Every war produces its singular characters whose influence or example are not without their due effect upon the troops, and, at the conclusion of these chapters, which are so stained with blood and battle, it may not be useless to sketch, even upon the grave page of history, the deeds of a woman whose courageous spirit bore her through all the trials of this bombardment, but whose masculine hardihood was softened by the gentleness of a female heart. Woman has every where her sphere of power over the rougher sex, but the women of a camp must possess qualities to which their tender sisters of the saloon are utter strangers. Some years ago, in the far west, a good soldier joined one of our regiments, with his tall and gaunt wife, whose lofty figure and stalwart frame almost entitled her as much as her husband to a place in the ranks of the gallant seventh. Unwilling to abandon her liege lord upon his enlistment, this industrious female was immediately employed as one of the laundresses, three of whom are allowed to draw rations in each company, and are required to wash for the soldiers at a price regulated by a council of officers. The "Great Western,"--for by this soubriquet was she known in the army,--arrived at Corpus Christi with her husband, and up to the period of our departure for the Rio Grande performed all her appropriate duties, keeping, in addition, a "mess" for the younger officers of the regiment. When the army advanced, the women, with some exceptions, were despatched by sea to Point Isabel, while a few procured ponies to follow the soldiers in their tedious march. The husband of the Great Western was sent in one of the transports to the Brazos, but his hardy spouse did not deign to accompany him in this comfortable mode of transit, declaring that "the boys of her mess must have some one to take care of them on their toilsome march." Accordingly, having purchased a cart and loaded it with luggage, cooking utensils, and supplies, she mounted behind her donkey with whip in hand, and displayed during the wearisome advance, qualities which the best teamster in the train might have envied. Throughout the whole journey she kept her boarders well provided with excellent rations; and, when her brigade reached the banks of the Colorado she was one of the first who offered to cross in the face of the resisting enemy. After calmly surveying the scene, which has been described in another chapter, she remarked, with great coolness, that "if the general would give her a stout pair of tongs she would wade the river and whip every scoundrel Mexican that dared show his face on the opposite side!"