The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1884-04-19
K Heroine of the War.
How RebeCca Wright Gave Information
That Led to the Capture Ct Win
chester.
05TRACISED FOR FER PATRIOTISM
Cameron Thought Phil Sheridan
Should Marry.
Special Correspondence of the Times.

Special Huwesp oEdence of the Times
We'll got her place in the Treas
ury Department and it was there she got
acquainted with her husband but, damn
it, | think she is entitled TO 4 pension
This is what General Philip II. Sheridan
said to newspaper writer the other day.
Recently, while standing in Winchester,
Va, on the mound that marks the site
cf old Fort Loudown Of French and H.
dian memory, and viewing thence the
ruins Of the redeubts from behind which
the Union General, Milroy, poured het
shot irto the battle scared town that
had long leigncd as queen of the valley,
and seeing the magnificent mansion that
Judge Pendleton had erected on the very
spot where the Union soldiers RACED to
the ground the palatial residence of Ex-
Senator Mason, tbs rebel emissary, whose
. capture, together with that of Siidell,
almost involved Us in war with England,
| my attention was directed to 4 house
! where formerly lived Miss Rcbecca
! Wright, the young Quaker girl who
| rendered such signal service to General
! Sheridan and the Union cause that Early
WAS sent ''whirling at the valley" and
/ Senator Simon Cameron declared that
! the dashing cavairyman ought to make
! her his wife. Though Sheridan failed
to act afirmatively upon this proposition
! he interested himself in various projects
in her behalf, as detailed in this article,
! and still declares with more force than
| elegance that she is entitled TO a pen
! Sion.'
! The service she rendered the Union
cause was the furnishing at The risk Of
| her own life, Of information upon which
| the bloody battle CT Winchester was
| fought and won on September 10, 1864.
| The true story of what Miss Wright did
| and how she was rewarded Tor it has
never been published, though .arb!ed
Partial accounts of it have appeared in
tie public prints. 1t will probably provo
OF more than ordinary interest to the
| people Of this vicinity when it is known
! that the man she subsequently married
| hailed from near Rising Sun, Cecil county,
| Nd. that the commissary whe furnished
| her family with ratons free of charge by
| order Of Sheridan is a citizen of Ian
caster, rs is also the gentleman who in.
! tcrcstcS Himself in her behalf sufficiently
| to visit General Cameron, the Senator, at
| Washington, and submit to him state
mcnt that eventuated in her appoint
! mant to i clelIlship in the Treasury De-
| partmcnt.
THE SITUATION IN THE VALLEY.
sheridan assumed command of the
| Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley
on august 4, 1864. General Early's
| Confederate troops occupied Winchester
and Nartinsburg and held possession OF
| tnat good, broad highway" that Thomas
| Buchanan Read has immortalized III
rer.a. In his official report of this
! famous campaign in the valley addressed
| to Dgcyet Major General John A. Raw
! Has. Chief Of Staff ('Rebsllion Record
! Vol. MI, pp. 49,, Sher idan says: ''As
lad learned beyond doubt from my
| scouts hat kershaw's division. which
consisted Of four brigades, was to be Or
deleb Jag., to Richmond | had for tive
weeks patiently awaited it's withdrawal.
Their, becoming impatient, he TUNED to
General Crook, now famous as humans
aud successful Indian fighter, and in
Guircd if he knew any one in Winchesttr
who woUid be willing to furnish the de-
sired information. Crook had been fight
ing in the vailey for considerable while
prior to Sheridan $ arrival and was well
| acquainted in and ont of Winchester.
lie knew favorably widow named
Rachel Wright end her daughter Re-
bccca. They kept a boarding house on
Main street, in Winchester. They were
| Of Quaker origin. Whenever host ilitiss
were sufficiently suspended to permit
they attended the Friends Meeting
| House, about mile from Winchester:
but Notwithstanding their profession of
the tcuets Of Fox and Penn, and their
consequent aversion to a resort to arms,
! they were staunch adherentS ofthe Union
and locked with fond anticipation to the
/ t;mc when the Stars and Stripes should
! triumph finally, though Of necessity they
we've compelled to suppress their feeling
| Of loyalty to the government. General
| Crool; said 70 Sheridan that he thought
this Quaker girl would furnish any ill.,
| formation i'll her power. So an old
! darkey, who had pass to 90 in aud out
OF the town for the purpose of selling
garden vegetables there. and who
| thought that "linkum's sogers am
sight better dan dem EARLY slave heaters,
left Sheridan'S headquarters one day
early in September with his wagon filled
wiGh vegetables and his mouth loaded
| with i ttn-ioil wad, inside Of which was
Il note written on tissue paper to Rebecca
| Wright.
! MISS wRlGHT's IMPORTANT MESSAGE.
She promptly replied and on the 14th
OF september again sent word-stiIl
using the darkey's mouth for mailbag
! that she had learned from some of the
rebel officers who boarded at her mothers
/ house that Kershaws four brigades
would start for Richmond on the morrow
passing through Winchester on their
way.
This intelligence decided Sheridan to
attack Early. Four days later Win
chester was again in the possession Of
the umon troops, the rebels had been
/ sent "whirling up the valley" and
/ Sheridan had himself thanked the plucky
Quaker girl whose loyalty had made
| possible victory that virtually broke
the backbone Of rebel resistance in that
/ fertile valley, SO long the storehouSe of
Southern supplies. In the official report
quoted above the following appears: "Or
the night Of the 18th l received reliable
Information that Kershaw's division was
marching through Winchester and in the
direction OF Front Royal
/ That ''reiiable' information was none
other than what Rebecca Wright heard
/ from the rebel officers in her mothers
pari2r ana which she promptly conveyed
10 Sheridan via the darkey's mouth.
THE HEROINE NOT FORGOTTEN.