The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-01-22
WAR STORIES FOR CHILDREN
How Their Forbears Fought and Suffer-
ed for the State.
Charleston Sunday News.

Charleston Sunday News.
Thirty years is long time ago. To
some Of you children It seems as long
ago as the food. But your grand
fathers, may be your fathers, know all
about it ; it was to them the greatest,
as we'll as the most dreadful time they
ever knew. It was then that all Of
the men in our sunny Southern land
and many Of the boys, put on bright
new suits of gray, and marched
proudly and hopefully away to fight
the invaders.
But those who came back ? All |!
they were dressed in rags. Painfully
and sadly they struggled home, after
laying many of their brightest and
bravest in soldier unmarked grave.
There were little children then, just
as there are now; and those children
learned to know suffering and death,
when they should have known only
sunshine and play.
I will tell you about one little boy
of those days who lived in Richmond,
Va, the home of Gen. Lee and Presi-
dent Davis.
This little boy heard great deal
about fighting, and Yankees. He
wondered very much over it all, but
being very quiet, thoughtful little
fellow, he did not ask many questions,
and consequently he got some very
queer notions in his little head
You can never guess the funny idea
he had about the Yankees. He had
heard a great deal about them, and
how dreadful they were, but he did
| not know what they were. So he i'm
agined them to be very queer looking
fierce creatures with two legs, just
like enormous chickens with all the
feathers picked off.
But he learned to know better. One
day his mother told him there had
been great fight between our men
| and the Northern soldiers, and that
very many on both sides had been
killed and wounded She said the
sick and injured were in the hospital,
| and that she was going to see them.
So she took her little boy with her,
| and then he found out what Yankee
was, and what hospital was too.
His mother had a basket in her
hand, packed full, and they set out on
their trip.
After while they came to big
brick house, and the lady and little
boy went in. There they found
long room full of little iron beds side
by side, poor sick man, or sometimes
| poor sick boy, lay in every one. And
after the beds were all filled pallets
| were made on the floor, because there
| were more wounded soldiers than there
were beds to put them in.
That house was the hospital, and
the sick men were the soldiers, who
fought for us, others were Yankee
soldiers, who fought against US. But
| all were cared for there.
The little boy saw his mother open
her basket and give soup, jelly, and
other nice things to the nurse for the
| poor sick soldiers, and bundles of soft
linen too, to dress their wounds, the
| places where cruel bullets had struck
them, and torn great pieces out of
| their flesh. Some had a leg shot of,
| some an arm. Sometimes poor fell
low would lose both legs, or both arms
in battle.
After seeing those dreadful things
that little boy never forgot what
Yankee was, nor what battle was
either,
But the, two armies meeting each
other and fighting was not all of war
that was the best and bravest part of
it. There was great deal that was
| mean and low.
When the Yankees passed through
our own little State they left sorrow
and desolation behind them.
There were many good, brave men
in the Northern army, who fought be-
cause they believed it to be right, but
Gen. Sherman was not one Of these.
| There are not words enough in the
English language to express how con-
| temptible he was.
The best man, and most perfect
| gentleman I ever knew, always called
| him "a dirty dog"
He hated Southern people, because
they were all that he was not. And
he said he would like to see every
Southern woman brought to the wash
tub. He did all he could to bring
| them there. But Gen. Sherman did
| not know Of what stuff Southern wo-
men are made.
he and his soldiers, of like type
with himself, came into our beautiful
Capital, Columbia, and only left it
when they had reduced it to pile of
ashes.
His army passed on their march
from Atlanta to the sea burning every
house, every fence, even every pigsty
and cattle pen in their track. They
carried of all the horses, and either
took with them, or killed, all the
other stock they could find. When
they discovered something they could
not steal, they managed to ruin it so
that it could be of no service to any
one else.
They reached one homestead from
which the inmates. hearing Of their
approach had fed, because the master
of that house had been one of the
signers Of the ordinance of secession,
and was an influential member Of the
Confederate Congress. For him, dead
or alive, the invaders had offered a
large reward. eff we catch him."
they said, che won't be alive long,
Finding that the family had escaped,
the ruhianly soldiers wreaked ven.
geance on the property. A large and
valuable library vanished in smoke
and ashes under their hands.
A handsome, new piano, which
some faithful negroes had taken from
the house, and tried to hide in thick
orchard, was discovered, and hacked
into splinters.
After helping themselves to all they
could carry, they applied their ready
torch to the rest, until when the owner
returned he found not so much as a
ob;oLan IN crow for dav IN what had