Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-11-02
WOODBURY., N. J, THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2 1899
ACIYIL WAR EPISODE
THE RAID UPON PORT GIBSON AND
WHAT CAUSED 1T.

Fifty Aristocratic Southern Girls
Were Taken as Prisoners of WAr
and Were Carried TO vicksburg
and There Held as Hostages.
II was mixed up In one little unre-
corded event of the civil war;" said
General B.. that was interesting from
It's very unusualness, and which, as
look back upon it, seems strangely pic
turesque. We were attached to what
was known as the marine brigade a lit
tie feet of u 'tinclad' river steamboats,
that piled up and down the Mississippi
river after the surrender of Vicksburg.
The term 'tinclad,' by the way, Is some
what misleading, as it Is not remotely
connected with the white metal, but sig
miles rather boats heavily planked with
oak for the purpose of protecting them
somewhat from the ravages of bullets.
zone day our little battalion of four
companies was ordered to steam down
the river, disembark at Rodney, march
to Port Gibson and there consult seal
ed orders in regard to further proceed
ings. Imagine our surprise upon read
ing the Instructions that we were ex-
pected to capture and carry back to
Yicksburg as prisoners so of the most
aristocratie Confederate young women
In the city. However, we had served
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 at the
residence of prominent Confederate
judge.
''Then different squads were sent out
to call at the homes of the young wom-
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 (the whole transaction was as
much mystery to us as to them was
that they We're to be taken to Vicks-
burg as prisoners of war, but were on
no account to suffer any discomfort or
indignity.
''Of course, there was great weeping,
wailing and gnashing of teeth from
tender mothers, loving sisters and irate
fathers and brothers. But the incident
had to be accepted as belonging to the
fortunes of war. and at the end of two
hours 40 of the 90, attended by anx-
ious friends and relatives, were at the
rendezvous. Mercy was impIored for
one delinquent An additional hour was
granted, and, at their own suggestion,
several of the young women were dis
patched 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 an appear
ance, though in very defiant mood.
s"Our troubles. however, by no means
ended here Indeed. they were hardly
fairly begun The next question was
how to transport our beautiful captives
to Rodney, distance of some 20 miles,
over roads that were in a frightfuI con-
dition from the devastation of war and
consequent neglect. All the good
horses, too, like all the good men, were
off to the war. and as for carriages.
they had most decidedly fallen into a
state of innocuous desuetude.
There was obviously nothing for us
to do, therefore, but to gather together
all the broken down old horses and d.
lapidated vehicles In the vicinity,
which we somehow managed to hitch
together with plow harnesses. 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 it
was motley looking procession, can
assure you Even the sound of fare
wells and the sight of weeping eyes
could not blind US to the humorous as
peet 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 %.
"Well, we made our way slowly,
amid tears and laughter, to Rodney,
where we embarked for Vicksburg.
Upon arriving there the young women
were taken before the provost marshal,
who put them on parole, eonfining
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 transac-
ton then transplred. 1t seemed that
some northern young women school
teachers had been taken prisoners by
the Confederates and were at that mo-
ment in their camps, where they were
forced to wash and mend for the sol
diers 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 80 days They were.
however, very gay, delightful days.
Yankee officers and Confederate maid
ems intermingled socially, and the ac-
quaintanee so rudeIy forced upon the
beautiful southerners proved in some
instances a mutual pleasure. could,
indeed, point to more than one roman
tic marriage that was the direct out
come of our raid upon Port Gibson."-
Washington Times.