Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-04

and ordered the cavalry to take them to q
stage coach, and then "on to Richmond"
was the order. The food they got was not
nourishing, and they were almost all the
time hungry, but on the way to Richmond
a rebel riding on the roof of the coach gave
them some maple molasses, and they con-
cluded there might be some good even in a
rebel. Once the coach stopped for refresh
ments at tavern kept by q brother of the
man
jackson, Who Shot Colonel Ellsworth.
Jackson's wife was very abusive and rallied
at them for some time, refusing to allow
them anything to eat, and when it came bed
time would not allow them to sleep together,
but put a colored woman in bed with each,
saying, "Niggers are as good as syou." They
let her have her own way and did not an
swer, so she finally grew remorseful and re-
Tented and gave them good bed.
AT Staunton fine room was assigned
them, but nothing to eat. It was of no use
to ask the colored people for anything, for
they were afraid to speak to any one from
de Norf," but they understood pantomime.
A 81 greenback dropped in front of the col
ored chambermaid was picked up and she
disappeared, coming back after time with
a very liberal supply of biscuit aud tea.
The latter was set cautiously out of sight and
the biscuit were deposited one by one
stealthily in the bed. Whenever the woman
would place pillow she would slip bis
cult under il, and SO of any other article of
furniture, and when through she departed
without sign of recognition.
A Friend I'm Need and in Deed.
Time wore on until they fell under the do
minion of Provost Marshal Geo. W. Alex
ander, in charge of Castle Thunder. He
asked them if they needed anything, and
they told him they couldn't get anything to
eat, but they did not compromise the colored
woman who had befriended them. Major
Alexander made it hot for the hotel keeper,
but he had his revenge by putting them at
a little table in the center of the dining
room, so they would be the center of attrac-
ton. They were made to feel, but it had
the effect to bring Celia out strongly, and
with piece of crayon she wrote yankee
table" on their table, which audacity made
some of the scorners speechless.
At Richmond, when being taken to Castle
Thunder, the crowd almost suffocated
them in a scramble to see what Yankee
women looked like. They found the au-
thorities of the prisons at work selecting
nine captains to be hung In case the
Federal Government hanged Fitzhugh
Lee. They were given cells eight by fifteen
feet in the Castle, which had once been a
tobacco warehouse. There were other
women prisoners there, among them Mrs.
Surgeon McCandless, but not as spies An
old white-headed man whom the prisoners
called Anti Christ" searched them, but
Lottie saved her money, some $75 or $50.
Mrs. MeCaffrey says she heard the old man
was hung with the Wirz gang.
They were not the only women prisoners
in Castle Thunder, but Mrs McCafrey
states that they felt sickening sensation
when they found that they were to be con-
sidered as spies, while the offenses charged
against the other women were only trivial
and in most cases technical. Here they
formed the acquaintance of their future de-
liverer, Major Alexander, under rather un-
propitious auspices. He came in and asked
for the Bengough women and they i'm
mediately, Influenced more or less by
his chivalrous bearing and handsome
person, concluded to try the Establishments
of the sex upon him. He at first rather re-
pulsed them, and when they complained Of
ready for your feed" They resented the
answer, but he replied, "Wait until you see
it and you'll call it feed also, but it's the
best we have and am glad to get it my
SELF" It was
Coffee Made From Parched Rye
and bread. Major Alexander said they
were to be forwarded to some place in South
Carolina for safe keeping, as they were sus-
pected of being spies. Celia cried, but
Mrs. Bengough had gotten beyond tears.
Toward evening of the next day Major
Alexander came back and put two colored
women to wait on them and others and
make them as comfortable possible. Mrs.
Bengough succeeded in buying a pound of
tea for which she paid S14 in greenbacks
1t was very carefully brewed. Two days
later a mattress and some covering were sent
in by Alexander and the women got off the
puncheon floor, lying on which affected Mrs
Bengough so much that she still suffers.
A chaplain visited them every day and
always left Bibles until there we're near a
bushel of them, when Lottie asked him if
he couldn't find some other literature, and
he responded by bringing superbly illus
trated volume of Don Quixote." During the
weary months following the troubles of that
hero were perused as they had probably
never been before. The chaplain evidently
gave them up for lost souls, for he never
came to visit them again. Their fare dur
ing the summer was varied once by the ad-
dition of three tomatoes and two cucum-
bers, They tasted as tomatoes and cucum-
bers never did before or since. Apple pies
could be had at dollar apiece, greenbacks,
but they were but indifferently gotten up.
But though apparently cut off from the
outside world entirely the woman learned
indirectly that the Confederacy was on its
last legs after the battle of Gettysburg. One
day about LOCO Federal prisoners were
brought into Richmond and housed near
Castle Thunder, and there being an uproar
among them, brutal boy, who was doing
guard duty. shot the arm off fine looking
man without provocation. Major Alexan-
der, after the cruel war was over, explained
to Mrs. Bengough that such occurrences
were unavoidable; that the Confederacy had
robbed the cradle and the grave to get
soldiers, and that but few boys and old
men were left to guard prisoners, and that
fear of revolt made the guards brutal. He
stated that at that time could the Union
prisoners in Richmond have known the exact
state of affairs they would have broken out
and taken possession of the city. Alexan-
der frequently cautioned the women to keep
their heads inside the windows for fear they
might get shot, terrible alternative for
woman.
In that crowd of prisoners was a man
named Brown, of Boyle street, Allegheny
City.
IL Was Quite Natural.
Mrs. McCafrey acknowledges that during
these long, weary months a rather tender
feeling grew up between herself and Major
Alexander, feeling to which he subse-
quently owed the preservation of his life
when the Confederacy collapsed. All their
male hosts said they preferred to talk to
Yankee women in comparison with their
Southern sisters. The Yankees had more
general information and less hauteur. One
day Alexander borrowed Lottie's money to
show to Judah P. Benjamin, Governor
Wise and Major Turner, the latter COM
mandant at Libby Prison. Major Alexan-
der had violin, and the women were gen.
orally good singers, and they made them
selves favorites. One night prisoner across
the way sang feelingly when This Cruel
War is Over" and was answered from
Castle Thunder by Lottie Gilmore, South
ern girl, who sang "The Moon Behind the
Hill" Some rebel regiments were passing,
and stopped and encored with heartlness
and volume that broupht a large mart of