, 1891-06-03
PlNrEo A WOMAN TO THE GROUND
The Matter Made Less Serious by tn
Fact That She Wore Army shoes.

The Matter Made Less Serious by the
Fact That She Wore Army Shoes.
Richard NJ. Sommers, the foreman of
the roller department in the mint, WIS
recently chatting with some of the men
who had seen service in the late war,
and, after relating an interesting advent
ure that had occurred in 1862, said:
But / never was so frightened in my
life as | was the day / pinned a fair
young rebel to the ground with my bay
onet. | thought had killed her.
The circumstances were these: In
August, 1863, when the Philadelphia
brigade was moving toward Mine Run,
Va, | was detailed from my command,
the Seveuty-tirst Pennsylvania vulun
teers, known as Bakers California regi-
ment, to watch a farmer who was be-
lieved to be a spy.
In order TO throw him off his guard
and also to enable me to learn the better
whether he was a spy or not, | was in
structed to report at his house, on the
Mountain View farm, in Fauquier coun-
ty, and state that | had come there by
command Of Colonel w. Penn Smith, in
in order to protect his home from any
struggling soldiers that might trespass
with a view to foraging on the premises.
| was well received by the family,
who, living in that out Of the way coun-
try, were quite timid and in constant
fear of the passing troops. 1 was housed
there, and fed at their expense, and soon
realized that the hospitality of vir-
ginia's first families was all that it was
reported TO be. The two pretty girls,
sisters, one a blonde and the other a
brunette, were at first a little shy Of the
wild Yankee" as they called me, but
we o became friends, however, al
though they would persist in telling me
the Confederate cause was just, and that
the Union troops were invaders, and all
that sort Of thing.
The Mountain View farm Covered a
good many acres of ground, but the
owner was poor at that time, and 'sweet
sixteen" as | called the pretty blonde,
had no shoes with which to cover her
well shaped little feet. Now | had a
brand new pair Of army shoes in my
knapsack and a fairly good pair on my
feet. asked her If she would wear nv
new pair If ! would make her a present
OF them. h seemed a little loath to
accept them at first, not because of pride,
but because she thought it unfair to take
them from a soldier who might soon
stand in need of them himself. But at
last she liz accept them, and was real
well pleased to do 50. OF course, they
were a mile too big for her, but that
didn't matter. She soon got Used to
them.
1t used to be her custom to watch for
fDraUinu anlAiarg and fh.n a. ..- -
after them to drive them away. One
morning she said: "Oh, Yankl there is y
forager out there. Don't you see him?
There he goes under the trees over there"
l started out after the intruder, but
| ran all over the part of the farm indi-
Gated without seeing any one. 1t was
very warm, and | was very warm and
tired when | returned. On seeing her
told her that | could find no one, when
she laughed right in my face and said:
81 just fooled the wild Yank for fun.
1t was fun for her, but not for me. How
ever, | laughed with her. Just then l
put my gun down on the ground, as was
my habit, bayonet downward, intending
to stick it into the ground and thus let
the piece stand reversed, but instead Of
that stuck it through her shoe and
pinned the beautiful girl fastl
/ was never so frightened in my life
as was then. | would not have harmed
the young woman for the world: she had
become to me like a sister.
Maybe | wasn't glad when | saw a
twinkle in her bright, blue eyes, and
heard her sweet voice ringing in laugh
ter as she said;
well, fank, you did not hurt me a
bit; you know these shoes are a trihe
large for me, and your bayouet just went
through the upper and sole without graz
ing my toes"
was rejoiced TO hear her talk that
way, | assur you. | was taken away
from there in a few days after that, it
having been found that her father was
not what he wa suspected to be. But |
often thought about that family, espe-
cially Of n member, in my marches
and in later years, but l never met again
with any member of it. Not aver with
my pretty sweet sixteen" friend, for
was engaged in a great deal of active
service in the army, and when | was
mustered out of it l returned to Phila-
delphia and never went back to Virginia.
Philadelphia Press.