The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-05-24


! before night, leaving only a skirmish line
| between lis and the Yankees. Monday
| the skirmish lines fought all around our
| house, sometimes the Confcderates were
in the yard and sometimes the Yankees.
| The balls flew thick and fast many OF
| them striking the house. which, being OF
logs and stone, afforded US ample pro-
| lection We had no cellar. BY night we
had seen an armed Confederate soldier
for the last time That God has wiled
1T so is the only thing that has ever re-
! Conciled the writer TO the passing OF the
| Confederate soldier.
During the slsirmish on Monday a
| couple of Confederates came to our 'front.'
i gate and asked for something to eat. L
was OH the front porch and ran IN the
house to get 1t. When came out with
1t they said Don't bring 1t out here the
balls might hit you." Il replied. "They
rushed out with the food, but the whist
| ling. singing and spat of the balls made
| me only too glad to get back into the
| house. Late in the evening. when all
| was quiet and neither a Yankee nor q
| Confed. was anywhere in sight, Brother
Doras got upon the fence to survey the
surroundings. Scarcely was he up before
from the direction in which the Confed-
crate had retired, they thinking, no
doubt, that he was a Yankee.
BY Tuesday the Yankees, realizing
that the Confederates were all gone, be-
gan to pour in on us to loot and to. pill
large. We applied to the officers for a
guard but they replied that as our house
lay outside of their picket line they could
NOT give us guard for Mosby might
pick them up.
Language falls me to portray even
family what we had to take. endure and
suffer fortthe next two weeks from that
Goddess hoard fulfilling to the very let
ter Sheridan's Instructions to lay waste
the Valley so that crow flying over
would have TO carry It's rations. All day
luf:, they would ipillage and destroy and
at night they would retire within their
picket line. One day quite a number
were catching chickens when a man in
fine equippage, evidently an officer. rode
up and in n rough and commanding tone
ordered them to quit. and he drove them
out of the yard. Then he said to my
mother, Madam these men will return
and take all of your chickens. l cannot.
stay here and keep them away, 50 You
let your two little boys (Doras and NY
self catch as many as they cam and |
| will buy them from YOU" We caugnt5a.
dozen or 50, and, tying them together,
handed chem up to him. and without;
Saying thank you he put spurs to his
horse and rode off. When we attempted
to eat our meals at the table rs usual,
| they came in the house and took the vict-,
| unls off the table, dishes and all. We
| soon discovered that at the rate things
| were going, we soon would have literally
nothing to eat, so ut night father, sDoras
and buried pot Of butter, hid Jars Of
| preserves in rock piles. buried our meat
| In the ash heap carried one barrel of
| flour out in the field and put 1t IN an old
| lime kiln and covered 1t over with rocks,
| and hid another barrel In a secret closet
in an old unoccupied house Had we not
done this I verify believe we would have
| had to leave the premises IN search Of
something to eat j saw my father pick
scraps of meat out of the soap grease and
| eat them. We had to prepare and eat
| our meals at night During the day we
could eat only what we could carry in
| our pockets.
WAR is IL. Ha,
/ One day n drunken soldier cooked his
| gun and put it to my fathers breast, and
| with an oath said that II you do not let
me put my hand In your pocket | Will
| kin you. At that my father pulled his
vest open and said, ~ reckon j am as
] ready TO die as YOU are to kill me- Just
| then another solder jerked the gun away.
| and at the same time my sister, now Mrs.
/ Britton, raised n window and threw. the
wash basin at the drunken soldier, hop
| Ing, ! suppose thereby to attract his at
/ tcntion He whirled around and struck
| at her through the window with his gun,
| breaking the sash and Knocking the
! broken glass all over her.
l BY their acts and language, generally,
/ they proved what one of their great gem
erals said and acted, to7wt .NWar.i is hell
/ This plaging,. looting, destroying set
/ would have pckets out for fear OF Mosby
i One day twenty-five or fifty negroes,
coming after hay on mules. came out OF
q the woods near by in a gallon. and with
a yell one of the ipickets fired his gun
fandemonium ensned. Men rushed here
ana there as If they had suddenly gone
, mad Some seized their bride ,rens anC
vainly attempted to pull their horses
over the yard fence, D strong plank fence
some threw down their guns and yellot
out II surrender" One poor fellow act
4 ually ran against a tree with such force
that he literally tore off one side of his
face making sickening sight.
/ Well God be praised the end came
at last one morning We found the Yam
KEGS had all gone, and their camp W,
found as completely deserted as TIL
1'rojans found the Greek camp befor,
. walls Of Troy Then we took n Ions
breath of relief and pulled ourselves to
. gether, and surveyed our surroundings
! ,Wc round we lau Htsfall9 DolHlHS eN
] cepting what we had hid We had neithe
; horse. COW, sheep, hog, turkey. goose no
Z chicken: no hay. no wheat, no corn, n
!, straw no fodder; nor apples, nor peache,
: nor damsons, not even any bees wit
4 their honey.
. q Save for the provisions we had hi
d and a hundred or SO dollars IN gold m
u father had managed to save, starvatio
d would have stared us in The face durin
the winter Of lSG4'65, Not grain o
:, wheat did we SET sowed in the fall q
l. 1861, set we cut eighty bushels of VIOLIN
I teer wheat in the summer of 1864 thong
o we had plowed not a furrow, Our Heay
I emily Father knew we had need OF it,
3 N. W, JONES,
/
IS 7L c;L, a. h,an, h1.rLot