Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1911 — A Bit of Burned Paper [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Bit of Burned Paper

Two Sisters Struggle on Opposite Sides In the Civil War

By Margaret Howland

Now that we are entering on four years of semieentenu.ate of the civil war it is quite likely that certain secrets will come out that have lain hidden for fifty years. Our family lived on a plantation in Virginia which our ancestors had owned for years. For a few weeks during the first year of the wqr our bouse was on debatable ground, for Confederate camps were scattered south of us and Union camps 'north ot us. Sometimes we were inclosed in the picket line of the one and sometimes in the picket line of the other. When we were in Confederate territory our home was a rendezvous for Confederates, and when we were overlapped by the Federal forces they were equal-

ly welcome. The reason for this was that on the great issue we were a divided family. My sister Carey, who was then twenty-two. favored the Confederates, while I, a girl of nineteen. favored the Union cause. We were both reasonably attractive and had plenty of attention from the officers visiting our bouse. Father was a colonel in the Confederate army and my brother Sam a lieutenant in the Federal army. But neither of them was fighting in our neighborhood. Possibly we girls might have waited a long while for husbands had it not been for the great influx of soldiers into our neighborhood. The consequence of this influx was the engagement of Carey and myself soon after their coming, I to Captain Hunt, a Federal; Carey to Captain Fitzhugh, a Confederate officer. At one time when we were in the. Confederate lines the general commanding rode up to the bouse and asked my mother if she would give him a room in which to meet some of his officers. She offered the parlor, and he sent messengers with orders for the officers to report to him there at once. Within half an hour they had assembled and were all generals. I surmised that something important was on foot find wished that I might hear what it was in order to transmit it to my friends of the other side. Underneath the parlor in which the conference was held was the cellar. I went down there, but could hear nothing. There was no other position I could take to enable me to gain my information of what was being discussed in the parlor. Besides, Carey was watching me. When the council was ended and the generals had departed 1 went into the parlor and looked about, hoping to discover something—possibly a bit of paper that had been dropped—to indicate what had been the subject of discussion. There were some tiny pieces on the floor which I picked tip and put together, but only figures had been put on the whole before it had been torn to scraps. I kept the bits and found out afterward that they figured the strength of the different divisions of the Confederate army in that location. But there was not enough in this to satisfy me, and I looked further. A stove in the room, owing to the condition of the negroes consequent upon the excitement of war, had not been removed for the summer. In my hunt I opened its door. Lying on the ashes of previous wood fires was a fragment of paper the rest of which was burned. Taking It out, I saw that it was memoranda written in lead pencil. But unfortunately not- one-half remained. What was left of the writing was as follows: ' at daylight ... » flank lliams gbams mes neat hing Williams ’ . arker’s on west side - stltutlng left flank - signal of one gun fired by rias 1 battery. Reyn or feints on enemy’s right flank then Whether there was -anything of value in this fragment to the Union generals I did not know. I didn’t think there was, but I determined to deliver It Into their hands as soon as possible. Carey and I each bad a horse of our own, and, going out to the barn, I told

Bob, my boy for such work, to saddle him at once while I put on my riding skirt As I was riding past the house Carey came out with a suspicious look on her face, and called: “Where you going, Bet?’ “Fora ride.” ’ “Want me?" “Haven’t time to wait" With that I rgde away, preventing her asking me any more questions. Coming to a crossroad, whom should I see riding toward me but Carey’s fiance. Captain Fitzhugh. I knew he would see Carey in a few minutes and if I turned northward on the road he would tell her I had done so, and her suspicions that I was bent on some aid to the Federate would be confirmed. I therefore turned southward and when Fitzhugh bad ridden out of sight turned and rode the other ,way. My meeting Fitzhugh was unfortunate—not in his giving information of me to Carey, for when he reached the plantation he didn’t find her at home, but that it delayed me. and by this delay I fell into a trap. While riding in the open, looking sidewise, I saw a girl on horseback galloping across country and aiming for a point ahead of me A second glance told me she was Carey, and I knew at once that she was intending to cut me off and prevent my reaching the Union camps. I urged on my horse, but it was no use. Carey jumped her animal over a snake fence, lighting in the road. When I reached her she had taken position in the middle of it and was covering me with a revolver. “You can’t go on. Bet.” sue said. “Turn around and ride the other way.” “Well. 1 like that!” I exclaimed. “Do you mean you’re going to shoot your own sister?” “These are wartimes.” I wasn’t afraid of her shooting me, so I gave my horse the whip, but Carey was a splendid horsewoman and put herself in my way. Do what I could. I was unable to pass her. At last she seized my bridle rein and, leading my horse, started back toward the crossroads. “Where were you going?’ she asked. “I don’t know that I am accountable to you for where I go.” “Oh. yes. you are. I’m your older sister.” She slipped the pistol in her pocket—we had pockets in our dresses then—relying on her superior strength alone. Of course the revolver was all gammon. She wouldn’t use it on anybody, especially on her sister. She kept a tight hold on my horse’s rein, and it seemed to me that my object was surely thwarted when suddenly 1 saw a group of horsemen coming, and by the dark color of their uniform I knew they were Federals. Carey saw them too. It was too late for her to turn back wi|h me. and there was no road by which to evade them. When we met them and they saw a girl bolding another girl’s bridle rein, leading her along forcibly, they looked very much astonished. "Please release me, gentlemen,” I said. “I’m Union, and this girl is Confederate. I’m her prisoner.” The absurdity of the point didn’t strike Carey or me. but the troopers burst into a laugh. Then I smiled, but Carey looked awfully savage. She knew the fortunes of war had turned against her. Well, I told my story to the officer in command of the troops and showed him the partly burned paper. He seemed much Impressed and decided to take it to his general. Considering that Carey knew something about the find and might upset the situation, he concluded to take her and me with him. So we all rode together to the headquarters of the general commanding, and I gave him the paper. He and several of his aids undertook from their knowledge of the Confederate force confronting them to restore the burned words. This is the result of the attempt: The men will be under arms at daylight, Reyner’s division on the right flank at Crosby’s crossroads. Williams next on the left on Brigham’s farm. Calhoun comes next, his right wing touching Williams’ left: then Harker on west side of the hill, constituting left flank. On signal of one gun fired by Watriss’ battery Reynor feints on enemy’s right flank then— There was nothing more that was legible, but nothing more was needed to show that a dawn attack was to be made and the disposition and intention of the attacking force given. When it was to take place there was nothing to show, but the Union troops were ordered to be under arms every morning at 1 o’clock and in line of battle. Carey and I were detained at the Union headquarters that the Confederates might not know that the Federals bad information of the intended movement. We had not long to wait, for the very next morning the Confederates attacked their enemies. They found the Federals waiting for them and. instead of gaining a victory, suffered a disastrous defeat I won a double victory, the one I gained for the Federals—for the Union general said that without the information 1 brought him he would have doubtless been taken unawares and defeated—and in the fact that the Confederates having been driven off their ground, Carey was separated from her lover, while I was united with mine. It is hard for me to realize that half a century has passed since those eventful days; that 1. who am now a white haired, wrinkled old woman, was then a rosy cheeked girl, and of all who were enacting that particular page In the voluminous history of the civil war I alone remain. And now. as the half century anniversaries of the events of that struggle are coming round, I am living them over again, not In reality, but in feeling.

A FRAGMENT OF PAPER.