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R. M. (Richard Miller) Devens.

The pictorial book of anecdotes and incidents of the war of the rebellion, civil, military, naval and domestic ... from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--The federal union; it must be preserved! ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous wor

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military suit, with knapsack on her back,
and canteen and haversack by her side !
She was indeed a romantic feminine on a
^ bender.' Her disguise was seen through
at once, and she was sent to the guard



house, to be from there sent back to Wash-
ington.

♦

Sixth Tffaasachnaetts Begiment** Daughter.

Little Miss Lizzie, the Daughter of the
Massachusetts Sixth Regiment, looked
charmingly in her regimental costume, as
"the child," and was an object of most,
peculiar interest to all who had an oppor-
tunity of observing her pretty form and
features amid such novel surroundings.
She was but ten years old, yet from the
time of her first appearance in camp, she
proved a great comfort to the soldiers in
the hospital, visiting them daily, and dis-
pensing among the unfortunate many a
little delicacy, as well as going frequently
through the streets of the camp with straw-
berries, cherries, etc. Sometimes she dis-
tributed as many as sixteen boxes to a
company — the market-man, of course,
driving his cart to each lent.

The presentation speech accompanying
the gift of the uniform, was made by Sei>
geant Crowley, of LowelL The " Daugh-
ter " took the box containing the dress,
and, with canteen upon her person, she*
tripped lightly into the ' hospital ' tliat was
close at hand, and in a few moments ap-
peared in her new and beautiful attire.
Standing upon the green, with the beauti-
ful silk banners on each side, she addressed
the regiment as follows : —

" Comrades — ^when you took me, & stran-
ger, and adopted me as your daughter, I
had but little idea of what you were doing,
and what my duties were; but having
been in camp with you two months, and
learned to know you all, I have learned
to love you all, and I feel that you all love
me, because there are none of you when we
meet but have a kind word and a pleasant
smile forme. And now that you have put
me in uniform, I feel still more that I belong
to you, and I will try never to forget it But
you do not expect me to talk, but, like this
splendid treasure, which I shall prize as a
remembrance to the last day of my life —
which is full to relieve the parched lips
of my sick and wounded comrades — so



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536



THE BOOK OF ANECDOTES OF THE UEBELLION.



shall my heart be a canteen full of love and
sympathy for each and all of you. Com-
rades, thank you — thank you — thank you."
The little daughter delivered the speech
hi a very clear and distinct manner, and
at its conclusion the regiment gave her
three cheers and a " tiger," and escorted
her to head-quarters.



Amours and Fancies of the Camp.
Shortly after the arrival of a certain
Union regiment in the suburbs of Martins-
burg, Va., the squad messing in one of the
tents near a dwelling, were listeners to
most beautiful music The miknown vo-
calist sjuig in tones so soft, so pathetic,
and so melodious, that the volmiteers
strained their ears to drink in every note
of the air. In daytime they went by
squads past the dwelling, but saw no soul.
Once they pursued a sylph-like figure to
the very gate, but, alas ! she was not tlic
lady sought for. And so they lived on,
each night hearing the music repeated,



Amours and nmcies of the Camp.

and, when it ceased, ambition and worldly
interest went out with them so that iheir
dreams were filled with fancies of the un-
seen face.

One night, gathered together, the voice
struck up again.



" By jove," said one, " this is agonizing.
I can't stand it. She must be discovered ! "

A dozen eager voices took up the re-
mark, and a certain amorous youth was
delegated to recoimoiter the place. He
crept on tiptoe toward the dwelling, leaped
the garden pales, and finally, undiscovered,
but very pallid and remorseful, gained the
casement.

Softly raising his head, he peeped within.
The room was full of the music. He
seemed to grow blind for the moment.

Lo! prone upon the kitchen hearth,
sat the mysterious songstre.^8 — an ebony-
hued negress, scouring the tin kettles !

The soldier's limbs sank beneath him,
and the discovered, looking up, said, " Go
'way dar, won't ye, or I'll shy de fryin'
pan out o' de winder ! " The soldier left
— ^but not to dream, perchance !



Contempt for Confederate Lines, Paroles, etc
The heroic conduct of Mrs. Rickett8,
the wife of Captain James B. Ricketts,
who was severely wounded at the battle
of Bull Run, became the theme of much
and deserved praise. Mrs. Ricketts pushed
through the Confederate Imes alone when
she heard tliat her husband was captured
by the enemy, and took her place with him
in the hospital, remaining there with wo-
man's patience and constancy. When she
arrived in Ricl.mond, General Stuart asked
her to ^ign a parole of honor. She con-
temptou>ly refused. He persisted in writ-
ing it and handed her the document* She
tore it up instantly, and carried the frag-
ments to her husband. When Captain
Ricketts was carried to Richmond, crowds
flocked to see the brave commander of
" Sherman's Battery," as they were accus-
tomed to call it.



Mrs. Boufflas's Noble Besistanoe to Southern
Persuasion.

It could very safely be asserted that
few persons of the female sex were placed
in a more trying political and personal po-
sition, or sacrificed more in the way of



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637



devotion to tbe Union, than did Mrs.
Douglas, the widow of the great deceased
Illinois Senator. She persistently refused
to entertain the proposition forwarded to
her by a special messenger under a flag
of truce from the Governor of North
Carolina, asking that the two sons of the
late Senator — by his first marriage — be
sent South to save their extensive estates
in Mississippi from confiscaion. If she
refused, a large property would be taken
from the chilch^n, and, in view of her own
reduced circumstances, they might thus
eventually be placed in a straitened pe-
cuniary situation. Here, then, was an
appeal made directly to her tender regard
for them, which, in case of her refusal,
would work disastrously against them in
afier years. But her answer was worthy
of herself and of her late distinguished
husband, viz., ' If the rebels wish to make
war upon defenceless children, and take
away the all of little orphan boys, it mu t
be so ; but she could not for an instant
.think of surrendering them to the enemies
of their country and of their &ther.* His
last words were, ' Tell them to obey the
Constitution and the laws of the country,'
and Mrs. Douglas would not make her-
self the instrument of disobeying his
dying injunctions. The children, she said,
belonged to Illinois, and must remain in
tlie North.



Verbal Sharpahootlnir.

^Are you a Massachusetts soldier!"
said a woman elegantly dl'essed, in Balti-
more, to one wearing the Federal uniform.

*' I am, madam," was the courteous an-
swer of the officer thus addressed.

** Well, thank God, my husband is in
the Southern army, ready to kill such hire-
lings as you ! "

^ Do you not miss him, madam ! ** said
the officer.

** Oh, yes, I miss him a good deal.**

" Very well, madam, we are going South
in a few days, and will try to find him and
bring him hack here with his companions.*'



" You are from that miserable Boston,**
was the angry reply, " I suppose, where
there is nothing but mob law, and they
burned down the Ui-suline Convent — the
Puritan bigots!"

^ Some such thing did happen in
Charlestown, many years ago, when I was
a boy, — ^at least I have heard so, and am
very sorry for it. But can you tell me
what street that is ? "

"Pratt street," was the unsuspecting
reply.

^^ What happened there^ madamy X>n the
I9th of April tliis very yearf^'

He got no answer from the angry seces-
sionist, but the loud ifhouts which went up
from the Union bystimders, who generally,
though not exclusively, were of the hum-
ble order, atoned for her silence. The
same ofiicer, riding in a chaise with a gen-
tleman who, to his surprise, showed se-
cession proclivities, but was courteous in
their demonstration, was told by the gen-
tleman that the horse which was drawing
them was called * Jeff Davis,' in honor of
that distinguished rebel, and asked if he
' did not object to driving such a horse ? *
' Oh, no, sir,' was the instant reply, * to
drive Jeff. Davis is the very purpose of
our coming South.* The secession gentle-
man imitated his political sister in preserv-
ing a discreet silence.



The XTnnttered Thought of a Dyin^ Soldier.

"Bring me my knapsack," said a young
soldier, who lay s'ck in one of the hos-
pitals at Washington, — "Bring me my
knapsack.'*

" What do you want of your knapsack ? "
inquired the head lady of the band of
nurses.

" I want my knapsack," again said the
dying young man.

His knapsack was brought to him, and,
as he took it, his eye gleamed with pleas-
ure, and his face was covered all over
with a smile, as he brought out from it his
hkiden treasures.

" There," said he, "that is a Bible from



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538



THE BOOK OP ANECDOTES OP THE REBELLION.



my mother. And this — "Washington's
Farewell Address — is the gift of my
father. And this,*' — his voice failed.

The nurse looked down to see what it
was, and there was the fiice of a beauti-
ful maiden.

" Now," said the dying soldier, "I want
you to put all these under my pillow."
She did as she was requested, and the poor
young man laid him down on them to die,
requesting that they should be sent to his
parents when he was gone. Calm and
joyful was he in dying. It was only going
from night to endless day — from death to
eternal glory. So the young soldier died.



Spirit of a Kentucky GlrL
Captain Claypool, living about ten miles
from Bowling Green, was commander of a
company of Home Guards. He had the
guns of his company at his house, but on
hearing of the arrival of the Confederate
General Buckner at Bowling Green, he
sent them to Colonel Grider's camp in a
neighboring county. The next day a squad,
detached by Buckner, called at his house,
and, finding only his daughter, demanded
the guns of her. She answered that they
were not there, and that, if they were, she
wouldn't give them up. They handed her
Greneral Buckner's order for the weapons ;
this she tore up instantly before their faces.
They went to the bucket and took each a
drink of water, whereupon she threw the
rest of the water out of the bucket and
commenced scouring the dipper. They con-
cluded they could do no better than to go
back and tell their General about their
adventure and get fresh instrueticms.



jMughaMB Arrest of Colonel H. by Two
Totmff Ladles.

While secessionism was so nunpant in
Kentucky, about the first year of the re-
bellion, the daughter and niece of Colonel

H , an influential man in that region,

concluded that they would have a little
fun in the politico-military line. To carry
out their plan, they dressed themselves in



men's apparel, procured an old shot gun,
and proceeded to the field where the Col-
onel was occupied. One of the girls, shot
gun in hand, took her position a few paces
off, while the other stepped up and laid
her hand on him and said :

" By the authority and in the name of
the United States Army, I arrest you as
guilty of treason."

" Gentlemen, in the name of God, what
have I done ? " said the astonished Colonel

He however submitted without resist-
ance, and in reply to his question was told
that he would learn all about the case,
and have all things satisfactorily explaiiied
at Camp Chase, — which caused the Colo-
nel to turn very white. They all walked
silently to the house, where the children,
being well posted in the matter, got into
a titter. This soon caused a loud burst
of laughter from all hands except the
Colonel, who was very belligerent when
he found that he had actually been arrested
by two young ladies, his daughter and

niece.

»

Hiding their Inftuit Uoses. ,

Riding up to a house one day in Scriven
county, Greorgia, during Sherman's march
through that State, a Union soldier met an
old woman and three grown-up dau^ters
at the door, uttering frantic appeals for
help. On inquiring of the old woman
what was wrong, she pointed to a burning
cotton-gin, and exclaimed,

" Put it out ! You uns are bumin' me
child ! "

On asking where the child was, the
s(^er succeeded in learning that it was in
the burning gin-house.

Away he went, with some men, to res-
cue the innocent, and at the door met a
ten-year-old boy, who, badly singed, issued
forth from the fiery furnace. Returning
to the house, inquiry was made as to how
and why the boy came there.

Putting the old pipe between her lips,
to compose her nerves, the old lady at last
ventured an explanation : —



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589



" Well," said she, " we uns heered that
you uns killed all the little bojs, to keep
them out from growing up to fight ye, and
we hid 'em."

Strange as this may seem, among the
poor, ignorant dupes of the Southern lead-
ers in rebellion, it was nevertheless a com-
mon belief that the Yankees made it a
practice to slay all the male children they
could lay their hands upon in the South.
In consequence of this, there were found
many in&nt Moseses and Jefl& hid away
in cellars and comcribs — though none in

bulrushes.

♦

Biffht Word in the Biffht Flaoe.

Ab a large-hearted Union lady, resi-
dent in Ck>Tington, Kentucky, wife of
a gentleman of the same character, was
distributing a lot of fine i^ples, of which
she had a half-bushel basket full, to the
soldiers encamped back of that city, she
gave an apple to one soldier of a group
who Inhibited peculiar emotion as she
handed it to hiij^, observing at the same
time that it was a pleasant thing to receive
gifts from a lady. At this she asked him
whether he had a wife, and immediately
his eyes filled with tears, which rolled
down his cheeks as he replied,

^' Yes, Madam, I have a wife and six
children."

Observing his emotion, her own eyes
rapidly filling at the sight, she quickly re-
marked to him ;

" Well, keep up a good heart"

^^ Good heart ! yes, Madam, that is my
name ; Goodheart is my name I "

Upon the instant their tears were chang-
ed to smiles, and Goodheart, Uie lady, and
the soldier^s companions, broke into a

hearty laugh.

♦

<<Uy Son-Has ha Oome P"
There is something most touching in the
following narration of the intensity of
maternal sorrow and love, — a grandeur, in-
deed, in the conduct of this poor Imie
mother, whose afiection had made her mad,



and who thus yearned for one her poor
faded eyes could never see again. Dur-
ing the progress of the war, her son, a
member of one of the Connecticut regi-
ments, was taken prisoner and confined
with other Union soldiers at Andersonville,
G^rgia. A short time afterwards sever-
al were exchanged. His mother, in Con-
necticut, hearing of it, and believing that
he was among the number, left her deso-
late home, and went to Camp P ,

which was situated two miles from An-
napolis, to seek her treasure among the
boat loads landed on the Severn. She
waited, wearily waited, day after day, for
the coming of her boy ; but though many
came, he was not among them. ^' Hope
deferred maketh the heart sick," and so
it was with her. Broken-hearted by con-
stantly recurring disappointments, her
mind, already shaken by grief, at last gave
way, and thus months rolled away, and
with them the events borne on the wings
and waves of time.

During all this period she continued to
visit the office of Dr. Vanderkieft, the
sui^eon in charge, to ascertain whether
any boat loads of released prisoners had
arrived. When, finally, the last detach-
ment came in, she seemed overjoyed, and
went, with throbbing heart, from skeleton
to skeleton, scanning them eagerly, anx-
iously. But, her son was not there ; and
each day she went, heavy and weary in
spirit, back to her home. The good-heart-
ed surgeon — such he truly was — although
he knew and had told her many times that
her son had been officially reported as
dead, still answered her every day with
the same monotonous, but very kindJy
spoken, " No ! "

Thus came this broken-hearted, shatter-
ed, but loving mother, every day, alwap
provided with a shirt, a pair of drawers,
pantaloons, boots and cap, and when in-
formed, regularly, that her son had not
yet arrived she would go down the grav-
eled path across the lawn to the very end
of the long wharf. There she stood look-



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THE BOOK OF ANECDOTES OF THE REBELLION.



ing over the broad waters of the Chesa-
peake for fully an hour. Clad ever in the
same neat dress and closely fittmg bonnet,
she would gaze wistfully, longingly, over
the blue waste, as if her very eagerness
would hasten on the bark she imagin-
ed would bear back to her her child.
But her tear-swollen eyes at last grew
dim, her strength failed, and with the emp-
ty void aching in her breast, she slowly
and finally turned her steps from that long-
accustomed pathway, never again to re-
trace them, nor again to ask so piteously,
" My son — has he come ? "



" I am proud to Bto lor my Ooontry."
The eyes of a youth of tender years,
by the name of Bullard, belonging to com-
pany A, Eighth Illinois regiment, were
closed in death pne spring morning, at the
Marine Hospital in Cincinnati, by the
kindly hands of that noble-hearted and
faithful woman, Mrs. Caldwell — ^unwea-
ried and ever watchful in her personal at-
tentions to the sick and wounded since the
establishment of the ^' Marine " as a mil-
itary hospital. Young Bullard was shot
at Fort Donelson. The ball, a Minie,
tore his breast open, and lacerated an
artery. He bled internally as well as ex-
ternally. At every gasp, as his end drew
near, the blood spirted from' his breast.
He expired at nine o'clock. Early in the
day, when he became fully aware that he
could not live long, he showed that he
clung to life, and was loth to leave it ; but
he cried : " If I could only see my moth-
er — if I could only see my mother before
I die, I would be better satisfied." He
was conscious to the last moment, almost,
and after reminding Mrs. Caldwell that
there were several letters for his mother
in his portfolio, she breathed words of
consolation to him : ^ You die in a glori-
ous cause — you die for your country."
** Yes," repb'ed he, '^ I am proud to die for
my country."



Death Scene of a South Carolina Lieutenant.

Late one afternoon — ^too late for the
cars that were taking the Gettysburg
wounded to the hospitals — a train of am-
bulances arrived at one of the Lodges of
the ganitary Commission with one hun-
dred rebels, to be cared for through the
night Only one among them seemed too
weak and faint to take anything. He was
badly hurt, and failing. A nurse went to
him after his wound was dressed, and
found him lying on his blanket stretched
over the straw — a fair-haired, blue-eyed
young Lieutenant ; a face innocent enough
for one of New England's boys. He did
not seem like a rebel against earth's best
Government ; he was too near heaven for
such seeming. He wanted nothing — ^had
not been willing to eat for days, his com-
rades said ; but the good nurse coaxed
him to try a little milk gruel, made nicely
with lemon and brandy, and one of the
satisfactions of three weeks arduous ser-
vice to that kind nurse, was the rlmera-
brance of the empty cupeshe took away
and his perfect enjoyment of that supper.
He talked about '* that good supper " for
hours, and with boundless thanks ; ^ it was
so good ; the best thing he had had since
he was wounded."

Poor fellow ! he had had no care, and
it was a surprise and pleasure to find him-
self thought of; so, in a pleased, childlike
way, he talked about it till midnight — as
long as he spoke of anything, for at mid-
night the change came, and from that time
he only thought of the old days before he
was a soldier, when he sung hymns in his
Other's church. He sung them now again
in a dear, sweet voice : " Lord have mer-
cy upon me;" and those songs without
words — a sort of a low intoning. His
father was a Lutheran clergyman in South
Carolina, so a oonuwie said, on the morn-
ing when the brave but unfortunate youth
was sliding gently fix)m all earthly care.

All day long the attendants watched
him, — sometimes fi^^ting his battles over«



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541



after singing his Lutheran chants, till in
the tent door, close to which he lay, look-
ed a rebel soldier, just arrived with other
prisoners. He started when he saw ilie
Lieutenant, and quickly kneeling down
by him, called ** Henry! Henry!" But
Henry was looking fixedly at some one a
great way off, and could not hear him,
" Do you know this soldier ? " he was ask-
ed by the nurse. " Oh, yes, ma'am ; and
his brother is wounded and a prisoner,
too, in the cars, now." Two or three men
started after him, found him, and carried
him from the cars to the tent. Henry did
not know him though ; and he threw him-
self down by his side on the straw, and
for the rest of the day lay in a sort of
apathy, without speaking, except to assure
himself that he could stay with his broth-
er, without the risk of being separated
from his fellow prisoners.

Those who would read the most spirit-
ed nan'atives portraying Southern bravery,
will find Mr. Orville J. Victor's * History
of the Southern'* Rebellion,' a work of in-
comparable value, presenting as it does
every noteworthy occurrence with the skill
of an accomplished historian, and in the
best literary dress, — ^being accepted also
as an authoritative work, both North and
South, in respect to the Southern side of
the great straggle — its military and politi-
cal bearings, — by the pen of a Southern
sympathizer.



' Sweat Sevei^teen " orerhatiliiiff the Seoes-
sioxiiits.

A noble and well nigh tragical act was

perpetrated in the spring of 1862, by a

young lady of Graves County, Kentucky,

— Miss Anna Bassford, a gentle creature

of seventeen rosy summers. Her father

and family were devotedly for the Union.

The old man having information that the

notorious H. C. Kmg, expelled from the

Kentucky legislature for treason, and his

robber band intended to visit the house

for the purpose of taking horses, guns,

etc, hid the gun and carried the horses to



Paducah. Whilst there, three of King s
robbing band visited the house, demanded
the gun, and alarmed Mrs. Bassford, who
ordered a son some fifteen years old, to
find the gun and deliver- it over. The
boy, after considerable search, found the
gun ; the robbers then demanded a pistol, ,
which they were informed belonged in the
family, whereupon tlie above-named
daughter told them she knew where the
pistol was, but they could not get it. The



Sweet Seventeen Oyerhaoling the Secessionists.

robbers insisted, with loud, vulgar oaths,
but the girl was determined. Seeing they
were foiled in this, they ordered the feeble,
sickly boy, to mount up behind one of their
clan, as *they intended to take him to
Camp Beauregard in place of his — Lincoln-
ite father.' The boy and mother in tears
protested, but to no effect, and the boy was
in the actof mounting, when the heroic sister
stepped between her brother and the rob-
bers, and drawing, cocking and presenting
the ])istol, ordered her brother back to the
house, and, with eagle-piercing eye fas-
tened on the robbers, and death-dealing
determination in her countenance, dared
the scoundrels to hinder or touch Iier
brother, and she would Jay the robber
dead at her feet ! There was no parley-
ing after this utterance and attitude — the
three brigands scampered off and lefc the
family without further molestation.



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THE BOOK OP ANECDOTES OP THE REBELLION.



Vighttas for his Ck^ontry and Deserted by
his Wifia.

In the pleasant little village of Wyo-
min,g Jones County, Iowa, lived a plain-
spoken, honest fanner, J B

by name, who removed thither from a
small town in Illinois, not far from the
city of Galesburg. lie had purchased a
fiirm in the latter place, but the title
proving defective he had removed to "Wyo-
ming, where the person of whom he had
bought the land resided, and there in the
courts of Jones County prosecuted his
claim to judgment.

Twelve years before, in the city of New

Using the text of ebook The pictorial book of anecdotes and incidents of the war of the rebellion, civil, military, naval and domestic ... from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--The federal union; it must be preserved! ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous wor by R. M. (Richard Miller) Devens active link like:
read the ebook The pictorial book of anecdotes and incidents of the war of the rebellion, civil, military, naval and domestic ... from the time of the memorable toast of Andrew Jackson--The federal union; it must be preserved! ... to the assassination of President Lincoln, and the end of the war. With famous wor is obligatory