The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-09-07
4 Vcritablc Belle Lamar.

The Mobile Register published the adj
ventures of veritable Belle Lamar in the
south during the war. 1t appears that Mrs.
L. II. Bonner, better known as Lieutenant
Harry 7. Kuford, was, like all other south
ern woman. unwilling to see those whom
she held most dear march to the front, and |
so she made preparations, Notwithstanding |
her sex, to participate actively in the strife.
During the month of June, 1861, she left |
New Orleans in the full uniform of re-
cruitng officer, and went direct to Arkan-
sas, where she soon succeeded in raising |
company of veterans. AS first lieutenant,
under Captain Weatherford, she left Arkan-
sas with the company and went to Key
West. Here she was reluctantly compelled
to leave the command which she had Or
ganized, and to which she became SO much
attached, on the ground Of incompetency,
as alleged by the commander of that post
Determined to allow no impediment to make
her swerve from the line of duty marked out
by herself, she at once proceeded to Vir-
ginia, and Joined Dreux's battalion Of New
Orleans, the day previous to the first battle
of Manassas, and participated in that men,
orable struggle. A short time after this she
joined the eighth Louisiana, and for the first
time her sex was questioned, and she was
arrested and ordered to assume female at
tire. Among hundreds of amusing adven-
lures, perhaps the best with which she was
connected took place during the time of her
imprisonment after this arrest. A commit
tee of ladies waited upon her by order of the
commander, for the purpose of settling the
vexed question, but after seeing the dashing
looking young officer they concluded not to
perform their mission. She was taken be-
fore the mayor, released, allowed to retain
| her uniform. and at once commissioned to
perform any service for the confederacy
which she might be called upon to perform
As her sex had been questioned, if not
known she resolved to leave Richmond, and
rejoiced when General Winder ordered her
to the western army for the purpose OF
scouting in the vicinity of Okolona, Missis-
sipp The reliability of the daring young
recruit was soon recognized and apprec-
ated, and General Quantrell sent her with
dispatches as a spy into Missouri. After
rendering nestimable service in this capa-
city she went to Mississippi, and from there
back to New Orleans, where she joined the
twenty-first regiment, then being organized,
and reported to General Villipgue. Re-
ceiving her commission as first lieutenant,
she went to Memphis, and from there to
Shiloh, where she was badly wounded in
the right shoulder on the first day of the
! battle, April 6, 1862. While recovering
from the effects of her wound her sex
} was again discovered to her NOR
I tifcation, and General Beauregard and
} others were astonished to find out that the
gallant young officer was not of the strong
err sex. Unable to dssuade her from par
ticipating in actual warfare, she was com.
; missoned to go to Atlanta, pass through
} the lines and act as spy. Upon reaching
Atlanta she was compelled to wait several
I 1a.r 10, ftrf hon md ,n.t 80
? ing in that city she ran up t. Dalton and
! Chattanooga and participated actively in
D both fights returning to Atlanta day or
| two before the necessary orders arrived
From this section of the country she was
8 ordered aboard of blockaders from differ.
0 ent southern ports to the Indies, and often
0 was the bearer of important dispatches to
foreign ports for the Florida and Shenan-
) doah She seized every opportunity, wheth-
! er in the South, in the North, or in for
/ egn land to render assistance to the south.
-. ern Confederacy, She has a receipt now
s in her possession for $3.50, which she col
9 lected from the United States soldiers of
3 Commodore Brisseps feet, then Mt Bridge
4 port, Barbados, and sent to southern hos
pitfalls, although the money was supposed
I to have been gwen for the benefit of fed
4 eral soldiers. She wac now sent to San
4 Diego and Havana for the purpose of buy
ing coffee and sugar for the Confederacy
and from there. after making the necessary
3 purchases, she went to South America, in
8 the interest of the Confederate govern
3 ment, with Prices expedition. From South
America, she proceeded to the West Indies
/ charged with some important mission fol
. the country which she loved so well and
served SO faithfully. The deeds of this
. noble woman are well known throughout
7 the South and have been recited on many
Y n hearthstone by wcll-scar veterans ant
4 inmates of federal dungeons. The starved
- inhumanly treated prisoners of Camp Chase
W have every reason to remember her who
i nursed them, fed them, and furnished then
. every cent she could spare, day after day