Linwood.
Another resting-place! Out of reach of shells for the first
time since last April! For how long, I wonder? For wherever we go, we bring
shells and Yankees. Would not be surprised at a visit from them out here, now!
Let me take up the thread of that never-ending story, and
account for my present position. It all seems tame now; but it was very
exciting at the time.
As soon as I threw down bonnet and gloves, I commenced
writing; but before I had halfway finished, mother, who had been holding a
consultation downstairs, ran up to say the overseer had advised us all to
leave, as the place was not safe; and that I shall not soon forget them. Mr.
Cain told mother he believed he would keep me; at all events, he would make an
exchange, and give her his only son in my place. I told him I was willing, as
mother thought much more of her sons than of her daughters.
I forgot to say that we met General Allen's partner a mile
or two from Dr. Nolan's, who told us it was a wise move; that he had intended
recommending it. All he owned had been carried off, his plantation stripped. He
said he had no doubt that all the coast would be ravaged, and they had promised
to burn his and many other houses; and Dr. Nolan's — though it might possibly
be spared in consideration of his being a prisoner, and his daughter being
unprotected — would most probably suffer with the rest, but even if spared, it
was no place for women. He offered to take charge of us all, and send the
furniture into the interior before the Yankees should land, which Phillie
gladly accepted.
What a splendid rest I had at Mrs. Cain's! I was not
conscious of being alive until I awaked abruptly in the early morning, with a
confused sense of having dreamed something very pleasant.
Mr. Cain accompanied us to the ferry some miles above,
riding by the buggy; and leaving us under care of Mr. Randallson, after seeing
us in the large flat, took his leave. After an hour spent at the hotel after
landing on this side, we procured a conveyance and came on to Mr. Elder's,
where we astonished Lilly by our unexpected appearance very much. Miriam had
gone over to spend the day with her, so we were all together, and talked over
our adventures with the greatest glee. After dinner Miriam and I came over here
to see them all, leaving the others to follow later. I was very glad to see
Helen Carter once more. If I was not, I hope I may live in Yankee-land! — and I
can't invoke a more dreadful punishment than that.
Well! here we are, and Heaven only knows our next move. But
we must settle on some spot, which seems impossible in the present state of
affairs, when no lodgings are to be found. I feel like a homeless beggar. Will
Pinckney told them here that he doubted if our house were still standing, as
the fight occurred just back of it, and every volley directed towards it. He
says he thought of it every time the cannon was fired, knowing where the shot
would go.
SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's
Diary, p. 170-4
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