The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-08-11

After O hasty discussion, the potato
cellar was prepared and stored with
food and other necessaries, we chill
dren toiling up and down the steep
stairway with our especial treasures,
the most precious of all beings basket
of kittens.
But We were interrupted by several
Confederate officers, who rode up and
told my mother we must leave the
house at once. When she objected,
saying she would rather remain while
the roof was left standing, they re-
piled that the children must 60 any
way, and that there was not a moment
to lose. "Take those children" they
ordered the nurse, and she obeyed in
such haste that she let us 60 bonnet
less. A few minutes before my father
had sent my younger brother with a
wagon and horses to cross the river
into Chesterfield. He was arrested,
and for several days we we're uncer-
tain as to his fate, and he thought we
had been killed. But we were guard
ed by the shield of Providence that
day, else had we been "killed twenty
times" for in crossing the open field
we were targets for friends and foes.
It all seemed like a wild dream, the
bursting shells and whizzing bullets.
One she'll fell at my sisters feet, and
did not burst. Mother had followed
us, first, with a housekeeper's in
s%tinct, seized her keybasket, in her
excitement not realizing that in a few
hours nothing would remain-neither
locks nor anything to be locked. We
reached the pontoon bridge as it was
being taken up, and were the last per-
sons who were allowed to cross, one
of the soldiers carrying me over in
his arms. He is still living, and sent
me a message some time since that he
distinctly recalled the occasion. The
day was spent in the deserted soldiers
camp in Chesterfield, and at sunset we
recrossed the river on Campbell S
bridge, and spent the night with
friends in Petersburg. Var develops
II nerve and endurance. Not a child
dreamed Of complaining, though oal
shoes had been cut to pieces in the
scramble through briers and over
stones, and our feet were covered with
blood and bruises.
On Monday morning we started
home, and were just in sight Of our
house when the flames burst from the
Turnbull house. My father fastened
on in advance, and found several Fed
eral officers standing on our porch in
the act of leaving. He appealed to
the one who seemed in command, ask
ing him to protect the house, saying
that we had been driven away blythe
battle the day before and had no other
shelter. Certainly, SIR" was the
reply, 'your house shall not be burn
ed while we are here; but we have to
leave at once, and the Lord only
knows what will become of you then"
We always found the Federal officers
extremely courteous: and, in some
instances, kindness itself the outra-
ges and pillaging were the work Of the
struggling soldiers and camp-followers.
A few days later one Of these stray
glers was discovered in the act of fir
ing the house, and was driven off by a
Federal officer who most OPPORTUNITY
rode up just in time.
We found desolation utter and COM
plete within and without. Cannon
had been planted at the parlor win
dows, and near the door were new
made graves, where the dead had been
hastily buried. The house had been
used for a hospital, and the floors were
slippery with blood and grease. Not
a yestige of clothes remained, or rath-
er only unusable morsels and frag-
ments were left. Everything movable
had been carried off, and the heavy
furniture broken. We pulled open a
bureau drawer, and there lay our be-
loved kittens with their Threats cut !;
even now I can feel the bitterness Of
that moment. Remnants Of the pink
challie were found in the ice house.
We lived on bareback picked up on
the battlefield until Capt. Langdou,
commander Of a brigade of artillery,
on his way from Appomattox Court
House, made our house his %headquar-
tiers, and not only supplied u neces-
sites at the time, but repeatedly sent
US assistance afterwards. My sister
was i'll from the nervous shock, and a
Federal surgeon, DR.. Browne, Of Phil
adelphia, prescribed for her and gave
US a supply of various needed medi-
cines, and sent a large box filled with
every delicacy necessary for an inva-
lid. Gen. Custer, who was at our
house for some days, treated my par
ents with great courtesy, even check
ing any conversation between his at
tcndant officers that turned upon sub
jects unpleasant to Southern cars.
For some months after the close Of
the war q correspondence was main
tanned between my mother and Mrs.
Lee, and we had letters from the Gen
eral also. Unfortunately, these were
accidentally destroyed a few years ago,
but nothing can destroy our loving
memories of the man.