The National tribune., 1906-02-15
STONE RIVER.
4 Southern woman's Memories of the
Battle.

er things she said:
THE first morning of the Stone River
battle firing was heard about daylight.
AS we were seated at our breakfast table
soldier in gray rode up to the door
and called 10 my father. who was
physician, that he was wanted at the
| hospital. where the wounded soldiers
were being carried as rapidly as possi-
BILE. My father went at once, telling
us (the women of the family to be in
readiness to go If we should be sent for
as nurses. We set things i'll order, and
in few hours were called to go to the
hospital. Soule College, where all Muir
| freesboro girls had been educated, had
been turned into military hospital,
and the large assembly hail that had
once known only young, bright faces
and girlish laughter was now filled with
wounded and dying men and the sounds
| heard were groanS and curses. They
had been placed on pallets on the floor,
that being the best that could be done
| for them in y hurry. Every woman
| that could leave home at all was there
doing what she could for our own SOL
diers. details of nurses being sent in
| by Uncle Sam for the Union wounded.
or else ] am afraid they would have
| Jared badly in that rebellous city.
"in all the population there was only
one family of any prominence that SYM
pathized in any degree with the Union.
| For some unaccountable reason the FL
liotts, who had lived there always,
| joined the Republican ranks. and are
staunch Republicans to this day, and |
distinctly remember Miss Jennie Elliott
on her knees beside a wounded Yankee,
| trying to prevail ON him to take some
milk.
THE fight continued for some days,
and churches and halls and every avail
able house was an improviScd hospital.
Those were days of terror and dread, of
! l,o,. "a GCha 1a1 and
death. The whole town was hospital,
the people all mourners and the place
one vast cemetery. To-day there lie
buried in the National Cemetery at that
place 1000 Federal dead, an everlasting
monument to the bravery and marks
manship of the Johnny reb.
so many things impressed my young
mind then that shall never forget. One
poor fellow l remember so distinctly
had one side of his face torn off, and
was suffering so intensely and begging
to be taken TO a private house A neigh
Dor Of my mothers was waiting on him
especially and trying to have him
moved TO her house, when he was seized
| with conVulSionS and died in a few
moments. This lady was the mother
OF VIII Allen DromgOole, OF literary
fame.
Il had two girl friends who We're
Waiting on the wounded, and each had
one to whom she was paying especial
attention. One had his right arm taken
off and was delirious and raving. She
was bathing his face and using every
means to soothe and comfort him. She
finally had him moved to her fathers
house. Here he conyalesced. She fed
him for a long time with her own hand,
and looked after him generally until
he was able to leave for home. If |
were writing a romance l would say
they married and lived happily ever
afterward, but these are stern facts.
and they married different parties. But
from that time To the present he never
forgot his kind Nurse and did many
kindnesses for her.
THE other friend (the girls were
sisters) had her charge moved TO her
fathers home, too, and cared for him
: most faithfully for months, until he was
able to return TO the army. After all
that neither did they marry each other,
but to-day she Is the wife of G. H. Bask-
EFT, editor of the Nashville Banner.
zone incident Of that fight came a
| little nearer to me in a personal way
than any other. My only brother was
and was in the fishr from the beginning
TO the end. One day while my father
} was busy in the hospital a courier came
to him in haste and said: Doctor, l
am afraid Col. Robinson is hurt; his
horse has just come running into town
with the saddle and bride on My
father dropped everything, of course,
and hurried out TO the field, expecting
. to find his son shot TO death; but when
he arrived he found him safe. and he
explained that one of his men fell mOr-
: tally shot, and he jumped off his horse
To give his comrade some help and his
! horse gaIloped into town Of his own
/ accord.
"Oh those days Of anguish and de-
r spair, Of suspense ard anxiety, of sup
r plcation and prayeri Bear in mind
r that the Murfreesboro men were in that
fight, and cannon and every volley Of
musketry that was fired, thinking my
husband or my son or my brother may
have been slain with that report.
r There can be no conception of the
4 utter desolation, the entire destruction
2 of everything that could be destroyed
4 for miles and miles of that beautiful
= country. There was not one single
L house of any description left standing.
c There was not a panel of fence on any
e of those large farms; fields that a few
= days before were filed with harvests
l of wheat and corn We're nothing but 50
s much mud and water. There was not
( living thing to be seen on the face OF
: the earth except the people, and how
e they continued TO live, move and have
S their being ! cannot tell myself, and
e was there all the time, too.
IN this connection | should like 10
v a
e Confederate a few weeks after the bat
e tie. Capt. Tom Fowler OF my brothers
o regiment, and with whom / had al
S ways been more or less associated, was
: badly wounded in that battle and car
e ried out in the Smyrna neighborhood
$ 10 miles from the city. After a short
t time a crowd OF girls and boys decided
= to make him visit We were told that
+ he was carried to the home of Mr.
= Davis, where his leg had been ampu-
s tated. Horses and buggies We're hard
o to get, but we managed to get up enough
: to carry three couples out. We found
s in an Office building in the yard, very
/. jolly and so glad TO see us We spent
n the day, and were Hospitality enter
o tanned at the dinner hour. This Mr.
d and Mrs. Davis were the father an6
y mother of noble Sam Davis, who wen
l. down to death rather than dishonor.
e shall always feel proud and bonoreC
d that / was allowed to eat at the table
(, of the parents Of such n son. There
J. was one young man who Went with oui
e crowd that we felt was not very de-
P, serving, as he shirked going into the
d army. However, he had a nice horse
II and buggy and / agreed TO go with him
n He was quite pedantic in his manner
e and we always laughed at his stiltet
II efforts in conversation. ! was particu
e lary amused as we drove on toward
smyrna, right through the battlefield
il at his Condensed remarks. That wa
II several weeks after the battle, but tn,