The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1917-02-22
WITH AUNT BECKY

Some Incidents of War Times-When
1 nankee Soldiers Visited the Old
Home-Oats and Other Things De-
( stroyed by the C0ld-Health Much
Improved
correspondence of The Robesonian.
0ld Fork (Maxton, R. ~, Feb. IS
Beng under promise to some of
your little readers to write some in
cidents of "war tines, I must not
disappoint them, thereby betraying
thelr confidence in "Aunt Becky. ID
love all of my little nieces and neph-
eWs and it will afford me genuine
enjoyment to contribute to their
pleasure. The only difficulty in ac-
cedlng to their request arises from
E,y uncertainty as to what they might
IKE best, but I will start out by
telling them some of the things the
Yankees did at our home ard other
places near by.
1here was no one at home on thai
day, except father, mother and nv
llltle sister. Our only brother, aged
II, was IN the war; my eldest sister
and l had gone away off in the pin
,ey woods with an uncle and cousin,
carrying with US all of our mules and
horses, except two pretty colts, a
bay and sorrel. Lou, the bay colt,
was beauty about two wears old.
and my father had given her to me.
because she had distemper when a
tiny little thing and l made cruel
and fed her every day till she got
we'll: Nellie, the little sorrel, was
pretty, too. Her mother was blind
and was left in the stable as father
thought the Yankees would not want
2 bind horse, but she was big and
lat, and one of them put his old lame
mule in the stable and took old Mel
lie out, placed his saddle and bride
on her, mounted, and went gallop-
ing off across the deep Bull branch
lie made her go plunging into the
water, and she fell down and threw
him over her head, giving him a very
/. cold bath. The little negro bows were
watching, and when they told me
about it afterward I lust laughed
and was glad of it. They were Seat
ed at the breakfast table, father
mother and sister, that morning
when they heard the iron latch On thu
gate click: and into the yard the
/ Yankees flocked, riding up to tn,
/ very steps of the piazza, and on
who was drunk tried to ride into tn,
i house. My mother asked him no
to do that, and he said, "Why, mad
an, when I am at home I take thi
J. horse into my parlor." I doubt if h
i had any parlor, Or home. either; h.
may have been some old foreigner
! who was hired to come over here an,
help to whip US, because the Yam
ices could not eo it by themselves
One of them went flying to tn
back Of the house to see if anybod
was running off to escape them, bu
my old father was no coward. H
had been in the war, too, and wa
not afraid of them. Then they 90
among the poultry, after the chicken
: and guineas, and hunting eggs, whic
they had our black nanny to COO
for their breakfast. The guinea
, flew all up in the trees. They coul
I. not catch them, but shot them dow
and carried them away, strung acros
the saddles. One of them wanted t
take off my pretty colt, but the ne
:. gro boys told them, she had neve
been ridden and would throw then
7 Sc he decided to leave her. They tol
him a big yarn. She was perfectl
gentle and they had been riding he
! themselves.
They took meat from the smoke
, house and lot of clothing and be
+ clothing from the house. They wer
5 to black mammy's house and scoot
ed up the loft, where they found
, trunk of clothing belonging to m
aunt; took her silk dresses, made sac
4 die blankets out of some of them an
4 tore the rest into strips and tied thel
= to their horses names and tails.
They asked father where his GU
: was. He refused to tell them, br
e one Of the negro boys said he kne
: where it was, as he had helped "Mal
: Duncan" to hide it and thew wer
Il with him and got it from the bar
: loft where it was hidden underneat
v some fodder.
: About 10 o'clock they rode ava
: across Bull branch to the home of
kind neighbor, Mr.. John A. Sander
= who had bought a farm near OF
: home and had brought his negrot
: and horses up here from near Wi
q r -i1' c+on to keep the Yankees fro,
: "etting them. But the negroes a
ii.ct, -, off and gone back to Wi
e mington, and he was all alone. t
= was spunky, highstrung old Soutl
+ ern gentleman, and fused at tt
Yankees and they treated him vel
o badly; smashed his fine, handson
A furniture, took all of his provision
/ and threw his beautiful gilt edg'
+ and golden clasp family Bible O
J. into a mud hole, and stamped it
e pieces with their boots. Then th'
t. pulled off his shoes and took the
o away and made him trot in fro
# of their bayonets about mile to t
s. home of another neighbor, Maj.
le H. Mcqueen. At one place tn
e found a barrel of homemade So
v in the smoke house and emptied
% into the only we'll there was, fro
s. which the family got water to dri1
A. and to give to the horses and Gov
Now this was all very mean a