The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1905-1908, 1908-04-15
garrison vas captured and pa

e garrison was captured and pa
~o5mmissary stores were thrown
open to the town; negroes and whites
loaded wheelbarrows and filed baskets
with delicacies they had not seen tor
many a day. Clothing. tents, blankets.
medicines, ETC., we're destroyed whole
sale.
Early in the afternoon a livery sta
bic which had been converted into an
arsenal was fired. and when the
flames reached the barrels OF powder
and piles OF loaded shells a terrific ex-
plOsion occurred that shook every
house in the town like a mighty earth
quake and broke thousands OF panes
of glass Sixty we're shattered at the
commanding officers headquarters.
The roof OF the arsenal was cut on
clean and lifted bodily into the air. All
the afternoon sharp reports we're heard
as the FIRE ate down to fresh explO-
siyes, and shot and fragments Of shell
we're thrown into many yards and
buried themselves in the soft earth. to
he dug up forty years later by happy
children who wonder why grand
mother drops a tear on the rusty old
thing"
L was the red-letter day In the an
nails of Holly Springs and a signal
event in the history Of the war, delay
ing the capture of Vicksburg and the
cutdng on OF one of our main sources
Of supply by way Of Red river into
UeUs
threatened with starvation and In
dire neeo Of supplies. Grants army
\ #urna oach. Az come one happily OBJ
req The snake vas pulled back BY
IL IzE glorious for the Holly Springs
peode ehile It lasted. but the revul-
sion Of feeling when the gray coats
rode out of town was indeed hard to
bear, for about the middle of the after
noon the gallant sOuthrons disappeared
with q suddenness as abrupt as their
early morning entrance.
n few days GraLa S army entered
the town, mad as hornets and ready to
visit on anybody within reach their
grudge against the Confederates. AS
they sullenly passed through the
streets ladies looked at them through
the window blinds and were greeted
with, Don't peek through the shutters;
ejme out and show your colors!"
A part Of their wrath descended on
poor old Col. Fox, who was court-mar.
tailed and dismissed from the service.
No sentence perhaps would have
pleased him quite so well. But the
people came In for share of it. AS
soon as night fell torches were APP
piled to many building; all vacant
houses were burned. Next door stood
the house from which the sick girl had
been moved 1t was set fire to three
times and only saved by the two little
boys, who dragged out and extinguish-
ed the burning hay and other COM
bustible. Indeed those children con-
sttuted themselves special detectives
AMI body guard to the neighborhood.
Trunks were packed ready for in
slant fight, and that first night after
Grants return fourteen fires we're in
sight in various directions at one time.
But the reign of terror was brief. and
the town soon settled down to an occu-
patiun by Federal troops.
% you ask who the farmer really
ives and how do | know these things?
IDS name shall withhold. but he
staE = favrvrs. - afa--l-.tzts .-s-.. =
belonged to the Confederate army. and
t know whereof l speak because / was
there, but whether / was an actor In
the drama or
only a poor little mouse, nam,
That lived in the wall Of the house,
man,
/ shall not tell you. but If you care TO
fnd out read between the lines.
CORA E. CAREY.
Jackson, Tenn.