Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-01-06
Female Heroism.

We wish that DR.. Doran, or some other equal
ly patient explorer of the records OF the past,
would give, in a single volume, recital OF the
exploits of those ladies who, rising above the IL
midity attributed to the sex, have, impelled by
religious or patriotic motives, emulated the
deeds of the most renowned warriors OF the field.
The record would be indeed a brilliant one.-
| We should behold the wives and maidens OF the
ancient Helvetia, the worthy ancestors OF the
modern Swiss, rolling back the veteran mail
| clad warriors of Rome in disastrous defeat; we
should see the matrons OF Britain hurting deh-
ance at C@sar's legionares, and towering above
the tide of battle. Boadices, the warrior-queen
of the Icen. Coming down to later times, the
maid of Orleans would rivet our uttention-that
wondrous peasant girl of Domrelni, who led the
chivalry of France to battle, stormed fortresses,
hurled back the tide of Invasion, and perished
at last, not fairly overcome, but the victim OF
disgraceful treason. Joan of Arc seems to have
transmitted her heroic spirit to many OF her
countrywomen. In the campaign of '93, the
Sambre and Meuse, Dumourier had for his aid
de. camps two of the loveliest young ladies in
France OF dazzling beauty, their figures show
ed to advantage in their fine cavalry uniforms,
and they inspired as much respect and enthusi-
asm by their valor as they won admiration by
their olar,no. They rode into the hottest OF the
battle, carrying the orders of the general, cheer
ing on the charge, and chiding the retreat. An
eyewitness of their exploits tells how he saw
these girls, by their remonstrances, more than
once check the flight OF the panic stricken troops.
whittier are you going, sodiers2" they cried
in their slender voices. "The enemy are not in
that direction. Follow us!" and waving their
cleaning swords they would lead into the path
Of danger and glory. In almost every stricken
field of modern times where the French colors
have waved, we are told that women have been
found where the dead lay thickest sleeping be-
side the lovers, brothers and husbands they re-
fused to forsake in the hour OF deadliest peril.
Turn to Spain, that land of romance, where
the sunlight of chivalry fingered latest, and there
you will find splendid examples of female hero
ism gliding the decay of that unhappy country,
like flowers frightening ruined wall. At the
sieges of Saragosss, Valencia, Corona and Tor
tosa, the women enrolled themselves in battal-
ions, and fought with unexampled bravery be-
side the men. Conspicuous in the glorious ar
ray the figure of the maid Of Saragossa rises to
our vision, that lovely heroine mmortalized by
ByroA's muse and Wilkes pencil-she took her
place in the battery, where her lover had been
slain, and with her own fair hands pointed the
gun and applied the match, when stern veterans
fell back from the storm of shot and shell that
poured upon them The Greek and Hungarian
revolutions were illuminated by such valient ex-
amples of female heroism. Our own revolution
airy annals are not without numerous instances
of female courage displayed in the holiest of
causes. 1t would require large volume to re-
cord in the briefest manner the services that
women have rendered in the hour Of peril.