Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-08-11
The End of Southern Romance

had surrendered to the mob whiclLsurroundcd
1t, .hcrc wns fever of excitement in Charles.
ton relative to raising troops to invade the
North a company of young men belonging
! to tho first familiesin the city had been or.
4 ganizcd, and the ladies belonging to that cir.
Gle Ind made IL their province to raise the
money necessary to equip the company, fur
] nIsh 1t with arms, and send it to the seat of
war in style which should reflect credit upon
the patriotism even of the first families of
Charleston.
The excitement was intcnsc, and the young
lady friends Of the soldiers were in fever
heat as to which should do the most toward
aiding the cause and firing the Southern heart.
A fair was held, at which the beauty and chiy-
airy were present, and from this a large sun,
was realized
| One young lady, beautiful and we'll cdu.
Gated girl, daughter of New York merchant
who had settled as cotton factor in Charles.
tou some thirty years before, threw her whole
soul into the work She forgot her rclatons
in the North, forgot her father was there born,
forgot everything but her deep interest in aid
ing the cause of the South, and, with fool
| ish romance, which only the excitement of the
| times could explain, ut the fair spoken of,
| offered her heart and hand in the rattle, the
only stipulation being that the person who
drew them should be of respectable parcntagc
and n soldier s
The novelty of the proposition added great
interest to the fair. and an immense sum was
! realized, aided by the ratlle she being pet
ted child OF Southern society," young, beaut.
| full, gifted, and wealthy The holder of tho
prize ticket was Il gambler. and spcndthrift
who had run through his fortune, and civil
war was an excitement just suited to his ncr-
vnus temperament. lie wrs member of tho
company-the Oh; !leston Tigcrs-whch the
ladies were fitting out, and was a scion of the
family of Rhett.
After it was known who the lucky man was,
his family eonnectSss SatfSSsa dHGay attwjtSsttnding
offered by the ladys parents to make her re-
cede from the promises she had made. No
she had given her word, and her part Of the
contract should be religiously kept. With
great cclat the parties were mnrried--thc oc-
casion was the theme Of much talk for few
days, and then disappeared before the stern
realities of war
War brings strange revolutions. The faith.
er Of the young lady saw his property wasted,
and hc.ded in poverty. Poor now, the folly
and romance which had once been the theme
of NIL praise, was laughed at but the most
singular thing Of all was that the young lady
loved the ob icct upon W hoE she had SO strange
ly placed her heart He had gone to Virgin
ia with his company. She1heard of and from
him regularly until the summer of 1864, when
all traces OF him ceascd. The "rigcrs were
broken up as q company organization, and the
few Of them left were scattered through other
regiments. Her ceasing to hear from the man
led the lady to believe that he was dead, and
as a martyr to the cause she loved, was he
mourncd
When, however, the war ceased, and the
scattered fragments of Southern chivalry came
struggling back, she learned that her husband
had been taken prisoner near Norfolk, and en-
listed in company of United States volun-
tccrs composed of descrtcrs from the Southern
army, and had been with them sent up into
| Minnesota for duty on tho border. This was
| tragical termination to her romance, but it
did not ouench the love which had grown up
from nothing N her heart and a few months
ago she left Charleston, selling what little OF
her iewelry she had left to raise the necessary
money, won't to Washington, searched through
the rolls, but could rot find the namc'of her
husband, and if he had been there it was un-
der an assumed name.
She had expected this; but laying her case
before President Johnson, she was furnished
with the necessary instructions to tho COM
manding officer of the department in which
her husband might be; to secure his release
from service and she came west with thc'in-
tcntion of proceeding along tho track the
troops had taken until she could obtain some
information Of him.
Arriving in Chicago, she was fortunate
| enough to meet there u man whom she had
known in Charleston when. she was tho belle
of the city--a man who Ind deserted tho rebel
flag and Joined the Union ARMY with her hus.
band From him she learned that what she
had heard was truc--that both had been mus
tered out on surgeons certificates of disabili-
ty, and had come bnck to St. Paul after the
Indian campaign was over.
Both had too much pride to return to their
home now; a9d while she had come on to