Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and DescriptiveBurnett, Alfred
History
Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive
Burnett, Alfred
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Anecdotes
Let me tell your readers of what I was an eye-witness, a few evenings
ago. You that have comfortable homes and warm firesides, with no war
at your doors, can have but a faint idea of the horrors that are
broadcast over this once happy country. A poor woman came to the
commanding General of this brigade and begged for protection. She
lived eight miles from this camp, and the rebels had threatened to
burn her barn and house. Now, what do you think was this woman's
offense? Her husband had joined the Union army at Nashville last
August, and when, a few days afterward, he returned to arrange his
family affairs, the "guerillas" found out his return, and five of the
incarnate fiends walked into his house, and while he was seated at the
table, partaking of his breakfast, these men shot him--there, in the
presence of his wife and six children, these fiends, that our worthy
President deliberately "commutes," murdered their only protector; and
now, not satisfied with their former atrocity, they return to drive
the poor widow and her children from the desolate little homestead!
O! if there is one hell deeper than another, please, God, send these
wretches, who would persecute a poor woman thus, to it!
The General, upon hearing the story of her troubles, sent out two
companies of the 2d Minnesota Regiment to guard and bring into camp
her children, and what few chattels were left. Company A, under
Captain Barnes, and Company G, under Captain Keifer, were assigned to
perform this act of deserved charity.
It was ten o'clock at night, cold and windy, the rain penetrating to
the very bones, and dark as Egypt, when the two companies returned
with Mrs. Crane and her six children. One rickety wagon, a mangy old
horse, a cow, some bedding, and a few cooking utensils, were the
trophies of the trip. These things told a tale of poverty, but they
were all the poor widow of the murdered soldier possessed.
The children were all barefooted, and most scantily attired; the
little ones shivered with the cold, and the older ones wrapped their
tattered garments closer as the wind played rudely with them. A little
four-year-old boy eyed the soldiers with a side glance, and clung to
his mother, as she held her infant to her breast.
If I were to decide what to do in such a case, I would quickly turn
out Mr. 'Squire McMurray, and let Mrs. Crane and her little ones
possess the well-stocked farm. To-day the General is endeavoring to
get transportation to Indiana for this family, at the expense of the
Government.
An old negro resident near this camp, in conversation, a few days
since, said to me:
"Look-a-heah! all you white folks, when any debbeltry is done, allers
lay it to Massa John Morgan."
"Well," said I, "don't he do a large share of it?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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