The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-02-01
A FIGHTING WOMAN.
Thrilling Story Of a Young Wonans ss IS Ae-
tive, Daredevil Service as Spy and
Soldier for the South.
Robert Adamson, IN Atlanta Constitution.

This story here, lost epic of the
South, rescued the other day from a
ponderous old scrapbook in Columbia
College. To forestall the impression
sure to form in the minds OF those
who read it to the end, let it be said
here that it is not fiction. [ took it
from the files Of newspapers, serious
minded, laconic dailies, published at
time when newspapers were not SEN
sational; when, indeed, the news it
self was so sensational as to need no
aid Of big type or other extrinslc
dressing up to make it startling.
If it were mere invention, l
should take care that it's incidents
were less seemingly unreal. Readers
unquestionably take their history in
heroic measures, but they want their
fiction toned down. Here the essen
tial facts of this bit of history stand
unchanged; I have only taken the lib
erty of placing together in their logl-
ical sequence the incidents Of the
story. and here and there adding a
word, which the editor Of 1860, IN the
excitement of the mopent, omitted to
write.
The hero-or, if you prefer, the
heroine-of this story was a beautiful
woman, more beautiful even: fancy,
from what the conservative editors OF
her time have written of her, than
even the vaunted heroines of that class
of romance that isn't so. Clear OF
eve. sure and clean in limb, superb IN
height and shapeliness, with the rich
coloring Of perfectly healthy woman
who is much out Of doors, she enrap-
tured the vision as the eye of the ar
tist is enraptured by glorious sun
set or majestic landscape. Wheth-
er you look at her as girl, typical in
all ways Of the South, the courted and
petted queen of an elegant Southern
home, or as she was five years later,
when last we see her, fighting against
poverty, in the shadow Of tragedy and
sorrow she is equally queen.
She must have been larger than
most women, but in her gain Of weight
there was no loss of beauty. She
loved the air, the fields, nature and all
the activities of outdoor life, especial
ly those in which there was spice OF
danger. She was naturally fond OF
adventure, the riding Of unmanagea-
BILE horses and the conquering of them
which surely followed, being among
her chiefest pleasures. AS Thackeray
would say, let us look at her now IN
the moment of her happiness, sur
rounded by fortune, young, fair, eager
happy. What queen she must have
been in those girlish days-those days
Of her happiness before the war; How
grand picture she must have made
in her saddle, cheeks aAush, eyes
asparkle, her whole face aglow with
youth. innocence, enthusiasm and
beauty. Or, how matchless she must
have appeared in her dancing robes,
bejeweled, flowers blooming in her
hair, and the light Of heaven living in
her eyes. Nature had grudged her no
grace that might add to the perfection
of her beauty.
There are, I should have said be-
fore, links missing from Miss Loret-
ia story, and one of them concerns
the place of her birth. 1t is most
probable that her girlish home was In
Louisiana. At any rate, she was
reared in one of those homes which
were the pride of the old South. In
here was such luxury as the old South
knew and such culture as | fear the
the New South may be too busy to ac-
quire. 1t was an intensely Southern
home, rooted in all the Southern tra-
ditions. A small army Of slaves sur
rounded it. Next to the religion
which prevailed in it was love of the
South. 1t is question which was
the stronger of the two when the war
finally came on. There was little
sympathy there for what was alien In
birth or sentiment. There was an in
tense belief in the superiority OF
whatever was Southern over every
thing else in the world. If it was
provincialism, it had its other side
which was good to sec-its heroism,
chivalry, elf-sacri6cc and endurance.
From such homes went forth sons who
made Of the war Of the States the
sublimest spectacle Of heroism that the
world ever saw.
Miss Loretta home was tremen-
dously aroused by the talk of the war.
The young woman herself was stirred
into passionate indignation against