The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-08-06
"What is that g'' l asked of the young

"Oh, that's my diploma, my certificate
OF good behavior, from General Butler"
and taking it down from the wall, she per-
mitted me to read it, telling me at the
same time its history. 1t seems that the
young Lady had been very active in aiding
captured Confederates to escape from New
Orleans, and for this and other similar of
lenses she was arrested several times. A
gentleman who knew General Butler per-
sonally had interested himself in behalf of
her and some of her friends, and upon
making an appeal for their discharge re-
ceived this personal note from the CON-
manding general, in which he declared his
willingness TO discharge all the others,
''But that black-eyed Miss b." he wrote
"seems to me an incorrigible little devil
whom even prison fare won't tame" The
young lady had framed the note, and she
cherishes it yet, doubtless.
There is a story told of General For
rest, which will serve TO show his opinion
of the pluck and devotion of the
Southern women. He was drawing his
men up in line of battle one day, and il
was evident that a sharp encounter was
from house, which happened to stand just
in front of his line, and asked him anx-
iously:
"What shall we do, general, what shall
we do?"
Strong in the faith that they only wished
to help in some way. he replied
E" really don't see that you can do
much, except to stand on stumps, wave
your bonnets, and shout Hurrah. boysr'
In Richmond, when the hospitals were
filled with wounded men brought in from
the seven days sighting with Mcclellan.
and the surgeons found il impossible to
dress half the wounds, a band was formed,
consisting of nearly all the married women
of the city, who took upon themselves the
duty of going to the hospitals and dress
ing wounds from morning till night and
they persisted in their painful duty until
every man was cared for, saving hundreds
OF lives, as the surgeons unanimously tes-
titled. When nitre was found to be grow
ing scarce, and the supply of gunpOwder
was consequently about to give out, wo-
men all over the land dug up the earth in
their smoke-houses and tobacco barns, and
with their own hands faithfully extracted
the desired salt, for use in the government
laboratories.
Many of them denied themselves not
only delicacies, but substantial food also,
when by enduring semi-starvation they
could add to the stock of food at the COM
mand Ct the subsistence officers. | myself
knew more than one houseful of women.
who, from the moment that food began to
grow scarce, refused to eat meat or drink
coffee, living thenceforth only upon vege-
tables ola speedily perishable sort,i order
that they might leave the more for the sol
diers in the field. When a friend remon-
strated with one of them. on the ground
that her health, already frail was breaking
down utterly for want of proper diet, she
replied, in quiet, determined way,
. know that very well; but it is little
that | can do, and | must do that little
at any cost. My health and my
life are worth less than those of my broth
ers, and if they give theirs to the cause,
why should not do the same? | would
starve to death cheerfully if ! could feed
one soldier more by doing so, but the
things | eat can't be sent to camp. | think
it sin to eat anything that can be used
for ratiOns." And she meant what she
said, too, as a little mound in the church
yard teStifes.
Every Confederate remembers gratefully
the reception given him when ne went into
any house where these women were.
Whoever he might be, and whatever his
plight, if he wore the gray he was received,
not as a beggar or tramp, not even as a
stranger. but as son of the house, for
whom it held nothing too good. and whose
comfort was the one care of all its in
mates. even though their own must be
sacrificed in securing it. When the hos
pitfalls were crowded, the people earnestly
besOught permission to take the men TO
their houses and to care for them there,
and for many months almost every /, use
within hundred miles of Richmond held
one or more wounded men as especially
hOnOred guests.
"God bless these Virginia women! -
said 4 general officer from one of the Cot
ton States, one day, they're worth reg
iment apiece, and he spoke the thought
of the army, except that their blessing COW
cred the whole country as well as Vir-
ginia.
The ingenuity with which these good
! ladies discovered or manufactured onOrous
duties for themselves was surprising, and
having discovered or imagined some new
duty, they straightway proceeded to do it
at any cost. An excellent Richmond dame
was talking with soldier friend, when he
carelessly remarked that there was moth
| ing which so greatly helped to keep up a
cOntented and cheerful spirit among the
men as the receipt of letters from their wo-
man friends. Catching at the suggestion
as revelation of duty, she asked, And
cheerfulness makes better soldiers of
the men, does it nOt?" Receiving yes
for an answer, the frail little woman,
already overburdened with cares of an
unusual sort, sat down and made out a
list of the men with whom she was &C
quainted even in the smallest possible
way, and from that day until the end of
the war she wrote one letter a week to
each, a task which, as her acquaintance
was large, taxed her time and strength
very severely. Not content with this. she
wrote on the subject in the newspapers,
earnestly urging like course upon her
sisters, many of whom adopted the sug-
gestion at once. much to the delight of the
soldiers, who little dreamed that the kind
ly, cheerful, friendly letters which every
mail brought into camp, were a part OF
wOman's self-appointed work for the sue
cess of the common cause. From the be-
ginning to the end of the war it was the
same. No cry of pain escaped wOman's
lips at the parting which sent the men into
camp; no word of dependency was spOk-
ell when hope seemed most surely dead A;
no complaint from the women ever re-
minded their soldier husbands and sons
and brothers that there was hardship and
privation and terror at home. They bore
all withbrave hearts and cheerful faces.
and even when they mOurned the death
of their most tenderly loved ones, they
comforted themselves with the thought
that they buried only heroic dust.
" 1t is the death would have chosen fol
him." wrote the widow of a friend whose
loss | had announced TO her. Il loved
him for his manlineSs, and low that he
has shown that manliness by dying as q
hero dies, mourn but am not heart-brok-
en-. know that brave man awaits me
whittier | am going"
They carried their efforts to cheer and
help the troops into every act of their
lives. When they could, they visited
camp. Along the lines of march they
came out with water or coffee or tea-the
best they had, whatever it might be-with
flowers, or garlands of green when ti.eil
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, res
ponding to an encore with the stanZa:
''Ahi soldiers, to your honored rest,
Your truth and valor bearing,
The bravest are the tenderest,
= The wing are the darIrgl"
Indeed, the GOODNESS of women under fire
was ALWAYS a matter of surprise to me, A