New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-03-12

and when the names of three more o.
the garrison officers were announced.
Miss Elliott whispered to Billy hasty
message to some of her fair friends in the
neighborhood to come in and help hel
entertain them. These impromptu parties
were quite common, and in little while
the room was sparkling with beauty, gal
lantry and wit. It may seem strange that
the patriotic bellies Of the day, the fair
Brewtons and Pinckneys and Rutledges,
the Ravenels and Mazycks, should have
cultivated such pleasant associations with
the enemies Of their country. But among
the officers they had many old friends and
acquaintances of ante-bellum days, and
not few marriages had established even
closer ties. Thus, Lord Campbell, the
last royal governor, was husband to Sarah
lizard, the sister of General Ralph lizard,
who was brother-in-law to our former &C
quaintance, Rebecca Stead; and even
General Washington had invited Admiral
Fairfax to dine, on the ground that state
of war did not preclude the exchange of
social civilities between gentlemen who
served under opposing flags.
| Mrs. Elliott received the attentions of
her daughters visitors with dignifed
grace, but with degree of reserve which
it was impossible altogether to conceal,
and to which the officers had become too
much accustomed to feel any offense;
while the younger ladies drove the keen
darts Of their sarcasm home to the feel
ings of their hostile guests, who were
forced to submit to it or forego entirely
| the pleasures of female society.
May ask if Company X has been on
duty at the picket lines to-day" asked
Miss Elliott Of Captain Fraser, who had
just sauntered up to her chair
MAY I answer the question after the
fashion Of my ancestors, p" was the reply,
"by asking why you should think so?"
"Only because you seem to be suffering
from fatigue, which a long march might
explain.
Frasers company was VIGOROUSLY a
Clancy corps, whose severest duty was
generally to furnish the guard at head
quarters and SO 60 through dress parade
every evening at the Battery.
'.Ah, no, but I have been on inspection
duty, and it's bore, I assure you"
':Inspecting the fower-gardens, pre-
sumo, to be sure that there are no rattle
snakes under the rose bushes, or the mil
liner shops, to see that no palmetto cock
AIDES are made. May insist upon seat
for you? Not that chair" she added
hastily and with heightened color as the
captain was about to occupy the mutila-
ted .faMeuil; excuse me, but that is
reserved seat
"Ah, I see-beg pardon" said Fraser
with slight sheer, for the story of Wash
ington's flag was generally known, and
also Miss Elliott's aversion to the use Of
the chair by any British officer. 'Some-
body seems to have carried off the back of
that one"
when last heard from" said the beau
ty, with curling lip, sit was at Colonel
Tarleton's back"
carleton should be courtmartialed for
that affair at Cowpens," said Fraser with
some warmth, and, forgetting the prof
fered seat, he prepared to take his leave.
perhaps Captain Fraser would like to
have had a hand in the affair also, added
Miss Elliot, with demure smile.
This al]usion to Tarleton's wound was
too much for the gallant captain, and
again elevating the point of his queue
toward the ceiling, but this time without
his hand to his heart, he left the room
with face somewhat redder than his
uniform.
There are defeats which are more glo-
rious than victory, and one of these it was
which, on the eighth of September, 1881,
gave to Jane Elliott's flag the title which
has come down with it to posterity. In
the earlier days of it's history the saucy
little standard was known to. the gallant
men who followed it to action as .Tarle- |
toms Terror, and sometimes it is even
now spoken of as 'tfe Cowpens Banner"
But the name by which its brave custo- |
dams most love to call it is ''the Eutaw |
Flag" It is hard to realize as one stands |
beside the lovely fountains which flow |
to-day as they did hundred-or
perhaps thousand-years ago, that |
close by these placid waters was
fought one of the most desperate and |
bloody struggles of a long and cruel |
war. The sunfsh and Dream foated with |
quivering fms or darted among the rip
ping shadows on that autumn morning
as we see them doing now. The mock
ing-bird sang among the overhanging
branches the same varied song which
gladdens our ears, and the wild deer then,
as now, lay peacefully in the shady
coverts of the neighboring woods. Who
knows what they may have thought when
they heard their only enemy, man, ring
out his bugle.call to slip the war-dogs on
his fellows, or when the sharp crack of
the rife told them for the first time of
safety to themselves and of death to their
wonted destroyers?
Already had ''Ligh!-horse Harry Lee
struck the first blow VIGOROUSLY in the
capture of Coffin and the discontinue of
his force. Already for several hours the
old black oaks had quivered beneath the
thunder Of artillery more fearfully de-
structive than that of heaven itself as
Williams hurled back from his field-bat-
cry the iron hail with which the enemy
strove to overwhelm him. Already had
Howard's gallant Marylanders, the heroes
Of the Cowpens, crossed bayonets with
the veteran "Irish Bluffs !" and forced
them in confusion from the field. Ma
oribanks, with his regulars, grenadiers
and infantry, was strongly posted be-
hind copse too dense to be forced by
cavalry, and yet to dislodge him was
Colonel Washington's special duty.
Pointing with his sword toward mar
'ow passage near the water, he dashed
he spur into the tanks of his gallant
mare and called on his men to follow.
There was momentary pause, for the
luty was of the most desperate character,
out Captain Peyton snatched the little
banner which he had carried so long
rom the hand Of the sergeant who had
ucceeded to its charge, and raising it