The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-21

/ SC2 III @taC lis
famous cavalry raid through Missis-
| sippi the women OF the state were
/ speechless with indignation at the
! ruthless invasion of their sacred soil.
| Not tear was shed as the Roman
matrons bucl1led on the armor of the
home guards-old, gray-haired ma
| iors" and 'colonels" who had mustered
with fintlocks, and young boys just IN
their teens.
All who could shear arms" went
! pouring forth with impetuous speed,
and swiftly formed in the ranks Of war.
The invaders were beset front, flank
and rear, by an undisciplined but
pertinacious foe. The willy general s
march was executed in deux temps, to
avoid the harassing enemy which he
dared not halt and dispense. Many
| bluecoats from the invading column
were picked off by the wayside, and
, every straggler was gobbled up by the
ubiquitous home guards. They sent
the wounded Yankees to the nearest
| hospital. A number were taken to
Columbus, where confederate hospital
had been established under the super
vision of the Soldiers Aid society.
The society was composed of the
women Of Colum bus, who had or
gained at the beginning of the war.
The hospital was full of sick and
wounded confederates, but the ladies
made room for the Yankees, as a
Christian duty.
To relieve the crowded hospital a
dozen confederates were removed to
the house of a dear old lady, who made
them comfortable on cots IN her par
lors. This dear old lady had three sons
in the army.
Her husband was on duty with the
home guards.
Her carriage horses were in the ar
tillcry service, and pair of plantation
mules pulled her carriage.
Fer spinning wheels and looms were
manufacturing gray jeans, and even
while she slept her fingers moved, as
when awake she knitted socks for the
soldiers.
Daily she drove to the hospital and
went through the wards, followed by
her negro woman bearing a basket of
homemade dainties, which she dis
pensed to the sick. With Christian
charity she extended her ministrations
to the Yankee ward. 1t required, how
ever, no small effort on her part to di-
vide with the enc my's sick the dainties
SO hard TO get in the bloclraded south.
She did SO because it was duty, but
her heart was not in the work.
There was one of Grierson's soldiers
scarcely man IN years who lay on
his cot in the delirfum of fever. The
kindly black face of the nurse who
bathed his head was strange to him;
but he smiled feebly when he looked
into the gentle face of the dear old
her mother"
At that moment the heart of tn dear
old lady surrendered and she took that
Yankee boy for her own.
Never was invalid more tenderly
nursed, and never hung life on more
slender thread. She watched him
from day to day and administered with
tireless hand medicine and liquid food.
He fingered days and weeks, his brain
clouded with fever fancies, and the
flesh shrunken upon his bones.
One morning there was a gleam of
intelligence in his pale blue eyes as he
looked up at the kind, earnest face of
the southern woman, and he whis-
pered: Water" After few sips he
continued: Il thought you were moth
er-but guess as how l won't see her
no more"
He closed his eyes and the dear old
lady sent at once fo- the surgeon. The
doctor felt his pulse and remarked:
His vitality is very low-we must try
to build him up With stimulants and
nourishing liquids"
These were obtained, but he refused
positively to touch the whisky, as he
had promised his mother never TO do
SO, he said, and had taken the pledge.