Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-21

tied plainly back with q ribbon. Her uniform
was blue flannel blouse and rather full skirt
falling almost to her ankles. She always wore
her belt and saber, and on the march wore
boots.
When the first Rhode Island stood before
Richmond on that awful July day, Kady was
there with her colors. She was located on
slight eminence, and the flag she SO jealousy
guarded formed definite rallying point for
the men as the skirmish deepened into a
general engagement Shells screamed through
space like bowling tends and the air grew
thick and hot with singing mine balls. Still
kady stood by her colors. About o'clock in
| the afternoon q sudden change came over the
| scene. Of to the right, where the roar had
been deepest, death-like silence had fallen,
and then came columns of struggling men,
bearing the wounded and dead, and other
columns OF demoralized soldiers until the
hole army was pressing pell NELL to the rear.
! The Union lines had been broken and the
rebels we're VIGOROUSLY driving them from the
| feld What had two hours before been q reso-
Lutte army pressing to certain victory was now
frenzied, panic-stricken mobl
| Kady held her position until the rebel bat
teries advanced to within few hundred yards
Of her, when some retreating soldier sang out to
her to come with him or her head would pay
the forfeit. He held out his hand and just as
| she grasped it shell took his head off his
| shoulders and dropped it on hers Alone she
continued her flight to the woods, and finding a
| stray horse mounted 1t and fed to Centerville,
still in possession Of her treasured colors.
Shortly afterward the three months for which
she and her husband enlisted were up, but they
re-enlisted in the fifth Rhode Island and with the
men Kady marched fourteen miles through the
mud and marsh of the Neuse river bottom when
the advance was m ade on Newborn. As the vari-
ous regiments were getting into position for the
engagement there the fifth Rhode Island, which
had been IN the shelter Of the woods, advanced
to position from under cover and were mistaken
for the enemy by their own forces. Prepare
tons were Justify made to open on them with
the artillery, when Kady, who quickly took in
the situation, ran to the front, where she stood
upon clear ground. removed from the reg-
ment and frantically waving her flag gave with
the colors the only signal that stopped the
deadly fire that was almost upon them from
their own guns.
Mrs. Brownwelrs husband was wounded in
this battle and while searching for him she
found wounded rebel among the dead. She
dragged him from the mud to higher ground.
where she did Whit she could for him and
then had him carried to camp. When he re-
gained his senses he rewarded her kindness
with volley OF abuse and swore that as soon
as he could handle gun he would blow her
head off," Naturally Kadv was enraged at this
return for herkindness and grabbing musket
with fixed bayonet she was about to finish the
bad job begun by some Unionist's gun, when
some officers interfered and saved the life Of
the ungrateful cur. He recovered and will
probably carry to his grave the singing tongue
lashing the indignant woman administered as
she resumed her Samaritan efforts in his behalf
kady's husband never recovered from his
wounds sufficiently to enter active service and
from tho service and went back to their quiet
home life in Rhode Island. kady still has the
cOlors and her discharge, signed by Gen. Am
brose Z. Burnside and her sword, with her
name cut on the scabbard, and rifle which she
captured from rebel When she left the
no. 81 sa-
boy, who carried it till the surrender and then
returned it to her. Mrs. Brownwell bears the
distinction of being the only woman who was
regularly mustered into the service and dis
charged, and gold mine couldn't purchase
those priceless pieces OF parchment
MADAME TURCHIN.
The nineteenth Illinois had a "daughten of
the regiment in the person of the wife Of its
colonel. Madame Turchin, as she was always
called, was the daughter of Russian officer,
and, like Kady Cromwell, was born in a foreign
camp and grew up in the midst of wars alarms.
She had been great favorite with her fathers
command and was fond of army life, so when
her husband entered the army she was not dis
pleased, but followed his fortunes and became
as great favorite in the American as in the
Russian command. She was woman of splen-
did physique and handsome. She was most in
tensely loyal to the Union and would go to
even greater length than her husband in her
devotion to her adopted country.
During the Tennessee campaign Col Turchin
was taken seriously i'll, but kept up with the
| troops, in an ambulance, and was tenderly
cared for by his devoted wife, who at the same
time took Col. Turchin'e place at the head of
the regiment and received from every man in
the command the most implicit obedience.
She was the equal OF any one OF them in the
use OF musket and saber and was equally skilled
as a tactician and utterly devoid of any senti-
ment of fear. On several occasions she led tho
troops into action facing fierce fire OF shot and
| shell, but her intrepid daring inspired the men
to holder action. When her husband was able
to resume command she returned to the work
of caring for the sick and wounded, who found
her as admirable a nurse and tender-hearted a
woman as she was brave and daring as a soldier.
On some pretext Col. Turchin was court
martialed and everything pointed to finding
of guilty. which meant disgrace and dismissal
Plucky Madame Turchin came to Washington
and made such splendid plea that she not
only obtained an order to set aside the court
martial, but the commission for the colonel as
back to Tennessee and broke in on the trial
scene just as the sentence Of guilty was being
pronounced and triumphantly waved the two
papers in the faces of tho discounted accusers.
FIGHTING BIDDY."
Bridget Devins, better known to the boys,
perhaps as Fighting Biddy" or michigan
Bridget" was with the first Michigan cavalry,
III which her husband was a private. She was
Irish with all the Irish charac teristics as to
features and form, and though she had a
temper as warm as her hair was red she was
jolly and full of humor, which made her a most
acceptable companion at all times. She was
an excellent cook, delightful nurse, a crack
shot and endowed with a daring disposition
which baked at no step taken In the cause of
loyalty She marched beside her husband If
a soldier dropped from the ranks she seized
his gun and took his place. On the battlefield
she often caught the colors from the wounded
or stampeded standard bearer and never
failed thus to rally the retroating troops She
brought the wounded from the field and cared
for them tendery. When the war was ended
and the regiment mustered out Of service,
Bridget and her husband Joined the regular
army and went to one of the posts on the
plains.
"MAJoR" PAULINE CUsHMAN.
One of the picturesque feminine characters
of the war was Miss Pauline Cushman, known
later as Major Paul" Miss Cushman was of
French and Spanish blood, born in 1882 in New
Orleans; she was educated and cultured to a
high degree, but seems to have been born with
love for doing startling things. She adopted
the stage as q profession and made quite
name in that line.