Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-10-11
WAR EPISODE
THE RAID UPON PORT GIBSON AND
WHAT CAUSED IT.

THE RAID UPON PORT GIBSON AND
WHAT CAUSED IT.
Fifty AristocratIc Southern Girls
and Were Carrled to vicksbtrS
and There Held a. Hostages.
IL was mixed up In one little unre-
cOytied event Of the civil war;" sald
General b., that was interesting from
its very unusualness, and which. as l
look back upon 1t, seems strangely pic
turesque. We were attached to what
was known US the marine brigade. lit
tie fleet of 12 'tinclad' river steamboats,
that piled up and down the Mississippi
river after the surrender Of Vicksburs.
what misleading. rs It is not remotely
connected with the white metal. but sig
miles rather boats heavily planked with
oa., for the purpose Of protecting them
somewhat from the ravages Of bullets.
''Onc day our little battalion of four
Companies WAS ordered to steam down
the river. dis;'mb1rk at Rodney. march
To Port Gibson and there consult seal
cd orders la regard to further proceed
ings. Imagine our surprise upon read
Ing the instructions that we were eX-
pccted 10 capture and carry back to
Vicksburg as prisoners so of the most
aristocrntic Confederate young women
tn, ait hoJ
long enough to obey orders without
question. and. provided with guides IA
miliar with the town. we set about our
bizarre and not too agreeable task. We
first established headquarters Mt the
residence of Il prominent Confederate
Judge.
Then different squads We're sent out
to call mt the homes Of the young wOIn-
EN- and escort them to the place of rem
devious. The instructions were that
they must report at headquarters with
In two hours on penalty Of their family
residence being burned to the ground.
The only Information we could give
them uhe whole transaction WAS as
much a mystery to us as to them was
that they We're to he taken to Nicas-
burg as prisoners Of war. but were on
no account To suffer any discomfort or
indi.nity.
.'Of course. there was great weeping,
wailin. and gnashing Of teeth from
tender mothers. loving sisters and iratc
fathers and brothers. But the Incident
had to he accepted as belonging to the
fortunes of war. and mt the end of two
hours ~ Of the 10. attended 10y anx-
iOus friends and relatives. were at the
rendezvous. Mercy was implorcd for
one delinquent. An additional hour was
granted. and. ut their own suggestion,
several of the young women were dis
pa atchcd to her home to persuade her
to follow their example In gracefully
submitting to the inevitable. The result
was that before the hour was up the
last fair prisoner had put in IN appear
ancc. though in Il very defiant mood.
Our troubles. however. by no means
ended here. Indeed. they were hardly
fairly begun. The next question was
how to- transport our beautiful captivcs
to Rodney. . distance of some ~ miles,
over roads that wcrt In Il frightful con-
dition from the devastation Of war ard
neglect. All the -GSfTi
horses. too. like all the good men. were
0ir-ttl6- -tiie war. and as for carriages.
they had most decidedly fallen info
state Of innocuous desuetuie.
There was obviously nothing for us
to do. therefore. but to gather together
all the broken down old horses and di-l
lapidafe.l vehicles In the vicinity,
which we somehow mana;std to hitch
together with plOw hE rnesscs. bits OF
rope. straps. etc. With these imprOvised
coaches. drawn up into line. began the
process Of loading on our victims. and
when they were all slowed away 1t
was a motley looking procession. can
assure you. Even the sound of fare
wells and the sight of weeping eyes
could not blind us to thcSIumorous as
pect of the scene. You must remember
that we were all pretty young fellows
in 1863. The civil war was fought by
men whose average age WAS only 23.
We'll. we made our way slowly.
amid tears and laughter. to Rodney.
where We embarked for VickSburS.
Upon arrivln. there the youn. women
were taken before the provost marshal.
who put them on parole. coniin!nS
them TO the limits of the city. Most
Of them had friends In the town with
whom they chose to remain. and suit
able quarters were found for the rest.
"The reason for the whole tr:tnsac-
ton then transpireL. 1t seemed that
some northern young women school
teachers had been taken prisoners by
the COnfelerateS and were ut that mo
ment In their camps. where they were
forced to wash and mend for the sol
dicrs and perform other menial serv-
Ices. These Confederate young women
were, therefore. to be held as hostages
until the northern women were re-
leased.
There was little delay in the ex-
change, and we had our visitors in
Vicksburg only 30 days. They were.
however. very gay, delightful days.
Yankee officers and Confederate maid
ems intermingied socially, and the ac-
quaintance so rudcly forced upon the
beautiful southerners proved In some
instances a mutual pleasure. l could,
indeed, point to more than one roman
tic marriage that was the direct out
come OF our raid upon Port Gibson
Washington Times.
xameles. and Dnteless Tombstone.