The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1905-1908, 1908-04-15
Women Of the Southern COnfederaCy
Mrs. Howard ]. CabeI Historian of Miss Coll. Rifle
Chapter u. D. c., Clinton.

over the victory Of Monterey. And
now on this May morning she sat be-
hind her coffee urn pouring coffee for
the three Confederate soldiers who sat
around her table
Col Farrquarson the brave colonel
of that gallant regiment. the Forty
first Tennessee; Lieut.. Cuddy Thomas,
the husband of her eldest granddaugh-
ter; Lent. Thomas had served in the
Army of Virginia, but was now at
home on furlough, as was also the sol
der who sat beside him, Mr.. Albert
Tulley. a scout of Beauregard's com
mand. Colonel FarrquarsOn had been a
Fort Donelson prisoner, exchanged In
September. 1862. This morning he
intended joining Gen. John Gregg's
brigade at the little town of Raymond,
eight miles distant. and his friends,
Lieut.. Thomas and Mr.. Tulley we're
going VIII, him. Mrs. Mead's grand
son, Peterfeld Jefferson. a lad scarcely
Is, fingered near listening to the talk
of the soldiers. A few hours later he
followed these gentlemen to the battle
field. Late in the forenoon a little
darky who was In the habit Of accom-
'nanying Porterfield everywhere return
Ted to Greenwood with this startling an
nouncement. Mars Field dun tuck his
gun and gone ID de war to line de
yarmy." It was 4 p. m. before the
thunder Of the guns ceased and almost
dusk when the daring boy galloped up
the carriage drive at Greenwood, his
chestnut curls covered with dust, his
face dark with the smoke OF battle, but
he dismounted with the air of a con-
/ quering hero He had that day fought
for the south. He said that General
Bragg had fallen, but could not tell
anything of the friends who had left us
at dawn. but feared they we're prison
ers. Colonel FarquarsOn's young wife
catching up her little son uttered a
low wailing cry. The ladies of the
family begun 10 weep. The children
screamed with all the power of their
lungs. In the midst of 1t all the tired
soldiers rode up unframed. Lieut..
Thomas held on his horse a little sol
der he had picked up on the battle
field who. like Peterfield Jefferson, had
left his home without his mother
knowledge to join the army. 1t was
] IN IlooEAbAI " 6Nl a ohA SChAAs AuA .
Mead cut away his coat sleeve and
carefully dressed the boys wounded
arm. During the bitter struggle her
capable fingers dressed many a bleed
ling wound. Spinning wheels and looms
were kept busy ON her plantation
Many a Confederate soldier wore com
Portable clothing made from this home.
sym cloth. A field of wheat was
PLANTED, and with the wheat straw
Mrs. Mead fashioned light straw hats
which the convalescing soldiers sitting
larOund hospital doors in the sunshine
found a far more comfortable head GOV
ering than the cloth army cap. Mrs
Mead also made quantities of wine
iellies, pickles and preserved fruits foi
the hospital On one occasion during
a Federal raid a party of soldiers
searched her house ostensibly to int
- i-s~ss---s4sz sfsti-al ui rs.Ccl -.
They finally entered the cellar, bu
soon came up again with wine. A.
they stood around the table drinking
the wine Mrs. Mead locked the cellar
door. In a few minutes a vigorous
b knocking came from within. A soldier
had been locked in Mrs Mead hur
riedly picking up her bunch of keys
managed to get the wrong key into the
lock, where it stuck fast. The noise
from within became a how o. terror
The imprisoned soldier was suffering
from an attack of fright His com
rades failing to understand the situa
ton, gathered around Mrs Mead with
tangry threats. At the head of the eel
lar steps there was an alcove, il
which she had placed a safe filled witt
jellies and preserved fruits. Above the
safe was a small window. Thinking
this window mode of escape, the sol
p der endeavored to climb to the top o.
the safe Losing his balance he fel
, to the cellar floor the safe on top o
him. The racket made by the howlinl
soldier, falling safe and breaking glass
was not small. | think Mrs. MeaC
would have suffered at the hands o
the angry, excited soldiers had she no
succeeded a moment later in unlockin,
the door. AS his comrades saw tht
soldier creep forth. his face, head ant
clothing smeared with blood, jelly ant
preserve juice their anger was changed
to mirth. He did not seem to appre
ciate their jeering laughter, as seatin.
himself en- the steps he began picking
from his cut cheek and wrists splin
ters Of shattered glass. This Yanke,
p may have been brave soldier on tn,
battlefield, but locked in a dim celia
in an enemy's country he was an ar
rant coward.
On an afternoon of this same year
1863 Mrs. Mead's plantation home wa
burned by the Federal troops On thi
. occasion six Of the old ante-bellun
homes in the vicinity Of Clinton. Miss.
were destroyed: Greenwood. Mos
HILL Campbell Place, Primrose. Ceda
Hill and Nortonia, indeed over th'
greater part Of the south in those darl
dhys the smoke of burning homes
drifted across the sky. Mrs Mead wa
a typical southern woman. She wa
the widow Of Gen. Cowles Mead. Gen
Andrew Jackson and his wife, tn,
Blenerhassatts and many others who's,
names make history were her persona
friends. She was a woman of indomit
able courage, always ready to face al
emergency. In 1918 after the awfu
massacre Of the whites by the Indian,
at Fort Minis, Mrs. Mead, a young cir
in her fathers home, was left alon,
one day. She saw approaching tn,
house six Indians While the Indians
in the vicinity of her home were appa
rently friendly. it was known that a
I l.