Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1896-12-18
CONFEDERATE SAL

During tnS ldIlCi pa Va ~ va '''N
Confedrates went into camp about Co
lumbia. on Duck river, in Tennessee.
The soldiers were half Clad half fed
and thoroughly desperate. They were
IN no mood to be trifed with, and when
the provocation came they were law
INTO themselves.
While they were in camp at this place
woman who had followed the army
Tor months gave the officers consider
able trouble.
She was utterly depraved and shame
Ice and she was not pretty enough to
couse her escapades to be leniently re-
garded
This woman did not even have name.
CO. ,vas known as "Confederate Sal"
md was heartily detested by the soldiers
and citizens.
# was impossible to tell where Sal
o,,td break out next, or what new and
startling capess she held in reserve
One week she would make her appear
o,ca in Columbia elegantly dressed and
conducting herself like lady. A few
DAVIS later she would be found covered
with rags and dirt, gloriously drunk and
shockingly profane.
> Then the patience of the officers
would give way and the brazen adven-
+,ress would be sent twenty miles away
and left in the woods in the hope that
ahe would never return. 1t was useless
20 resort to such mild methods. After
few DAYS absence Sal would return
-.;.b new outfit and would remain
Ill she got into disgrace again.
Nobody could learn anything OF her
,ost history. She invented so many
different biographies that none of her
s+ories could be believed. Some sale
that she was a soldiers widow, but
others declared that she had been well
known as a disreputable character IN
several Confederate cities. No matter
who she might have been in the past
the soldiers looked upon her as hoIy
favor and her evil fame spread into the
Federal lines, where it was reported that
she had strayed upon more than one
occasion.
In the course of time Confederate Sal
became a vexatious problem to ootn
armies. Once party of Contederates
seized her while she was drunk and car
riad her into the Federel camps, where
they left her. The wretched creature
was discovered the next day by the
Federals and was promptly sent back to
the other side.
They tried every way TO get rio
her but she never failed to return. one
was locked in the guardhouse, whipped
and threatened with death, but all 10 no
nrrnose Generals and colonies used TO
fiv from her as they would from cy-
clone. Her temper was furious soey GNU
description. and the most hardened men
Gould NOT listen TO her foul and profane
tongue.
She was dangerous too. sometimes
she was remarkably well dressed win
plenty of money to spend, and the OH
GERS had a suspicion that she was spy
of the enemy There was no PROOF
however, and she could not be disposed
of upon this pretext.
Sal was not beauty, but when SIC
was at her best she was oashi"s
woman, a daring rider, and when s"e
was sober her conversation showed III al
she had enjoyed some educational au-
vantages. She was about 40 yeai'
old, and her face bore the traces OF III
temperance and exposure.
The reckless camp follower many
went too far and presumed too mu0"
upon the forbearance of the brave me"
whom she had annoyed beyond enour-
ance.
She had been absent for about Ten
days and the officers and men were De-
ginning to hope that they had seen inc
last of her, when the report came ina
she had engaged board with resPec'@-