The National tribune., 1910-05-12
rHE REREI, CAvAL,RY ENTERING CHAMBERsBURG.

bellion to our Government was heard.
About this time our home life was
stirred by a visit from an aunt and her
young daughter from far-away Penn
rsyivania. When they returned / ac-
cornpanied them. 1t was planned that
I should live with them in their home,
and by attending a young ladies' semi
nary complete my education. After a
Journey over plains and rivers, noun
stains and valleys. I was duly entered as
"a pupil in Rosedale Seminary at Cham
bersburg, Pa
= The war cloud had grown darker and
deeper: the lightning began to flash and
the thunders to roll. Our Nation was
engaged in actual warfare; father
against son, brother against brother,
trying to solve the black and white
sproblem that confronted them. Our
beautiful Cumberland Valley being in
the southern part of Pennsylvania, near
the Maryland line, became the border
land between the two factions, and we
soon learned what it meant to live in
/ q war-troubled country.
T Rumors would spread that the rebels
were coming into our State, and the
7. Governor would send militiamen to pro-
tect the borders. So hastily were they
sometimes sent that no provision could
be made for feeding them, and on their
! arrival at Chambersburg the Court
House bell would be rung to notify the
q citizens who would be requested to
bring bread, coffee. meat, etc, to the
public square, called the Diamond" to
feed a hundred or two of hungry men.
Then everything would grow quiet again
and the troops would be recalled.
Many times the militia would hardly
aAget out of sight when a body of rebel
cavalry would make a dash across the
Potomac River and raid our valley.
capturing horses, darkies, clothing and
everything they needed for their army.
y I concluded they also took some things
that were not greatly needed by the
soldiers. / saw more than one soldier
on horseback with variety of hoop
skirts, which were then in vogue, over
his head and a bundle of baby shoes
over his arm
r When the rebels entered our town
the Court House bell would be rung
again, and this time the citizens were
ordered TO bring provisions to the Dia-
mond for men and horses under penal
~ Of having them enter houses and
stables to help themselves. We thus
= had to feed our enemies as well as our
I. own men. When the enemy had gone
again all would be quiet for a few
weeks. Thus the time passed, our town
alternately filled with the blue and the
gray and our minds with hopes and
!, fears, and 1 found little time or in
clination TO settle down to school work
= A hospital was fitted up, and its first
Z occupant was wounded Union soldier
He was made a hero of by all the young
& ladies of our town. They wed with
e each other in taking him delicacies and
flowers, and so many offers were made
TO write letters home for him that he
privately told one of the guards he
would have to adopt some fathers and
mothers in order to supply the demand
Y But upon learning that our hero" was
only straggler and had been robbing a
q hen roost and had been shot by the
irate owner, he was left to the tender
mercies of the hospital nurses.
g Another incident / well remember
was about young Captain, one of the
militia, who, resplendent in his new blue
uniform. just suited 10 his blonde beau
, ty, accompanied me to church one Sun
day morning. As the service progressed
he became so sleepy that after noddins
f. fantastically awhile he settled down into
a good, sound sleep, and snored so loud
g. ly that was obliged TO shake him with
both hands to awaken him. My face
burns yet at the recollection of the
amused congregation.
Later, in June, 1863 came the inva.
sion of Pennsylvania, when Gen. Lee in
his grand effort to retrieve the waning
power OF the Confederacy brought his
army into our valley and passed thru
Chambersburg, only to meet defeat al
gettysburg, 90 miles southeast of us.
All sorts of rumors preceded theii
coming. 1t was said that it would not
DE safe Tor young girls TO remain in
town after the arrival of the rebel
army, so uncle and aunt sent my cousin
and me out into the country for safety
We Joined the 'skedaddIers," as they
were called, and after all these years
the memory of that ride stands out
boldly in my mind. We were in a
spring wagon, with small trunk to
hold our belongings. My cousin had a
little black dog Tip. she wanted to
smuggle along without her fathers
knowledge. We vainiy tried to keep
Tip covered with our dresses, but he