorial Association_, + 109 N. 29th Street. + + RICHMOND, VA., + _January 23, 1906_. + +I have carefully examined the manuscript of Mr. J. L. Underwood on +"The Women of the Confederacy" and I take great pleasure in saying +that in my judgment it is a book of very great interest and value, and +if properly published and pushed I have no doubt that it would have a +very wide sale. + +Mr. Underwood has given a great deal of time to the collecting of +material for his book, and has had great advantages in doing so in +having had free access to the libraries of Richmond, and his book +abounds in touching and thrilling incidents, which present as no other +book that has been published does the true story of our Confederate +women, their sufferings and privations; their heroism and efficiency +in promoting the Confederate cause. I do not hesitate to say that it +is worthy of publication, and of wide circulation. + +J. WM. JONES. + + + + +AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION + + +One of the last things the great Henry W. Grady said, was: "If I die, +I die serving the South, the land I love so well. My father died +fighting for it. I am proud to die speaking for it." The author of +this volume fought for the South and is now so afflicted that he can +no longer hope to speak for the South, but he will be happy to die +writing for it. Not half has yet been told of the best part of the +South, her women. + +The Apostle John, on finishing his gospel story of Christ, said: "And +there are many other things which Jesus did, the which if they could +be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not +contain the books that should be written." While at work preparing +this volume, Mr. C. D. Kennedy, the courteous State librarian of +Virginia, said to the writer it would "take a whole library to tell +all about the Confederate women." As in the life of Christ, only a +small part can be told; and only a small part is necessary. + +It is remarkable that the life of Christ was the most tragic, +thrilling, and beneficent life the world ever saw. And yet it is all +told in four booklets of simple incidents. Those four little books +have been worth more to the world than all other books combined. +Neither is there any system in the gospel record. There was no system +in Christ's life. It could not be told in a consecutive biography nor +in a scientific treatise. Science and system all fail when it comes to +telling of a life of such love and labor and sorrow. + +It is not sacrilegious to say the same thing when we come to tell of +the heroic lives, the courage, the trials, the work of the Confederate +women. We can only give incidents, and these incidents tell all the +rest. + +Fortunately the author, while a patient in a Richmond hospital, has +been strong enough to search the libraries of the city and gather +material scattered among the Confederate records already made. With +them and his own original sketches, it is hoped that a contribution of +some value has been made to a good cause. The story of the Southern +women is worth studying; and the author tells in his eulogy his +estimate of their great virtues. Then he shows that his estimate is +not from partiality or ignorance by giving a symposium of tributes +from others, some from the North and some from Europe. + +It may surprise some that so much attention is given to holding up the +righteousness of the cause in which these women labored and suffered. +Why not? The great cause ennobled them, and they adorned the +Confederate cause. The truth must be told from both directions. This +is the ground idea of this humble volume. + +It is hoped that it will fill a good place in our Southern literature, +suggesting further investigation on the same line. It has been a work +of love, a comfort to him in the days of very fearful bodily +affliction. He is conscious of the feebleness of his work and much +indulgence is asked for. + +The author deems his subject a consecrated theme. And he rejoices that +he could labor at his task amid the consecrated memories of dear old +Richmond, where he has had the assistance and the smiles of +encouragement from the noble women who continue to keep guard over +Hollywood and Oakwood Cemeteries, the Soldiers' Home, and the Home for +Confederate Women, and keep vestal watch in the Confederate Museum. + +Not a line is written in sectional prejudice or tainted by a touch of +hate. The author was a Confederate soldier. He hates sham, injustice, +falsehood, and hypocrisy everywhere, but he loves his fellow men, and +still bears the old soldier's respect and warm hand for the true +soldiers who fought on the other side. The barbarities of bummers and +brutal commanders must be repudiated by us all that the honor of true +soldiers like McClellan, Rosecrans, Thomas, and Buell, on the one +side, and Lee, Jackson and Johnston on the other, may stand forth in +its true light. + +When our broad-brained and big-hearted President Roosevelt has just +stepped down from the White House to tell on Capitol Hill at Richmond +and at the feet of the monuments of Lee and Jackson, his great +admiration for the Confederate soldiers and the Confederate women, it +is time for us all to take a fresh look at their heroic lives. + + J. L. UNDERWOOD. + + KELLAM'S HOSPITAL, + _Richmond, Va., April 1st, 1906_. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SYMPOSIUM OF TRIBUTES TO CONFEDERATE WOMEN + + +MRS. VARINA JEFFERSON DAVIS + +From her invalid chair in New York the revered and beloved wife of the +great chieftain of the Confederacy writes a personal letter to the +author of this volume, from which he takes the liberty of publishing +the following extract. There is something peculiarly touching in this +testimonial which will be prized and kept as a precious heirloom +throughout our Southern land: + + HOTEL GERARD, + 123 West Forty-fourth Street, New York. + _October 25, 1905._ + + MY DEAR MR. UNDERWOOD: + + * * * I do not know in all history a finer subject than the + heroism of our Southern women, God bless them. I have never + forgotten our dear Mrs. Robt. E. Lee, sitting in her arm chair, + where she was chained by the most agonizing form of rheumatism, + cutting with her dear aching hands soldiers' gloves from waste + pieces of their Confederate uniforms furnished to her from the + government shops. These she persuaded her girl visitors to sew + into gloves for the soldiers. Certainly these scraps were of + immense use to all those who could get them, for I do not know how + many children's jackets which kept the soldiers' children warm, I + had pieced out of these scraps by a poor woman who sat in the + basement of the mansion and made them for them. + + The ladies picked their old silk pieces into fragments, and spun + them into gloves, stockings, and scarfs for the soldiers' necks, + etc.; cut up their house linen and scraped it into lint; tore up + their sheets and rolled them into bandages; and toasted sweet + potato slices brown, and made substitutes for coffee. They put two + tablespoonfuls of sorghum molasses into the water boiled for + coffee instead of sugar, and used none other for their little + children and families. They covered their old shoes with old kid + gloves or with pieces of silk and their little feet looked + charming and natty in them. In the country they made their own + candles, and one lady sent me three cakes of sweet soap and a + small jar of soft soap made from the skin, bones and refuse bits + of hams boiled for her family. Another sent the most exquisite + unbleached flax thread, of the smoothest and finest quality, spun + by herself. I have never been able to get such thread again. I am + still quite feeble, so I must close with the hope that your health + will steadily improve and the assurance that I am, + + Yours sincerely, + + V. JEFFERSON DAVIS. + + +TRIBUTE OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON DAVIS + +[From Dr. Craven's Prison Life of Jefferson Davis.] + +If asked for his sublimest ideal of what women should be in time of +war, he said he would point to the dear women of his people as he had +seen them during the recent struggle. "The Spartan mother sent her +boy, bidding him return with honor, either carrying his shield or on +it. The women of the South sent forth their sons, directing them to +return with victory; to return with wounds disabling them from further +service, or never to return at all. All they had was flung into the +contest--beauty, grace, passion, ornaments. The exquisite frivolities +so dear to the sex were cast aside; their songs, if they had any heart +to sing, were patriotic; their trinkets were flung into the crucible; +the carpets from their floors were portioned out as blankets to the +suffering soldiers of their cause; women bred to every refinement of +luxury wore homespuns made by their own hands. When materials for +army balloons were wanted the richest silk dresses were sent in and +there was only competition to secure their acceptance. As nurses for +the sick, as encouragers and providers for the combatants, as angels +of charity and mercy, adopting as their own all children made orphans +in defence of their homes, as patient and beautiful household deities, +accepting every sacrifice with unconcern, and lightening the burdens +of war by every art, blandishment, and labor proper to their sphere, +the dear women of his people deserved to take rank with the highest +heroines of the grandest days of the greatest centuries." + + +TRIBUTE OF A WOUNDED SOLDIER + +A beautiful Southern girl, on her daily mission of love and mercy in +one of our hospitals, asked a badly wounded soldier boy what she could +do for him. He replied: "I am greatly obliged to you, but it is too +late for you to do anything for me. I am so badly wounded that I can't +live long." + +"Will you not let me pray for you?" said the sweet girl. "I hope that +I am one of the Lord's daughters, and I would like to ask Him to help +you." + +Looking intently into her beautiful face he replied: "Yes, do pray at +once, and ask the Lord to let me be his son-in-law." + + +TRIBUTE OF A FEDERAL PRIVATE SOLDIER + +There is no more popular living hero of the Federal army of the war +between the States than Corporal Tanner, who is Commander of the Grand +Army of the Republic. He left both legs on a Southern battlefield and +is a universal favorite of the Confederate Veterans. The following is +an extract from his speech at the Wheeler Memorial in Atlanta, Ga., in +March, 1906: + +"The Union forces would have achieved success, in my opinion, +eighteen months sooner than they did if it had not been for the women +of the South. Why do I say this? Because it is of world-wide knowledge +that men never carried cause forward to the dread arbitrament of the +battlefield, who were so intensely supported by the prayers and by the +efforts of the gentler sex, as were you men of the South. Every +mother's son of you knew that if you didn't keep exact step to the +music of Dixie and the Bonny Blue Flag, if you did not tread the very +front line of battle when the contest was on, knew in short that if +you returned home in aught but soldierly honor, that the very fires of +hell would not scorch and consume your unshriven souls as you would be +scorched and consumed by the scorn and contempt of your womanhood." + + +JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON'S TRIBUTE + +As to the charge of want of loyalty or zeal in the war, I assert, from +as much opportunity for observation as any individual had, that no +people ever displayed so much, under such circumstances, and with so +little flagging, for so long a time continuously. This was proved by +the long service of the troops without pay and under exposure to such +hardships, from the cause above mentioned, as modern troops have +rarely endured; by the voluntary contributions of food and clothing +sent to the army from every district that furnished a regiment; by the +general and continued submission of the people to the tyranny of the +impressment system as practiced--such a tyranny as, I believe, no +other high-spirited people ever endured--and by the sympathy and aid +given in every house to all professing to belong to the army, or to be +on the way to join it. And this spirit continued not only after all +hope of success had died but after the final confession of defeat by +their military commanders. + +But, even if the men of the South had not been zealous in the cause, +the patriotism of their mothers and wives and sisters would have +inspired them with zeal or shamed them into its imitation. The women +of the South exhibited that feeling wherever it could be exercised: +in the army, by distributing clothing with their own hands; at the +railroad stations and their own homes, by feeding the marching +soldiers; and, above all, in the hospitals, where they rivaled the +Sisters of Charity. I am happy in the belief that their devoted +patriotism and gentle charity are to be richly rewarded. + + +STONEWALL JACKSON'S FEMALE SOLDIERS + +In the southern part of Virginia the women had become almost shoeless +and sent a petition to General Jackson to grant the detail of a +shoemaker to make shoes for them. Here is his reply, in a letter of +November 14, 1862: "Be assured that I feel a deep and abiding interest +in our female soldiers. They are patriots in the truest sense of the +word, and I more and more admire them." + + +GEN. J. B. GORDON'S TRIBUTE + +Back of the armies, on the farms, in the towns and cities, the fingers +of Southern women were busy knitting socks and sewing seams of coarse +trousers and gray jackets for the soldiers at the front. + +From Mrs. Lee and her daughters to the humblest country matrons and +maidens, their busy needles were stitching, stitching, stitching, day +and night. The anxious commander, General Lee, thanked them for their +efforts to bring greater comfort to the cold feet and shivering limbs +of his half-clad men. He wrote letters expressing appreciation of the +bags of socks and shirts as they came in. He said he could almost +hear, in the stillness of the night, the needles click as they flew +through the meshes. Every click was a prayer, every stitch a tear. His +tributes were tender and constant to these glorious women for their +labor and sacrifice for Southern independence. + + +GENERAL FORREST'S TRIBUTE + +There is a story told of General Forrest which shows his opinion of +the pluck and devotion of the Southern women. He was drawing up his +men in line of battle one day, and it was evident that a sharp +encounter was about to take place. Some ladies ran from a house which +happened to stand just in front of his line, and asked him anxiously, +"What shall we do, General, what shall we do?" Strong in his faith +that they only wished to help in some way, he replied, "I really don't +see that you can do much, except to stand on stumps, wave your bonnets +and shout, 'Hurrah, boys.'" + + +TRIBUTE OF GEN. M. C. BUTLER + +Who of those trying days does not recall the shifts which the Southern +people had to adopt to provide for the sick and wounded: the +utilization of barks and herbs for the concoction of drugs, the +preparation of appliances for hospitals and field infirmaries? What +surgeons in any age or in any war excelled the Confederate surgeons in +skill, ingenuity or courage? + +Who does not recall the sleepless and patient vigilance, the heroic +fortitude and untiring tenderness of the fair Southern women in +providing articles of comfort and usefulness for their kindred in the +field, preparing with their dainty hands from their scanty supplies, +food and clothing for the Confederate soldiers; establishing homes and +hospitals for the sick and disabled, and ministering to their wants +with a gentle kindness that alleviated so much suffering and pain? Do +the annals of any country or of any period furnish higher proofs of +self-sacrificing courage, self-abnegation, and more steadfast devotion +than was exercised by the Southern women during the whole progress of +our desperate struggle? If so, I have failed to discover it. + +The suffering of the men from privations and hunger, from the wounds +of battle and the sickness of camp, were mild inconveniences when +compared with the anguish of soul suffered by the women at home, and +yet they bore it all with surpassing heroism. No pen can ever do +justice to their imperishable renown. The shot and shell of invading +armies could not intimidate, nor could the rude presence of a +sometimes ruthless enemy deter their dauntless souls. To my mind there +has been nothing in history or past experiences comparable to their +fortitude, courage, and devotion. Instances may be cited where the +women of a country battling for its rights and liberties have +sustained themselves under the hardest fate and made great sacrifices +for the cause they loved and the men they honored and respected, but I +challenge comparison in any period of the world's history with the +sufferings, anxieties, fidelities, and firmness of the fair, delicate +women of the South during the struggle for Southern independence and +since its disastrous determination. Disappointed in the failure of a +cause for which they had suffered so much, baffled in the fondest +hopes of an earnest patriotism, impoverished by the iron hand of +relentless war, desolated in their hearts by the cruel fate of +unsuccessful battle, and bereft of the tenderest ties that bound them +to earth, mourning over the most dismal prospect that ever converted +the happiest, fairest land to waste and desolation, consumed by +anxiety and the darkest forebodings for the future, they have never +lowered the exalted crest of true Southern womanhood, nor pandered to +a sentiment that would compromise with dishonor. They have found time, +amid the want and anxiety of desolated homes, to keep fresh and green +the graves of their dead soldiers, when thrift and comfort might have +followed cringing and convenient oblivion of the past. They had the +courage to build monuments to their dead, and work with that beautiful +faith and silent energy which makes kinship to angels, and lights up +with the fire from heaven the restless power of woman's boundless +capabilities. When men have flagged and faltered, dallied with +dishonor and fallen, the women of the South have rebuilt the altars of +patriotism and relumed the fires of devotion to country in the hearts +of halting manhood. They have borne the burden of their own griefs +and vitalized the spirit and firmness of the men. + +All honor, all hail, to woman's matchless achievements, and thanks, a +thousand thanks, for the grand triumph and priceless example of her +devoted heroism. Appropriately may she have exclaimed: + + "Here I and Sorrow sit. + This is my throne; let kings come bow to it." + + +TRIBUTE OF GEN. MARCUS J. WRIGHT + +I know that it were needless to say that the character and conduct of +the women of the South during our late war stand out equally with +those of any age or country, and deserve to go down in history as +affording an example of fortitude, bravery, affection and patriotism +that it is impossible to surpass: and I am further proud to say that +the women of the Northern States exhibited in that war a devotion and +patriotism to their country and its cause deserving of all praise. + + +TRIBUTE OF DR. J. L. M. CURRY + +[Civil History of the Confederate States, pages 171-174.] + +We hear and read much of delicately pampered "females" in ancient Rome +and modern Paris and Newport, but in the time of which I speak in +this Southland of ours, womanhood was richly and heavily endowed +with duties and occupations and highest social functions, as wife +and mother and neighbor, and these responsibilities and duties +underlay our society in its structure and permanence as solid +foundations. Instead of superficial adornments and supine inaction, +the intellectual sympathies and interests of these women were +large, and they undertook, with wise and just guidance, the +management of household and farms and servants, leaving the men free +for war and civil government. These noble and resolute women were +the mothers of the Gracchi, of the men who built up the greatness +of the Union and accomplished the unexampled achievements of the +Confederacy. Knowing no position more exalted and paramount than +that of wife and mother, with the responsibilities which attach to +miniature empire, the training of children and guidance of slaves, +each one was as Caesar would have had his companion, above reproach +and above suspicion; and whose purity was so prized that a violation +of personal dignity was resented and punished, by all worthy to be +sons and husbands and fathers of such women, with the death of the +violator. "Strength and dignity were her clothing; she opened her +mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness was on her tongue. She +looked well to the ways of her household, and she ate not the bread of +idleness. Her children rose up and called her blessed; her husband +also." + +When inequality was threatened and States were to be degraded to +counties, and the South became one great battlefield, and every +citizen was aiding in the terrible conflict, the mothers, wives, +sisters, daughters, with extraordinary unanimity and fervor, rallied +to the support of their imperilled land. While the older women from +intelligent conviction were ready to sustain the South, political +events and the necessity of confronting privations, trials, and +sorrows developed girlhood into the maturity and self-reliance of +womanhood. Anxious women with willing hands and loving hearts rushed +eagerly to every place which sickness or destitution or the ravages of +war invade, enduring sacrifices, displaying unsurpassed fortitude and +heroism. Churches were converted into hospitals or places for making, +collecting, and shipping clothing and needed supplies. Innumerable +private homes adjacent to battlefields were filled with the sick and +wounded. It was not uncommon to see grandmother and youthful maiden +engaged in making socks, hats, and other needed articles. Untrained, +these women entered the fields of labor with the spirit of Christ, +rose into queenly dignity, and enrolled themselves among the +immortals. + + +ADDRESS OF COL. W. R. AYLETT BEFORE PICKETT CAMP + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 22, page 60.] + +I claim for Camp Pickett the paternity of the first of the public +expressions, in the form of a Confederate woman's monument. On the +16th day of January, 1890, in an address made by me, upon the +presentation of General Pickett's portrait to this camp by Mrs. +Jennings, as my remarks, published in the Richmond _Dispatch_ of the +17th of January, 1890, will show, I urged that steps be taken to +erect a monument to the women of the Southern Confederacy, and you +applauded the suggestion. But this idea, and the execution of it, is +something in which none of us should claim exclusive glory and +ownership. The monument should be carried not alone upon the +shoulders of the infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers and sailors +of the Confederacy, but should be urged forward by the hearts and +hands of the whole South. And wherever a Northern man has a Southern +wife (and a good many Northern men of taste have them) let them +help, too, for God never gave him a nobler or richer blessing. The +place for such a monument, it seems to me, should be by the side of +the Confederate soldier on Libby Hill. It is not well for a man to +be alone, nor woman either. To place her elsewhere would make a +perpetual stag of him, and a perpetual wall-flower of her. Companions +in glory and suffering, let them go down the corridors of time side +by side, the representatives of a race of heroes. + + +GEN. BRADLEY T. JOHNSON'S SPEECH AT THE DEDICATION OF SOUTH'S MUSEUM + +_What Our Women Stood_ + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 23, pages 368-370.] + +Evil dies, good lives; and the time will come when all the world will +realize that the failure of the Confederacy was a great misfortune to +humanity, and will be the source of unnumbered woes to liberty. +Washington might have failed; Kosciusko and Robert E. Lee did fail; +but I believe history will award a higher place to them, unsuccessful, +than to Suwarrow and to Grant, victorious. This great and noble cause, +the principles of which I have attempted to formulate for you, was +defended with a genius and a chivalry of men and women never equalled +by any race. My heart melts now at the memory of those days. + +Just realize it: There is not a hearth and home in Virginia that has +not heard the sound of hostile cannon; there is not a family which has +not buried kin slain in battle. Of all the examples of that heroic +time; of all figures that will live in the music of the poet or the +pictures of the painter, the one that stands in the foreground, the +one that will be glorified with the halo of the heroine, is the +woman--mother, sister, lover--who gave her life and heart to the +cause. And the woman and girl, remote from cities and towns, back in +the woods, away from railways or telegraph. + +Thomas Nelson Page has given us a picture of her in his story of +"Darby." I thank him for "Darby Stanly." I knew the boy and loved him +well, for I have seen him and his cousins on the march, in camp, and +on the battlefield, lying in ranks, stark, with his face to the foe +and his musket grasped in his cold hands. I can recall what talk there +was at a "meetin'" about the "Black Republicans" coming down here to +interfere with us, and how we "warn't goin' to 'low it," and how the +boys would square their shoulders to see if the girls were looking at +'em, and how the girls would preen their new muslins and calicoes, and +see if the boys were "noticen'," and how by Tuesday news came that +Captain Thornton was forming his company at the court-house, and how +the mother packed up his little "duds" in her boy's school satchel and +tied it on his back, and kissed him and bade him good-bye, and watched +him, as well as she could see, as he went down the walk to the front +gate, and as he turned into the "big road," and as he got to the +corner, turned round and took off his hat and swung it around his +head, and then disappeared out of her life forever. For, after Cold +Harbor, his body could never be found nor his grave identified, though +a dozen saw him die. And then, for days and for weeks and for months, +alone, the mother lived this lonely life, waiting for news. The war +had taken her only son, and she was a widow; but from that day to +this, no human being has ever heard a word of repining from her lips. +Those who suffer most complain least. + +Or, I recall that story of Bishop-General Polk, about the woman in the +mountains of Tennessee, with six sons. Five of them were in the army, +and when it was announced to her that her eldest born had been killed +in battle, the mother simply said: "The Lord's will be done. Eddie +(her baby) will be fourteen next spring, and he can take Billy's +place." + +The hero of this great epoch is the son I have described, as his +mother and sister will be the heroines. For years, day and night, +winter and summer, without pay, with no hope of promotion nor of +winning a name or making a mark, the Confederate boy-soldier trod the +straight and thorny path of duty. Half-clothed, whole-starved, he +tramps, night after night, his solitary post on picket. No one can see +him. Five minutes' walk down the road will put him beyond recall, and +twenty minutes further and he will be in the Yankee lines, where pay, +food, clothes, quiet, and safety all await him. Think of the tens of +thousands of boys subjected to this temptation, and how few yielded! +Think of how many dreamed of such relief from danger and hardship! +But, while I glorify the chivalry, the fortitude, and the fidelity of +the private soldier, I do not intend to minimize the valor, the +endurance, or the gallantry of those who led him. + + +GOVERNOR C. T. O'FERRALL'S TRIBUTE + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 23, pages 361-362.] + +I think I can say boldly that the bloody strife of 1861 to 1865 +developed in the men of the South traits of character as ennobling and +as exalting as ever adorned men since the day-dawn of creation. I +think I can proclaim confidently that, for courage and daring +chivalry and bravery, the world has never seen the superiors of the +Southern soldiers. I think I can assert defiantly that the annals of +time present no leaves more brilliant than those upon which are +recorded the deeds and achievements of the followers of the Southern +Cross. I think I can proclaim triumphantly that, from the South's +beloved President, and the peerless commander of her armies in the +field, down to the private in her ranks, there was a display of +patriotism perhaps unequalled (certainly never surpassed) since this +passion was implanted in the human breast. + +But as grand as the South was in her sons, she was grander in her +daughters; as sublime as she was in her men, she was sublimer in her +women. + +History is replete with bright and beautiful examples of woman's +devotion to home and birthland; of her fortitude, trials, and +sufferings in her country's cause, and the women of the Confederacy +added many luminous pages to what had already been most graphically +written. + +Yes, these Spartan wives and mothers, with husbands or sons, or both, +at the front, directed the farming operations, supporting their +families and supplying the armies; they sewed, knitted, weaved, and +spun; then in the hospitals they were ministering angels, turning the +heated pillow, smoothing the wrinkled cot, cooling the parched lips, +stroking the burning brow, staunching the flowing blood, binding up +the gaping wounds, trimming the midnight taper, and sitting in the +stillness, only broken by the groans of the sick and wounded, pointing +the departing spirit the way to God; closing the sightless eyes and +then following the bier to Hollywood or some humble spot, and then +dropping the purest tear. + +They saw the flames licking the clouds, as their homes, with their +clinging memories, were reduced to ashes; they heard of the carnage of +battle, followed by the mother's deep moan, the wife's low sob--for, +alas! she could not weep--the orphan's wail, and the sister's lament. +But amid flame, carnage, death, and lamentations, though their land +was reddening with blood, and their beloved ones were falling like +leaves in autumn, they stood, like heroines, firm, steadfast, and +constant. + +Oh! women of the Confederacy, your fame is deathless; you need not +monument nor sculptured stone to perpetuate it. Young maidens, gather +at the feet of some Confederate matron in some reminiscent hour, and +listen to her story of those days, now more than thirty years past, +and hear how God gave her courage, fortitude, and strength to bear her +privations, and bereavements, and live. + + +TRIBUTE OF JUDGE J. H. REAGAN, OF TEXAS, POSTMASTER-GENERAL OF +CONFEDERATE STATES + +I never felt my inability to do justice to any subject so keenly as I +do when attempting to do justice to the character, services, and +devotion of the women of the Confederacy. They gave to the armies +their husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers, with aching hearts, and +bade them good-bye with sobs and tears. But they believed their +sacrifice was due to their country and her cause. They assumed the +care of their homes and of the children and aged. Many of them who had +been reared in ease and luxury had to engage in all the drudgery of +the farm and shop. Many of them worked in the fields to raise means of +feeding their families. Spinning-wheels and looms were multiplied +where none had been seen before, to enable them to clothe their +families and furnish clothing for the loved ones in the army, to whom, +with messages of love and encouragement, they were, whenever they +could, sending something to wear or eat. And like angels of mercy they +visited and attended the hospitals, with lint and bandages for the +wounded, and medicine for the sick, and such nourishment as they could +for both, and their holy prayers at all times went to the throne of +God for the safety of those dear to them and for the success of the +Confederate cause. There was a courage and a moral heroism in their +lives superior to that which animated our brave men, for the men were +stimulated by the presence of their associates, the hope of applause, +and by the excitements of battle. While the noble women, in the +seclusion and quietude of their homes, were inspired by a moral +courage which could only come from God and the love of country. + + +GENERAL FREEMANTLE (OF THE BRITISH ARMY) + +[In "Three Months in Southern Lines."] + +It has often been remarked to me that when this war is over the +independence of the country will be due in a great measure to the +women: for they declare that had the women been desponding they never +could have gone through with it. But, on the contrary, the women have +invariably set an example to the men of patience, devotion, and +determination. Naturally proud and with an innate contempt for the +Yankees, Southern women have been rendered furious and desperate by +the proceedings of Butler, Milroy, and other such Federal officers. +They are all prepared to undergo any hardship and misfortunes rather +than submit to the rule of such people; and they use every argument +which women can employ to infuse the same spirit into their male +relatives. + + +SHERMAN'S "TOUGH SET" + +After Sherman took possession of Savannah he soon issued orders, +driving out of the city the wives of Confederate officers and +soldiers. While these women were packing their trunks, he sent +soldiers to watch them. + +The ladies sent a remonstrance to the general, and here is his reply: + +"You women are the toughest set I ever knew. The men would have given +up long ago but for you. I believe you would keep this war up for +thirty years." + + +TRIBUTE OF GENERAL BUELL + +The following are some of the words quoted from General Buell, one of +the most high-toned and gallant of the Federal generals, and who saved +the Federal army from complete defeat at the battle of Shiloh. This +appeared in the _Century Magazine_, and afterward in the third volume +of "Battles and Leaders in the Civil War." After speaking of the +confidence of the Southern soldier in his commander, General Buell +then speaks of another influence which nerved the heart of the +Confederate soldier to valorous deeds: + +"Nor must we give slight importance to the influence of Southern women +who, in agony of heart, girded the sword upon their loved ones and +bade them go. It was expected that these various influences would give +a confidence to leadership that would tend to bold adventure and leave +its mark upon the contest. + +"Yes; the Confederate soldier has gone down in all histories as the +most peerless, most gallant and matchless hero the world ever +produced." + + +TRIBUTE OF JUDGE ALTON B. PARKER, OF NEW YORK + +Nothing in all recorded history of mankind has been more pathetic, +more heroic, more deserving of admiration and sympathy than the +attitude of the Southern people since 1865. As fate would have it, +their defeat in war was the smallest of their woes, because it would +neither threaten nor bring dishonor. But the new _post-bellum_ contest +with military power, with theft and robbery, with poverty and enforced +domination of a race lately in slavery, forced as it was without time +for recovery, and that, too, in their own homes, required a courage a +little less than superhuman. + + +HEROIC MEN AND WOMEN + +[President Roosevelt, in his speech at Richmond, October 18, 1905.] + +Great though the meed of praise is which is due the South for the +soldierly valor of her sons displayed during the four years of war, I +think that even greater praise is due her for what her people have +accomplished during the forty years of peace which followed. For forty +years the South has made not merely a courageous, but at times a +desperate struggle, as she has striven for moral and material +well-being. Her success has been extraordinary, and all citizens of +our common country should feel joy and pride in it; for any great deed +done, or any fine qualities shown, by one group of Americans, of +necessity reflects credit upon all Americans. Only a heroic people +could have battled successfully against the conditions with which the +people of the South found themselves face to face at the end of the +civil war. There had been utter destruction and disaster, and wholly +new business and social problems had to be faced with the scantiest +means. The economic and political fabric had to be readjusted in the +midst of dire want, of grinding poverty. The future of the broken, +war-swept South seemed beyond hope, and if her sons and daughters had +been of weaker fiber there would have been in very truth no hope. But +the men and the sons of the men who had faced with unfaltering front +every alternation of good and evil fortune from Manassas to +Appomattox, and the women, their wives and mothers, whose courage and +endurance had reached an even higher heroic level--these men and these +women set themselves undauntedly to the great task before them. For +twenty years the struggle was hard and at times doubtful. Then the +splendid qualities of your manhood and womanhood told, as they were +bound to tell, and the wealth of your extraordinary natural resources +began to be shown. Now the teeming riches of mine and field and +factory attest the prosperity of those who are all the stronger +because of the trials and struggles through which this prosperity has +come. You stand loyally to your traditions and memories; you also +stand loyal for our great common country of to-day and for our common +flag, which symbolizes all that is brightest and most hopeful for the +future of mankind; you face the new age in the spirit of the age. +Alike in your material and in your spiritual and intellectual +development you stand abreast of the foremost in the world's +progress. + + +THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH + +[Joel Chandler Harris, in Southern Historical Papers.] + +Southern women have been heretofore referred to only as the standards +of fiction. There are three pieces of fiction that have had a long and +popular run in what may be described in a large way as the North +American mind. One is that the stage representations of negro +characters are true to life; another is that the poor white trash of +the South are utterly worthless and thriftless; and the other is that +the white woman of the South lived in a state of idleness during the +days of slavery, swinging and languishing in hammocks while bevies of +pickaninnies cooled the tropical air with long-handled fans made of +peacock tails. + +Preposterous as they are, age has made these fictions respectable, +especially in the North. They strut about in good company, and +sometimes a sober historian goes so far as to employ them for the +purpose of bolstering up his sectional theories, or, what is still +worse, his prejudices. + +I do not know that these fictions are important, or that they are even +interesting. If there was an explosion every time truth was outrun by +his notorious competitor, the man who sleeps late of a morning would +wake up with a snort and imagine that the universe was the victim of a +fierce and prolonged bombardment. + + +_Wives of Planters_ + +The busiest women the world has ever seen were the wives and daughters +of the Southern planters during the days of slavery. They were busy +from morning until night, and sometimes far into the night. They were +practically at the head of the commissary and sanitary departments of +the plantation. It was a part of their duty to see that the negroes +were properly fed, clothed, and shod. They did not, it is true, go +into the market and purchase the supplies; that was a matter that +could be attended to by even a dull-witted man; but after the supplies +were bought it was the woman's intelligent management that caused them +to be properly distributed. + +I have never yet heard of a Southern woman who surrendered the keys of +her smoke-house and store-room to an overseer. The distribution of the +supplies, however, was a comparatively small item. Take, for example, +the clothing provided for, say, one hundred negroes, male and female, +large and small. The cloth was bought in bolts, though occasionally a +considerable portion was woven on the plantation on the old-fashioned +hand-looms. Whether bought or woven, the cloth had to be cut out and +made into garments. Who was to superintend and see to all this if not +a woman? Who was at the head of the domestic establishment? There were +seamstresses to make up the clothes, but all the details and +preparations had to be looked after by the mistress, and it oftentimes +fell to her lot to go down on her knees on the floor and cut out the +garments for hours at a time. + + +_Sanitary Experts_ + +And then there was the health of the negroes--a very important item +where a twenty-year-old field hand was worth $1,500 in gold. Who was +to look after the sick when, as frequently happened, the physician was +miles away? Who, indeed, if not the mistress? It was natural, +therefore--and not only natural, but absolutely necessary--that a part +of the store-room should be an apothecary's shop on a small scale, and +that the Southern woman should know what to prescribe in all the +simpler forms of disease. It is to be borne in mind that when the +negroes came in from their work the plantation became a domestic +establishment, and its demands were such that it was necessary for a +woman to be at the head of it. On the energy, the industry and the apt +management of the mistress the success of the plantation depended to +a great extent. It was not often these qualities were lacking, either, +for they were absolutely essential to the success, the comfort, and +the moral discipline of the establishment. + + +_Queen of the Kitchen_ + +Then there was the kitchen. No Southern woman could afford to turn +that important department over to a negro cook. Such a thing was not +to be thought of. The mistress of the plantation was also the mistress +of the kitchen. In order to teach their negroes the art of cooking, +the Southern women had to know how to cook themselves, and they were +compelled to gain their knowledge by practical experience, for the +kitchen is one of the places where theories cannot be entertained. +There are negro women still living who got their training in the +plantation kitchen, under the eyes of their mistresses, and their +cooking is a spur to the appetite and a remedy for indigestion. It is +no wonder that a Georgia woman, when she heard the negroes were really +free, gave a sigh of relief and exclaimed: "Thank heaven! I shall have +to work for them no more!" + +These Southern women were the outgrowth of the plantation system, the +result of six or seven generations of development. On that system they +placed the impress of their humanity and refinement; and the outcome +of it is to be seen in the condition of the negro race to-day. In the +sphere of their homes and in their social relations they exercised a +power and influence that has no parallel in history. As they were +themselves, so they trained their daughters to be. + + +_In This Generation_ + +As the vine was, so must the fruit be. I have tried to describe the +mistress of the plantation for the reason that her characteristics and +tendencies have been transmitted to the Southern women of this +generation and to the young girls who are growing into womanhood. It +is inevitable, however, that certain of these characteristics should +be modified or amplified according as the circumstances of an +environment altogether new may demand. + +I know of no more beautiful or romantic civilization than that which +blossomed under the plantation system, and yet, in the natural order +of things, it would have inevitably run to caste distinctions. It had +social ideals that were impracticable, and it had literary ideals that +were foolish; nevertheless, after everything had been said, caste +distinctions under the plantation system would have been less +distasteful than those which are now in process of organization in +some parts of this country. + +Whatever the development of Southern civilization might have been +under the old system it has come under the domination of the new. That +the new has been strengthened and sweetened thereby I think will not +be denied by impartial observers who have no pet theories to nurse. +Women of to-day still possess the characteristics that made their +mothers and their grandmothers beautiful and gracious; still possess +the refinement that built up a rare civilization amid unpromising +surroundings; still possess the energy and patience and gentleness +that wrought order and discipline on the plantations. + + +_An Inheritance of Graciousness_ + +Take, for example, the home life of the plantation. It was larger, +ampler, and more perfect than that which exists in the republic +to-day, not because it was more leisurely and freer from care, but +because the aims and purposes of the various members of the family +were more concentrated. The hospitality that was a feature of it was +more unrestrained and simpler, because it bore no relation whatever to +the demands and suggestions of what is now known in Sunday newspapers +as "Society." + +The home life of the old plantation has had a marked influence on +the Southern women of to-day in their struggles with adverse +circumstances. They lack, for one thing, the assurance of those who +have inherited the knack of making their way among strangers. The +poetic young Bostonian who has been writing recently of "The +Mannerless Sex" and "The Ruthless Sex" could never have made the +Southern woman a text for his articles, and I trust that for +generations yet to come they will retain the gentleness and the +graciousness that belong to them by right of inheritance. + + +_A Beneficent Influence_ + +Comparatively speaking, it has been but a few years since the Southern +woman has been compelled by circumstances to seek a wider and more +profitable field for her talent, her energy, and her industry than the +home and fireside afford, and the experience of these few years has +demonstrated the fact that she is amply able to take care of herself. +In shaping and developing what is called the new literary movement in +the South, she has shown herself to be a far more versatile worker +than the men, more artistic and more conscientious. She has made +herself in art, in science, and in schools; she has taken a place in +the ranks of the journalists; she has a place on the stage and the +platform; she is to be found in many of the trades that are next door +to the arts, in the professions and in business; she is stenographing, +typewriting, clerking, dairying, gardening. She is to be found, in +short, wherever there is room for her, and her field is always +widening. + +I think she will exercise a mellowing and restraining influence on the +ripping and snorting age just ahead of us--the rattling and groaning +age of electricity. What part she may play in the woman's rights +movement of the future it is difficult to say. Just now she has no +aptitude in that direction. She has been taught to believe that the +influences that are the result of a happy home-life are more powerful +and more important elements of politics than the casting of a ballot; +and in this belief she seems to be with an overwhelming majority of +American women--the mothers and daughters who are the hope and pride +of the Republic. + +Yet she is an earnest and untiring temperance worker. Conservative in +all other directions, she is inclined to be somewhat radical in her +crusade against rum. She is inclined to fret and grieve a little over +the fact that public opinion failed to keep pace with her desires. The +wheels of legislation do not move fast enough for her, and she is +inclined to wonder at it. In the innocence of her heart she has never +suspected that there is a demijohn in the legislative committee-room. + +There is no question and no movement of real importance in which she +is not interested. Her devotion and self-sacrifice in the past have +consecrated her to the future, and her sufferings and privations have +taught her the blessings of charity in its largest and best +interpretation. + + +EULOGY ON CONFEDERATE WOMEN, BY J. L. UNDERWOOD, DELIVERED IN 1896 + + [The author offers as his tribute to the memory of the Confederate + Women the following lecture just as it came from his brain and + heart in 1896. It was delivered mainly for the benefit of the + Confederate Monument in Cuthbert, Ga. A very serious lip cancer + soon interrupted all lecture work and finally landed him in + Kellam's Hospital in Richmond, Va.] + +Ever since 1861 the women of the South have been laying flowers on the +graves of Confederate soldiers and building monuments to their memory. +The humblest of surviving veterans begs the privilege of offering a +wreath of evergreen and immortelles to the memory of the Confederate +women. To the genuine woman, no bouquet is acceptable, not even the +kiss of affection is welcome, unless hallowed by respect. Horatio +Seymour, the great governor of New York, said that the South, prior to +1861, produced "the best men and the best women the world ever saw." +In the early part of the spring of 1861, your speaker heard M. +Laboulaye, one of the foremost men of France in literature and public +life, in a public lecture at the Sorbourne in Paris, utter the +following memorable words: "I am told that in America a lady can +travel alone from Baltimore to New Orleans and will all the way be +protected and assisted. A country where woman is respected as she is +in the Southern States of the American Republic,--a country where +women so richly deserve that respect,--others may say what they +please about slavery in that sunny land, but that's the country for +me." This profound admiration, expressed by the good and great of the +world, while it fills the heart, must surely temper the words of a +Southern writer. + +That man is not qualified to admire one woman who sees no good in other +women. Blind partiality is stupid idolatry. The just historian of +Southern women will say nothing in disparagement of the warm-hearted +fraus of Germany, the tasteful, tidy, sparkling women of France, our +rosy cousins of old England, and especially those bustling, bright +little creatures up North, who make things so lively everywhere. When +Titian and Correggio put woman on canvas she is their Italian woman; +Murillo paints her as the lustrous, dark-eyed beauty of his own Spain. +Meissonier's women are French women, and when Rubens paints an angel +or unfallen Eve, she is the fat chubby girl of Holland. But Raphael, +in his celebrated Madonna, the greatest of all paintings, forgets all +nationality, and his picture is just that of a woman. Oh for something +of this cosmopolitan spirit in our sacred task. Nor must history +degenerate into panegyric. Weeds are near the flower-garden, and there +are thorns among the roses. Even among the brave Confederate soldiers +there were some shirkers and cowards. We had our "hospital rats" and +"butter-milk-rangers." In the battle there were some who suddenly got +very thirsty and ran away to get water. As one of these was rushing +from a hot fire to the rear one day, his colonel shouted to him, "What +are you running for? I wouldn't be a baby." "I wish I was a baby, and +a gal baby at that"--was the reply. Another one in Gordon's command, +in another battle, was making tracks to the rear as fast as he could. +General J. B. Gordon shouted, "Stop there, Jim; what makes you run?" +"Because I can't fly," was his reply, as he leaped the fence. So our +Confederate women were not all paragons nor angels; not if you let +their poor husbands tell it. An old soldier in Atlanta has sued for a +divorce from his wife on the plea that during a long life she has +allowed him only four years of peace, and that was when he was away in +the war. + +About the time of the surrender in 1865, a Federal brigade, on its +march to take possession of a Georgia city, halted near a farm. As +usual the soldiers went in to get supplies of milk, chickens, etc., +offering to pay for everything. The old gentleman of the farm when he +heard of their approach had taken to the woods. His wife stood her +ground, and, seizing her first opportunity to let the Yankees "know +what she thought of them," let out upon their devoted heads a torrent +of woman's fury. Her tongue fought the war over again. They became +enraged and literally "cleaned up" the farm, taking mules, wagons, +corn, chickens,--everything in sight. When they had gone the old +farmer came in and when he saw "wide o'er the plain the wreck of ruin +laid" he became desperate. Finally, on the advice of his neighbors, he +went to the headquarters of the general in the city and laid before +him his pitiful complaint. That officer told him he could not help +him. "If you people give my soldiers a civil treatment, I shall see +that they respect your property and pay for everything they get; but +when they are abused and insulted as they were at your house, I can't +restrain them, nor shall I try." "But, see here, General, it is my +mules and other property that they have taken, and I have not abused +your soldiers; it was my wife." "But, sir, you ought to make your wife +hold her tongue." "Well, now, General, I have been trying that forty +years, and if you and your whole army can't make her hold her tongue, +how in the world can you expect me to do it?" The general saw the +situation and kindly ordered everything which had been taken to be +given back to the old farmer. + +It has been said that the South has been busy making history and +others busy writing it. Our own people must write it, and our children +must study it. For more than twenty-five years the life of the South +was the drama of the nineteenth century; and no drama is complete +without woman's part in it. The war between the Southern and Northern +States was one of the bloodiest in history. The Southern States +claimed the right of secession from the Union--a right which during +the first seventy years of the Nation's life was never questioned. +The Northern States claimed the right to coerce our States back into +what they called the Union--a right never before thought of. + +The die of war was cast, the Rubicon of coercion was crossed, the +gauntlet of blood was thrown down, when the Northern States sent ships +and soldiers to hold Fort Sumter on South Carolina's soil. Again and +again had the Southern States asked the Northern States for the fish +of peace; they were given the serpent of Seward's "irrepressible +conflict." They asked for the bread of simple right; they were given +the stone of invasion. The reinforcement of Fort Sumter was a +declaration of war on the South. + +Then, and not till then, did Beauregard's cannon thunder forth the +protest for the rights of States, and the tocsin rang out from the +Potomac to the Rio Grande. The ultimatum was cowardly submission to +sectional dictation. There is something better than peace; that is +liberty. There is something dearer than a people's life; that is a +people's manhood. The South wanted no war; had prepared for no war; +and had but few arms, no navy, few factories and railroads. With a +small population, she was cut off by an effective blockade from the +rest of the world. The Northern States had the national army, navy, +treasury and flag, and all Europe from which to draw soldiers and +supplies. + +The South, after mustering every able-bodied man, could enroll, in +all, but 600,000 soldiers, while she fought 2,600,000. Never was there +a war continued for four years at such fearful odds. And yet Richmond, +the Confederate capital, almost in sight of Washington, was only +captured when Sherman and Sheridan, the modern Atillas, had flanked it +with walls of fire, and pillaged the country in its rear. Never has +there been a war in which the weaker so long and so effectually held +the stronger at bay or so often defeated them on the field of battle; +never a war in which the valor of the finally vanquished was so +respected by foes and so universally applauded by the world. The +mention of no battle, from Manassas to Appomattox, from Shiloh to +Franklin, brings a blush to the Confederate soldier. The world +congratulates the Federal soldier on his pension and the Confederate +soldier on his valor. The surrender of Lee's 7,800 to Grant's 130,000 +and the roll of 357,679 Federal soldiers living to-day in the Grand +Army of the Republic measure the odds against us. The reduction of the +Federal forces to 1,500,000 during the war and the present pension +roll of 800,000 tell our work. Our poor South was never vanquished. +Her sad fate was simply to be worn out, starved out, burned out, to +die out. + +Generously, but truthfully, did Professor Worseley, of England, in his +poem on Robert E. Lee, say of the ill-fated Confederacy, + + "Thy Troy is fallen, thy dear land + Is marred beneath the spoiler's heel; + I cannot trust my trembling hand + To write the things I feel. + + "Ah, realm of tombs! but let her bear + This blazon to the end of times; + No nation rose so white and fair + Or fell so pure of crimes." + +After the surrender a poor Southern soldier was wending his way down +the lane over the "red old hills of Georgia." His old gray jacket that +his wife had woven and his mother made, was all tattered and torn; the +old greasy haversack and cedar canteen hung by his side. From under +his bullet-pierced hat there beamed eyes that had seen many a +battlefield. Said one of his neighbors: "Hello, John; the Yankees +whipped you, did they?" "No, we just wore ourselves out whipping +them." "Well, what are you going to do now, John?" "Why, I'm going +home, kiss Mary, and make a crop and get ready to whip 'em again." + +That "Mary" is our theme to-day. Others have told of Confederate +soldiers on the battlefield. God help me to tell of the soldier's +"other-self" behind the battlefield. The brave Southern army was +defending home. The arm of the hero is nerved by his heart, and the +heart of John was Mary, and Mary was the soul of the South. In peace +woman was the queen of that Arcadia which God's blessings made our +sunny land, and never has there been a war in which her enthusiasm +was so intense and her heroic cooperation so conspicuous. Her +effectual and practical work in the departments of the commissary, the +quartermaster and the surgeon, and her magic influence at home and on +the spirit of the army, were something wonderful. The Federal General +Atkins, of Sherman's army, said to a Carolina lady: "You women keep up +this war. We are fighting you. What right have you to expect anything +from us?" + +And yet in all she was woman,--nothing but woman. "And the Lord said +it is not good for man to be alone; I will make a help-meet for him." +In Paradise she was the rib of man's side; in Paradise lost she bears +woman's heavy share of his labors and his fate. The history of the +South of 1861 will go down to the centuries with its immortal lesson +that woman's power is greatest, her work most beneficent and her +career most splendid when she moves in the orbit assigned her by +Heaven as the help-meet of man. It is the glory of Southern life and +society that with us woman is no "flaring Jezebel" but our own modest +Vashti. + +Thank God the Confederate woman was no Lady Macbeth, plotting treason +for the advancement of her husband; but the loyal daughter Cordelia, +clinging to her old father Lear in his wrongs; no fanatical Catherine +de Medici, thirsting for Huguenot blood, but the sweet Florence +Nightingale, hovering over the battlefield with, + + "The balm that drops on wounds of woe, + From woman's pitying eye," + +and making the dying bed of the patriot feel "soft as downy pillows +are." She was no Herodias, calling for the head of an enemy, but the +humble Mary, breaking the alabaster box to anoint the martyr of her +cause; weeping at His cross and watching at His grave. She was no +fierce Clytimnestra, but the loving Antigone leading the blind old +Oedipus, or digging the grave of her brother Polynices; no Amazon +Camilla, "_Agmen agens equitum et florentes aere catervas_," but the +Roman Cornelia, proud of her jewel Gracchi sons, and laying them upon +the altar of her country; no Helen, heartless in her beauty, but the +gentle Creusa, following her husband to be crushed in the ruins of her +ill-fated Troy; no cruel Juno, seeking revenge for wounded pride, but +a pure Vesta, keeping alive the fires of American patriotism; no +Charlotte Corday, plunging a dagger into the heart of the tyrant +Marat, but the calm Madame Roland, under the guillotine of the +Jacobins, raised to sever her proud but all womanly head, and crying +to her countrymen, "Oh, Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy +name!" Who begrudges a moment for the record of her patriotic services +and unremitting toil? Who does not see in her a glorious lesson? + +Thank God! the clash of arms has long ago ceased. The temple of Janus +is closed. But the war of pens, the contest of history, is upon us. +For years Southern women had been written down as soulless ciphers or +weakling wives, dragged by reckless husbands into an unholy cause. +Text books of so-called history, teeming with such falsehoods, have +been thrust even into Southern schools. It is high time to protest. +Before God we tell them our mothers were not dupes, but women; they +and our men were not rebels, but patriots, obedient to every law, +loyal to every compact, State and National, of their country; true, +gloriously true, to every lesson taught by Washington and Jefferson, +and moved by every impulse that has made this country great. + +But there must be no gall in the inkstand of history. No man can +justly record the truth of the Confederate war who has not risen above +the passions and prejudices incident to such terrible convulsions. No +man with malice to the North can write justly of the South. No man can +appreciate our great Jefferson Davis, who can see nothing good in +President Lincoln. No man can describe the glory of Lee and Jackson, +who shuts his eyes to the soldiership of McClellan, the patriotism of +Hancock, the generosity of Grant, and the knighthood of McPherson and +Custer. + +But don't let us go too far in this direction. We might fall into the +other extreme of hypocritical "gush." Let us be careful; yea, honest. +About the best we could do in war times is well shown in the +preaching of a good old Alabama country Baptist preacher in the darker +days of the war. He was a thorough Southerner and "brim full of +secesh," as we used to say, and at the same time a devout Christian. +He was of the old-fashioned type and talked a little through his nose. +His text was the great day when the good people will be gathered to +Heaven from the four corners of the world. Warming up to his theme he +said: "And oh, my brethren,--ah; in the day of redemption the redeemed +of the Lord will come flocking from the four corners of the +earth,--ah! They will come from the East on the wings of the +morning,--ah! I hear them shouting Hallelujah, as they strike their +harps of gold--ah! And they'll come from the West shouting Hosanna in +the highest,--ah! and you'll see them coming in crowds from the +South,--ah; with palms of victory in their hands, ah! And they'll come +from the,--well, I reckon may be a few of them will come from the +North." Oh that's about the way men, women and children down South +felt for twenty years. But, we've moved up on that. Christians grow in +grace, you know. The war is over. There are no enemies now. We now +believe a great many will come from the North. Our old preacher would +not now have a misgiving about all four of the corners. + +A few weeks after the surrender of Vicksburg, a large number of sick +paroled Confederate soldiers were sent home on a Federal steamer by +way of New Orleans and Mobile. The speaker was among them. He had been +promoted to the chaplaincy of the Thirtieth Alabama Regiment and soon +found himself strong enough at least to bury the dead as our poor +fellows dropped away every day. The Federal guard on the boat was +under command of Lieutenant Winslow, of Massachusetts, and a nobler +and bigger hearted soldier never wore a sword. Between New Orleans and +Mobile it was necessary to bury our dead in the Gulf. Having no +coffins the Federal lieutenant and the Confederate chaplain would lay +the body, wrapped in the old blanket or quilt, on a plank and then +bind it with ropes and, fastening heavy irons to the feet, we would +gently lower it and let it sink down, down in the briny deep, the +cleanest grave man ever saw. The Northern lieutenant not only took off +his cap and bowed in reverence when the Confederate chaplain prayed, +but with his own hands assisted in all the details of every burial. So +let the North and the South together bury the dead animosities of the +past, take the corpse of bitter falsehood, the prolific mother of +prejudice and hatred, bind it with the cords of patriotism and sink it +into the ocean of oblivion. But publish the truth. The truth lives and +ought to live. Truth never does harm; but, with God and man, it is the +peace angel of reconciliation. Let the testimony be the truth, the +whole truth, and nothing but the truth and our people will abide by it +and every patriot will welcome the verdict. + +Who were the women of 1861? My old Tennessee father used to teach me +that there is a great deal more in the stock of people than there is +in horses. Blood will tell. These women were the direct descendants of +those bold, hardy Englishmen, who, under John Smith, Lord Delaware, +Lord Baltimore and General Oglethorpe made settlements on the Southern +shores and those who, from time to time, were added to their colonies. +They were broad men, bringing broad ideas. They came, not because they +were driven out of England, but because they wanted to come to +America; who thought it no sin to bring the best things of old +England, and give them a new and better growth in the new world; who +first gave the new world trial by jury and the election of governors +by popular vote. English cavaliers who knew how to be gentlemen, even +in the forest. This was the leading blood. From time to time it was +made stronger by a considerable addition of Scotch and Scotch-Irish +and an occasional healthful cross with the very best people of the +North, more soulful and impulsive by some of the blood of Ireland, and +more vivacious by the French Huguenot in the Carolinas and the Creole +in Louisiana. There thus grew up a new English race--English, but not +too English; English but American-English blood, of which old England +is proud to-day. With little or no immigration for many years from +other people, this blood under our balmy sun produced a race of its +own--a Southern people, as Klopstock says of the sweet strong language +of Germany, "Gesondert, ungemischt und nur sich selber gleich." +Distinct, unmixed and only like itself. + +This was the blood that made America great, the blood from which the +South gave her Washington and so many men like Henry, Jefferson, +Madison and Monroe; that out of seventy-two first years of this +Republic furnished the President for fifty-two years; the Chief +Justice all the time, and the leaders of Senates and of Cabinets; the +blood of Calhoun and Clay and Lowndes and Pinkney and Benton and +Crawford; Cobb and Berrien, Hall and Jenkins, Toombs and Stevens; the +blood that produced our Washington, Sumter and Marion to achieve our +independence of Great Britain; Scott and Jackson to fight the war of +1812, Clark and Jackson to conquer from the Indians all the splendid +country between the mountains and the Mississippi, and Taylor and +Scott to win vast territories from Mexico. + +This was the blood that so often showed how naturally and gracefully a +Southern woman could step from a country home to adorn the White House +at Washington; the blood that made the South famous for its women, +stars at the capital and at Saratoga; favorites in London and Paris; +and queenly ladies in their homes, whether that home was a log cabin +in the forest or a mansion by the sea. It was common for Northern and +European people to praise the taste of Southern women, especially in +matters of dress. They did have remarkable taste in dressing, for they +had a form to dress and a face to adorn that dress. Neither war nor +poverty could mar their grace of form nor beauty of face. + +It is said of the great Bishop Bascomb, of the Southern Methodist +Church, that, in the early years of his ministry, he was so +handsome and graceful in person, and so neat in his dress, that a +great many of his brethren were prejudiced against him as being +what they called "too much of a dandy." For a long time the young +orator was sent on mountain circuits to bring him down to the level of +plain old-fashioned Methodism. It was proposed to one of his +mountain members who was very bitter about the preacher's fine +clothes that he give Bascomb a suit of homespun. The offer was +gladly accepted, and on the day for Bascomb's appearance in the +plain clothes the old brother was early on the church grounds to +glory in having made the city preacher look like other folks. Imagine +his chagrin when Bascomb walked up, looking in homespun as he looked +in broadcloth, an Apollo in form and a Brummel in style. "Well I do +declare!" said the old man. "Go it, brother Bascomb; I give it up; It +ain't your clothes that's so pretty, it's jist you." So our +Southern women were just as charming in the shuck hats and home-made +cotton dresses of 1864, as in the silks and satins of 1860. + +But by their fruits ye shall know them. Walk with me on the streets of +Richmond and Charleston. Go with me to any of our country churches +throughout these Southern States and I will show you, among the many +poor daughters of these women, that same classic face that tells of +the blood in their veins. Go with me back to the Confederate army and +you will see in such generals as the Lees, Albert Sidney Johnston, +Breckinridge, Toombs, the Colquitts, Gordon, Evans, Gracie, Jeb. +Stuart, Price, Hampton, Tracy, Ramseur, Ashby and thousands of private +soldiers that face and form that tell of the knightly blood in the +veins of the mothers that bore them. + +South Georgia is to be congratulated that in the Confederate monument +recently unveiled at Cuthbert, the artist has at least given what is +sadly lacking in other Confederate monuments to private soldiers, the +genuine face of the Southern soldier, that face which is a just +compliment to the Confederate mother. The artists who cast some other +monuments in the South had seen too little of Southern people, and had +put on some of our monuments the pug nose and bullet head of other +people. + +Our mothers and grandmothers lived mostly in the country, and drank in +a splendid vigor from the ozone of field, and forest, and mountain. +They were trained mostly at home by private teachers or in common +schools run on common sense principles, and in "the old-time +religion," without "isms," fanaticism, or cant. They were taught the +philosophy of life by fathers who thought and manners by mothers who +were the soul of inborn refinement. They thought for themselves, and +indulged no craze for things new, and they aped no foreigners. In +conversation they didn't end every sentence with the interrogation +point, but followed nature and let their voices fall at periods. They +never said "thanks," but in the good old English of Addison and +Goldsmith, said "I thank you." They never spoke of a sweetheart as "my +fellow," and would have scorned such a word as "mash." They never +walked "arm clutch," nor allowed Sunday newspapers to make five-cent +museums of their pictures. Their entertainments were famous for +elegance and pleasure, but they had no euchre-clubs. Indeed, we doubt +if many of them ever heard of a woman's club of any kind. They were +fond of "society," but would have had a profound contempt for that +so-called "society" of our day, in which the man is a prince who can +lead the german, spend money for bouquets and part his hair in the +middle. They didn't wear bloomers, nor did many of them ever dress +decolette. They were clothed and in their right mind. They never +mounted platforms to speak nor pulpits to preach, and yet their +influence and inspiration gave Southern pulpits and platforms a +world-wide fame. Their highest ambition was to be president of home. +They were Southern women everywhere, at home and abroad, in church and +on the streets, in parlor and kitchen, when they rode, when they +walked. Gentle, but brave; modest, but independent. Seeking no +recognition, the true Southern woman found it already won by her +worth; courting no attention, at every turn it met her, to do willing +homage to her native grace and genuine womanhood. + +Now, to appreciate the enthusiasm of such women in the Confederate +war, you must remember that great principles were at stake in that +struggle, and that woman grasps great principles as clearly as man, +and with a zeal known only to herself. See with what prompt intuition +and sober enthusiasm woman received the Christian religion. Martha, of +Bethany, uttered the great keynote of the Christian creed long before +an apostle penned a line. The primitive evangelist Timothy, the +favorite of the great Apostle Paul, was trained by his grandmother +Lois and his mother Eunice; and the pulpit orator Apollos studied at +the feet of Priscilla. The great lamented Dr. Thornwell, of South +Carolina, who was justly called the "John C. Calhoun of the +Presbyterian Church" of the United States, loved to tell it that he +learned his theology from his poor old country Baptist mother. In +politics, as in religion, our mothers may not have read much, and they +talked less, but they heard much and thought the more. Before the war +the reproach was often hurled at Southern men that they talked +politics. God's true people talked religion from Abel to the invention +of the art of printing. They had a religion to talk. Our fathers did +talk politics, for, thank God, they had politics worth talking--not +the picayune politics of the demagogue office-seeker of our day; not +the almighty dollar politics of the bloated bond-holder and the +trusts, the one-idea craze of the silver mine-owner, nor the tariff +greed of the manufacturer; not the imported European communism that +would crush one class to build up another, not the wild anarchy that +would pull down everything above it and blast everything around it. + +The South was intensely American, and her people loved American +politics and talked American politics. She entered into the +Revolutionary war with all her soul. Southern statesmanship lifted +that struggle from a mere rebellion to a war of nations by manly +secession from Great Britain in North Carolina's declaration of +independence at Mecklenburg. The Philadelphia declaration was drawn up +by the South's Jefferson and proposed by Virginia. This was the great +secession of 1776. To the Revolutionary war the South sent one hundred +out of every two hundred and nine men of military age, while the North +sent one hundred out of every two hundred and twenty-seven. (We quote +from the official report of General Knox, Secretary of War.) Virginia +sent 56,721 men. South Carolina sent 31,000 men, while New York, with +more than double her military population, sent 29,830. New Hampshire, +with double the population of South Carolina, sent only 18,000. The +little Southern States sent more men in proportion to population than +even Massachusetts and Connecticut, who did their part so well in that +war. + +It was Southern politics that proposed the great union of the +sovereign States in 1787. To that union the three States of Virginia, +North Carolina, and Georgia have added out of their own bosoms ten +more great States. These Southern States were the mothers of States, +and most naturally did they talk of States and State's rights. + +Southern politics, prevailing in the national councils against the +bitter protests of New England, carried through the war of 1812; added +Florida to the Union, and, by the purchase of Louisiana, all the +Trans-Mississippi valley from the Gulf to Canada. It was Southern +politics against the furious opposition of New England that annexed +Texas, and, by the war with Mexico, brought in the vast territory far +away to the Pacific. The South sent 45,000 volunteers to the Mexican +war; the whole North, with three times the population, sent 23,000. +Thus the South was the mother of territories, and was it not natural +that she should talk of territories and of her rights in the +territories? + +In political platforms, in legislative enactments, and notably in the +election of Mr. Lincoln in 1860, the more populous North declared that +the Southern States should be shut out from all share in the +territories bought with common treasure and blood. Our women, a child, +a negro, could see the iniquity of the claim. + +The action of the North in regard to national territory was an edict, +too, that the negroes, through no fault of their own, should be shut +up in one little corner of the country. + +Then when the South sought the only alternative left her, that of +peaceable secession, her right to go was justified by the terms of +the Constitution; by the distinct understanding among the sovereign +States when they entered the Union, more directly insisted and put on +record by the three States of Virginia, New York, and Rhode Island +than any other State; by the secession convention of New England in +the war of 1812; by the Northern secession convention in Ohio in 1859 +and the reiterated declarations of Henry Ward Beecher, and by Wendell +Phillips, and Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison and the other +great leaders of Northern thought in 1860. + +As to coercing the States back into the Union, President Buchanan well +said at the time there was "not a shadow of authority" for it, and +Governor Seymour, of New York, truthfully said "coercion is +revolution." + +Again, remember that wrongs pierce deeper into the heart of woman than +into the more callous soul of man. For years vast multitudes of the +people of the North had kept up a furious war against the South in +books and newspapers; in pulpits and religious conventions; in +political platforms and State assemblies. Oh, it makes the blood run +cold to think of the relentless malignity of the fanaticism of those +days. No parlors nor churches too sacred for bitter onslaught on +Southern people; no epithets too vile; no slanders too black; no +curses too deadly to be hurled at Southern men and women. But +war,--yes, blood-red war was really, and almost formally declared by +the Northern endorsement of Henry Ward Beecher's "Sharpe's rifles" +crusade against Southern settlers in Kansas; and the war of 1861 was +actually begun by John Brown's murderous raid at Harper's Ferry in +Virginia in 1859. The North made him a hero martyr. John Brown's +rifle shot in Virginia only alarmed the angel of peace. The Northern +applause of John Brown drove her away from our unhappy land. By his +apotheosis the Northern people made his rifle shot at Harper's +Ferry the skirmish firing of the impending war, to be answered by our +manly cannon at Charleston in 1861. Puritan intolerance scourged +Roger Williams out of Massachusetts for nonconformity in religion; +and Puritanism scourged the South out of the Union in 1861 for +nonconformity in politics. The Southern woman's heart felt to the +very core and resented as only woman can resent, the sting of that +merciless lash. + +This is an age of monuments, and your speaker has undertaken to erect +one in book form to the memory of Confederate women. When this thought +comes to be put in marble or brass, as it will some day soon, let that +monument rest on the broad granite foundation of truth. Then as the +artist begins to put in bas relief the symbols of the virtues of the +Southern women of 1861, and the souvenirs of her heroic life, let the +first scene be that of a scroll, the Constitution of the United +States, held in the unsullied hands of the great Jefferson Davis, as +he marches out from the United States court, under whose warrants he +had been held for treason, again a free man. Let that picture tell of +the undying loyalty of our mother and her people to the organic law of +the land: that Southern men wrote it and their sons have ever honored +and loved it: Tell it in Gath, publish it in the streets of Aekelon, +that those who crushed us were the men who despised, hawked at and +cursed the Constitution. + +The South at Montgomery swore fresh allegiance to the Constitution +handed down by our American fathers, and carried with her through all +the wilderness march the sacred old Ark of the Covenant. And when our +Confederate head, the peerless Jefferson Davis, our chosen standard +bearer of State sovereignty and home rule, was brought to trial, +bearing in himself the alleged sins of us all, charged with being a +rebel, that document showed him to be a stainless patriot; and though +the mob of millions was shouting, "Crucify him, crucify him!" the +highest courts of the Federal Government declared by his quiet and +silent, but significant release, as Pilate did of Jesus, "We find no +fault in this man." The Constitution of the United States is a +standing declaration of the sinlessness of the Confederate cause. + +Let the artist next put on the monument a picture of an old negro +woman, the old Southern "mammy," with the child of her mistress in her +arms. Near by let old Uncle Jacob be leading the little white boy, +while down in the cornfield near by are seen Jacob's sons and +daughters at work singing the cheerful songs which the poor negro now +has heart to sing no more. In the distance picture the faithful Bob or +Mingo coming from the battlefield, bearing the dead body of his young +master. + +Let that picture tell to all generations the story of slavery. We had +slavery, but, thank God, it was Southern slavery,--Christian slavery. +Truth will explain the paradox, if there was any paradox. It had its +evils, and nobody blushes because we had it, nor whines because it is +gone. But as for any sin of the South in it, let the first stone of +condemnation be thrown by that people who had no fathers cruel to +their children, no husbands harsh to their wives, and no rich man +unjust to the poor laborer. + +The South never enslaved a single negro, never brought one to America. +Georgia was the first of the settlements to forbid slavery, and +Georgia and Virginia were the foremost States in cutting off the slave +trade. The colony of Virginia petitioned twenty times against the +continuance of the slave trade. The negroes were enslaved by their own +savage chiefs in Africa. England and the Northern people brought them +to America and sold them for gold. The Dutch brought twenty to +Virginia, but were forbidden to bring any more. When found less +profitable in the colder climate of the North, the negroes were sold +South to become valuable tillers of the soil, and, after the invention +of the cotton gin, to make the country rich. The Northern people at a +good profit sold their slaves down South, put the money at interest, +suddenly got pious, and waged a fierce war on the people who bought +them. That's history. + +In 1861, on the first Sunday after the news of the fall of Fort +Sumter reached England, the author, in company with a friend from +Pennsylvania, who was an anti-slavery man, attended services in Mr. +Spurgeon's chapel in London. The great city was wrapped in the +deepest gloom. The war storm in America was expected to ruin +manufactures and trade throughout Great Britain. Mr. Spurgeon and +his people seemed bowed down with sorrow. On returning to our +hotel my Northern friend remarked that he knew I didn't approve of +Spurgeon's prayer about slavery. I said to him, "R----, just there +you are mistaken. Some of my people in Alabama some time ago burned +Spurgeon's books because of some of his abolition views, but when +I go home and tell them how this great Christian prayed to-day they +will respect his honesty and sincerity. We blame nobody for being +anti-slavery, but we do abominate fanatical abolitionism. Spurgeon is +no fanatic. Listen to this Englishman: 'O God, our people are in the +ashes of woe. A dreadful war beyond the ocean has cut off our +commerce and closed our factories, and thousands of our poor must +sadly suffer. The people of the American States are bone of our bone +and flesh of our flesh. O Lord, pity them, and pity us. O God, they +and we have sinned in enslaving our fellow men. England put slavery +on her colonies against the protest of those Southern people, and +England must suffer Thy judgments for her part. Forgive the North, +forgive the South, and forgive England. O pity especially the people +of that section where the war will bear so heavily and pity the poor +everywhere.' + +"Now, R----, that's a Christian prayer that we respect; and while +Spurgeon goes back one hundred and fifty and even two hundred years +and tells the truth about slavery, and for his English people, even +to-day, shoulders their responsibility in this matter, how are +thousands (thank God, but not all) of your Northern preachers in your +churches at the North praying to-day? 'We thank Thee, Lord, that this +war has come. Somebody will get hurt, but we people up this way will +come out all right because we are so innocent and so righteous. O +Lord, we thank Thee that we are holy and not as other men are, +especially these wicked Southern people. We thank Thee for short +memories; that we have forgotten that we brought the negroes from +Africa, kept them as long as it paid us, and then sold them to these +Southerners; that we have forgotten that when Virginia and Maryland +wanted to put an end to the slave trade, we out-voted them and kept +the slave trade open until 1808. Lord, we could have seceded from +these savage Southern States long ago and got rid of any connection +with slavery, for we believed in secession until just now. But, Lord, +if we let the South go, as Mr. Lincoln says, where will we get our +revenues? We thank Thee too that we have forgotten that those +Southerners can't get rid of the negroes without kicking them into the +Gulf of Mexico. Lord, we thank Thee that we can see nothing but our +own righteousness. We have tried to reform those wicked Southerners +and make them good like ourselves, but we couldn't. Now, Lord, we have +brought on a war and we turn it over to Thee. We'll hire Dutchmen and +Irishmen to help Thee do our fighting, and we'll stand off and enjoy +the fun. Now, as Thou art about to pour out the vials of Thy mighty +wrath upon the abominable Southern people, do, Lord, just give +'em--fits.' Now, R----, there's the difference between honest +anti-slavery in England and the hypocrisy of the crusade in America." + +The truth is that in Southern homes, the negro prospered and +multiplied as no other laboring class has ever done. The South shared +with him its bread, its medicines, its homes and its churches. M. de +La Tours, the eminent French hygienist, truthfully said that "The +slaves of the South were the best fed and the best cared for laborers +that the world ever saw." No chain-gang, no penitentiary, for the +negro, no lynchings, and no crimes to be lynched for, when the negro +was under the influence of our mothers and grandmothers. God forgive +the fanatic who in later days put folly in his head and the devil in +his heart. Our mothers trusted him and he trusted them. All through +the war, while nearly all the white men were away in the army, the +negro slave was the protector and the support of Southern families. +Our mothers would have died for the negroes, and negroes would have +died for them. In Wilson's raid near Columbus, Ga., his soldiers were +about to destroy a patch of cane belonging to a widow. The brave woman +took her gun and declared she would shoot the first man that touched +her property. In their rage they raised their rifles to shoot her +down. Just then her old cook rushed in between them, saying, "If you +are going to kill 'old miss,' you'll have to kill me, too." + +When Sherman was plundering South Carolina, some of his soldiers heard +that a young lady had a very fine gold watch concealed in her bosom. +They demanded it, and on her refusal they were about to seize her, +when Delia, her faithful servant, defied them. "Fore God, buckra, if +one of younner put your nasty hand on dis chile of my ole missus you +got to knock Delia down fust." + +The monument to the Southern woman will be a monument to our faithful +old Dinahs and Delias too. The old ex-slaves will gather at its base +and as the tears stream down their dusky cheeks they will say, as they +say now, "Dat's de best friend the poor nigger ever had," and +enlightened negroes, like Booker Washington, will tell the true story +that out of slavery the North got money, the South got ruin, and the +negro got civilization, Christianity, and contentment. + +Let the next picture be an ear of corn, a spinning-wheel, and a +hand-loom. Ceres was the goddess of the Sunny South, and the staff of +our armies was the corn of our own fields. The South, however +prosperous, was not made up of rich people. Not one man in ten owned a +slave; not one slave holder in ten was wealthy. The small farms, many +of them under the care of the soldier's wife and the faithful old +negro foreman, and many more tilled by the soldier's boys under the +eye of their mother, yielded a very large share of the Confederate +supplies. While Minerva taught our men war she taught our women +household work, and quickly did she make Southern beauties Arachnes at +the loom and Penelopes with the knitting needles. They knew how to +adorn the parlor and play the piano, but, when necessity came, like +Lemuel's mother, they "sought wool and flax and wrought diligently +with their hands," or even, like Rebecca, they could go out into the +field and draw water for the cattle; or, like Ruth, hold the plow +steady in the furrows, or glean grain at harvest time. False histories +have pictured our mothers as doll babies. Let that monument tell of +the wonderful pluck, energy, and strength, while it tells of the +patriotism of the smartest and sweetest and bravest and strongest doll +babies the world ever saw. + +The artist must do his best when he puts on that monument a little +white hand--the well-shaped, classic hand of the Southern woman. In +that hand must be held the little white handkerchief. What a part that +handkerchief played in the war! Old soldiers, as you rode off down the +lane, again and again you turned to take the farewell look at home, +sweet home, and there was that little white handkerchief waving at the +gate; or when your company left the railroad station there, all +around, were the good women of the neighborhood, and as you looked far +back down the track these little white flags bade you woman's "good +bye and God bless you." You never forgot it. Whether we marched past +country homes or through the streets of cities, woman's heart-cheer +greeted us in the handkerchief from the window. Perhaps it was held in +the rheumatic hand of Mrs. General Lee as she looked out from her +knitting in her Richmond home, or, later on we could see behind it the +sad, mourning sleeve of Stonewall Jackson's widow. I tell you, my +countrymen, the bonny blue flag or the Southern Cross was the banner +of the soldier on the battlefield, but the little white handkerchief +was our sacred banner behind the battlefield. The one, in the hands of +the color sergeants, guided our movements in the army; but the other, +in woman's hand, inspired our movements everywhere. + +Put here a knapsack, the rough, old, oil-cloth knapsack of the +Confederate soldier. Poor fellow! he had but few clothes in it, but it +contained something dearer to him than clothes--letters from home. He +kept them all, the most of them written on the blank side of old wall +paper and inclosed in brown envelopes, which perhaps had been turned +so as to be twice used. When our poor boys were killed, their letters +were gathered by the chaplains, litter bearers and burial details, to +be sent to their homes. I am not going to tell what sort of letters +were found in many knapsacks on our battlefields, but it is a fact, +borne out by the testimony of these men, that never was there found a +letter from a Confederate soldier's wife to her husband whose words +would make the most modest blush, or in which she exerted any of her +woman's power or used any of woman's arts to decoy him from the army. +Here is a specimen of a letter from home in a Confederate knapsack: + + MITCHELL COUNTY, GA., _July 20, 1863_. + + Mr. Jno. Iverson, + Company B, Fourth Regiment, Army of Virginia. + + DEAR JOHN: + + This leaves us all getting along very well. Nobody sick, and we + finished laying by the corn. The cattle are fat and the hogs doing + finely. We sell some butter and eggs every week. We have plenty to + eat, and know that it's only you that's having a hard time. But we + are all so proud that you are fighting for your country. Will be + so glad when you can get a furlough, but we know that you must, + and will stick to your post of duty. Willie and Jennie send kisses + to their brave papa. We never forget to pray for you. If you get + killed, darling, God will take care of us and we'll all meet in + heaven. + + Your, MARY. + +That's the way they wrote. Let that knapsack tell forever of the +fortitude, the purity, the loyalty and refinement of the Southern +woman. + +Let the next picture be the humble hospital couch. + + "Up and down through the wards where the fever + Stalks, noisome, and gaunt, and impure; + You must go with your steadfast endeavor + To comfort, to counsel, to cure. + I grant you the task is superhuman, + But strength will be given to you + To do for those loved ones what woman + Alone in her pity can do." + +Our women gave their carpets to make blankets, their dresses to be +made into shirts for the soldiers, and their linen to furnish lint for +their wounds, and then, clad in homespun, they gave themselves. Nearly +every town and village in the South had its Soldiers' Aid Society and +its hospital. Thousands and thousands of the poor fellows were taken +to private houses, even away out in the country, and tenderly cared +for. There was scarcely a woman near a battlefield or a railroad who +did not nurse a soldier. Nearly every woman in Richmond served +regularly on hospital committees. One of these, a Mrs. Roland, was +blind, and her sweet guitar and sweeter song cheered many a poor hero. +One of the songs of these days was "Let me kiss him for his Mother." +Here's a story to show how woman's petting, which always spoils a boy +and sometimes a husband, occasionally found a hard case in a +Confederate soldier. Among the sick in Richmond was a brave young +fellow, who was a great favorite and the only son of a widowed mother, +who was far away beyond the Mississippi. One morning the report got +out that he was dying in the hospital, and one of the prettiest and +sweetest young ladies in the city was so touched by the sad story that +she determined to go and kiss him for his mother. She hastened to the +ward where the poor youth was lying high up on one of the upper tiers +of bunks and quickly told her mission to the nurses. "I don't know +him, but oh, its so sad, and I have come to 'kiss him for his mother' +away out in Texas." Now he wasn't dying at all, but was much better, +and as he peeped at the sweet face, the rascal, raising his head over +the edge of the bunk, said, "Never mind the old lady, miss, just go it +on your own hook." Now that's just the thanks these ununiformed +sisters of mercy sometimes got for their pains. + +Put on this monument a pair of crutches. You never see the bright star +of womanhood until it shines in the darkness of man's misfortune. It +is the furnace of man's suffering that brings out the pure gold of her +love. Here's a specimen. On a cold winter day, when Lee's army was +marching through one of the lower sections of Virginia, some of the +veterans were completely barefooted, and the Sixth Georgia Regiment +was passing. A plain country woman was standing in the group by the +road side. "Lord, a mercy," said she, "there's a poor soldier ain't go +no shoes," and off came hers in a jiffy and she ordered her negro +woman standing by to give hers up, too. The good woman wore number +threes, and the soldier who got them was Jake Quarles, of Company B, +Dade County, Georgia, who wore number twelves. + +Soon after the war I once expressed my sympathy to a young lady friend +who was about to marry a young one-armed soldier. "I want no sympathy. +I think it a great privilege and honor to be the wife of a man who +lost his arm fighting for my country," was her prompt reply. That's +your Southern girl. + +When John Redding, of Randolph County, Ga., was brought home wounded +from Chickamauga, it was found necessary to amputate his leg. On the +day fixed for the dangerous operation, his many friends were gathered +at his father's country home. Among them was Miss Carrie McNeil, to +whom he was engaged. After he had passed safely through the ordeal +she, of course, was allowed to be the first to go in to see him. They +were left alone for a while. The next to go in was an aunt of Miss +Carrie's, and as she shook hands with poor John and was about to pass +on, he said, "Ain't you going to kiss me, too?" Ah, what a tale that +question told. The gallant soldier had offered to release his +betrothed from her engagement, but she said, "No, no, John, I can't +give you up, and I love you better than ever," and a kiss had sealed +their holy love. + +When Tom Phipps, of Randolph County, Ga., came home on crutches he +offered to release Miss Maggie Pharham from her engagement. "No, Tom," +she said. "We can make a living." There are hundreds of these noble, +God-given Carrie McNeils and Maggie Pharhams all over our war-wrecked +South. + +Let the next emblem be the oak riven by the lightning, and the tender +ivy entwining itself around it. Let it tell of the sufferings of the +refugee father and the wreck of the old man in the track of such +vandals as Sherman, Hunter, Sheridan, Milroy and Kilpatrick. Let it +tell of the horrors of the years of so-called peace that followed the +war. Northern soldiers killed our young men in war; politicians killed +our old men in peace. Sherman burned houses from Atlanta to +Bentonville. Thad Stevens in Congress blighted every acre of ground +from Baltimore to San Antonio. The war of shot and shell lasted four +years; the war of blind, revengeful reconstruction legislation lasted +twenty years. War marshalled our enemies on the battlefield; +reconstruction made enemies of the men who had held our plow handles +and stood around our tables. War put the South under the rule of +soldiers; reconstruction put us under the heel of the rapacious +carpet-bagger and negro plunderers. War crushed some of our people. +Vindictive legislation crushed all our people. War made the South an +Aceldama; reconstruction made it a Gehenna. Grant held back the red +right hands of Stanton and Holt from the throats of Lee and his +paroled soldiers: alas, Lincoln was dead, and his patriotic arm was +not there to hold back Thad Stevens and his revolutionary congress +from our prostrate citizens. + +Amid these horrors our young men could hope, but to our old men was +nothing left but despair. Robbed of their property after peace was +declared, without a dollar of compensation, their lands made valueless +or confiscated; they themselves disfranchised and their slaves made +their political masters, too old to change and recuperate, too old to +hope even, but too manly to whine, they stood as desolate and +uncomplaining as that old oak. + +Do you see that tender vine binding up the shattered tree and hiding +its wounds? That is Southern woman clinging closer and more tenderly +to father and husband when the storms beat upon him, comforting as +only such Christian women can comfort; smiling only as such heroines +can smile; with "toil-beat nerves, and care-worn eye," helping only as +such women can help. In the schoolroom and behind the counter, over +the sewing machine and the cooking stove, in garden and field, +everywhere showing the gems of Southern character washed up from its +depths by the ocean of Southern woe. + +Let the last symbol on the monument be the clasped right hands of the +Union. These Southern women of 1861 were the daughters of the great +American Union. Their fathers under the leadership of Jefferson, +Madison and Washington, had proposed the Union, devised the Union, +loved the Union, and, under Clay and Calhoun and Benton, had preserved +the Union. As an inducement for union between the original States, +without which the Northern States would not come into it, Virginia, +the great mother of the Union, gave up all her splendid territory +north of the Ohio, embracing what is now Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, +Wisconsin, and Michigan, and agreed that they should be made States +without slavery. She afterwards gave Kentucky. North Carolina gave +Tennessee, and Georgia gave Alabama and Mississippi. Southern +influence and Southern statesmanship made the Union strong at home and +respected abroad by the war of 1812, which was gallantly fought by the +South and bitterly opposed by New England--opposed to the very verge +of secession from the Union in the Hartford convention. The Southern +States had shown their devotion to the Union by yielding to the +compromises on the tariff, the bounty, and the territorial questions. +The South demanded no tariff tribute, no bounties and no internal +improvements as the price of her devotion to the Union. She loved the +Union for the Union's sake. All that she demanded was that in the +territory, while it was territory, belonging to the government, her +sons, with their families, white and black, should have an equal +share. + +John C. Calhoun was not a disunionist. The nullification ordinance of +South Carolina, "the Hotspur of the Union," was not secession. It was +the protest of a sovereign State against unconstitutional Federal +taxation levied through the tariff on the consumer, not for government +revenue, but for the benefit of the manufacturer. The nation heard the +manly voice of the little State, and Calhoun and Clay stood side by +side in the great compromise that followed. Calhoun and his people +loved the Union, but they wanted a union that was a union. True +religion is that which is laid down in the Bible, not theory nor +sentiment. True political union is the union formed by the Sovereign +States and expressed in the Constitution. Constitutional union was the +only true union. Everything else was a mere sentiment or a sham. +History will yet hold that the secession of the Southern States in +1861 was itself a union movement. The Northern States had destroyed +the old union. By their numerous nullification acts in State +assemblies they had repudiated the legislative branch of the +government; by their defiance of the Supreme Court they had virtually +abolished the judiciary, the second branch; and in 1860, by the +sectional platform of the dominant party and the election of a +sectional president, they had denationalized the executive branch of +the government. Where was the union? Gone, utterly gone. South +Carolina only cut herself off from the union-breakers and attached +herself to such States as clung to the Constitution and Union of the +fathers. Secession in 1861 meant the preservation of the union of +1787. Coercion in 1861 was rebellion against the Federal compact and +death of the old Union. The Star-Spangled Banner became the labarum of +invasion, and the Southern Cross the standard of all the Union that +was left. + +The Union that our fathers and mothers loved lay buried for +twenty-five years. From March, 1861, to March, 1885, any true Southern +man in the national capital found himself a stranger in a strange +land, and was looked upon as a political Pariah by those in power,--an +intruder even in the house of his fathers. Every government office all +over the land in the hands of the Northern States. What a travesty of +union! The North a dictator, the South a satrapy. The Northern man, +lord; the Southern man, a vassal. + +But, thank God, the resurrection came; the door-stone of the tomb was +rolled away by the national election of Cleveland in 1884. "The +Southern States are in the Union, and they shall have their equal +rights," was the slogan of the triumphant party. Then go to the +capital and you find the first national administration since +Buchanan--Bayard, the champion of the South, in the first place in +the Cabinet, and by his side the Confederate leaders, Lamar and +Garland. About the first act of the administration was to appoint +General Lawton, the quartermaster-general of the Confederate army, to +one of the most conspicuous embassies in Europe, Curry to Spain and +other Confederates wherever there was a place for them. The sons of +our Southern mothers were no longer under the ban. Peace, real peace, +had come. The Union, real union, was herself again. + +Again in 1892 the electoral votes of the Northern States alone were +sufficient to make Grover Cleveland, the great pacificator, twice the +choice of the solid South, again President of the United States. Once +more there is a national Cabinet, the South having half of it, with a +Confederate colonel in command of the navy, another minister to +France, another to Mexico, another to Guatemala--Southern men at +Madrid and Constantinople; and when this country needs a man to +represent her in the crisis in Cuba to a Virginia Lee is given the +conspicuous honor. + +The last unjust election law is repealed; the last taint taken from +the fair name of Confederate officers. The North has extended the +right hand of union. The South has grasped it; and withered be the arm +that would tear those hands asunder. + + +_Image of the Southern Woman Surmounting the Monument_ + +High above these hands, artist, place the crowning statue of the +Southern woman. Let it be the queenly form of the proudest of the +proud mothers of Southern chivalry. Let her sweet, calm image face the +north,--no frown on her brow,--no scorn on her lip. Let her happy, +hopeful smile tell the world that Southern womanhood felt most sadly +the Union broken, and hails most joyfully the Union restored. + +My countrymen, we have a country! In the name of God, our mothers, as +they look down from heaven, beseech you to preserve it. + +The art of sculpture was finished in ancient Greece, and the statue +of Venus de Medici will never be surpassed. In it the artist has put +in marble the perfect form, face, majesty and grace of woman. The +ancients in their sensual materialism adored beauty in form and +feature and many moderns worship at the same shrine. The German poet +Heine, when an invalid in Paris, had himself carried every day in a +roller chair to the Tuilleries, to gaze upon the marble beauty of +Venus de Milo. If in our age, the artist ever attempts to sculpture +the true woman, the woman with soul, the Christian Psyche, with heart +as perfect as her face, with character more charming than her form, +the modern Praxitiles will take for his model the Southern woman, from +among your mothers and grandmothers. They are your models in character +now. To you much is given; of you will much be required. Study your +mothers and may Heaven help you to learn the God-given lesson. + +Young men, the model man, Jesus Christ, the divine Saviour of our +world, asked for no carved stone, no statue to his memory. He wanted +no marble cathedral. He demanded living monuments,--men and women to +set forth in holy lives the lessons of his example. From childhood He +honored his mother, nor did He forget her on the cross. + +With something of his exalted spirit your mothers, who have gone +before you, demand of you not a chiseled monument, but they do beseech +you to honor them in manly life. Hold sacred the very blood they gave +you. Lay hold of their lofty principles; drink in their noble spirit. +Set forth their glorious patriotism, and you will be a crown to them, +a blessing to your country, and an honor to your God. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THEIR WORK + + +INTRODUCTION TO WOMAN'S WORK + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +Throughout the South the women went to work from the first drum-beat. +A great deal of it was done privately, the left hand itself hardly +knowing what the modest, humble right hand was doing. In nearly every +neighborhood soldiers' aid societies, or relief associations, were +organized and did systematic and efficient work throughout the four +years. Supplies of every kind were constantly gathered and forwarded +where most needed. The old men and women did an immense amount of +work. + +In all the railroad towns, hospitals and wayside houses were +established for the benefit of the travelling soldier. These were +maintained and managed almost exclusively by the women. They prepared +as best they could such articles as pickles and preserves and other +delicacies for the use of the hospitals. They sent testaments and +other good books and good preachers to the army, and being nearly all +women of practical piety, they helped greatly to infuse that spirit of +patriotism which gave such strength to the Confederate army. The world +has never known an army in which there were so many earnest, practical +Christians like Jackson, Cobb, Lee, Polk, Price, and Gordon among the +commanding officers, where there were so many ministers of the gospel +of good standing who were fighting soldiers, and so many men in ranks +who were God-fearing men. The world has never known an army where so +many officers and soldiers came from homes where there were pious +wives, mothers, and sisters. The inspiration of the knightly hearts of +the Confederacy was home and the inspiration of a pious home was +godly woman. The world will never know how effective were the prayers +and letters of the women at home in those great religious revivals +with which the Confederate army was so often and so richly blessed. +Thousands of men who entered the army wicked men went home or to their +graves genuine Christians. The war ended; but the good woman's work +never ends. Our Confederate women began immediately to look after the +soldiers' orphans and the soldiers' graves. In all directions the +Confederate monuments have been erected mainly by their efforts. +Soldiers' homes have been established and in some few of the States +homes provided for the Confederate widows. It is safe to say that +women collected two-thirds of the money raised for all these objects. +It is their dead they are honoring. And they will continue to break +the alabaster box. Let them alone. + + +THE SOUTHERN WOMAN'S SONG + +[Confederate Scrap Book.] + + Stitch, stitch, stitch. + Little needle, swiftly fly, + Brightly glitter as you go; + Every time that you pass by + Warms my heart with pity's glow. + Dreams of comfort that will cheer, + Dreams of courage you will bring, + Through winter's cold, the volunteer. + Smile on me like flowers in spring. + + Stitch, stitch, stitch. + Swiftly, little needle, fly, + Through this flannel, soft and warm; + Though with cold the soldiers sigh, + This will sure keep out the storm. + Set the buttons close and tight, + Out to shut the winter's damp; + There'll be none to fix them right + In the soldier's tented camp. + + Stitch, stitch, stitch. + Ah! needle, do not linger; + Close the thread, make fine the knot; + There'll be no dainty finger + To arrange a seam forgot. + Though small and tiny you may be, + Do all that you are able. + A mouse a lion once set free, + As says the pretty fable. + + Stitch, stitch, stitch. + Swiftly, little needle, glide. + Thine's a pleasant labor; + To clothe the soldier be thy pride, + While he wields the sabre. + Ours are tireless hearts and hands; + To Southern wives and mothers, + All who join our warlike bands + Are our friends and brothers. + + Stitch, stitch, stitch. + Little needle, swiftly fly; + From morning until eve, + As the moments pass thee by, + These substantial comforts weave. + Busy thoughts are at our hearts-- + Thoughts of hopeful cheer, + As we toil, till day departs, + For the noble volunteer. + + Quick, quick, quick. + Swiftly, little needle, go; + For our homes' most pleasant fires + Let a loving greeting flow + To our brothers and our sires; + We have tears for those who fall, + Smiles for those who laugh at fears; + Hope and sympathy for all-- + Every noble volunteer. + + +THE LADIES OF RICHMOND + +The editor of the Lynchburg _Republican_, writing to his paper in +June, 1862, says: + +The ladies of Richmond, as of Lynchburg, and indeed of the whole +country, are making for themselves a fame which will live in all +future history, and brilliantly illuminate the brightest pages of the +Republic's history. + +Discarding all false ceremony and giving full vent to those feelings +and sentiments of devotion which make her the noblest part of God's +creation and the fondest object of man's existence, the ladies of this +city from all ranks have gone into the hospitals and are hourly +engaged in ministering to the wants and relieving the sufferings of +their countrymen. + +Mothers and sisters could not be more unremitting in their attention +to their own blood than these women are to those whom they have never +seen before, and may never see again. They feed them, nurse them, and +by their presence and sympathy cheer and encourage them. "Man's +inhumanity to man makes countless millions mourn," but woman's +sympathy would heal every wound and make glad every heart. + + +THE HOSPITAL AFTER SEVEN PINES + +[Richmond During the War, pages 135-136.] + +On this evening, as a kind woman bent over the stalwart figure of a +noble Georgian, and washed from his hair and beard the stiffened mud +of the Chickahominy, where he fell from a wound through the upper +portion of the right lung, and then gently bathed the bleeding gash +left by the Minie ball, as he groaned and feebly opened his eyes, he +grasped her hand, and in broken whispers, faint from suffering, +gasping for breath, "I could-bear-all-this-for-myself-alone-but +my-wife and my-six little-ones," (and then the large tears rolled down +his weather-beaten cheeks,) and overcome he could only add, "Oh, God! +oh, God!-how will-they endure it?" She bent her head and wept in +sympathy. The tall man's frame was shaking with agony. She placed to +his fevered lips a cooling draught, and whispered: "Think of yourself +just now; God may raise you up to them, and if not, He will provide +for and comfort them." He feebly grasped her hand once more, and a +look of gratitude stole over his manly face, and he whispered, "God +bless you! God bless you! God bless you! kind stranger!" + + +BURIAL OF LATANE + + ["The next squadron moved to the front under the lamented + Captain Latane, making a most brilliant and successful charge + with drawn sabres upon the enemy's picked ground, and after a + hotly-contested, hand-to-hand conflict put him to flight, but + not until the gallant captain had sealed his devotion to his + native soil with his blood."--Official Report of the Pamunkey + Expedition, Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, C. S. A., 1862.] + +[From a private letter.] + +Lieutenant Latane carried his brother's dead body to Mrs. +Brockenbrough's plantation an hour or two after his death. On this sad +and lonely errand he met a party of Yankees, who followed him to Mrs. +B.'s gate, and stopping there, told him that as soon as he had placed +his brother's body in friendly hands he must surrender himself +prisoner. * * * Mrs. B. sent for an Episcopal clergyman to perform the +funeral ceremonies, but the enemy would not permit him to pass. Then, +with a few other ladies, a fair-haired little girl, her apron filled +with white flowers, and a few faithful slaves, who stood reverently +near, a pious Virginia matron read the solemn and beautiful burial +service over the cold, still form of one of the noblest gentlemen and +most intrepid officers in the Confederate army. She watched the sods +heaped upon the coffin-lid, then sinking on her knees, in sight and +hearing of the foe, she committed his soul's welfare and the stricken +hearts he had left behind him to the mercy of the "All-Father." + + "And when Virginia, leaning on her spear, + _Victrix et vidua_, the conflict done, + Shall raise her mailed hand to wipe the tear + That starts as she recalls each martyred son, + No prouder memory her breast shall sway, + Than thine, our early lost, lamented Latane!" + + +MAKING CLOTHES FOR THE SOLDIERS + +[In Our Women in the War, pages 453-454.] + +Money was almost as unavailable as material with us for a time. "Uncle +Sam's" treasury was not accessible to "rebels." Our government was +young, and Confederate bonds and money yet in their infancy. We could +do nothing more than wait developments, and try to meet emergencies as +they trooped up before us. In the meantime, children grew apace. Our +village stores were emptied and deserted. Our armies in the field +became grand realities. All resources were cut off. Our government +could poorly provide food and clothing and ammunition for its armies. +Then it was our mothers' wit was tested and did in no sort disappoint +our expectations. Spinning-wheels, looms and dye-pots were soon +brought into requisition. Wool of home production was especially +converted, by loving hands, into warm flannels and heavy garments, +with soft scarfs and snugly-fitted leggings, to shield our dear boys +from Virginia's wintry blasts and fast-falling snows. Later on, when +the wants and privations of the army grew more pressing, societies +were formed to provide supplies for the general demand. Southern homes +withheld nothing that could add to the soldiers' comfort. Every +available fragment of material was converted into some kind of +garment. After the stores of blankets in each home had been given, +carpets were utilized in their stead and portioned out to the +suffering soldiers. Wool mattresses were ripped open, recarded, and +woven into coverings and clothing. Bits of new woolen fabrics, left +from former garments, were ravelled, carded, mixed with cotton and +spun and knitted into socks. Old and worn garments were carried +through the same process. Even rabbits' fur was mixed with cotton and +silk, and appeared again in the form of neat and comfortable gloves. +Begging committees went forth (and be it truthfully said, the writer +never knew of a single one being turned away empty) to gather up the +offerings from mansion and hamlet, which were soon cut up, packed, and +forwarded with all possible speed to the soldiers. + +And who can tell what pleasure we took in filling boxes with +substantials and such dainties as we could secure for the hospitals. +Old men and little boys were occupied in winding thread and holding +brooches, and even knitting on the socks when the mystery of "turning +the heel" had been passed. The little spinning-wheel, turned by a +treadle, became a fascination to the girls, and with its busy hum was +mingled oft times the merry strain of patriotic songs. + + "Our wagon's plenty big enough, the running gear is good, + 'Tis stiffened with cotton round the sides and made of Southern wood; + Carolina is the driver, with Georgia by her side; + Virginia'll hold the flag up and we'll take a ride." + + +THE INGENUITY OF SOUTHERN WOMEN + +[Our Women in the War, pages 454-455.] + +During all that time, when every woman vied with the other in working +for the soldiers, there were needs at home too urgent to be +disregarded. These, too, had to be met, and how was not long the +question. For those very women who had been reared in ease and +affluence soon learned practically that "necessity is the mother of +invention," and the story of their ingenuity, if all told, might +surprise their Northern sisters, who always regarded them as +inefficient, pleasure-loving members of society. Whatever may have +been the fault of their institutions and rearing, the war certainly +brought out the true woman, and no woman of any age or nation ever +entered, heart and soul, more enthusiastically into their country's +contest than those who now mourn the "Lost Cause." While our armies +were victorious in the field hope lured us on. We bore our share of +privations cheerfully and gladly. + +We replaced our worn dresses with homespuns, planning and devising +checks and plaids, and intermingling colors with the skill of +professional "designers." The samples we interchanged were homespuns +of our last weaving, not A. T. Stuart's or John Wanamaker's sample +envelopes, with their elaborate display of rich and costly fabrics. +Our mothers' silk stockings, of ante-bellum date, were ravelled with +patience and transformed into the prettiest of neat-fitting gloves. +The writer remembers never to have been more pleased than she was by +the possession of a trim pair of boots made of the tanned skins of +some half-dozen squirrels. They were so much softer and finer than the +ordinary heavy calf-skin affairs to be bought at the village "shoe +shop," that no Northern maiden was ever more pleased with her +ten-dollar boots. Our hats, made of palmetto and rye straw, were +becoming and pretty without lace, tips, or flowers. Our jackets were +made of the fathers' old-fashioned cloaks, in vogue some forty years +agone--those of that style represented in the pictures of Mr. +Calhoun--doing splendid service by supplying all the girls in the +family at once. We even made palmetto jewelry of exquisite designs, +intermingled with our hair, that we might keep even with the boys who +wore "palmetto cockades." The flowers we wore were nature's own +beautiful, fragrant blossoms, sometimes, when in a patriotic mood, +nestled, with symbolic cotton balls. For our calico dresses, if ever +so fortunate as to find one, we sometimes paid a hundred dollars, and +for the spool of cotton that made it from ten to twenty dollars. The +buttons we used were oftentimes cut from a gourd into sizes required +and covered with cloth, they having the advantage of pasteboard +because they were rounded. On children's clothes persimmon seed in +their natural state, with two holes drilled through them, were found +both neat and durable. In short, we fastened all our garments after +true Confederate style, without the aid of Madame Demorest's guide +book or Worth's Parisian models, and suffered from none of Miss Flora +McFlimsey's harassing dilemmas. + + +MRS. LEE AND THE SOCKS + +R. E. Lee, in his recollections of his father, General Lee, says: + +"His letters to my mother tell how much his men were in need. My +mother was an invalid from rheumatism, and confined to a roller chair. +To help the cause with her own hands, as far as she could, she was +constantly occupied in knitting socks for the soldiers, and induced +all around her to do the same. She sent them directly to my father and +he always acknowledged them." + +It was well known in the army what great pleasure it gave the General +to distribute these socks. + + +FITTING OUT A SOLDIER + +[Mrs. Roger A. Pryor's Reminiscences of Peace and War, pages +131-133.] + +When I returned to my father's home in Petersburg I found my +friends possessed with an intense spirit of patriotism. The First, +Second and Third Virginia were already mustered into service; my +husband was colonel of the Third Virginia Infantry. The men were to be +equipped for service immediately. All of "the boys" were going--the +three Manys, Will Johnson, Berry Stainback, Ned Graham; all the +young, dancing set, the young lawyers and doctors--everybody, in +short, except bank presidents, druggists, a doctor or two (over age), +and young boys under sixteen. To be idle was torture. We women +resolved ourselves into a sewing society, resting not on Sundays. +Sewing-machines were put into the churches, which became depots for +flannel, muslin, strong linen, and even uniform cloth. When the hour +for meeting arrived, the sewing class would be summoned by the ringing +of the church bell. My dear Agnes was visiting in Petersburg, and +was my faithful ally in all my work. We instituted a monster sewing +class, which we hugely enjoyed, to meet daily at my home on Market +street. My colonel was to be fitted out as never was colonel before. +He was ordered to Norfolk with his regiment to protect the seaboard. +I was proud of his colonelship, and much exercised because he had +no shoulder-straps. I undertook to embroider them myself. We had +not then decided upon the star for our colonels' insignia, and I +supposed he would wear the eagle like all the colonels I had ever +known. We embroidered bullion fringe, cut it in lengths, and made +eagles, probably of some extinct species, for the like were unknown +in Audubon's time, and have not since been discovered. However, +they were accepted, admired, and, what is worse, worn. + +The Confederate soldier was furnished at the beginning of the war with +a gun, pistol, canteen, tin cup, haversack, and knapsack--no +inconsiderable weight to be borne in a march. The knapsack contained a +fatigue jacket, one or two blankets, an oil-cloth, several suits of +underclothing, several pairs of white gloves, collars, neckties, and +handkerchiefs. Each mess purchased a mess-chest containing dishes, +bowls, plates, knives, forks, spoons, cruets, spice-boxes, glasses, +etc. Each mess also owned a frying-pan, oven, coffee-pot, and +camp-kettle. The uniforms were of the finest cadet cloth and gold +lace. This outfit--although not comparable to that of the Federal +soldier, many of whom had "Saratoga" trunks in the baggage train--was +considered sumptuous by the Confederate volunteer. As if these were +not enough, we taxed our ingenuity to add sundry comforts, weighing +little, by which we might give a touch of refinement to the soldier's +knapsack. + +There was absolutely nothing which a man might possibly use that +we did not make for them. We embroidered cases for razors, for soap +and sponge, and cute morocco affairs for needles, thread, and +courtplaster, with a little pocket lined with a bank note. "How +perfectly ridiculous," do you say? Nothing is ridiculous that helps +anxious women to bear their lot--cheats them with the hope that they +are doing good. + + +THE THIMBLE BRIGADE + +[From Dickison and His Men, pages 161-162.] + +With prayerful hearts, the devoted women of Marion formed themselves +into societies for united efforts in behalf of our gallant defenders. + +At Orange Lake, we formed a Soldiers' Relief Association, playfully +called the "Thimble Brigade;" and, with earnest faith in the blessing +of God upon our work, we began our mission of love. With grateful +hearts we labored to provide comforts for the brave soldiers, who +around their campfires were keeping watch for us. The following notice +will be read by our sisterhood with mingled emotions of pleasure and +sadness: + +"In this number of the Ocala _Home Journal_ will be found the +proceedings of a meeting of the ladies of the neighborhood of Orange +Lake, held for the purpose of organizing a 'Soldiers' Friend' +Association. They have not only succeeded in perfecting their +organization, but have already accomplished a great deal for the +benefit of the soldiers. They have made thirty pairs of pants for the +soldiers at Fernandina, the ladies furnishing the material from their +own private stores, besides knitting socks and making other garments. +The manner in which they have commenced this patriotic work is, +indeed, encouraging to all who have the soldier's welfare at heart, +and we know that they will labor as long as the necessities of the +soldier require it." + + +NOBLE WOMEN OF RICHMOND + +[In A Rebel's Recollections, pages 66-69.] + +In Richmond, when the hospitals were filled with wounded men brought +in from the seven days' fighting with McClellan, and the surgeons +found it impossible to dress half the wounds, a band was formed, +consisting of nearly all the married women of the city, who took upon +themselves the duty of going to the hospitals and dressing wounds from +morning till night; and they persisted in their painful duty until +every man was cared for, saving hundreds of lives, as the surgeons +unanimously testified. When nitre was found to be growing scarce, and +the supply of gunpowder was consequently about to give out, women all +over the land dug up the earth in their smokehouses and tobacco barns, +and with their own hands faithfully extracted the desired salt, for +use in the government laboratories. + +Many of them denied themselves not only delicacies, but substantial +food also, when, by enduring semi-starvation, they could add to the +stock of food at the command of the subsistence officers. I myself +knew more than one houseful of women, who, from the moment that food +began to grow scarce, refused to eat meat or drink coffee, living +thenceforth only upon vegetables of a speedily perishable sort, in +order that they might leave the more for the soldiers in the field. +When a friend remonstrated with one of them, on the ground that her +health, already frail, was breaking down utterly for want of proper +diet, she replied, in a quiet, determined way, "I know that very well; +but it is little that I can do, and I must do that little at any cost. +My health and life are worth less than those of my brothers, and if +they give theirs to the cause, why should not I do the same? I would +starve to death cheerfully if I could feed one soldier more by doing +so, but the things I eat can't be sent to camp. I think it a sin to +eat anything that can be used for rations." And she meant what she +said, too, as a little mound in the church-yard testifies. + +Every Confederate remembers gratefully the reception given him when he +went into any house where these women were. Whoever he might be, and +whatever his plight, if he wore the gray, he was received, not as a +beggar or tramp, not even as a stranger, but as a son of the house, +for whom it held nothing too good, and whose comfort was the one care +of all its inmates, even though their own must be sacrificed in +securing it. When the hospitals were crowded, the people earnestly +besought permission to take the men to their houses and to care for +them there, and for many months almost every house within a radius of +a hundred miles of Richmond held one or more wounded men as especially +honored guests. + +"God bless these Virginia women!" said a general officer from one of +the cotton States, one day; "they're worth a regiment apiece." And he +spoke the thought of the army, except that their blessing covered the +whole country as well as Virginia. + + +FROM MATOACA GAY'S ARTICLES IN THE _PHILADELPHIA TIMES_ + +In a diary kept at the time by an official in the War Department I +find this entry: + +_May 10, 1861._--The ladies are sewing everywhere, and are full of +ardor. Love affairs are plentiful, but the ladies are postponing all +engagements till their lovers have fought the Yankees. Their influence +is very great. Day after day they go in crowds to the fair grounds, +where the First South Carolina Volunteers are encamped, showering upon +them smiles and every delicacy which the city can afford. They wine +them and dine them, and they deserve it, for they are just from the +taking of Sumter, and have won historic distinction. I was presented +to several very distinguished looking young men, all of them privates, +and was told by their captain that many of them were worth from a +hundred thousand to half a million. These are the men the _Tribune_ +thought would all of them want to be captains; but that is only one of +the hallucinations under which the North is now laboring. + + +THE WOMEN OF RICHMOND + +[By Phoebe Y. Pember, in Hospital Life.] + +But of what importance was the fact that I was homeless, houseless and +moneyless, in Richmond, the heart of Virginia? Who ever wanted for +aught that kind hearts, generous hands or noble hospitality could +supply, that it was not here offered without even the shadow of a +patronage that could have made it distasteful? What women were ever so +refined in feeling and so unaffected in manner; so willing to share +all that wealth gives, and so little infected with the pride of purse +which bestows that power? It was difficult to hide one's needs from +them; they found them out and ministered to them with their quiet +simplicity and the innate nobility which gave to their generosity the +coloring of a favor received, not conferred. + +Would that I could do more than thank the dear friends who made my +life for four years so happy and contented; who never made me feel by +word or act that my self-imposed occupation was otherwise than one +which would ennoble any woman. If ever any aid was given through my +own exertions, or any labor rendered effective by me for the good of +the South--if any sick soldier ever benefited by my happy face or +pleasant smiles at his bedside, or death was ever soothed by gentle +words of hope and tender care--such results were only owing to the +cheering encouragement I received from them. + + +TWO GEORGIA HEROINES + +[Mary L. Jewett, Corresponding Secretary Clement Evans Chapter, U. D. +C.] + +"To such women as these should a shaft of precious stone be erected." + +'Twas thus an old soldier spoke of the wife of Judge Alexander +Herrington, of Dougherty County, Georgia, many years ago, when the +heroism of the Southern women was mentioned. She was president of the +ladies' relief association during the war, and as such had thirty +machines brought to her home and the neighbors gathered together and +made leggings and clothing for "our boys," as they were called. Many +and many days did she work with bleeding hands, caused by the constant +use of the shears, for with her own hands she did the cutting for the +others to stitch. This was a work that is far beyond the understanding +of the present day, for she had never known a day's toil, being the +wife of a wealthy planter and slave owner. Not only did she and Judge +Herrington give money, cattle, cotton, and slaves to be used in the +erecting of breastworks, but he being too old, and their only son +being a mere child, they bravely sent two of their daughters to the +field as army nurses, one of which served through the entire war. +After the war, with slaves and money gone, her husband died, and it +was then that she and her children suffered through the days of +reconstruction, with never a murmur from her lips for the things she +had given up and lost. + + +THE SEVEN DAYS' BATTLE + +[Mrs. R. A. Pryor's Reminiscences.] + +All the afternoon the dreadful guns shook the earth and thrilled our +souls with horror. I shut myself in my darkened room. At twilight I +had a note from Governor Letcher, telling me a fierce battle was +raging, and inviting me to come to the governor's mansion. From the +roof one might see the flash of musket and artillery. + +No; I did not wish to see the infernal fires. I preferred to watch +and wait alone in my room. And so the night wore on and I waited and +watched. Before the dawn a hurried footstep brought a message from the +battlefield to my door: + +"The general, madame, is safe and well. Colonel Scott has been killed. +The general has placed a guard around his body, and he will be sent +here early to-morrow. The general bids me say he will not return. The +fight will be renewed, and will continue until the enemy is driven +away." + +My resolution was taken. My children were safe with their grandmother. +I would write. I would ask that every particle of my household linen, +except a change, should be rolled into bandages, all my fine linen be +sent to me for compresses, and all forwarded as soon as possible. I +would enter the new hospital which had been improvised in Kent & +Paine's warehouse, and would remain there as a nurse as long as the +armies were fighting around Richmond. + +But the courier was passing on his rounds with news to others. +Presently Fanny Poindexter, in tears, knocked at my door. + +"She is bearing it like a brave, Christian woman." + +"She? Who? Tell me quick." + +"Mrs. Scott. I had to tell her. She simply said, 'I shall see him once +more.' The general wrote to her from the battlefield and told her how +nobly her husband died, leading his men in the thick of the fight, and +how he had helped to save the city." + +Alas! that the city should have needed saving. What had Mrs. Scott and +her children done? Why should they suffer? Who was to blame for it +all? + +Kent & Paine's warehouse was a large, airy building, which had, I +understood, been offered by the proprietors for a hospital immediately +after the battle of Seven Pines. McClellan's advance upon Richmond had +heavily taxed the capacity of the hospitals already established. + +When I reached the warehouse, early on the morning after the fight at +Mechanicsville, I found cots on the lower floor already occupied, and +other cots in process of preparation. An aisle between the rows of +narrow beds stretched to the rear of the building. Broad stairs led to +a story above, where other cots were being laid. + +The volunteer matron was a beautiful woman, Mrs. Wilson. When I was +presented to her as a candidate for admission, her serene eyes rested +doubtfully upon me for a moment. She hesitated. Finally she said: + +"The work is very exacting. There are so few of us that our nurses +must do anything and everything--make beds, wait upon anybody, and +often a half a dozen at a time." + +"I will engage to do all that," I declared, and she permitted me to go +to a desk at the farther end of the room and enter my name. + +As I passed by the rows of occupied cots, I saw a nurse kneeling +beside one of them, holding a pan for a surgeon. The red stump of an +amputated arm was held over it. The next thing I knew I was myself +lying on a cot, and a spray of cold water was falling over my face. I +had fainted. Opening my eyes, I found the matron standing beside me. + +"You see it is as I thought. You are unfit for this work. One of the +nurses will conduct you home." + +The nurse's assistance was declined, however. I had given trouble +enough for one day, and had only interrupted those who were really +worth something. A night's vigil had been poor preparation for +hospital work. I resolved I would conquer my culpable weakness. It was +all very well,--these heroics in which I indulged, these paroxysms of +patriotism, this adoration of the defenders of my fireside. The +defender in the field had naught to hope from me in case he should be +wounded in my defence. + +I took myself well in hand. Why had I fainted? I thought it was +because of the sickening, dead odor in the hospital, mingled with that +of acids and disinfectants. Of course, this would always be there--and +worse, as wounded men filled the rooms. I provided myself with sal +volatile and spirits of camphor,--we wore pockets in our gowns in +those days,--and thus armed I presented myself again to Mrs. Wilson. +She was as kind as she was refined and intelligent. "I will give you a +place near the door," she said, "and you must run out into the air at +the first hint of faintness. You will get over it, see if you don't." + +Ambulances began to come in and unload at the door. I soon had +occupation enough, and a few drops of camphor on my handkerchief tided +me over the worst. The wounded men crowded in and sat patiently +waiting their turn. One fine little fellow of fifteen unrolled a +handkerchief from his wrist to show me his wound. "There's a bullet in +there," he said proudly. "I am going to have it cut out, and then go +right back to the fight. Isn't it lucky it's my left hand?" + +As the day wore on I became more and more absorbed in my work. I had, +too, the stimulus of a reproof from Miss Deborah Couch, a brisk, +efficient, middle-aged lady, who asked no quarter and gave none. She +was standing beside me a moment, with a bright tin pan filled with +pure water, into which I foolishly dipped a finger to see if it were +warm, to learn if I would be expected to provide warm water when I +should be called upon to assist the surgeon. + +"This water, madame, was prepared for a raw wound," said Miss Deborah, +sternly. "I must now make the surgeon wait until I get more." + +Miss Deborah, in advance of her time, was a germ theorist. My touch +evidently was contaminating. + +As she charged down the aisle, with a pan of water in her hand, +everybody made way. She had known of my "fine-lady faintness," as +she termed it, and I could see she despised me for it. She had +volunteered, as all the nurses had, and she meant business. She had +no patience with nonsense, and truly she was worth more than all the +rest of us. + +"Where can I get a little ice?" I one day ventured of Miss Deborah. + +"Find it," she rejoined, as she rapidly passed on; but find it I never +did. Ice was an unknown luxury until brought to us later from private +houses. + +But I found myself thoroughly reinstated--with surgeons, matrons and +Miss Deborah--when I appeared a few days later, accompanied by a man +bearing a basket of clean, well-rolled bandages, with promise of more +to come. The Petersburg women had gone to work with a will upon my +table-cloths, sheets, and dimity counterpanes--and even the chintz +furniture covers. My springlike green and white chintz bandages +appeared on many a manly arm and leg. My fine linen underwear and +napkins were cut, by the sewing circle at the Spotswood, according to +the surgeons' directions, into two lengths two inches wide, then +folded two inches, doubling back and forth in a smaller fold each +time, until they formed pointed wedges or compresses. + +Such was the sudden and overwhelming demand for such things that but +for my own and similar donations of household linen the wounded men +would have suffered. The war had come upon us suddenly. Many of our +ports were already closed and we had no stores laid up for such an +emergency. + +The bloody battle of Gaines' Mill soon followed. Then Frazier's farm, +within the week, and at once the hospital was filled to overflowing. +Every night a courier brought me tidings of my husband. When I saw him +at the door my heart would die within me. One morning John came in for +certain supplies. After being reassured as to his master's safety, I +asked, "Did he have a comfortable night, John?" + +"He sholy did. Marse Roger sart'nly was comfortable las' night. He +slep' on de field 'twixt two daid horses." + +The women who worked in Kent & Paine's hospital never seemed to weary. +After a while the wise matron assigned us hours, and we went on duty +with the regularity of trained nurses. My hours were from 7 to 7 +during the day, with the promise of night service should I be needed. +Efficient, kindly colored women assisted us. Their motherly manner +soothed the prostrate soldier, whom they always addressed as "son." + +Many fine young fellows lost their lives for want of prompt attention. +They never murmured. They would give way to those who seemed to be +more seriously wounded than themselves, and the latter would recover, +while from the slighter wounds gangrene would supervene from delay. +Very few men ever walked away from that hospital. They died, or +friends found quarters for them in Richmond. None complained. Unless a +poor man grew delirious, he never groaned. There was an atmosphere of +gentle kindness; a suppression of emotion for the sake of others. + +Every morning the Richmond ladies brought for our patients such +luxuries as could be procured in that scarce time. The city was in +peril, and distant farmers feared to bring in their fruits and +vegetables. One day a patient-looking, middle-aged man said to me, +"What would I not give for a bowl of chicken broth like my mother used +to give me when I was a sick boy?" I perceived one of the angelic +matrons of Richmond at a distance, stooping over the cots, and found +my way to her and said, "Dear Mrs. Maben, have you a chicken? And +could you send some broth to No. 39?" She promised, and I returned +with her promise to the poor, wounded fellow. He shook his head. +"To-morrow will be too late," he said. + +I had forgotten the circumstance next day, but at noon I happened to +look toward cot No. 39, and there was Mrs. Maben herself. She had +brought the chicken broth in a pretty china bowl, with napkin and +silver spoon, and was feeding my doubting Thomas, to his great +satisfaction. + +It was at this hospital, I have reason to believe, that the little +story originated, which was deemed good enough to be claimed by other +hospitals, of the young girl who approached a sick man with a pan of +water in her hand and a towel over her arm. + +"Mayn't I wash your face?" said the girl, timidly. + +"Well, lady, you may if you want to," said the man, wearily. "It has +been washed fourteen times this morning. It can stand another time, I +reckon." + +I discovered that I had not succeeded, despite many efforts, in +winning Miss Deborah. I learned that she was affronted because I had +not shared my offerings of jelly and fruit with her, for her special +patients. Whenever I ventured to ask a loan from her, of a pan or a +glass of water, or the little things of which we never had enough, she +would reply, "I must keep them for the nurses who understand +reciprocity. Reciprocity is the rule some persons never seem to +comprehend." When this was hammered into my slow perception, I rose to +the occasion. I turned over the entire contents of a basket the +landlord of the Spotswood had given me to Miss Deborah, and she made +my path straight before me ever afterward. + +At the end of a week the matron had promoted me. Instead of carving +the fat bacon, to be served with corn bread, for the hospital dinner, +or standing between two rough men to keep away the flies, or fetching +water, or spreading sheets on cots, I was assigned to regular duty +with one patient. + +The first of these proved to be a young Colonel Coppens, of my +husband's brigade. I could comfort him very little, for he was wounded +past recovery. I spoke little French, and could only try to keep him, +as far as possible, from annoyance. To my great relief, place was +found for him in a private family. There he soon died--the gallant +fellow I had admired on his horse a few months before. + +Then I was placed beside the cot of Mr. (or Captain) Boyd, of +Mecklenburg, and was admonished by the matron not to leave him alone. +He was the most patient sufferer in the world--gentle, courteous, +always considerate, never complaining. + +"Are you in pain, Captain?" + +"No, no," he would say gently. + +One day when I returned from my "rest," I found the matron sitting +beside him. + +She motioned me to take her place, and then added, "No, no; I will not +leave him." + +The captain's eyes were closed, and he sighed wearily at intervals. +Presently he whispered slowly: "There everlasting spring abides;" then +sighed, and seemed to sleep for a moment. + +The matron felt his pulse and raised a warning hand. The sick man's +whisper went on: "Bright fields beyond the swelling flood, Stand +dressed in living green;" and in a moment more the Christian soldier +had crossed the river and lain down to rest under the trees. + +Each of the battles of those seven days brought a harvest of wounded +to our hospital. I used to veil myself closely as I walked to and +from my hotel, that I might shut out the dreadful sights in the +streets--the squads of prisoners, and worst of all, the open wagons +in which the dead were piled. Once I did see one of these dreadful +wagons. In it a stiff arm was raised, and shook as it was driven +down the street, as though the dead owner appealed to Heaven for +vengeance--a horrible sight, never to be forgotten. + +After one of the bloody battles--I know not if it was Gaines' Mill or +Frazier's Farm or Malvern Hill--A splendid young officer, Colonel +Brokenborough, was taken to our hospital, shot almost to pieces. He +was borne up the stairs and placed in a cot--his broken limbs in +supports swinging from the ceiling. The wife of General Mahone and I +were permitted to assist in nursing him. A young soldier from the camp +was detailed to help us, and a clergyman was in constant attendance, +coming at night that we might have rest. Our patient held a court in +his corner of the hospital. Such a dear, gallant, cheery fellow, +handsome, and with a grand air even as he lay prostrate. Nobody ever +heard him complain. He would welcome us in the morning with the +brightest smile. His aid said, "He watches the head of the stairs and +calls up that look for your benefit." + +"Oh," he said one day, "you can't guess what's going to happen. Some +ladies have been here and left all these roses, and cologne, and such; +and somebody has sent champagne. We are going to have a party." + +Ah! but we knew he was very ill. We were bidden to watch him every +minute and not be deceived by his own spirits. Mrs. Mahone spent her +life hunting for ice. My constant care was to keep his canteen--to +which he clung with affection--filled with fresh water from a spring +not far away, and I learned to give it to him so well that I allowed +no one to lift his head for his drink during my hours. + +One day, when we were alone, I was fanning him, and thought he was +asleep. He said gravely, "Mrs. Pryor, beyond that curtain they hung up +yesterday, poor young Mitchell is lying. They don't know. But I heard +when they brought him in. As I lie here I listen to his breathing. I +haven't heard it now for some time. Would you mind seeing if he is all +right?" + +I passed behind the curtain. The young soldier was dead. His wide-open +eyes seemed to meet mine in mute appeal. I had never seen or touched a +dead man, but I laid my hands upon his eyelids and closed them. I was +standing thus when his nurse, a young volunteer like myself, came to +me. + +"I couldn't do that," she said. "I went for the doctor. I'm so glad +you could do it." + +When I returned Colonel Brokenborough asked no questions and I knew +that his keen senses had already instructed him. + +To be cheerful and uncomplaining was the unwritten law of our +hospital. No bad news was ever mentioned; no foreboding or anxiety. +Mrs. Mahone was one day standing beside Colonel Brokenborough when a +messenger from the front suddenly announced that General Mahone had +received a flesh wound. Commanding herself instantly, she exclaimed +merrily: "Flesh wound. Now you all know that is just impossible." + +The general had no flesh. He was thin and attenuated as he was brave. + +As Colonel Brokenborough grew weaker, I felt self-reproach that no one +had offered to write letters for him. His friend the clergyman had +said to me: "That poor boy is engaged to a lovely young girl. I wonder +what is best? Would it grieve him to speak of her. You ladies have so +much tact; you might bear it in mind. An opportunity might offer for +you to discover how he feels about it." + +The next time I was alone with him I ventured: "Now, Colonel, one +mustn't forget absent friends, you know, even if fair ladies do bring +perfumes and roses and what not. I have some ink and paper here. Shall +I write a letter for you? Tell me what to say." + +He turned his head and with a half-amused smile of perfect intelligence +looked at me for a long time. Then an upward look of infinite +tenderness; but the message was never sent--never needed from a true +heart like this. + +One night I was awakened from my sleep by a knock at my door, and a +summons to "come to Colonel Brokenborough." When I reached his bedside +I found the surgeon, the clergyman, and the colonel's aid. The patient +was unconscious; the end was near. We sat in silence. Once, when he +stirred, I slipped my hand under his head, and put his canteen once +more to his lips. After a long time his breathing simply ceased, with +no evidence of pain. We waited awhile, and then the young soldier who +had been detailed to nurse him rose, crossed the room, and stooping +over, kissed me on my forehead, and went out to his duty in the +ranks. + +Two weeks later I was in my room, resting after a hard day, when a +haggard officer, covered with mud and dust, entered. It was my +husband. "My men are all dead," he said, with anguish, and, falling +across the bed, he gave vent to the passionate grief of his heart. + +Thousands of Confederate soldiers were killed, thousands wounded. +Richmond was saved! + + +DEATH OF MRS. SARAH K. ROWE, "THE SOLDIERS' FRIEND" + +[From Southern Historical Papers.] + +ORANGEBURG, S. C., _June 2, 1884_. + +I feel warranted in informing you of the death of Mrs. Sarah K. Rowe, +which occurred yesterday, the 1st of June, at her country home in this +county. Mrs. Rowe was known for four and a half years, '61 to '65, as +"the soldiers' friend." I detract nothing from great women all over +the South, Cornelias of heroic type, when I state that Mrs. Rowe was +pre-eminently the soldiers' friend. If this should meet the eye of +Hood's Texans, of Polk's Tennesseeans, of Morgan's Kentuckians, or of +Pickett's Virginians, any of whom passed on the South Carolina +Railroad during the war, her face beaming with benevolence, her arms +loaded with food, will be remembered as one of the sunny events of a +dark time. From the first note of war Mrs. Rowe gave all she had and +could collect by wonderful energy to the soldiers. She had her +organized squads. The gay, strong soldier to Virginia was fed and +cheered on; the mangled and sick were nursed and cared for. She had a +mother's blessing for the brave; a mother's tears and sympathy for the +dying and the dead. Mrs. Rowe emphatically lived and spent herself for +the cause, and when it failed, like a noble woman she submitted, with +the remark, "It is all right." The sight of a bandaged head or limb +under her soft touch was an everyday picture. The echo of a thousand +cheers as the troop trains passed her was recurring every day. She +bandaged and waved God-speed as well. A few days ago Mrs. Rowe showed +by request a part of her great legacy--the letters from the soldiers +she had nursed to life again. Truly her reward was rich. She passed +away, of paralysis, at a ripe old age. The soldiers and survivors +buried her. The Young and "Old Guard" lowered her remains to mother +earth. When Fame makes up its roll her precious name should stand +out--the soldiers' friend. + + Yours truly, + JOHN A. HAMILTON. + + +"YOU WAIT" + +[Phoebe Y. Pember, in Hospital Life.] + +Pleasant episodes often occurred to vary disappointments and lighten +duties of hospital life. + +"Kin you writ a letter?" drawled a whining voice from a bed in one of +the wards, a cold day in '62. + +The speaker was an up-country Georgian, one of the kind called +"Goobers" by the soldiers generally--lean, yellow, attenuated, with +wispy strands of hair hanging over his high, thin cheek-bones. He put +out a hand to detain me and the nails were like claws. + +"Why do you not let the nurse cut your nails?" + +"Because I aren't got any spoon, and I use them instead." + +"Will you let me have your hair cut then? You can't get well with all +that dirty hair hanging about your eyes and ears." + +"No, I can't git my hair cut, kase as how I promised my mammy that I +would let it grow till the war be over. Oh, it's unlucky to cut it." + +"Then I can't write any letter for you. Do what I wish you to do, and +then I will oblige you." + +This was plain talking. The hair was cut (I left the nails for another +day), my portfolio brought, and sitting by the side of his bed I +waited for further orders. They came with a formal introduction,--"for +Mrs. Marthy Brown." + +"My dear mammy: + +"I hope this finds you well, as it leaves me well, and I hope that I +shall git a furlough Christmas, and come and see you, and I hope you +will keep well, and all the folks be well by that time, as I hopes to +be well myself. This leaves me in good health, as I hope it will find +you and--" + +But here I paused as his mind seemed to be going round in a circle, +and asked him a few questions about his home, his position during the +last summer's campaign, how he got sick, and where his brigade was at +that time. Thus furnished with some material to work upon, the letter +proceeded rapidly. Four sides were conscientiously filled, for no +soldier would think a letter worth sending home that showed any blank +paper. Transcribing his name, the number of his ward and proper +address, so that an answer might reach him--the composition was read +to him. Gradually his pale face brightened, a sitting posture was +assumed with difficulty (for, in spite of his determined effort to +write a letter "to be well," he was far from convalescence). As I +folded and directed it, contributed the expected five-cent stamp, and +handed it to him, he gazed cautiously around to be sure there were no +listeners. + +"Did you writ all that?" he asked, whispering, but with great +emphasis. + +"Yes." + +"Did I say all that?" + +"I think you did." + +A long pause of undoubted admiration--astonishment--ensued. What was +working in that poor mind? Could it be that Psyche had stirred one of +the delicate plumes of her wing and touched that dormant soul? + +"Are you married?" The harsh voice dropped very low. + +"I am not. At least, I am a widow." + +He rose still higher in bed. He pushed away desperately the tangled +hay on his brow. A faint color fluttered over the hollow cheek, and +stretching out a long piece of bone with a talon attached, he gently +touched my arm and with constrained voice whispered mysteriously: + +"You wait!" + + +ANNANDALE--TWO HEROINES OF MISSISSIPPI + +[By Anna B. A. Brown, in Memphis Commercial World.] + +In these hurried days, when we spend the major portion of our lives +trying to keep up with the electric currents that control the +universe, it is good to be able to turn aside for a while in the +byways of the South and feel the restfulness of old plantation life, +whether it be a reality or an echo from the past. A day spent in touch +with old Southern home life is a day full of restful peace and happy +memories. + +In Madison County, Mississippi, one finds many bits of ante-bellum +life that the turbulent tide of commerce has not yet swept away--big +plantations, historic old mansions, tumble-down slave quarters--that +are the abiding proofs of the prosperity and hospitality of a people +who lived and loved when knighthood was yet in flower, and whose +children live yet to preserve the old traditions. Many of the old +plantations are still tilled by the descendants of the original +owners. Many have passed into stranger's hands. Some stand tenantless +and lonely, with ghostly visitants slipping at midnight down the great +stairways to tread a stately measure on the ball floor, a silent +assemblage of long-ago belles and beaux returned from the cities of +the dead or from the still trenches of Seven Pines, Chickamauga, or +Shiloh. + +One of these silent homes is Annandale, a bit of historic Mississippi +architecture that stands near Canton, once the home of Southern +chivalry and romance, now empty, save for the memories that cluster +thickly within its walls. Annandale is the property, and was until +recently the home of the Mississippi branch of the Johnstone family, +and preserves to memory the name of the county in Scotland that +cradled the ancestors who bore this illustrious name. It is still +known as their home, though Vicksburg now claims the daughter of the +house, and only in the summers are the doors opened again for that +lavish hospitality for which the old place was noted. Two brothers of +the Johnstone family came over from Scotland in 1734, having been sent +by George III, on business of great import to the colonies. One had +the appointment of governor to his majesty's colony of North Carolina, +the other that of surveyor-general. The Johnstone family remained +loyal to their king as long as native pride would permit, and then, +true to the spirit that demanded the Magna Charta at Runnymede +centuries before, they went to the American settlements in the fight +for liberty. They were prominent in the Revolution, and after the war +took part in the political work of building up the nation. + +John T. Johnstone, a prominent member of this family, moved from +North Carolina to Mississippi in 1836 and bought large tracts of land +in Madison County. On the plantation near Annandale he built a +comfortable home--a fine house for those days of pioneer effort. His +neighbors were the families of Hardeman, Hinton, Ricks, Winters and +Christmas, and there are still marvelous tales told in that locality +of the lavish manner of living, the wonderful hospitality dispensed +and the gay companies that assembled in the old home. A few years +of this charmed life Mr. Johnstone called his, and then he was +gathered to his illustrious fathers, and the burden of this great +estate fell on the shoulders of his young widow. She stood the +test of generalship, as other Southern women of her day have done, and +the affairs of the plantation, the slave quarters and the household +moved as smoothly as clock work and success smiled on her. The +material side of her plantation's progress did not overshadow the +religious side, and services for bond and free were held daily in a +gothic church on the estate, the chapel of the cross which Mrs. +Johnstone had erected in memory of her husband. The daughter of the +house was carefully educated, and as she neared womanhood Mrs. +Johnstone had a new home built, the present Annandale, and the +same lavish hospitality was continued. + +Then came the war. There was no husband, brother or son to send to +the front, but the women, true to the patriotic sentiments of their +house, gave of their best. The big mansion was turned into a factory +for supplying Confederate needs. Mrs. Johnstone and her fair +daughter, Helen, became the head of a busy body of working women, +who gave of their time and talent for the South. All day was heard +the whir of spinning-wheels, the slipping of the shuttles in the +looms; all day busy fingers carded, wove, spun and sewed, that the +soldiers might be made more comfortable. One company of soldiers was +equipped throughout the war solely at Miss Johnstone's expense, while +she and her mother furnished clothing to two hundred others. The +setting of dainty stitches, the manufacture of rolled and whipped +ruffles, were laid aside for the time. The rich carpets were torn from +the floors and made into blankets; the rare bronzes and brasses were +torn from their pedestals or their fastenings and sent to the +foundries to be made into cannon; silk dresses were transformed +into banners to lead the gray-clad men to victory, and dainty +linen and cambric garments and rare household napery and linen were +ruthlessly torn in strips to bandage the wounds of the men in the +hospitals. The granaries, smokehouses, and wine cellars gave up +their stores for the Confederacy, the wealth of these two loyal women +being laid gladly on their country's altar. Yet, through all this +troublous season, hospitality and merriment still reigned. The +rebel lads adored the loyal women; the Union soldiers tried more +than once to burn the house that sheltered such secessionists. + +During the war the fair daughter of the house was married to Rev. +George Carroll Harris, of Nashville, and for many years rector of +Christ Church, and widely known throughout the South. + +In 1880 Mrs. Johnstone died, and historic Annandale passed into her +daughter's hands, and is still owned by her. A few years ago the son +of Dr. and Mrs. Harris, George Harris, married Miss Cecile Nugent, of +Jackson, Mississippi, and they live on his place in the Delta, and +with the marriage of the daughter Helen to the son of the late Bishop +Thompson the younger generation of Annandale closed another chapter of +romances for the old home. But even though the windows are darkened +and no material form passes daily over the threshold, the inner air is +still palpitant with memories, and who knows what gay revels the +ghostly companies of the past may not hold in the grand salon when +midnight has come and the human world is wrapped in slumber? + + +A PLANTATION HEROINE + +[In Southern Soldier Stories, pages 203-205.] + +It was nearing the end. Every resource of the Southern States had been +taxed to the point of exhaustion. The people had given up everything +they had for "the cause." Under the law of a "tax in kind," they had +surrendered all they could spare of food products of every character. +Under an untamable impulse of patriotism they had surrendered much +more than they could spare in order to feed the army. + +It was at such a time that I went to my home county on a little +military business. I stopped for dinner at a house, the lavish +hospitality of which had been a byword in the old days. I found before +me at dinner the remnants of a cold boiled ham, some mustard greens, +which we Virginians called "salad," a pitcher of buttermilk, some corn +pones and--nothing else. I carved the ham, and offered to serve it to +the three women of the household. But they all declined. They made +their dinner on salad, buttermilk, and corn bread, the latter eaten +very sparingly, as I observed. The ham went only to myself and to the +three convalescent wounded soldiers who were guests in the house. +Wounded men were at that time guests in every house in Virginia. + +I lay awake that night and thought over the circumstance. The next +morning I took occasion to have a talk on the old familiar terms with +the young woman of the family, with whom I had been on a basis of +friendship in the old days that even permitted me to kiss her upon due +and proper occasion. + +"Why didn't you take some ham last night?" I asked urgently. + +"Oh, I didn't want it," she replied. + +"Now, you know you are fibbing," I said. "Tell me the truth, won't +you?" + +She blushed, and hesitated. Presently she broke down and answered +frankly: "Honestly, I did want the ham. I have hungered for meat for +months. But I mustn't eat it, and I won't. You see the army needs all +the food there is, and more. We women can't fight, though I don't see +at all why they shouldn't let us, and so we are trying to feed the +fighting men--and there aren't any others. We've made up our minds not +to eat anything that can be sent to the front as rations." + +"You are starving yourselves," I exclaimed. + +"Oh, no," she said. "And if we were, what would it matter? Haven't +Lee's soldiers starved many a day? But we aren't starving. You see we +had plenty of salad and buttermilk last night. And we even ate some of +the corn bread. I must stop that, by the way, for corn meal is a good +ration for the soldiers." A month or so later this frail but heroic +young girl was laid away in the Grub Hill church-yard. + +Don't talk to me about the "heroism" that braves a fire of hell under +enthusiastic impulse. That young girl did a higher self-sacrifice than +any soldier who fought on either side during the war ever dreamed of +doing. + + +LUCY ANN COX + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 22, pages 54-55. From the +Richmond _Star_, July 21, 1894.] + +On the evening of October 15th an entertainment was given in +Fredericksburg, Virginia, to raise funds to erect a monument to the +memory of Mrs. Lucy Ann Cox, who, at the commencement of the war, +surrendered all the comfort of her father's home, and followed the +fortunes of her husband, who was a member of Company A, Thirteenth +Virginia Regiment, until the flag of the Southern Confederacy was +furled at Appomattox. No march was too long or weather too inclement +to deter this patriotic woman from doing what she considered her duty. +She was with her company and regiment on their two forays into +Maryland, and her ministering hand carried comfort to many a wounded +and worn soldier. While Company A was the object of her untiring +solicitude, no Confederate ever asked assistance from Mrs. Cox but it +was cheerfully rendered. + +She marched as the infantry did, seldom taking advantage of offered +rides in ambulances and wagon trains. When Mrs. Cox died, a few years +ago, it was her latest expressed wish that she be buried with military +honors, and, so far as it was possible, her wish was carried out. Her +funeral took place on a bright autumn Sunday, and the entire town +turned out to do honor to this noble woman. + +The camps that have undertaken the erection of this monument do honor +to themselves in thus commemorating the virtues of the heroine, Lucy +Ann Cox. + + +"ONE OF THEM LEES" + +[Phoebe Y. Pember, in Hospital Life.] + +There was little conversation carried on, no necessity for +introductions, and no names ever asked or given. This indifference to +personality was a peculiarity strongly exhibited in hospitals; for +after nursing a sick or wounded patient for months, he has often left +without any curiosity as regarded my name, my whereabouts, or indeed +anything connected with me. A case in point was related by a friend. +When the daughter of our general had devoted much time and care to a +sick man in one of the hospitals, he seemed to feel so little +gratitude for the attention paid him that her companion to rouse him +told him that Miss Lee was his nurse. "Lee, Lee?" he said. "There are +some Lees down in Mississippi who keeps a tavern there. Is she one of +them Lees?" + +Almost of the same style, although a little worse, was the remark of +one sick, poor fellow who had been wounded in the head and who, though +sensible enough ordinarily, would feel the effect of the sun on his +brain when exposed to its influence. After advising him to wear a wet +paper doubled into the crown of his hat, more from a desire to show +some interest in him than from any belief in its efficacy, I paused at +the door long enough to hear him ask the ward-master, "who that was?" + +"Why, that is the matron of the hospital; she gives you all the food +you eat, and attends to things." + +"Well," said he, "I always did think this government was a confounded +sell, and now I am sure of it, when they put such a little fool to +manage such a big hospital as this." + + +SOUTHERN WOMEN IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 32, pages 146-150. T. C. +DeLeon, in New Orleans _Picayune_.] + +The great German who wrote: + + "Honor to woman! to her it is given + To garden the earth with roses of heaven!" + +precisely described the Confederate conditions--a century in advance. +True, constant, brave and enduring, the men were; but the women set +even the bravest and most steadfast example. Nor was this confined to +any one section of the country. The "girl with the calico dress" of +the lowland farms; the "merry mountain maid" of the hill country, and +the belles of society in the cities, all vied with each other in +efforts to serve the men who had gone to the front to fight for home +and for them. And there was no section of the South where this desire +to do all they might and more was oftener in evidence than another. In +every camp of the early days of the great struggle the incoming troops +bore trophies of home love, and as the war progressed to need, then to +dire want, the sacrifices of those women at home became almost a poem, +and one most pathetic. Dress--misconceived as the feminine fetich--was +forgotten in the effort to clothe the boys at the front; the family +larder--ill-stocked at the best--was depleted to nothingness, to send +to distant camps those delicacies--so equally freighted with +tenderness and dyspepsia--which too often never reached their +destination. And later, the carpets were taken from the floors, the +curtains from the windows--alike in humble homes and in dwellings of +the rich--to be cut in blankets for the uncomplaining fellows, +sleeping on freezing mud. + +So wide, so universal, was the rule of self-sacrifice, that no one +reference to it can do justice to the zeal and devotion of "Our +Girls." And the best proof of both was in the hospitals, where soon +began to congregate the maimed and torn forms of those just sent +forth to glory and victory. This was the trial that tested the +grain and purity of our womanhood, and left it without alloy of fear +or selfishness. And some of the women who wrought in home and +hospital--even in trench and on the firing line--for the "boys," +had never before handled aught rougher than embroidery, or seen +aught more fearsome than its needle-prick. Yes, these untried +women, young and old, stood fire like veteran regulars, indeed, even +more bravely in moral view, for they missed the stimulus of the +charge--the tonic in the thought of striking back. + +During the entire war--and through the entire South--it was the +hospital that illustrated the highest and best traits of the tried and +stricken people. Doubtless, there was good work done by the women of +the North, and much of it. Happily, for the sanity of the nation, +American womanhood springs from one common stock. It is ever true to +its own, as a whole--and, for aught I shall deny--individually. But +behind that Chinese wall of wood and steel blockade, then nursing was +not an episode. It was grave duty, grim labor; heartbreaking +endurance--all self-imposed, and lasting for years, yet shirked and +relinquished only for cause. + +But the dainty little hands that tied the red bandages, or "held the +artery" unflinching; the nimble feet that wearied not by fever cot, or +operating table, the active months of war, grew nimbler still on +bridle, or in the dances when "the boys" came home. This was sometimes +on "flying furlough," or when an aid, or courier, with dispatches, was +told to wait. Then "the one girl" was mounted on anything that could +carry her; and the party would ride far to the front, in full view of +the enemy, and often in point-blank range. Or, it was when frozen ruts +made roads impassable for invader and defender; and the furlough was +perhaps easier, and longer. Then came those now historic dances, the +starvation parties, where rank told nothing, and where the only +refreshment came in that intoxicant--a woman's voice and eyes. + +Then came the "Dies Irae," when the Southern Rachel sat in the ashes +of her desolation and her homespun was sackcloth. And even she rose +supreme. By her desolate hearth, with her larder empty, and only her +aching heart full, she still forced a smile for the home-coming "boy" +through the repressed tears for the one left, somewhere in the fight. + +In Richmond, Atlanta, Charleston and elsewhere was she bitter and +unforgiving? If she drew her faded skirt--ever a black one, in that +case--from the passing blue, was it "treason," or human nature? +Thinkers who wore the blue have time and oft declared the latter. Was +she "unreconstructed?" Her wounds were great and wondrous sore. She +was true, then, to her faith. That she is to-day to the reunited land +let the fathers of Spanish war heroes tell. She needs no monument; it +is reared in the hearts of true men, North and South. + + +A MOTHER OF THE CONFEDERACY + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 22, pages 63-64. From the +Memphis, Tenn., _Appeal-Avalanche_, June 30, 1894.] + +Just upon the eve of preparations by ex-Confederates to celebrate the +Fourth of July in a becoming manner and spirit, the sad news is +announced of the death of the venerable Mrs. Law, known all over the +South as one of the mothers of the Confederacy. She was also truly a +mother in Israel, in the highest Christian sense. Her life had been +closely connected with that of many leading actors in the late war, in +which she herself bore an essential part. She passed away, June 28th, +at Idlewild, one of the suburbs of Memphis, nearly 89 years of age. + +She was born on the River Yadkin, in Wilson County, North Carolina, +August 27, 1805, and at the time of her death was doubtless the oldest +person in Shelby County. Her mother's maiden name was Charity King. +Her father, Chapman Gordon, served in the Revolutionary War, under +Generals Marion and Sumter. She came of a long-lived race of people. +Her mother lived to be 93 years of age, and her brother, Rev. Hezekiah +Herndon Gordon, who was the father of General John B. Gordon (now +Senator from Georgia), lived to the age of 92 years. + +Sallie Chapman Gordon was married to Dr. John S. Law, near Eatonton, +Georgia, on the 28th day of June, 1825. A few years later she became a +member of the Presbyterian Church, in Forsyth, Georgia, and her name +was afterward transferred to the rolls of the Second Presbyterian +Church in Memphis, of which church she remained a member as long as +she lived. + +She became an active worker in hospitals, and when nothing more could +be done in Memphis she went through the lines and rendered substantial +aid and comfort to the soldiers in the field. Her services, if fully +recorded, would make a book. She was so recognized that upon one +occasion General Joseph E. Johnston had 30,000 of his bronzed and +tattered soldiers to pass in review in her honor at Dalton. Such a +distinction was, perhaps, never accorded to any other woman in the +South--not even Mrs. Jefferson Davis or the wives of great generals. +Yet, so earnest and sincere in her work was she that she commanded the +respect and reverence of men wherever she was known. After the war she +strove to comfort the vanquished and encourage the down-hearted, and +continued in her way to do much good work. + + +"THE GREAT EASTERN" + +[In Christ in Camp, pages 94-98; J. William Jones, D. D.] + +Here is another sketch of a soldier's friend who labored in some of +our largest hospitals. + +"She is a character," writes a soldier. "A Napoleon of her department, +with the firmness and courage of Andrew, she possesses all the energy +and independence of Stonewall Jackson. The officials hate her; the +soldiers adore her. The former name her 'The Great Eastern,' and steer +wide of her track, the latter go to her in all their wants and +troubles, and know her by the name of 'Miss Sally.' She joined the +army in one of the regiments from Alabama, about the time of the +battle of Manassas, and never shrunk from the stern privations of the +soldier's life from the moment of leaving camp to follow her wounded +and sick Alabamians to the hospitals of Richmond. Her services are not +confined, however, to the sick and wounded from Alabama. Every sick +soldier has now a claim on her sympathy. Why, but yesterday, my system +having succumbed to the prevailing malaria of the hospital, she came +to my room, though a stranger, with my ward nurse, and in the kindest +manner offered me her pillow of feathers, with case as tidy as the +driven snow. The very sight of it was soothing to an aching brow, and +I blessed her from heart and lips as well. I must not omit to tell why +'Miss Sally' is so disliked by many of the officials. Like all women +of energy, she has eyes whose penetration few things escape, and a +sagacity fearful or admirable, as the case may be, to all interested. +If any abuse is pending, or in progress in the hospital, she is +quickly on the track, and if not abated, off 'The Great Eastern' sails +to headquarters. A few days ago one of the officials of the division +sent a soldier to inform her that she must vacate her room instantly. +'Who sent you with that message to me?' she asked him, turning +suddenly around. 'Dr. ----,' the soldier answered. 'Pish!' she +replied, and swept on in ineffable contempt to the bedside, perhaps, +of some sick soldier." + + +CORDIAL FOR THE BRAVE + +[Eggleston's Recollections, pages 70-71.] + +The ingenuity with which these good ladies discovered or manufactured +onerous duties for themselves was surprising, and having discovered or +imagined some new duty they straightway proceeded to do it at any +cost. + +An excellent Richmond dame was talking with a soldier friend, when he +carelessly remarked that there was nothing which so greatly helped to +keep up a contented and cheerful spirit among the men as the receipt +of letters from their woman friends. Catching at the suggestion as a +revelation of duty, she asked, "And cheerfulness makes better soldiers +of the men, does it not?" Receiving yes for an answer, the frail +little woman, already over-burdened with cares of an unusual sort, sat +down and made out a list of all the men with whom she was acquainted +even in the smallest possible way, and from that day until the end of +the war she wrote one letter a week to each, a task which, as her +acquaintance was large, taxed her time and strength very severely. +Not content with this, she wrote on the subject in the newspapers, +earnestly urging a like course upon her sisters, many of whom adopted +the suggestion at once, much to the delight of the soldiers, who +little dreamed that the kindly, cheerful, friendly letters which every +mail brought into camp were a part of woman's self-appointed work for +the success of the common cause. From the beginning to the end of the +war it was the same. + + +HOSPITAL WORK AND WOMEN'S DELICACY + +[Phoebe Y. Pember, in Hospital Life.] + +There is one subject connected with hospitals on which a few words +should be said--the distasteful one that a woman must lose a +certain amount of delicacy and reticence in filling any office in +them. How can this be? There is no unpleasant exposure under proper +arrangements, and if even there be, the circumstances which +surround a wounded man, far from friends and home, suffering in a +holy cause and dependent upon a woman for help, care and sympathy, +hallow and clear the atmosphere in which she labors. That woman +must indeed be hard and gross who lets one material thought lessen +her efficiency. In the midst of suffering and death, hoping with +those almost beyond hope in this world; praying by the bedside of the +lonely and heart-stricken; closing the eyes of boys hardly old enough +to realize man's sorrow, much less suffer by man's fierce hate, a +woman must soar beyond the conventional modesty considered correct +under different circumstances. + +If the ordeal does not chasten and purify her nature, if the +contemplation of suffering and endurance does not make her wiser and +better, and if the daily fire through which she passes does not draw +from her nature the sweet fragrance of benevolence, charity, and +love,--then, indeed, a hospital has been no fit place for her. + + +A WAYSIDE HOME AT MILLEN + +[Electra Tyler Deloache, in Augusta _Chronicle_, October 29, 1905.] + +Only a few of the present inhabitants of Millen know that it was once +famous as the location of a Confederate Wayside Home, where, during +the civil war, the soldiers were fed and cared for. The home was built +by public subscription and proved a veritable boon to the soldiers, as +many veterans now living can testify. + +The location of the town has been changed slightly since the 60's, for +in those days the car sheds were several hundred yards farther up the +Macon track, and were situated where the railroad crossing is now. The +hotel owned and run by Mr. Gray was first opposite the depot, and the +location is still marked by mock-orange trees and shrubbery. + +The Wayside Home was on the west side of the railroad crossing and was +opposite the house built in the railroad Y by Major Wilkins and +familiarly known here as the Berrien House. The old well still marks +the spot. The home was weather-boarded with rough planks running +straight up and down. It had four large rooms to the front, +conveniently furnished with cots, etc., for the accommodation of any +soldiers who were sick or wounded and unable to continue their +journey. A nurse was always on hand to attend to the wants of the +sick. Back of these rooms was a large dining hall and kitchen, where +the weary and hungry boys in gray could minister to the wants of the +inner man. And right royally they performed this pleasant duty, for +the table was always bountifully supplied with good things, donated by +the patriotic women of Burke county, who gladly emptied hearts and +home upon the altar of country. This work was entirely under the +auspices of the women of Burke. Mrs. Judge Jones, of Waynesboro, was +the first president of the home. She was succeeded by Mrs. Ransom +Lewis, who was second and last. She was quite an active factor in the +work, and it was largely due to her efforts that the home attained the +prominence that it did among similar institutions. + +Miss Annie Bailey, daughter of Captain Bailey, of Savannah, was matron +of the home. She was assisted in the work by committees of three +ladies, who, each in turn, spent several days at the home. The regular +servants were kept and extra help called in when needed. + +This home was to the weary and hungry Confederate soldier as an oasis +in the desert, for here he found rest and plenty beneath its shelter. +And the social feature was not its least attraction, when a bevy of +blooming girls from our bonny Southland would visit the home, and +midst feast and jest spur the boys on to renewed vigor in the cause of +the South. They felt amidst such inspirations it would be glorious to +die but more glorious to live for such a land of charming women. One +of our matrons with her sweet old face softened into a dreamy smile by +happy reminiscences of those days of toil, care, and sorrow, where +happy thoughts and pleasantries of the past crowded in and made little +rifts of sunshine through the war clouds, remarked: "But with all the +gloom and suffering, we girls used to have such fun with the soldiers +at the home, and at such times we could even forget that our loved +South was in the throes of the most terrible war in the history of any +country!" + +The home was operated for two years or more and often whole regiments +of soldiers came to it, and all that could be accommodated were taken +in and cared for. + +It was destroyed by Sherman's army on their march to the sea. The car +shed, depot, hotel and home all disappeared before the torch of the +destroyer and only the memory, the well, and the trees remain to mark +the historic spot where the heroic efforts of our Burke county women +sustained the Wayside Home through long years of the struggle. + +Mrs. Amos Whitehead and others who have "crossed the river" were +prominently connected with this work; in fact, every one lent a +helping hand, for it was truly a labor of love, and was our Southern +women's tribute to patriotism and heroism. + + +A NOBLE GIRL + +[From the _Floridian_, 1864.] + +Upon the arrival of the troops at Madison sent to reinforce our army +in East Florida, the ladies attended at the depot with provisions and +refreshments for the defenders of their home and country. Among the +brave war-worn soldiers who were rushing to the defence of our State +there was, in one of the Georgia regiments, a soldier boy, whose bare +feet were bleeding from the exposure and fatigue of the march. One of +the young ladies present, moved by the impulse of her sex, took the +shoes from her own feet, made the suffering hero put them on, and +walked home herself barefooted. Wherever Southern soldiers have +suffered and bled for their country's freedom, let this incident be +told for a memorial of Lou Taylor, of Madison county. + + +THE GOOD SAMARITAN + +[In Christ in Camp, pages 98-99; J. William Jones, D. D.] + +At Richmond, Va., there was a little model hospital known as the +"Samaritan," presided over by a lady who gave it her undivided +attention, and greatly endeared herself to the soldiers who were +fortunate enough to be sent there. "Through my son, a young soldier of +eighteen," writes a father, "I have become acquainted with this lady +superintendent, whose memory will live in many hearts when our present +struggle shall have ended. But for her motherly care and skilful +attention my son and many others must have died. One case of her +attention deserves special notice. A young man, who had been +previously with her, was taken sick in camp near Richmond. The surgeon +being absent, he lay for two weeks in his tent without medical aid. +She sent several requests to his captain to send him to her, but he +would not in the absence of the surgeon. She then hired a wagon and +went for him herself; the captain allowed her to take him away, and he +was soon convalescent. She says she feels that not their bodies only +but their souls are committed to her charge. Thus, as soon as they are +comfortably fixed in a good, clean bed, she inquires of every one if +he has chosen the good part; and through her instruction and prayers +several have been converted. Her house can easily accommodate twenty, +all in one room, which is made comfortable in winter with carpet and +stove, and adorned with wreaths of evergreen and paper flowers, and in +summer well ventilated, and the windows and yard filled with +green-house plants. A library of religious books is in the room, and +pictures are hung on the walls." + + +FEMALE RELATIVES VISIT THE HOSPITALS. + +[Phoebe Y. Pember, in Hospital Life.] + +There was no means of keeping the relations of patients from coming to +them. There had been rules made to meet their invasion, but it was +impossible to carry them out, as in the instance of a wife wanting to +remain with her husband; and, besides, even the better class of people +looked upon the comfort and care of a hospital as a farce. They +resented the detention there of men who in many instances could lie in +bed and point to their homes within sight, and argued that they would +have better attention and food if allowed to go to their families. +That _maladie du pays_ called commonly nostalgia, the homesickness +which rings the heart and impoverishes the blood, killed many a brave +soldier, and the matron who day by day had to stand helpless and +powerless by the bed of the sufferer, knowing that a week's furlough +would make his heart sing with joy and save his wife from widowhood, +learned the most bitter lesson of endurance that could be taught. + +My hospital was now entirely composed of Virginians and Marylanders, +and the nearness to the homes of the former entailed upon me an +increase of care in the shape of wives, sisters, cousins, aunts, and +whole families, including the historic baby at the breast. They came +in troops, and, hard as it was to know how to dispose of them, it was +harder to send them away. Sometimes they brought their provisions with +them, but not often, and even when they did there was no place for +them to cook their food. It must be remembered that everything was +reduced to the lowest minimum, even fuel. They could not remain all +day in the wards with men around them, and if even they were so +willing, the restraint on wounded, restless patients who wanted to +throw their limbs about with freedom during the hot days was +unbearable. + +Generally their only idea of kindness was giving the sick men what +food they would take in any quantity and of every quality, and in the +furtherance of their views they were pugnacious in the extreme. +Whenever rules circumscribed their plans they abused the government, +then the hospitals, and then myself. Many ludicrous incidents happened +daily, and I have often laughed heartily at seeing the harassed +ward-master heading away a pertinacious female who, failing to get +past him at the door, would try the three others perseveringly. They +seemed to think it a pious and patriotic duty not to be afraid or +ashamed under any circumstances. One sultry day I found a whole +family, accompanied by two young lady friends, seated around a sick +man's bed. As I passed through six hours later, they held the same +position. + +"Had not you all better go home?" I said good-naturedly. + +"We came to see my cousin," answered one very crossly. "He is +wounded." + +"But you have been with him all morning and that is a restraint upon +the other men. Come again to-morrow." + +A consultation was held, but when it ceased no movement was made, the +older ones only lighting their pipes and smoking in silence. + +"Will you come back to-morrow and go now?" + +"No! You come into the wards when you please, and so will we." + +"But it is my duty to do so. Besides, I always ask permission to +enter, and never stay longer than fifteen minutes at a time." + +Another unbroken silence, which was a trial to any patience left, and +finding no movement made, I handed some clothing to the patient near. + +"Here is a clean shirt and drawers for you, Mr. Wilson. Put them on as +soon as I get out of the ward." + +I had hardly reached my kitchen, when the whole procession, pipes and +all, passed me solemnly and angrily; but, for many days, and even +weeks, there was no ridding the place of this large family connection. +Their sins were manifold. They overfed their relative who was +recovering from an attack of typhoid fever, and even defiantly seized +the food for the purpose from under my very nose. They marched on me +_en-masse_ at 10 o'clock at night, with a requisition from the boldest +for sleeping quarters. The steward was summoned, and said "he didn't +keep a hotel," so in a weak moment of pity for their desolate state, I +imprudently housed them in my laundry. They entrenched themselves +there for six days, making predatory incursions into my kitchen during +my temporary absences, ignoring Miss G. completely. The object of +their solicitude recovered and was sent to the field, and finding my +writs of ejectment were treated with contemptuous silence, I sought an +explanation. The same spokeswoman alluded to above met me half-way. +She said a battle was imminent she had heard, and she had determined +to remain, as her husband might be wounded. In the ensuing press of +business she was forgotten, and strangely enough, her husband was +brought in with a bullet in his neck the following week. The back is +surely fitted to the burden, so I contented myself with retaking my +laundry and letting her shift for herself, while a whole month slipped +away. One morning my arrival was greeted with a general burst of +merriment from everybody I met, white and black. Experience had made +me sage, and my first question was a true shot, right in the center. + +"Where is Mrs. Daniels?" + +She had always been spokeswoman. + +"In ward G. She has sent for you two or three times." + +"What is the matter now?" + +"You must go and see." + +There was something going on either amusing or amiss. I entered ward +G, and walked up to Daniel's bed. One might have heard a pin drop. + +I had supposed, up to this time, that I had been called upon to bear +and suffer every annoyance that humanity and the state of the country +could inflict, but here was something most unexpectedly in addition; +for lying composedly on her husband's cot (for he had relinquished it +for the occasion) lay Mrs. Daniels and her baby (just two hours old). + +The conversation that ensued is not worth repeating, being more of the +nature of a soliloquy. The poor wretch had ventured into a bleak and +comfortless portion of the world, and its inhuman mother had not +provided a rag to cover it. No one could scold her at such a time, +however ardently they might desire to do so. But what was to be done? +I went in search of my chief surgeon, and our conversation although +didactic was hardly satisfactory on the subject. + +"Doctor, Mrs. Daniels has a baby. She is in ward G. What shall I do +with her?" + +"A baby! Ah, indeed! You must get it some clothes." + +"What must I do with her?" + +"Move her to an empty ward and give her some tea and toast." + +This was offered, but Mrs. Daniels said she would wait until dinner +time and have some bacon and greens. + +The baby was a sore annoyance. The ladies of Richmond made up a +wardrobe, each contributing some article, and at the end of the month, +Mrs. D., the child, and a basket of clothing and provisions were sent +to the cars with a return ticket to her home in western Virginia. + + +Sadie Curry And "Clara Fisher" + +[I. L. U.] + +In later years of the war a great many of the wounded soldiers were +brought from east and west to Augusta, Ga. Immediately the people from +the country on both sides of the Savannah River came in and took +hundreds of the poor fellows to their homes and nursed them with every +possible kindness. Ten miles up the river, on the Carolina side, was +the happy little village of Curryton, named for Mr. Joel Curry and his +father, the venerable Lewis Curry. Here, many a poor fellow from +distant States was taken in most cordially and every home was a +temporary hospital. Among those nursed at Mr. Curry's, whose house was +always a home for the preacher, the poor man, and the soldier, was +Major Crowder, who suffered long from a painful and fatal wound, and a +stripling boy soldier from Kentucky, Elijah Ballard, whose hip wound +made him a cripple for life. + +Miss Sadie Curry nursed both, night and day, as she did others, when +necessary, like a sister. Her zeal never flagged, and her strength +never gave way. After young Ballard, who was totally without +education, became strong enough, she taught him to read and write, and +when the war ended he went home prepared to be a book-keeper. Others +received like kindness. + +But this noble girl had from the beginning of the war made it her +daily business to look after the families of the poorer soldiers in +the neighborhood. She mounted her horse daily and made her round of +angel visits. If she found anybody sick she reported to the kind and +patriotic Dr. Hugh Shaw. If any of the families lacked meal or other +provisions, it was reported to her father, who would send meal from +his mill or bacon from his smoke-house. + +In appreciation of her heroic work, her father and her gallant +brother-in-law, Major Robert Meriwether, who was in the Virginia army, +now living in Brazil, bought a beautiful Tennessee riding horse and +gave it to her. She named it "Clara Fisher" and many poor hearts in +old Edgefield were made sad and many tears shed in the fall of 1864, +when Sadie Curry and "Clara Fisher" moved to southwest Georgia. + +Bless God, there were many Sadie Currys all over the South, wherever +there was a call and opportunity. Miss Sadie married Dr. H. D. Hudson +and later in life Rev. Dr. Rogers, of Augusta, where she died a few +years ago. + + +MANIA FOR MARRIAGE + +[In Diary of a Refugee, pages 329-330.] + +There seems to be a perfect mania on the subject of matrimony. Some of +the churches may be seen open and lighted almost every night for +bridals, and wherever I turn, I hear of marriages in prospect. + + "In peace Love tunes the shepherd's reed; + In war he mounts the warrior's steed," + +sings the "Last Minstrel" of the Scottish days of romance; and I do +not think that our modern warriors are a whit behind them, either in +love or war. My only wonder is, that they find time for love-making +amid the storms of warfare. Just at this time, however, I suppose our +valiant knights and ladies fair are taking advantage of the short +respite, caused by alternate snows and sunshine of our variable +climate having made the roads impassable to Grant's artillery and +baggage-wagons. + +A soldier in our hospital called to me as I passed his bed the other +day, "I say, Mrs. ----, when do you think my wound will be well enough +for me to go to the country?" + +"Before very long, I hope." + +"But what does the doctor say, for I am mighty anxious to go?" + +I looked at his disabled limb and talked to him hopefully of his being +able to enjoy country air in a short time. + +"Well, try to get me up, for, you see, it ain't the country air I'm +after, but I wants to get married, and the lady don't know that I am +wounded, and maybe she'll think I don't want to come." + +"Ah," said I, "but you must show her your scars, and if she is a girl +worth having she will love you all the better for having bled for your +country, and you must tell her that-- + + "'It is always the heart that is bravest in war + That is fondest and truest in love.'" + +He looked perfectly delighted with the idea; and as I passed him again +he called out, "Lady, please stop a minute and tell me the verse over +again, for, you see, when I do get there, if she is affronted, I wants +to give her the prettiest excuse I can, and I think that verse is +beautiful." + + +GOVERNMENT CLERKSHIPS + +[In Richmond During the War, pages 174-175.] + +From the Treasury Department, the employment of female clerks extended +to various offices in the War Department, the Post Office Department, +and indeed every branch of business connected with the government. +They were all found efficient and useful. By this means many young men +could be sent into the ranks, and by testimony of the chiefs of +bureaus, the work left for the women was better done; for they were +more conscientious in their duties than the more self-satisfied, but +not better qualified, male attaches of the government offices. The +experiment of placing women in government clerkships proved eminently +successful, and grew to be extremely popular under the Confederate +government. + +Many a young girl remembers with gratitude the kindly encouragement of +our Adjutant-General Cooper, our chief of ordnance, Colonel Gorgas, or +the first auditor of the Confederate treasury, Judge Bolling Baker, or +Postmaster-General Reagan, and various other officials, of whom their +necessities drove them to seek employment. The most high-born ladies +of the land filled these places as well as the humble poor; but none +could obtain employment under the government who could not furnish +testimonials of intelligence and superior moral worth. + + +SCHOOLS IN WAR TIMES + +[In Richmond During the War, pages 188-189.] + +As the war went on a marked change was made in the educational +interests of the South. For a certain number of pupils, the teachers +of schools were exempt from military duty. To their credit be it +recorded that few, comparatively, availed themselves of this +exception, and the care of instructing the youth devolved, with other +added responsibilities, upon the women of the country. Only the boys +under conscript age were found in the schools; all older were made +necessary in the field or in some department of government service, +unless physical inability prevented them from falling under the +requirements of the law. Many of our colleges for males suspended +operation, and at the most important period in the course of their +education our youths were instructed in the sterner lessons of +military service. + + +HUMANITY IN THE HOSPITALS + +[Richmond _Enquirer_, June 6, 1862.] + +In our visits to the various hospitals, we cannot but remark, admire, +and commend the kindly harmony and sweet-tempered familiarity which +mark the intercourse of the ladies who have devoted themselves to the +care of the sick and the wounded. There is a unity in the actions and +solicitude of all which only a unity of motive could induce. The +amiable and unpretending sister of mercy, the earnest bright-eyed +Jewish girl and the womanly, gentle, and energetic Protestant, mingle +their labors with a freedom and geniality which would teach the most +prejudiced zealot a lesson that would never be forgotten. The +necessity of charity, once demonstrated, teaches us that we are one +kindred, after all, and whatever differences may exist in the peculiar +tenets of the many, all hearts are alike open to the same impulses, +and the couch of suffering at once commands their sympathy and reminds +them of an identity of hope and a common fate. + + +MRS. DAVIS AND THE FEDERAL PRISONER + +[Augusta, Ga., _Constitutionalist_.] + +A clerical friend of ours in passing through one of our streets a few +days since, to perform a ministerial duty--attending to the sick and +wounded in the hospitals--encountered a stranger, who accosted him +thus: "My friend, can you tell me if Mrs. Jeff Davis is in the city of +Augusta?" + +"No, sir," replied our friend. "She is not." + +"Well, sir," replied the stranger, "you may be surprised at my asking +such a question, and more particularly so when I inform you that I am +a discharged United States soldier. But (and here he evinced great +feeling), sir, that lady has performed acts of kindness to me which I +can never forget. When serving in the valley of Virginia, battling for +the Union, I received a severe and dangerous wound. At the same time I +was taken prisoner and conveyed to Richmond, where I received such +kindness and attention from Mrs. Davis that I can never forget her; +and, now that I am discharged from the army and at work in this city, +and understanding that the lady was here, I wish to call upon her, +renew my expressions of gratitude to her, and offer to share with her, +should she unfortunately need it, the last cent I have in the world." + +Can it be truly charged on a nation that it was wantonly, criminally +cruel, when a generous foe bears testimony to the mercy, kindness, and +lowly service of the highest lady of the land? + + +SOCKS THAT NEVER WORE OUT + +General Gordon tells of a simple-hearted country Confederate woman who +gave a striking idea of the straits to which our people were reduced +later in the war. She explained that her son's only pair of socks did +not wear out, because, said she: "When the feet of the socks get full +of holes, I just knit new feet to the tops, and when the tops wear out +I just knit new tops to the feet." + + +BURIAL OF AUNT MATILDA + +[Mrs. R. A. Pryor's Reminiscences.] + +This precise type of a Virginia plantation will never appear again, I +imagine. I wish I could describe a plantation wedding as I saw it that +summer. But a funeral of one of the old servants was peculiarly +interesting to me. "Aunt Matilda" had been much loved and, when she +found herself dying, she had requested that the mistress and little +children should attend her funeral. + +"I ain' been much to church," she urged. "I couldn't leave my babies. +I ain' had dat shoutin' an' hollerin' religion, but I gwine to heaven +jes' de same"--a fact of which nobody who knew Aunt Matilda could have +the smallest doubt. + +We had a long, warm walk behind hundreds of negroes, following the +rude coffin in slow procession through the woods, singing antiphonally +as they went, one of those strange, weird hymns not to be caught by +any Anglo-Saxon voice. + +It was a beautiful and touching scene, and at the grave I longed for +an artist (we had no kodaks then) to perpetuate the picture. The level +rays of the sun were filtered through the green leaves of the forest, +and fell gently on the dusky pathetic faces, and on the simple coffin +surrounded by orphan children and relatives, very dignified and quiet +in their grief. + +The spiritual patriarch of the plantation presided. Old Uncle Abel +said: + +"I ain' gwine keep you all long. 'Tain' no use. We can't do nothin' +for Sis' Tildy. All is done fer her, an' she done preach her own +fune'al sermon. Her name was on dis church book here, but dat warn' +nothin'; no doubt 'twas on de Lamb book, too. + +"Now, whiles dey fillin' up her grave, I'd like you all to sing a hymn +Sis' Tildy uster love, but you all know I bline in one eye, an' I +dunno as any o' you all ken do it"--and the first thing I knew, the +old man had passed his well-worn book to me, and there I stood at the +foot of the grave, "lining out": + + "'Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, + From which none ever wake to weep.'" + +Words of immortal comfort to the great throng of negro mourners who +caught it up line after line, on an air of their own, full of tears +and tenderness,--a strange, weird tune no white person's voice could +ever follow. + + +"ILLEGANT PAIR OF HANDS" + +[Phoebe Y. Pember.] + +A large number of the surgeons were absent, and the few left would not +be able to attend to all the wounds at that late hour of the night. I +proposed in reply that the convalescent men should be placed on the +floor on blankets or bed-sacks filled with straw, and the wounded take +their place, and, purposely construing his silence into consent, gave +the necessary orders, eagerly offering my services to dress simple +wounds, and extolling the strength of my nerves. He let me have my way +(may his ways be of pleasantness and his paths of peace), and so, +giving Miss G. orders to make an unlimited supply of coffee, tea, and +stimulants, armed with lint, bandages, castile soap, and a basin of +warm water, I made my first essay in the surgical line. I had been +spectator often enough to be skilful. The first object that needed my +care was an Irishman. He was seated upon a bed with his hands crossed, +wounded in both arms by the same bullet. The blood was soon washed +away, wet lint applied, and no bones being broken, the bandages easily +arranged. + +"I hope that I have not hurt you much," I said with some trepidation. +"These are the first wounds that I have ever dressed." + +"Sure, they be the most illegant pair of hands that ever touched me, +and the lightest," he gallantly answered. "And I am all right now." + + +THE GUN-BOAT "RICHMOND" + +[Scharf's Confederate Navy.] + +The "Ladies' Defence Association" was then formed at Richmond, +with Mrs. Maria G. Clopton, president; Mrs. General Henningsen, +vice-president; Mrs. R. H. Maury, treasurer, and Mrs. John Adams +Smith, secretary. At its meeting, on April 9th, an address, +prepared by Captain J. S. Maury, was read by Rev. Dr. Doggett. In this +address it was eloquently stated that the first efforts of the +association would be "directed to the building and putting afloat +in the waters of the James River a steam man-of-war, clad in +shot-proof armor; her panoply to be after the manner of that +gallant ship, the noble _Virginia_." Committees were appointed to +solicit subscriptions, and so much encouragement was received that +the managers of the association called upon President Davis for +sanction of its purpose, which he gladly gave, and it was announced +that the keel of the vessel would be laid in a few days; that +Commander Farrand would be in charge of the work, and that he would be +assisted by Ship-builder Graves. + +Words can but inadequately represent the energy with which the women +of Virginia undertook this work, or the sacrifices which they made to +complete it. That their jewels and their household plate, heirlooms, +in many instances, that had been handed down from generation to +generation and were the embodiments of ancestral rank and tradition, +were freely given up, is known. "Virginia," said they in their appeal, +"when she sent her sons into this war, gave up her jewels to it. Let +not her daughters hold back. Mothers, wives, sisters! what are your +ornaments of silver and gold in decoration, when by dedicating them to +a cause like this, you may in times like these strengthen the hand or +nerve the arm, or give comfort to the heart that beats and strikes in +your defence! Send them to us." + +The organization, moreover, did not confine itself to urging upon the +women of the State that this was particularly their contribution to +the maintenance of the Confederacy. "Iron railings," the address +continued, "old and new, scrap-iron about the house, broken +ploughshares about the farm, and iron in any shape, though given in +quantities ever so small, will be thankfully received if delivered at +the Tredegar Works, where it may be put into the furnace, reduced, and +wrought into shape or turned into shot and shell." A friendly invasion +of the tobacco factories was made by a committee of ladies, consisting +of Mrs. Brooke Gwathney, Mrs. B. Smith, and Mrs. George T. Brooker, +and the owners cheerfully broke up much of their machinery that was +available for the specified purpose. Mrs. R. H. Maury, treasurer of +the association, took charge of the contributions in money, plate, and +jewelry; the materials and tools were sent to Commodore Farrand, and +an agent, S. D. Hicks, was appointed to receive the contributions of +grain, country produce, etc., that were sent in by Virginia farmers to +be converted into cash. By the end of April the construction had +reached an advanced stage; President Davis and Secretary Mallory had +congratulated the Ladies' Association upon the assured success of its +self-allotted task, and by the sale of articles donated to a public +bazaar or fair, almost a sufficient sum to complete the ship was +secured. + +The _Richmond_ was completed in July, 1862, and although detailed +descriptions are lacking all mention made of her is unanimous that +she was an excellent ship of her type. Captain Parker says that "she +was a fine vessel, built on the plan of the _Virginia_." + + Note.--Mrs. General Henningsen received from New Orleans boxes + containing articles to be sold for contribution to building the + Richmond. Among the articles were two beautiful vases, which were + bought by a gentleman of Richmond and are now in the possession of + his family. The Richmond was destroyed on the evacuation of the + Capital City.--J. L. U. + + +CAPTAIN SALLY TOMPKINS + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +Southern women have cared little for public honors nor have they +courted masculine titles. But a recent number of the Richmond +_Times-Dispatch_ recalls the pleasant bit of history that in the case +of Miss Sallie Tompkins a remarkable honor was deservedly conferred +upon a worthy Virginia girl by the Confederate authorities. + +While yet a very young woman Miss Tompkins used her ample means to +establish in Richmond a private hospital for Confederate soldiers. She +not only provided for its support at her own expense, but devoted her +time to the work of nursing the patients. + +The wounded were brought into the city by the hundreds and there was +hardly a private house without its quota of sick and wounded. Quite a +number of private hospitals were established but, unlike Miss +Tompkins's splendid institution, charges were made by some of them for +services rendered. In course of time abuses grew with the system, and +General Lee ordered that they all be closed--all except the hospital +of Miss Tompkins. This was recognized as too helpful to the +Confederate cause to be abolished. + +In order to preserve it it had to be brought under government control, +and to do this General Lee ordered a commission as captain in the +Confederate army to be issued to Miss Sallie Tompkins. Though a +government hospital from that time on, Captain Tompkins conducted it +as before, paying its expenses out of her private purse. + +The veterans are proud of her record, and a movement is now on foot +among them to place Captain Tompkins in a position of independence as +long as she lives. + + +THE ANGEL OF THE HOSPITAL + +[From the Gray Jacket, pages 143-146.] + + 'Twas nightfall in the hospital. The day, + As though its eyes were dimmed with bloody rain + From the red clouds of war, had quenched its light, + And in its stead some pale, sepulchral lamps + Shed their dim lustre in the halls of pain, + And flitted mystic shadows o'er the walls. + + No more the cry of "Charge! On, soldiers, on!" + Stirred the thick billows of the sulphurous air; + But the deep moan of human agony, + From the pale lips quivering as they strove in vain + To smother mortal pain, appalled the ear, + And made the life-blood curdle in the heart. + Nor flag, nor bayonet, nor plume, nor lance, + Nor burnished gun, nor clarion call, nor drum, + Displayed the pomp of battle; but instead + The tourniquet, the scalpel, and the draught, + The bandage, and the splint were strewn around-- + Dumb symbols, telling more than tongues could speak + The awful shadows of the fiend of war. + + Look! Look! What gentle form with cautious step + Passes from couch to couch as silently + As yon faint shadows flickering on the walls, + And, bending o'er the gasping sufferer's head, + Cools his flushed forehead with the icy bath, + From her own tender hand, or pours the cup + Whose cordial powers can quench the inward flame + That burns his heart to ashes, or with voice + As tender as a mother's to her babe, + Pours pious consolation in his ear. + She came to one long used in war's rude scenes-- + A soldier from his youth, grown gray in arms, + Now pierced with mortal wounds. Untutored, rough, + Though brave and true, uncared for by the world. + His life had passed without a friendly word, + Which timely spoken to his willing ear, + Had wakened God-like hopes, and filled his heart + With the unfading bloom of sacred truth. + Beside his couch she stood, and read the page + Of heavenly wisdom and the law of love, + And bade him follow the triumphant chief + Who bears the unconquered banner of the cross. + The veteran heard with tears and grateful smile, + Like a long-frozen fount whose ice is touched + By the restless sun, and melts away, + And, fixing his last gaze on her and heaven, + Went to the Judge in penitential prayer. + + She passed to one, in manhood's blooming prime, + Lately the glory of the martial field, + But now, sore-scathed by the fierce shock of arms, + Like a tall pine shattered by the lightning's stroke, + Prostrate he lay, and felt the pangs of death, + And saw its thickening damps obscure the light + Which make our world so beautiful. Yet those + He heeded not. His anxious thoughts had flown + O'er rivers and illimitable woods, + To his fair cottage in the Western wilds, + Where his young bride and prattling little ones-- + Poor hapless little ones, chafed by the wolf of war-- + Watched for the coming of the absent one + In utter desolation's bitterness. + O, agonizing thought! which smote his heart + With sharper anguish than the sabre's point. + The angel came with sympathetic voice, + And whispered in his ear: "Our God will be + A husband to the widow, and embrace + The orphan tenderly within his arms; + For human sorrow never cries in vain + To His compassionate ear." The dying man + Drank in her words with rapture; cheering hope + Shone like a rainbow in his tearful eyes, + And arched his cloud of sorrow, while he gave + The dearest earthly treasures of his heart, + In resignation to the care of God. + + A fair man-boy of fifteen summers tossed + His wasted limbs upon a cheerless couch. + Ah! how unlike the downy bed prepared + By his fond mother's love, whose tireless hands + No comforts for her only offspring spared + From earliest childhood, when the sweet babe slept, + Soft--nestling in her bosom all the night, + Like a half-blown lily sleeping on the heart + Of swelling summer wave, till that sad day + He left the untold treasure of her love + To seek the rude companionship of war. + The fiery fever struck his swelling brain + With raving madness, and the big veins throbbed + A death-knell on his temples, and his breath + Was hot and quick, as is the panting deer's, + Stretched by the Indian's arrow on the plain. + "Mother! Oh, mother!" oft his faltering tongue + Shrieked to the cold, bare wall, which echoed back + His wailing in the mocking of despair. + Oh! angel nurse, what sorrow wrung thy heart + For the young sufferer's grief! She knelt beside + The dying lad, and smoothed his tangled locks + Back from his aching brow, and wept and prayed + With all a woman's tenderness and love, + That the good Shepherd would receive this lamb, + Far wandering from the dear maternal fold, + And shelter him in His all-circling arms, + In the green valleys of Immortal rest. + + And so the angel passed from scene to scene + Of human suffering, like that blessed One, + Himself the man of sorrows and of grief, + Who came to earth to teach the law of love, + And pour sweet balm upon the mourner's heart, + And raise the fallen and restore the lost. + Bright vision of my dreams! thy light shall shine + Through all the darkness of this weary world-- + Its selfishness, its coolness, and its sin, + Pure as the holy evening star of love, + The brightest planet in the host of heaven. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THEIR TRIALS + + +OLD MAIDS + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +This would be a dark world without old maids--God bless them! No one +can measure their usefulness. Many a one of them has never married +because she has never found a man good enough for her. The saddest +mourners the world ever saw were some of our Southern girls whose +hearts and hopes were buried in a soldier's grave in Virginia or the +Far West. For four years the daughters of the South waited for their +lovers, and alas! many waited in a life widowhood of unutterable +sorrow. After the seven days' battles in front of Richmond a horseman +rode up to the door of one of the houses on ---- street in Richmond +and cried out to an anxious mother: "Your son is safe, but Captain +---- is killed." On the opposite side of the street a fair young girl +was sitting. She was the betrothed of the ill-fated captain, and heard +the crushing announcement. That's the way war made so many Southern +girls widows without coming to the marriage altar. + + "It matters little now, Lorena; + The past is the eternal past. + Our heads will soon lie low, Lorena; + Life's tide is ebbing out so fast + But, there's a future--oh, thank God-- + Of life this is so small a part; + 'Tis dust to dust beneath the sod, + But there--up there,--'tis heart to heart." + +The writer is so partial to the old maids of the Confederacy that he +is afraid of a charge of extravagance were he to say anything more. +But the author of this book is not the only one to admire and love +them. Hear what another old Confederate soldier says in the following +letter in the Atlanta _Journal_: + + SUGAR VALLEY, GA. + + DEAR MISS THOMAS: + + Will you permit an old Confederate soldier, who has nearly reached + his three-score and ten, to occupy a seat while he says a few + words? + + The old maids of to-day were young girls in my youthful days. They + were once young and happy and looked forward with bright hopes to + the future, while the flowers opened as pretty, the birds sung as + sweetly, and the sun shone as brightly as it does to the young + girls of to-day. They had sweethearts; they loved and were loved + in return; they had pleasant dreams of the coming future to be + passed in their own happy homes surrounded by husband and + children. But, alas! the dark war clouds lowered above the horizon + and all their bright dreams of the future were overcast with + gloom. They loved with a pure and unselfish devotion, but they + loved their country best. The young men of the sixties were the + first to respond to their country's call and marched away to the + front, to undergo the hardships and dangers of a soldier's life. + + Now, can you imagine the pangs that rent the maiden's breast as + she bid farewell, maybe for the last time this side of eternity, + to the one who was dearer than her own heart's blood, as she + watched his manly form clothed in his uniform of gray disappear in + the distance? She tried to be brave when she bade him go and fight + the battles of his country. She remained at home and prayed to an + all-wise and merciful God to spare him amidst the storm of iron + and lead, but her heart seemed rent in twain and all of her bright + hopes for the future seemed turned to ashes. The weary days and + months passed in dread suspense. + + Now and then a letter from the front revived her drooping spirits, + as her soldier boy told of his many escapes amid the charging + columns and roar of battle. After many months or maybe years she + received the sad tidings that her gallant soldier was no more; his + gallant spirit had flashed out with the guns, and his manly form, + wrapped in a soldier's blanket, had been consigned to an unmarked + grave far away from home and loved ones. The last rays of hope + fled, and she resigned herself to her sad and lonely fate. They + were true to their country in its sore distress, true to their + heroes wearing the gray, and true to their God who doeth all + things well. Could any one lead a more consecrated life? Now, let + us, instead of deriding, cast the veil of charity over their + desolate lives. + + The once smooth cheek is furrowed with the wrinkles of time, the + glossy braids have whitened with the snows of winter, the once + graceful form is bending under the weight of years, while the + bright eyes have grown dim watching, not for the soldier in gray, + but for the summons that calls her to meet him on that bright and + beautiful shore, there to be with loved ones who have gone before, + and receive the reward of "Well done, thou good and faithful + servant." Soon the last one of those patriotic women of the + sixties will have passed over the river, and their like may never + be seen again, but their love of home and country will be handed + down to generations yet unknown. + + With best wishes for the household, + + W. H. ANDREWS. + + +A MOTHER'S LETTER + +[From a dying soldier boy.] + +The Alabama papers in 1863 published the following letter from Private +John Moseley, a youth who gave up his life at Gettysburg: + + BATTLEFIELD, GETTYSBURG, PA., + _July 4, 1863_. + + DEAR MOTHER: + + I am here, prisoner of war and mortally wounded. I can live but a + few hours more at furthest. I was shot fifty yards from the + enemy's line. They have been exceedingly kind to me. I have no + doubt as to the final result of this battle, and I hope I may live + long enough to hear the shouts of victory before I die. I am very + weak. Do not mourn my loss. I had hoped to have been spared, but a + righteous God has ordered it otherwise, and I feel prepared to + trust my case in His hands. Farewell to you all. Pray that God may + receive my soul. + + Your unfortunate son, + + JOHN. + + +TOM AND HIS YOUNG MASTER + +[In Richmond During the War, pages 178-179.] + +A young soldier from Georgia brought with him to the war in Virginia a +young man who had been brought up with him on his father's plantation. +On leaving his home with his regiment, the mother of the young soldier +said to his negro slave: "Now, Tom, I commit your master Jemmy into +your keeping. Don't let him suffer for anything with which you can +supply him. If he is sick, nurse him well, my boy; and if he dies, +bring his body home to me; if wounded, take care of him; and oh! if he +is killed in battle, don't let him be buried on the field, but secure +his body for me, and bring him home to be buried!" The negro +faithfully promised his mistress that all her wishes should be +attended to, and came on to the seat of war charged with the grave +responsibility placed upon him. + +In one of the battles around Richmond the negro saw his young master +when he entered the fight, and saw him when he fell, but no more of +him. The battle became fierce, the dust and smoke so dense that the +company to which he was attached, wholly enveloped in the cloud, was +hidden from the sight of the negro, and it was not until the battle +was over that Tom could seek for his young master. He found him in a +heap of slain. Removing the mangled remains, torn frightfully by a +piece of shell, he conveyed them to an empty house, where he laid them +out in the most decent order he could, and securing the few valuables +found on his person, he sought a conveyance to carry the body to +Richmond. Ambulances were in too great requisition for those whose +lives were not extinct to permit the body of a dead man to be conveyed +in one of them. He pleaded most piteously for a place to bring in the +body of his young master. It was useless, and he was repulsed; but +finding some one to guard the dead, he hastened into the city and +hired a cart and driver to go out with him to bring in the body to +Richmond. + +When he arrived again at the place where he had left it, he was urged +to let it be buried on the field, and was told that he would not be +allowed to take it from Richmond, and therefore it were better to be +buried there. "I can't do it. I promised my mistress (his mother) to +bring his body home to her if he got killed, and I'll go home with it +or I'll die by it; I can't leave my master Jemmy here." The boy was +allowed to have the body and brought it to Richmond, where he was +furnished with a coffin, and the circumstances being made known, the +faithful slave, in the care of a wounded officer who went South, was +permitted to carry the remains of his master to his distant home in +Georgia. The heart of the mother was comforted in the possession of +the precious body of her child, and in giving it a burial in the +church-yard near his own loved home. + +Fee or reward for this noble act of fidelity would have been an insult +to the better feelings of this poor slave; but when he delivered up +the watch and other things taken from the person of his young master, +the mistress returned him the watch, and said: "Take this watch, Tom, +and keep it for the sake of my boy; 'tis but a poor reward for such +services as you have rendered him and his mother." The poor woman, +quite overcome, could only add: "God bless you, boy!" + + +"I KNEW YOU WOULD COME" + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 22, pages 58-59.] + +Col. W. R. Aylett tells the following tender story: + +Once during the war, when the lines of the enemy separated me from my +home, I was an inmate of my brother's Richmond home while suffering +from a wound. As soon as I could walk about a little, my first steps +were directed to Seabrook's Hospital to see some of my dear comrades +who were worse wounded than I. While sitting by the cot of a friend, +who was soon to "pass over the river and rest under the shade of the +trees," I witnessed a scene that I can hardly ever think of without +quickened pulse and moist eye. + +A beautiful boy, too young to fight and die, and a member of an +Alabama regiment, was dying from a terrible wound a few feet off. His +mother had been telegraphed for at his request. In the wild delirium +of his dying moments he had been steadily calling for her, "Oh, +mother, come; do come quickly!" Then, under the influence of opiates +given to smooth his entrance into eternal rest, he dozed and +slumbered. The thunders of the great guns along the lines of the +immortal Lee roused him up. Just then his dying eyes rested upon one +of the lovely matrons of Richmond advancing toward him. His reeling +brain and distempered imagination mistook her for his mother. Raising +himself up, with a wild, delirious cry of joy, which rang throughout +the hospital, he cried: "Oh, mother! I knew you would come! I knew you +would come! I can die easy now;" and she, humoring his illusion, let +him fall upon her bosom, and he died happy in her arms, her tears +flowing for him as if he had been her own son. + + +LETTERS FROM THE POOR AT HOME + +[Phoebe Y. Pember.] + +A thousand evidences of the loving care and energetic labor of the +patient ones at home, telling an affecting story that knocked hard at +the gates of the heart, were the portals ever so firmly closed; and +with all these came letters written by poor, ignorant ones who often +had no knowledge of how such communications should be addressed. +These letters, making inquiries concerning patients from anxious +relatives at home, directed oftener to my office than my home, came in +numbers, and were queer mixtures of ignorance, bad grammar, worse +spelling, and simple feeling. However absurd the style, the love that +filled them chastened and purified them. Many are stored away, and +though irresistibly ludicrous, are too sacred to print for public +amusement. In them could be detected the prejudices of the different +sections. One old lady in upper Georgia wrote a pathetic appeal for a +furlough for her son. She called me "My dear sir," while still +retaining my feminine address, and though expressing the strongest +desire for her son's restoration to health, entreated in moving +accents that if his life could not be spared, that he should not be +buried in "Ole Virginny dirt"--rather a derogatory term to apply to +the sacred soil that gave birth to the Presidents,--the soil of the +Old Dominion. + +Almost all of these letters told the same sad tale of destitution of +food and clothing; even shoes of the roughest kind being either too +expensive for the mass or unattainable by the expenditure of any sum, +in many parts of the country. For the first two years of the war, +privations were lightly dwelt upon and courageously borne, but when +want and suffering pressed heavily, as times grew more stringent, +there was a natural longing for the stronger heart and frame to bear +part of the burden. Desertion is a crime that meets generally with as +much contempt as cowardice, and yet how hard for the husband or father +to remain inactive in winter quarters, knowing that his wife and +little ones were literally starving at home--not even at home, for few +homes were left. + + +LIFE IN RICHMOND DURING THE WAR + +[Southern Historical Papers, Volume 19. From the _Cosmopolitan_, +December, 1891; by Edward M. Alfriend.] + +For many months after the beginning of the war between the States, +Richmond was an extremely gay, bright, and happy city. Except that +its streets were filled with handsomely attired officers and that +troops constantly passed through it, there was nothing to indicate the +horrors or sorrows of war, or the fearful deprivations that +subsequently befell it. As the war progressed its miseries tightened +their bloody grasp upon the city, happiness was nearly destroyed, and +the hearts of the people were made to bleed. During the time of +McClellan's investment of Richmond, and the seven days' fighting +between Lee's army and his own, every cannon that was fired could be +heard in every home in Richmond, and as every home had its son or sons +at the front of Lee's army, it can be easily understood how great was +the anguish of every mother's heart in the Confederate capital. These +mothers had cheerfully given their sons to the Southern cause, +illustrating, as they sent them to battle, the heroism of the Spartan +mother, who, when she gave the shield to her son, told him to return +with it or on it. + + +_Happy Phases_ + +And yet, during the entire war, Richmond had happy phases to its +social life. Entertainments were given freely and very liberally the +first year of the war, and at them wine and suppers were graciously +furnished, but as the war progressed all this was of necessity given +up, and we had instead what were called "starvation parties." + +The young ladies of the city, accompanied by their male escorts +(generally Confederate officers on leave) would assemble at a +fashionable residence that before the war had been the abode of +wealth, and have music and plenty of dancing, but not a morsel of food +or a drop of drink was seen. And this form of entertainment became the +popular and universal one in Richmond. Of course, no food or wine was +served, simply because the host could not get it, or could not afford +it. And at these starvation parties the young people of Richmond and +the young army officers assembled and danced as brightly and as +happily as though a supper worthy of Lucullus awaited them. + +The ladies were simply dressed, many of them without jewelry, because +the women of the South had given their jewelry to the Confederate +cause. Often on the occasion of these starvation parties, some young +Southern girl would appear in an old gown belonging to her mother or +grandmother, or possibly a still more remote ancestor, and the effect +of the antique garment was very peculiar; but no matter what was +worn, no matter how peculiarly any one might be attired, no matter how +bad the music, no matter how limited the host's or hostess's +ability to entertain, everybody laughed, danced, and was happy, +although the reports of the cannon often boomed in their ears, and all +deprivations, all deficiencies, were looked on as a sacrifice to +the Southern cause. + + +_The Dress of a Grandmother_ + +I remember going to a starvation party during the war with a Miss M., +a sister of Annie Rive's mother. She wore a dress belonging to her +great-grandmother or grandmother, and she looked regally handsome in +it. She was a young lady of rare beauty, and as thoroughbred in every +feature of her face or pose and line of her body as a reindeer, and +with this old dress on she looked as though the portrait of some +ancestor had stepped out of its frame. + +Such spectacles were very common at our starvation parties. On one +occasion I attended a starvation party at the residence of Mr. John +Enders, an old and honored citizen of Richmond, and, of course, there +was no supper. Among those present was Willie Allan, the second son of +the gentleman, Mr. John Allan, who adopted Edgar Allan Poe, and gave +him his middle name. About 1 o'clock in the morning he came to one +other gentleman and myself, and asked us to go to his home just across +the street, saying he thought he could give us some supper. Of course, +we eagerly accepted his invitation and accompanied him to his house. +He brought out a half dozen mutton chops and some bread, and we had +what was to us a royal supper. I spent the night at the Allan home and +slept in the same room with Willie Allan. The next morning there was +a tap on the door, and I heard the mother's gentle voice calling: +"Willie, Willie." He answered, "Yes, mother; what is it?" And she +replied: "Did you eat the mutton chops last night?" He answered, +"Yes," when she said, "Well, then, we haven't any breakfast." + + +_Frightful Contrasts_ + +The condition of the Allan household was that of all Richmond. +Sometimes the contrasts that occurred in these social gayeties in +Richmond were frightful, ghastly. A brilliant, handsome, happy, joyous +young officer, full of hope and promise, would dance with a lovely +girl and return to his command. A few days would elapse, another +"starvation" would occur, the officer would be missed, he would be +asked for, and the reply come, "Killed in battle;" and frequently the +same girls with whom he danced a few nights before would attend his +funeral from one of the churches of Richmond. Can life have any more +terrible antithesis than this? + +A Georgia lady was once remonstrating with General Sherman against the +conduct of some of his men, when she said: "General, this is +barbarity," and General Sherman, who was famous for his pregnant +epigrams, replied: "Madame, war is barbarity." And so it is. + +On one occasion, when I was attending a starvation party in Richmond, +the dancing was at its height and everybody was bright and happy, when +the hostess, who was a widow, was suddenly called out of the room. A +hush fell on everything, the dancing stopped, and every one became +sad, all having a premonition in those troublous times that something +fearful had happened. We were soon told that her son had been killed +late that evening, in a skirmish in front of Richmond, a few miles +from his home. + +Wounded and sick men and officers were constantly brought into the +homes of the people of Richmond to be taken care of, and every home +had in it a sick or wounded Confederate soldier. From the association +thus brought about many a love affair occurred and many a marriage +resulted. I know of several wives and mothers in the South who lost +their hearts and won their soldier husbands in this way, so this phase +of life during the war near Richmond was prolific of romance. + + +_General Lee Kissed the Girls_ + +General Robert E. Lee would often leave the front, come into Richmond +and attend these starvation parties, and on such occasions he was not +only the cynosure of all eyes, but the young ladies all crowded around +him, and he kissed every one of them. This was esteemed his privilege +and he seemed to enjoy the exercise of it. On such occasions he was +thoroughly urbane, but always the dignified, patrician soldier in his +bearing. + +Private theatricals were also a form of amusement during the war. I +saw several of them. The finest I witnessed, however, was a +performance of Sheridan's comedy, of Alabama, played by Mrs. Malaprop. +Her rendition of the part was one of the best I ever saw, rivalling +that of any professional. The audience was very brilliant, the +President of the Confederacy, Mrs. Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, and +others of equal distinction being present. + +Mrs. Davis is a woman of great intellectual powers and a social queen, +and at these entertainments she was very charming. Mr. Davis was +always simple, unpretentious, and thoroughly cordial in his manner. To +those who saw him on these occasions it was impossible to associate +his gentle, pleasing manner with the stern decision with which he was +then directing his side of the greatest war of modern times. The world +has greatly misunderstood Mr. Davis, and in no way more than in +personal traits of his character. My brother, the late Frank H. +Alfriend, was Mr. Davis's biographer, and through personal intercourse +with Mr. Davis I knew him well. In all his social, domestic, and +family relations, he was the gentlest, the noblest, the tenderest of +men. As a father and husband he was almost peerless, for his domestic +life was the highest conceivable. + +Mr. Davis, at the executive mansion, held weekly receptions, to which +the public were admitted. These continued until nearly the end of the +war. The occasions were not especially marked, but Mr. and Mrs. Davis +were always delightful hosts. + + +_John Wise and His Big Clothes_ + +The spectacle presented at the social gatherings, particularly the +starvation parties, was picturesque in the extreme. The ladies often +took down the damask and other curtains and made dresses of them. My +friend, Hon. John S. Wise, formerly of Virginia, now of New York, +tells the following story of himself: He was serving in front of +Richmond and was invited to come into the city to attend a starvation +party. Having no coat of his own fit to wear, he borrowed one from a +brother officer nearly twice his height. The sleeves of his coat +covered his hands entirely, the skirt came below his knees several +inches, and the buttons in the back were down on his legs. So attired, +Captain Wise went to the party. His first partner in the dance was a +young lady of Richmond belonging to one of its best families. She was +attired in the dress of her great-grandmother, and a part of this +dress was a stomacher very suggestive in its proportions. Captain Wise +relates with exquisite humor that in the midst of the dance he found +himself in front of a mirror, and that the sight presented by himself +and his partner was so ridiculous that he burst out laughing; and his +partner turned and looked at him angrily, left his side and never +spoke to him again. + + +_Contrasts That Were Pretty_ + +The varied and sometimes handsome uniforms of the Confederate officers +commingling with each other and contrasting with the simple, pretty, +sometimes antiquated dresses of the ladies, made pictures that were +beautiful in their contrasts of color and of tone. An artist would +have found these scenes infinite opportunity for his pencil or brush. + +I am sure that this phase of social life in Richmond during the war is +without parallel in the world's history. The army officers, of +course, had only their uniforms, and the women wore whatever they +could get to wear. In the last year of the war, particularly the last +few months, the pinch of deprivation, especially as to food, became +frightful. There were many families in Richmond that were in well-nigh +a starving condition. I know of some that lived for days on pea soup +and bread. Confederate money was almost valueless. Its purchasing +power had so depreciated that it used to be said it took a basketful +to go to market. Of course, the people had very few greenbacks, and +very little gold or silver. The city was invested by two armies, +Grant's and Lee's, and its railroad communications constantly +destroyed by the Union cavalry. Supplies of food were very scarce and +enormously costly; a barrel of flour cost several hundred dollars in +Confederate money, and just before the fall of the Confederacy I paid +$500 for a pair of heavy boots. The suffering of this period was +dreadful, and when Richmond capitulated many of its people were in an +almost starving condition. Indeed, there was little food outside, and +the Southern troops were but little better off. + + +_Loyalty of the Slaves_ + +But in April, 1865, the Confederacy ceased to exist; it passed into +history, and Richmond was occupied by the Northern army. Many of its +people were without food and without money--I mean money of the United +States. It was at this period that the colored people of Richmond, +slaves up to the time the war ended, but now no longer bondsmen, +showed their loyalty and love for their former masters and mistresses. +They, of course, had access to the commissary of the United States, +and many, very many, of these former negro slaves went to the United +States commissary, obtained food seemingly for themselves, and took it +in basketfuls to their former owners, who were without food or money. +I do not recall any record in the world's history nobler than +this--indeed, equal to it. + +These are memories of a dead past, and thank God! we now live under +the old flag and in a happy, reunited country, which the South loves +with a patriotic devotion unsurpassed by the North itself. + + +THE WOMEN OF NEW ORLEANS + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +While the patriotic women of New Orleans saw very little of war's +ravages, yet they endured three years of war's hardships. The Crescent +City fell into the hands of the Federals in 1862, Commodore Farragut +commanding the navy, and General B. F. Butler the land forces. The +latter was made military governor. Farragut carried on war against +combatants, and as an officer is to this day respected and honored by +the Southern people. Butler carried on war on civilians and against +defenceless women. The history of these women cannot be told without +telling of their odious military tyrant. + +President Davis in his proclamation said: + + The helpless women have been torn from their homes and subjected + to solitary confinement, some in fortresses and prisons, and one, + especially, on an island of barren sand under a tropical sun, have + been fed with loathsome rations that had been condemned as unfit + for soldiers, and have been exposed to the vilest insults. + + Egress from the city has been refused to those whose fortitude + could withstand the test, even to lone and aged women and to + helpless children; and after being ejected from their homes and + robbed of their property, they have been left to starve in the + streets or subsist on charity. + +But this does not tell half the story. The civilized world stood +aghast when General Butler issued his infamous "Order No. 28," which +reads as follows: + + As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been + subjected to insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of + New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous noninterference and + courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female + shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for + any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded + and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her + avocation. + + By Command of Major General Butler. + +Human language cannot describe the cowardice, the meanness, the +brutality of such an order. All Europe denounced him, President Davis +outlawed him, some of his own Northern newspapers would not at first +believe that he had issued such an order. + +From that time on the name of "Butler, the Beast," was fastened to +him. In this day we pity women who are in danger of falling into the +clutches of the black brute. These women of 1862 were under the heels +of a white brute. Every American patriot will hang his head in shame +for all time that President Lincoln kept Butler in high military +office to the end of the war, and the government never did repudiate +his infamous official outrage. Be it recorded to the everlasting honor +of the Federal army that none of the soldiers of "The Beast" availed +themselves of the license conferred by his order. + + +"INCORRIGIBLE LITTLE DEVIL" + +[Eggleston's Recollections, pages 65-66.] + +In New Orleans, soon after the war, I saw in a drawing-room, one day, +an elaborately framed letter, of which, the curtains being drawn, I +could read only the signature, which to my astonishment was that of +General Butler. + +"What is that?" I asked of the young gentlewoman I was visiting. + +"Oh, that's my diploma, my certificate of good behavior from General +Butler;" and taking it down from the wall, she permitted me to read +it, telling me at the same time its history. It seems that the young +lady had been very active in aiding captured Confederates to escape +from New Orleans, and for this and other similar offenses she was +arrested several times. A gentleman who knew General Butler personally +had interested himself in behalf of her and some friends, and upon +making an appeal for their discharge received this personal note from +the commanding general, in which he declared his willingness to +discharge all the others. "But that black-eyed Miss B.," he wrote, +"seems to me an incorrigible little devil, whom even prison fare won't +tame." The young lady had framed the note, and she cherishes it yet, +doubtless. + +Later on Butler was given a command in the East and General Banks put +in control at New Orleans. He was clean and soldierly, but more stern +and overbearing in some respects than Butler. Dr. Stone, the most +prominent citizen of New Orleans, said to the writer in 1863: "We +could manage Butler better than we can Banks. We could scare Butler, +but we can't move Banks." Our poor women, patient and prudent through +it all, were out of the fire, but they were in the frying-pan. + + +THE BATTLE OF THE HANDKERCHIEFS + +We are indebted to the Honorable W. H. Seymour for the following very +interesting story: + +There was a great stir and intense excitement one time during General +Banks's administration. A number of the "rebels" were to leave for the +"Confederacy." Their friends, amounting to some 20,000 persons, women +and children principally, wended their way down to the levee to see +them off and to take their last farewell. Such a quantity of women +frightened the Federal officials: they were greatly exasperated at +their waving of handkerchiefs, their loud calling to their friends, +and their going on to vessels in the vicinity. + +Orders were given to "stand back," but no heed was given; the bayonets +were pointed at the ladies, but they were not scared. A lady ran +across to get a nearer view. An officer seized her by the arm, but she +escaped, leaving a scarf in his possession. At last the military +received orders to do its duty. + +The affair was called the Pocket Handkerchief War and has been put in +verse, as follows: + +_The Greatest Victory of the War--La Battaille des Mouchoirs._ + +[By Capt. James Dinkins, in New Orleans _Picayune_; Southern +Historical Papers, Volume 31.] + +[Fought Friday, February 20, 1863, at the head of Gravier Street.] + + Of all the battles modern or old, + By poet sung or historian told; + Of all the routs that ever was seen + From the days of Saladin to Marshall Turenne, + Or all the victories later yet won, + From Waterloo's field to that of Bull Run; + All, all, must hide their fading light, + In the radiant glow of the handkerchief fight; + And a paean of joy must thrill the land, + When they hear of the deeds of Banks's band. + + 'Twas on a levee, where the tide of "Father Mississippi" flows, + Our gallant lads, their country's pride, + Won this great victory o'er her foes, + Four hundred rebels were to leave + That morning for Secessia's shades, + When down there came (you'd scarce believe) + A troop of children, wives, and maids, + To wave their farewells, to bid God-speed, + To shed for them the parting tear, + To waft their kisses as the meed of praise to soldiers' hearts most + dear. + + They came in hundreds; thousands lined + The streets, the roofs, the shipping, too; + Their ribbons dancing in the wind, + Their bright eyes flashing love's adieu. + 'Twas then to danger we awoke, + But nobly faced the unarmed throng, + And beat them back with hearty stroke, + Till reinforcements came along. + We waited long; our aching sight + Was strained in eager, anxious gaze, + At last we saw the bayonets bright + Flash in the sunlight's welcome blaze. + The cannon's dull and heavy roll, + Fell greeting on our gladdened ear, + Then fired each eye, then glowed each soul, + For well we knew the strife was near. + + "Charge!" rang the cry, and on we dashed + Upon our female foes, + As seas in stormy fury lashed, + Whene'er the tempest blows. + Like chaff their parasols went down, + As our gallants rushed; + And many a bonnet, robe, and gown + Was torn to shreds or crushed; + Though well we plied the bayonet, + Still some our efforts braved, + Defiant both of blow and threat, + Their handkerchiefs still waved. + Thick grew the fight, loud rolled the din, + When "charge!" rang out again + And then the cannon thundered in, + And scoured o'er the plain. + Down, 'neath the unpitying iron heels of horses children sank, + While through the crowd the cannon + Wheels mowed roads on either flank, + One startled shriek, one hollow groan, + One headlong rush, and then + "Huzza!" the field was all our own, + For we were Banks's men. + + That night, released from all our toils, + Our dangers passed and gone, + We gladly gathered up the spoils + Our chivalry had won! + Five hundred 'kerchiefs we had snatched + From rebel ladies' hands, + Ten parasols, two shoes (not matched), + Some ribbons, belts, and bands, + And other things that I forgot; + But then you'll find them all + As trophies in that hallowed spot-- + The cradle--Faneuil Hall! + + And long on Massachusetts' shore + And on Green Mountain's side, + Or where Long Island's breakers roar, + And by the Hudson's tide, + In times to come, when lamps are lit, + And fires brightly blaze, + While round the knees of heroes sit + The young of happier days, + Who listen to their storied deeds, + To them sublimely grand, + Then glory shall award its meed + Of praise to Banks's band, + And Fame proclaim that they alone + (In Triumph's loudest note) + May wear henceforth, for valor shown, + A woman's petticoat. + + +THE WOMEN OF NEW ORLEANS AND VICKSBURG PRISONERS + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +General Pemberton's army at Vicksburg surrendered on the 4th of July, +1863. According to the liberal terms, the thirty thousand Confederates +were paroled and allowed to march to their homes across the country. +It was about a month before the sick and wounded could be removed. +They were sent on Federal transports down the Mississippi River by the +way of New Orleans and thence across the Gulf of Mexico by Fort Morgan +to Mobile. + +The first boatload consisted of the sick in the hospital, which was +under the charge of Dr. Richard Whitfield, of Alabama. I went to +Vicksburg as sergeant major of the Twentieth Alabama Regiment, but, at +the request of the Thirtieth Alabama, had been commissioned captain +and appointed chaplain of that command a few months before the +surrender. On the very evening of the surrender I was taken very sick +and for some days lay at the point of death. Under the kind nursing +of friends in Vicksburg, and by the good medicines provided by the +noble Chaplain Porter, of Illinois, of the Federal army, I began to +rally in time to be moved to Dr. Whitfield's hospital and be put +aboard the first boat for home. By the time we reached New Orleans I +had nearly recovered my usual strength. At New Orleans we were +transferred to a gulf steamer, which lay at the wharf for nearly two +days. Soon after our arrival it looked as if the whole population of +the Crescent City had crowded down to look at us and they stood there +all day to comfort us with their smiles during our stay. + +General Banks allowed Dr. Stone and five other physicians to come on +our steamer and look after the sick, to furnish coffins for the dead +and remove them for burial. No other citizens could pass the sentinels +or a rope guard extending about thirty yards from the boat. A detail +of Federal soldiers kept all our private Confederates on the boat. +There were only three or four Confederate officers and we were allowed +full liberty to go to the guard line and talk to the citizens. Very +soon the people began to bring such supplies and refreshments as +General Banks would allow, and they literally loaded the steamer with +all sorts of good things, from hams and pickles down to fans, pipes, +and tobacco. Every soldier had enough for his wants and as much as he +could take home. Dr. Stone told me that General Banks would not allow +his people to do half of what they were anxious to do. He said the +people wanted to keep us a while and clothe us in new outfits. + +I must just here put on record one of the most touching instances of +soldierly generosity and kindness that ever occurred in war. +Lieutenant Winslow, of Massachusetts, was in command of the Federal +guard on our steamer, and Captain ---- in charge of the guard on the +wharf. These two gallant young Federal officers, although in full +dress uniform, worked like beavers all day under a hot sun, in +assisting me to get the refreshments and provisions from the hands of +the ladies or servants at the guard line and take them to the boat, +there to be handed to our men. The good women thought, of course, we +had wounded men among us, but there was not one. An amazing quantity +of lint and bandages was sent aboard. In the linen furnished for this +purpose were whole garments of the finest fibre of female underwear, +most of it all bright and new. Many a rusty Vicksburg soldier that +night decked himself in a fine nightrobe with amazingly short sleeves, +and many a soldier's wife accepted for her own use the dainty +peace-offering when we reached home. None of these good people, men +nor women, were allowed to cheer us. All that they could do was to +give us sympathy by their presence and their smiles. I saw the police +or the soldiers arrest man after man for some disloyal utterance. + +The day we left the throng of beautiful women seemed to extend up and +down the levee as far as the eye could reach. As the boat pushed off +for Mobile our poor fellows crowded the deck and the excitement on +shore grew intense. Neither side could cheer and the tension was +painful. Finally the awfully trying stillness was broken by the waving +of a little white handkerchief, in a fair woman's hand. + +In a moment thousands of others were to be seen, silently telling us +"Good-bye and God bless you." In a few moments we could see excitement +in every face, and presently a little tender woman's voice screamed +out "Hurrah! hurrah!" and then a thousand sweet throats took up the +shout. That "Hurrah" from Southern women and those handkerchiefs waved +under the point of hostile bayonets told with pathos of a world of +patriotism in the breasts of those noble women. We old Confederates +were overcome. One grim old North Carolinian, standing by my side, +with Federal guards all around us, and the tears streaming down his +sun-hardened cheeks, cried out at the top of his voice: "Men, they may +kill me, but I tell you I am willing to die a hundred times for such +women as them." We all felt so, and the living veterans feel that way +yet. + + +"IT DON'T TROUBLE ME" + +[Phoebe Y. Pember.] + +There was but little sensibility exhibited by soldiers for the fate of +their comrades in field or hospital. The results of war are here +to-day and gone to-morrow. I stood still, spell-bound by that youthful +death-bed, when my painful revery was broken upon by a drawling voice +from a neighboring bed, which had been calling me such peculiar names +and titles that I had been oblivious to whom they were addressed. + +"Look here. I say, Aunty!--Mammy!--You!" Then in despair, "Missus Mauma! +Kin you gim me sich a thing as a b'iled sweet pur-r-rta-a-a-tu-ur? I +b'long to the Twenty-secun' Nor' Ka-a-a-li-i-na Regiment." I told the +nurse to remove his bed from proximity to his dead neighbor, that in +the low state of his health from fever the sight might affect his +nerves, but he treated the suggestion with contempt. + +"Don't make no sort of difference to me; they dies all around me in +the field and it don't trouble me." + + +SAVAGE WAR IN THE VALLEY + +[In the Rise and Fall of Confederate Government, Volume 2, pages +700-709.] + +On June 19, 1864, Major-General Hunter began his retreat from before +Lynchburg down the Shenandoah Valley. Lieutenant-General Early, who +followed in pursuit, thus describes the destruction he witnessed along +the route: + +"Houses had been burned, and helpless women and children left without +shelter. The country had been stripped of provisions, and many +families left without a morsel to eat. Furniture and bedding had been +cut to pieces, and old men and women and children robbed of all the +clothing they had, except that on their backs. Ladies' trunks had been +rifled, and their dresses torn to pieces in mere wantonness. Even the +negro girls had lost their little finery. At Lexington he had burned +the Military Institute with all its contents, including its library +and scientific apparatus. Washington College had been plundered, and +the statue of Washington stolen. The residence of ex-Governor Letcher +at that place had been burned by orders, and but a few minutes given +Mrs. Letcher and her family to leave the house. In the county a most +excellent Christian gentleman, a Mr. Creigh, had been hung, because, +on a former occasion, he had killed a straggling and marauding Federal +soldier while in the act of insulting and outraging the ladies of his +family." + + +MRS. ROBERT TURNER, WOODSTOCK, VA. + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +The patriotic husband was in Lee's army and had left his wife at home +with two little girls and an infant in her arms. The home had fallen +within the lines of the Federals and the officers had stationed a +guard in the house for her protection. One night a marauding party of +bummers, who were fleeing from a party of soldiers seeking to arrest +them, came to her house and demanded that she should go and show them +the road they wanted to take. The soldier guarding her said they were +asking too much and refused to let her go. They shot him down so near +her that his blood fell on her dress. She went with her little +children in the dark night and showed them the road they asked for, +and the poor woman hastened back to her home, only to hear the +ruffians coming again. They overtook her in the yard and came with +such rough threats that she thought they were going to kill her, and +to save her oldest little girl, she tried to conceal her by throwing +her into some thick shrubbery. Unfortunately the fall and the +excitement inflicted an injury which followed the child all her life. +The marauders followed the poor mother into the house and threatened +to kill her. But as one of them held a pistol in her face the pursuing +party rushed in and an officer knocked the pistol up and shot the +ruffian, who proved to be the one who had killed the guard of the +home. + +Some one wrote to Mr. Turner of the situation of his family. General +Lee saw the letter and sent Turner home to remove his little family to +a place of safety. This he did, and promptly returned to his post in +the army, where he served faithfully to the end of the war and then +became a staunch citizen. + + +HIGH PRICE OF NEEDLES AND THREAD + +[By Walter, a Soldier's Son; from Mrs. Fannie A. Beer's Memoirs, pages +293-295.] + +My father was once a private soldier in the Confederate army, and he +often tells me interesting stories of the war. One morning, just as he +was going down town, mother sent me to ask him to change a dollar. He +could not do it, but he said, + +"Ask your mother how much change she wants?" + +She only wanted a dime to buy a paper of needles and some silk to mend +my jacket. So I went back and asked for ten cents. Instead of taking +it out of his vest pocket, father opened his pocket-book and said, + +"Did you say you wanted ten dollars or ten cents, my boy?" + +"Why, father," said I, "who ever heard of paying ten dollars for +needles and thread?" + +"I have," said he. "I once heard of a paper of needles, and a skein of +silk, worth more than ten dollars." + +His eyes twinkled and looked so pleasant that I knew there was a story +on hand, so I told mother and sis' Loo, who promised to find out all +about it. After supper that night mother coaxed father to tell us the +story. + +We liked it so well that I got mother to write it down for the +_Bivouac_. + +After the battle of Chickamauga, one of "our mess" found a needle case +which had belonged to some poor fellow, probably among the killed. He +did not place much value upon the contents, although there was a +paper of No. 8 needles, several buttons, and a skein or two of +thread, cut at each end and neatly braided so that each thread could +be smoothly drawn out. He put the whole thing in his breast-pocket, +and thought no more about it. But one day while out foraging for +himself and his mess, he found himself near a house where money could +have procured a meal of fried chicken, corn-pone, and buttermilk, +besides a small supply to carry back to camp. But Confederate +soldiers' purses were generally as empty as their stomachs, and in +this instance the lady of the house did not offer to give away her +nice dinner. While the poor fellow was inhaling the enticing odor, and +feeling desperately hungry, a girl rode up to the gate on horseback, +and bawled out to another girl inside the house, + +"Oh, Cindy, I rid over to see if you couldn't lend me a needle. I +broke the last one I had to-day, and pap says thar ain't nary 'nother +to be bought in the country hereabouts!" + +Cindy declared she was in the same fix, and couldn't finish her new +homespun dress for that reason. + +The soldier just then had an idea. He retired to a little distance, +pulled out his case, sticking two needles on the front of his jacket, +then went back and offered one of them, with his best bow, to the girl +on the horse. Right away the lady of the house offered to trade for +the one remaining. The result was a plentiful dinner for himself; and +in consideration of a thread or two of silk, a full haversack and +canteen. After this our mess was well supplied, and our forager began +to look sleek and fat. The secret of his success did not leak out till +long afterward, when he astonished the boys by declaring he "had been +'living like a fighting-cock' on a paper of needles and two skeins of +silk." + +"And," added father, "if he had paid for all the meals he got in +Confederate money, the amount would have been far more than ten +dollars." + +I know other boys and girls will think this a queer story, but I hope +they will like it as well as mother and Loo and I did. + + +DESPAIR AT HOME--HEROISM AT THE FRONT + +[Major Robert Stiles, in Four Years Under Marse Robert, pages +349-350.] + +There is one feature of our Confederate struggle, to which I have +already made two or three indirect allusions, as to which there has +been such a strange popular misapprehension that I feel as if there +rested upon the men who thoroughly understand the situation a solemn +obligation to bring out strongly and clearly the sound and true view +of the matter. I refer to an impression, quite common, that the +desertions from the Confederate armies, especially in the latter part +of the war, indicated a general lack of devotion to the cause on the +part of the men in the ranks. + +On the contrary, it is my deliberate conviction that Southern soldiers +who remained faithful under the unspeakable pressure of letters and +messages revealing suffering, starvation, and despair at home +displayed more than human heroism. The men who felt this strain most +were the husbands of young wives and fathers of young children, whom +they had supported by their labor, manual or mental. As the lines of +communication in the Confederacy were more and more broken and +destroyed, and the ability, both of county and public authorities and +of neighbors, to aid them became less and less, the situation of such +families became more and more desperate, and their appeals more and +more piteous to their only earthly helpers who were far away, filling +their places in "the thin gray line." Meanwhile the enemy sent into +our camps, often by our own pickets, circulars offering our men +indefinite parole, with free transportation to their homes. + +I am not condemning the Federal Government or military authorities for +making these offers or putting out these circulars; but if there was +ever such a thing as a conflict of duties, that conflict was presented +to the private soldiers of the Confederate army who belonged to the +class just mentioned, and who received, perhaps simultaneously, one of +these home letters and one of these Federal circulars; and if ever the +strain of such a conflict was great enough to unsettle a man's reason +and to break a man's heart strings these men were subjected to that +strain. + + +THE OLD DRAKE'S TERRITORY + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +When Sherman's army was making its celebrated "march to the sea," it +cut a swath of fire and desolation from Atlanta to Savannah and on +through the Carolinas. What food was not seized for the army was +consumed by fire. Mills and barns and hundreds of dwellings were +consigned to the flames. Most of the people fled from the approach of +the Federals and especially were the old men, who might be thought by +negroes and bummers to have money concealed on their persons or +premises, afraid to fall into their hands. Somewhere not far from +Milledgeville, a well-to-do farmer lay hid in the woods where he saw +the Federals enter his premises and carry off everything of any use or +value. Not a strip of bedding, not an ear of corn, a hough of a cow +nor the tail of a pig did they leave him. Before the Yankee brigade +got entirely out of sight the old farmer came into his desolate home. +One glance at the wreck and away he went in pursuit of the Federals. +"Oh, General, General, stop your command," was the cry. On they +marched without hearing him. On he rushed and cried as he ran, "Oh, +General, oh, General, stop your command." Finally when he was nearly +out of breath the cry was heard and the brigade halted. + +"What's the matter, man?" said the soldiers, as he passed on by them, +his face all flushed with excitement. + +"Where's the General?" + +"Yonder he is, sitting on that black horse." + +Everybody stood still to hear the breathless message. + +"Oh, General!" + +"Well, what's the trouble, sir?" + +"General, your men have been yonder to my house and literally ruined +me. They have taken everything I have on God's earth; they have left +me nothing but one old drake, and he says he is very lonesome, and he +wishes you would come back and get him." + +This was too much for the soldiers. Up went a shout of laughter and a +yell all up and down the lines. The general was completely unhorsed by +the desperate drollery of the old farmer, and rolled on the ground. +Calling the man to him, he heard more of his story and finally had a +list made of all the property which had been taken from him and had it +all sent back to him, and the old rebel and the old drake felt +better. + +I saw much of that old drake's territory. It was the only drake or +fowl of any kind I ever heard of being left by Sherman's bummers. I +was with a cavalry company on Sherman's flanks or front all the way to +Savannah. Miles and miles of smoke from burning houses, barns, and +mills could be seen every day and the red line shone by night. He did +not burn all the dwellings, but for months and years there stood the +lone chimneys of hundreds of once happy homes. These chimneys were +called "Sherman's sentinels." As he said, "War is hell." It is hell +when conducted on the devil's plan instead of the principles of +civilized warfare. For all time to come the march of Sherman and the +burning of the Shenandoah Valley by Sheridan will cause the American +patriot, North and South, to hang his head in shame. + +The women and children in the burned district were, in many +localities, reduced almost to starvation. There is a lady living now +near Blakely, Ga., who, as a little girl fourteen years old, walked +fifteen miles to bring a half bushel of meal for her mother's family. +Some of the old men were murdered. The body of old Mr. Brewer, of +Effingham county, father of Judge Harlan Brewer of Waycross, was never +seen by his family after he was made prisoner. The charred remains of +a man were found in a burned mill not far away. Sherman was the right +man in the right place. He had lived in the South as a teacher and +knew her people; and knew that in fair and honorable warfare the South +never could be subdued. He knew, too, the devotion of Southern men to +home and family, and he knew that the quickest way to thin the lines +of Lee and Johnston was to fire the homes and beggar the families of +the Confederate soldiers. As soon as I saw the lines of his fire I +said confidentially to my captain, "Our men in Virginia can't stand +this. Sherman has whipped us with fire. He drives the women and +children out of Atlanta and then burns the country ahead of them. Our +cause is lost." And it was. + + "But the whole world was against us; + We fought our fight alone; + To the Conquerors Want and Famine, + We laid our standard down." + + +THE REFUGEE IN RICHMOND + +[By A Lady of Virginia, in Diary of a Refugee, pages 252-254.] + +Prices of provisions have risen enormously--bacon, $8 per pound, +butter, $15, etc. Our old friends from the lower part of Essex, Mr. +----'s parishioners for many years, sent over a wagon filled most +generously with all manner of necessary things for our larder. We have +no right to complain, for Providence is certainly supplying our wants. +The clerks' salaries, too, have been raised to $250 per month, which +sounds very large; but when we remember that flour is $300 per barrel, +it sinks into insignificance. + +28th.--Our hearts ache for the poor. A few days ago, as E. was walking +out, she met a wretchedly dressed woman, of miserable appearance, who +said she was seeking the Young Men's Christian Association, where she +hoped to get assistance and work to do. E. carried her to the door, +but it was closed, and the poor woman's wants were pressing. She then +brought her home, supplied her with food, and told her to return to +see me the following afternoon. She came, and with an honest +countenance and manner told me her history. Her name was Brown; her +husband had been a workman in Fredericksburg; he joined the army, and +was killed at the second battle of Manassas. Many of her acquaintances +in Fredericksburg fled last winter during the bombardment; she became +alarmed, and with her three little children fled, too. She had tried +to get work in Richmond; sometimes she succeeded, but could not supply +her wants. A kind woman had lent her a room and a part of a garden, +but it was outside of the corporation; and although it saved +house-rent, it debarred her from the relief of the associations formed +for supplying the city poor with meal, wood, etc. She had evidently +been in a situation little short of starvation. I asked her if she +could get bread enough for her children by her work? She said she +could sometimes, and when she could not, she "got turnip-tops from her +piece of a garden, which were now putting up smartly, and she boiled +them, with a little salt, and fed them on that." + +"But do they satisfy their hunger?" said I. + +"Well, it is something to go upon for awhile, but it does not stick by +us like as bread does, and then we gets hungry again, and I am afraid +to let the children eat them to go to sleep; and sometimes the woman +in the next room will bring the children her leavings, but she is +monstrous poor." + +When I gave her meat for her children, taken from the bounty of our +Essex friends, tears of gratitude ran down her cheeks; she said they +"had not seen meat for so long." Poor thing, I promised her that her +case should be known, and that she should not suffer so again. A +soldier's widow shall not suffer from hunger in Richmond. It must not +be, and will not be when her case is known. + + +DESOLATIONS OF WAR + +[Diary of a Refugee, page 283-284.] + +When the war is over, where shall we find our old churches, where her +noble homesteads, scenes of domestic comfort and generous hospitality? +Either laid low by the firebrand, or desecrated and desolated. In the +march of the army, or in the rapid evolutions of raiding parties, woe +betide the houses which are found deserted. In many cases the men of +the family having gone to the war, the women and children dare not +stay; then the lawless are allowed to plunder. They seem to take the +greatest delight in breaking up the most elegant or the most humble +furniture, as the case may be; cut the portraits from the frames, +split pianos in pieces, ruin libraries in any way that suits their +fancy; break doors from their hinges, and locks from the doors; cut +the windows from the frames, and leave no pane of glass unbroken; +carry off house-linen and carpets; the contents of the store-rooms and +pantries, sugar, flour, vinegar, molasses, pickles, preserves, which +cannot be eaten or carried off, are poured together in one general +mass. The horses are of course taken from the stables; cattle and +stock of all kinds driven off or shot in the woods and fields. +Generally, indeed, I believe always, when the whole army is moving, +inhabited houses are protected. To raiders such as Hunter and Co. is +reserved the credit of committing such outrages in the presence of +ladies--of taking their watches from their belts, their rings from +their fingers, and their ear-rings from their ears; of searching their +bureaus and wardrobes, and filling pockets and haversacks in their +presence. Is it not, then, wonderful that soldiers whose families have +suffered such things could be restrained when in a hostile country? It +seems to me to show a marvellous degree of forbearance in the officers +themselves and of discipline in the troops. + + +DEATH OF A SOLDIER + +[Diary of a Refugee, pages 311-313.] + +An officer from the far South was brought in mortally wounded. He had +lost both legs in a fight below Petersburg. The poor fellow suffered +excessively; could not be still a moment; and was evidently near his +end. His brother, who was with him, exhibited the bitterest grief, +watching and waiting on him with silent tenderness and flowing tears. +Mr. ---- was glad to find that he was not unprepared to die. He had +been a professor of religion some years, and told him that he was +suffering too much to think on that or any other subject, but he +constantly tried to look to God for mercy. Mr. ---- then recognized +him, for the first time, as a patient who had been in the hospital +last spring, and whose admirable character had then much impressed +him. He was a gallant and brave officer, yet so kind and gentle to +those under his control that his men were deeply attached to him, and +the soldier who nursed him showed his love by his anxious care of his +beloved captain. After saying to him a few words about Christ and his +free salvation, offering up a fervent prayer in which he seemed to +join, and watching the sad scene for a short time, Mr. ---- left him +for the night. The surgeons apprehended that he would die before +morning, and so it turned out; at the chaplain's early call there was +nothing in his room but the chilling signal of the empty "hospital +bunk." He was buried that day, and we trust will be found among the +redeemed in the day of the Lord. + +This, it was thought, would be the last of this good man; but in the +dead of night came hurriedly a single carriage to the gate of the +hospital. A lone woman, tall, straight, and dressed in deep mourning, +got out quickly, and moved rapidly up the steps into the large hall, +where, meeting the guard, she asked anxiously, "Where's Captain T.?" + +Taken by surprise, the man answered hesitatingly, "Captain T. is dead, +madam, and was buried to-day." + +This terrible announcement was as a thunderbolt at the very feet of +the poor lady, who fell to the floor as one dead. Starting up, oh, how +she made that immense building ring with her bitter lamentations. Worn +down with apprehension and weary with traveling over a thousand miles +by day and night, without stopping for a moment's rest, and wild with +grief, she could hear no voice of sympathy--she regarded not the +presence of one or many; she told the story of her married life as if +she were alone--how her husband was the best man that ever lived; how +everybody loved him; how kind he was to all; how devoted to herself; +how he loved his children, took care of, and did everything for them; +how, from her earliest years almost, she had loved him as herself; how +tender he was of her, watching over her in sickness, never seeming to +weary of it, never to be unwilling to make any sacrifice for her +comfort and happiness; how that, when the telegraph brought the +dreadful news that he was dangerously wounded, she never waited an +instant nor stopped a moment by the way, day nor night, and now--"I +drove as fast as the horses could come from the depot to this place, +and he is dead and buried. I never shall see his face again. What +shall I do? But where is he buried?" + +They told her where. + +"I must go there; he must be taken up; I must see him." + +"But, madam, you can't see him; he has been buried some hours." + +"But I must see him; I can't live without seeing him; I must hire some +one to go and take him up; can't you get some one to take him up? I'll +pay him well; just get some men to take him up. I must take him home; +he must go home with me. The last thing I said to his children was +that they must be good children, and I would bring their father home, +and they are waiting for him now. He must go, I can't go without him; +I can't meet his children without him;" and so, with her woman's +heart, she could not be turned aside--nothing could alter her +purpose. + +The next day she had his body taken up and embalmed. She watched by it +until everything was ready, and then carried him back to his own house +and children, only to seek a grave for the dead father close by those +he loved, among kindred and friends in the fair sunny land he died to +defend. + + +MRS. HENRIETTA E. LEE'S LETTER TO GENERAL HUNTER ON THE BURNING OF +HER HOUSE + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 8, pages 215-216.] + +The following burning protest against a cruel wrong deserves to be put +on record, as a part of the history of General David Hunter's +inglorious campaign in the Valley of Virginia, and we cheerfully +comply with the request of a distinguished friend to publish it. The +burning of this house and those of Col. A. R. Boteler and Andrew +Hunter, esq., in the lower valley, and of Governor Letcher's and the +Virginia Military Institute at Lexington give him a place in the +annals of infamy only equaled by the contempt felt for his military +achievements: + +JEFFERSON COUNTY, _July 20, 1864_. + +GENERAL HUNTER: + +Yesterday your underling, Captain Martindale, of the First New York +Cavalry, executed your infamous order and burned my house. You have +had the satisfaction ere this of receiving from him the information +that your orders were fulfilled to the letter; the dwelling and every +out-building, seven in number, with their contents, being burned. I, +therefore, a helpless woman whom you have cruelly wronged, address +you, a Major-General of the United States army, and demand why this +was done? What was my offence? My husband was absent, an exile. He had +never been a politician or in any way engaged in the struggle now +going on, his age preventing. This fact your chief of staff, David +Strother, could have told you. The house was built by my father, a +Revolutionary soldier, who served the whole seven years for your +independence. There was I born; there the sacred dead repose. It was +my house and my home, and there has your niece (Miss Griffith), who +has tarried among us all this horrid war up to the present time, met +with all kindness and hospitality at my hands. Was it for this that +you turned me, my young daughter, and little son out upon the world +without a shelter? Or was it because my husband is the grandson of the +Revolutionary patriot and "rebel," Richard Henry Lee, and the near +kinsman of the noblest of Christian warriors, the greatest of +generals, Robert E. Lee? Heaven's blessing be upon his head forever. +You and your Government have failed to conquer, subdue, or match him; +and disappointment, rage, and malice find vent on the helpless and +inoffensive. + +Hyena-like, you have torn my heart to pieces! for all hallowed +memories clustered around that homestead, and demon-like, you have +done it without even the pretext of revenge, for I never saw or harmed +you. Your office is not to lead, like a brave man and soldier, your +men to fight in the ranks of war, but your work has been to separate +yourself from all danger, and with your incendiary band steal unaware +upon helpless women and children, to insult and destroy. Two fair +homes did you yesterday ruthlessly lay in ashes, giving not a moment's +warning to the startled inmates of your wicked purpose; turning +mothers and children out of doors, you are execrated by your own men +for the cruel work you give them to do. + +In the case of Colonel A. R. Boteler, both father and mother were far +away. Any heart but that of Captain Martindale (and yours) would have +been touched by that little circle, comprising a widowed daughter just +risen from her bed of illness, her three fatherless babies--the oldest +not five years old--and her heroic sister. I repeat, any man would +have been touched at that sight but Captain Martindale. One might as +well hope to find mercy and feeling in the heart of a wolf bent on his +prey of young lambs, as to search for such qualities in his bosom. You +have chosen well your agent for such deeds, and doubtless will promote +him. + +A colonel of the Federal army has stated that you deprived forty of +your officers of their commands because they refused to carry on your +malignant mischief. All honor to their names for this, at least! They +are men; they have human hearts and blush for such a commander! + +I ask who that does not wish infamy and disgrace attached to him +forever would serve under you? Your name will stand on history's page +as the Hunter of weak women, and innocent children, the Hunter to +destroy defenceless villages and refined and beautiful homes--to +torture afresh the agonized hearts of widows; the Hunter of Africa's +poor sons and daughters, to lure them on to ruin and death of soul and +body; the Hunter with the relentless heart of a wild beast, the face +of a fiend and the form of a man. Oh, Earth, behold the monster! Can I +say, "God forgive you?" No prayer can be offered for you. Were it +possible for human lips to raise your name heavenward, angels would +thrust the foul thing back again, and demons claim their own. The +curses of thousands, the scorns of the manly and upright, and the +hatred of the true and honorable, will follow you and yours through +all time, and brand your name infamy! infamy! + +Again, I demand why you have burned my home? Answer as you must answer +before the Searcher of all hearts, why have you added this cruel, +wicked deed to your many crimes? + + +SHERMAN'S BUMMERS + +[E. J. Hale, Jr.] + +FAYETTEVILLE, N. C., _July 31st, 1865_. + +MY DEAR GENERAL: + +It would be impossible to give you an adequate idea of the destruction +of property in this good old town. It may not be an average instance, +but it is one, the force of whose truth we feel only too fully. My +father's property, before the war, was easily convertible into about +$85,000 to $100,000 in specie. He has not now a particle of property +which will bring him a dollar of income. His office, with everything +in it, was burned by Sherman's order. Slocum, who executed the order, +with a number of other generals, sat on the veranda of a hotel +opposite watching the progress of the flames, while they hobnobbed +over wines stolen from our cellar. A fine brick building adjacent, +also belonging to my father, was burned at the same time. The cotton +factory, of which he was a large shareholder, was burned, while his +bank, railroad, and other stocks are worse than worthless, for the +bank stock, at least, may bring him in debt, as the stockholders are +responsible. In fact, he has nothing left, besides the ruins of his +town buildings and a few town lots which promise to be of little value +hereafter, in this desolated town, and are of no value at present, +save his residence, which (with brother's house) Sherman made a great +parade of saving from a mob (composed of corps and division +commanders, a nephew of Henry Ward Beecher, and so on down,) by +sending to each house an officer of his staff, after my brother's had +been pillaged and my father's to some extent. By some accidental good +fortune, however, my mother secured a guard before the "bummers" had +made much progress in the house, and to this circumstance we are +indebted for our daily food, several months' supply of which my father +had hid the night before he left, in the upper rooms of the house, and +the greater part of which was saved. + +You have, doubtless, heard of Sherman's "bummers." The Yankees would +have you believe that they were only the straggling pillagers usually +found with all armies. Several letters written by officers of +Sherman's army, intercepted near this town, give this the lie. In some +of these letters were descriptions of the whole burning process, and +from them it appears that it was a regularly organized system, under +the authority of General Sherman himself; that one-fifth of the +proceeds fell to General Sherman, another fifth to the other general +officers, another fifth to the line officers, and the remaining +two-fifths to the enlisted men. There were pure silver bummers, +plated-ware bummers, jewelry bummers, women's clothing bummers, +provision bummers, and, in fine, a bummer or bummers for every kind of +stealable thing. No bummer of one specialty interfering with the +stealables of another. A pretty picture of a conquering army, indeed, +but true. + + +REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR TIMES--A LETTER + +[B. Winston, in Confederate Scrap-Book.] + +SIGNAL HILL, _February 27th_. + +MY DEAR ----: + +Your very kind letter received. I delayed perhaps too long replying. I +have hunted up a few little things. We are so unfortunate as to have +nearly all our war relics burnt in an outhouse, so I have little left +unless I took what I remember. We were left so bare of everything at +that time. Our only pokers and tongs were pokers and ramrods; old +canteens came into domestic service; we made our shoes of parts of old +canvas tents, and blackened them with elderberry juice (the only ink +we could command was elderberry juice); we plaited our hats of straw +(I have a straw-splinter now, for which I gave $13; it did good +service); the inside corn-shuck made dainty bonnets; sycamore balls, +saturated with grease, made excellent tapers, though nothing +superseded the time-honored lightwood knots. + +The Confederate army was camped around us for months together. We +often had brilliant assemblages of officers. On one occasion, when all +went merry as a marriage-bell, and uniformed officers and lovely girls +wound in and out in the dance, a sudden stillness fell--few words, +sudden departures. The enemy were in full force, trying to effect a +crossing at a strategic point. We were left at daybreak in the Federal +camp, a sharp engagement around us--the beginning of the seven days' +fight around Richmond. It was a bright, warm day in May. An unusual +stillness brooded over everything. A few officers came and went, +looking grave and important. In a short time, from a dense body of +pines near us, curled the blue smoke, and volley after volley of +musketry succeeded in sharp succession, the sharp, shrill scream of +flying shells falling in the soft green of the growing wheat. Not +long, and each opposing army emerged from ambush and stood in the +battle's awful array. Our own forces (mostly North Carolinians) fell +back into a railroad cut. The tide of battle swept past us, but the +day was lost to us. At evening they brought our dead and wounded and +made a hospital of our house. Then came the amputating surgeon to +finish what the bullet had failed to do. Arms and legs lay in a +promiscuous heap on our back piazza. + +On another occasion I saw a sudden surprise in front of our house. A +regiment of soldiers, under General Rosser's command, were camped +around us. It was high, blazing noon. The soldiers, suspecting +nothing, were in undress, lying down under every available shadow, +when a sudden volley and shout made every man spring to his feet. The +enemy were all around them, and panic was amongst our men; they were +running, but as they rose a little knoll every man turned, formed, and +fired. I saw some poor fellows fall. + + +AUNT MYRA AND THE HOE-CAKE + +[In Our Women in the War, pages 419-420.] + +Another instance was that of an old lady. Small and fragile-looking, +with soft and gentle manners, it seemed as if a whiff of wind might +have blown her away, and she was not one who was likely to tempt the +torrent of a ruffian's wrath. But how often can we judge of +appearances, for in that tiny body was a spirit as strong and fearless +as the bravest in the land. The war had been a bitter reality to her. +One son had been brought home shattered by a shell, and for long +months she had seen him in the agony which no human tongue can +describe; while another, in the freshness of his young manhood, had +been numbered with the slain. She was a widow, and having the care of +two orphan grandchildren upon her, was experiencing the same +difficulty in obtaining food that we were. One morning she had made +repeated efforts to get something cooked, but failed as often as she +tried, for just as soon as it was ready to be eaten in walked a +Federal soldier and marched off with it, expostulations or entreaties +availing naught. Finally, after some difficulty, a little corn meal +was found which was mixed with a hoe-cake and set in the oven to bake. +Determined not to lose this, Aunt Myra, the lady in question, took +her seat before the fire and vowed she would not leave the spot until +the bread was safe in her own hands. Scarcely had she done so when, as +usual, a soldier made his appearance, and, seeing the contents of the +oven, took his seat on the opposite side and coolly waited its baking. +I have since thought what a picture for a painter that would +make--upon one side the old lady with the proud, high-born face of a +true Southern gentlewoman, but, alas! stamped with the seal of care +and sorrow; and upon the other, the man, strong in his assumed power, +both intent upon that one point of interest, a baking hoe-cake. When +it had reached the desired shade of browning, Aunt Myra leaned forward +to take possession, but ere she could do so that other hand was before +her and she saw it taken from her. Rising to her feet and drawing her +small figure to its fullest height, the old lady's pent up feelings +burst forth, and she gave expression to the indignation which "this +last act caused to overflow." + +"You thieving scoundrel!" she cried in her gathering wrath. "You would +take the very last crust from the orphans' mouths and doom them to +starvation before your very eyes." + +Then, before the astonished man could recover himself, with a quick +movement she had snatched the bread back again. Scarcely had she got +possession, however, when a revulsion of feeling took place, and, +breaking it in two, tossed them at him in the scorn which filled her +soul as she said: "But if your heart is hard enough to take it, then +you may have it." + +She threw them with such force that one of the hot pieces struck him +in the face, the other immediately following. Strange to say, he did +not resent her treatment of him; but it was too much for Aunt Myra's +excited feelings when he picked up the bread, and commenced munching +upon it in the most unconcerned manner possible. Again snatching it +from him, she flung it far out of the window, where it lay rolling in +dirt, crying as she did so: "Indeed, you shan't eat it; if I can't +have it, then you shan't." + + +"THE CORN WOMAN" + +[Our Women in the War, page 276.] + +"The corn woman" was a feature of the times. The men in the counties +north of us were mostly farmers, owning small farms which they worked +with the assistance of the family. Few owned slaves, and they planted +garden crops chiefly. The men were now in the army, and good soldiers +many of them made. During the last two years, for various reasons, +many of the wives of these soldiers failed in making a crop, and were +sent with papers from the probate judges to the counties south to get +corn. No doubt these were really needy, and they were supplied +abundantly, and then, thinking it an easy way to make a living, others +not needing help came. They neglected to plant crops, as it was far +more easy to beg all the corn they wanted than to work it. Women whose +husbands were at home, who never had been in the army, young girls and +old women came in droves--all railroad cars and steamboats were filled +with "corn women." + +They came twenty and thirty together, got off at the stations and +landings for miles, visiting every plantation and never failing to get +their sacks filled and sent to the depot or river for them. Some had +bedticks; one came to me with a sack over two yards long and one yard +wide that would have held ten bushels of corn, and she had several +like it. They soon became perfect nuisances. When you objected to +giving they abused you; they no longer brought papers; when we had no +corn to spare we gave them money, which they said they would rather +have. It would save the trouble of toting corn, and they could buy it +at home for the money. I once gave them twenty-five dollars, all I had +in the house at the time. "Well, this won't go to buy much corn, but +as far as it do go we's obliged to you," were the thanks. I saw a +party of them on a steamboat counting their money. They had hundreds +of dollars and a quantity of corn. The boats and railroads took them +free. I was afterward told by a railroad official that their husbands +and fathers met them at the depot and either sold the corn or took it +to the stills and made it into whiskey. They hated the army and all in +it and despised the negro, who returned the compliment with interest. +The very sight of a corn woman made them and the overseers angry. They +regarded them as they did the army worm. + + +GENERAL ATKINS AT CHAPEL HILL + +[In Last Ninety Days of the War, page 33.] + +While the command of General Atkins remained in Chapel Hill--a period +of nearly three weeks--the same work, with perhaps some mitigation, +was going on in the country round us, and around the city of Raleigh, +which had marked the progress of the Federal armies all through the +South. Planters having large families of white and black were left +without food, forage, cattle, or change of clothing. Being in camp so +long, bedding became an object with the marauders; and many wealthy +families were stripped of what the industry of years had accumulated +in that line. Much of what was so wantonly taken was as wantonly +destroyed and squandered among the prostitutes and negroes who haunted +the camps. As to Raleigh, though within the corporate limits, no +plundering of the houses was allowed; yet in the suburbs and the +country the policy of permitting it to its widest extent was +followed. + + +TWO SPECIMEN CASES OF DESERTION + +[Heroes in the Furnace; Southern Historical Papers.] + +We by no means excuse or palliate desertion to the enemy, which is +universally recognized as one of the basest crimes known to military +law; but most of the desertions from the Confederate army occurred +during the latter part of the war, and many of them were brought about +by the most heartrending letters from home, telling of suffering, and +even starving families, and we cannot class these cases with those who +deserted to join the enemy, or to get rid of the hardships and dangers +of the army. Some most touching cases came under our observation, but +we give only the following incidents as illustrating many other +cases. + +A distinguished major-general in the Western army has given us this +incident. A humble man but very gallant soldier from one of the Gulf +States, had enlisted on the assurance of a wealthy planter that he +would see his young wife and child should not lack for support. + +The brave fellow had served his country faithfully, until one day he +received a letter from his wife, saying that the rich neighbor who had +promised to keep her from want now utterly refused to give or to sell +her anything to eat, unless she would submit to the basest proposals +which he was persistently making her, and that unless he could come +home she saw nothing but starvation before her and his child. The poor +fellow at once applied for a furlough, and was refused. He then went +to the gallant soldier who is my informant and stated the case in +full, and told him that he must and would go home if he was shot for +it the day he returned. The general told him while he could not give +him a permit, he did not blame him for his determination. + +The next day he was reported "absent without leave," and was hurrying +to his home. He moved his wife and child to a place of safety and made +provision for their support. Then returning to the neighborhood of his +home, he caught the miscreant who had tried to pollute the hearthstone +of one who was risking his life for him, dragged him into the woods, +tied him to a tree, and administered to him a flogging that he did not +soon forget. The brave fellow then hurried back to his regiment, +joined his comrades just as they were going into battle, and behaved +with such conspicuous gallantry as to make all forget that he had +ever, even for a short time, been a "deserter." + +The other incident which we shall give was related by General C. A. +Battle, in a speech at Tuscumbia, Ala., and is as follows: + +During the winter of 1862-3 it was my fortune to be president of one +of the courts-martial of the Army of Northern Virginia. One bleak +December morning, while the snow covered the ground and the winds +howled around our camp, I left my bivouac fire to attend the session +of the court. Winding for miles along uncertain paths, I at length +arrived at the court-ground at Round Oak church. Day after day it had +been our duty to try the gallant soldiers of that army charged with +violations of military law; but never had I on any previous occasion +been greeted by such anxious spectators as on that morning awaited the +opening of the court. Case after case was disposed of, and at length +the case of "The Confederate States vs. Edward Cooper" was called; +charge, desertion. A low murmur rose spontaneously from the +battle-scarred spectators as a young artilleryman rose from the +prisoner's bench, and, in response to the question, "Guilty or not +guilty?" answered, "Not guilty." + +The judge advocate was proceeding to open the prosecution, when the +court, observing that the prisoner was unattended by counsel, +interposed and inquired of the accused, "Who is your counsel?" + +He replied, "I have no counsel." + +Supposing that it was his purpose to represent himself before the +court, the judge-advocate was instructed to proceed. Every charge and +specification against the prisoner was sustained. + +The prisoner was then told to introduce his witnesses. + +He replied, "I have no witnesses." + +Astonished at the calmness with which he seemed to be submitting to +what he regarded as inevitable fate, I said to him, "Have you no +defence? Is it possible that you abandoned your comrades and deserted +your colors in the presence of the enemy without any reason?" + +He replied, "There was a reason, but it will not avail me before a +military court." + +I said, "Perhaps you are mistaken; you are charged with the highest +crime known to military law, and it is your duty to make known the +causes that influenced your actions." + +For the first time his manly form trembled and his blue eyes swam in +tears. Approaching the president of the court, he presented a letter, +saying, as he did so, "There, colonel, is what did it." I opened the +letter, and in a moment my eyes filled with tears. + +It was passed from one to another of the court until all had seen it, +and those stern warriors who had passed with Stonewall Jackson through +a hundred battles wept like little children. Soon as I sufficiently +recovered my self-possession, I read the letter as the prisoner's +defence. It was in these words: + + MY DEAR EDWARD: I have always been proud of you, and since your + connection with the Confederate army I have been prouder of you + than ever before. I would not have you do anything wrong for the + world; but before God, Edward, unless you come home we must die! + Last night I was aroused by little Eddie's crying. I called and + said, "What's the matter, Eddie?" and he said, "Oh, mamma, I'm so + hungry!" And Lucy, Edward, your darling Lucy, she never complains, + but she is growing thinner and thinner every day. And before God, + Edward, unless you come home we must die. + + YOUR MARY. + +Turning to the prisoner, I asked, "What did you do when you received +this letter?" + +He replied, "I made application for a furlough, and it was rejected; +again I made application, and it was rejected; and that night, as I +wandered backward and forward in the camp, thinking of my home, with +the mild eyes of Lucy looking up to me, and the burning words of Mary +sinking in my brain, I was no longer the Confederate soldier, but I +was the father of Lucy and the husband of Mary, and I would have +passed those lines if every gun in the battery had fired upon me. I +went to my home. Mary ran out to meet me, her angel arms embraced me, +and she whispered, 'O, Edward, I am so happy! I am so glad you got +your furlough!' She must have felt me shudder, for she turned pale as +death, and, catching her breath at every word, she said, 'Have you +come without your furlough? O, Edward, Edward, go back! go back! Let +me and my children go down together to the grave, but O, for heaven's +sake, save the honor of our name! And here I am, gentlemen, not +brought here by military power, but in obedience to the command of +Mary, to abide the sentence of your court." + +Every officer of that court-martial felt the force of the prisoner's +words. Before them stood, in beatific vision, the eloquent pleader for +the husband's and father's wrongs; but they had been trained by their +great leader, Robert E. Lee, to tread the path of duty though the +lightning's flash scorched the ground beneath their feet, and each in +his turn pronounced the verdict: "Guilty." Fortunately for humanity, +fortunately for the Confederacy, the proceedings of the court were +reviewed by the commanding-general, and upon the record was written: + + HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA. + + The finding of the court is approved. The prisoner is pardoned, + and will report to his company. + + R. E. LEE, _General_. + +During a subsequent battle, when shot and shell were falling "like +torrents from the mountain cloud," my attention was directed to the +fact that one of our batteries was being silenced by the concentrated +fire of the enemy. When I reached the battery every gun but one had +been dismantled, and by it stood a solitary soldier, with the blood +streaming from his side. As he recognized me, he elevated his voice +above the roar of battle, and said, "General, I have one shell left. +Tell me, have I saved the honor of Mary and Lucy?" I raised my hat. +Once more a Confederate shell went crashing through the ranks of the +enemy, and the hero sank by his gun to rise no more. + + +SHERMAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA + +[Cornelia B. Spencer, in Last Days of the War, pages 29-31.] + +A letter dated Charleston, September 14, 1865, written by Rev. Dr. +John Bachman, then pastor of the Lutheran Church in that city, +presents many facts respecting the devastation and robberies by the +enemy in South Carolina. So much as relates to the march of Sherman's +army through parts of the State is here presented: + +"When Sherman's army came sweeping through Carolina, leaving a broad +track of desolation for hundreds of miles, whose steps were +accompanied with fire, and sword, and blood, reminding us of the +tender mercies of the Duke of Alva, I happened to be at Cash's Depot, +6 miles from Cheraw. The owner was a widow, Mrs. Ellerbe, 71 years of +age. Her son, Colonel Cash, was absent. I witnessed the barbarities +inflicted on the aged, the widow, and young and delicate females. +Officers, high in command, were engaged tearing from the ladies their +watches, their ear and wedding rings, the daguerreotypes of those they +loved and cherished. A lady of delicacy and refinement, a personal +friend, was compelled to strip before them, that they might find +concealed watches and other valuables under her dress. A system of +torture was practiced toward a weak, unarmed, and defenceless people +which, as far as I know and believe, was universal throughout the +whole course of that invading army. Before they arrived at a +plantation, they inquired the names of the most faithful and +trustworthy family servants; these were immediately seized, pistols +were presented at their heads; with the most terrific curses, they +were threatened to be shot if they did not assist them in finding +buried treasures. If this did not succeed, they were tied up and +cruelly beaten. Several poor creatures died under the infliction. The +last resort was that of hanging, and the officers and men of the +triumphant army of General Sherman were engaged in erecting gallows +and hanging up these faithful and devoted servants. They were strung +up until life was nearly extinct, when they were let down, suffered to +rest awhile, then threatened and hung up again. It is not surprising +that some should have been left hanging so long that they were taken +down dead. Coolly and deliberately these hardened men proceeded on +their way, as if they had perpetrated no crime, and as if the God of +heaven would not pursue them with his vengeance. But it was not alone +the poor blacks (to whom they professed to come as liberators) that +were thus subjected to torture and death. Gentlemen of high +character, pure and honorable and gray-headed, unconnected with the +military, were dragged from their fields or beds, and subjected to +this process of threats, beating, and hanging. Along the whole track +of Sherman's army traces remain of the cruelty and inhumanity +practiced on the aged and the defenceless. Some of those who were hung +up died under the rope, while their cruel murderers have not only been +left unreproached and unhung, but have been hailed as heroes and +patriots." + + +OLD NORTH STATE'S TRIALS + +[Cornelia P. Spencer, in Last Ninety Days of the War, pages 95-97.] + +By January, 1865, there was very little room for "belief" of any sort +in the ultimate success of the Confederacy. All the necessaries of +life were scarce, and were held at fabulous and still increasing +prices. The great freshet of January 10th, which washed low grounds, +carried off fences, bridges, mills, and tore up railroads all through +the central part of the State, at once doubled the price of corn and +flour. Two destructive fires in the same months, which consumed great +quantities of government stores at Charlotte and at Salisbury, added +materially to the general gloom and depression. The very elements +seemed to have enlisted against us. And soon, with no great surplus of +food from the wants of her home population, North Carolina found +herself called upon to furnish supplies for two armies. Early in +January an urgent and most pressing appeal was made for Lee's army; +and the people, most of whom knew not where they would get bread for +their children in three months' time, responded nobly, as they had +always done to any call for "the soldiers." Few were the hearts in any +part of the land that did not thrill at the thought that those who +were fighting for us were in want of food. From a humble cabin on the +hill-side, where the old brown spinning-wheel and the rude loom were +the only breastworks against starvation, up through all grades of +life, there were none who did not feel a deep and tender, almost +heartbreaking solicitude for our noble soldiers. For them the last +barrel of flour was divided, the last luxury in homes that had once +abounded cheerfully surrendered. Every available resource was taxed, +every expedient of domestic economy was put into practice--as, indeed, +had been done all along; but our people went to work even yet with +fresh zeal. I speak now of central North Carolina, where many families +of the highest respectability and refinement lived for months on +corn-bread, sorghum, and peas; where meat was seldom seen on the +table, tea and coffee never, where dried apples and peaches were a +luxury; where children went barefoot through winter, and ladies made +their own shoes, and wove their own homespuns; where the carpets were +cut up into blankets, and window-curtains and sheets were torn up for +hospital uses; where the soldiers' socks were knit day and night, +while for home service clothes were twice turned, and patches were +patched again; and all this continually, and with an energy and a +cheerfulness that may well be called heroic. + +There were localities in the State where a few rich planters boasted +of having "never felt the war;" there were ladies whose wardrobes +encouraged the blockade-runners, and whose tables were still heaped +with all the luxuries they had ever known. There were such doubtless +in every State in the Confederacy. I speak not now of these, but of +the great body of our citizens--the middle class as to fortune, +generally the highest as to cultivation and intelligence--these were +the people who denied themselves and their little ones, that they +might be able to send relief to the gallant men who lay in the +trenches before Petersburg, and were even then living on crackers and +parched corn. + +The fall of Fort Fisher and the occupation of Wilmington, the failure +of the peace commission, and the unchecked advance of Sherman's army +northward from Savannah, were the all-absorbing topics of discussion +with our people during the first months of the year 1865. The tide of +war was rolling in upon us. Hitherto our privations, heavily as they +had borne upon domestic comfort, had been light in comparison with +those of the people in the States actually invaded by the Federal +armies; but now we were to be qualified to judge, by our own +experience, how far their trials and losses had exceeded ours. What +the fate of our pleasant towns and villages and of our isolated +farm-houses would be we could easily read by the light of the blazing +roof-trees that lit up the path of the advancing army. General +Sherman's principles were well known, for they had been carefully laid +down by him in his letter to the Mayor of Atlanta, September, 1864, +and had been thoroughly put in practice by him in his further progress +since. To shorten the war by increasing its severity: this was his +plan--simple, and no doubt to a certain extent effective. + + +SHERMAN IN NORTH CAROLINA + +[Cornelia P. Spencer, in Last Ninety Days of the War, pages 214-215.] + +General Sherman's reputation had preceded him, and the horror and +dismay with which his approach was anticipated in the country were +fully warranted. The town itself was in a measure defended, so to +speak, by General Schofield's preoccupation; but in the vicinity and +for twenty miles around the country was most thoroughly plundered and +stripped of food, forage, and private property of every description. +One of the first of General Sherman's own acts, after his arrival, was +of peculiar hardship. One of the oldest and most venerable citizens of +the place, with a family of sixteen or eighteen children and +grandchildren, most of them females, was ordered, on a notice of a few +hours, to vacate his house, which of course was done. The gentleman +was nearly 80 years old, and in very feeble health. The outhouses, +fences, grounds, etc., were destroyed, and the property greatly +damaged during its occupation by the general. Not a farm-house in the +country but was visited and wantonly robbed. Many were burned, and +very many, together with outhouses, were pulled down and hauled into +camps for use. Generally not a live animal, not a morsel of food of +any description was left, and in many instances not a bed or sheet or +change of clothing for man, woman, or child. It was most heartrending +to see daily crowds of country people, from three score and ten years +down to the unconscious infant carried in its mother's arms, coming +into the town to beg food and shelter, to ask alms from those who had +despoiled them. Many of these families lived for days on parched corn, +on peas boiled in water without salt, or scraps picked up about the +camps. The number of carriages, buggies, and wagons brought in is +almost incredible. They kept for their own use what they wished, and +burned or broke up the rest. General Logan and staff took possession +of seven rooms in the house of John C. Slocumb, esq., the gentleman of +whose statements I avail myself. Every assurance of protection was +given to the family by the quartermaster; but many indignities were +offered to the inmates, while the house was effectually stripped as +any other of silver plate, watches, wearing apparel, and money. Trunks +and bureaus were broken open and the contents abstracted. Not a plank +or rail or post or paling was left anywhere upon the grounds, while +fruit trees, vines, and shrubbery were wantonly destroyed. These +officers remained nearly three weeks, occupying the family beds, and +when they left the bed-clothes also departed. + +It is very evident that General Sherman entered North Carolina with +the confident expectation of receiving a welcome from its Union-loving +citizens. In Major Nichol's "Story of the Great March," he remarks, on +crossing the line which divides South from North Carolina: + + The conduct of the soldiers is perceptibly changed. I have seen no + evidence of plundering; the men keep their ranks closely; and more + remarkable yet, not a single column of the fire or smoke, which a + few days ago marked the positions of the heads of columns, can be + seen upon the horizon. Our men seem to understand that they are + entering a State which has suffered for its Union sentiment, and + whose inhabitants would gladly embrace the old flag again if they + can have the opportunity, which we mean to give them. + +But the town meeting and war resolutions of the people of Fayetteville, +the fight in her streets, and Governor Vance's proclamation, soon +undeceived them, and their amiable dispositions were speedily +corrected and abandoned. + + +MRS. VANCE'S TRUNK--GENERAL PALMER'S GALLANTRY + +[Cornelia B. Spenser, in Southern Historical Papers.] + +On the road from Statesville a part of the command was dispatched in +the direction of Lincolnton, under General Palmer. Of this officer the +same general account is given as of General Stoneman, that he +exhibited a courtesy and forbearance which reflected honor on his +uniform, and have given him a just claim to the respect and gratitude +of our western people. The following pleasant story is a sample of his +way of carrying on war with ladies: Mrs. Vance, the wife of the +governor, had taken refuge, from Raleigh, in Statesville with her +children. On the approach of General Stoneman's army, she sent off to +Lincolnton, for safety, a large trunk filled with valuable clothing, +silver, etc., and among other things two thousand dollars in gold, +which had been entrusted to her care by one of the banks. This trunk +was captured on the road by Palmer's men, who of course rejoiced +exceedingly over this finding of spoil, more especially as belonging +to the rebel General Vance. Its contents were speedily appropriated +and scattered. But the circumstances coming to General Palmer's +knowledge, within an hour's time he had every article and every cent +collected and replaced in the trunk, which he then immediately sent +back under guard to Mrs. Vance with his compliments. General Palmer +was aiming for Charlotte when he was met by couriers announcing news +of the armistice. + + +THE EVENTFUL THIRD OF APRIL + +[Correspondent of New York _Herald_, Southern Historical Papers.] + +It was known about this time to the people of Richmond that the negro +troops in the Union army had requested General Grant to give them the +honor of being the first to enter the fallen capital. The fact gave +rise to a fear that they would unite with the worst class of resident +negroes and burn and sack the city. When, therefore, the black smoke +and lurid flames arose on that eventful 3d of April, caused by the +Confederates themselves, the terror-stricken inhabitants at first +thought their fears were to be realized, but were soon relieved when +they saw the manful fight made by many of the negroes and Union troops +to suppress the flames. At no time did they fear their own servants; +indeed, I was afterwards assured that the many negroes who filled the +streets and welcomed the Union troops would have resisted any attack +upon the households of their old masters. + +The behavior of many of the old family servants was very marked in the +care and great solicitude shown by them for their masters during this +trying period. As an amusing instance of this, I will tell you this +incident: + +An old lady had a very bright, good-looking maid servant, to whom some +of the Union officers had shown considerable attention by taking her +out driving. The girl came in one morning and asked her old mistress +if she would not take a drive with her in the hack which stood at the +door, with her sable escort in waiting. Doubtless this was done not in +a spirit of irony, but really in feeling for her old mistress. + +In another family, on the day the troops entered the city, when all +the males had fled, leaving several young ladies with their mother +alone, "Old Mammy," the faithful nurse, was posted at the front door +with the baby in her arms, while the trembling females locked +themselves in an upper room. When the hurrahing, wild Union troops +passed along, many straggled into the house and asked where the white +ladies were. + +"Old Mammy" replied: "Dis is de only white lady; all de rest ar' +culled ladies," and she laughed and tossed up the baby, which seemed +to please the soldiers, who chucked the baby and passed on. + + +_Spartan Richmond Ladies_ + +The ladies of Richmond who bore such an active part on that terrible +3d of April, many of whom with blackened faces mounted the tops of +their roofs, and with their faithful servants swept off the flying +firebrands as they were wafted over the city, or bore in their arms +the sick to places of safety, or sent words of comfort to their +husbands and their sons who were battling against the flames--these +were the true women of the South, who had never given up the hope of +final victory until Lee laid down his sword at Appomattox. They were +calm even in defeat; and though strong men lost their reason and shed +tears in maniacal grief over the destruction of their beautiful city, +yet her noble women still stood unflinching, facing all dangers with +heroism that has never been equalled since the days of Sparta. + +Sauntering along the street, making a few purchases preparatory to +leaving the doomed city, I was suddenly accosted by a friend, who with +trembling voice and terrified countenance exclaimed: + +"Sir, I have just heard that the Petersburg and Weldon railroad will +be cut by the Yankees in a few days. My daughter, who is in North +Carolina, will be made a prisoner. I will give all I have to get her +home." + +I saw the intense anguish of the father, and learning that he could +not get a pass to go through Petersburg, I said, "Mr. T----, if you +will pay my expenses, I will have your daughter here in two days." + +He overwhelmed me with thanks, crammed my pockets full of Confederate +notes, filled my haversack with rations for several days, and I left +next morning for Petersburg. The train not being allowed to enter the +city, we had to make a mile or more in a conveyance of some kind at an +exorbitant price. Learning that the Weldon train ran only at night for +fear of the Yankee batteries, which were alarmingly near, I had time +to inspect the city. I found here a marked contrast to Richmond. As I +passed along its streets, viewing the marks of shot and shell on every +side, hearing now and then the heavy, sullen boom of the enemy's guns, +seeing on every hand the presence of war, I noticed its business men +had, nevertheless, a calm, determined look. Its streets were filled +with women and children, who seemed to know no fear, though at any +moment a shrieking shell might dash among them, but each eye would +turn in loving confidence to the Confederate flag which floated over +the headquarters of General Lee, feeling that they were secure as long +as he was there. + +That night, when all was quiet and darkness reigned, with not a light +to be seen, our train quietly slipped out of the city, like a +blockade-runner passing the batteries. The passengers viewed in +silence the flashing of the guns as they were trying to locate the +train. It was a moment of intense excitement, but on we crept, until +at last the captain came along with a lantern and said, "All right!" +and we breathed more freely; but from the proximity of the batteries, +I surmised that it would not be "all right" many days hence. + +Hastening on my journey, I found the young lady, and telling her she +must face the Yankee batteries if she would see her home, I found her +even enthusiastic at the idea, and we hastily left, though under +protest of her friends. + +Returning by the same route--which, indeed, was the only one now +left--we approached to within five miles of Petersburg and waited for +darkness. The lights were again extinguished, the passengers warned to +tuck their heads low, which in many cases was done by lying flat on +the floor, and then we began the ordeal, moving very slowly, sometimes +halting, at every moment fearing a shell from the belching batteries, +which had heard the creaking of the train and were "feeling" for our +position. The glare and the boom of the guns, the dead silence broken +only by a sob from some terrified heart, all filled up a few moments +of time never to be forgotten. + +But we entered the city safely just as the moon was rising, and the +next morning I handed my friend his daughter. A few days after the +batteries closed the gap on the Weldon road, cutting off Petersburg +and Richmond from the South, and compelling General Lee to prepare for +retreat. + + +THE FEDERALS ENTER RICHMOND + +[Phoebe Y. Pember.] + +Before the day was over the public buildings were occupied by the +enemy, and the minds of the citizens relieved from all fear of +molestation. The hospitals were attended to, the ladies being still +allowed to nurse and care for their own wounded; but rations could not +be drawn yet, the obstructions in the James River preventing the +transports from coming up to the city. In a few days they arrived, and +food was issued to those in need. It had been a matter of pride among +the Southerners to boast that they had never seen a greenback, so the +entrance of the Federal army had thus found them entirely unprepared +with gold and silver currency. People who had boxes of Confederate +money and were wealthy the day previously looked around in vain for +wherewithal to buy a loaf of bread. Strange exchanges were made on the +street of tea and coffee, flour, and bacon. Those who were fortunate +in having a stock of household necessaries were generous in the +extreme to their less wealthy neighbors, but the destitution was +terrible. The sanitary commission shops were opened, and commissioners +appointed by the Federals to visit among the people and distribute +orders to draw rations, but to effect this, after receiving tickets, +required so many appeals to different officials, that decent people +gave up the effort. Besides, the musty cornmeal and strong codfish +were not appreciated by fastidious stomachs; few gently nurtured could +relish such unfamiliar food. + +But there was no assimilation between the invaders and invaded. In +the daily newspapers a notice had appeared that the military bands +would play in the beautiful capitol grounds every afternoon, but +when the appointed hour arrived, except the Federal officers, +musicians and soldiers, not a white face was to be seen. The negroes +crowded every bench and path. The next week another notice was +issued that the colored population would not be admitted; and then +the absence of everything and anything feminine was appalling. The +entertainers went alone to their own entertainment. The third week +still another notice appeared: "Colored nurses were to be admitted +with their white charges," and lo, each fortunate white baby +received the cherished care of a dozen finely dressed black ladies, +the only drawback being that in two or three days the music ceased +altogether, the entertainers feeling at last the ingratitude of the +subjugated people. + +Despite their courtesy of manner--for, however despotic the acts, the +Federal authorities maintained a respectful manner--the newcomers made +no advance toward fraternity. They spoke openly and warmly of their +sympathy with the sufferings of the South, but committed and advocated +acts that the hearers could not recognize as "military necessities." +Bravely-dressed Federal officers met their former old classmates from +colleges and military institutions and inquired after the relatives to +whose houses they had ever been welcome in days of yore, expressing a +desire to "call and see them;" while the vacant chairs, rendered +vacant by Federal bullets, stood by the hearth of the widow and +bereaved mother. They could not be made to understand that their +presence was painful. There were but few men in the city at this time; +but the women of the South still fought their battles for them: fought +it resentfully, calmly, but silently. Clad in their mourning garments, +overcome, but hardly subdued, they sat within their desolate homes, or +if compelled to leave that shelter went on their errands to church or +hospital with veiled faces and swift steps. By no sign or act did the +possessors of their fair city know that they were even conscious of +their presence. If they looked in their faces they saw them not; they +might have supposed themselves a phantom army. There was no stepping +aside with affectation to avoid the contact of dress; no feigned +humility in giving the inside of the walk; they simply totally ignored +their presence. + + +SOMEBODY'S DARLING + +[In Richmond During the War, pages 152-154.] + +Our best and brightest young men were passing away. Many of them, the +most of them, were utter strangers to us; but the wounded soldier ever +found a warm place in our hearts, and they were strangers no more. A +Southern lady has written some beautiful lines, suggested by the death +of a youthful soldier in one of our hospitals. So deeply touching is +the sentiment, and such the exquisite pathos of the poetry, that we +shall insert them in our memorial to those sad times. When all +sentiment was well nigh crushed out, which courts the visit of the +nurse, these lines sent a thrill of ecstasy to our hearts, and comfort +and sweetness to the bereaved in many far-off homes of the South. Of +"Somebody's Darling," she writes: + + Into a ward of the whitewashed halls + Where the dead and dying lay; + Wounded by bayonets, shells, and balls, + Somebody's darling was borne one day. + Somebody's darling so young and so brave, + Wearing yet on his sweet, pale face, + Soon to be laid in the dust of the grave, + The lingering light of his boyhood's grace. + + Matted and damp are the curls of gold, + Kissing the snow of that fair young brow; + Pale are the lips of delicate mould, + Somebody's darling is dying now! + Back from his beautiful blue-veined brow, + Brush the wandering waves of gold; + Cross his hands on his bosom now-- + Somebody's darling is still and cold. + + Kiss him once, for somebody's sake, + Murmur a prayer, soft and low. + One bright curl from its fair mates take, + They were somebody's pride, you know. + Somebody's hand hath rested there, + Was it a mother's, soft and white; + Or have the lips of a sister fair + Been baptized in their waves of light? + + God knows best! He has somebody's love, + Somebody's heart enshrined him there; + Somebody wafted his name above, + Night and morn, on the wings of prayer. + Somebody wept when he marched away, + Looking so handsome, brave and grand! + Somebody's kiss on his forehead lay, + Somebody clung to his parting hand. + + Somebody's waiting, and watching for him, + Yearning to hold him again to her heart, + And there he lies--with his blue eyes dim, + And his smiling, child-like lips apart! + Tenderly bury the fair young dead, + Pausing to drop o'er his grave a tear; + Carve on the wooden slab at his head, + "'Somebody's darling' is lying here!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THEIR PLUCK + + +FEMALE RECRUITING OFFICERS + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +The young women and girls brightly and cordially cheered every +Confederate volunteer. Nothing was too good for him, and smiles of +sisterly esteem and love met him at every turn. There was a sort of +intoxication in the welcome and applause that everywhere greeted the +young volunteer. To many it was full pay for the sacrifice. Many an +expectant bride sadly but resolutely postponed marriage, and sent her +affianced lover to the army. + + "Wouldst thou have me love thee, dearest, + With a woman's proudest heart, + Which shall ever hold thee nearest, + Shrined in its inmost part? + + "Listen then! My country's calling + On her sons to meet the foe! + Leave these groves of rose and myrtle; + Like young Koerner, scorn the turtle + When the eagle screams above." + +But there were many young men who did not want to hear Koerner's war +eagle scream. They wanted a battle, but they wanted to "smell it afar +off." They believed in the righteousness of the war more strongly than +anybody. Yes, many of them were the first to don the blue cockade of +the "minute men;" that is, the militia organized with the avowed +object of fighting on a moment's warning. They were ever so ready to +be soldiers at home for a "minute," but held back when it came to +volunteering for six months, a year, or three years. Then the young +women would turn loose their little tongues, and their jeers and +sarcasm would drive the skulker clear out of their society, and +eventually in self-defense he would have to "jine the cavalry," or +infantry one, to get away from the darts of woman's tongue. A hornet +could not sting like that little tongue. + +One of these girls was a lone sister, with many brothers, in a very +wealthy family, which we will call the DeLanceys, in one of the +richest counties of Alabama. A cavalry company had been organized and +drilled for the war, but not a DeLancey's name was on the roll. The +company was to leave the home camp for the front. The whole county +gathered to cheer them and bid them good-bye. Presents and honors were +showered upon the young patriots. The sister mentioned above owned a +very fine favorite horse, named "Starlight," which she presented to +the company in a touching little speech, which brought tears to many +eyes, and which wound up with the following apostrophe, "Farewell, +Starlight! I may never see you again; but, thank God, you are the +bravest of the DeLanceys." + +All through the war cowards were between two fires, that of the +Federals at the front and that of the women in the rear. + + +MRS. SUSAN ROY CARTER + +[Thomas Nelson Page.] + +Old Mathews and Gloucester, Virginia, as they are affectionately +termed by those who knew them in the old times, were filled with +colonial families and were the home of a peculiarly refined and +aristocratic society. Miss Roy was the daughter of William H. Roy, +esq., of "Green Plains," Mathews county, and of Anne Seddon, a sister +of Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War of the Confederate States. +She was a noted beauty and belle, even in a society that was known +throughout Virginia for its charming and beautiful women. Her +loveliness, radiant girlhood, and early womanhood is still talked of +among the survivors of that time. Old men, who have seen the whole +order of society in which they spent their youths pass from the scene, +still refresh themselves with the memory of her brilliant beauty and +of her gracious charms. She was the centre and idol of that circle. + +In 1855, on November 7th, she gave her hand and heart to Dr. Thomas H. +Carter, esq., of Shirley, and from that time to the day of her death +their life was one of the ideal unions which justify the saying that +"marriages are made in heaven." "It has always been a honeymoon with +us," he used to say. The young couple almost immediately settled at +"Pampatike," on the Pamunkey, an old colonial estate. Here Mrs. Carter +lived for thirty-four years, occupied in the duties of mistress of a +great plantation, dispensing that gracious hospitality which made it +noted even in Old Virginia; shedding the light of a beautiful life on +all about her, and exemplifying in herself the character to which the +South points with pride and affection as a refutation of every adverse +criticism. + +Such a plantation was a world in itself, and the life upon it was such +as to entail on the master and mistress labors and responsibilities +such as are not often produced under any other conditions. In addition +to the demands of hospitality, which were exacting and constant, the +conduct of such a large establishment, with the care of over one +hundred and fifty servants, whose eyes were ever turned to their +mistress, called forth the exercise of the highest powers from those +who felt themselves answerable to the Great Master of All for the full +performance of their duty. No one ever performed this duty with more +divine devotion than did this young mistress. She was at once the +friend and the servant of every soul on the place. Mrs. Carter was a +fine illustration of the rare quality of the character formed by such +conditions. In sickness and in health she watched over, looked after, +and cared for all within her province. + +It is the boast of the South, and one founded on truth, that when +during the war the men were withdrawn from the plantations to do their +duty on the field, the women rose to the full measure of every demand, +filling often, under new conditions that would have tried the utmost +powers of the men themselves, a place to which only men had been +supposed equal. + +When, on the outbreak of war, her husband was among the first who took +the field as a captain of artillery, Mrs. Carter took charge of the +plantation and during all the stress of that trying period she +conducted it with an ability that would have done honor to a man of +the greatest experience. The Pampatike plantation, lying not far from +West Point, the scene of so many operations during the war, was within +the "debatable land" that lay between the lines and was alternately +swept by both armies. The position was peculiarly delicate, and often +called for the exercise of rare tact and courage on the part of the +mistress. It was known to the enemy that her husband was a gallant and +rising officer and a near relative of General Lee, and the plantation +was a marked one. + +On one occasion a small party of mounted Federal troops on a foraging +expedition visited the place and were engaged in looting, when a party +of Confederate cavalry suddenly appeared on the scene, and a brisk +little skirmish took place in the garden and yard. The Federals were +caught by surprise, and getting the worst of it, broke and retreated +across the lawn, with the enemy close to their heels in hot chase. A +Union trooper was shot from his horse and fell just in front of the +house, but rising, tried to run on. Mrs. Carter, seeing his danger, +rushed out, calling to him to come to her and she would protect him. +Turning, he staggered to her, but though she sheltered him, his wound +was mortal, and he died at her feet. The surprise and defeat of this +party having been reported at West Point, a stronger force was sent up +to wreak vengeance on the place. But on learning of Mrs. Carter's act +in rushing out amid the flying bullets to save this man at the risk of +her life, the officer in command posted a guard, and orders were given +that the place should be henceforth respected. + +The hospital service on the Confederate side during the war, as +wretched as it was, without medicines or surgical appliances, would +have been far more dreadful but for the devotion with which the +Southern women consecrated themselves to it. Every woman was a nurse +if she were within reach of wounds and sickness. Every house was a +hospital if it was needed; and to their honor be it said that the +principle enunciated by Dr. Dunant, and finally established in the +creation of the Red Cross Society, found its exemplification here some +time before the Geneva Congress. To them a wounded man of whatever +side was sacred, and to his service they consecrated themselves. +Unhappily, devotion, even as divine as theirs, could not make up for +all. + +At the battle of Seven Pines--"Fair Oaks"--Captain Carter's battery +rendered such efficient service that the commanding general declared +he would rather have commanded that battery that day than to have been +President of the Confederate States. But the fame of the battery was +won at the expense of about sixty per cent of its officers and men +killed and wounded. The Carter plantation was within sound of the +guns, and Mrs. Carter immediately constituted herself the nurse of the +wounded men of her husband's battery. And from this time she was +regarded by them as their guardian angel--an affection that was +extended to her by all of the men of her husband's command, as he rose +from rank to rank, until he became a colonel and acting chief of +artillery in the last Valley campaign. + +When the war closed nothing remained except the lands and a few +buildings, but the energy of the master and mistress began from the +first to build up the plantation again. The servants were free; the +working force was broken up and scattered, yet large numbers of them, +including all who were old and infirm, remained on the place and had +to be cared for and fed. To this master and mistress alike applied all +their abilities, with the result that defeat was turned into success +and the place became known as one of the estates that had survived the +destruction of war. + +Having a family of young children, the best tutors were secured, and +owing largely to the knowledge of the good influence to which the boys +would be subjected under Mrs. Carter's roof, many applied to send +their boys to them, and "Pampatike School" soon became known far +beyond the limits of Virginia. Among those who have testified to the +influence upon them of their life at Pampatike are men now nearing the +top of every profession in many States. + +It was at this period that the writer came to know her. And he can +never forget the impression made on him by her--an impression that +time and fuller knowledge of her only served to deepen. Of commanding +and gracious presence, with a face of rare beauty and loveliness, and +manners, whose charm can never be described, she might have been noble +Brunhilda, softened and made sweet by the chastening influence of +Christianity and unselfish love. No one that ever saw her could forget +her. It was, indeed, the beautifying influences of a simple piety and +devoted love that guided her life, which stamped their impress on that +noble face. In every relation of life she was perfect. And the +influence of such a life can never cease. Many besides her children +rise up and call her blessed. + +In closing this incomplete sketch of one whose life illustrated all +that was best in life, and admits of justice in no sketch whatsoever, +the writer feels that he cannot do better than to use the words of him +who knew and loved her best: + + Every day an anthem of love and praise swells up from all over the + land to do her honor. Old boys of Pampatike schooling, new boys of + the University, girls and old people, recall her delight to make + them happy and to give them pleasure. It was her greatest + happiness to make others happy; for she was absolutely the most + unselfish and generous being on earth. Her generosity was not + always of abundance, for abundance was not always hers; but a + generosity out of everything that she had. + + Her beautiful life has passed away, and is now only a memory, but + a memory fraught and fragrant with all that is sweetest and + loveliest and purest and best in noblest womanhood. Who that ever + saw her can forget her noble and beautiful face, resplendent with + all that was exalted and high-souled, gracious, and kindest to + others--the Master's index to the heart within! + + +J. L. M. CURRY'S WOMEN CONSTITUENTS + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +Hon. J. L. M. Curry had ever since the war with Mexico been the idol of +his district in Alabama, which kept him steadily in the United States +Congress and sent him to the Confederate House of Representatives. +Toward the latter part of the war in the Congressional campaign Mr. +Curry found an opponent in Mayor Cruickshank, of Talladega. The +latter skilfully played upon the hardships and hopelessness of the war +and in some of the upper mountain counties considerable opposition to +Mr. Curry was developed. At a gathering of the mountaineers, largely +composed of women, Mr. Curry was appealing with his usual favor to his +people to continue their efforts to secure the independence of the +Confederacy and not to listen to any suggestion of submission to the +Northern States. About the time his eloquence reached its highest +point, up rose an old woman and hurled at him what struck him like a +thunderbolt: + +"I think it time for you to hush all your war talk. You go yonder to +Richmond and sit up there in Congress and have a good time while our +poor boys are being all killed; and if you are going to do anything +it's time for you to stop this war." + +In a moment up sprang another mountain woman. "Go on, Mr. Curry," said +she. "Go on, you are right. We can never consent to give up our +Southern cause. Don't listen to what this other woman says. I have +sent five sons to the army. Three of them have fallen on the +battlefield. The other two are at their post in the Virginia army and +they will all stand by Lee to the last. This woman here hasn't but two +sons and they had to be conscripted. One of them has deserted and it +takes all of Lewis's Cavalry to keep the other one in ranks. Go on, +Mr. Curry. We are with you." And Curry went on, more edified by this +last woman's speech, said he afterward, than any speech he ever heard +in his life. + + +NORA MCCARTHY + +[In The Gray Jacket, pages 26-29.] + +Norah McCarthy won by her courage the name of the "Jennie Deans" of +the West. She lived in the interior of Missouri--a little, pretty, +black-eyed girl, with a soul as huge as a mountain, and a form as +frail as a fairy's, and the courage and pluck of a buccaneer into the +bargain. Her father was an old man--a secessionist. She had but a +single brother, just growing from boyhood to youthhood, but sickly and +lame. The family had lived in Kansas during the troubles of '57, when +Norah was a mere girl of fourteen or thereabouts. But even then her +beauty, wit and devil-may-care spirit were known far and wide; and +many were the stories told along the border of her sayings and doings. +Among other charges laid at her door it is said that she broke all the +hearts of the young bloods far and wide, and tradition goes even so +far as to assert that, like Bob Acres, she killed a man once a week, +keeping a private church-yard for the purpose of decently burying her +dead. Be this as it may, she was then, and is now, a dashing, +fine-looking, lively girl, and a prettier heroine than will be found +in a novel, as will be seen if the good-natured reader has a mind to +follow us to the close of this sketch. + +Not long after the Federals came into her neighborhood, and after they +had forced her father to take the oath, which he did partly because he +was a very old man, unable to take the field, and hoped thereby to +save the security of his household, and partly because he could not +help himself; not long after these two important events in the history +of our heroine, a body of men marched up one evening, while she was on +a visit to a neighbor's, and arrested her sickly, weak brother, +bearing him off to Leavenworth City, where he was lodged in the +military guard-house. + +It was nearly night before Norah reached home. When she did so, and +discovered the outrage which had been perpetrated, and the grief of +her old father, her rage knew no bounds. Although the mists were +falling and the night was closing in, dark and dreary, she ordered +her horse to be resaddled, put on a thick surtout, belted a sash round +her waist, and sticking a pair of ivory-handled pistols in her bosom, +started off after the soldiers. The post was many miles distant. But +that she did not regard. Over hill, through marsh, under cover of the +darkness, she galloped on to the headquarters of the enemy. At last +the call of a sentry brought her to stand, with a hoarse "Who goes +there?" + +"No matter," she replied. "I wish to see Colonel Prince, your +commanding officer, and instantly, too." + +Somewhat awed by the presence of a young female on horseback at that +late hour, and perhaps struck by her imperious tone of command, the +Yankee guard, without hesitation, conducted her to the fortifications, +and thence to the quarters of the colonel commanding, with whom she +was left alone. + +"Well, madam," said the Federal officer, with bland politeness, "to +what do I owe the honor of this visit?" + +"Is this Colonel Prince?" replied the brave girl, quietly. + +"It is, and you are--" + +"No matter. I have come here to inquire whether you have a lad by the +name of McCarthy a prisoner?" + +"There is such a prisoner." + +"May I ask why he is a prisoner?" + +"Certainly! For being suspected of treasonable connection with the +enemy." + +"Treasonable connection with the enemy! Why the boy is sick and lame. +He is, besides, my brother; and I have come to ask his immediate +release." + +The officer opened his eyes; was sorry he could not comply with the +request of so winning a supplicant; and must "really beg her to desist +and leave the fortress." + +"I demand his release," cried she, in reply. + +"That you cannot have. The boy is a rebel and a traitor, and unless +you retire, madam, I shall be forced to arrest you on a similar +suspicion." + +"Suspicion! I am a rebel and a traitor, too, if you wish; young +McCarthy is my brother, and I don't leave this tent until he goes with +me. Order his instant release or,"--here she drew one of the aforesaid +ivory handles out of her bosom and levelled the muzzle of it directly +at him--"I will put an ounce of lead in your brain before you can call +a single sentry to your relief." + +A picture that! + +There stood the heroic girl; eyes flashing fire, cheek glowing with +earnest will, lips firmly set with resolution, and hand outstretched +with a loaded pistol ready to send the contents through the now +thoroughly frightened, startled, aghast soldier, who cowered, like +blank paper before flames, under her burning stare. + +"Quick!" she repeated, "order his release, or you die." + +It was too much. Prince could not stand it. He bade her lower her +infernal weapon, for God's sake, and the boy should be forthwith +liberated. + +"Give the order first," she replied, unmoved. + +And the order was given; the lad was brought out; and drawing his arm +in hers, the gallant sister marched out of the place, with one hand +grasping one of his, and the other holding her trusty ivory handle. +She mounted her horse, bade him get up behind, and rode off, reaching +home without accident before midnight. + +Now that is a fact stranger than fiction, which shows what sort of +metal is in our women of the much abused and traduced nineteenth +century. + + +WOMEN IN THE BATTLE OF GAINESVILLE, FLA. + +[From Dickinson and His Men, pages 99-100.] + +As Captain Dickinson and our brave defenders charged the enemy through +the streets, many of the ladies could be seen, whose inspiring tones +and grateful plaudits cheered these noble heroes on to deeds of +greater daring. While charging the enemy, near the residence of Judge +Dawkins, Mrs. Dawkins and her lovely sister, Miss Lydia Taylor, passed +from their garden into the street, and in the excitement of the +moment, actuated by the heroic spirit that ever animated our noble +women, united their voices in repeating the captain's word of command. +"Charge, charge!" was heard with the musical rhythm of a benediction +from their grateful hearts. + +The enemy, halting, made a stand a few yards below the entrance to +their residence, firing up the street almost a hailstorm of Minie +balls from their Spencer rifles. Apparently indifferent to their +danger, these heroic ladies stood unmoved, cheering on our gallant +soldiers, among whom were many near and dear to them. Captain +Dickinson earnestly entreated them to return to the house, as they +were in imminent danger of being killed. + +Many ladies brought buckets of water for the heated, famished soldiers +who had no time to give even to this needed refreshment. Through all +the desperate fight not a citizen was hurt. The sweet incense of +prayer arose from hundreds of agonized hearts to the mercy-seat, in +behalf of husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers who were in the +battle. + + +"SHE WOULD SEND TEN MORE" + +[Judge John H. Reagan's address in 1897.] + +To illustrate the character and devotion of the women of the +Confederacy, I will repeat a statement made to me during the war by +Governor Letcher, of Virginia. He had visited his home in the +Shenandoah Valley, and on his return to the State capitol called at +the house of an old friend who had a large family. He found no one but +the good old mother at home, and inquired about the balance of the +family. She told him that her husband, her husband's father and her +ten sons were all in the army. And on his suggestion that she must +feel lonesome, having had a large family with her and now to be left +alone, her answer was that it was very hard, but if she had ten more +sons they should all go to the army. Can ancient or modern history +show a nobler or more unselfish and patriotic devotion to any cause? + + +WOMEN AT VICKSBURG + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +On first thought it would be expected that women would be greatly +excited when under fire and amid other scenes of actual war. But +almost invariably they exhibited during our war a calm fearlessness +that was amazing. My girl wife and her war companion, Mrs. Lieutenant +Lockett, of Marion, Ala., a daughter of Alabama's noble war governor, +A. B. Moore, spent several months of the spring of 1863 at Vicksburg +and its vicinity, to be near their husbands. They were boarding in the +city the night when Porter's fleet ran down the river by the +batteries. The cannonading was terrific. I was with my regiment, the +Thirtieth Alabama, some few miles away. Next morning, as soon as +regimental duties would allow, I hastened to the city. To my +astonishment I found that neither "the girls" nor the ladies of the +city had been at all alarmed. They seemed to look upon it as a sort of +enjoyable episode. + +In May we were at Warrenton, 10 miles below the city, where the two +ladies were quartered with old Mr. Withington and his good wife, in +one of the most independent and comfortable plantation homes in the +land. When our brigade, under command of the brave but ill-fated Gen. +Ed. Tracy, was ordered to Grand Gulf, I was left under orders to take +the ladies to Vicksburg and send them home out of danger. But before +we could get away from Mr. Withington's news came that a battle was +raging at Bayou Pierre. I told the ladies that I could not stay away +from my command while it was engaged in battle and that they would +just have to do the best they could where they were. Their cheeks +never blanched; nor was a protest uttered. After the battle I hurried +back and got them to Vicksburg, hoping to have them beyond Jackson +before Grant's flanking army could reach it. The idea of having them +shut up in Vicksburg during a siege was a horror to me. What was my +chagrin when, on reaching the railroad station, I was informed by the +officials that not another train would be allowed to go out. There +were numbers of officers' wives and other women all round the depot, +eager to go. They bore their bitter disappointment even cheerfully. +Their courage and cheerfulness soon took another happy turn when under +orders I passed around to whisper to them, "Be ready to jump quickly +and quietly on a train which has been provided to carry off soldiers' +wives in a few minutes." + +Away they went and reached their homes safely, though we at Vicksburg +never learned this until after the surrender. The siege lasted +forty-seven days. Day and night, not only the entrenchments but the +entire city was exposed to artillery and rifle fire day and night. +Many a man was killed far away from the front lines. Many a private +house was torn by shells from Grant's rifle cannon or Porter's mortar +fleet. While the shot and shell did not fall incessantly at any one +point there was no place they did not reach. I knew several poor +fellows to receive fresh wounds while lying on their cots in the +hospitals. + +Porter did not spare the city hospital, although carrying the yellow +flag. In it I had an old college friend, Capt. Ben Craig, of Alabama, +sick with fever, whose wife and venerable father had remained to nurse +him. Just before one of my visits a thirteen-inch shell came down +through the roof, leaving an ugly hole in the floor within six inches +of poor Craig's bed. His brave little wife, (formerly Miss Eliza +Tucker, of Milledgeville, Ga.) never flinched. + +A great many families of the city had dug caves in the soft clay of +the Vicksburg hills and could hide in them in perfect safety. Many did +not avail themselves of this refuge, but bravely remained in their +houses and took chances. Even the cave dwellers had to come out to +cook their food. Nobly did these good women render whatever attention +they could to our sick and wounded. They were as brave and as calm as +the soldiers. + + +"MOTHER, TELL HIM NOT TO COME" + +[Major Robert Stiles, in Four Years Under Marse Robert, pages +322-326.] + +I sat in the porch, where were also sitting an old couple, evidently +the joint head of the establishment, and a young woman dressed in +black, apparently their daughter, and, as I soon learned, a soldier's +widow. My coat was badly torn, and the young woman kindly offering to +mend it I thanked her and, taking it off, handed it to her. While we +were chatting, and groups of men sitting on the steps and lying about +the yard, the door of the house opened and another young woman +appeared. She was almost beautiful, was plainly but neatly dressed, +and had her hat on. She had evidently been weeping and her face was +deadly pale. Turning to the old woman, as she came out, she said, +cutting her words off short, "Mother, tell him if he passes here he is +no husband of mine," and turned again to leave the porch. I rose, and +placing myself directly in front of her, extended my arm to prevent +her escape. She drew back with surprise and indignation. The men were +alert on the instant, and battle was joined. + +"What do you mean, sir?" she cried. + +"I mean, madam," I replied, "that you are sending your husband word to +desert, and that I cannot permit you to do this in the presence of my +men." + +"Indeed! and who asked your permission, sir? And pray, sir, is he your +husband or mine?" + +"He is your husband, madam, but these are my soldiers. They and I +belong to the same army with your husband, and I cannot suffer you, or +any one, unchallenged, to send such a demoralizing message in their +hearing." + +"Army! do you call this mob of retreating cowards an army? Soldiers! +if you are soldiers, why don't you stand and fight the savage wolves +that are coming upon us defenceless women and children?" + +"We don't stand and fight, madam, because we are soldiers, and have to +obey orders, but if the enemy should appear on that hill this moment I +think you would find that these men are soldiers, and willing to die +in defense of women and children." + +"Quite a fine speech, sir, but rather cheap to utter, since you very +well know the Yankees are not here, and won't be, till you've had time +to get your precious carcasses out of the way. Besides, sir, this +thing is over, and has been for some time. The government has now +actually run off, bag and baggage,--the Lord knows where,--and there +is no longer any government or any country for my husband to owe +allegiance to. He does owe allegiance to me and to his starving +children, and if he doesn't observe this allegiance now, when I need +him, he need not attempt it hereafter when he wants me." + +The woman was quick as a flash and cold as steel. She was getting the +better of me. She saw it, and, worst of all, the men saw and felt it, +too, and had gathered thick and pressed up close all round the porch. +There must have been a hundred or more of them, all eagerly listening, +and evidently strongly to the woman's side. This would never do. I +tried every avenue of approach to that woman's heart. It was congealed +by suffering, or else it was encased in adamant. She had parried every +thrust, repelled every advance, and was now standing defiant, with her +arms folded across her breast, rather courting further attack. I was +desperate, and with the nonchalance of pure desperation--no stroke of +genius--I asked the soldier-question: + +"What command does your husband belong to?" + +She started a little, and there was a trace of color in her face as +she replied, with a slight tone of pride in her voice: "He belongs to +the Stonewall Brigade, sir." + +I felt, rather than thought it--but, had I really found her heart? We +would see. + +"When did he join it?" + +A little deeper flush, a little stronger emphasis of pride. + +"He joined in the spring of '61, sir." + +Yes, I was sure of it now. Her eyes had gazed straight into mine; her +head inclined and her eyelids drooped a little now, and there was +something in her face that was not pain and was not fight. So I let +myself out a little, and turning to the men, said: + +"Men, if her husband joined the Stonewall Brigade in '61, and has been +in the army ever since, I reckon he's a good soldier." + +I turned to look at her. It was all over. Her wifehood had conquered. +She had not been addressed this time, yet she answered instantly, with +head raised high, face blushing, eyes flashing: "General Lee hasn't a +better in his army!" As she uttered these words she put her hand in +her bosom, and drawing out a folded paper, extended it toward me, +saying: "If you doubt it, look at that." + +Before her hand reached mine she drew it back, seeming to have changed +her mind, but I caught her wrist, and without much resistance +possessed myself of the paper. It had been much thumbed and was much +worn. It was hardly legible, but I made it out. Again I turned to the +men. + +"Take off your hats, boys, I want you to hear this with uncovered +heads"--and then I read an endorsement on an application for furlough, +in which General Lee himself had signed a recommendation of this +woman's husband for a furlough of special length on account of +extraordinary gallantry in battle. + +During the reading of this paper the woman was transfigured, +glorified. No Madonna of old master was ever more sweetly radiant with +all that appeals to what is best and holiest in man. Her bosom rose +and fell with deep, quiet sighs; her eyes rained gentle, happy tears. + +The men felt it all--all. They were all gazing upon her, but the dross +was clean, purified out of them. There was not, upon any one of their +faces, an expression that would have brought a blush to the cheek of +the purest womanhood on earth. I turned once more to the soldier's +wife. + +"This little paper is your most precious treasure, isn't it?" + +"It is." + +"And the love of him whose manly courage and devotion won this +tribute is the best blessing God ever gave you, isn't it?" + +"It is." + +"And yet, for the brief ecstasy of one kiss, you would disgrace this +hero-husband of yours, stain all his noble reputation, and turn this +priceless paper to bitterness; for the rear-guard would hunt him from +his own cottage, in half an hour, a deserter and a coward." + +Not a sound could be heard save her hurried breathing. The rest of us +held our breath. Suddenly, with a gasp of recovered consciousness, she +snatched the paper from my hand, put it back hurriedly in her bosom, +and turning once more to her mother, said: "Mother, tell him not to +come." + +I stepped aside at once. She left the porch, glided down the path to +the gate, crossed the road, surmounted the fence with easy grace, +climbed the hill, and as she disappeared in the weedy pathway I caught +up my hat and said: + +"Now, men, give her three cheers." + +Such cheers. Oh, God, shall I ever again hear a cheer which bears a +man's whole soul in it? For the first time I felt reasonably sure of +my battalion. It would follow anywhere. + + +BRAVE WOMAN IN DECATUR, GA. + +[Miss Mary A. H. Gay, in Life in Dixie, pages 127-132.] + +Garrad's Cavalry selected our lot, consisting of several acres, for +headquarters, and soon what appeared to us to be an immense army train +of wagons commenced rolling into it. In less than two hours our barn +was demolished and converted into tents, which were occupied by +privates and noncommissioned officers, and to the balusters of our +portico and other portions of the house were tied a number of large +ropes, which, the other ends being secured to the trees and shrubbery, +answered as a railing to which at short intervals apart a number of +smaller ropes were tied, and to these were attached horses and mules, +which were eating corn and oats out of troughs improvised for the +occasion out of bureau, washstand, and wardrobe drawers. Men in groups +were playing cards on tables of every size and shape, and whisky and +profanity held high carnival. Thus surrounded, we could but be +apprehensive of danger; and, to assure ourselves of as much safety as +possible, we barricaded the doors and windows, and arranged to sit up +all night; that is, my mother and myself. + +As we sat on a lounge, every chair having been taken to the camps, we +heard the sound of footsteps entering the piazza, and in a moment, +loud rapping, which meant business. Going to the window nearest the +door, I removed the fastenings, raised the sash, and opened the +blinds. Perceiving by the light of a brilliant moon that at least a +half dozen men in uniforms were on the piazza, I asked: "Who is +there?" + +"Gentlemen," was the laconic reply. + +"If so, you will not persist in your effort to come into the house. +There is only a widow and one of her daughters, and two faithful +servants in it," said I. + +"We have orders from headquarters to interview Miss Gay. Is she the +daughter of whom you speak?" + +"She is, and I am she." + +"Well, Miss Gay, we demand seeing you, without intervening barriers. +Our orders are imperative," said he who seemed to be the spokesman of +the delegation. + +"Then wait a moment," I amiably responded. Going to my mother, I +repeated in substance the above colloquy, and asked her if she would +go with me out of one of the back doors and around the house into the +front yard. Although greatly agitated and trembling, she readily +assented, and we noiselessly went out. In a few moments we announced +our presence, and our visitors descended the steps and joined us. And +these men, occupying a belligerent attitude toward ourselves and all +that was dear to us, stood face to face with us and in silence we +contemplated each other. When the silence was broken, the aforesaid +officer introduced himself as Major Campbell, a member of General +Schofield's staff. He also introduced the accompanying officers each +by name and title. This ceremony over, Major Campbell said: + +"Miss Gay, our mission is a painful one, and yet we will carry it out +unless you satisfactorily explain acts reported to us." + +"What is the nature of those acts?" + +"We have been told that it is your proudest boast that you are a +rebel, and that you are ever on duty to aid and abet in every possible +way the wouldbe destroyers of the United States government. If this be +so, we can not permit you to remain within our lines. Until Atlanta +surrenders, Decatur will be our headquarters, and every consideration +of interest to our cause requires that no one inimical to it should +remain within our boundaries established by conquest." + +In reply to these charges, I said: + +"Gentlemen, I have not been misrepresented, so far as the charges you +mentioned are concerned. If I were a man, I should be in the foremost +ranks of those who are fighting for rights guaranteed by the +Constitution of the United States. The Southern people have never +broken that compact, nor infringed upon it in any way. They have never +organized mobs to assassinate any portion of people sharing the +privileges granted by that compact. They have constructed no +underground railroads to bring into our midst incendiaries and +destroyers of the peace, and to carry off stolen property. They have +never sought to array the subordinate element of the North in deadly +hostility to the controlling element. No class of the women of the +South have ever sought positions at the North which secured entrance +into good households, and then betrayed the confidence reposed by +corrupting the servants and alienating the relations between the +master and the servant. No class of women in the South have ever +mounted the rostrum and proclaimed falsehoods against the women of the +North--falsehoods which must have crimsoned with shame the very cheeks +of Beelzebub. No class of the men of the South have ever tramped over +the North with humbugs, extorting money either through sympathy or +credulity, and engaged at the same time in the nefarious work of +exciting the subordinate class to insurrection, arson, rapine, and +murder. If the South is in rebellion, a well-organized mob at the +North has brought it about. Long years of patient endurance +accomplished nothing. The party founded on falsehood and hate +strengthened and grew to enormous proportions. And, by the way, mark +the cunning of that party. Finding that the Abolition party made slow +progress and had to work in the dark, it changed its name and took in +new issues, and by a systematic course of lying in its institutions of +learning, from the lowly school-house to Yale College, and from its +pulpits and rostrums, it inculcated lessons of hate toward the +Southern people, whom it would hurl into the crater of Vesuvius if +endowed with the power. What was left us to do but to try to relieve +that portion of the country which had permitted this sentiment of hate +to predominate of all connection with us, and of all responsibility +for the sins of which it proclaimed us guilty? This effort the South +has made, and I have aided and abetted in every possible manner, and +will continue to do so as long as there is an armed man in the +Southern ranks. If this is sufficient cause to expel me from my home, +I await your orders. I have no favors to ask." + +Imagine my astonishment, admiration, and gratitude when that group of +Federal officers with unanimity said: + +"I glory in your spunk, and am proud of you as my countrywoman; and so +far from banishing you from your home, we will vote for your retention +within our lines." + + +GIVING WARNING TO MOSBY + +[From original manuscript, now in the Confederate Museum.] + +MY DEAR FRIEND: * * * Soon after the Yankees went into winter quarters +in Warrenton, I was requested by a soldier friend to avail myself of +every opportunity to obtain and transmit information that might be +of service to our scouts and guerrillas, and this of course I was +most willing to do. Our house was at that time within the lines in +the day time, and beyond them at night. I walked up to Warrenton one +bright but very cold morning, (the 22d of December) and as soon as I +arrived was informed by a lady friend, who was also on the lookout, +that she had just seen a negro, who looked like a newcomer, escorted +by several officers to the provost marshal's office. I immediately +concluded that he was bearer of some tidings, most probably from +"Mosby's Confederacy," and that I must know what it might be, but +how could I accomplish it? A sentinel was placed always before the +office. I had my purse with me. I fell into conversation with him. I +offered him so much to let me pass into the basement of the house +on pretense of wishing to transact some business with the negroes +who occupied it. He accepted it, and I went--not into the room +which the negroes occupied, but into the one adjoining it--a place +very damp and dark, where I could hear, but not be seen, and +suiting my purpose admirably, as it was immediately under the office. +I listened; heard the negro questioned and heard him answer that he +could and would guide a force to Mosby's headquarters, to the +houses where he knew many of his men boarded, to the place where the +command had stored a quantity of corn. About the corn they seemed to +care little, but oh! to catch Mosby,--they waxed warm at the +thought--they talked long and loudly (all for my convenience, no +doubt) and the result of the consultation was a plan to go "riding +on a raid" with the "reliable contraband" acting as guide--to go +that very night if certain reinforcements arrived in time, or +should they fail to do so, the next night. I had heard enough. I came +out of my cell, walked through town to a picket post, with the +remaining contents of my purse bribed the faithful soldier of the +Union to let me pass, then walked two miles to a neighbor's where I +thought I could get a horse, which was most gladly furnished me when +my errand was made known. By this time it was late in the afternoon; +it had been turning colder all day, and was now intensely cold with a +blustering wind, the sky covered with moving masses of black clouds. +My friends wrapped me up as best they could. I mounted and rode +three miles to a neighbor's house, where I took a little boy up +behind me for escort. My object now was to ride in what seemed the +right direction until I met some Southern soldier to whom I could +impart the information I gathered, and commission him to convey it +to those whom it most nearly concerned. I rode on for miles--the +country becoming entirely new to me--the cold increasing--the darkness +deepening--the wind rising higher and higher. Mosby's men were +always hanging about the outposts of the enemy. Why was it that I +could not meet one of them? Did they think the night too terrible to +be out? Oh! how I ached with cold, and when I thoughtlessly said +as much, my gallant little escort, who was not less so, I am sure, +begged that he might be allowed to take off his overcoat and put it +around me. Suddenly, just before me, I saw a large fire--the +temptation was too great--I forgot that its light might reveal me +to those whom the darkness hid, drew the reins--old Kitty Grey +stood still, and I stretched out my hands toward the genial warmth. I +then discovered that I was near the "View Tree" to reach which, +though only four miles from Warrenton, I had traveled eight or +ten. The fire, thought I to myself, was built by some Southern scouts, +but they left it as I came on lest it should endanger them. The +thought aroused me. I started on, but had scarcely done so when the +moon came out, and almost immediately Walter called my attention +to a body of men on my right, in the form of a V, each with his +carbine levelled, and moving slowly toward me: I expected them to fire +any moment, but I neither quickened nor slackened my pace. The moon +went under a cloud and I passed into the sheltering darkness, +wondering much why they did not fire. My curiosity on that point was +afterwards satisfied. On I rode. It was not long before I saw a +single horseman with his raised weapon just in front of me. + +"Halt," he said. + +Boldness alone I believed could save me. The cold wind made my voice +hoarse; stern purpose made it strong. I tell you I was astonished at +the manliness of its tone, as lifting my arm I said, "Surrender or +I'll blow your brains out." + +I only knew that a moment afterwards I heard his horse's retreating +hoofs clattering on the stony road. Now surely, thought I, I am safe; +surely the last picket is passed, and my spirits rose. Soon after +this, deceived by the darkness and my ignorance of the mountain ways, +I lost my direction and took a wrong road; but believing myself right +and at last out of danger, I moved on as fast as I could over the +rough, frozen ground, when on reaching the top of the hill, what was +my amazement and horror on finding that instead of proceeding I was +retracing my steps, though by a different route. I saw distinctly, +perhaps three miles off, the lights of the town of Warrenton. And this +was all that I had accomplished after riding at least twelve miles. +What should I do? Was I to fail altogether of my mission? To keep +going toward Warrenton would inevitably lead me to the Yankees. If I +turned and lost my way entirely, what would become of me on such a +night? Just then there came into my mind those sweet quaint lines +which I did not know that I could repeat: + + "God shall charge his angel legions + Watch and ward o'er thee to keep, + Tho' thou walk thro' hostile regions, + Tho' in desert wilds thou sleep." + +They were to me then an inspiration--a harbinger of safety and +success. It would have been still further inspiration, could I have +seen how just at the time, dear old Mrs. ----, who had helped to wrap +me up when I started, and had encouraged me by her sympathy and +interest, was watching for my return, keeping up a big fire--warming +some of her own clothes for me; and when at last she laid down, it was +with her lamp still burning, a pillow arranged for me close by her +kind heart, and with a prayer for me on her lips, that she slept. God +bless her! + +Turning my back to the lights once more, I rode on. I had only gone a +few hundred yards when I saw just before me a horse and his dismounted +rider. The man stepped out, laid his hand on my bridle and said: +"Stop, lady, you can go no further; but where are you going?" + +I answered in the very tone of candor: "I was trying to go to the +neighborhood of Salem to see a sick friend. It was later than I +thought when I set off. My poor old borrowed horse traveled very +slowly; night overtook me suddenly and I determined to make my way +back to my home near Warrenton, but have lost my way." + +He then said: "It is my painful duty to take you to the reserves, +where you will be detained all night and taken to headquarters in the +morning." + +I replied: "You can shoot me on the spot, but I will not spend this +night unprotected among your soldiers. I cannot consent that you +should perform your duty." + +"Nor am I willing to perform it!" he exclaimed. + +After a few moments' hesitation, which seemed to me a century, he +pointed out to me a light at some distance and said, "Go to that +house; no one will be so cruel as to turn you away on such a night." + +I turned into what I thought the right path, but presently he called +out to me in a tone of earnest entreaty: "Not that way, for God's +sake; that leads to the reserves." + +He then came to me, and leading my horse into the right path said: +"Good-by, I shall be three hours on picket to think of a freezing +lady." + +Keeping the light in my eye, I soon reached the house, which was not +far off, and although the inmates evidently looked upon me with +suspicion, they agreed to let me stay all night and let me feed my +horse. I gave them an assumed name, asked to go to bed immediately, +had a hot brick put to my feet and plenty of cover; but I was too +thoroughly cold to be warmed easily, so I lay and shivered and wept +the live-long night. + +Next morning six Yankees, just off post, rode up to the house. At +first I feared the kind picket had proved as treacherous as the rest, +had informed on me, and that they had come to arrest me. I hurried +down to meet them and was not a little relieved to find that they +only wanted to buy milk and eggs. There was a captain among them. + +"We had an alarm last night," said he to me. + +"Ah! how was it?" + +"Why, the rebels wanted to attack our soldiers and they thought to +fool us by sending one man on ahead as if he were alone, thinking we +would all fire on him and not be ready for the rest when they came up; +but we were too sharp for them, did not fire at all and the rascals +were afraid to try it." + +Ah! what mistakes we sometimes make! I learned from them by a little +judicious questioning that no raiding party had passed up during the +night, and hoped that I might still be in time. + +After they left I found that the mistress of the house was a true +Southern woman. I told her my real name and my errand; she went with +me to a house in the mountains, where were some of Mosby's men. We +also met several on the way. I entreated them to give due notice and +then joyfully turned my face homewards. Gentle, faithful, old Kitty +Grey stood me in good stead upon more than one occasion, but the +Yankees have since stolen her, too. I soon returned her to her owners +and had nothing to do but get through the lines to our house. This I +accomplished without difficulty, and when I got in sight of the camp, +just about sundown, I saw every preparation making for a raid--the +raid which was to catch Mosby and his men. I had the satisfaction to +learn in a few days that it met with very poor success. Not a few +soldiers have since told me that the warning saved them from capture. +Several were in bed when they received it. One had not left his +boarding-house twenty minutes when it was surrounded by the enemy. +They preferred one night in the mountains of Virginia to a winter in a +Yankee dungeon. Am I not more than repaid by their thanks? + +A few days after this, during Christmas, some friends in the +neighborhood came through the lines to spend the day and night with +us. To show you how difficult it was to overcome a Yankee sentinel's +stern sense of duty, I must tell you that one of the young ladies of +the party bribed the incumbent of the post on this occasion to let +them all pass for the small consideration of two ginger-cakes and one +turn-over pie. + +Between 11 and 12 that night, as we girls were undressing and chatting +around the fire, we heard a gentle tapping on the window below, and +immediately mother came up and whispering as softly and mysteriously +as if she feared the walls, which they so closely watched, or the +winds, that whistled so keenly around the corners of the house, and +also their ears might repeat her words to the pickets, informed me +that Colonel Mosby and a few of his men were in the yard and wished to +see me. I put on the first dress I came to and crept down noiselessly, +lest I should arouse our spy of a guard. The colonel wanted to know +the exact position of the pickets and videttes. I told him as well as +I could, and in order to give him a more correct idea, I offered to go +with any of them whom he might select to a certain hill, where I could +point out their positions more definitely. Capt. Wm. R. Smith begged +leave to go with me. He led his horse and we walked along, talking in +a low tone. There was a full moon, but she wore a veil of fleecy +clouds. + +When we had gone about two hundred yards, very unexpectedly there rode +out from behind a tree a Yankee picket. + +"Halt," he cried. + +It was but the work of an instant for Captain Smith to spring on his +horse, and with an effort of his strong arm, "Light to the croup the +fair lady he swung." The next instant a bullet seemed to graze our +ears; in quick succession six bullets came, but they soon fell far +behind us. We heard the whole line take up the alarm. As we flew +along, Captain Smith said, very calmly, "A little romance for you." We +soon reached our reserve and after some further conversation, bade one +another goodnight--they going forth to meet other adventures and I to +my friends, who having heard the firing, were awaiting my return +somewhat anxiously. When I took off the dress I had worn, I discovered +a very jagged rent, evidently made by the spur of a cavalier. Brave, +brave Captain Smith! soon he gave his young life to our cause. + + +"AIN'T YOU ASHAMED OF YOU'UNS?" + +[Phoebe Y. Pember.] + +Directly in front of me sat an old Georgia up-country woman, placidly +regarding the box cars full of men on the parallel rails, waiting, +like ourselves, to start. She knitted and gazed, and at last inquired +"who was them ar' soldiers, and whar' was they a-going to?" The +information that they were Yankee prisoners startled her considerably. +The knitting ceased abruptly (all the old women in the Southern States +knitted socks for the soldiers while traveling), and the cracker +bonnet of dark brown homespun was thrown back violently, for her whole +nervous system seemed to have received a galvanic shock. Then she +caught her breath with a long gasp, lifted on high her thin, trembling +hand, accompanied by the trembling voice, and made a speech: + +"Ain't you ashamed of you'uns," she piped. "A-coming down here +a-spiling our country, and a-robbing our hen-roosts? What did we ever +do to you'uns that you should come a-killing our brothers and sons? +Ain't you ashamed of you'uns? What for do you want us to live with +you'uns, you poor white trash? I ain't got a single nigger that would +be so mean as to force himself where he warn't wanted, and what do +we-uns want with you? Ain't you--" but there came a roar of laughter +from both cars, and, shaking with excitement, the old lady pulled down +her spectacles, which in the excitement she had pushed up on her +forehead, and tried in vain to resume her labors with uncertain +fingers. + + +FALSE TEETH + +[In Richmond During the War, pages 165-166.] + +In connection with the battle of the Cross Keys, we are just here +reminded of an amusing stratagem of a rebel lady to conceal her age +and charms from the enemy, who held possession of her house. She says: +"Mr. K., you know, was compelled to evacuate his premises when the +Federals took possession, and succeeding in making good their escape, +left me here, with my three children, to encounter the consequences of +their intrusion upon my premises. Not wishing to appear quite as +youthful as I really am, and desiring to destroy, if possible, any +remains of my former beauty, I took from my mouth a set of false +teeth, (which I was compelled to have put in before I was 20 years +old,) tied a handkerchief around my head, donned my most sloven +apparel, and in every way made myself as hideous as possible. The +disguise was perfect. I was sullen, morose, sententious. You could not +have believed I could so long have kept up a manner so disagreeable; +but it had the desired effect. The Yankees called me 'old woman.' They +took little thought I was not 30 years of age. They took my house for +a hospital for their sick and wounded, and allowed me only the use of +a single room, and required of me many acts of assistance in nursing +their men, which under any circumstances my own heart-promptings would +have made a pleasure to me. But I did not feel disposed to be +compelled to prepare food for those who had driven from me my husband, +and afterwards robbed me of all my food and bed-furniture, with the +exception of what they allowed me to have in my room. But they were +not insulting in their language to the 'old woman,' and I endured all +the inconveniences and unhappiness of my situation with as much +fortitude as I could bring into operation, feeling that my dear +husband, at least, was safe from harm. After they left," she +continued, "I was forced to go into the woods, near by, and with my +two little boys pick up fagots to cook the scanty food left to me." +This is the story of one of the most luxuriously reared women of +Virginia, and is scarcely the faintest shadow of what many endured +under similar circumstances. + + +EMMA SANSOM + +[Gen. T. Jordan and J. P. Pryor, in Campaigns of General Forrest, +pages 267-270.] + +The Federal column under Colonel Streight was again overtaken by 10 A. +M., on the 2d; and the Confederate general selected fifty of the best +mounted men, with whom his escort charged swiftly upon its rear in the +face of a hot fire. For ten miles now, to Black Creek, an affluent of +the Coosa, a sharp, running conflict occurred. The Federals, however, +effected the passage of the stream without hindrance, by a bridge, +which, being old and very dry, was in flames and impassable as the +Confederates approached; besides which it was commanded by Streight's +artillery, planted on the opposite bank. Black Creek is deep and +rapid, and its passage in the immediate presence of the Federal force +was an impossibility before which even Forrest was forced to pause and +ponder. But while reflecting upon the predicament, he was approached +by a group of women, one of whom, a tall, comely girl of about 18 +years of age, stepped forward and inquired, "Whose command?" + +The answer was, "The advance of General Forrest's cavalry." + +She then requested that General Forrest should be pointed out, which +being done, advancing, she addressed him nearly in these words: + +"You are General Forrest, I am told. I know of an old ford to which I +could guide you, if I had a horse. The Yankees have taken all of +ours." + +Her mother, stepping up, exclaimed: + +"No, Emma; people would talk about you." + +"I am not afraid to trust myself with as brave a man as General +Forrest, and don't care for people's talk," was the prompt rejoinder +of this Southern girl, her face illuminated with emotion. + +The general then remarked, as he rode beside a log nearby: "Well, Miss +----, jump up behind me." + +Quickly or without an instant of hesitation, she sprang from the log +behind the redoubtable cavalry leader, and sat ready to guide +him--under as noble an inspiration of unalloyed, courageous patriotism +as that which has rendered the Maid of Zaragossa famous for all time. +Calling for a courier to follow, guided by Miss Sansom, Forrest rode +rapidly, leaping over fallen timber, to a point about half a mile +above the bridge, where, at the foot of a ravine, she said there was a +practicable ford. There, dismounting, they walked to the river-bank, +opposite to which, on the other side, were found posted a Federal +detachment, who opened upon both immediately with some forty small +arms, the balls of which whistled close by, and tore up the ground in +their front as they approached. Inquiring naively what caused the +noise, and being answered that it was the sound of bullets, the +intrepid girl stepped in front of her companion, saying, "General, +stand behind me; they will not dare shoot me." Gently putting her +aside, Forrest observed he could not possibly suffer her to do so, or +to make a breastwork of herself, and gave her his arm so as to screen +her as much as possible. By this time they had reached the ravine. +Placing her behind the shelter afforded by the roots of a fallen tree, +he asked Miss Sansom to remain there until he could reconnoitre the +ford, and proceeded at once to descend the ravine on his hands and +knees. After having gone some fifty yards in this manner, looking +back, to his surprise and regret, she was immediately at his back; and +in reply to his remark that he had told her to remain under shelter, +replied: "Yes, General, but I was fearful that you might be wounded; +and it is my purpose to be near you." + +The ford-mouth reached and examined, they then returned as they came, +through the ravine, to the crown of the bank, under fire, when she +took his arm as before--an open mark for the Federal sharpshooters, +whose fire for some instants was even heavier than at first; and +several of their balls actually passed through her skirts, exciting +the observation, "They have only wounded my crinoline." At the same +time, withdrawing her arm, the dauntless girl, turning round, faced +the enemy, and waved her sun-bonnet defiantly and repeatedly in the +air. We are pleased to be able to record that, at this, the hostile +fire was stopped; the Federals took off their own caps, and, waving +them, gave three hearty cheers of approbation. Remounting, Forrest and +Miss Sansom returned to the command, who received her with unfeigned +enthusiasm. + +The artillery was sent forward, and with a few shells, well thrown, +quickly drove away the Federal guard at the ford, which Major McLemore +was directed to seize with his regiment. The stream was boggy, with +high, declivitous banks on both sides, and it was necessary to take +the ammunition from the caissons by hand, and to force the animals +down the steep slopes, and to take the ford, but, nevertheless, the +passage was successfully effected in less than two hours. Meantime, +the Confederate general delivered his fair, daring young guide back +safely into the hands of her mother, took a knightly farewell, +inspired by the romantic coloring of the occurrence, and dashed after +his command to resume the chase, as soon as the passage of the creek +was effected. + + +PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +The story has often been told of Mrs. Roosevelt, formerly Miss +Bulloch, of Georgia, and mother of President Roosevelt, that early in +the war between the States, when a regiment of Federal soldiers was +marching past her residence in New York, she displayed a Confederate +flag at her window and refused to take it down when ordered to do so. + +In October, 1905, a similar story was told by the Philadelphia +correspondent of the Richmond _Times-Dispatch_ that Mrs. Bulloch, the +grandmother of the President, at some period of the war did the same +thing in that city. The author of this volume was about to insert both +incidents when a moment's reflection caused him to hesitate. He +remembered that both the ladies mentioned were typical Southern women, +of one of the best and most knightly families. The stories lack +_vraisemblance_. Whatever may have been their sympathies during the +war between the States, such a needless display as that indicated in +the stories does not sound like the Bullochs of Georgia. Southern +women were not given to showing their patriotism by waving flags. It +is rather too cheap. Southern women of the best type, while members of +Northern families or guests of Northern friends, during the war, would +not volunteer to flaunt before the public a family division of +political sentiment under such sad circumstances. In addition to this, +the author has too much regard for the sanctity of home, be it ever so +humble or so highly exalted, to enter its portals for a striking story +without knocking for admission. Under the circumstances he felt it due +to consult our magnanimous President himself as to the authenticity of +either or both incidents. President Roosevelt kindly forwarded the +following reply: + + "THE WHITE HOUSE, + WASHINGTON, D. C., _Nov. 20, 1905_. + Personal. + + DEAR SIR: It is always a pleasure to hear from an old Confederate + soldier, and I thank you for your letter and for the kind way in + which you speak of me; but that incident about my mother never + took place. This is the first time I ever heard the story about my + grandmother and I am sure it is equally without basis. My + grandmother was very infirm during the war and I do not believe + she ever lived at Philadelphia. She was with us in New York. + + Sincerely yours, + THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + REV. J. L. UNDERWOOD, + _Kellam's Hospital, Richmond, Va._" + +Elsewhere in this volume it is shown that John G. Whittier's famous +story of Barbara Freitchie and the Federal flag is a myth, pure and +simple. This letter of the President consigns the two stories above +mentioned to a similar fate. The Southern people will thank him for +it. They desire nothing but simple truth about their honored President +and his family. + + +THE LITTLE GIRL AT CHANCELLORSVILLE + +General Fitz Hugh Lee loved to tell of the little girl in the house +where Stonewall Jackson breathed his last, who said to her mother that +she "wished that God would let her die instead of the general, for +then only her mother would cry; but if Jackson died all the people of +the country would cry." + + +SAVED HER HAMS + +In Mississippi a farmer's wife heard that a regiment of Federal +cavalry was coming. She had a smoke-house full of fine hams and +shoulder meat. Immediately she went to work, and when the soldiers +came they found the meat lying all about the yard with a knife hole +stuck deep into each piece. The Yankees rushed in and began to pick it +up. + +"What's the matter with this meat, madam? How came these holes in +it?" + +"Now, look here," said she, "you know the Confederate cavalry has just +been here, and if you all get poisoned by that meat you must not blame +me." + +They left the meat. + + +HEROISM OF A WIDOW + +[Mrs. Allie McPeek, in Southern Historical Papers, Volume 23, page +328; from the Atlanta (Ga.) _Constitution_, November 9, 1905.] + +It was on the first and second days of September, 1864, General Hardee +of the Southern forces was sent to Jonesboro from Atlanta with 22,000 +men to head off a formidable flank movement of the enemy, which had +for its purpose to cut off Southern communication and thereby compel +the evacuation of the city of Atlanta. The flank movement consisted of +40,000 men, and was commanded chiefly by Major-General John M. +Schofield, together with General Sedgwick, who was also a corps +commander, and consisted of the best fighters of the Federal army. + +As the two armies confronted each other two miles to the north and +northwest of Jonesboro, it so happened that the little house and farm +of a poor old widow was just between the two lines of battle when the +conflict opened, and, having nowhere to go, she was necessarily caught +between the fire of the two commanding lines of battle, which was at +comparatively close range and doing fierce and deadly work. The house +and home of this old lady was soon converted into a Federal hospital, +and with the varying fortunes she was alternately within the lines of +each contending army, when not between them on disputed ground. + +During the whole of this eventful day this good and brave woman, +exposed as she was to the incessant showers of shot and shell from +both sides, moved fearlessly about among the wounded and dying of both +sides alike, and without making the slightest distinction. Finally +night closed the scene with General Schofield's army corps in +possession of the ground, and when the morning dawned it found this +grand old lady still at her post of duty, knowing, too, as she did, +the fortunes, or rather misfortunes, of war had stripped her of the +last vestige of property she had except her little tract of land which +had been laid waste. Now it was that General John M. Schofield, having +known her suffering and destitute condition, sent her, under escort +and arms, a large wagon-load of provisions and supplies, and caused +his adjutant-general to write her a long and touching letter of +thanks, and wound up the letter with a special request that she keep +it until the war was over and present it to the United States +government, and they would repay all her losses. + +She kept the letter, and soon after the Southern Claims Commission was +established she brought it to the writer, who presented her claim in +due form, and she was awarded about $600--all she claimed, but not +being all she lost. The letter is now on file with other proofs of the +exact truth of this statement with the files of the Southern Claims +Commission at Washington. Her name was Allie McPeek, and she died +several years ago. + + +WINCHESTER WOMEN + +[Fremantle's Three Months in Southern Lines.] + +Winchester used to be a most agreeable town, and its society extremely +pleasant. Many of its houses are now destroyed or converted into +hospitals, the outlook miserable and dilapidated. Its female +inhabitants (for the able-bodied males are all absent in the army) are +familiar with the bloody realities of war. As many as 5,000 wounded +have been accommodated here at one time. All the ladies are accustomed +to the bursting of shells and the sight of fighting, and all are +turned into hospital nurses or cooks. + + +SPARTA IN MISSISSIPPI + +[Gen. J. B. Gordon.] + +The heroines of Sparta who gave their hair for bow-strings have been +immortalized by the muse of history; but what tongue can speak or +pen indite a tribute worthy of the Mississippi woman who with her +own hands applied the torch to more than half a million dollars' +worth of cotton, reducing herself to poverty rather than have that +cotton employed against her people. The day will come, and I +believe it is rapidly approaching, when in all will be seen +evidences of appreciation of these inspiring incidents; when all +lips will unite in expressing gratitude to God that they belong to +such a race of men and women. + + +"WOMAN'S DEVOTION"--A WINCHESTER HEROINE + +[Gen. D. H. Maury, in Southern Historical Papers.] + +The history of Winchester is replete with romantic and glorious +memories of the late war. One of the most interesting of these has +been perpetuated by the glowing pencil of Oregon Wilson, himself a +native of this valley, and the fine picture he has made of the +incident portrayed by him has drawn tears from many who loved their +Southern country and the devoted women who elated and sanctified by +their heroic sacrifices the cause which, borne down for a time, now +rises again to honor all who sustained it. + +That truth, which is stranger than fiction, is stronger, too. The +simple historic facts which gave Wilson the theme of his great picture +gains nothing from the romantic glamour his beautiful art has thrown +about the actors in the story. + +In 1864, General Ramseur, commanding a Confederate force near +Winchester, was suddenly attacked by a Federal force under General +Averell, and after a sharp encounter was forced back through the town. +The battlefield was near the residence of Mr. Rutherford, about two +miles distant, and the wounded were gathered in his house and yard. +The Confederate surgeons left in charge of these wounded men appealed +to the women of Winchester (the men had all gone off to the war) to +come out and aid in dressing the wounds and nursing the wounded. As +was always the way of these Winchester women, they promptly responded +to this appeal, and on the ---- day of July more than twenty ladies +went out to Mr. Rutherford's to minister to their suffering +countrymen. There were more than sixty severely wounded men who had +been collected from the battlefield and were lying in the house and +garden of Mr. Rutherford. The weather was warm, and those out of doors +were as comfortable and as quiet as those within. Amongst them was a +beardless boy named Randolph Ridgely; he was severely hurt; his thigh +was broken by a bullet, and his sufferings were very great; his +nervous system was shocked and unstrung, and he could find no rest. +The kind surgeon in charge of him had many others to care for; he felt +that quiet sleep was all important for his young patient, and he +placed him under charge of a young girl who had accompanied these +ladies from Winchester; told her his life depended on his having quiet +sleep that night; showed her how best to support his head, and +promised to return and see after his condition as soon and as often as +his duties to the other wounded would permit. + +All through that anxious night the brave girl sat, sustaining the head +of the wounded youth and carefully guarding him against everything +that could disturb his rest or break the slumber into which he gently +sank, and which was to save his life. She only knew and felt that a +brave Confederate life depended on her care. She had never seen him +before, nor has she ever seen him since. And when at dawn the surgeon +came to her, he found her still watching and faithful, just as he had +left her at dark--as only a true woman, as we love to believe our +Virginia women, can be. The soldier had slept soundly. He awoke only +once during the night, when tired nature forced his nurse to change +her posture; and when after the morning came she was relieved of her +charge, and she fell ill of the exhaustion and exposure of that night. +Her consolation during the weary weeks she lay suffering was that she +had saved a brave soldier for her country. + +In the succeeding year, Captain Hancock, of the Louisiana Infantry, +was brought to Winchester, wounded and a prisoner. He lay many weeks +in the hospital, and when nearly recovered of his wounds, was notified +that he would be sent to Fort Delaware. As the time drew near for his +consignment to this hopeless prison, he confided to Miss Lenie +Russell, the same young girl who had saved young Ridgely's life, that +he was engaged to be married to a lady of lower Virginia, and was +resolved to attempt to make his escape. She cordially entered into his +plans, and aided in their successful accomplishment. The citizens of +Winchester were permitted sometimes to send articles of food and +comfort to the sick and wounded Confederates, and Miss Russell availed +herself of this to procure the escape of the gallant captain. She +caused him to don the badge of a hospital attendant, take a market +basket on his arm and accompany her to a house, whence he might, with +least danger of detection and arrest, effect his return to his own +lines. Captain Hancock made good use of his opportunity and safely +rejoined his comrades; survived the war; married his sweetheart, and +to this day omits no occasion for showing his respect and gratitude +for the generous woman to whose courage and address he owes his +freedom and his happiness. + + +SPOKEN LIKE CORNELIA + +[From The Gray Jacket, page 529.] + +A young lady of Louisiana, whose father's plantation had been brought +within the enemy's lines in their operations against Vicksburg, was +frequently constrained by the necessities of her situation to hold +conversation with the Federal officers. On one of these occasions, a +Yankee official inquired how she managed to preserve her equanimity +and cheerfulness and so many trials and privations, and such severe +reverses of fortune. "Our army," said he, "has deprived your father of +two hundred negroes, and literally desolated two magnificent +plantations." + +She said to the officer--a leader of that army, which had, for months, +hovered around Vicksburg, powerless to take it with all their vast +appliances of war, and mortified by their repeated failures: "I am +not insensible to the comforts and elegances which fortune can secure, +and of which your barbarian hordes have deprived me; but a true +Southern woman will not weep over them, while her country remains. If +you wish to crush me, take Vicksburg." + + +A SPECIMEN MOTHER + +[Mrs. Fannie A. Beers' Memories, pages 208-209.] + +At the commencement of the war there lived in Sharon, Miss., Mr. and +Mrs. O'Leary, surrounded by a family of five stalwart sons. Mrs. +Catherine O'Leary was a fond and loving mother, but also an +unfaltering patriot, and her heart was fired with love for the cause +of Southern liberty. Therefore when her brave sons, one after another, +went forth to battle for the right, she bade them God-speed. "Be true +to your God and your country," said this noble woman, "and never +disgrace your mother by flinching from duty." + +Her youngest and, perhaps, dearest, was at that time only 14. For a +while she felt that his place was by her side; but in 1863, when he +was barely 17, she no longer tried to restrain him. Her trembling +hands, having arrayed the last beloved boy for the sacrifice, rested +in blessings on his head ere he went forth. Repressing the agony which +swelled her heart, she calmly bade him, also, "Do your duty. If you +must die, let it be with your face to the foe." And so went forth +James A. O'Leary, at the tender age of 17, full of ardor and hope. He +was at once assigned to courier duty under General Loring. On the 28th +of July, 1864, at the battle of Atlanta, he was shot through the hip, +the bullet remaining in the wound, causing intense suffering, until +1870, when it was extracted, and the wound healed for the first time. +Notwithstanding this wound, he insisted upon returning to his command, +which, in the mean time, had joined Wood's regiment of cavalry. This +was in 1865, and, so wounded, he served three months, surrendering +with General Wirt Adams at Gainesville. A short but very glorious +record. Mrs. O'Leary still lives in Sharon. The old fire is +unquenched. + + +MRS. ROONEY + +[Mrs. Fannie A. Beers' Memories, pages 217-220.] + +There is one bright, shining record of a patriotic and tireless woman +which remains undimmed when placed beside that of the most devoted +Confederate women. I refer to Mrs. Rose Rooney, of Company K, +Fifteenth Louisiana Regiment, who left New Orleans in June, 1861, and +never deserted the "b'ys" for a day until the surrender. + +She was no hanger-on about camp, but in everything but actual fighting +was as useful as any of the boys she loved with all her big, warm, +Irish heart, and served with the undaunted bravery which led her to +risk the dangers of every battlefield where the regiment was engaged, +unheeding havoc made by the solid shot, so that she might give timely +succor to the wounded or comfort the dying. When in camp she looked +after the comfort of the regiment, both sick and well, and many a one +escaped being sent to the hospital because Rose attended to him so +well. She managed to keep on hand a stock of real coffee, paying at +times $35 per pound for it. The surrender almost broke her heart. Her +defiant ways caused her to be taken prisoner. I will give in her own +words an account of what followed: + +"Sure, the Yankees took me prisoner along with the rest. The next day, +when they were changing the camps to fix up for the wounded, I asked +them what they would do with me. They tould me to 'go to the devil.' I +tould them, 'I've been long in his company; I'd choose something +better.' I then asked them where any Confederates lived. They tould me +about three miles through the woods. On my way I met some Yankees. +They asked me, 'What have you in that bag?' I said, 'Some rags of my +own.' I had a lot of rags on the top, but six new dresses at the +bottom; and sure, I got off with them all. Then they asked me if I had +any money. I said no; but in my stocking I had two hundred dollars in +Confederate money. One of the Yankees, a poor devil of a private +soldier, handed me three twenty-five cents of Yankee money. I said to +him, 'Sure, you must be an Irishman.' 'Yes,' said he. I then went on +till I got to the house. Mrs. Crump and her sister were in the yard, +and about twenty negro women--no men. I had not a bite for two days, +nor any water, so I began to cry from weakness. Mrs. Crump said, +'Don't cry; you are among friends.' She then gave me plenty to +eat,--hot hoecakes and buttermilk. I stayed there fifteen days, +superintending the cooking for the sick and wounded men. One half of +the house was full of Confederates and the other of Yankees. They then +brought us to Burkesville, where all the Yankees were gathered +together. There was an ould doctor there, and he began to curse me, +and to talk about all we had done to their prisoners. I tould him, +'And what have you to say to what you done to our poor fellows?' He +tould me to shut up, and sure I did. They asked me fifty questions +after, and I never opened me mouth. The next day was the day when all +the Confederate flags came to Petersburg. I had some papers in my +pocket that would have done harrum to some people, so I chewed them +all up and ate them; but I wouldn't take the oath, and I never did +take it. The flags were brought in on dirt-carts and as they passed +the Federal camps them Yankees would unfurl them and shake them about +to show them. My journey from Burkesville to Petersburg was from 11 in +the morning till 11 at night, and I sitting on my bundle all the way. +The Yankee soldiers in the car were cursing me, and calling me a damn +rebel, and more ugly talk. I said, 'Mabbe some of you has got a mother +or wife; if so, you'll show some respect for me.' Then they were +quiet. I had to walk three miles to Captain Buckner's headquarters. +The family were in the house near the battle-ground, but the door was +shut, and I didn't know who was inside, and I couldn't see any light. +I sat down on the porch, and thought I would have to stay there all +night. After a while I saw a light coming from under the door, and so +I knocked; when the door was opened and they saw who it was, they were +all delighted to see me because they were afraid I was dead. I wanted +to go to Richmond, but would not go on a Yankee transportation. When +the brigade came down, I cried me heart out because I was not let go +on with them. I stayed three months with Mrs. Cloyd, and then Major +Rawle sent me forty dollars and fifty more if I needed it, and that +brought me home to New Orleans." + +Mrs. Rooney is still cared for and cherished by the veterans of +Louisiana. At the Soldiers' Home she holds the position of matron, and +her little room is a shrine never neglected by visitors to "Camp +Nichols." + + +WARNING BY A BRAVE GIRL + +[Our Women in the War, pages 63-64.] + +I know of a girl who rode through the storm of a winter's night, many +miles, to give information to our soldiers when Sherman was on his way +to Atlanta. The country far and wide was filled with soldiers, and +skirmishing was of constant occurrence. By her efforts many lives were +saved, and as she returned homeward the shot and shell were falling +thick and fast around her. Later, a desperate encounter took place in +her father's yard between contending armies, and her courage was +wonderful in assisting the wounded and baffling inquiries from the +Yankee officers, who made headquarters in her home. She still managed +to give important information, and defied detection. This girl is of +an ancient family, and soldier blood is in her veins. Her grandfather +was a general in the United States army before her mother was grown. + + +A PLUCKY GIRL WITH A PISTOL + +[Our Women in the War, pages 37-39.] + +Charleston was under an iron heel, the heel of despair. Every house +had its shutters closed and darkened; all the rooms overlooking the +streets were abandoned; the women endeavored to give a deserted and +dreary aspect to every mansion, and lived as retiringly as possible in +the back portions of their dwellings, hoping that the Northern +soldiery in the city would suppose such houses to be deserted and +therefore would not search them. + +But this did not save Mr. Cunningham's house. By a strange coincidence +it was again a company of black Michigan troops, with a negro in +command, that burst open the locked gate, tore up the flower garden, +and finally streamed up the back piazza steps, armed with muskets and +glittering bayonets that shone in the noonday sun, their faces blacker +than ink, their eyes red with drink and malice. The three girls saw +them from the dining-room and shivered, but not one moment was lost. +Cecil pushed the other two into the room, saying, "Stay here, I will +go close this door and meet them," and advancing quickly she reached +the entrance to the piazza just as the captain set his foot on the +last step, and would have entered, but that her slight person filled +up the narrow space. + +"What do you want here?" she asked. "Why do you and your troops rush +into my house?" + +"We want quarters here, and quarters we will have. Move aside and let +us in." + +"I shall not; we don't take boarders, and I have not invited you as +guests. Go away at once, or I will report you to the general in +command." + +"D----n you, move aside, or I will throw you down." + +"Keep your hands off if you are wise," said Cecil, instantly placing +one of her own in her pocket, and never removing her steady eyes from +his face. + +"By God! I believe you have got a pistol; let's search her person for +arms." + +"I have a pistol and shall shoot the first person that touches me, +even if you all strike and kill me afterwards. Leave this yard, and do +it at once. By 3 o'clock I will give you an answer if you come here +for quarters then; now go!" + +"You little rebel devil! We will be back, and we will stay next time, +be sure; and will take that same pistol from you, too." + +With an extra volley of fearful curses they departed and the girls +rushed to Cecil, who, after the excitement was over and nerve no +longer needed, turned white and faint. Then they all sat down and +cried, feeling like desolate orphans. + + +MOSBY'S MEN AND TWO NOBLE GIRLS + +[In Wearing of the Gray, pages 545-547.] + +The force at Morgan's Lane was too great to meet front to front, and +the ground so unfavorable for receiving their assault, that Mountjoy +gave the order for his men to save themselves, and they abandoned the +prisoners and horses, put spurs to their animals, and retreated at +full gallop past the mill, across a little stream, and up the long +hill upon which was situated the mansion above referred to. Behind +them the one hundred Federal cavalrymen came on at full gallop, +calling upon them to halt, and firing volleys into them as they +retreated. + +We beg now to introduce upon the scene the female _dramatis personae_ +of the incident--two young ladies who had hastened out to the fence as +soon as the firing began, and now witnessed the whole. As they reached +the fence, the fifteen men of Captain Mountjoy appeared, mounting the +steep road like lightning, closely pursued by the Federal cavalry, +whose dense masses completely filled the narrow road. The scene at the +moment was sufficient to try the nerves of the young ladies. The clash +of hoofs, the crack of carbines, the loud cries of "halt! halt!! +halt!!!"--this tramping, shouting, banging, to say nothing of the +quick hiss of bullets filling the air, rendered the "place and time" +more stirring than agreeable to one consulting the dictates of a +prudent regard to his or her safety. + +Nevertheless, the young ladies did not stir. They had half mounted the +board fence, and in this elevated position were exposed to a close and +dangerous fire; more than one bullet burying itself in the wood close +to their persons. But they did not move--and this for a reason more +creditable than mere curiosity to witness the engagement, which may, +however, have counted for something. This attracted them, but they +were engaged in "doing good," too. It was of the last importance that +the men should know where they could cross the river. + +"Where is the nearest ford?" they shouted. + +"In the woods there," was the reply of one of the young ladies, +pointing with her hand, and not moving. + +"How can we reach it?" + +"Through the gate," and waving her hand, the speaker directed the +rest, amid a storm of bullets burying themselves in the fence close +beside her. + +The men went at full gallop towards the ford. Last of all came +Mountjoy--but Mountjoy, furious, foaming almost at the mouth, on fire +with indignation, and uttering oaths so frightful that they terrified +the young ladies much more than the balls or the Federal cavalry +darting up the hill. + +The partisan had scarcely disappeared in the woods, when the enemy +rushed up, and demanded which way the Confederates had taken. + +"I will not tell you," was the reply of the youngest girl. The trooper +drew a pistol, and cocking it, levelled it at her head. + +"Which way?" he thundered. + +The young lady shrunk from the muzzle, and said: "How do I know?" + +"Move on!" resounded from the lips of the officer in command, and the +column rushed by, nearly trampling upon the ladies, who ran into the +house. + +Here a new incident greeted them, and one sufficiently tragic. Before +the door, sitting on his horse, was a trooper, clad in blue--and at +sight of him the ladies shrunk back. A second glance showed them that +he was bleeding to death from a mortal wound. The bullet had entered +his side, traversed the body, issued from the opposite side, +inflicting a wound which rendered death almost certain. + +"Take me from my horse!" murmured the wounded man, stretching out his +arms and tottering. + +The young girls ran to him. + +"Who are you--one of the Yankees?" they exclaimed. + +"Oh, no!" was the faint reply. "I am one of Mountjoy's men. Tell him, +when you see him, that I said, 'Captain, this is the first time I have +gone out with you, and the last!'" + +As they assisted him from the saddle, he murmured: "My name is William +Armistead Braxton. I have a wife and three little children living in +Hanover--you must let them know--" + +The poor fellow fainted; and the young ladies were compelled to carry +him in their arms into the house, where he was laid upon a couch, +writhing in agony. + +They had then time to look at him, and saw before them a young man of +gallant countenance, elegant figure--in every outline of his person +betraying the gentleman born and bred. They afterwards discovered that +he had just joined Mosby, and that, as he had stated, this was his +first scout. Poor fellow! it was also his last. + + +A SPARTAN DAME AND HER YOUNG + +[From The Gray Jacket, page 488.] + +"We were once," says General D. H. Hill, "witness to a remarkable +piece of coolness in Virginia. A six-gun battery was shelling the +woods furiously near which stood a humble hut. As we rode by, the +shells were fortunately too high to strike the dwelling, but this +might occur any moment by lowering the angle or shortening the fire. +The husband was away, probably far off in the army, but the good +housewife was busy at the wash-tub, regardless of all the roar and +crash of shells and falling timber. Our surprise at her coolness was +lost in greater amazement at observing three children, the oldest not +more than 10, on top of a fence, watching with great interest the +flight of the shells. Our curiosity was so much excited by the +extraordinary spectacle that we could not refrain from stopping and +asking the children if they were not afraid. 'Oh, no,' replied they, +'the Yankees ain't shooting at us, they are shooting at the +soldiers.'" + + +SINGING UNDER FIRE + +[A Rebel's Recollections, pages 72-73.] + +They [the women of Petersburg] carried their efforts to cheer and help +the troops into every act of their lives. When they could, they +visited camp. Along the lines of march they came out with water or +coffee or tea--the best they had, whatever it might be; with flowers, +or garlands of green when their flowers were gone. A bevy of girls +stood under a sharp fire from the enemy's lines at Petersburg one day, +while they sang Bayard Taylor's "Song of the Camp," responding to an +encore with the stanza: + + "Ah! soldiers, to your honored rest, + Your truth and valor bearing; + The bravest are the tenderest, + The loving are the daring!" + +Indeed, the coolness of women under fire was always a matter of +surprise to me. A young girl, not more than 16 years of age, acted as +guide to a scouting party during the early years of the war, and when +we urged her to go back after the enemy had opened a vigorous fire +upon us, she declined, on the plea that she believed we were "going to +charge those fellows," and she "wanted to see the fun." At Petersburg +women did their shopping and went about their duties under a most +uncomfortable bombardment, without evincing the slightest fear or +showing any nervousness whatever. + + +A WOMAN'S LAST WORD + +[Eggleston, in Southern Soldier Stories, pages 225-227.] + +The city of Richmond was in flames. We were beginning that last +terrible retreat which ended the war. Fire had been set to the arsenal +as a military possession, which must on no account fall into the +enemy's hands. As the flames spread, because of a turn of the wind, +other buildings caught. The whole business part of the city was on +fire. To make things worse, some idiot had ordered that all the liquor +in the city should be poured into the gutters. The rivers of alcohol +had been ignited from the burning buildings. It was a time and scene +of unutterable terror. + +As we marched up the fire-lined street, with the flames scorching the +very hair off our horses, George Goodsmith--the best cannoneer that +ever wielded a rammer--came up to the headquarters squad, and said: +"Captain, my wife's in Richmond. We've been married less than a year. +She is soon to become a mother. I beg permission to bid her good-bye. +I'll join the battery later." + +The permission was granted readily, and George Goodsmith put spurs to +his horse. He had just been made a sergeant, and was therefore +mounted. It was in the gray of the morning that he hurriedly met his +wife. With caresses of the tenderest kind, he bade her farewell. +Realizing for a moment the utter hopelessness of our making another +stand on the Roanoke, or any other line, he said in the bitterness of +his soul: "Why shouldn't I stay here and take care of you?" + +The woman straightened herself and replied: "I would rather be the +widow of a brave man than the wife of a coward." + +That was their parting, for the time was very short. Mayo's bridge +across the James River was already in flames when Goodsmith perilously +galloped across it. + +Three or four days later--for I never could keep tab on time at that +period of the war--we went into the battle at Farmville. Goodsmith was +in his place in command of the piece. Just before fire opened he +beckoned to me, and I rode up to hear what he had to say. + +"I'm going to be killed, I think," he said. "If I am, I want my wife +to know that she is the widow of a--brave man. I want her to know that +I did my duty to the last. And--and if you live long enough and this +thing don't kill Mary--I want you to tell the little one about his +father." + +Goodsmith's premonition of his death was one of many that were +fulfilled during the war. A moment later a fearful struggle began. At +the first fire George Goodsmith's wife became the "widow of a brave +man." His body was heavy with lead. + +His son, then unborn, is now a successful broker in a great city. +There is nothing particularly knightly or heroic about him, for this +is not a knightly or heroic age. But he takes very tender care of his +mother--that "widow of a brave man." + + +TWO MISSISSIPPI GIRLS HOLD YANKEES AT PISTOL POINT + +[In Richmond Enquirer, July 22, 1862, page 3.] + +A Memphis correspondent of the _Appeal_, in referring to the bad +treatment of citizens by the Federal soldiers, related the following: + +The most unmanly and brutal act that I know of is their treatment of +two Misses Coe. Levin Coe, their brother, was at home, discharged from +the army. They surrounded the house before the family knew they were +on the place. Fortunately young Coe had gone fishing, and two of his +sisters escaped to the garden and ran to warn him not to come home. +The Yankees saw the way they went, and followed them, but the sisters +outran them and gave their brother the information of their coming. +They came up with the ladies at a house in the vicinity of the creek, +and attempted to arrest them, but they were both armed and dared the +six big, strapping Yankees to lay their hands on them. One would say +to another, "She's got a pistol; take it away from her." And she, a +weak woman, stood at bay and told them to touch her at their peril. +And the craven wretches dared not do it. At last, to get them from the +neighborhood of their brother, they agreed to go to headquarters with +them. It was then noon, and these girls had run two miles, and then +these scoundrels marched them off on foot four miles to town. At every +step they tried to get their pistols from them, threatening them with +instant death if they did not give them up. Three times they placed +their pistols at the girls' hearts with them cocked and their fingers +on the trigger, telling them they would kill them. Each time the girls +replied, "Shoot; I can shoot as quick as you can." And they never did +give them up until their brother-in-law came up with them and told +them to do so, and he gave himself up in their place. Levin Coe +escaped. + + +"WAR WOMEN" OF PETERSBURG + +[Southern Soldier Stories, pages 72-73.] + +During all those weary months the good women of Petersburg went about +their household affairs with fifteen-inch shells dropping occasionally +into their boudoirs or uncomfortably near to their kitchen ranges. Yet +they paid no attention to any danger that threatened themselves. Their +deeds of mercy will never be adequately recorded until the angels +report. But this much I want to say of them--they were "war women" of +the most daring and devoted type. When there was need of their +ministrations on the line, they were sure to be promptly there; and +once, as I have recorded elsewhere in print, a bevy of them came out +to the lines only to encourage us, and, under a fearful fire, sang +Bayard Taylor's "Song of the Camp," giving as an encore the lines: + + "Ah! soldiers, to your honored rest, + Your truth and valor bearing; + The bravest are the tenderest, + The loving are the daring." + +With inspiration such as these women gave us, it was no wonder that, +as I heard General Sherman say soon after the war: "It took us four +years, with all our enormous superiority in resources, to overcome the +stubborn resistance of those men." + + +JOHN ALLEN'S COW + +While General Milroy was in possession of Winchester he was extremely +harsh and vindictive towards the people. A great many of them were +reduced to the borders of starvation. Miss Allen, a 15-year-old +Southern girl, was a member of a family almost absolutely dependent on +a good cow's milk for sustenance. In a short time the cow's food was +exhausted and the prospect looked dark indeed. There was a good +pasturage just outside the town, beyond the guard lines of the Federal +troops. The brave girl volunteered to lead the cow out and attend her +while grazing. A permit to pass the lines from General Milroy was +necessary. She went to the general and laid her case before him and +asked for a permit. He flatly refused her request and rudely insulted +the poor girl. + +"I can't do anything for you rebels and I will not let you pass. The +rebellion has got to be crushed," said he. + +"Well," answered the girl, "if you think you can crush the rebellion +by starving John Allen's old cow, just crush away." + + +THE FAMILY THAT HAD NO LUCK + +[Eggleston, in Southern Soldier Stories, pages 23-24.] + +At the battle of Fredericksburg, as we tumbled into the sunken road, +an old man came in bearing an Enfield rifle and wearing an old pot +hat of the date of 1857 or thereabouts. With a gentle courtesy that +was unusual in war, he apologized to the two men between whom he +placed himself, saying: "I hope I don't crowd you, but I must find a +place somewhere from which I can shoot." + +At that moment one of the great assaults occurred. The old man used +his gun like an expert. He wasted no bullet. He took aim every time +and fired only when he knew his aim to be effective. Yet he fired +rapidly. + +Tom Booker, who stood next to him, said as the advancing column was +swept away: "You must have shot birds on the wing in your time." + +The old man answered: "I did up to twenty years ago; but then I sort +o' lost my sight, you know, and my interest in shootin'." + +"Well, you've got 'em both back again," called out Billy Goodwin, from +down the line. + +"Yes," said the old man. "You see I had to. It's this way: I had six +boys and six gells. When the war broke out I thought the six boys +could do my family's share o' the fightin'. Well, they did their best, +but they didn't have no luck. One of 'em was killed at Manassas, two +others in a cavalry raid, and the other three fell in different +actions--'long the road, as you might say. We ain't seemed to a had no +luck. But it's just come to this, that if the family is to be +represented, the old man must git up his shootin' agin, or else one o' +the gells would have to take a hand. So here I am." + +Just then the third advance was made. A tremendous column of heroic +fellows was hurled upon us, only to be swept away as its predecessors +had been. Two or three minutes did the work, but at the end of that +time the old man fell backward, and Tom Booker caught him in his +arms. + +"You're shot," he said. + +"Yes. The family don't seem to have no luck. If one of my gells comes +to you, you'll give her a fair chance to shoot straight, won't you, +boys?" + + +BRAVE WOMEN AT RESACA, GA. + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +In a letter to Mrs. E. J. Simmons, of Calhoun, Ga., dated June 7, +1896, Rev. Jno. C. Portis, of Union, Miss., formerly of the Eighteenth +Mississippi Regiment, and now a Congregational Methodist minister, +writes: + +"My good right arm lies about a mile south of Resaca, Ga., just north +of a church at the root of a large oak or chestnut tree. It was put in +a board box and buried by a comrade. Hence you see I feel an interest +in the wild hills of Resaca. I was a private in Company B, Eighth +Mississippi Volunteer Inf., and was wounded in right shoulder and +throat about dark in a charge on the enemy's works, May 14, 1864, on +the side of a hill just west of the village on the north side of the +river. I was carried back to the bluff below the bridge, where about +three or four hundred poor fellows were lying torn, bleeding, and some +dying. After a time I crossed the bridge, and, faint and sick, I was +trying to make my way to Cheatham's Division Hospital, which was in +the church. A man came into the road with an ox wagon loaded in part +with beds which appeared to be very white. Some one called him Motes +and asked him about his family (Motes's family), and he said they had +gone on to Calhoun. Mr. Motes insisted that I should ride, and said +his wife would not care if all her beds were dyed with rebel blood. He +carried me to the old church. I would like to know what became of Mr. +Motes; I could not see his face. The night was dark. Sunday morning, +May 15, about eight o'clock, my right arm was amputated at the +shoulder joint. Thirty-two years have passed since then, and strange +it may seem that a boy soldier, that few thought could live, is +writing this reminiscence of those two days of carnage. Never shall I +forget the morning of that fateful 14th of May, when at early dawn the +signal guns told us in tones of thunder that both armies were ready +for the work of death. Bright rose the sun, tipping mountain peak with +blooming rays of silver and bathing valley and woodland in a flood of +golden light, a scene never to be witnessed again by hundreds of the +boys who wore the blue and the gray. In the streets of Resaca that day +I saw enacted a deed of heroism which challenged the admiration of all +who witnessed it. A wagon occupied by several ladies was passing along +north of the river and just west of the railroad, when a Yankee +battery opened fire on it and, until it had passed over the bridge, +poured a storm of shells around it. A young woman stood erect in the +wagon waving her hat, which was dressed with red or had a red ribbon +or plume on it, seemingly to defy the cowards who would make war on +defenceless women. I felt then, as I do to-day, for that woman a man +could freely die. Many a rebel boy felt as I did that day. I was taken +from the church to a bush-arbor on the west side of the railroad, +where I expected to die. A middle-aged woman dressed in black came +with nourishment and (God forever bless her) fed me, and during that +awful day ministered to the wants of the wounded and dying. If I +remember correctly she came often to me with food and drink. Who she +was I may never know, but she was a noble woman." + +The fearlessness of the Southern women under cannon and rifle fire +mentioned in the above incident was exhibited time and again during +the war. The women seemed to have their souls and bodies keyed up for +any and all emergencies. There may be something of an explanation in +the fact that they belonged to a race of marksmen and expected bullets +and cannon balls to hit what they were aimed to hit, and as they +didn't think anybody was trying to kill them, they apprehended no +danger. + + +A WOMAN'S HAIR + +[Southern Soldier Stories, pages 82-84.] + +About 10 o'clock in the morning the sharpshooters began. Our captain +instantly divided us into two squads, and without military formalities +said: "Now, boys, ride to the right and left and corner 'em." + +That was the only command we received, but we obeyed it with a will. +The two sharpshooting citizens who were there that morning escaped on +good horses, but we captured the pickets. + +Among them was a woman--a Juno in appearance, with a wealth of raven +black hair twisted carelessly into a loose knot under the jockey cap +she wore. She was mounted on a superb chestnut mare, and she knew how +to ride. She might easily have escaped, and at one time seemed to do +so, but at the critical moment she seemed to lose her head and so fell +into our hands. + +When we brought her to Charlie Irving she was all smiles and +graciousness, and Charlie was all blushes. + +"You'd hang me to a tree, if I were a man, I suppose," she said. "And +serve me right, too. As I'm only a woman, you'd better send me to +General Stuart, instead." + +This seemed so obviously the right way out of it Charlie ordered Ham +Seay and me to escort her to Stuart's headquarters, which were under a +tree some miles in the rear. + +When we got there Stuart seemed to recognize the young woman. Or +perhaps it was only his habitual and constitutional gallantry that +made him come forward with every manifestation of welcome, and himself +help her off her horse, taking her by the waist for that purpose. + +Ham Seay and I, being mere privates, were ordered to another tree. But +we could not help seeing that cordial relations were quickly +established between our commander and this young woman. We saw her +presently take down her magnificent black hair and remove from it some +papers. They were not "curl papers," or that sort of stuffing which +women call "rats." Stuart was a very gallant man, and he received the +papers with much fervor. He spread them out carefully on the ground, +and seemed to be reading what was written or drawn upon them. Then he +talked long and earnestly with the young woman and seemed to be coming +to some definite sort of understanding with her. Then she dined with +him on some fried salt pork and some hopelessly indigestible fried +paste. Then he mounted her on her mare again and summoned Ham Seay and +me. + +"Escort this young lady back to Captain Irving," he said. "Tell him to +send her to the Federal lines under flag of truce, with the message +that she was inadvertently captured in a picket charge, and that as +General Stuart does not make war on women and children, he begs to +return her to her home and friends." + +We did all this. + +The next day, Stuart with a strong force advanced to Mason's and +Munson's mills. From there we could clearly see a certain house in +Washington. It had many windows, and each had a dark Holland shade. +When we stood guard we were ordered to observe minutely and report +accurately the slidings up and down of those Holland shades. We never +knew what three shades up, two half up, and five down might signify. +But we had to report it, nevertheless, and Stuart seemed from that +time to have an almost preternatural advance perception of the enemy's +movements. That young woman certainly had a superb shock of hair. + + +A BREACH OF ETIQUETTE + +[Eggleston, in Southern Soldier Stories, pages 121-123.] + +Finally we went near to Martinsburg, and came upon a farm-house. +The farm gave no appearance of being a large one, or one more +than ordinarily prosperous, yet we saw through the open door a +dozen or fifteen "farm hands" eating dinner, all of them in their +shirt-sleeves. Stuart rode up, with a few of us at his back, to make +inquiries, and we dismounted. Just then a slip of a girl,--not +over 14, I should say--accompanied by a thickset young bull-dog, +with an abnormal development of teeth, ran up to meet us. + +She distinctly and unmistakably "sicked" that dog upon us. But as the +beast assailed us, the young girl ran after him and restrained his +ardor by throwing her arms around his neck. As she did so, she kept +repeating in a low but very insistent tone to us: "Make 'em put their +coats on! Make 'em put their coats on! Make 'em put their coats on!" + +Stuart was a peculiarly ready person. He said not one word to the +young girl as she led her dog away, but with a word or two he directed +a dozen or so of us to follow him with cocked carbines into the +dining-room. There he said to the "farm hands:" "Don't you know that a +gentleman never dines without his coat? Aren't you ashamed of +yourselves? And ladies present, too! Get up and put on your coats, +every man jack of you, or I'll riddle you with bullets in five +seconds." + +They sprang first of all into the hallway, where they had left their +arms; but either the bull-dog or the 14-year-old girl had taken care +of that. The arms were gone. Then seeing the carbines levelled, they +made a hasty search of the hiding-places in which they had bestowed +their coats. A minute later they appeared as fully uniformed but +helplessly unarmed Pennsylvania volunteers. + +They were prisoners of war at once, without even an opportunity to +finish that good dinner. As we left the house the young girl came up +to Stuart and said: "Don't say anything about it, but the dog wouldn't +have bit you. He knows which side we're on in this war." + +As we rode away this young girl--she of the bull-dog--cried out: +"To think the wretches made us give 'em dinner; and in their +shirt-sleeves, too." + + +LOLA SANCHEZ'S RIDE + +[Women in The War.] + +During the war for Southern independence there lived just opposite +Palatka, on the east bank of the St. Johns River, Florida, a Cuban +gentleman, Mauritia Sanchez by name, who early in life had left the +West Indies to seek a home in the State of Florida. Many years had +passed since then and Mr. Sanchez was at the time of the following +incident an old man, infirm and in wretched health. The family +consisted of an invalid wife, one son, who was in the service of the +Confederacy, and three daughters, Panchita, Lola, and Eugenia. + +Suspicion had long fastened upon Mr. Sanchez as a spy for the +Confederates, and at the time of this incident, the old man had been +torn from his home and family and was a prisoner in the old Spanish +Fort San Marcos (now Fort Marion), at St. Augustine. The girls +occupied the old home with their mother and were entirely unprotected. +Many times at night their house was surrounded by white and negro +soldiers expecting to surprise them and find Confederates about the +place, for the Yankees knew some one was giving information, but +thought it was Mr. Sanchez. The Southern soldiers were higher up the +St. Johns, on the west side. It was usual for the Yankee officers to +visit frequently at the Sanchez home, and the girls, for policy, (and +information) were cordial in their reception of them, and thereby +gained some protection from the thieving soldiery. + +One warm summer's night three Yankee officers came to the Sanchez home +to spend the evening. After a short time the three sisters left the +officers and went to the dining room to prepare supper. The soldiers, +thinking themselves safe, entered into the discussion of a plan to +surprise the Confederates on Sunday morning by sending the gunboats up +the river, and also by planning that a foraging party should go out +from St. Augustine. + +On hearing this Lola Sanchez stopped her work and listened. After +hearing of the road the foraging party would take and gaining all +necessary information, she told Panchita to entertain them until she +returned. Stealing softly from the house, she sped to the horse lot, +and throwing a saddle on her horse rode for life to the ferry, a mile +distant; there the ferryman took her horse, and gave her a boat. She +rowed herself across the St. Johns, met one Confederate picket, who +knew her and gave her his horse. Out into the night through the woods +she rode like the wind to Camp Davis, a mile and a half away. Reaching +the camp, she asked for Captain Dickinson, (afterwards General +Dickinson) and told him the Yankees were coming up the river Sunday +morning and that the troop from St. Augustine would go out foraging in +a southerly direction. Then leaving the camp, Lola Sanchez rode for +her life indeed. She knew she must not be missed from home. Giving the +picket his horse, she recrossed the ferry, then mounting her waiting +animal she struck out for home. Dismounting some distance from the +house, she turned her horse loose, and reached home in time for supper +and pleasantly entertained her guests until a late hour. + +That night Captain Dickinson marched his men to intercept the +Yankees. He crossed from the west to the east side and surprised +them on Sunday. A severe fight ensued. The Yankee General Chatfield +was killed and Colonel Nobles wounded and captured. On that same +Sunday morning the Yankee gunboats went up the St. Johns to surprise +the Confederates. They were very much surprised in turn. The +Confederates were ready for them, disabled a gunboat and captured a +transport; also many prisoners were taken by the Confederates. + +The foraging party lost all their wagons, and everything they had +stolen, and again many prisoners were taken, and Captain Dickinson +sent for the three sisters to be at the ferry (the one Lola Sanchez +crossed) to see the prisoners and wagons that had been taken. + +Time and again this daughter of the Confederacy aided and abetted the +Southern cause. Some time after a pontoon was captured, and renamed +"The Three Sisters" in compliment to these brave young women. The +pontoon was coming from Picolata to Orange Mills. Mr. Sanchez still +languished in Fort San Marco, however, and Panchita grieved +continuously over her father's unjust incarceration. The old man was +truly innocent, his daughters were the informers, but he did not know +this. Panchita determined to obtain his release if possible. After +some time spent in applying, she got a pass to go through the Yankee +lines, and boarding one of their transports, this young woman went +alone to St. Augustine, and gained her father's freedom, taking him +with her back to the old homestead. + +There is the "Emily Geiger Ride," and "Lill Servosse's Ride," but none +more daring than that of Lola Sanchez, the young Floridian of the +Southern Confederacy. The U. D. C. should look to it that one chapter +at least should be Lola Sanchez Chapter. + +Lola Sanchez married Emanuel Lopez, a Confederate soldier of the St. +Augustine Blues; Eugenia married Albert Rogers, another soldier of the +St. Augustine Blues; Panchita is the widow of the late John R. Miot, +of Columbia, S. C. Lola Sanchez died about seven years ago. May the +memory of this Southern woman never fade. + +These facts were recently related to me by Mrs. Eugenia Rogers, of St. +Augustine. + +ELIZABETH W. MULLINGS. + + +THE REBEL SOCK + +A TRUE EPISODE IN SEWARD'S RAIDS ON THE OLD LADIES OF MARYLAND + +BY TENELLA. + +[The Gray Jacket, pages 510-513.] + + In all the pride and pomp of war + The Lincolnite was dressed; + High beat his patriotic heart + Beneath his armoured vest. + His maiden sword hung by his side, + His pistols both were right, + His coat was buttoned tight. + His shining spurs were on his heels; + A firm resolve sat on his brow, + For he to danger went. + By Seward's self that day he was + On secret service sent. + "Mount and away!" he sternly cried + Unto the gallant band. + Who all equipped from head to heel + Awaited his command. + "But halt, my boys--before we go + These solemn words I'll say, + Lincoln expects that every man + His duty'll do to-day!" + "We will! we will!" the soldiers cried, + "The President shall see + That we will only run away + From Jackson or from Lee!" + And now they're off, just four score men, + A picked and chosen troop. + And like a hawk upon a dove + On Maryland they swoop. + From right to left, from house to house, + The little army rides. + In every lady's wardrobe look + To see that there she hides; + They peep in closets, trunks, and drawers, + Examine every box; + Not rebel soldiers now they seek, + But rebel soldiers' socks! + But all in vain--too keen for them + Were those dear ladies there, + And not a sock or flannel shirt + Was taken anywhere. + The day wore on to afternoon, + That warm and drowsy hour, + When Nature's self doth seem to feel + A touch of Morpheus' power. + A farm-house door stood open wide, + The men were all away, + The ladies sleeping in their rooms, + The children at their play; + The house dog lay upon the steps, + But never raised his head, + Though cracking on the gravel walk + He heard a stranger's tread. + Old grandma, in her rocking chair, + Sat knitting in the hall, + When suddenly upon her work + A shadow seemed to fall. + She raised her eyes and there she saw + Our Fed'ral hero stand. + His little cap was on his head; + His sword was in his hand; + While circling round and round the house + His gallant soldiers ride + To guard the open kitchen door + And chicken coop beside. + Slowly the dear old lady rose + And tottering forward came, + And peering dimly through her "specks," + Said, "Honey, what's your name?" + Then as she raised her withered hand + To pat his sturdy arm-- + "There's no one here but grandmamma, + And she won't do you harm; + Come, take a seat and don't be scared; + Put up your sword, my child, + I would not hurt you for the world," + She gently said and smiled. + "Madam, my duty must be done, + And I am firm as rock!" + Then pointing to her work he said, + "Is that a rebel sock!" + "Yes, honey, I am getting old, + And for hard work ain't fit, + But for Confederate soldiers still + I, thank the Lord, can knit." + "Madam, your work is contraband, + And Congress confiscates + This rebel sock, which I now seize, + To the United States." + "Yes, honey, don't be scared, for I + Will give it up to you." + Then slowly from the half knit sock + The dame her needles drew, + Broke off her thread, wound up her ball + And stuck her needles in. + "Here, take it, child, and I to-night + Another will begin!" + The soldier next his loyal heart + The dear-bought trophy laid, + And that was all that Seward got + By this "old woman's raid." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THEIR CAUSE + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO "THEIR CAUSE" + +In no sense does the author offer the suggestions in this section as +an apology for the course of Southern women or men in the war between +the States. They are presented simply as a part of history, showing +the political principles which guided and moved the South in the +momentous struggle. They explain the lofty zeal and heroic fortitude +of the Confederate women. They cannot be attributed to partisanship or +sectional bias on the part of the author, for sufficient quotations +are herewith presented from well-known Northern, English, and +Continental public men to show that if there is an extreme Southern +view it is held by other people as well as by our own. + +Right or wrong, each Southern man in the field and each woman at home, +toiled in that war with a _mens sibi conscia recti_. It was a movement +of the people. In the ranks of the army were found hundreds of college +graduates and men carrying muskets whose property was valued at a +hundred thousand dollars, and at home the rich and the poor women +toiled with equal zeal for the cause so dear to their hearts. + + +"WHEN THIS CRUEL WAR IS OVER" + +Mrs. W. W. Gordon, of Savannah, the wife of the brave ex-Confederate +officer who was commissioned brigadier general by President McKinley, +and served with distinguished gallantry in the Spanish War, had +kindred in the Federal army, which under Sherman captured Savannah. As +the troops were entering the city she stood with her children watching +them as they marched under the windows of her Southern home. Just then +the splendid brass band at the head of one of the divisions began to +play the old familiar air, "When this cruel war is over." Just as soon +as the notes struck the ear of her little daughter this enthusiastic +young Confederate exclaimed, "Mamma, just listen to the Yankees. They +are playing, 'When this cruel war is over,' and they are just doing it +themselves." + + +NORTHERN MEN LEADERS OF DISUNION + +In 1860 it was plain to the world that the people of the North were +determined to spurn the compact of union with the Southern States and +to deny to those States all right to control their own affairs. Here +are the sentiments of the Northern leaders: + +"There is a higher law than the Constitution which regulates our +authority over the domain. Slavery must be abolished, and we must do +it."--_Wm. H. Seward._ + +"The time is fast approaching when the cry will become too overpowering +to resist. Rather than tolerate national slavery as it now exists, let +the Union be dissolved at once, and then the sin of slavery will rest +where it belongs."--_New York Tribune._ + +"The Union is a lie. The American Union is an imposture--a covenant +with death and an agreement with hell. We are for its overthrow! Up +with the flag of disunion, that we may have a free and glorious +republic of our own."--_Wm. Lloyd Garrison._ + +"I look forward to the day when there shall be a servile insurrection +in the South; when the black man, armed with British bayonets, and led +on by British officers, shall assert his freedom and wage a war of +extermination against his master. And, though we may not mock at their +calamity nor laugh when their fear cometh, yet we will hail it as the +dawn of a political millennium."--_Joshua Giddings._ + +"In the alternative being presented of the continuance of slavery or a +dissolution of the Union, we are for a dissolution, and we care not +how quick it comes."--_Rufus P. Spaulding._ + +"The fugitive-slave act is filled with horror; we are bound to disobey +this act."--_Charles Sumner._ + +"The _Advertiser_ has no hesitation in saying that it does not hold to +the faithful observance of the fugitive-slave law of 1850."--_Portland +Advertiser._ + +"I have no doubt but the free and slave States ought to be separated. +* * * The Union is not worth supporting in connection with the +South."--_Horace Greeley._ + +"The times demand and we must have an anti-slavery Constitution, an +anti-slavery Bible, and an anti-slavery God."--_Anson P. Burlingame._ + +"There is merit in the Republican party. It is this: It is the first +sectional party ever organized in this country. * * * It is not +national; it is sectional. It is the North arrayed against the South. +* * * The first crack in the iceberg is visible; you will yet hear it +go with a crack through the center."--_Wendell Phillips._ + +"The cure prescribed for slavery by Redpath is the only infallible +remedy, and men must foment insurrection among the slaves in order to +cure the evils. It can never be done by concessions and compromises. +It is a great evil, and must be extinguished by still greater ones. It +is positive and imperious in its approaches, and must be overcome with +equally positive forces. You must commit an assault to arrest a +burglar, and slavery is not arrested without a violation of law and +the cry of fire."--_Independent Democrat_, leading Republican paper in +New Hampshire. + + +THE UNION VS. A UNION + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +Early in the war a son of the Emerald Isle, but not himself green, was +taken prisoner not far from Manassas Junction. In a word, Pat was +taking a quiet nap in the shade; and was aroused from his slumber by a +Confederate scouting party. He wore no special uniform of either +army, but looked more like a spy than an alligator and on this was +arrested. + +"Who are you?" "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" were the +first questions put to him by the armed party. + +Pat rubbed his eyes, scratched his head, and answered: "Be me faith, +gintlemen, them is ugly questions to answer, anyhow; and before I +answer any of them, I be after axing yo, by yer lave, the same +thing." + +"Well," said the leader, "we are out of Scott's army and belong to +Washington." + +"All right," said Pat. "I knowed ye was a gintleman, for I am that +same. Long life to General Scott." + +"Ah ha!" replied the scout. "Now you rascal, you are our prisoner," +and seized him by the shoulder. + +"How is that," inquired Pat, "are we not friends?" + +"No," was the answer; "we belong to General Beauregard's army." + +"Then ye tould me a lie, me boys, and thinking it might be so, I told +you another. An' now tell me the truth, an' I'll tell you the truth +too." + +"Well, we belong to the State of South Carolina." + +"So do I," promptly responded Pat, "and to all the other States uv the +country, too, and there I am thinking, I hate the whole uv ye. Do ye +think I would come all the way from Ireland to belong to one State +when I have a right to belong to the whole of 'em?" + +This logic was rather a stumper; but they took him up, as before said, +and carried him for further examination. + +This Irishman's unionism is a fair sample of what sometimes passes in +this country as broad patriotism. "We don't believe in so much State +and State's right. We want a nation and we want it spelt with a big +N." This is the merest twaddle. From the very nature of the formation +of our government there can be no organized Nation. Alexander Hamilton +wrote, "The State governments are essentially necessary to the form +and spirit of the general system. * * * They can never lose their +powers till the whole of America are robbed of their liberties." It is +a Union of States and can be made nothing else. Bancroft, the great +historian, says: "But for Staterights the Union would perish from the +paralysis of its limbs. The States, as they gave life to the Union, +are necessary to the continuance of that life." + +Madison wrote as follows: "The assent and ratification of the people, +not as individuals composing the entire nation, but as composing the +distinct and independent States to which they belong, are the sources +of the Constitution. It is therefore not a National but a Federal +compact." + +The Irishman could only belong to the "whole of 'em" by belonging to +one of them. No man can love all the other States without loving his +own State. A Swiss loves Schwyz or Unterwalden or some other canton +before he loves the Confederation of Cantons. The loyal Scotchmen love +Scotland before they love the British Empire. The Union man loves the +Union through his immediate part of Union. Daniel Webster loved the +Union, but his speeches show how he loved Massachusetts first. Calhoun +loved the Union, but he loved it as a Federal Union with his beloved +Carolina. Many of the best people of the North loved their several +States and in loyalty to them took sides against the South. + +The Southern people, Whigs and Democrats, were devoted to the Union of +the fathers as long as it was a reality. But as soon as they realized +that it had become only a confederation of the Northern majority +States, with the protecting features of the old Constitution directly +discarded, the love for their own States led them heart and soul into +the Confederate cause. Our Irishman might be satisfied with A Union, +but nothing but THE Union of the fathers could satisfy Southern men. +They loved the definite Union of 1789; they fought the indefinite +Union of 1861. The former was a union on a Constitution without a +flag; the latter was a mere sentimental union under a flag without a +Constitution. The Constitution had been thrown away. + +The writer's father, a plain old farmer-merchant of Alabama, was a +fair specimen of the staunchest Southern Union man. A Whig all his +life, he almost adored Henry Clay and idolized the Union. The great +old Union paper, the _National Intelligencer_, of Washington City, was +his political Bible, and he made it follow his son all through school +and college. Like all other Whigs, he believed in the right of +secession, but did not think the time had come for such a step. He +opposed with all his might the secession of Alabama. But when it was +an accomplished fact, he wrote sadly to his son, who was then a +student in a foreign land: + + Alabama has seceded. She has the right to do so, but I didn't want + her to exercise it. I belong to my State, and I secede with her. + And I know the other States have no right to coerce her. My son, + your old father is like a Tennessee hog, he can be tolled, but he + can't be driven. + +Savoyard tells us truly that no State embraced secession with more +reluctance than North Carolina, and yet no State supported the +Southern cause with more heroism or fortitude. When the news flashed +over the wires that President Lincoln had issued a call for volunteers +to coerce the sovereign Southern States, Zebulon B. Vance was +addressing an immense audience, pleading for the Union and opposing +the Confederacy. His hand was raised aloft in appealing gesture when +the fatal tidings came, and in relating the incident to a New England +audience a quarter of a century later, he said: + + When my hand came down from that impassioned gesticulation it fell + slowly and sadly by the side of a secessionist. I immediately, + with altered voice and manner, called upon the assembled multitude + to volunteer, not to fight against but for South Carolina. If war + must come, I preferred to be with my own people. If we had to shed + blood I preferred to shed Northern rather than Southern blood. + +North Carolina took her favorite son at his word, turned secessionist +with him, and volunteered for the conflict. + +Robert E. Lee felt in Virginia just like Zeb Vance felt in North +Carolina. The women of the South were the women of Lee and Vance and +Alex. Stephens and Judah P. Benjamin, Charles J. Jenkins and Ben +Hill. They loved the Union, but when it was gone, they, with their +States, opposed what, to them, was only a Union of invading, coercing +States. + + "We were not the first to break the peace + That blessed our happy land; + We loved the quiet calm and ease, + Too well to raise a hand, + Till fierce oppression stronger grew, + And bitter were your sneers. + Then to our land we must be true, + Or show a coward's fears! + We loved our banner while it waved + An emblem of our Union. + The fiercest dangers we had braved + To guard that sweet communion. + But when it proved that 'stripes' alone + Were for our Sunny South, + And all the 'stars' in triumph shone + Above the chilly North, + Then, not till then, our voices rose + In one tumultuous wave: + 'We will the tyranny oppose, + Or find a bloody grave.'" + +It was Southern devotion to the Union which led so many men of +Kentucky and Tennessee into the Federal army. It was the same +traditional love for the Union of the fathers that held back Virginia +and the other border States from secession too long. It led them to +make the mistake of the crisis. The writer, like nearly all the +Southern men of his ultra Unionism, at the time thought South Carolina +made the mistake of too much haste in her secession. He does not think +so now. He has not thought so since calmly and thoroughly studying the +history of those times. + +The new party in the North was in a triumphant majority and was +determined to deprive the minority States of the South of their share +in the government. Delay on the part of Southern border States did no +good. It did harm. It misled the Northern people as to the true +feeling in Virginia and the other border States. Had they all seceded +on the same day with South Carolina there would have been no war. + +Now that the Northern people, through the broad, patriotic +administrations of Cleveland, McKinley and Roosevelt, have restored +the Union, and Florida is again a coequal State with New York, and +Texans once more fellow-citizens with Pennsylvanians, what section +shows more loyalty to the Union and the common country than the +South? + +Our patriot mothers and grandmothers of 1860 loved the Union. Those +who yet survive, and their children, love the Union in 1905. No State +is under the ban now. The captured battle flags of Confederate States +have been restored to the States by a Republican Congress. The Federal +government volunteers to take care of Confederate soldiers' graves. +President, and Congress and Army and Navy follow General Wheeler's +coffin to an honored grave. A Republican President publicly avows his +attachment to Confederate veterans and shows his faith by his +appointments. Thank God, our Union to-day is again _the_ Union of +equal States. + + +THE NORTHERN STATES SECEDE FROM THE UNION + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +The denial of the equal rights of the Southern States in the public +territorial domain, and the nullification by the Northern States of +the acts of Congress and the decisions of the Supreme Court on +territorial questions, and the formation and triumph of a party +pledged to hostility to the South, were not the only considerations +that convinced the Southern States that their only honorable course +lay in secession. The compact of the written Constitution was the only +Union that had existed. A breach or repudiation of that compact was a +breach of the Union. It was secession without its name. + +In 1850, after a violent sectional agitation, which shook the country, +over the admission of California as a free State, a compromise +measure, proposed by Mr. Clay and advocated by Webster and Calhoun, +was adopted by Congress. It was known as the "omnibus bill." It +provided, among other things, that California should be a free State; +that the slave trade should be abolished in the District of Columbia, +and that slaves escaping from their owners, from one State into +another, could be arrested anywhere and returned to their owners. +Article four, section two of the Federal Constitution makes this +provision in the plainest of terms. It was similar to the New England +Fugitive Slave law of 1643 enacted by Massachusetts, Connecticut, +Plymouth and New Haven. Mr. Webster in his great speech in Faneuil +Hall in Boston, in defense of his vote for the "omnibus bill," read +the words of the Constitution and showed that the fugitive slave +section of the omnibus bill was almost a literal reiteration of the +constitutional provision. + +The majority of the Northern States repudiated this feature of the act +of Congress and declared that it should not be enforced. Here was the +boldest nullification, the most direct breaking up of the old Union. +Here was the arch rebellion of the century. The question was not what +should be done with the fugitive slaves, but whether the Northern +States would do what, in the Constitution, they had agreed to do. The +South waited for the Northern States to revoke such a flagrant +disregard of their rights under the Constitution and such a bold +repudiation of the original terms of Union. Patriotic little Rhode +Island did rescind her action in the matter, but she was alone. Most +of the other States had become desperate in their hostility to the +South and, when the South, seeing all hope of justice, all vestige of +the old Union, all prospect of peace, hopelessly gone, resorted to +quiet, peaceable withdrawal from these domineering States, the +resolution was formed and carried out by the party in power, to +subjugate the Southern States to the will of the majority States, and +keep them in what was called the Union against their will. + +The South in seceding made no threat, and contemplated no attempt to +invade a Northern State in pursuit of slaves, but simply sought to +sever all connection with the States and people who were so determined +to ignore her rights, and who nullified their own plighted terms of +union. She did not secede in the interest of slavery nor for the +purpose of war. The Southern States seceded to take care of the +fragments of a broken Union. Slavery, it is true, was the occasion of +the rupture. Peaceable secession on the one hand and coercion on the +other was the issue of the war. Emancipation was adopted as a war +measure two years later by the Northern administration and finally +consummated in 1865 as a punitive measure to further crush the +conquered South. Such was the public opinion at the time of the fall +of Fort Sumter that not a regiment could have been raised at the North +to invade Virginia if it had been distinctly called out for the +purpose of setting the negroes free. Fanatics by the thousands made a +demigod of the murderous John Brown, but it was not fanatics who were +in control at Washington. It was the politicians, not working from +humanitarian sentiment, true or false, but impelled by a determination +to cripple the South and break up her controlling influence in +national politics,--a preeminence which had existed from the first +days of the government. The politicians shrewdly employed the +anti-slavery excitement to gain power for themselves and especially to +aggravate the South into secession, and then, smothering every whisper +of war for the freedom of the negroes, they raised the rallying cry of +"Save the Union" and marshalled the Northern hosts for subjugation. +President Davis justly said to a self-constituted umpire visiting him +in Richmond, "We are not fighting for slavery; we are fighting for +independence. The war will go on unless you acknowledge our right to +self-government." + + +FRENZIED FINANCE AND THE WAR OF 1861 + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +Was the war between the States in 1861 a war in behalf of slavery on +the one side and freedom on the other? Not at all. After all the noisy +and fanatical agitation on the subject, only a small minority of the +Northern people had expressed any desire to have the negroes of the +South emancipated at that time, and no State nor people of the South +had said that slavery should be perpetual. All the parties which in +1860 cast any electoral votes distinctly disavowed any intention to +interfere with slavery where it existed. This was the declaration even +of the Republican party which was triumphant and was now in power. Mr. +Lincoln, the President-elect, repeatedly declared that slavery was not +to be disturbed in the States, although he said the country could not +remain "half slave and half free." Here, then, the North and the South +were thoroughly agreed that slavery within the States should continue +undisturbed. As to emancipation, both sections of the country and all +parties except the ultra-Abolitionists were pro-slavery. The +Abolitionists admitted that under the Federal Constitution there could +be no power in the national government to free the slaves. They cursed +and burned the Constitution as "a compact with the devil and a league +with hell," and defiantly repudiated all laws which carried out its +provisions. Under the plea of what they called "higher law," they +defied law. They were really anarchists. The Free Soil party, which +had assumed the name of Republican for party purposes, secretly +encouraged the Abolitionists in their mad crusade and welcomed their +votes, but persistently disavowed their aims. All rational men knew +that the time had not come to turn loose millions of half-civilized +Africans in this country; while many, North and South, deplored the +existence of slavery and would not advocate it in the abstract, yet +they believed that emancipation was not best for the negro and would +be accompanied by tremendous peril to the white people. The truth is +that the Abolitionists of the North kept up such a blatant and +fanatical agitation against the South that it was out of the question, +in the excitement of the times, for conservative men, North or South, +to think or speak of such an alternative as the immediate freedom of +the negroes. + +The Republican party, now the dominant party, and its leader, Mr. +Lincoln, stood against the immediate freedom of the slaves. But this +party had come into power on two ground principles which made its +triumph a direct attack on the rights and interests of the Southern +States in the Territories. + +It gloried in its free-soil doctrine, which was a declaration that +the Southern States should no longer enjoy their share in the +Territories of the government. It never mounted the steed of +abolitionism until 1862 when the emancipation of the slaves was +adopted as a war measure, and was so declared by Mr. Lincoln +himself. In defiance of the decisions of the Supreme Court, the +triumphant party held that Congress should not allow the Southern +people the right to take their slave property, although distinctly +recognized as property by the Constitution, into the Territories. +The Northern legislatures deliberately defied the Supreme Court and +its people denounced it and reiterated their free soil demand. Of +course this was a direct insult to the South and a public outlawry +of the South that no self-respecting people ought to submit to. The +Territories were common property to all the States. The South held +that while they were Territories the Southern people had as much +right to enter and enjoy them as the people of the North, but the +South was always willing that the people of the Territory, in +organizing a State government, should decide for themselves as a +State whether it should be admitted as a slave or free State. The +new party declared that under no circumstances should another slave +State be admitted. The territorial demands of the new party had +been endorsed by the formal acts of a majority of Northern States in +their legislatures. The catch-word of the new party was "no more +extension of slavery." The South had never brought a slave into +the country, and never did propose to add another slave to it, but +its rights in the common property of the Union it could not surrender +to the dictation of the more numerous and populous Northern States. + +Then what? Declare war? No. Simply fall back on the right of original +sovereignty, on their several Constitutional rights, as the people of +New England, when they were in the minority, had threatened to do, and +withdraw from the Union with States who declared so distinctly a +purpose not to abide by the terms of Union. Then came secession, the +only peaceable remedy. In it the South made no claim on territorial or +other property. In fact, it was a voluntary surrender of everything +not on its own soil to the remaining States. It was old Abraham's +alternative to Lot. "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me +and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be +brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray +thee, from me; If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the +right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the +left." Then why should there be war? Indeed, why? + +So natural and just was the step of secession that the more +enlightened and conscientious Abolitionists conceded the right of +South Carolina to withdraw from the Union. Horace Greeley, the +powerful editor of the great Abolition organ, the New York _Tribune_, +boldly protested against any interference with her departure. Wendell +Phillips, the great lawyer and Abolition orator of Boston, said in a +public speech: "Deck her brow with flowers, pave her way with gold, +and let her go." But Greeley and Phillips were not the politicians nor +the party in control of the country. We have shown how the Free Soil +aim of the triumphant party led the Northern States to adopt such a +course as really to drive the Southern States into secession. What was +the main spring of the Free Soil crusade? This brings us to tell in +one word what brought on the war. What was the ground issue which held +the Northern States so desperately on their crusade against the South? +It was the "tariff." New England ideas dominated the thought of the +North and Northwest, and it was always a ruling New England idea to +get all money possible from the government. New England never lost +sight of business, and especially her own business interests. It was +only by Virginia's surrender of her vast territories that New England +could be brought into the Union and it took subsidies, appropriations +for internal improvement, and fishing and tariff bounties to keep her +in it. + +Very soon she set up a persistent demand for high duties on imports to +assist in building up her increasing manufactures. The moderate +protective tariffs of the twenties, the tariff of Henry Clay, did not +satisfy her. Her cry up to the final passage of the trust-breeding +Dingley tariff bill of our day has been that of the horse leech, +"Give! give!" The Southern States were agricultural and the prevailing +doctrine as to tariff duties was a "tariff for revenue only." The old +Southern Whigs, like Clay, only favored a moderate protective tariff +as a compromise sop to New England in behalf of her infant industries. +But New England was not satisfied with the tariff of the twenties. A +little taste of incidental protection had only increased her greed. In +the thirties she demanded more. The tariff of 1832 was enacted and +proved such a heavy tax on the consumers for the benefit of the +manufacturers that South Carolina took the bold stand of nullification +against it. By the combined efforts of Clay and Calhoun a compromise +was effected and the tariff modified and the country saved. In 1846 +the moderate Walker tariff, the "free-trade tariff," was adopted and +under it the people of all classes and all sections enjoyed more +general prosperity up to 1861 than the country has ever before or +since seen. + +But New England "frenzied finance" was at work. The taste for public +pap had grown by what it fed on. The "almighty dollar" idea in +politics was sweeping the North. The _auri sacra fames_ had formed a +league with a fanatical sectional party. The seed sowing was over; the +harvest of financial politics had come. New England must have a higher +tariff and votes from agricultural States meant more anti-tariff votes +and the tariff advocates decreed that there should be no slave States +carved out of the Territories. To secure this the Southern people with +their property must be excluded from the occupancy of the Territorial +soil. Frenzied finance triumphed, and in the election of Mr. Lincoln +the North declared the national territory forbidden ground to the +South. Free soil exclusion from their property was openly flaunted in +the face of the slave States. + +What could the Southern States do under such an insulting ultimatum +from the triumphant North? What did they do? Why, they simply fell +back on their original right of State sovereignty and, as the North +had already broken the Union, peaceably seceded from it. + +Then why not, as Greeley and Phillips and thousands of Northern +patriots urged, why not let these States go? Frenzied Finance replied +in the words of Mr. Lincoln, "If we let the South go, where will we +get our revenues?" There it is. They were needed to furnish their +cotton and their trade to support the North. It was the frenzied +Pharoah of finance that refused to let tribute-paying, brick-making +Israel go. Hence the war of subjugation. + +It is a grotesque and sad bit of history that while patriots like +Crittenden, of Kentucky, Bayard, of Delaware, Black, of Pennsylvania +and Seymour, of New York, were anxiously trying to avert war and save +the old Union, while the whole world was watching with bated breath +the storm gathering around Fort Sumter, the party of frenzied finance, +now in control of Congress, defiantly discarded all propositions of +peace compromise and concentrated all its mighty energies on the +passage of its darling Morrill Tariff Bill. The Morrill tariff bill +was enacted April 2, 1861. Fort Sumter fell April 14, 1861. There is +the record of cold-blood-money worship. It was not Nero "fiddling +while Rome was burning" but it was the legislators of the great +American Republic fiddling on a scheme for the financial gain of +private business while the glorious Union that we loved and our +fathers loved was falling to pieces! The laborer's groans, the widow's +sobs, the roar of cannon and the crash of States could not drown the +mad New England cry for private subsidy from the public treasury. + + +THE RIGHT OF SECESSION + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 31, pages 87-88.] + +It may not be amiss, however, to call attention to the fact that the +North already admits that the people of the South were honest in +their contentions, and that they at least thought they were right. +Furthermore, it is even conceded that the South was not without great +support for its contentions from legal, moral and historical points of +view. For instance, Professor Goldwin, of Canada, an Englishman, a +distinguished historian, resident of and sympathizing with the North +during the civil war, recently said: + + Few who have looked into the history can doubt that the Union + originally was, and was generally taken by the parties to it to + be, a compact; dissoluble, perhaps most of them would have said, + at pleasure, dissoluble certainly on breach of the articles of + Union. + +To the same effect, but in even stronger terms, are the words of Mr. +Henry Cabot Lodge, now a Senator from Massachusetts, who said in one +of his historic works: + + When the Constitution was adopted by the votes of States at + Philadelphia, and accepted by the votes of States in popular + conventions, it is safe to say that there was not a man in the + country from Washington and Hamilton on the one side to George + Clinton and George Mason on the other, who regarded the new system + as anything but an experiment entered upon by the States and from + which each and every State had the right peaceably to withdraw, a + right which was very likely to be exercised. + +As far back as 1887, General Thomas C. Ewing, of Ohio, said in a +speech in New York: + + The North craves a living and lasting peace with the South; it + also asks no humiliating conditions; it recognizes the fact that + the proximate cause of the war was the constitutional question of + the right of secession--a question which, until it was settled by + the war, had neither a right side nor a wrong side to it. Our + forefathers in framing the Constitution purposely left the + question unsettled; to have settled it distinctly in the + Constitution would have been to prevent the formation of the Union + of the thirteen States. They, therefore, committed that question + to the future, and the war came on and settled it forever. And, + right here, let me say that the South has accepted that settlement + in good faith, and will forever abide by it as loyally as the + North, although we will never admit that our people were wrong in + making the contest. + +This question was calmly and logically discussed by Mr. Charles +Francis Adams in a late speech delivered in Charleston, S. C., when he +said: + + When the Federal Constitution was framed and adopted, "an + indestructible union of imperishable States," what was the law of + treason, to what or to whom in case of final issue did the average + citizen own allegiance? Was it to the Union or to his State? As a + practical question, seeing things as they were then--sweeping + aside all incontrovertible legal arguments and metaphysical + disquisitions--I do not think the answer admits of doubt. If put + in 1788, or indeed at any time anterior to 1825, the immediate + reply of nine men out of ten in the Northern States, and + ninety-nine out of a hundred in the Southern States, would have + been that, as between the Union and the State, ultimate allegiance + was due to the State. + + +THE CAUSE NOT LOST + +[From Memorial Day, pages 30-31.] + +A few weeks ago Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, president of Brown +University, a leading institution of learning in a New England State, +in a lecture delivered in the city of New Orleans upon the life and +character of the General of the Confederate armies, uttered this +language: + + People are prone to allude to all Lee fought for as the "Lost + Cause." Yet, like Oliver Cromwell, Lee has accomplished what he + fought for, and more than could have been accomplished had he been + victorious. At the close of the war we find the Supreme Court of + the United States deciding the status of individual States, and + the result is found to be that while the Union is declared to be + indestructible, each State is regarded as an indestructible unit + of that nation. Who would dare to wipe out to-day a State's + individuality? And do we not find to-day, instead of centralized + power in Congress adjudicating things pertaining to the States, + the States themselves settling these matters? + + Inasmuch as the war brought out these utterances with regard to + the States of the Union upon matters then in question, who can say + that Lee fought in vain? + + +SLAVERY AS THE SOUTH SAW IT + +[Vice-President Alexander H. Stephens, in War Between the States, page +539.] + +The matter of slavery, so called, which was the proximate cause of +these irregular movements on both sides, and which ended in the +general collision of war, was of infinitely less importance to the +seceding States than the recognition of the great principles of +constitutional liberty. There was with us no such thing as slavery in +the true and proper sense of that word. No people ever lived more +devoted to the principles of liberty, secured by free democratic +institutions, than were the people of the South. None had ever given +stronger proofs of this than they had done. What was called slavery +amongst us was but a legal subordination of the African to the +Caucasian race. This relation was so regulated by law as to promote, +according to the intent and design of the system, the best interests +of both races, the black as well as the white, the inferior as well as +the superior. Both had rights secured and both had duties imposed. It +was a system of reciprocal service and mutual bonds. But even the two +thousand million dollars invested in the relations thus established +between private capital and the labor of this class of population +under system, was but the dust in the balance compared with the vital +attributes of the rights of independence and sovereignty on the part +of the several States. + + +VINDICATION OF SOUTHERN CAUSE + +[In Southern Historical Papers, pages 332-336.] + +Mr. Percy Greg, the justly famous English historian, says: "If the +Colonies were entitled to judge their own cause, much more were the +Southern States. Their rights--not implied, assumed, or traditional, +like those of the Colonies, but expressly defined and solemnly +guaranteed by law--had been flagrantly violated; the compact which +alone bound them, had beyond question been systematically broken for +more than forty years by the States which appealed to it." + +After showing the perfect regularity and legality of the secession +movement, he then says: "It was in defence of this that the people of +the South sprang to arms 'to defend their homes and families, their +property and their rights, the honor and independence of their States +to the last, against five fold numbers and resources a hundred fold +greater than theirs.'" + +He says of the cause of the North: "The cause seems to me as bad as it +well could be--the determination of a mere numerical majority to +enforce a bond, which they themselves had flagrantly violated, to +impose their own mere arbitrary will, their idea of national +greatness, upon a distinct, independent, determined, and almost +unanimous people." + +And then he says as Lord Russell did: "The North fought for empire +which was not and never had been hers; the South for an independence +she had won by the sword, and had enjoyed in law and fact ever since +the recognition of the thirteen sovereign and independent States, if +not since the foundation of Virginia. Slavery was but the occasion of +the rupture, in no sense the object of the war." + +Let me add a statement which will be confirmed by every veteran before +me--no man ever saw a Virginia soldier who was fighting for slavery. + +This letter then speaks of the conduct of the Northern people as +"unjust, aggressive, contemptuous of law and right," and as presenting +a striking contrast to the "boundless devotion, uncalculating +sacrifice, magnificent heroism, and unrivalled endurance of the +Southern people." + +But I must pass on to what a distinguished Northern writer has to say +of the people of the South, and their cause, twenty-one years after +the close of the war. The writer is Benjamin J. Williams, Esq., of +Lowell, Mass., and the occasion which brought forth this paper +(addressed to the Lowell _Sun_) was the demonstration to President +Davis when he went to assist in the dedication of a Confederate +monument at Montgomery, Ala. He says of Mr. Davis: + +"Everywhere he receives from the people the most overwhelming +manifestations of heartfelt affection, devotion, and reverence, +exceeding even any of which he was the recipient in the time of its +power; such manifestations as no existing ruler in the world can +obtain from his people, and such as probably were never given before +to a public man, old, out of office, with no favors to dispense, and +disfranchised. Such homage is significant; it is startling. It is +given, as Mr. Davis himself has recognized, not to him alone, but to +the cause whose chief representative he is, and it is useless to +attempt to deny, disguise, or evade the conclusion that there must be +something great and noble and true in him and in the cause to evoke +this homage." + +Mr. Davis, in his speech on the occasion referred to, alluded to the +fact that the monument then being erected was to commemorate the deeds +of those "who gave their lives a free-will offering in defence of the +rights of their sires, won in the war of the Revolution, the State +sovereignty, freedom and independence which were left to us as an +inheritance to their posterity forever." + +Mr. Williams says of this definition: "These masterful words, 'the +rights of their sires, won in the war of the Revolution, the State +sovereignty, freedom and independence which were left to us an +inheritance to their posterity forever,' are the whole case, and they +are not only a statement but a complete justification of the +Confederate cause to all who are acquainted with the origin and +character of the American Union." + +He then proceeds to tell how the Constitution was adopted and the +government formed by the individual States, each acting for itself, +separately and independently of the others, and then says: + +"It appears, then, from this view of the origin and character of +the American Union, that when the Southern States, deeming the +constitutional compact broken, and their own safety and happiness in +imminent danger in the Union, withdrew therefrom and organized their +new Confederacy, they but asserted, in the language of Mr. Davis, the +rights of their sires, won in the war of the Revolution, the State +sovereignty, freedom, and independence, which were left to us as an +inheritance to their posterity forever,' and it was in defence of this +high and sacred cause that the Confederate soldiers sacrificed their +lives. There was no need of war. The action of the Southern States was +legal and constitutional, and history will attest that it was +reluctantly taken in the extremity." + +He now goes on to show how Mr. Lincoln precipitated the war, and +describes the unequal struggle in which the South was engaged in these +words: "After a glorious four years' struggle against such odds as +have been depicted, during which independence was often almost +secured, where successive levies of armies, amounting in all to nearly +three millions of men, had been hurled against her, the South, shut +off from all the world, wasted, rent, and desolate, bruised and +bleeding, was at last overpowered by main strength; out-fought, never; +for from first to last, she everywhere out-fought the foe. The +Confederacy fell, but she fell not until she had achieved immortal +fame. Few great established nations in all time have ever exhibited +capacity and direction in government equal to hers, sustained as she +was by the iron will and fixed persistence of the extraordinary man +who was her chief; and few have ever won such a series of brilliant +victories as that which illuminates forever the annals of her splendid +armies, while the fortitude and patience of her people, and +particularly of her noble women, under almost incredible trials and +sufferings, have never been surpassed in the history of the world." + +And then he adds: "Such exalted character and achievement are not all +in vain. Though the Confederacy fell, as an actual physical power, she +lives, illustrated by them, eternally in her just cause--the cause of +constitutional liberty." + + +NORTHERN VIEW OF SECESSION + +[Charles L. C. Minor's Real Lincoln.] + +W. H. Russell, the famous correspondent of the _London Times_, in +his diary (page 13) quotes Bancroft, the historian, afterwards +Minister to England, for the opinion, in 1860, that the United +States had no authority to coerce the people of the South; and +Russell reports the same opinion prevailing in March, 1861, in New +York and in Washington. + +The life of Charles Francis Adams, Lincoln's Minister to England, says +that up to the very day of the firing on the flag the attitude of the +Northern States, even in case of hostilities, was open to grave +question, while that of the border States did not admit of a doubt; +that Mr. Seward, the member of the President's Cabinet, repudiated not +only the right but the wish even to use armed force in subjugating the +Southern States. + +Morse's Lincoln (Volume I, page 131) makes the following remarkable +statement: "Greeley and Seward and Wendell Phillips, representative +men, were little better than secessionists. The statement sounds +ridiculous, yet the proof against each one comes from his own mouth. +The _Tribune_ had retracted none of these disunion sentiments of which +examples have been given." + +Even so late as April 10, 1861, Seward wrote officially to Charles +Francis Adams, Minister to England: + +"Only an imperial and despotic government could subjugate thoroughly +disaffected and insurrectionary members of the State." + +On April 9th, the rumor of a fight at Sumter being spread abroad, +Wendell Phillips said: + +"Here are a series of States girding the gulf who think that their +peculiar institutions require that they should have a separate +government; they have a right to decide the question without appealing +to you and to me. * * * Standing with the principles of '76 behind us, +who can deny them that right?" + +Woodrow Wilson's Division and Reunion says (page 214) that President +Buchanan agreed with the Attorney General (Hon. Jere Black, of +Pennsylvania) that there was no constitutional means for coercing a +State (as his last message shows beyond a doubt) and adds that such +for the time seemed to be the general opinion of the country. + + +MAJOR J. SCHEIBERT (OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY) ON CONFEDERATE HISTORY + +[In Southern Historical Papers, Volume 18, pages 425-428.] + +_Tariff_ + +Besides the differences of race and religion, nature itself, through +the varied geographical position of the States, had created relations +of varied character that not only must conflict ensue, but the least +law affecting the whole Union often aroused diametrically and sharply +opposed interests; the consequences of which were to embitter +sectional opinions to an intolerable degree. + +When the North demanded tariff protection for their industries as +against European competition, the Southern States insisted upon free +trade, so as not to be compelled to buy costly products of the North. +The New England States strove for concentration of power in the +national government; the Southerners believed that the independence of +the individual States must be maintained, and when the Southerners +demanded protection for their labor, which was performed by imported +negroes, the North answered with evasion of the laws, while, in direct +opposition to these laws, it denied to the master the right to his +escaped negroes. From any point of view, there existed, and exist +to-day, interests almost irreconcilably opposed, which make it +difficult for the most earnest student of American affairs to find a +clew in such a tangled labyrinth. The difficulty in the present +undertaking is to make good the fact that the so-called Confederates, +who have been by almost all the German writers represented as +"Rebels," stood firm upon a ground of right of law. + +If the central government at Washington was the sovereign power, then +the (Southern) States were in the wrong, and their citizens were +simply rebels. If, on the other hand, the individual States were +separate and sovereign political bodies, then their secession, +independent of consideration of expediency or selfishness, was a +politically justifiable withdrawal from a previous limited alliance; +and in this case it was the duty of citizens of the States to go with +their States. As a proper consequence of these different views, the +Federals considered as a traitor every citizen who opposed the central +government, however his individual State may have determined; while +the Confederates, after the declaration of war on the part of the +Union, looked on the Federalists indeed as enemies, but considered as +traitors only those citizens who, in opposition to the vote of their +States, yet adhered to the Union. * * * * Instead of inquiring into +emotion and sympathies, the question is an historical one as to the +origin of the Union; that is, to seek in the founding of the United +States in what relation,--at that time, the States stood to the +central government, the mode of their covenant, and how the relation +of the several States to the common union was developed. The colonies, +therefore, united not because the citizens in general were oppressed +by the British Government, but because one colony felt, whether +rightly or not, that it was oppressed and insulted as an independent +political body. In the first movement of independence was exhibited +clearly the consciousness that the colonies felt themselves separate +political bodies. Even at that time the assembly of delegates +designated itself "as a congress of twelve independent political +bodies," and in the Union each of the colonies issued its separate +declaration. When the delegates of the thirteen colonies met in their +first Congress the first permanent Union was founded; which was +ratified by each colony as a separate body, as one by one they entered +the Union. + + +_Slavery_ + +With the question as to the origin of the war, the enemies of the +South have mingled another--the slavery question--which strictly +does not belong to it. This slavery question was inscribed on the +banners of the war when it was seen that thereby could be enlisted +on the side of the North the sympathies of the old world, and of a +great part of their own inhabitants, especially of the German +immigrants. This question could never legally be the cause of the +war, for the Constitution expressly says that the question of +slavery should be regulated by the State legislatures. * * * * At the +time of the founding of the Union, eleven of the thirteen States +were slave-holding, and it is a remarkable fact that it then +occurred to no writer nor humanitarian in America or Europe even to +think that this ownership (of slaves) was a wrong or a crime. It +is enough to say that the institution was accepted not only as a +matter of course, but that it was also especially protected, the +farming interest being granted an increased suffrage in proportion +to the number of negroes on their plantations. * * * * * Even in +the last days, before the outbreak of war, when the press and +demagogues raised the slavery question in order to inflame the +masses, the statesman (of the North) carefully avoided such a +blunder, since the slavery question was not the ground of the war, and +could not be proclaimed as such. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MATER REDIVIVA + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +For twenty years after the close of the war most of the Southern +States, through the bayonet-enforced amendments to the Constitution +and the carpet-bag negro governments established under them, were kept +under military rule. The men met the awful responsibility and their +hideous trials with an amazing courage and sought to counteract, in +every possible way, the work of Congress at Washington and the work of +the Union Leagues and other secret societies among the negroes at +home, and to build up the South in spite of the demoralization of +labor. The Ku Klux Klan, a secret vigilance committee, did much good +in terrifying the carpet-bag deposits and breaking up the secret armed +midnight meetings of the negroes. Rowdy imitators of the Ku Klux +afterwards in many instances did much harm. + +But the women kept on at work. They have never faltered, and never +shown any weariness. Thousands left penniless who were once +wealthy, took up whatever work came to hand. The writer knew the +daughter-in-law of a wealthy Congressman and the daughter of a +governor of two States to plow her own garden with a mule. He saw +all over the country the members of the oldest and wealthiest +families of the Atlantic coast teaching school, even far in the +west. Not a murmur escaped their lips. They cheered each other as +they strengthened the nerves of the men. + +But they kept up their work for the Confederate soldiers, and keep it +up to this day. Soldiers' graves were everywhere looked after. +Memorial associations were organized all over the South. The two great +societies of Richmond, the Hollywood and the Oakwood, each looking +after thousands of graves, the names of whose occupants are unknown, +are doing the most sublime work the world ever saw. The Southern women +soon extended their efforts to building Confederate monuments all over +the South, providing soldiers' homes in the various States and +securing what pensions the Southern States could afford. As long as +they live they work for the cause they loved; when they die their +spirit lives on in their worthy daughters. + + +THE EMPTY SLEEVE + +[By Dr. G. W. Bagby.] + +[In Living Writers of the South, pages 28-29.] + + Tom, old fellow, I grieve to see + That sleeve hanging loose at your side. + The arm you lost was worth to me + Every Yankee that ever died. + But you don't mind it at all. + You swear you've a beautiful stump, + And laugh at the damnable ball. + Tom, I knew you were always a trump! + + A good right arm, a nervy hand, + A wrist as strong as a sapling oak, + Buried deep in the Malvern sand-- + To laugh at that is a sorry joke. + Never again your iron grip + Shall I feel in my shrinking palm. + Tom, Tom, I see your trembling lip. + How on earth can I be calm? + + Well! the arm is gone, it is true; + But the one nearest the heart + Is left, and that's as good as two. + Tom, old fellow, what makes you start? + Why, man, she thinks that empty sleeve + A badge of honor; so do I + And all of us,--I do believe + The fellow is going to cry. + + "She deserves a perfect man," you say. + You, "not worth her in your prime." + Tom, the arm that has turned to clay + Your whole body has made sublime; + For you have placed in the Malvern earth + The proof and the pledge of a noble life, + And the rest, henceforward of higher worth, + Will be dearer than all to your wife. + + I see the people in the street + Look at your sleeve with kindling eyes; + And know you, Tom, there's nought so sweet, + As homage shown in mute surmise. + Bravely your arm in battle strove, + Freely for freedom's sake you gave it; + It has perished, but a nation's love + In proud remembrance will save it. + + As I look through the coming years, + I see a one-armed married man; + A little woman, with smiles and tears, + Is helping as hard as she can + To put on his coat, and pin his sleeve, + Tie his cravat, and cut his food, + And I say, as these fancies I weave, + "That is Tom, and the woman he wooed." + + The years roll on, and then I see + A wedding picture, bright and fair; + I look closer, and it's plain to me + That is Tom, with the silver hair. + He gives away the lovely bride, + And the guests linger, loth to leave + The house of him in whom they pride,-- + Brave Tom, old Tom, with the empty sleeve. + + +THE OLD HOOPSKIRT + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +The only ante-bellum property which Sherman and Thad Stevens left the +Confederate woman was her old hoopskirt. They could neither confiscate +nor burn, nor set this free. Like slavery, it was so closely connected +with her life that it cannot be ignored in her history. + +The Southern woman always kept well up with the latest fashions in +dress. In the fifties the modistes of Paris, whose word, however +absurd, was law to the women of the civilized world, sent out the +famous hoopskirt. It was not an article of dress, but a mere +contrivance for sustaining and exhibiting the clothes that were worn +over it. It was made of a succession of small but strong steel wires +bent into circles and fastened to each other by cross bars of tape. +The lower hoop was usually from four to eight feet in diameter, +according to taste, and the top one but little larger than the woman's +waist, from which the whole net-work was hung. It held whatever +clothes were put over it in the shape of a church bell or a horizontal +section of a balloon. + +Like all new fashions, some carried this one to grotesque extremes. +One of the bon-ton set of Columbia, S. C., in 1858 was the remarkably +beautiful and charming Mrs. ----, the wife of one of the professors in +South Carolina College. It is a fact that, on average sidewalks in +that beautiful city, wherever she was met by gentlemen they had to +step into the street and give the whole pavement to her tremendous +skirt. Most of our Southern beauties were more merciful. + +When the hoopskirt first came, it looked as if Paris had sent out the +greatest of all the absurdities. The men laughed, the boys jeered, and +the newspapers poured out invectives against the monster. The country +preachers anathematized it and urged its excommunication from the +church. But the hoopskirt came to stay. _Veni, vidi, vici._ It whipped +the fight, and when the war between the States came on it was in +control of the Southern female wardrobe. It enlisted for "three years +or the war." It clung to our mothers like Ruth to Naomi. "Entreat me +not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither +thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge." It proved +a godsend on account of the Federal blockade of the ports. Articles of +clothing soon became scarce, and when the silks had all gone into +flags and the gingham into shirts for the soldiers, with a dainty +homespun skirt stretched over the hoopskirt, our mothers looked like +they were dressed whether they were or not. + +It was a good umbrella as far as it went and it was a special +convenience to the refugee women who had to camp in the woods. At +night a short pole was set in the ground with a short horizontal cross +piece tacked across its top. Over this was stretched the hoopskirt and +over it a sheet, and, behold a beautiful, cozy Sibley tent for two or +three children to sleep under. It was our mother's faithful friend and +companion to the end of the war. Like the old soldier's sword it came +out very much battered and worn by long service. Like the old soldier +himself, it had been wounded and broken and mended and spliced until +it was hardly its former self. In their fatigue outfit our mothers +laid aside the hoopskirt and tucked up what was left. But on dress +parade, in meeting, company, and attending church it was her constant +friend and companion. The South embalms in its memories the deeds of +its men and the toil of its women. Father's old sword and John's gray +jacket are sacred heirlooms. So are the old spinning wheel and hand +loom, + + "And e'en the old hoopskirt which hung on the wall, + The old hoopskirt + The steel-ribbed shirt, + The old hoopskirt which hung on the wall." + +One thing in the management of the hoopskirt the men never could +understand. How in the world could all those steel wires be bundled +and controlled when a woman rode horseback or had to be packed in a +buggy or carriage? + +It was always a like wonder how the women could dance so nimbly and +gracefully with long trains and never get tripped or tangled in them. +Our women managed the trains and the hoopskirts just as tactfully and +thoroughly and gracefully as they did their hard-headed husbands and +silly sweethearts. How they did it nobody can tell, but they did it. + +About the very last days of the war one of these old hoopskirts +played a conspicuous part in a tragedy in the suburbs of Camilla, +then a very small village, the county seat of Mitchell County, Ga. A +farmer by the name of Taylor lived near the Hoggard Swamp. He had +a friend living in the town by the name of O'Brien. Both of them +often visited a very thrifty widow by the name of Woolley. On her +disappearance Taylor had put out the report that she had moved back +to South Carolina, but the truth was he had murdered her for her money +and buried her body under some peach trees near the swamp. No +suspicion was aroused until Taylor returned from a trip to Albany +without O'Brien, who had gone off with him, and a report came down +from Albany that O'Brien's dead body had been found near there in the +woods. Then suspicion put in its work. Murder was in the air, but +nowhere else as yet. People held their breath. Some women late one +afternoon happened to pass the peach trees mentioned and noticed +the suspicious looking fresh soil under them. As soon as they reached +home they reported the circumstance and a party was soon made up to +go that night and make an examination. The women guided them to the +spot. They were afraid to make a bright fire and they used only a dim +light by burning corn cobs. Their blood ran cold when in a very few +moments they were satisfied that they were digging into the poor +woman's grave. Suddenly on the quick removal of a shovel or two more +of dirt, up flew a woman's dress and white underclothing pretty +high in the air. Then there was a stampede for life. Terror seized +the men's very bones. After a while they mustered courage enough +to return and find that the woman was dead and her hoopskirt had been +weighted down by the soil and as soon as this was sufficiently +removed, it flew up with all its fearful elasticity. There was +life in it even in the grave. Taylor was tried, convicted, and hung. + + +THE POLITICAL CRIMES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY + +[By J. L. Underwood.] + +The first of the great crimes of the last century was the great +rebellion of the Northern States against the Federal constitutional +Union, "the best government the world ever saw." Nine of these States +in solemn legislative action, in the fifties, utterly repudiated their +contract in the Federal Constitution. They nullified the acts of +Congress and repudiated and defied the decisions of the Supreme +Court. + +This rebellion at the North broke up "the glorious Union of our +fathers," and drove the South, like poor Hagar, into the wilderness to +look out for herself, without a charge from any quarter that a +Southern State had committed one single act in violation of Federal +law or in hostility to the Constitution. Then came the second great +crime, the crime so vigorously denounced at the time by William Lloyd +Garrison, the most consistent and the most heroic of the Northern +Abolitionists, Horace Greeley and Wendell Phillips, the crime of +coercion of the weaker by the stronger States, the military invasion +of the South under the prostituted flag of the Union, and the final +subjugation of her people by fire and sword. _O tempora! O mores!_ + +The acts of congress for years after the Southern army had honorably +laid down its arms and gone home to plow and plant the fields make the +blackest pages in the history of modern times. The writer dreads to +put in print his estimate of such a political monster as Thad Stevens, +the misanthropic genius of reconstruction, the Robespierre of America. +Robespierre's guillotine cut off the heads of its victims. Thad +Stevens's guillotine cut off all hopes from Southern hearts. He avowed +it his purpose to exterminate the Southern white people, to confiscate +their property into the hands of the negroes, and with these negroes +to keep the country forever under the dominion of his party. According +to him and his followers to this day this party of (so-called) high +moral ideas must be kept in power no matter what crimes are committed +in securing the ascendency. This is political Jesuitism run mad. + +The saddest, strangest part of the history is that it was twenty years +before the Northern people came to their reason and put a check on +this ruinous fratricidal policy. If the writer shall go to his grave +with a holy horror of the bald malignity, the reckless folly, the +cowardly spite, the sweeping curse of the reconstruction measures of +Thad. Stevens and his Congress, he will find himself in good company. +He once heard the great and good Dr. John A. Broadus, of the Southern +Baptist Theological Seminary, say, "I can easily forgive and forget +the war. It was war, and all the wrongs done in it died away with the +cannon's roar. But I find it so hard to forgive the excuseless wrongs +done to the Southern people since the war." + +Dr. Broadus was a Southern man, but Rev. Dr. H. M. Field, the +fair-minded and patriotic author of "Bright Skies and Dark Shadows," +is not a Southern man. Hear what he says in his book: + + In South Carolina and the Gulf States negro government had a clean + sweep, and if we are to believe the records of the times, it was a + period of corruption such as had never been known in the history + of the country. The blacks having nothing to lose, were ready to + vote to impose any tax, or to issue any bonds of town, country or + State provided they had a share in the booty; and this negro + government manipulated by the carpet baggers, ran riot over the + South. It was chaos come again. The former masters were governed + by their servants, while the latter were governed by a set of + adventurers and plunderers. The history of these days is one which + we cannot recall without indignation and shame. After a time the + moral sense of the North was so shocked by their performances that + a Republican administration had to withdraw its proconsuls, when + things resumed their former condition and the management of + affairs came back into the old hands. + +These national crimes which so woefully afflicted the people of the +South after peace was made were: + +1. The refusal to carry out Mr. Lincoln's cherished plan of +reconstruction by immediate readmission of seceding States after an +orderly and legal abolition of slavery. + +2. The sudden emancipation of millions of African slaves. Gradual +emancipation would have been so much better for their interests and +for the welfare of the country. + +3. The conferring of civil rights so early upon the freedmen. If they +had not been made citizens they could have been colonized in due time +and provided for, as the Indians have been, with land and homes. + +4. Enfranchisement of these grossly ignorant Africans. + +5. Disfranchisement of the best people of the South. + +6. Arming the blacks and disarming the white people. + +7. The un-American crime of uniting church and state and the +employment of a religious society to carry out directly the schemes of +a political faction. Jesus Christ never authorized any such work. He +never gave the least authorization of any church machinery through +which such a union could be effected. God wants the good lives of men, +and not compact and imposing church organizations. They can be so +easily perverted to unholy purposes and made so effective in +destroying human liberty and crushing human rights. The union of +church and state was the curse of the middle ages and the blight of +modern Europe. + +It was an ominous day for America and a woeful day for the South, +when, upon the enfranchisement of the negroes, the politicians in +power and the fanatical Northern Methodist Episcopal Church organized +and transplanted in the South the African Methodist Episcopal Church +and employed it directly in manipulating the votes of the ignorant +negroes. The great iron wheel controlling the whole machine was put +into the hands of a political boss committee in Washington. Just +within this was the wheel turned by an absolute bishop in each State. +The most malignant of all the Southern negro politicians, Bishop H. M. +Turner, had the control of the Georgia wheel and turns it to this day. +Then came the smaller wheels, turned by the presiding elder in each +Congressional district, enclosing the little wheels in the hands of +the preachers and circuit riders and stewards. The ignorant negroes +were wound tightly by the ropes into a solid mass, and voted like +slaves by the officers of the new imported Northern church and the +strikers of the Union League. It was enough to make a patriot despair +of the country and a Christian to despair of religion to witness these +scenes. It made the white people of the South get together in +self-defence. It inevitably set race against race in politics. This +slimy trail of this union of church and state has done sad work for +the South and dangerous work for the whole country. The church iron +wheel organized a solid mass of ignorant negro voters on one side of +the Southern ballot box. This necessitated a "solid South" of white +voters on the other side. + +8. Demoralizing the negroes for generations by making them believe +themselves to be special wards of the nation and holding out to them +the delusive promise of "forty acres and a mule" as a pension for +slavery and a reward for party loyalty. + +9. Taking away by act of Congress, without a dollar of compensation, +the slave property of orphans, widows and Union men, the property +recognized by the Constitution of the government. + +10. By force of bayonets keeping in the Southern high places of power +the carpet-bag adventurer from the North and the irresponsible, +unprincipled scalawag who had for the sake of office turned his back +upon his native South. + +11. Unlawful confiscation of Southern lands, much of it belonging to +orphans and widows. + +12. Enormous and unjust tax on cotton, at that time the only +marketable product of the Southern farms. + +These were the woes which the "Reconstruction" measures of the Federal +Congress made for our Southern people, a burden mountain-high, Ossa on +Pelion, Pelion upon Ossa. But grimly, patiently, bravely did our men +bear up under it. Political crimes always hurt the women more than the +men. Our women stood by and cheered and comforted and helped as only +such women can help through all the toil, the gloom and wrongs of +those dark days. God bless their memories! + + +BRAVE TO THE LAST + +[Eggleston's Recollections, pages 73-76.] + +But if the cheerfulness of the women during the war was remarkable, +what shall we say of the way in which they met its final failure and +the poverty that came with it? The end of the war completed the ruin +which its progress had wrought. Women who had always lived in luxury, +and whose labors and sufferings during the war were lightened by the +consciousness that in suffering and laboring they were doing their +part toward the accomplishment of the end upon which all hearts were +set, were now compelled to face not temporary but permanent poverty, +and to endure, without a motive or a sustaining purpose, still sorer +privations than they had known in the past. The country was exhausted, +and nobody could foresee any future but one of abject wretchedness. +Everybody was poor except the speculators who had fattened upon the +necessities of the women and children, and so poverty was essential to +anything like good repute. The return of the soldiers made some sort +of social festivity necessary, and "starvation parties" were given, +at which it was understood that the givers were wholly unable to set +out refreshments of any kind. In the matter of dress, too, the general +poverty was recognized, and every one went clad in whatever he or she +happened to have. The want of means became a jest, and nobody mourned +over it; while all were laboring to repair their wasted fortunes as +they best could. And all this was due solely to the unconquerable +cheerfulness of the Southern women. The men came home moody, worn out, +discouraged, and but for the influence of woman's cheerfulness the +Southern States might have fallen into a lethargy from which they +could not have recovered for generations. Such prosperity as they have +since achieved is largely due to the courage and spirit of their noble +women. + + +SALLIE DURHAM + +[From Life In Dixie, pages 304-308, by Mary A. H. Gay.] + +Dr. Durham came to Decatur, Ga., in 1859. Well do I remember the +children--two handsome sons, John and William--two pretty brown-eyed +girls, Sarah and Catherine. + +The Durham residence, which was on Sycamore Street, then stood just +eastward of where Colonel G. W. Scott now lives. The rear of the house +faced the site where the depot had been before it was burned by the +Federals, the distance being about 350 yards. Hearing an incoming +train, Sallie went to the dining-room window to look at the cars, as +she had learned in some way that they contained Federal troops. While +standing at the window, resting against the sash, she was struck by a +bullet fired from the train. It was afterwards learned that the cars +were filled with negro troops on their way to Savannah, who were +firing off their guns in a random, reckless manner. The ball entered +the left breast of this dear young girl, ranging obliquely downward, +coming out just below the waist, and lodging in the door of a safe, +or cupboard, which stood on the opposite side of the room. This old +safe, with the mark of the ball, is still in the village. The wounded +girl fell, striking her head against the dining table, but arose, and, +walking up a long hall, she threw open the door of her father's room, +calling to him in a voice of distress. + +Springing from the bed, he said: "What is it, my child?" + +"Oh, father," she exclaimed, "the Yankees have killed me!" + +Every physician in the village and city and her father's three +brothers were summoned, but nothing could be done except to alleviate +her sufferings. She could only lie on her right side, with her left +arm in a sling suspended from the ceiling. Every attention was given +by relatives and friends. Her grandmother Durham came and brought with +her the old family nurse. Sallie's schoolmates and friends were +untiring in their attentions. + +During the week that her life slowly ebbed away, there was another who +ever lingered near her, a sleepless and tireless watcher, a young man +of a well known family, to whom this sweet young girl was engaged to +be married. Sallie was shot on Friday at 7.30 A. M., and died the +following Friday at 3.30 A. M. General Stephenson was in command of +the Federal post at Atlanta. He was notified of this tragedy, and sent +an officer to investigate. This officer refused to take anybody's word +that Sallie had been shot by a United States soldier from the train; +but, dressed in full uniform, with spur and sabre rattling upon the +bare floor, he advanced to the bed where the dying girl lay, and threw +back the covering "to see if she had really been shot." This intrusion +almost threw her into a spasm. This officer and the other at Atlanta +promised to do all in their power to bring the guilty party to +justice, but nothing ever came of the promise, so far as we know. + +As a singular coincidence, as well as an illustration of the lovely +character of Sallie, I will relate a brief incident given by the +gifted pen already quoted: "One of the most vivid pictures in my +memory is that of Sallie Durham emptying her pail of blackberries +into the hands of Federal prisoners on a train that had just stopped +for a moment at Decatur, in 1863. We had been gathering berries at +Moss's Hill, and stopped on our way home for the train to pass." + + +THE NEGRO AND THE MIRACLE + +[In Grady's New South, pages 97-118.] + +What of the negro? This of him. I want no better friend than the black +boy who was raised by my side, and who is now trudging patiently, with +downcast eyes and shambling figure, through his lowly way in life. I +want no sweeter music than the crooning of my old "mammy," now dead +and gone to rest, as I heard it when she held me in her loving arms +and bending her old black face above me stole the cares from my brain, +and led me smiling into sleep. I want no truer soul than that which +moved the trusty slave, who for four years, while my father fought +with the armies that barred his freedom, slept every night at my +mother's chamber door, holding her and her children as safe as if her +husband stood guard, and ready to lay down his humble life for her +household. History has no parallel to the faith kept by the negro in +the South during the war. Of five hundred negroes to a single white +man, and yet through these dusky throngs the women and children walked +in safety, and the unprotected homes rested in peace. Unmarshalled, +the black battalions moved patiently to the fields in the morning to +feed the armies their idleness would have starved, and at night +gathered anxiously at the big house to "hear the news from marster," +though conscious that his victory made their chains enduring. +Everywhere humble and kindly; the body-guard of the helpless; the +observant friend; the silent sentry in his lowly cabin; the shrewd +counsellor; and when the dead came home, a mourner at the open grave. +A thousand torches would have disbanded every Southern army, but not +one was lighted. When the master, going to a war in which slavery was +involved, said to his slave, "I leave my home and loved ones in your +charge," the tenderness between man and master stood disclosed. And +when the slave held that charge sacred through storm and temptation he +gave new meaning to faith and loyalty. I rejoice that when freedom +came to him after years of waiting, it was all the sweeter, because +the black hands from which the shackles fell were stainless of a +single crime against the helpless ones confided to his care. + +This friendliness, the most important factor of the problem, the +saving factor now as always, the North has never, and it appears will +never, take account of. It explains that otherwise inexplicable +thing--the fidelity and loyalty of the negro during the war to the +women and children left in his care. Had "Uncle Tom's Cabin" portrayed +the habit rather than the exception of slavery, the return of the +Confederate armies could not have stayed the horrors of arson and +murder their departure would have invited. Instead of that, witness +the miracle of the slave in loyalty closing the fetters about his own +limbs, maintaining the families of those who fought against his +freedom, and at night on the far-off battlefield searching among the +carnage for his young master, that he might lift the dying head to his +humble breast and with rough hands wipe the blood away and bend his +tender ear to catch the last words for the old ones at home, wrestling +meanwhile in agony and love, that in vicarious sacrifice he would have +laid down his life in his master's stead. This friendliness, thank +God, survived the lapse of years, the interruption of factions and the +violence of campaigns in which the bayonet fortified and the drum-beat +inspired. Though unsuspected in slavery, it explains the miracle of +1864; though not yet confessed, it must explain the miracle of 1888. + + +GEORGIA REFUGEES + +[Mrs. W. H. Felton, in Georgia Land and People, pages 404-405.] + +From the time that Oglethorpe planted his colony upon Yamacraw Bluff, +Georgia has never passed through such an ordeal as the present. +Nine-tenths of her sons were practically disfranchised because they +had served the Southern Confederacy, and all the conditions of life +were new; their servants were no longer subject to their control, and +most of their property was scattered to the four winds of heaven. It +tested the blood that had come down to them from Cavalier and +Huguenot, from Scotch and Irish ancestry. The private life of many +Georgians for the first few years after the war beggars description; +but the women rose to the occasion. + +The surrender found a gentle, shrinking Georgia woman on the +Florida line, nearly four hundred miles from her luxurious home, from +which she had fled in haste as Sherman "marched to the sea." The +husband was with General Lee in Virginia. The last tidings came +from Petersburg--before Appomattox--and his fate was uncertain. +Hiring a dusky driver, with his old army mule and wagon, she loaded +the latter with the remnant of goods and chattels that were left to +her, and, placing her four children on top, this brave woman +trudged the entire distance on foot, cheering, guiding, and +protecting the driver and her little ones in the tedious journey. +Under an August sun through sand and dust she plodded along, +footsore and anxious, until she reached the dismantled home and +restored her little stock of earthly goods under their former +shelter. When her soldier husband had walked from Virginia to +Georgia, he found, besides his noble wife and precious children, +the nucleus of a new start in life, glorified by woman's courage and +fidelity under a most trying ordeal. For a twelve-month the +exigencies of their situation deprived her of a decent pair of +shoes; still she toiled in the kitchen, the garden, and, perhaps, +the open fields, without a repining word or complaining murmur. The +same material is found in a steel rail as in the watch spring, and +the only difference between the soldier and his wife was physical +strength. + +This was no exceptional case. The hardships of Georgia women were +extreme and long-continued. + + +THE NEGROES AND NEW FREEDOM + +[In Last Ninety Days of the War, pages 186-187.] + +The negroes, however, behaved much better, on the whole, than Northern +letter-writers represent them to have done. Indeed, I do not know a +race more studiously misrepresented than they have been and are at +this present time. They behaved well during the war; if they had not, +it could not have lasted eighteen months. They showed a fidelity and a +steadiness which speaks not only well for themselves but well for +their training and the system under which they lived. And when their +liberators arrived, there was no indecent excitement on receiving the +gift of liberty, nor displays of impertinence to their masters. In one +or two instances they gave "missus" to understand that they desired +present payment for their services in gold and silver, but, in +general, the tide of domestic life flowed on externally as smoothly as +ever. In fact, though of course few at the North will believe me, I am +sure that they felt for their masters, and secretly sympathized with +their ruin. They knew that they were absolutely penniless and +conquered; and though they were glad to be free, yet they did not turn +round, as New England letter-writers have represented, to exult over +their owners, nor exhibit the least trace of New England malignity. So +the bread was baked in those latter days, the clothes were washed and +ironed, and the baby was nursed as zealously as ever, though both +parties understood at once that the service was voluntary. The Federal +soldiers sat a good deal in the kitchens; but the division being +chiefly composed of Northwestern men, who had little love for the +negro, (indeed I heard some d----n him as the cause of the war, and +say that they would much rather put a bullet through an Abolitionist +than through a Confederate soldier,) there was probably very little +incendiary talk and instructions going on. In all of which, compared +with other localities we were much favored. + + +THE CONFEDERATE MUSEUM IN THE CAPITAL OF THE CONFEDERACY + +This house, built for a gentleman's private residence, was thus +occupied until 1862, when Mr. Lewis Crenshaw, the owner, sold it to +the city of Richmond for the use of the Confederate government. The +city, having furnished it, offered it to Mr. Davis, but he refused to +accept the gift. The Confederate government then rented it for the +"Executive Mansion" of the Confederate States. President Davis lived +here with his family, using the house both in a private and official +capacity. The present "Mississippi" room was his study, where he often +held important conferences with his great leaders. In this house, amid +the cares of state, joy and sorrow visited him; "Winnie," the +cherished daughter, was born here, and here "little Joe" died from the +effects of a fall from the back porch. It remained Mr. Davis's home +until the evacuation of the city of Richmond. He left with the +government officials on the night of April 2, 1865. On the morning of +April 3, 1865, General Godfrey Witzel, in command of the Federal +troops, upon entering the city, made this house his headquarters. It +was thus occupied by the United States Government during the five +years Virginia was under military rule, and called "District No. 1." + +In the present "Georgia" room, a day or two after the evacuation, +Mr. Lincoln was received. He was in the city only a few hours. When +at last the military was removed and the house vacated, the city at +once took possession, using it as a public school for more than twenty +years. In order to make it more comfortable for school purposes, a +few unimportant alterations were made. It was the first public +school in the city. War had left its impress on the building, and +the constant tread of little feet did almost as much damage. It was +with great distress that our people (particularly the women), saw +the "White House of the Confederacy" put to such uses, and rapidly +falling into decay. To save it from destruction, a mass-meeting was +called to take steps for its restoration. A society was formed, +called the "Confederate Memorial Literary Society," whose aim was the +preservation of the mansion. Their first act was to petition the +city to place it in their hands, to be used as a memorial to +President Davis and a museum of those never-to-be-forgotten days, +'61-'65. It was amazing to see the wide-spread enthusiasm aroused by +the plan. With as little delay as possible the city, acting +through alderman and council, made the deed of conveyance, which was +ratified by the then Mayor of Richmond, the Hon. J. Taylor Ellyson. + +The dilapidation of the entire property was extreme, but to its +restoration and preservation the society had pledged itself. They had +no money--the city had already given its part--what could be done? To +raise the needed funds it was decided to hold a "memorial bazaar" in +Richmond for the joint benefit of the museum and the monument to the +private soldier and sailor. + +All through the South the plan of the museum and the bazaar was +heartily endorsed; so that donations of every kind poured in. Each +State of the Confederacy was represented by a booth, with the name, +shield, and flag of her State. The whole sum realized was $31,400. +Half of this was given to complete the monument to the private +soldiers and sailors now standing on Libby Hill, and the other half +went to the museum. + +The partition walls were already of brick, and the whole house had +been strongly and well built, but the entire building was now made +fireproof, and every other possible precaution taken for its safety. +In every particular the old house in its entirety was preserved, the +wood work (replaced by iron) being used for souvenirs. The repairs +were so extensive that the building was not ready for occupancy until +late in 1895. + +On February 22, 1896, the dedication service was held, and the museum +formally thrown open to the public. + +But the house was entirely empty. Rapidly the memorials were gathered +from each loyal State and placed in their several rooms. From start to +finish the whole work has been free-will offering to the beloved +cause. + +The treasury had been nearly exhausted by the restoration of the +building. The current expenses were met only by the strictest economy, +and largely carried on by faith. In the past nine years much has been +accomplished. The institution is free from debt; and the museum is now +widely known. But much lies ahead in the ideal the patriotic women +have set before them and the work grows larger, more important and far +reaching as it is approached. Such is the interest felt in the museum +that during the past year they have had 7,459 visitors, of whom 3,717 +were from the North. It is by these door-fees that the expenses are +met. + +It would be quite impossible to enumerate all the articles of interest +to be found here. The memorials gathered are not only interesting in +themselves, but invaluable for the truth and lessons which they teach. +Historians in search of information can here obtain original data in +regard to the "War between the States." The United States Government +has already made use of these records for its new Navy Register. Each +confederate State is hereby represented by a room, set apart in +special honor of her sons and their deeds. A regent in that State has +it in charge, and is responsible for its contents and appearance. A +vice-regent (as far as possible a native of that State, but residing +in Richmond) gives her personal supervision to the room and its needs. +The labor is incessant, and would be impossible, but for the fact that +it is impelled by a sense of sacred love and duty. + +Of the women of the Confederacy, of our brave and uncomplaining +soldiers, of their great leaders, as well as of our illustrious chief, +it well may be said: + + "Would you see their monument? + Look around." + + +_The Mary DeRenne Collection_ + +The late Dr. Everard DeRenne bequeathed to the Georgia room "The Mary +DeRenne (of Georgia) collection." Mrs. Mary DeRenne, of Savannah, +Ga., was his mother, an enthusiastic Georgian, and patriotic +Confederate. Soon after the close of the war between the States, +finding that an officer of the Northern army was making a collection +of Southern relics, she felt that there were few in the South who had +the means to do the same, but that it ought to be done. She determined +at once to begin, and while life lasted she spared neither effort nor +expense in gathering relics, books, papers, and all that added to +their value. Mrs. DeRenne soon found that persons were glad to put +together what made history, when isolated relics or papers told so +little. The result tells an absorbing story. + +Miss C. N. Usina, of Savannah, Georgia, presented in 1903 a liberal +addition to this library. + + +FEDERAL DECORATION DAY--ADOPTION FROM OUR MEMORIAL + +[Taken from Confederate Dead in Hollywood Cemetery, page 7.] + +MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN WITNESSED OBSERVANCE IN RICHMOND AND MADE THE +SUGGESTION. + +The New York _Herald_ contains the following contribution from Mrs. +John A. Logan, in which she says that the "Decoration Day" in the +North was an adoption from the South's "Memorial Day." + +_To the editor of the Herald_: + +In the spring of 1868, General Logan and I were invited to visit the +battle-grounds of the South with a party of friends. As certain +important matters kept him from joining the party, however, I went +alone, and the trip proved a most interesting and impressive one. The +South had been desolated by the war. Everywhere signs of privation and +devastation were constantly presenting themselves to us. The graves of +the soldiers, however, seemed as far as possible the objects of the +greatest care and attention. + +One graveyard that struck me as being especially pathetic was in +Richmond. The graves were new, and just before our visit there had +been a "Memorial Day" observance, and upon each grave had been placed +a small Confederate flag and wreaths of beautiful flowers. The scene +seemed most impressive to me, and when I returned to Washington I +spoke of it to the General and said I wished there could be concerted +action of this kind all over the North for the decoration of the +graves of our own soldiers. The General thought it a capital idea, and +with enthusiasm set out to secure its adoption. + +At that time he was commander-in-chief of the Grand Army. The next day +he sent for Adjutant-General Chipman, and they conferred as to the +best means of beginning a general observance. On the 5th day of May in +that year the historic order was put out. General Logan often spoke of +the issuing of this order as the proudest act of his life. + +It was marvelous how popular the idea became. The papers all over the +land copied the order, and the observance was a general one. The +memorial ceremonies that took place at Arlington that year were +perfectly inspiring to all the old soldiers. Generals Grant, Sherman, +and Sheridan and many of those who have since passed away attended the +first solemn observance of that day. + +MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN. + + +THE DAUGHTERS AND THE UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THE CONFEDERACY + +The following valuable bit of history is taken from the Macon (Ga.) +_Telegraph's_ account of the meeting of the United Daughters of the +Confederacy in Macon, October, 1905. + +"In the presentation to Mrs. L. H. Raines of a gold pin, a testimonial +from the United Daughters of Georgia, a very pretty climax to the +morning's session was reached. The speech with which Miss Mildred +Rutherford presented the pin in behalf of the Daughters will be +memorable to every one present, for it was touched with emotion and +instruction as a bit of history. Miss Rutherford explained that when +the war between the States ended, the Ladies' Aid Societies resolved +themselves into associations whose work it was to care for the graves +of the fallen heroes and to collect the bodies from far-off fields. + +"There was a woman in Nashville, who had ever been foremost in +Confederate work--a Mrs. M. C. Goodlet, who in 1892 was president of +the auxiliary to the Cheatham Bivouac. She had just aided in building +the soldiers' home near Nashville and felt that there was a work not +included in the work of the auxiliaries as then constituted. So she +resolved to form an organization to be called the 'Daughters of the +Confederacy.' The purpose of this organization was to be the care of +aged veterans and the wives and children of veterans, the building of +monuments, the collection and preservation of records. + +"Mrs. L. H. Raines was one of the first to write for information to +Mrs. Goodlet, and on reply she took the matter before the Savannah +auxiliary. This auxiliary, while not willing to lose its individuality +in the new organization, quickly formed within its own ranks a chapter +of the Daughters of the Confederacy. So the charter chapter of Georgia +came into existence." + +Miss Rutherford then related how the chapters grew in number until it +occurred to Mrs. Raines that strength would come through union. She +wrote to Mrs. Goodlet suggesting a "United Daughters of the +Confederacy," and Mrs. Goodlet agreed with the idea, so that a +constitution and by-laws were formulated and a convention of the +various chapters called at Nashville in 1894, "Mother" Goodlet +presiding. The convention of the United Daughters at San Francisco +formally recognized Mrs. Goodlet as founder of the Daughters of the +Confederacy and Mrs. Raines as founder of the United Daughters. + + +A DAUGHTER'S PLEA + +The following is an extract from the Macon (Ga.) _Telegraph's_ report +of the proceedings of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Macon +on the 26th of October, 1905: + +Mrs. Plaine had not then learned that Virginia opened last year a +large and comfortable home for Confederate women on Grace street in +the city of Richmond. It is a noble monument to our mothers and +grandmothers and a needed asylum for some of the very lonely. Mrs. +Plaine among other things said: + +"We have corrected many falsehoods disseminated throughout the South +in Northern histories and readers, substituting impartial and truthful +Southern books; and we have children's chapters as auxiliaries to the +United Daughters of the Confederacy that they may learn even more of +the imperishable grandeur of the men and women of the old South. But, +my dear friends, have we not failed in one paramount duty? Should we +not in all these years have made some organized effort for the succor +and support of the aged women of the Confederacy whose noble deeds we +have been busily recording? Texas is the only State which has made any +decided move in this direction. The United Daughters of the +Confederacy of that State have purchased a lot in Austin and have +several thousand dollars towards building a home to be known as +'Heroines' Home.' They propose to have for these precious old ladies +pleasant and comfortable housing, good food cheerfully served, +efficient attendants, nurses and physicians, books, and all the little +pastimes with which cherished mothers should be provided to keep them +satisfied and happy as the depressing shadows grow longer. + +"When we of Atlanta were working so hard to have the State accept +and maintain the soldiers' home which had been built by public +subscription eight years before and was fast going to decay, the +only opposition we had was from those who thought there were too few +soldiers left to need such a home. But what has been the result of +opening it to them? Why, hundreds of old, infirm and needy veterans +have found there a comfortable place in which to pass the remnant +of their lives, and we feel more than repaid for our small share in +opening it for their use. + +"Now, in the effort to establish a home for the aged women of the +Confederacy, the same objection will be raised of 'so few to occupy +it.' + +"Where are the women who represented the six hundred thousand valiant +soldiers who constituted the grandest army the world has yet known? + +"Where are those who with unflinching courage sent forth husbands, +sons, fathers, brothers and lovers to swell that immortal host which +marched and suffered beneath the 'Stars and Bars?' Where the little +girls who carded and spun and knitted to help their mothers clothe the +naked soldiers? Where the young girls who stood by the wayside to feed +the hungry and quench the thirst of the men on their long and weary +marches? Where the women who with tireless energy ministered night and +day to the sick and wounded and spoke words of hope to the dying? +Where those who stood at the threshold of desolate homes to welcome +with smiles and loving caresses their uncrowned heroes, and who by +their courage and patient endurance, amidst want and poverty, saved +from despair and even suicide the men by whose heroic efforts a new +and greater South has arisen from the ashes of the old? + +"Hundreds of these women, my dear friends, some of them once queens in +the old Southern society of which we still boast, and who would even +now grace the court of the proudest monarch on earth, are still with +us, but many of them in poverty and obscurity, suffering in silence +rather than acknowledge their changed condition. + +"I know personally of four cultured, refined women, born and bred in +luxury, who gave some of the best years of their lives to help the +Southern cause, and who for the love of it still work with their +feeble hands to make the money with which to pay their dues as members +of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. + +"I know of another, reared by aristocratic, wealthy parents in this +city, who drove with her patriotic mother almost daily to take in +their private carriage the sick and wounded from the trains to the +hospitals, and who on one occasion retired behind one of the brick +pillars of your depot and tore off her undergarments to furnish +bandages for bleeding arteries. She is now quite advanced in years, +nearly all her relatives dead, and she is in very straitened +circumstances. But she is proud and brave still, and makes no moan. + +"A few years ago it was announced in an Atlanta paper that a lady from +Sharpsburg, Md., was visiting a friend in Atlanta. A gentleman in +Griffin, after seeing the notice, took the next train to Atlanta and +called to see the lady without giving his name. As she entered the +parlor he stared at her for a moment and then grasped both her hands +in his and tears sprang to his eyes as he said with great emotion, +'Yes, yes, this is Miss Julia, only grown older--the same sweet face +that looked so compassionately into mine, and the same person who with +her beautiful sister Alice and her mother, worthy to have been the +mother of Napoleon, nursed me into life as you did so many poor +fellows after that awful battle. I have come to take you home with me. +My wife and children love you and all your family; your names are +honored household words with us.' Everything in the fine old mansion +of that family was literally soaked in the blood of Southern soldiers. +To these two young girls, Julia and Alice, scores of Southern families +owe the recovery of the bodies of their dead upon the memorable and +bloody field of Antietam or Sharpsburg. Most of the people around +there were Northern sympathizers, and took pleasure in desecrating +Confederate graves, and these young ladies, with the assistance of a +gentleman, who posed as a Yankee, made, secretly, diagrams of the +burial places of our dead, marking distances from trees, fences and +other objects, and sometimes burying pieces of iron or other +indestructible articles near by, that they might be able, if need be, +to recover the bodies, and thus many were restored to their friends. +So much was this family hated by the Yankee element in the +surrounding country it became unsafe for them to keep a light in the +house after night, for fear of being fired into. I have myself seen +since the war the bullets which lodged in the inside walls of the +rooms. Just at the close of the war these brave girls, in order to +send the body of a noble Confederate captain to his wife, then living +in Macon, drove with it in a wagon seventeen miles at night, crossing +the broad Potomac in a ferryboat, their only companion a boy of +twelve, and delivered the casket to the express agent at Leesburg, Va. +Both of these Southern heroines are still living. Poverty long since +overtook them; the dear old home has passed into strange hands, and +they are left almost alone--one a widow, the other never married. + +"Think you that such as these are not deserving the help of those of +us who have been more fortunate? In the language of Mrs. Vincent, of +Texas, a native Georgian, 'because they have stifled their cries, and +in silent self-reliance labored all these years for subsistence, are +we Daughters to close our ears to their appeals, now that the patient +hands and the feeble footsteps hesitate in the oncoming darkness?' + +"The time will come--is already here--when marble shafts will arise +to commemorate the deeds of the Spartan women of the South, but a +better and more enduring monument would be a home for such of them as +are still alive and in need, and for the benefit of the female +descendants of the men and women of the Confederacy who may yet +become old and homeless, and are eligible to the United Daughters of +the Confederacy. + +"Memorial Hall in course of erection by the Daughters of the American +Revolution, commemorative of the deeds of our Revolutionary ancestry, +is a worthy and patriotic enterprise, but a home for the aged heroines +of the Confederacy would serve not alone as a memorial of our dead +heroes and heroines, but what is still better, it would be a blessing +to worthy, suffering humanity." + + +HOME FOR CONFEDERATE WOMEN + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +These women of the South not only work for the men, but when the men +undertake to work for them, they take up the work and do it for +themselves. In March, 1897, the Ladies' Auxiliary of the George E. +Pickett Camp, Confederate Veterans, began a movement to establish a +home for the wives, sisters, and daughters of dead and disabled +Confederate soldiers. Of this Auxiliary Society Mrs. R. N. Northern +was president, Miss Alice V. Loehr, secretary. A call was made to the +people of the State and a Confederate festival, in charge of a +committee of which Mrs. Mary A. Burgess was chairman, was held in the +Regimental Armory in Richmond from the 19th to 29th of May for the +purpose of raising funds. The movement was most heartily endorsed by +the veterans, by Governor C. T. O'Ferrall, and the people generally, +and was continued to complete success. A very desirable building was +secured on Grace street and the home dedicated and opened in 1904 and +is now occupied by a number of grateful inmates. In all the historic +memorials about noble old Richmond there is no monument more touching +than this practical offering to the women of the Confederacy. A +similar home has already been provided in Texas and the R. A. Smith +Camp of Veterans at Macon, Ga., which recently laid the corner-stone +of a monument to the Confederate Women, has already begun a movement +for the establishment of a home in that city and the United Daughters +of the Confederacy are at work for its accomplishment. + + +JEFFERSON DAVIS MONUMENT + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +The project to erect an appropriate monument to the great Chieftain of +the Confederacy was undertaken by the veterans years ago. They raised +about $20,000. The Daughters of the Confederacy, just as they always +do, then took hold of the matter and they have increased the fund to +$70,000. The Georgia United Daughters of the Confederacy, who have +built a Winnie Davis dormitory at the Georgia Normal School, have been +very active in the work for the Davis Monument at Richmond, and +Georgia has the credit of leading all the States in the amount +contributed. The city of Richmond has donated a very eligible lot at +the crossing of Franklin and Cedar streets, near the splendid R. E. +Lee monument. It is fitting that the monuments to the leading civil +and military heroes of the great cause shall be so near each other. +Very near to these will be monuments each to Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, and +to Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee. These monuments will all stand in the Lee +district, the new and coming choice residence section of the glorious +city. + +It is expected that the splendid monument to Mr. Davis will be +unveiled at the Confederate reunion in 1907. Work has already begun +and the foundations are being laid. Dirt was formally broken on the +7th of November, 1905, by Mrs. Thomas McCullough, of Staunton, +president of the Davis Monument Association. Hon. J. Taylor Ellyson, +lieutenant-governor elect, a noble veteran, and others, also took part +in the historic ceremonies. The picks and shovels will be preserved in +the Confederate Museum. The monument will be unique in its design and +will worthily tell future generations of the great man and the great +cause. The writer confesses to a great pleasure, while preparing this +volume, of almost daily visits to see the foundation work of this +monument going on. He spent five years of his life in Mississippi in +the old days, and he knows Mr. Davis before our war to have been a +gentleman, a patriot, and a Christian, and the kindest of masters to +his slaves. He was a Chevalier Bayard, a knight _sans peur et sans +reproche_, and yet, under the responsibility laid on him by the +Confederate States, he became the mark for all the abuse and slander +that could be heaped on the Confederate cause by the fanatics among +our foes. His grave in Hollywood Cemetery and the Confederate Memorial +Museum building, which was Mr. Davis's home during the sad war, have +been precious though mournful Meccas to the author during many months +of hospital suffering in Richmond, and, by courtesy of the Ladies' +Memorial Literary Society, a large part of the actual work on this +memorial volume was done in the very rooms occupied by our great +leader. May God bless our noble women for the monument which promises +to be worthy of its mission. + + +RECIPROCAL SLAVERY + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +Humanity and kindness were the rule which marked the treatment of the +slaves in the South. For this the Southern people have claimed no +credit. A man deserves no credit for taking care of a $50 cow. Much +more will his very self interest treat well a $250 horse. How much +more to his interest to feed, house, clothe and nurse a $1,500 negro. +As in all things human, there were evils connected even with Southern +slavery, and Southern patriots rejoice that it is all gone. But +history will only render simple justice to the men and women of the +South when it records that any real cruel treatment of the negro was +very rare. + +The writer's life has nearly all been spent in the negro belts of +Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, and he knew of but +three cases where slave owners were charged with habitual cruel +treatment of the slaves. One of these, in the Alabama canebrake, gave +his slaves the best of medical attention, but they were evidently not +supplied with the clothing they ought to have. The other two, one man +and one woman, had the reputation of giving way to a cruel temper when +chastising their slaves. All of them stood branded with public odium. + +The truth is that in Southern slavery there was a sort of mutuality. +The owner belonged to the negro as truly as the negro belonged to the +white man. In many respects the master rendered service to the slave. +The State laws, to say nothing of humanity and religion, made it so, +but you say "it was a very pleasant sort of slavery for the master." +Yes, and a very pleasant sort of slavery for the negro. They were the +jolliest set of working people the world ever saw. The chains of the +negro were not the only shackles removed by the great revolution. When +the time came the slave owners felt that a great burden had been +rolled from their own shoulders. + +As far as the writer knows, the universal feeling of the slave owners +was expressed in the language of a good old couple who had worked hard +and finally become the owners of a hundred slaves. Said the old man, +"I didn't enslave the negroes, and I didn't set them free, and I am +glad the whole of the great responsibility has been lifted from my +shoulders." His wife, sitting by, said, "I feel like a new woman. I am +now set free from a great burden." + +The truth is, while negro slavery was the most convenient property +ever owned in America, it made heavy and constant exactions of care, +attention, and worry on the part of the owner. The ignorant, childish +Africans needed a master more than any master needed them. There lived +near the author's home in Sumter county, Ala., a Mr. Jere Brown. He +was of a fine family and a graduate of South Carolina College. He was +a splendid type of the intelligent, polished, Christian gentleman of +the old school. He owned at least a thousand negro slaves and kept +them all near him. While he had overseers and foremen to direct the +farm labor, he devoted all his time to attendance upon his slaves. He +was their physician and their nurse and very rarely ever left the +boundaries of his own land. His slaves all loved him, and it was long +said of him that he wore himself out looking after the negroes. They +belonged to him and he to them. This identity of interest, the +closeness of relationship, the mutual, kind feeling between owners and +slaves was never realized by the fanatics and party politicians of the +North until since the emancipation. The eyes of the world have been +opened to the fact that nearly all of the substantial help for the +negro's school, his church and for himself and his family when in +distress, has been rendered by the old slave owners and their +children. This practical help has been rendered all over the South. + +Alas! this mutual interest is growing weaker very fast. The slave +owners and their children, the true friends to the negro, will soon be +all dead. How much sympathy the negro is to get from the next +generation is for the negro himself to say. He has used his ballot in +such a way as to cut himself off from his neighbors, employers and +life-long friends; and to bring down the contempt of the world. For +years he used it as a bludgeon to beat the life out of what had been +sovereign States and free people. Later on he has made it a toy to be +sold for a drink of whiskey or thrown into the gutter. The whole +American people know this negro ballot to be a travesty on liberty. +His natural civil rights are secure in the North and in the South. But +his own folly has raised the question of the continuance of the +privilege of voting. Anglo Saxons will continue to rule America. They +are not a people who will long put up with child's play and stupidity +in politics. They mean business. And if the negro expects to use the +ballot, he must catch the step of a freeman. He must vote for the +interest of his State and his section and through a prosperous united +State, work for the well being of the whole Union. In this Christian +land he has met with unbounded sympathy in his helplessness. That +sympathy is being at times sorely tried. It is waning, sadly waning. +If he expects the privilege of an American, he must act like an +American. It saddens the Confederate veterans of 1861 to see how far +white and black have drifted apart within the last twenty years. The +"friendliness" of which Henry Grady wrote in 1888 will not, it is +feared, last to 1908. God grant they may get closer together in all +that makes for the good of both races. + + +BARBARA FRIETCHIE + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +Here is a part of the story of the Maryland woman and the Federal flag +in the famous poem of John G. Whittier: + + "Bravest of all in Fredericktown + She took up the flag the men hauled down; + In her attic window the staff she set + To show that one heart was loyal yet. + Up the street came the rebel tread, + Stonewall Jackson riding ahead: + Under his slouch hat left and right + He glanced; the old flag met his sight. + 'Halt!' the dust-brown ranks stood fast, + 'Fire!' Out blazed the rifle blast, + It shivered the window pane and sash, + It rent the banner with seam and gash. + Quick as it fell from the broken staff, + Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf." + +This is poetry, but it is not history. It is not truth. It does not +sound like it. Nobody but men like Whittier, blinded by New England +prejudice and steeped in ignorance of Southern people, would for a +moment have thought Stonewall Jackson capable of giving an order to +fire on a woman. None of the story sounds at all like "Stonewall +Jackson's way." To their credit the later editions of Whittier's poems +cast a grave doubt on the truth of the story, and now Mr. John McLean, +an old next-door neighbor to the genuine Barbara Frietchie, has given +to Mr. Smith Clayton, of the Atlanta _Journal_, the true story showing +Whittier's tale to be nothing but a myth. Mr. Clayton says: + +"Coming up to Washington from Richmond the other day I brushed up an +acquaintance with a very pleasant, intelligent and, by the way, +handsome gentleman, Mr. John McLean, a conductor on the Richmond, +Fredericksburg and Washington Railroad. In the course of conversation +he mentioned Frederick, Md. I laughed and said: + +"Did you ever meet Barbara Frietchie?" + +"Why, my dear sir," he replied, "she lived just across the street from +my father's home." + +"You don't say so?" + +"It's a fact; and let me tell you, that poem is a 'fake,' pure and +simple. I was a child during the war, but I'll give you the truth +about Barbara Frietchie as I got it from the lips of my father and +mother." + +And then he told me this interesting story: + +"Ever been to Frederick?" + +"No." + +"Well, just where the turnpike enters the town my father and mother +lived in the old homestead. Directly across the way lived Mr. +Frietchie. He was a tailor, and a good, clever man and honest citizen. +His house had two stories. On the ground, or street floor, was his +shop. The family lived up stairs. There was a balcony to the upper +story of the house facing the street. It was from that balcony that +the flag was waved, but Barbara Frietchie had no more to do with it +than you. General Stonewall Jackson, returning from Monocacy, passed +through Frederick at the head of his army. He entered the town by the +turnpike and marched between the house of Mr. Frietchie and the home +of my parents. There was a United States flag in the tailor's house. +His eldest daughter, Mary Quantrell, thinking that the Union army was +coming, mistaking Jackson's men for the Federals, seized this flag, +ran out upon the balcony and waved it. Observing her, General +Stonewall Jackson, who was riding at the head of his troops, took off +his hat, and ordered his men to uncover their heads. They did so, and +General Jackson said that he gave the order to uncover because he +wanted his men to show proper appreciation of a woman who had the +loyalty and patriotism to stand up for her side. Those are the facts. +My parents were there. They told me. I tell you. There was no sticking +any flag staff in any window. No order by General Jackson to 'Halt' +and 'Fire;' no seizing of the flag and waving it after it had been +shot from the staff; no begging General Jackson to shoot anybody's +grey head but to 'spare the flag of his country'--all of this is +described in the poem--but none of it happened. Very funny about +Barbara Frietchie being four score and ten." + +"Who was Barbara Frietchie?" + +"Why she was the young daughter of Mr. Frietchie--the young sister of +Mary Quantrell, who waved the flag--that's all." + +Mr. McLean told me that he had three brothers in the Federal army. His +brother was doorkeeper of the Maryland assembly, and his uncle a +member during the stormy sessions held at Frederick, when that body +hotly discussed, for many days, the question as to whether Maryland +should secede. + + +SOCIAL EQUALITY BETWEEN THE RACES + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +When the men of the writer's generation see or read of the growing +sensitiveness in all parts of the country, at the North and South, as +to negro social equality, there rush up memories from the days of +slavery that make the present jealousy to some extent ridiculous. As +to religious equality, the slaves joined the churches of their own +choice. In the cities there were some churches composed entirely of +negro slaves and nearly all had white preachers. The country has had +few if any preachers more eloquent and accomplished than Dr. Giradeau, +who in late years was professor in the Presbyterian Theological +Seminary at Columbia, S. C. He spent all of his ministry up to the +breaking out of the war as pastor of one of these negro churches in +Charleston. + +In the country towns and villages seats were provided for the negroes +to attend the 11 o'clock and night services of the whites. They shared +in the ordinances and communed from the same plate and cup in perfect +Christian equality with the whites. In the afternoon the house was +turned over to their exclusive use and the white pastor was required +to preach to them and worthy preachers from among themselves were +always encouraged. It always appeared to the writer, all through his +boyhood days, that the white preachers preached better sermons to the +negroes than they did to the whites. The negro was thus blessed with +the most thorough and efficient evangelist work ever done for the +benighted. The negroes trained under it have been the salt of the +earth to their race in their churches since the war. In those days in +the South the white evangelist Phillip rode in the wagon with the +Ethiopian and taught him, and both were blessed. When the lamented +good old deacon Alex. Smith, of Thomasville, Ga., was ordained a +deacon, one of the ordaining elders was his negro slave. At +Bainbridge, Ga., Rev. Jesse Davis officiated as a member of the +Presbytery ordaining to the ministry his slave, Ben. Munson. What a +calamity that this close brotherly association in religious matters +should have been so rudely broken in many directions by the politics +of the wild reconstruction which was forced on the South. + +At home some features of the life amounted to more than social +equality. There was "mammy," for instance, the good old negro nurse, +housekeeper, hospital matron, superintending cook, boss of the whole +family, and what not. She was father's friend to counsel and cheer +him, and she was mother's staff and companion. To us children she was +just everything. Those strong old arms supported us in babyhood and +dandled us and fondled us in childhood. Her old bosom was a city of +refuge from even the pursuing father and mother. How quietly +peach-tree switches dropped from parental hands when Mammy begged for +us. Mammy's cabin was the white children's paradise. Well does the +writer remember that when his mother had to take a trip for her health +away from home, he and a sister a little older than himself were left +in the home of a neighboring kindred to be cared for. Kinsfolk did +very well till night approached, then our poor little hearts sighed +for home and we ran away to Mammy Cynthia and remained in her cabin +and slept in her arms in her nice clean bed until mother's return. The +most cruel work done by the reconstruction politics was to enforce the +orders of the carpet-baggers and scalawags in compelling these +"mammies" to forsake their old "missus" and old homes. Many of them +never could be tempted or forced to leave the old home. + +Then there was "Daddy Jacob," the nabob of the farm. Like "mammy" he +was given just enough work to keep up appearances and keep him in +practice. But it was usually special work, like presiding at the gin +or hauling with the two-ox wagon. Many a meal has the little white boy +eaten from old daddy's dinner bucket or from the blue-edged plates in +his cabin. + +Then there was "Mandy," the young girl given by the parents to her +young white mistress near her age. Mandy caught Miss Mary's manners, +fell heir to her dresses and bonnets, waited on the table, joined the +children in their sports, and felt that she was about as good as +anybody. And she was, until the devil came along with the bayonets and +brought the monster curse to the negro, the "Yankee school marm." +These women were deluded, blind guides of the blind Africans. +Reconstruction work has left the negro women, especially the young +ones, the most giddy, most idle and aimless and the least virtuous of +any set of women in any civilized country. The white Yankee school +teachers sent down South by the thousands, forty years ago, sowed the +seed of false notions of life and duty and opportunity, and the +country is now afflicted with the harvest. + +"Jere" was the negro boy companion of young "Mars Henry." He and Mars +Henry played marbles together, fished or swam the millpond, searched +the woods for chinquapins or hickory nuts. They rode on the same lever +at the old gin and leaped into the lint room together to pack back the +loose cotton, and then mounted the mules and rode them to the barn. +But the 'possum hunt was the glory of Henry and Jere's united life. +After supper, in which Henry had swapped biscuit from the table for +Jere's pork and roasted potatoes or sweet ash cake, they would put a +few potatoes in their pockets, gather an axe, whistle up old "Tige," +the dog, and were soon away in the woods. When the game was captured, +and a failure was a rare thing, with the nocturnal Nimrods, a small +short hickory pole was split and the tail of the 'possum inserted in +the crack and soon each boy had a 'possum pole on his shoulder. But a +boy gets sleepy quickly. Worn out with their ramble they would rake up +a pile of leaves on the south side of a big log, kindle a fire near +their feet and put the potatoes to roasting. "Tige" knew what it all +meant and he enjoyed the camping too. He would lie next to the +'possums so that he could keep an eye on them. (The writer's Tige had +but one eye.) A 'possum is the meekest of all animals, when you get +his tail in a vice and a dog in three feet of him. Jere would lie next +to Tige, close enough to get some of his warmth, and Mars Henry would +lie close to Jere. With their feet to the fire they got a few hours of +the sweetest sleep the world ever gave. It was Mars Henry's active, +rollicking, rough and tumble open-air life with Jere that gave such +vigor, in camp and on the march, to the Confederate soldier. + +The only man who has understood the negro, knew his wishes and his +failings, knew how to be kind to him when a slave, and a safe +counsellor now that he is free, is the man who, when a boy, played +with Jere and slept by his side in the midnight campfire. It is +mammy's people, and daddy Jacob's and Mandy's and Jere's people, that +understand the negro and have always been his best friends. Had the +country abided by Grant and Sherman and Lincoln and Johnson as to the +status of the restored Union and left the rights of the emancipated +slaves in the hands of their old owners and their interests to be +regulated by the Mars Henrys of the South how much better it would +have been for the poor negro and infinitely better for the white +people. Southern people know best how far the negro may go and where +it is best for him to stop. Now when the fearful problems which have +been brought about by vindictive politics, personal demoralization and +fanatical race prejudices, for which the people of the South are not +responsible, the whole country is beginning to realize that if these +problems are to be solved in the negro's favor he himself is to do the +solving. "Mars Henry" and "Jere" would once have died for each other. +But "Mars Henry" can't help "Jere" much now. Reconstruction politics +led "Jere" too far away from "Mars Henry" and kept him too long. In a +very few years there will be no "Mars Henry," no "Jere." "Mars +Henry's" children know how to take care of themselves. May God teach +poor "Jere's" children to work out their own good. + + +DREAM OF RACE SUPERIORITY + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +In a previous article the author has given an account of what was +nearer social equality between the white and black races than will +ever again be seen in the South or anywhere else. But the deluded +negro has been led to look for something higher than social +equality. The most awfully destructive work done by the Northern +attempt to reconstruct Southern society has been seen in the +complete demoralization of the generation of the negroes succeeding +the playmates of the young Southerners of 1861-1865. They were +thrown directly under Northern teachers profoundly ignorant of the +negro race, their condition, and their danger; but teachers supremely +bent on injury, as far as possible, to the white people of the +South. From them and the literature which they circulated, and his +own folly, the young negroes became imbued with the idea, not of +social equality with the white people, but of social superiority +to them. They themselves were heralded in the highest places as the +"wards of the nation;" the white people were branded as its enemies; +they were the lions and the heroes of the revolution, the white +people were its victims. They were the acknowledged pets of the +triumphant Northern people, while the whites were their doomed +enemies. They were to have offices, endowments, and bounties from the +government. This government gave them a Freedmen's Bank and a +Freedmen's Bureau and they saw no bank nor bureau for white people. +They saw the white people to whom nothing was promised with no +prospect but that of poverty and degradation. The North gave them +colleges and the South taxed itself to give them schools. They were +lauded in Congress, on the hustings, in the Northern pulpits, and in +the party newspapers, as the innocent Uncle Tom-like, angelic +people who were to redeem the South and glorify America, while the +white people, only living by Northern sufferance, were branded as +traitors and rebels and enemies of the government. To insure the +triumph of the negro and the degradation of Southern whites +Congress kept the ominous Force Bills before the public. Who can +wonder that the heads of these poor ignorant people were turned and +their moral natures poisoned? + +Then, with all this, came the awful lawlessness under which this young +generation grew up. There was no longer "old massa and old missus" to +see that they were controlled. Their parents gave way to delusive +dreams and devoted their energies to "going to town" by day "going to +meetin'" by night. Home life in the family was, and is to this day, +almost a thing unknown. There was no parental control whatever. When +undertaken much of it was so childish or so brutal as to do more harm +than good. Some of these boys went to school enough to learn to read a +little and sign their names, and right there the most of them +graduated. A large portion cannot read now. They seldom went to +church, except just enough to be baptized and to join in a special +revival shout of + + "We are all going to heaven, + Hallelujah!" + +At other times when they did go they stood out on the church grounds +and smoked cigarettes. The negro preachers, in nine cases out of ten, +knew nothing and could teach nothing. The aim of most of them seemed +to be to have a happy Sunday religion and enjoy the honor of religious +office and prominence. What a passion this has been with the free +negro. Then the inevitable collection of the preacher, and all would +scatter without a thought of a religion to make good their lives +through the remaining six days of the week. Mrs. Stowe's Topsy said +she did not know anything about herself except, "I specs I growed." +Those young reconstruction negroes just "growed." They "growed" +without law at their so-called homes; they "growed" ignorant of, or +defiant of the laws of the State, and they "growed" without any aim +except self-indulgence in ease and pleasure. + +Then there before their eyes rose the Paradise tree of the forbidden +fruit--the white women beyond their reach. There was in every State +the law against intermarriage of the white and black races which stood +and will stand in Median and Persian unchangeableness. Then came, +wherever these young negroes were scattered, at the North as well as +the South, the mighty resolve of passion, pride, and revenge--"these +white women are ours, we are better than they are, they shall not be +monopolized by white men." + +The record is awful and the blackest page of American history. This is +the saddest chapter the author has ever written. He has been all his +long life known and recognized by the negroes as one of their best +friends. There is nothing but sorrow in his heart over the wide-spread +demoralization of the negro race. He and all other true Southern men +rejoice over the great progress of the few. He deplores the +enslavement and degradation of the many by whiskey, idleness, and +lust. The strong, young African tiger has been found lurking, not in +American jungles, but in American homes, highways, barns and fields. +His arch crime woman cannot hear named. And to mention it to Southern +men is to make their blood boil in their veins and their brains to +reel. + +The heroism of Southern women cannot be told without this dark page. +The trials of the war were nothing compared to the ordeal through +which Southern women have just passed. In the wreck of the South +brought on by Northern ballots and bayonets, the culminating damage is +the demoralization of the generation of negroes now recently grown. In +the face of the worse than Gorgan horrors our women have borne +themselves with a courage, a patience, and fortitude that are sublime. +But let friends of the negro and friends of our women hope. Thank God, +the crime is on the decrease. White men somehow will protect such +women as God has given our sunny land. The tiger is on the retreat, +and thousands of the negro race are awakening to the fact that there +must speedily be another emancipation, a redemption of their sons and +daughters from their new slavery. The negro has had race emancipation; +he needs family emancipation and personal emancipation from the chains +of sense and appetite. Good negroes are working and praying for it. +The negroes must break their own chains this time. But let patriotic +and Christian white men help them everywhere. + + +ROOSEVELT AT LEE'S MONUMENT + +"_Come Closer, Comrades!_" + +[J. L. Underwood.] + +When the victorious Federal army marched home, at the close of the war +between the States, the famous Brooklyn preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, +said that in twenty-five years any man in America would be ashamed to +admit that he was ever a Confederate soldier. And yet in twenty-five +years half of the Cabinet at Washington was composed of Confederate +soldiers. In little more than twenty-five years the country sees +William McKinley, the Republican President of the United States, +himself a veteran of the Federal army, down among the Confederate +veterans in Georgia, wearing the Confederate badge, and otherwise +fraternizing as a soldier with those who wore the gray, and in his +official capacity calling upon Congress to care for the graves of the +dead Confederate soldiers just as the Government provides for the dead +who wore the blue. And the whole country, North and South, applauded +the noble McKinley. + +Here is President Roosevelt, forty years after the war, making the +same recommendations and Congress actually restoring the captured +battle flags to the several Southern States. It is a pity Beecher +didn't live to be in Richmond, Va., on the 18th of October, 1905, and +see President Roosevelt by special appointment meet the Confederate +Veterans at the foot of the monument of General Robert E. Lee. When +he began his talk he said, "Come closer, comrades." The President of +the United States calling those old "rebels" of Beecher his comrades +and all the way on his long Southern tour, having at his own request a +voluntary escort at every point composed of the veterans from both +armies! + +Shade of Beecher! Come back to Washington and see President and +Cabinet and Congress and Army and Navy gather in tears around the +coffin and do the grand honors at the grave of the Confederate General +Wheeler! + +The truth is the true comrades from both sides have been coming +"closer" to each other ever since the bloodshed at Gettysburg and +Vicksburg, whenever the politicians would let them. The old "vets" +understand each other whether other people do or not. We are +"comrades" indeed. Now, comrades of the North, let an old "Confederate +vet" who has gloried in the privilege of frequently grasping your +hands for forty years, say a parting word to you. Your country is our +country. Your heroes are our heroes. We claim the honor of having such +patriotic countrymen as Lincoln, such heroes as Thomas, Meade and +Hancock, and McClellan and Grant, and McPherson and Farragut. If there +were such men as Butler and Milroy and Hunter, they were our +countrymen, too, and if they did things worthy of condemnation, let +Southerners condemn them with a feeling of sorrow over the failings of +erring countrymen--just as Northern men should look truthfully at the +lives of Southern leaders and condemn, when it is just, but condemn in +sorrow our erring countrymen. + +But, comrades, "come closer." Read the humble tribute of this book +to the memory of Southern women of 1861-1865. They were your +countrywomen. Their virtues are the glory of all America. We have +tried to help you and the world to know them better. We have all +come forth from the ashes now. We are rejoicing in a prosperous South +and a prosperous North. Our women nobly did their part in the war +and nobly have they helped to rebuild the South, not only for our +children, but for your sons and your daughters. Our sunny South +belongs to the whole country. Our noble women and their children love +their whole country. They have shown themselves true to principle and +true to duty. "Come closer, comrades," and study these Southern +women. If you find anything wrong in their spirit or conduct, hold it +up to just retribution. If they have set a glorious example of +courage, of sacrifice and of patriotism, help your children and our +children to "come closer" in following their example. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Women of the Confederacy, by J. L. 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