Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-07-16
MAJOR BELLE REYNOLDS
THE ONLY WOMAN WHO HeLDACoM.
MISSION ri THE CIVIL WAR.


war was commissioned by Richard
Yates when he was Governor of Hi
nois The document was registered
in the Illinois State House and re-
mains there 1t is dated April l6,
1862, and says that Mrs. Belle Rey-
nolds was appointed ''to the honorary
position of Daughter of the Regiment
for meritorious conduct in the camp
and in the field of Pittsburg Landing,
with the rank of Major" In two
places in the "Ofiicial Record of the
Army of Illinois" General Sherman
mentions Major Reynolds in a compli-
mentary way.
Major Belle Reynolds, as she is
known in the army, lives in Santa Bar
hara, CAL, and Is President OF the
Woman's Parliament of Southern Cali
fornia. Before marriage she was Ara
bella Macomber. She is n native of
Shelbourne Falls, Mass. She went
West with her people, remained in
Iowa for IL while, returned East, COM
pleted her education, went back West
and had charge of the first school in
Cass county, Iowa. She married
John q. Reynolds in 1860 and went
to Peoria, Ill.
Her husband enlisted in the Seven
teenth Illinois Infantry, which went
at once to the front. While the regi-
ment was in Missouri Mrs. Reynolds,
in the face of opposition by her
er,Ap1o tninaI hnr Lnolonl in,
She was nineteen tall, handsome and
vivacious. The whole camp was de-
lighted to have her there. The Off
GERS begged her to accept better and
different fare than theirs, but she de-
clined, preferring to accept the lot of her
husband and to be where she might
do the most good in the cause for
which her husband and the other sol
der boys had enlisted. She ate the
same food as did the soldiers, slept on
the ground for days at time, drank
from pools and brooks, as did the
poorest private, and never murmured
at forty and fifty mile forced marches.
She was busy all day long with her
needle and thread for the soldiers and
passed many nights with the sick and
wounded soldiers. Her letters to
newspapers at the North did good in
informing the Union women what
they might do in alternating the hard
ships aud suffering of the boys at the
front.
Mrs. Reynolds saw her first battle
at Frederickstown, Mo. She re-
NAMED in the rear, but she heard all,
and saw many of the wounded. Twice
during the engagement she heard that
her husband was MORALLY wounded.
But she never finched. She said she
was prepared to hear of his death.
Her courage and unselfishness on that
occasion commended her to the adj
miration of the regiment. When the
battle was over she went on the field,
ministering to the needs of the sick
and dying. She was the first woman
on the field, and the good she did
there is inexpressible. The official
war dispatches to Washington all told
of her labors for the wounded and
dying. For three days and nights
she worked with the wounded and dy-
ing. She made no distinction be-
tween the blue and gray.
She was at Fort Henry on the Ten.
nessee River when Commodore Foote
shelled the enemy while Grant made
the advance by land. The weather
was severely cold. Mrs. Reynolds
worked for a week with little lseep
and without removing her clothing
among the hundreds of soldiers that
crowded the hospitals. She on her own
responsibility organized corps of
young people, whose duty was to cheer
the last hours of the dying.
Three weeks before Shiloh was
fought Mrs. Reynolds met her hus-
band in camp. Colonel Reynolds lad
meanwhile been made Assistant Adju-
tant General upon Netherlands staff.
Herein camp, insutiiciently fed, through
chill and frost and rain, the troops
slept ON the ground, and Mrs. Reynolds
shared the common lot.
On Sunday, the morning of the 9th
of April, she procured a can of peaches
and some -four from the sutler and be-
gau to prepare feast. For weeks q
desu'tory firing had been kept up be-
tween the two armies, and when this
firing increased no attention was paid
to the circumstance until IN orderly
dash into camp beinging information
that the enemy had made an attack in
force and conveying orders for the
Seventeenth to fall in and move for.
ward. The camp was instantly ex-
cited. Mrs. Reynolds emptied the
contents of her frying pan into her
husbands haversack. as he came out OF
the tent ready for the advance.
"Here, take these; you will need
them," she said.
81 don't know where 1 will find you
when this thing is over, Belle" he re-
marked, anxiously, to his wife.
"Oh, I'll remain here if possible"
she replied cheerfully, land if I'm not
here, I'll be on the Quartermasters
boat"
Sunday night darkness settled down
with the Northern troops panic
StrlCken. IL WIS necessary 10 ufln
those on board the boats to prevent
them from being overrun with men
fleeing to them for shelter. Mrs.
Reynolds, by the order of Captain
Norton, stood guard, armed with a
revolver, which she was pledged only
to shoot in the air. Later that night
the boat-load of wounded was con-
veyed to Savannah. Another load was
taken on during the night. and on
Morning morning the boat returned
for its third load. All night Mrs. Rey.
nolds other devoted patriots worked
without rest to alleviate the sufferings
of the wounded.
She was present in the little church
on the field where surgeons were at
weak. The wounded were furnishing
for water Mrs. Reynolds organized
q squad and went to the river, from
which she returned with plenty to
drink. TWAS while thus engaged that
Governor Yates appeared with physi-