The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-07-22
SOME SOUTHERN HEROINES.
Daring Feats Performed by the Women
During the War.

DutiHu tHo wal
Gen. Stephen D. Lee, who was
most loyal to the Stars and Bars, when
asked by a Federal officer. after his
surrender at Vicksburg, why the
Southern people did not give up, is
reported to have replied: Because
the women of the South would never
agree to it, says B. L. Ridley in an
article on "Heroines of the South. !"
General A. P. Stewart speaks of them
"as a race unsurpassed for heroism,
for deeds of charity and loving kind
ness, for self-sacrifcing and patriotic
devotion to the cause of their country,
for answering constancy and perse-
verauce in what they knew to be right,
and the uncomplaining fortitude with
which they accepted defeat and allits
adverse consequences. ." To show the
blood that was in them, from wealth
they met the conditions that con-
fronted them and submitted to sacri-
fees cheerfully, going to the washtub,
the spindle and the loom to support
the widowed mothers and crippled
fathers and kindred, until our South
land blossoms with heroine in ev-
cry home.
I have read of the heroines in Ma
poleon's Court, families Of Cleo
patra euchantresses who charm pos
terity, who had but to smile at histo-
ry to obtain history's smile in re-
turn Mesdames Tallien, De Stael,
Recamier, Charlotte Corday, of the
deeds of Joan d Arc, of Mollie Pitch
er and Deborah Sampson, of our Rev
olution, and Florence Nightingale Of
England, but when I draw the line of
comparison I can point to women
whose name and fame in the war be-
tween the States will surpass them
in acts and deeds that will only die
with the echo of time.
The battle of Nashville gave us a
heroine whose name General Hood
placed on the roll Of honor, 'Miss
Mary Bradford, now Mrs. John
Johns. When Thomas army was
pouring the musketry into US and
Hood army was in full retreat, she
rushed out in the thickest of the
storm cloud and begged the soldiers to
stop the fight.
The famous raid of General Streight
with two thousand men, near Rome,
Ca, resulted in his capture through
the intrepidity of Miss Emma San
son, was an instance of female PROV
ess long to be remembered. Amid
the flying bullets, thrilled with patri-
otism, she jumped on behind Gen.
Forrest and piloted him across the
Black Warrior. The Legislature of
Alabama granted her land, and the
people lauded her to the skies. When
Hood army on the Nashville cam
paign passed Gadsden, this young lady
stood on her porch and the army went
wild with cheers in her honor.
Another heroine in Gen. Morgan 8
cavalry tramp, on the line of Kentucky
and Tennessee, grew to be terror in
her section. She was an expert in
horsemanship as a Cossack, dressed in
mems clothes and handled a gun with
the skill of cracksman. She bore the
name of ''Sue Munday," had many en-
counters and her career was exceedingly
romantic.
The old scouts in the West will re-
member two other heroines through
whose aid we were often saved from
attack and told when and where to
strike. Miss Kate Patterson, now
Mrs. Kyle, of Lavergne, Tenn, and
Miss Robbie Woodruff, who lived ten
miles from Nashville. They would
60 into Nashville, get what informa-
tion they needed and place it in de-
signated tree, stump or log to be con-
veyed to US by our secret scouts. |
have often wondered if the diagram of
works around Nashville found on the
person of Sam Davis was not gotten
through them, Notwithstanding the
impression received that it was stolen
from Gen. Dodge's table by negro
boy. Miss Woodruff thrilled the
scouts by her many perilous achieve
ments.
But have a heroine of the noun
tains who develop in war times, yet
on account of her obscure habitation
and the bitter heart-burnings existing
between the two factions, so nearly d.
yided in her section, that history has
not yet given her name merited fame.
I got her record from the Rev. J. Fl.
Nichols, who lived in her section of
Putnam County, three miles from
Cookesville, Tenn. Her name was
Miss Marina Gunter, now Mrs. Joe
Harris. Her father, Larkin Gunter,
was Southern man, and some bush
whackers, claiming to belong to the
Federal army, resolved to kill him.
One night three Of them, Maxwell,
Miller and Patton, visited his home
and told him, in the presence Of his
family, that his time had come to die.
They took him out from the house
and in short time this maid of sew
enteen heard the licks and her old
fathers groans, when she rushed to
the woodpile, got an axe and hurried
ly approached the scene. The night
was dark and drizzly, and the men
were standing by log, on which they
had placed her father and he was
pleading for his life. She killed two
with the axe and broke the third one s
arm. He got away at lightning speed
but afterwards died from the wound.
She lifted up her father and helped
him home. Soon she sought and OBJ
tanned protection from the Federal
general at Nashville. She said after
wards that upon hearing her father s
groans she grew frantic and does not
know to this day how she managed it,
nor did she know anything until she
had cleaned out the platter. This is
the greatest achievement of female
heroism of its kind that has ever been
recorded, and places Miss Guntcr on
the pinnacle of glory that belongs not
alone to patriotism, but to the gran
deur of filial affection, "the tie that
stretches from the cradle to the grave,
spans the heavens and is riveted
through eternity to the throne of God
on high.