Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-09-29

; III my dttic. Tie now owns iarIn near us
here, and has family; he has gone back
several times to his old home
We had to hide a great many things,
for they went through the house in search
of valuables, meat and money. Our hams
we had on sort of shelf that projected on
the inside of the two large chimneys with
open replaces and they were not touched.
But we had brought from the mill, few
days before the battle, thirty or forty bar
! rels of flour; and where to hide them was
the next question. We had Just had an
immense pile Of wood sawed for our winter
! use, and looking at the barrels and then at
the wood we hit on plan The back of
( the woodshed was boarded up and by put
/ ting the barrels row after row against this
back and piling the sawed wood closely in
front and all over them we had an in
nocent looking woodpile, but very val
| liable one to us-with -four selling for a
! dozen dollars barrel.
The hiding of the horses is sore point
with me. Under the barn is a kind of
cellar-room, and there is a door leading
into it from the foddering- room, and on the
inside low door, high enough for sheep
to go in and out-for we used it for a sheep
stable. We made deep bed of straw in
there, so that the horses feet could not 5e
heard, and after we had taken them in we
filled the inside door with bundles of
straw, putting the cut ends out, so it would
look as if that place were packed full of
straw. And there they stayed, as safe as
could be, until near the close Of the third
days fight. You see, the men fed and
watered them before daylight and after
late bedtime. That evening, about
dusk, there were no rebels to be seen,
and my brother-in-law went toward the
outside door with bundle of hay. Just
then rebel soldier stepped up and de-
manded the horses. There was no use in
dallying now; we were under their rule
and had to show them how to get the
horses out. Dear me it was hard to give
them up. Why, farmer needs horse
as much as a house; and what were we to
do with those fields of uncut grain with
out our horses? They had taken our
cows and our sheep, but we felt we
had still left what we priced most un-
til we saw our horses led out by strangers.
stolen right under our eyes. We felt badly
enough about them all, but when that
tell it now.
We had six sons, but one daughter.
When she was a tiny bit of girl, her
father came in one morning and said,
Daughter, there's nice little colt at the
barn and it is to be yours and you must
give it a name" So she called it Nellie"
and it was the incest animal we ever had,
swift as a bird, gentle as the sound of her
own name, and so kind always. Our little
girl had sickened and died the March be-
fore the battle-it was diphtheria-and
while our hearts were yet sore it was not
easy to see her Nellie taken away. We
all cried and pleaded hard with the man
to leave her.
''She was our dead child's pet" | said,
"and you can have anything on the farm
if you will not take her"
AT last he threw me the rein, saving,
Madam, if you have parlor, lock her up
in it, for you will lose her if you don't
We stood around her rejoicing and petting
her, when few minutes later the same
soldier came up, and, pointing to some
officers down by the fence, said: MADAM,
| am sent back for her. | despise this
whole business, and I'd leave her if
| could. My own brother was shot down
by my side this morning, and l could not
stop even to give him a kind word. They
say soldiers must obey and off he
walked with "Nellie."
All day Wednesday, when the firing was
so active, was concerned for the wounded,
and the rebels several times asked me why
l did not see after my wounded eff / were
such a great Union woman"
DON'T tanpt - I cold EfOr I ON, no
ing as soon as | can" S. on Thursday
morning a Confederate officer said: "Now
you can 60" | asked him where our
wounded were to be found, and he pointed
to a large barn on a neighbor's farm; but |
knew better, for that was filled with their
wounded.
There had been fighting between our
house and town, and the Confederates held
the ground, and their wounded had been
cared for. ! saddled the old blind horse.
packed a market basket full of bread and
butter and wine and old linen and band
ages and pins for | belonged to society
In town that prepared such things. Just
as | was starting one of my nieces said she
would go too; she jumped up behind me
and | fixed the basket in front l went
the straight road to find out where the
Union wounded WERE Just then the Con-
federate General Jenkins rode up and told
me to come with him and he would show
me. We rode on to the top of Keckler's
Hill; do you remember the long, steep
hill, with the pretty view from the top !?
That is the hill, and when we got there
and saw that valley confess felt a little
discouraged, and my niece begged me to
go back. Before we reached the foot of
the hill courier came for General Jenk-
ins and | never saw him again. But on /
went; as far as | could see there were
men, living and dead, and horses and
wagons and guns and cannon, and confu-
sion everywhere. You know there was no
fighting that morning. Getting down into
the valley | began calling "Where are
our woundedY "Herew "Herew and
all about hands were lifted up and beck
oned me to come. l had found them.
lying in the broiling sun, where they had
lain ior twenty-four hours-with no food
and no water.
A zigzag fence was standing on the side
of the road, and in its angles were many
who had taken shelter there from the sun
and to avoid being trampled on. | told
my niece to give bread and butter to all
who could eat it and wine to the faint and
would look after their wounds. You
wonder, as do many others, how / could
attend to them. The very worst, of
course needed surgeons care, but | did
the best l could for the rest. l would cut
open a trouser leg or coat sleeve-any-
thing until l found the wound, and then
clean 1t and put on fresh cloths. One of
the first | touched was poor fellow badly
hurt in the back. | cut open his coat from
the waist up and found that the cloth he
had put on the wound TO stanch the blood
was SO dried that | could not loosen it
and had no water. A wounded comrade
dying near, said: Madam, there is a
little tea in my canteen that | have been
saving; maybe you can loosen it with
that"
l had been hearing the pitiful cry of
Water" Water" all around me, and
when / fonnd these men had none for
twenty-four hours / rose up in my wrath,
and turning to the rebels who we're walk
ing about, said: Is it possible that none
of you will bring water to these poor fell
lows?'
One officer heard me, and finding that
VIVA. | said was true. he ordered lot of
men to mount and bring all that was nee
essary. They said the wells at the near !