The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-08-10
A HEROINE OF THE WAR
Mrs. Ella Hastings Romantic
Adventures in the Confed-
crate Army.

A widowed lady, Mrs. Ella G.
Hastings, whose permanent home is
neal the picturesque old-time village
of Prince Frederick, the county town
of Calvert county, Nd, but who is
making her summer residence at a
cottage on Arkansas avenue, Atlantic
City, was the heroine of a chain of re-
markable episodes in her | ife from
twenty-five to thirty years ago.
Mrs. Hastings was born in Norfolk,
Va, in 1916, and was by birth a
Ruffin-of the same family to whic CHI
belonged Edward Rufiin, who claimed
TO have fired the first gun at the
Civil War, which was directed from a
Confederate battery in Charleston
harbor upon the steamship Star of
the West. sent in February, 1861, by
President Buchanan's administration
with men and stores for the relief of
Major Anderson and his gallant little
garrison, then shut up in Fort
Moultrie. The Rufiins were all en-
thusiastic in the cause OF the South,
and Ella Ruffin, who was fifteen
| years OF age at the time of the out
break OF the war, was as intense in her
s%ympathies as any member. OF
the family. Her two brothers
ate army, and both were killed
at the battle of Antietaim. Prior to
that time her father-her mother was
dead-had removed to Richmond
from Norfolk upon the fall OF the
latter city into the hands of the U MON
forces. He was too much of an in
valid for active service in the field,
and occupied a clerical position in
the Confederate Navy Department
under Captain S. S. Lee, a brother OF
General Robert Il. Lee. The news of
the death of his two sons inflicted a
blow on Mr.. Ruffin from which he
never recovered. 1t SO acted ON his
enfeebled constitution that he died
three days af-erward and his uaugh-
ter was left alone in the world. She
was then seventeen years old, tall and
well developed for her are, filled with
patriotic impulses for the Confeder-
acy and determined to do something
in its behalf and in revenge for tn e
loss of her brothers.
First cutting off her long and lux
uriant blonde hair, she attired herself
in a suit of clothes belonging to one
of her brothers, disguised herself to
look as much like a man as was pos
sible and applied for enlistment into
the ranks of the Fourth Virginia
Regiment of infantry. Physical ex-
animation of recruits were not Gus
toinary in the South in those days,
and she was readily accepted, though,
as she says. she was in a trenor of
fear while under the eyes of the re-
cruiting officer, lest her sex should be
detected. But she passed the ordeal
safely, and in a day or two was sent
off to join her regiment, then in Lees
army and encamped near Smokers
Gap, in the Valley Of the Blue Ridge.
This occurred early in October, 1862,
and Miss Ruffin soon became accus-
toned to the hardships of war and
army life. She marched and fought
along with her comrades and acquired
the reputation of a good soldier. She
served all through the winter of 1862
So, took part in the battles of Fred
ericksburg and Chancellorsville with
out receiving a wound, and was finally
made q prisoner at the battle OF Get
tysburg. She was one OF a detach-
ment sent to Fort McHenry, Baiti-
more, and while there made the ac-
quaintance OF Frederick A. Hastings,
the son of an honored Maryland
family living neal Prince Frederick,
but who had enlisted in the Twenty
| seventh Virginia Regiment, as a part
of Stonewall Jackson's original bri-
| gade, and who had. like herself, been
captured ON the field of Gettysburg.
Hastings had relatives and friends
In lQaIffp.Ar so nn1 ha Npnnncn1 IN HE
young companion that they should at
tempt to escape to them. Miss Ruffin
| consented, and on the night of August
20. 1868, they dropped from the low
barrack windows, slipped by the
guard in the darkness, stole a boat
from one of the adjacent wharves at
Locust Point, and before dawn were
in the city. Ere the sun had risen
they had applied for admission to the
house of a Mr.. Blakeley, a relative of
Hastings, living IN st. Paul street,
and were warmly greeted.
Before escaping from Fort McHenry
Hastings had given Miss Ruffin, who
had enlisted under the name OF
Charles Evans, a ring, which was to
play an important part in their flu
ture careers. 1t was a plain, old
fashioned circlet of gold, with a small
emerald set deep in it.
The two refugees remained in the
Blakeley house all that day and part
of the next. About noon of the next
day Miss Rufin incautiously exposed
herself at one of the rear windows
overlooking the yard. The family re
siding next door were named Hunt
ingdon and We're ardent Unionists. A
young son caught a glimpse of Mis-:
Ruffln, who was still in gray uniform,
and promptly informed his father
who soon reported to Colonel Fish, the