The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-03-26
WAR STORIES.
The Story Of two Pathetic Lives in South
ampton County, Virginia.

Ills coHTauc-lE- arms, gong alone To
take the step that meant more than we
OF this generation can understand. But
| II Gen. Johnston ever hcsitatcd those
closest 70 him never heard him say that
he did.
In 1860 Gen. Thomas and his wife
visited his sisters at the family home
in Southampton County. When they
| got oil the train at the home station
they found that there was no vehicle
to carry them across the country to
their destination, and they waited at
the house Of a gentleman, who, it is
believed, is still living in Southamp-
ton, until arrangements for vehicle
could be made. a citizen Of the
ncighborhood, who was at the dinner
table with Gen. Thomas and his wife
that day, recalls we'll that the convcr-
sation turned upon public affairs and
the troublous questions which threat
cncd to cause the withdrawal of the
Southern States from tho Union. One
of those at the table asked Gen.
Thomas what lie would do in case Vir-
gina was one Of the States that Sc
ccdcd.
81 could never fight against my ma
tive State, was his reply.
But the soldier experienced great
change Of mind. In the Spring of
1861, probably after Virginia had Sc
ccdcd, lie wrote his sisters of his de-
termination to stay in the service of
the United States. They, loyal
to their State and their section
were Mortified at what they could
regard as nothing but the blackcst
treason. y sharp correspondence en-
sued.
Finally Gen. Thomas asked his sis
ters to return to him the sword which
the county Of Southampton had voted
him for the gallantry which he, as a
young lieutenant, had displayed in
the war with Mexico, q decade or n ore
before. Being unmarried when the
sword was presented to him, he had
sent it home for keeping. The reply
which his sisters sent to him when he
wrote for his sword is said by kins-
man, familiar with it's contents, to have
been one of the most scathing pieces
of sarcasm he had ever read. To the
reader of to-day it's pathos must be its
feature.
The ladies wrote, acknowledging
the receipt of Major Thomas letter,
requesting the sword Of their brother.
That they once had brother
but that he had proven himself trai-
tor and was then dead; that his sword
was the only memento which they had
of their once brave and loyal brother,
and they therefore wished to keep it as
token of his bravery and fidelity in
life.
The sisters never received reply
to this letter. They never again COM
municated with their brother. The
neighbors used to marvel at the news
which came telling Of the daring and
skill Of Thomas, but they soon learned
to refrain from mentioning anything
OF Gen. Thomas to his sisters. The
manner in which they kept up the fc.
tion that their brother had died when
he drew his sword against his State
was pathetic, but absolutely consist
cnt. Sometimes when his name was
mentioned they yinvoluntnrily manifest
cd anger. Generally when some Wis
itor, VINO did not know Of the tragedy
in the lives of the two women, alluded
to the career Of their brother, and the
fame he was acquiring as soldier,
they would reply that there must be
some mistake; that they had no broth
er; that brave brother had died
when Virginia seeded from the Union
on the 18th day of April, 1861.
The persistency with which the sis
ters denied that their brother was still
in life was most remarkable. They
could not even be trapped into admit
ting that they had brother. Imme-
ditaely after the war, while Virginia
was military district, somo Union
officers, stationed at Petersburg. prob :
ably learned that the sisters of Gen.
Thomas, living in Southampton, we're
in destitute circumstances as rasult
of the ravages of war. Tho officers,
one of whom Mt least he'd known Thcm-
as.at West Point, had an army wagon
loaded with household supplies of ev-
cry character and accompanied it to
the home of the sisters. The ladies
received him with stately courtesy
but with icy coldness. The officera