The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-02-03
ssOUR SERGEANT"
A STORY OF YANKEE TROOPS AND soUTHERH
AMAZONS.

A STORY OF YANKEE TROOPS AND SOUTHERN
ANfAZOSS.
"Only Yankee Sergeant 90 but beneath
the coarse blue jacket, whose tarnished chev-
erOn bespoke such humble rank, there beat
q very true and noble heart, and hope if
"Our Sergeant Gas he was always called
after the occurrence aai about to chronicle)
survived the perlis and hardships of the war,
that these lines may by some good chance
fan nnder his eye, to prove to him that the
rebel girls he once defended "away down
South in Dixie are not at all lacking in that
gratitude which some one has happily called
the memory of the heart. If, on the other
hand, his name was answered "Adsum'' to
the great final rOllcall, we know that the
recording angel has written him with those
who know his fellow-man.'
1t happened in this wise Toward the
close of the second year Of the war our little
town might have been mistaken for a colo
ny Of Amaz0ns-not on account of any spe-
cial show Of mettle or bravery made by us
simply on account of the overwhelming pre-
ponderance of our sex. Within the corpo-
rate limits of our town there were but three
representatives Of the heroic sex left. A su-
peranuuated druggist, crafty, crotchety and
cross grained, toward whom we conducted
ourselves with the greatest circumspection,
as he was the pOssessor of the only stock of
drugs within eighty miles of us. A blonde
whiskeTed, miId-mannered Englishman.
whose ostensible business was speculation
in cotton, but whose real occupation consist
ed in visiting from house to house to assure
US all, with clasped bands and pallid cheeks.
that he thought it "was awful perfectly
awful, you know, and he felt dreadful about
it, perfectly dreadful you know 'Tt''
having reference to raid which the enemy
had made upon our town, capturing all our
males and carrying them into captivity at
Alton.) The third was our minister. whose
blind belief in the efficacy Of prayer rem
dered him totally unavailable for any prac-
teal suggestion or assistance,
The exceeding helplessncss of our situa-
tion, the fact that we women had really no
protection among US and the unquenchable
conviction that women were not really
brought into this world simply to be petted
and cared for ike so many sweetIv-dressetI II
dolls, set us to pondering over the necessity
OF cultivatinE our independent faculties
when we would all gather together (as we
were certain to do) every evening in some
ones gallery, we would recall the spIrit of
20. What the women of the Revolution
dlds why might not we do? We even went
further back, to the days of Miles standisb
when it was presumably a matter of self
congratulation to a woman every mornino
when she found her scaIp-IocLx entire We
were liable at any moment to vIsitations
rom Tie Marine Brigade" the pest Of
southern waters and Southern homes.
without being quite clear as to what prac-
Iieal use we should ever put the accomplish
ment to, we resolved to perfect ourselves in
the use Of the pistol. We were all as well
supplied with pistols ia those days as we
We're with pocket-handkerchiefs (mavbe bet.
/ teri. So we selected very pretty grove
about half mile west of the town toward
which every evening a dozen or more of Ms
would wend our way, carrying our pocket
pistols resolutely pointed toward our feet
for universal conviction prevailed among
US that pistols had the ability to load. cocl-
and fire themselves. without the aid of any,
human agency. Arrived at the grove. we
would erect target and by dint of stand
ing pretty close to it, we could MANAGE IN
put great many balls into it. COur Emo
lishman would load our pistols for us before
/ we started.) With such diligence did we
/ practice that by the end of two weeks we
felt confident that we could hit man if we
+ followed General Putnam's advice. to wait
until 1--WE saw the whites Of his ewes. >, nro-
/ vided they would kindly stand still.
! We had gone out for one of those TARGET
/ practices on lovely October afternoon =
/ The pyracantha hedging on either side of
/ the lane through which our way Law was
I atiame with fre-cOlored berries the love
/ vine lay like masses of tangled yellow floss
/ on every bush the very ditch sides vzars
/ glorifed with the purple tufts of the iron
wood and the swinging crimson censors of
/ the trumpet vines. But we had 20 ewes nor
I heart for the beauties OF nature, and looked
with rather sour condemnation uDon ono of
/ our number who frivolously persisted unoD
loading herself down with great branches of
the golden rod and delicate little pink nea of
ovr wild growth
The sun was setting when we cama in
sight Of ;he town on our Tetlrn. but If vas
not the sleeping hamlet we had lcft two
7 hours before In dread arrav the bIeat
smoke-stacks Of the marine Brigade loom
ed up on our river front. The few streets
were alive with the ampbibious soldierv that
belonged TO it. The sound of crashing glass
and splintering wood soon told us that the
work Of destruction had begun in the closed
and deserted stores, whose owners were then
prisoners and far away. For ourselves we
had no personal fears, for we did not believe