Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-04-25
"on the second page of the letter, as yOr

A. IoOLER PORTER.
"On the second page of the letter, as you
will see here, | wrote as follows
TO any c. s. soldier into whose hands this may
fall from the Rev A. Toomer Porter, rector Of the
church Of the Holy Communion, Charleston, s. c.
Then after folding the letter l wrote upon
the back of it this superscription
TO 1t. Gen. Wade Hampton, c. S. Army or to
any one into whose hands 1t. J. Mcqueen may fall.
81 took this letter out TO our friend and
said Now, Mcqueen, put this in your breast
pocket and If the emergency arises use il.
am pretty well known in the Southern army,
and if you should fall into the hands of our
troops it may be of some service to you"
Well, Mcqueen left us followed by our bless
ings. 1t was about O month before we could
get out Of Columbia We had received no
word from any of our friends and did not
know where they were or how they had Jared.
Finally l secured a carriage and conveyed my
family to Newberry where we took the cars.
When l got to Hodges depot met one OF the
Aikens, who told me that his brother Hugh
had been killed in a skirmish ten days after
the burning of Columbia, and that in the
same skirmish young man named Mcqueen
had been wounded, and that his life had been
spared by our troops when he was captured
on account of the letter had written. which
he drew out of his pocket and showed TO
them. l went on TO Anderson with my fam
lily, and the next morning returned to New
berry. FROM that place l walked to Oolum-
bia, and there got an old mule and wag-
on, and with five other persons went to Cam
den, where had heard there were a number
of soldiers in the hospital. As soon as
reached Camden / went directly to the hospi-
tal and after going through several wards
opened door and started into another apart
ment of the building. As opened the door
l saw a soldier clad in blue rise up from his
pallet in the corner Of the room, and as he
rose he threw up his hands and exclaimed
Thank God Home! Springing over the
beds of several of the wounded Confederate
soldiers l caught the poor fellow in my arms,
and with our heads upon each others necks,
from very excess of emotion We wept. II was
a curious spectacle for the men in the hospi-
tai to see a Confederate captain and Yankee
lieutenant in each others arms.
Mcqueen gave me an account of his
movements since We had said good bye in
Columbia. While on a scouting party and
forty miles to the right of Sherman's right
wing. Mcqueen and his party had a skir-
mish with some of Buffers cavalry. In this
skirmish, which occurred in Darlington coun-
ty, two Confederate and two Federal soldiers
had been killed and two soldiers had been
wounded on each side. Mcqueen had been
wounded and brought to the hospital in Cam
ueut ana mere IOunu nlLn ONerJOYou AZ Inc
good Providence that had sent me to him.
went up to Bishop Davis's house and told him
the story of McQueen's services while in Col
umbia, and that he WAS now in the hospital
in Camden. Tho good Bishop was delighted
to hear this. H., too, had been the object
of the wounded soldiers kindly care, When
the Yankee troops passed through Camden
Mcqueen had placed guard around the bish
ops house and he had not lost even so much
as q chicken, and the same kindness had been
extended to the Reynoldses aud the DeSaus-
sures The good Bishop gave Mcqueen his
apostolic benediction as l made ready to get
him out of his trouble. I went TO the quar-
termaster, who gave me an old lame mule,
Mrs DeSuassure lent me buggy, and Mr..
w. @. Courtney gave me a suit of citizens
clothes for my charge, and Mrs. DeSuagsure
made up a lot of biscuits and provisions to
last us on our journey, for had determined
to take Mcqueen to the front whore might
secure his safe passage across the lines.
put Mcqueen in the buggy and walking along
side of him l carried him TO Chester. Here
/ met Gen. A. II. Colquitt, now Senator Col
| quit of Georgia, who gave me q safe pass
port with Mcqueen. ALI along our route from