THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ^' '^ Una vv Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. A charge is made on all overdue books. U. of I. Library M 14 '3? ioUTH R£S£HV£ 16 1944 lA 13k JO/VS^ m^ FtB2^1975 /, InSS -5 1353 MSR 1.2 i3S nri!) m JflN i (1)815 , ftUG 3 1 ^■jiij MAY 17 DEC ocr K' sse 6 l:iCb 1989 ^c^ 130 I1148-S y,^ •^ '-^^^^ ^^ ^^ ' w ^ ^ Gerard C. Berthold University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign ^4A^yo "o^. ^k^c^^/a^r^^--"^^'^'^ THE WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY In which is presented the heroism of the women of the Con- federacy 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 Aris, Mercer University, Captain and Chaplain in the Confederate Army New York and Washington THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1906 Copyright, 1906 By J. L. UNDERWOOD DEDICATION To the memory of Mrs. EivIzabeith 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. If CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Symposium of Tributes to Coneederatd Women, 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, C ^O Tribute of Gen. Marcus J. Wright, ^25 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-Gen- eral 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, 71 • 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 0/ vi CONTENTS Chapter Page "You Wait," 93 Annandale — Two Heroines of Mississippi, 95 A Plantation Heroine, ^ Lucy Ann Cox, 100 "One of Them Lees," loi Southern Women in the War Between the States, loi 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, ic^ A Noble Girl, no The Good Samaritan, no Female Relatives Visit the Hospital, in Mania for Marriage, 116 Govern:nent 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 "lUegant 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 CONTENTS vii Chapter Page Two Specimen Cases of Desertion, 167 Sherman in South Carolina, 171 • Old North State's Trials, I73 Sherman in North CaroHna, I7S 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," I95 Women at Vicksburg, 196 "Mother, Tell Him Not To Come," 198 Brave Women 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 Women'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 viii CONTENTS Chapter Page 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 Redivia, 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 Con- federacy, 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 v^fomen 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 la- mented 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 lec- ture which appears in this volume as the author's tribute in the Symposium, and to Doctor Jones the author i^ 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 delight- ful Pearland Cottage, in the suburbs of Camilla, Ga. On account of his afflictions he has moved his family to Blake- ley, Ga., while he himself may remain some time for X PRBFACB 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. Undi;rwood. Kellam's Hospital, Richmond, Va. INTRODUCTION BY REV. DR. J. B. HAW- THORNE Richmond, Va., January soth, ipo6. Only within the last two years have I had the oppor- tunity 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. Wher- ever 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 coun- try's welfare. No man who followed the Confederate* flag had a clearer understanding or a more profound ap- preciation 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 strug- gle 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 acquaint- ance 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 Con- federacy." 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 xii INTRUDUCTION BY RUV. DR. J. B. HAWTHORNB 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 ex- act. His argument in support of the Constitutional right of secession amounts to a demonstration. Bfis interpre- tation 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 anec- dotes, both humorous and pathetic, are well chosen. The section of this book which relates most directly to "The Women of the Confederacy," including Mr. Un- derwood'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 un- precedented 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 coun- trymen. 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 2^, ipo6. 1 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 Con- federate 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 publi- cation, and of wide circulation. J. Wm. Jon^s. 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 xvi AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION of the city and gather material scattered among the Con- federate 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 igno- rance 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 Con- federate cause. The truth must be told from both direc- tions. 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 hypoc- risy 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 bar- barities of bummers and brutal commanders must be re- pudiated 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. A UTH IR'S INTRODUCTION xvii 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. Kei^i^am's Hospital, Richmond, Va., April ist, ipo6. CHAPTER I SYMPOSIUM O^ TRIBUTe:S TO CONI^^DEIRAT^ WOMEN MRS. VARINA JEI'FKRSON 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 : HoTEiv Gerard, 12^ 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 20 WOMEN OS* THE CONFEDERACY 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 in- stead of sugar, and used none other for their little chil- dren 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 fam- ily. Another sent the most exquisite unbleached flax thread, of the smoothest and finest quality, spun by her- self. 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. Jeeeerson Davis. TRIBUTE OE PRESIDENT JEEEERSON DAVIS [From Dr. Craven's Prison Ivife 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 re- cent struggle. "The Spartan mother sent her boy, bid- ding 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 frivol- ities 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. WOM^N 0^ THE CONFEDERACY 21 When materials for army balloons were wanted the rich- est silk dresses were sent in and there was only competi- tion 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 OE A WOUNDED SOI the house that sheltered such secessionists. During the war the fair daughter of the house was mar- ried 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 PI.ANTATION HI^ROINi: [In Southern Soldier Stories, pages 203-205.] It was nearing the end. Every resource of the South- ern 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 sur- rendered 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 WOMKN O^ TH^ CONIf^DElRACY 99 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 Vir- ginians 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, butter- milk, 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 circum- stance. 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." lOO WOM^N OP TH^ CONIf^DElRACY 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. ivUCY 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 com- fort of her father's home, and followed the fortunes of her husband, who was a member of Company A, Thir- teenth 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 Confeder- ate ever asked assistance from Mrs. Cox but it was cheer- fully rendered. She marched as the infantry did, seldom taking ad- vantage 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 commemora- ting the virtues of the heroine, Lucy Ann Cox. WOMEN OP THE CONI^EIDERACY Id "'one op them I,EES" [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. DeL,eon, 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 1" 102 WOM^N OP TH^ CONI^DDKRACY 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 stead- fast example. Nor was this conjfined 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 pro- gressed 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 eif ort 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 dwell- ings of the rich — to be cut in blankets for the uncomplain- ing 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 devo- tion 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 vic- tory. 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. \ \ \ ^..WOMEN OF THD CONI^EDERACY IO3 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, Ameri- can 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 endur- ance — 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 some- times 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 de- fender ; and the furlough was perhaps easier, and longer. Then came those now historic dances, the starvation par- ties, where rank told nothing, and where the only refresh- ment 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 I04 WOM^N OF THi; CONI^DDDRACY wondrous sore. She was true, then, to her faith. That she is to-day to the reunited land let the fathers of Span- ish war heroes tell. She needs no monument; it is reared in the hearts of true men. North and South. A mothe;r of thf confedejracy [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 ven- erable 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 es- sential 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 2y, 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 Pres- byterian Church in Memphis, of which church she re- mained a member as long as she lived. She became an active worker in hospitals, and when WOMI^N Olf THD CONI^KDEIRACY IO5 nothing more could be done in Memphis she went through the Hnes 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 com- manded the respect and reverence of men wherever she was known. After the war she strove to comfort the van- quished 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 An- drew, 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 Rich- mond. 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 io6 WOMEN oif the; coni^eideracy 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 fear- ful 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 sud- denly around. 'Dr. ,' the soldier answered, 'Pish !' she replied, and swept on in ineffable contempt to the bedside, perhaps, of some sick soldier." CORDIAI, FOR THE BRAVE [Elggleston's Recollections, pages 70-71.] The ingenuity with which these good ladies discovered or manufactured onerous duties for themselves was sur- prising, 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?" Receiv- ing 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 WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY IO7 content with this, she wrote on the subject in the news- papers, earnestly urging a hke course upon her sisters, many of whom adopted the suggestion at once, much to the deHght 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. HOSPITAI^ WORK AND WOMEN S DEEICACY [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 reti- cence in filling any office in them. How can this he? There is no unpleasant exposure under proper arrange- ments, and if even there be, the circumstances which sur- round a wounded man, far from friends and home, suf- fering 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 effi- ciency. 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, in- deed, a hospital has been no fit place for her. io8 woMEiN 0^ th:^ confdddracy A WAYSIDD HOME AT MII^I^DN [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 6o'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 rail- road crossing and was opposite the house built in the rail- road 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 run- ning 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 ac-, tive factor in the work, and it was largely due to her efforts that the home attained the prominence that it did among similar institutions. WOMIJN OS' THB confederacy IO9 Miss Annie Bailey, daughter of Captain Bailey, of Sa- vannah, 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 \\ere 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 disap- peared before the torch of the destroyer and only the memory, the well, and the trees remain to mark the his- toric 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. no woME^N 01^ The coni'Dddracy A NOBIvK GIRIv [From the Floridian, 1864.] Upon the arrival of the troops at Madison sent to re- inforce our army in East Florida, the ladies attended at the depot with provisions and refreshments for the de- fenders of their home and country. Among the brave war-v^orn soldiers v^ho 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 ex- posure 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 coun- try'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 eigh- teen," 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 Rich- mond. The surgeon being absent, he lay for two weeks in his tent without medical aid. She sent several re- quests 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 WOMEN OI' THE CONIf^DERACY III feels that not their bodies only but their souls are commit- ted 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." eemaIvE relatives visit the hospitals. [Phoebe Y. Pember, in Hospital Life.] There was no means of keeping the relations of pa- tients 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 mala- die 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 suf- ferer, 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, in- cluding the historic baby at the breast. They came in 1 12 WOMDN Of* THE CONEEDDRACY 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 un- bearable. 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 in- cidents happened daily, and I have often laughed heartily at seeing the harassed ward-master heading away a perti- nacious 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-na- turedly. "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 move- ment 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 WOMEN OF' The: CONS'EIDE^RACY II3 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 pro- cession, 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 tempo- rary 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 contemp- tuous silence, I sought an explanation. The same spokes- woman alluded to above met me half-way. She said a battle was imminent she had heard, and she had deter- mined 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 every- body 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?" 8 1 14 WOMKN O^ THS C0N^EDI:RACY 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 com- posedly 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, how- ever 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 satis- factory 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 Rich- mond 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 Vir- Sfinia. WOMEN OF THE CONi^DDERACy 115 SADIE CURRY AND "CLARA EISHER" [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 Il6 WOMI^N 01* THI: CONI^DDElRACY 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 J'OR MARRIAG:^ [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 l,ove 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 sun- shine of our variable climate having made the roads im- passable 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 hope- fully 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 WOMEN OF THE) CONPE^DKRACY II7 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 min- ute 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 De- partment, 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 emi- nently 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 Boiling 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 Il8 WOM^N OF THK CONIi'i:DE;RACY as well as the humble poor ; but none could obtain employ- ment under the government who could not furnish testi- monials of intelligence and superior moral worth. SCHOOI^S IN WAR TlMi;S [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 require- ments 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 THB HOSPITAI^S [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 prej- udiced zealot a lesson that would never be forgotten. WOMEN OP* The: CONf'EDERACY HQ The necessity of charity, once demonstrated, teaches us that we are one kindred, after all, and whatever differ- ences 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 re- minds 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 hos- pitals — encountered a stranger, who accosted him thus : "My friend, can you tell m^ 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 sur- prised at my asking such a question, and more particu- larly 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 re- ceived 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 understand- ing that the lady was here, I wish to call upon her, re- new 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 wanton- ly, criminally cruel, when a generous foe bears testimony to the mercy, kindness, and lowly service of the highest lady of the land? I20 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY SOCKS THAT NEVER WORE OUT General Gordon tells of a simple-hearted country Con- federate 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," BURIAE OE AUNT MATIU)A [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 plan- tation wedding as I saw it tfiat 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 mis- tress 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 per- petuate the picture. The level rays of the sun were fil-- tered 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 : WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY 121 "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. "lEIvEGANT PAIR OE 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 122 woMEiN 0'^ The; CONF'EJDEJRACY bullet. The blood was soon washed away, wet lint ap- plied, and no bones being broken, the bandages easily ar- ranged. "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, secre- tary. 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 ef- forts of the association would be "directed to the build- ing 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 Presi- dent 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 in- stances, that had been handed down from generation to generation and were the embodiments of ancestral rank wome;n of the confe:deracy 123 and tradition, were freely given up, is known. "Vir- ginia," 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 de- fence! Send them to us." The organization, moreover, did not confine itself to urging upon the women of the State that this was par- ticularly their contribution to the maintenance of the Confederacy. "Iron railings," the address continued, "old and new, scrap-iron about the house, broken plough- shares about the farm, and iron in any shape, though given in quantities ever so small, will be thankfully re- ceived 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 construc- tion had reached an advanced stage ; President Davis and Secretary Mallory had congratulated the Ladies' Asso- ciation 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 se- cured. The Richmond was completed in July, 1862, and al- though detailed descriptions are lacking all mention made 124 WOMljN OS* THK CONFKDEIRACY 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 pos- session of his family. The Richmond was destroyed on the evacu- ation of the Capital City. — ^J. L. U. CAPTAIN SALrl^Y TOMPKINS [By J. L,. Underwood.] Southern women have cared little for public honors nor have they courted masculine titles. But a recent num- ber 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 hos- pital 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 hun- dreds 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 gov- ernment control, and to do this General Lee ordered a commission as captain in the Confederate army to be is- sued to Miss Sallie Tompkins. Though a government WOMEN 01^ the: con^e;deracy 125 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. THK ANGElv OF THE HOSPlTAIv [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! lyook! 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, imcared 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. Reside 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. 126 WOME^N OF THE CONEEdDRACY 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! Sne 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 thi;ir trials OlyD 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 com- ing 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 Con- federacy 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 follow- ing letter in the Atlanta Journal: 128 woM^N OP The; coni^eiddracy Sugar Vai,i,ey, 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 youth- ful 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 com- ing future to be passed in their own happy homes sur- rounded 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 sus- pense. 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 gal- lant spirit had flashed out with the guns, and his manly form, wrapped in a soldier's blanket, had been consigned WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY I29 to an unmarked grave far away from home and loved ones. The last rays of hope fled, and she resigned her- self 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 sum- mons that calls her to meet him on that bright and beau- tiful 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 gen- erations 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 : BATTEEE1E1.D, 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 ex- ceedingly kind to me. I have no doubt as to the final result of this battle, and I hope I may live long enough to 9 130 WOMEN 01^ THU CONI'I^DERACY 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 )'-oung master. He found him in a heap of slain. Re- moving 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. Ambu- WOMEN Olf THE CONFEDERACY I3I lances 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 Rich- mond, 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 churchyard 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-S9-] Col. W. R. Aylett tells the following tender story : Once during the war, when the lines of the enemy 132 woMi^N 01^ TH:e coni^kdEracy 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 sit- ting by the cot of a friend, who was soon to "pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees," I wit- nessed 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 tele- graphed 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 in- fluence 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. IvIJTTDRS I^ROM 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 ad- woMDN 01^ The; coni^iideracy 133 dressed. 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 spell- ing, 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 ex- pressing 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 Vir- ginny 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 bur- den. 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 starv- ing 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, 1 891; by Edward M. Alfriend.] For many months after the beginning of the war be- tween the States, Richmond was an extremely gay^ 134 WOMI)N Olf TH^ CONI^KDEIRACY bright, and happy city. Except that its streets were filled with handsomely attired officers and that troops con- stantly 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 McClel- lan's investment of Richmond, and the seven days' fight- ing 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. WOMDN OF TH5 CONI^SDDRACY 1 35 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 eg: grandmother, and she looked regally handsome in it. She was a young lady of rare beauty, and as thorough- bred 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 sup- per. 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 I 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 sup- per. 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 136 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY next morning there was a tap on the door, and I heard the mother's gentle voice calHng : "WilHe, WilUe." 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, an- other "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 Sher- man, who was famous for his pregnant epigrams, re- plied : "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 WOMEN Olf THE CONIfEDKRACY 1 37 resulted. I know of several wives and mothers in the South who lost their hearts and won their soldier hus- bands 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 exer- cise 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 dis- tinction 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 inter- course 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 re- 138 wome:n of the confederacy ceptions, to which the pubHc were admitted. These con- tinued 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, par- ticularly 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. WOMEN OP the; coNifE;DERAcy 139 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 Rich- mond 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 purchas- ing 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 dread- ful, and when Richmond capitulated many of its peo'^le 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! 140 WOM^N 01^ TH^ CONI^DD^RACY 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 OE NEW OREEANS [J. E. 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 command- ing 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 oifficer 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 sub- jected 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 help- less children; and after being ejected from their homes and robbed of their property, they have been left to starve in the streets or sub- sist on charity. But this does not tell half the story. The civilized world stood aghast when General Butler issued his in- famous "Order No. 28," which reads as follows : As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been sub- jected 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 avoca- tion. By Command of Major General Butler. WOMDN O^ rut CONl^^DERACY I4I Human language cannot describe the cowardice, the meanness, the brutaHty of such an order. All Europe de- nounced 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 out- rage. 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 draw- ing-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 Gen- eral Butler. "What is that?" I asked of the young gentlewoman I was visiting. "Oh, that's my diploma, my certificate of good be- havior 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 him- self 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 142 woM:eN oif mt conJ^ddeiracy 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 promi- nent 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. THK baTTIvE; 01^ the: handkerchief's 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 handker- chiefs, 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 : WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY I43 The Greatest Victory of the War — La Battaille des Mouc hairs. [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. 144 WOMEN OF* THE CONFEDERACY 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 lienceforth, for valor shown, A woman's petticoat. THE WOMEN OE NEW ORLEANS AND VICKSBURG PRISONERS [By J. ly. 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, be- fore the surrender. On the very evening of the surrender I was taken very sick and for some days lay at the point WOMEN OE* THE CONFEDERACY I45 of death. Under the kind nursing of friends in Vicks- burg, 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 physi- cians 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 touch- ing instances of soldierly generosity and kindness that ever occurred in war. Lieutenant Winslow, of Massa- chusetts, 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 refresh- ments and provisions from the hands of the ladies or 146 WOMEN O^ THE) CONI^EDKRACY 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 Hnt and bandages was sent aboard. In the Hnen furnished for this purpose were whole garments of the finest fibre of female under- wear, 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 pres- ence 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 fel- lows 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 patriot- ism in the breasts of those noble women. We old Con- federates were overcome. One grim old North Caro- linian, 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. WOMEN OP the; confederacy 147 "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 re- sults 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 pur- suit, 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 Mill- 148 WOMKN 01^ THE CONIfE:DE;RACY tary 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. I/. 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 com- ing 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 in- jury which followed the child all her life. The maraud- ers followed the poor mother into the house and threat- ened to kill her. But as one of them held a pistol in her face the pursuing party rushed in and an officer knocked WOMEN OE THE CONEKDERACY I49 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 OE NEEDIvES AND THREAD [By Walter, a Soldier's Son; from Mrs. Fannie A. Beer's Memoirs, pages 293-29S-] My father was once a private soldier in the Confeder- ate 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 150 WOMDN OP THE) CONFEDERACY 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 butter- milk, 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 horse- back, 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 here- abouts !" 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. womi;n Of* The) coni^ede^racy 151 DESPAIR AT HOME — HEROISM AT THE ERONT [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 allu- sions, 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 un- speakable pressure of letters and messages revealing suf- fering, 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 Con- federacy 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 mili- tary 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 pri- vate soldiers of the Confederate army who belonged to the class just mentioned, and who received, perhaps sim- ultaneously, one of these home letters and one of these Federal circulars; and if ever the strain of such a con- 152 womdn of* the; coni^eiddracy flict was great enough to unsettle a man's reason and to break a man's heart strings these men were subjected to that strain. TH^ 01^ DRAKEJ'S TERRITORY [J. ly. 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 bri- gade 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, Gen- eral, 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 com- mand." 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 WOMEN OP THE CONFEDERACY 1 53 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 droll- ery 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 hun- dreds of once happy homes. These chimneys wer^ 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 sub- dued. He knew, too, the devotion of Southern men to 154 woM^N OE' The; cone'ejdEracy home and family, and he knew that the quickest way to thin the Hnes of Lee and Johnston was to fire the homes and beggar the famihes 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; re:^ug^e: 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 insig- nificance. 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 seek- ing 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 Fredericks- woMtN OP THE conpe:de;racy 155 burg fled last winter during the bombardment; she be- came 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 asso- ciations 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 tur- nip-tops from her piece of a garden, which were now put- ting 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 Rich- mond. It must not be, and will not be when her case is known. DESOLATIONS OE WAR [Diary of a Refugee, pages 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, 156 WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY 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 por- traits from the frames, split pianos in pieces, ruin libra- ries 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. Gener- ally, 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 haver- sacks 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 OE A SOI.DIER [Diary of a Refugee, pages 311-313-] An officer from the far South was brought in mor- tally 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 bit- WOMEN 01? THE) CONIfE:DERACY 1 5/ terest 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 at- tached 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 Cap- tain 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 thou- sand miles by day and night, without stopping for a moment's rest, and wild with grief, she could hear no 158 WOME:n op THK CONIfUDElRACY 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. WOMEN 01^ THE CONFEDERACY 1 59 MRS. HENRIETTA E. LEE's EETTER TO GENERAIv HUNTER ON THE BURNING OE 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 Val- ley of Virginia, and we cheerfully comply with the re- quest of a distinguished friend to publish it. The burn- ing of this house and those of Col. A. R. Boteler and Andrew Hunter, esq., in the lower valley, and of Gov- ernor 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 achieve- ments : Jeeeerson 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 en- gaged 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 Revolu- tionary 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 l60 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY and "rebel," Richard Henry Lee, and the near kinsman of the noblest of Christian warriors, the greatest of gen- erals, 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 sep- arate 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 re- peat, 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 de- prived 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 at- tached 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 de- WOMEN OE THE CONEEDERACY i6i fenceless villages and refined and beautiful homes — to torture afresh the agonized hearts of widows ; the Hun- ter 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.] EayettevieeE, N. C, July 31st, 1865. My Dear Generae : 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 prop- erty, before the war, was easily convertible into about $85,000 to $100,000 in specie. He has not now a par- ticle of property which will bring him a dollar of income. His office, with everything in it, was burned by Sher- man'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 1 62 WOMEN oif THE) con?i:de;racy 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 acci- dental 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, in- tercepted near this town, give this the lie. In some of these letters were descriptions of the whole burning proc- ess, and from them it appears that it was a regularly or- ganized 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 bum- mers, 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 steal- ables of another. A pretty picture of a conquering army, indeed, but true. WOMEN OE THD CONFEDERACY 163 REMINISCENCES OE THE WAR TIMES — A EETTER [B. Winston, in Confederate Scrap-Book.] SiGNAiv HiLiy, February 2yth. 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 can- vas 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, satu- rated 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 en- gagement 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 impor- tant. 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 164 WOMEIN OJ* THEJ CONIfE:DE;RACY 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 TH:^ HOE-CAKS [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 appear- ances, 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 ex- periencing 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 Fed- eral soldier and marched off with it, expostulations or en- treaties 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 WOMEN OP the; coni^dddracy 165 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 oppo- site 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 him- self, 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 fol- lowing. 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 pos- sible. 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." 1 66 woM^N oj* The coni^kdkracy "tR^ 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 assist- ance 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 WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY 1 67 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 re- garded them as they did the army worm. GENERAL, ATKINS AT CHAPEE HIEE [In East 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 be- came 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 wan- tonly taken was as wantonly destroyed and squandered among the prostitutes and negroes who haunted the camps. As to Raleigh, though within the corporate lim- its, 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 OE 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 de- sertions from the Confederate army occurred during the latter part of the war, and many of them were brought about by the most heart-rending letters from 1 68 WOMEN oE the; confederacy 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 dan- gers of the army. Some most touching cases came under our observation, but we give only the following in- cidents as illustrating many other cases. A distinguished major-general in the Western army has given us this incident. A humble man but very gal- lant 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 ad- ministered 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 wome;n of the; coni^eiddracy 169 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 occa- sion 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 Con- federate 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 ques- tion, "Guilty or not guilty?" answered, "Not guilty." The judge advocate was proceeding to open the prose- cution, 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 170 womkn o^ thk confkddracy 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 t,ucy, 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 re- jected; 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 Confed- erate soldier, but I was the father of Lucy and the hus- band 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 em- braced me, and she whispered, 'O, Edward, I am so hap- py ! 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 WOMJ^N 01^ TH^ CONFDDKRACY 17I 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 mihtary 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. Eee, to tread the path of duty though the light- ning's flash scorched the ground beneath their feet, and each in his turn pronounced the verdict: "Guilty." Fortunately for humanity, fortunately for the Confeder- acy, 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 werp falling "like torrents from the mountain cloud," my at- tention 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 CAROUNA [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 Caro- 172 wome;n oj? The; coni^dderacy lina. 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 Caro- hna, 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 com- mand, 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 ser- vants; these were immediately seized, pistols were pre- sented 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 pro- ceeded 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 WOMKN 01? THE) CONI^EDDRACY 1 73 thus subjected to torture and death. Gentlemen of high character, pure and honorable and gray-headed, uncon- nected 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." OI.D NORTH state's TRIAIyS [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 Con- federacy. All the necessaries of life were scarce, and were held at fabulous and still increasing prices. The great freshet of January loth, 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 govern- ment stores at Charlotte and at Salisbury, added materi- ally to the general gloom and depression. The very ele- ments seemed to have enlisted against us. And soon, with no great surplus of food from the wants of her home pop- ulation, North Carolina found herself called upon to fur- nish 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 sol- diers." 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, 174 wome;n 01!* this coni^^ddracy up through all grades of life, there were none who did not feel a deep and tender, almost heartbreaking solici- tude 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 re- source 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 doubt- less in every State in the Confederacy. I speak not now of these, but of the great body of our citizens — the mid- dle class as to fortune, generally the highest as to cultiva- tion 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 Wilming- ton, the failure of the peace commission, and the un- checked 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 WOMEN OP THE CONFEDERACY 1 75 privations, heavily as they had borne upon domestic com- fort, had been Hght in comparison with those of the peo- ple in the States actually invaded by the Federal armies ; but now we were to be qualified to judge, by our own ex- perience, 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 prin- ciples were well known, for they had been carefully laid down by him in his letter to the Mayor of Atlanta, Sep- tember, 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 anti- cipated 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 prop- erty 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 176 WOMEN 05* The: CONlfljDERACY 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 gentle- man of whose statements I avail myself. Every assur- ance of protection was given to the family by the quarter- master ; 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. . WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY I77 But the town meeting and war resolutions of the people of Fayetteville, the fight in her streets, and Gov- ernor 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 Gen- eral 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 chil- dren. On the approach of General Stoneman's army, she sent of¥ 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 aim- ing for Charlotte when he was met by couriers announc- ing news of the armistice. 12 178 WOMEN OE THE) CONEEDKRACY THE) KVENTEUL THIRD 01^ APRII. [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 wel- comed 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 ser- vant, to whom some of the Union officers had shown con- siderable 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 faith- ful 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; womkn op the: conJ'ederacy 179 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 black- ened 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 hus- bands 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 un- flinching, 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 terri- fied countenance exclaimed : "Sir, I have just heard that the Petersburg and Wel- don 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 rzn only at night for fear of the Yankee batteries, which were alarmingly near, I had time to in- l8o WOMDN 0^ THE CONI^EDKRACY spect the city. I found here a marked contrast to Rich- mond. 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 headquar- ters 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 WOMEN OP THE CONFEDERACY l8l 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 Rich- mond from the South, and compelhng General Lee to prepare for retreat. THE FEDERALS ENTER RICHMOND [Phoebe Y. Pember.] Before the day was over the public buildings were oc- cupied by the enemy, and the minds of the citizens re- lieved 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 en? trance 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 neigh- bors, but the destitution was terrible. The sanitary com- mission 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 fas- tidious stomachs; few gently nutured 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 i82 WOMEN OP The; conis'iJdiIracy 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 any- thing 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 for- tunate 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 subju- gated people. Despite their courtesy of manner — for, however des- potic the acts, the Federal authorities maintained a re- spectful 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 bul- lets, 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 deso- late 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 WOMlSN OF THE CONFEDERACY 1S3 army. There was no stepping aside with affectation to avoid the contact of dress ; no feigned humihty in giving the inside of the walk ; they simply totally ignored their presence. SOMEBODY S DAREING [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 South- ern 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 ex- quisite 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? 184 WOMEN Olf The: CONi^E^DE^RACY 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 y ^ I* EEMAI^E RECRUITING OEEICERS [J. Iv. 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 sacri- fice. Many an expectant bride sadly but resolutely post- poned 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 be- lieved 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 1 86 WOMEjN OF THi; CONPI^D^RACY self-defense he would have to "jine the cavalry," or In- fantry 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 broth- ers, in a very wealthy family, which we will call the De- Lanceys, 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 CARTDR [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 Sed- don, 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 Vir- ginia for its charming and beautiful women. Her loveli- ness, 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 WOMEN 01? The confederacy 187 themselves with the memory of her brihiant 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 mis- tress of a great plantation, dispensing that gracious hos- pitality which made it noted even in Old Virginia ; shed- ding the light of a beautiful life on all about her, and ex- emplifying 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 liff 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 per- formance of their duty. No one ever performed this duty with more divine devotion than did this young mis- tress. She was at once the friend and the servant of every soul on the place. Mrs. Carter was a fine illustra- tion 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 i88 WOMEN 01^ The confederacy 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 artil- lery, 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 Fed- erals 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 learn- ing 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 WOMKN OE" THE CONIfKDKRACY 1 89 war, as wretched as it was, without medicines or surgical appHances, 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 them- selves. 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 com- manded 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 plan- tation 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 af- fection 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 planta- tion 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 re- sult that defeat was turned into success and the place became known as one of the estates that had survived the destruction of war. 190 WOMEN OF The confederacy 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 un- der 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 pro- fession 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 un- selfish 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 re- lation 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! WOMDN OP THE CONFEDERACY I9I 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 oppo- sition 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 womaft and hurled at him what struck him like a thunder-bolt : "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, 3^ou 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. 192 womkn 01'' thk coni''Ede;racy 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 bar- gain. 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 pur- pose 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 neighbor- hood, 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 ofif 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 WOMDN 0^ The CONf^EDERACY 1 93 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 re- gard. 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 con- nection 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 13 194 woMiSN oif the: coni^ijdbracy wish; young McCarthy is my brother, and I don't leave this tent until he goes with me. Order his instant re- lease 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, reach- ing 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. womKn in The battle oe gainesvieeE;, eea. [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 WOMEN OF* the; cone^ederacy 195 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. Ap- parently indifferent to their danger, these heroic ladies stood unmoved, cheering on our gallant soldiers, among whom were many near and dear to them. Captain Dick- inson 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 WOUIvD 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 lone- some, 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 ? 196 WOM^N 01^ TH^ CONlfllDKRACY wome;n at vicksburg [J. I/. 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 ex- hibited 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 Ala- bama's noble war governor, A. B. Moore, spent several months of the spring of 1863 at Vicksburg and its vi- cinity, 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 du- ties would allow, I hastened to the city. To my aston- ishment 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 inde- pendent 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 bat- tle was raging at Bayou Pierre. I told the ladies that I could not stay away from my command while it was en- gaged 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 cha- grin when, on reaching the railroad station, I was in- W0ME:N Olf THE CONFEDERACY 197 formed 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 car- rying 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. 198 wome:n 01^ The: con]?ede;racy ''''M0THE;r^ TTi.hL, HIM NOT TO COM^'^ [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 daugh- ter, 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 sol- diers. They and I belong to the same army with your husband, and I cannot suffer you, or any one, unchal- lenged, 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 WOMEN 01? THE CONEEDDRACY I99 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 car- casses out of the way. Besides, sir, this thing is over, and has been for some time. The government has now actually run of?, 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 listen- ing, 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 de- fiant, 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. "Wlien didhe 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 200 WOMIJN 01'' The: CONI^E^DEiRACY face that was not pain and was not fight. So I let my- self out a little, and turning to the men, said : "Men, if her husband joined the Stonewall Brigade in '6 1, 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 wife- hood 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 bet- ter 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, seem- ing 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 him- self had signed a recommendation of this woman's hus- band for a furlough of special length on account of ex- traordinary gallantry in battle. During the reading of this paper the woman was trans- figured, 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 sol- dier's wife. "This little paper is your most precious treasure, isn't it?" "It is." "And the love of him whose manly courage and devo- WOM^N OP THE) CONFEDERACY 20I tion 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 turn- ing 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 Ivife 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 num- ber 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 202 WOMDN O^ THU CONFE^DERACY eating corn and oats out of troughs improvised for the occasion out of bureau, washstand, and wardrobe draw- ers. 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 apprehen- sive 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 re- moved 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 daugh- ters, 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 in- tervening 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 as- sented, 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 Camp- bell, a member of General Schofield's staff. He also in- V'^M^N OP THi: CONIfi;D:ERACY 203 troduced 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 re- ported 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 per- mit you to remain within our lines. Until Atlanta sur- renders, Decatur will be our headquarters, and every con- sideration of interest to our cause requires that no one inimical to it should remain within our boundaries estab- lished 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 sntrance 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 false- hoods 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 en- 204 wome:n oil* the: coni^i^deracy gaged at the same time in the nefarious work of exciting the subordinate class to insurrection, arson, rapine, and murder. If the South is in rebehion, 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 syste- matic course of lying in its institutions of learning, from the lowly school-house to Yale College, and from its pul- pits 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 predomi- nate 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 d^ar Frii;nd ; * * * 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 ser- vice to our scouts and guerrillas, and this of course I was WOMEllSr 01^ THi: CONI^EIDDRACY 20$ 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 morn- ing, (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 new- comer, escorted by several officers to the provost mar- shal's office. I immediately concluded that he was bearer of some tidings, most probably from "Mosby's Confeder- acy," 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 wish- ing to transact some business with the negroes who oc- cupied 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 206 W0MI:N Olf THi: CONFEDERACY 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 in- formation 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 ris- ing higher and higher. Mosby's men were always hang- ing 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 dis- covered 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 quick- ened nor slackened my pace. The moon went under a cloud and I passed into the sheltering darkness, wonder- ing 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 WOMEN 0^ THE CONFEDERACY 207 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 reach- ing the top of the hill, what was my amazement and hor- ror 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 War- renton. 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, The' in desert wilds thou sleep." They were to me then an inspiration — a harbinger of safety and success. It would have been still further in- spiration, 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 in- terest, 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. 208 WOMEJN O^ The: CONI^DDl^RACY 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 can- not 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 pre- sently he called out to me in a tone of earnest entreaty : "Not that way, for God's sake; that leads to the re- serves." 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 as- sumed 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 WOMKN OF* THE CONFEDERACY 2O9 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 raid- ing 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 moun- tains, 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 pre- paration 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 re- ceived 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 re- paid by their thanks? A few days after this, during Christmas, some friends in the neighborhood came through the lines to spend the 14 2IO WOMIJN 01^ THE CONI^EDERACY 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 ii and 12 that night, as we girls were un- dressing 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 un- expectedly 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 suc- cession 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, WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY 211 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 oe 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 in- formation that they were Yankee prisoners startled her considerably. The knitting ceased abruptly (all the old women in the Southern States knitted socks for the sol- diers 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-com- ing clown 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. 212 W0ME;N Of" THK coni'Ederacy paivSe; tketh [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 mcst 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 WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY 213 reared women of Virginia, and is scarcely the faintest shadow of what many endured under similar circum- stances. 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 Confeder- ates approached; besides which it was commanded by Streight^s artillery, planted on the opposite bank. Bladk 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 ap- proached 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. 214 WOMEJN OF THi: CONI^EDIJRACY 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 ren- dered 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, op- posite 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 re- turned 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, WOMDN OP THE CONPKDDRACY 21$ exciting the observation, "They have only wounded my crinoHne." 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 approba- tion. Remounting, Forrest and Miss Sansom returned to the command, who received her with unfeigned en- thusiasm. 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 ef- fected in less than two hours. Meantime, the Confed- erate general delivered his fair, daring young guide back safely into the hands of her mother, took a knightly fare- well, 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. pre;side;nt roosevelt's mother and grandmother [By J. 1,. Underwood.] The story has often been told of Mrs. Roosevelt, for- merly 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 2i6 woMDN OS' th:^ coni^e^deracy President, at some period of the war did the same thing in that city. The author of this vohtme 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 sym- pathies during the war between the States, such a need- less 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 North- ern 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 ad- mission. Under the circumstances he felt it due to con- sult our magnanimous President himself as to the authenticity of either or both incidents. President Roosevelt kindly forwarded the following reply : "Ths 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." WOMKN OF the: CONI^EDDRACY 217 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 WTTI.E GIRE AT CHANCELIvORSVILI.E 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, ^he 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 Confeder- ate cavalry has just been here, and if you all get poisoned by that meat you must not blame me." They left the meat. 2i8 woMKN oif The: coni^edkracy HEROISM OE 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 Jones- boro from Atlanta with 22,000 men to head off a formid- able 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 com- mander, 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 show- ers 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 morn- ing 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 con- dition, sent her, under escort and arms, a large wagon- WOMEN o^ the: conj^ederacy 2ig 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 l,ines.] 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 miser- able 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 ap- plied the torch to more than half a million dollars' worth of cotton, reducing herself to poverty rather than have 220 woMBN oif The; conS'Edeiracy 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 roman- tic glamour his beautiful art has thrown about the actors in the story. In 1864, General Ramseur, commanding a Confeder- ate 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 coun- wome;n or' the confederacy 221 trymen. 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 com- fortable 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 Win- chester; 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, sus- taining 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 suffer- ing 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 222 WOMDN Olf The: CONlfDDElRACY he would be sent to Fort Delaware. As the time drew near for his consignment to this hopeless prison, he con- fided 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 accomplish- ment. The citizens of Winchester were permitted some- times to send articles of food and comfort to the sick and wounded Confederates, and Miss Russell availed her- self 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 re- joined his comrades; survived the war; married his sweetheart, and to this day omits no occasion for show- ing his respect and gratitude for the generous woman to whose courage and address he owes his freedom and his happiness. SPOKEJN IvIKE: CORNKIvIA [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 opera- tions 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 hun- dred 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 morti- WOMEN 0^ THi: CON^DDERACY 223 fied 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 208-309.] 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 un- faltering 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 dis- grace 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 remain- ing 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, 224 WOMEN OE THE CONEEDERACY 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. RODNEY [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, 1 861, 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 en- gaged, 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 some- thing 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 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY 225 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 Confed- erate 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, superintend- ing 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 Con- federate 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 ii in the morning till II 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 headquar- 15 226 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY ters. 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 transporta- tion. 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 GIRE [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. WOMEN OF the; coNifi;DE;RACY 227 A PI.UCKY GIRIy WITH A PISTOI, [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 noon- day sun, their faces blacker than ink, their eyes red with drink and malice. The three girls saw them from thg 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 ad- vancing 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 228 WOME^N 01^ the: CONI^DDKRACY 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 ME;N and two NOBL,e: GiRLrS [In Wearing of the Gray, pages S4S-S47-] The force at Morgan's Lane was too great to meet front to front, and the ground so unfavorable for receiv- ing their assault, that Mountjoy gave the order for his men to save themselves, and they abandoned the pris- oners and horses, put spurs to their animals, and re- treated 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 Fed- eral 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, bang- ing, to say nothing of the quick hiss of bullets filling the air, rendered the "place and time" more stirring than, WOMEN OP the: confederacy 229 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 posi- tion 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 en- gagement, which may, however, have counted for some- thing. 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 them- selves 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 utter- ing 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 230 woMEjN 01'' the; coni'e^ddracy 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 op- posite 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 Mount- joy'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 gen- tleman 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 HE;r 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, W0ME;N Olf Tut CONf'EjDKRACY 23 1 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 lo, 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 UNDKR J^IRE) [A RebeFs Recollections, pages 72-73.] They [the women of Petersburg] carried their efforts to cheer artd 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 yoi:r honored rest, Your truth and valor bearing; The bravest are the tenderest, The loving are the daring!" . ■.■;,; n;:!ij[ 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 slight- est fear or showing any nervousness whatever. 232 WOMEN Of' The; confe;de;racy A woman's last word [Eggleston, in Southern Soldier Stories, pages 225-227.] The city of Richmond was in flames. We were be- ginning 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 Good- smith — 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 permis- sion to bid her good-bye. I'll join the battery later." The permission was granted readily, and George Good- smith 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 com- woM^N o]? tut confedi;racy 233 mand 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 Good- smith'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 PISTOE 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 out- ran 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, strap- ping Yankees to lay their hands on them. One would 234 WOMDN 01^ THK CONFDdKRACY 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 neighbor- hood 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 WOME:n 01? PDTKRSBURG [Southern Soldier Stories, pages 72-73.] During all those weary months the good women of Petersburg went about their household affairs with fif- teen-inch shells dropping occasionally into their boudoirs or uncomfortably near to their kitchen ranges. Yet they paid no attention to any danger that threatened them- selves. 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." WOMIiN 01? THE CONf'DDDRACY 235 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 aU our enor- mous superiority in resources, to overcome the stubborn resistance of those men." JOHN Ai,i,i?N s cow While General Milroy was in possession of Winches- ter 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 South- ern 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 in- sulted 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 EAMiEY That had no euck [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 236 WOME^N OF the: CONI^EIDIJRACY 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 ad- vancing 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 ?" WOMi^N OS* THE CONl^I^DDRACY 237 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 ene- my'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 hirfidred 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 fam- ily), 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 238 WOMEN OE THE) CONFEDERACY 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 ex- hibited 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 ex- planation 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." WOMEN O? THE CONI^EDKRACY 239 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 som« 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 pur- pose. 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 com- mander 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 240 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY 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 OE ETIQUETTE [Eggleston, in Southern Soldier Stories, pages 121-123.] Finally we went near to Martinsburg, and came upon a farmhouse. 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 thick- set 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 WOME;n 01? THE CONI^EDERACY 24 1 arms around his neck. As she did so, she kept repeat- ing 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 pecuHarly 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 be- stowed 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." lyOIvA 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 16 242 WOMEN OF* the; CONI^EDERACY a home in the State of Florida. Many years had passed since then and Mr. Sanchez was at the time of the follow- ing 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 daugh- ters, 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 unpro- tected. 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 pro- tection 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 din- ing 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 WOMEN OP The: confederacy 243 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 for- aging 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 enter- tained 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 every- thing 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 pon- toon was captured, and renamed ''The Three Sisters" in compliment to these brave young women. The pontoon was coming from Picolata to Orange Mills, Mr. San- chez 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 244 WOME^N Olf the: CONIfE;DE:RACY transports, this young woman went alone to St. Augus- tine, 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. Eu- genia Rogers, of St, Augustine. EivIzab^th W. MuIvWngs. the; REBKI. SOCK A TRUE EPISODE IN SEWARD's RAIDS ON THE OLD LADIES OE MARYLAND By TenEli-a. [The Gray Jacket, pages 510-513-] In all the pride and pomp of war The lyincolnite 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. WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY 245 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 1 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." j 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 politi- cal principles which guided and moved the South in the momentous struggle. They explain the lofty zeal and heroic fortitude of the Confederate women. They can- not 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 Con- tinental 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 gradu- ates and men carrying muskets whose property was val- ued 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 crueI/ 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 cap- tured 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 di- WOM^N 01? Tlir: CONt'E^DDRACY ^4^7 visions 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 Confed- erate 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 OE DISUNION In i860 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 senti- ments 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." — Wni. H. Seward. "The time is fast approaching when the cry will become too overpowering to resist. Rather than tolerate na- tional slavery as it now exists, let the Union be dissolved at once, and then the sin of slavery will rest where it belongs." — Nczv York Tribune. "The Union is a lie. The American Union is an im- posture — 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 ser- vile insurrection in the South; when the black man, armed with British bayonets, and led on by British offi- cers, shall assert his freedom and wage a war of extermi- nation 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 millen- nium." — Joshua Giddings. "In the alternative being presented of the continuance of slavery or a dissolution of the Union, we are for a 248 wome;n 01'' the; coni''e;di:racy 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. * * * ^\^q 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 coun- ^j.y_ * * * ji; is j^ot national; it is sectional. It is the North arrayed against the South. * * * f[^Q 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 com- mit an assault to arrest a burglar, and slavery is not ar- rested without a violation of law and the cry of fire." — Independent Democrat, leading Republican paper in New Hampshire. TH^ UNION vs. A UNION [J. ly. 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 Confed- WOMI^N 01^ THE CONS^EDERACY 249 erate 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 hirn 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 Beaure- gard'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 examina- tion. 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 or- ganized Nation. Alexander Hamilton wrote, "The State governments are essentially necessary to the form and spirit of the general system. * * * They can never 250 WOMEN 01? the: CONE':eDE;RACY 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 na- tion, but as composing the distinct and independent States to which they belong, are the sources of the Consti- tution. It is therefore not a National but a Federal com- pact." 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 Em- pire. The Union man loves the Union through his im- mediate part of Union. Daniel Webster loved the Union, but his speeches show how he loved Massachu- setts 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 de- voted 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 di- rectly discarded, the love for their own States led them heart and soul into the Confederate cause. Our Irish- man 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 sen- timental union under a flag without a Constitution. The Constitution had been thrown away. The writer's father, a plain old farmer-merchant of wome;n 01^ the; conpeideracy 251 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 Hke a Tennessee hog, he can be tolled, but he can't be driven. Savoyard tells us truly that no State embraced seces- sion 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. , ,1 ',4i<. feliit?' 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 252 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY 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 in- vading, 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 ma- jority 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 W0ME;N 01? THE CONFEDERACY 253 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 i860 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 Confeder- ate soldiers' graves. President, and Congress and Army and Navy follow General Wheeler's cofiin to an honored grave. A Republican President publicly avows his at- tachment 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 EROM THE UNION [By J. ly. 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 con- vinced the Southern States that their only honorable course lay in secession. The compact of the written Con- stitution 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 pro- vided, 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 254 WOMIJN OF* THE) CONI^DDKRACY their owners, from one State into another, could be ar- rested 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 Bos- ton, in defense of his vote for the "omnibus bill," read the words of the Constitution and showed that the fugi- tive 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 Con- stitution, 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 re- pudiation 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 des- perate 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 contem- plated 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. WOME^N OE" the: CONI^EIDKRACY 255 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 con- trolling influence in national politics, — a preeminence which had existed from the first days of the government. The politicians shrewdly employed the anti-slavery ex- citement 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 mar- shalled 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." E're;nzie;d E'inance and the war os* i86i [By J. Iy. 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 agi- tation on the subject, only a small minority of the North- ern 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 per- 256 WOM:eN O^ The: CONl'I^DDRACY petual. All the parties which in i860 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, repeat- edly 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 emanci- pation, both sections of the country and all parties ex- cept the ultra-Abolitionists were pro-slavery. The Aboli- tionists admitted that under the Federal Constitution there could be no power in the national government to free the slaves. They cursed and burned the Constitu- tion 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 ra- tional 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 be- lieved 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 free- dom of the slaves. But this party had come into power on two ground principles which made its triumph a di- woM^N 01^ THE con^e;de;racy 257 rect attack on the rights and interests of the Southern States in the Territories. It gloried in its free-soil doctrine, which was a declara- tion 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 en- joy 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 de- mands 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 dicta- tion 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 Con- stitutional 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 17 258 woM:eN OF' The: conS'eJdeiracy 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 every- thing 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 con- ceded 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 South- ern 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, appro- priations for internal improvement, and fishing and tariff bounties to keep her in it. WOMKN 01? THE CONEEDDRACY 259 Very soon she set up a persistent demand for high du- ties 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 agri- cultural 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 protec- tion 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 mod- erate Walker tariff, the "free-trade tariff," was adopted and under it the people of all classes and all sections en- joyed more general prosperity up to 186 1 than the coun- try 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 ad- vocates 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. 26o WOMIJN OF' THE) CONlfi;DE;RACY What could the Southern States do under such an in- sulting 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 Dela- ware, 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 wor- ship. It was not Nero "fiddling while Rome was burn- ing" 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 op skceission [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 WOM^N 01^ TH^ CONI^DDDRACY 26 1 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 con- ventions, 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 Ss 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 in- destructible union of imperishable States," what was the law of 262 woMEjN 0]? The; coni?'e;de;racy 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 iti a New England State, in a lecture delivered in the city of New Orleans upon the life and character of the Gen- eral 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 inde- structible, 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? siyAVE;RY 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 proxi- mate 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 liber- ty. There was with us no such thing as slavery in the WOMEN Olf THE CONF'DDERACY 263 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 de- fence 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 hun- dred fold greater than theirs.' " 264 wome:n oif thi: coni'i:de;racy 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 unani- mous 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 ob- ject 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 (address- ed to the Lowell Sun) was the demonstration to Presi- dent Davis when he went to assist in the dedication of a Confederate monument at Montgomery, Ala. He says of Mr. Davis: "Kverywhere he receives from the people the most overwhelming manifestations of heartfelt affection, de- votion, and reverence, exceeding even any of which he was the recipient in the time of its power; such mani- festations 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 WOME^N 01^ Tut CONI^^DE^RACY 265 to dispense, and disfranchised. Such homage is signifi- cant; it is startHng. 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 sover- eignty, 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 independ- ence which were left to us an inheritance to their pos- terity 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 char- acter 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 Con- federacy, 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." 266 woMKN OF thd con]?e;di:racy 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 de- picted, during which independence was often almost se- cured, where successive levies of armies, amounting in all to nearly three millions of men, had been hurled against her, the South, shut o£f from all the world, wasted, rent, and desolate, bruised and bleeding, was at last over- powered by main strength; out- fought, never; for from first to last, she everywhere out- fought the foe. The Con- federacy fell, but she fell not until she had achieved im- mortal 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 sufiferings, 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 Confed- eracy fell, as an actual physical power, she lives, illus- trated by them, eternally in her just cause — the cause of constitutional liberty." NORTHERN VIEW OF SECDSSION [Charles L,. C. Minor's Real lyincoln.] W. H. Russell, the famous correspondent of the Lon- don Times J in his diary (page 13) quotes Bancroft, the historian, afterwards Minister to England, for the opin- ion, in i860, that the United States had no authority to coerce the people of the South; and Russell reports the WOM^N 01^ THE) CONif^DKRACY 267 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, re- pudiated 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 fol- lowing 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 senti- ments of which examples have been given." Even so late as April lo, 1861, Seward wrote officially to Charles Francis Adams, Minister to England : "Only an imperial and despotic government could sub- jugate thoroughly disaffected and insurrectionary mem- bers 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 'y6 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 coun- try. 26^ WOM^N 01^ TH]^ CONFE^DE:raCY MAJOR J. SCHEIBERT (oi? THE; PRUSSIAN ARMY) ON con]Pe:derate; history [In Southern Historical Papers, Volume i8, 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 independ- ence 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 under- taking is to make good the fact that the so-called Con- federates, 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 sov- ereign 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, independ- ent 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 wome:n of* The: confedhracy 269 the States to go with their States. As a proper conse- quence of these different views, the Federals considered as a traitor every citizen who opposed the central govern- ment, however his individual State may have determined ; while the Confederates, after the declaration of war on the part of the ITnion, 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 col- onies, 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 op- pressed 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 Con- gress 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 v/hen 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 270 WOMI^N 0^ THEJ CONI^DDKRACY says that the question of slavery should be regulated by the State legislatures. * * * * ^t 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 insti- tution 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 ques- tion was not the ground of the war, and could not be pro- claimed as such." n CHAPTER VI matkr rediviva INTRODUCTORY NOTi: [By J. Iv. Underwood.] For twenty years after the dose of the war most of the Southern States, through the bayonet-enforced amendments to the Constitution and the carpet-bag negro governments estabHshed under them, were kept under mihtary 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 teach- ing 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 272 WOMI^N O^ THK CONI^DDERACY 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: i:mpty sive;i:ve: [By Dr. G. W. Eagby.] [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 IvOok 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 Jn proud remembrance will save it. WOMEN OF TPIE CONFEDERACY 2/3 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 oed 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 hoop- skirt. It was not an article of dress, but a mere con- trivance 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 gro- tesque extremes. One of the bon-ton set of Columbia, S. C., in 1858 was the remarkably beautiful and charm- ing Mrs. , the wife of one of the professors in South Carolina College. It is a fact that, on average 18 274 WOME^N Olf THS CONI^ElDE^RACY 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, vidl, vici. It whipped the fight, and when the war between the States came on it was in control of the Southern fe- male 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 home-spun 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 bat- tered and worn by long service. Like the old soldier himself, it had been v/ounded 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 meet- ing, company, and attending church it was her constant friend and companion. The South embalms in its mem- ories the deeds of its men and the toil of its women. womdn o^ thd con?i;de^racy 275 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 skirt, 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 car- riage ? 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 man- aged 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 Wool- ley. 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 sus- picion 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. 276 WOMIJN 01^ THI: CONI^EJDE^RACY 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. Sud- denly 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 re- moved, it flew up with all its fearful elasticity. There was life in it even in the grave. Taylor was tried, con- victed, and hung. TH^ POIvlTlCAI, CRIME;S 01^ THE NINEITDKNTH Ce:nTURY [By J. ly. 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 legis- lative action, in the fifties, utterly repudiated their con- tract 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 af the weaker by the stronger States, the military invasion of the South under the prostituted flag of the Union, and woM^N 01^ The; coNifi^DiiRACY 277 the final subjugation of her people by fire and sword. O temp or a! O Jiiorcs! 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 ex- terminate 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 278 WOMEN OP THE CONFEDERACY 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 perform- ances that a Republican administration had to withdraw its pro- consuls, when things resumed their former condition and the man- agement 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 se- ceding 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 coun- try. 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 Afri- cans. 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 un- holy 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. WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY 2/9 It was an ominous day for America and a woeful day for the South, when, upon the enfranchisement o^f the negroes, the pohticians in power and the fanatical North- ern Methodist Episcopal Church organized and trans- planted in the South the African Methodist Episcopal Church and employed it directly in manipulating the votes of the ignorant negroes. The great iron wheel control- ling the whole machine was put into the hands of a poli- tical 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 Congres- sional district, enclosing the little wheels in the hands of the preachers and circuit riders and stewards. The ig- norant 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 de- spair 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 mak- ing 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 Constitu- tion of the government. 10. By force of bayonets keeping in the Southern high 28o woMDN OP THE conf'e;di;racy 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" meas- ures of the Federal Congress made for our Southern peo- ple, 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! BRAVi: TO THE) I,AST [Elggleston'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 ac- complishment 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 fat- tened 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 fes- WOMKN 05* THI: confederacy 28 1 tivity necessary, and "starvation parties" were given, at which it was understood that the givers were wholly un- able 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, dis- couraged, and but for the influence of woman's cheerful- ness the Southern States might have fallen into a lethargy from which they could not have recovered for genera- tions. Such prosperity as they have since achieved is largely due to the courage and spirit of their noble women. SAI,I,IE 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 Cath- erine. 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 win- dow 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 282 woMKN OP The; coni^eideiracy 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 mar- ried. 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 prom- ised 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 Dur- WOM^N OP THEJ CONJ'KDKRACY 283 ham 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 THK MIRACI.E [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 smil- ing 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. Unmar- shalled, 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 284 WOMDN OJ* THIJ CONPE:de:rACY 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 ex- plains 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" por- trayed 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 i! ge;orgia res'ugee:s [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 WOMEN 01'' THE CONFEDERACY 285 an ordeal as the present. Nine-tenths of her sons were practicahy disfranchised because they had served the Southern Confederacy, and all the conditions of life were new; their servants were no longer subject to their con- trol, 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 dis- mantled home and restored her little stock of earthly goods under their former shelter. When her soldier hus- band had walked from Virginia to Georgia, he founds 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. 286 WOMKN o^ th:^ coni^edKracy The: negroes and ne:w ifRE;E:DOM [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. wome:n OS* THE coni^Dderacy 287 The: CONI^EDIiRATE MUSEUM IN THE) CAPITAL 01^ 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 fur- nished it, offered it to Mr. Davis, but he refused to ac- cept 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 thtf 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. I." 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 re- moved and the house vacated, the city at once took pos- session, 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 dis- tress 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 destruc- tion, a mass-meeting was called to take steps for its res- 288 WOM^N OP THE) CONI^EDERACY toration. A society was formed, called the "Confeder- ate Memorial Literary Society," whose aim was the pre- servation 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, '6 1 -'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 ba- zaar" 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 rep- resented 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 par- ticular 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 WOMEN OE THE CONFEDERACY 289 whole work has been free-will offering to the beloved cause. The treasury had been nearly exhausted by the restora- tion 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 accom- plished. The institution is free from debt ; and the mu- seum 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 arti- cles of interest to be found here. The memorials gath- ered 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 ij^ 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 appear- ance. A vice-regent (as far as possible a native of that State, but residing in Richmond) gives her personal su- pervision to the room and its needs. The labor is in- cessant, 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? I