Sleep is impossible after all that I have heard, so, after
vainly endeavoring to follow the example of the rest, and sleep like a Stoic, I
have lighted my candle and take to this to induce drowsiness.
Just after supper, when Anna and I were sitting with Mrs.
Carter in her room, I talking as usual of home, and saying I would be perfectly
happy if mother would decide to remain in Baton Rouge and brave the occasional
shellings, I heard a well-known voice take up some sentence of mine from a dark
part of the room, and with a cry of surprise, I was hugging Miriam until she
was breathless. Such a forlorn creature! — so dirty, tired, and fatigued, as to
be hardly recognizable. We thrust her into a chair, and made her speak. She had
just come with Charlie, who went after them yesterday; and had left mother and
the servants at a kind friend's, on crying, “Where are those damned Secesh
women? We know they are hid in here, and we'll make them dance for hiding from
Federal officers!” And they could not be convinced that we were not there,
until they had searched the very garret. Wonder what they would have done?
Charles caught a Captain Clark in the streets, when the work was almost over,
and begged him to put an end to it. The gentleman went readily, but though the
devastation was quite evident, no one was to be seen, and he was about to
leave, when, insisting that there was some one there, Charles drew him into my
room, dived under the bed, and drew from thence a Yankee captain, by one leg,
followed by a lieutenant, each with a bundle of the boys' clothes, which they
instantly dropped, protesting they were only looking around the house. The
gentleman captain carried them off to their superior.
Ours was the most shockingly treated house in the whole
town. We have the misfortune to be equally feared by both sides, because we
will blackguard neither. So the Yankees selected the only house in town that
sheltered three forlorn women, to wreak their vengeance on. From far and near,
strangers and friends flocked in to see the ravages committed. Crowds rushed in
before, crowds came in after, Miriam and mother arrived, all apologizing for
the intrusion, but saying they had heard it was a sight never before seen. So
they let them examine to their hearts' content; and Miriam says the sympathy of
all was extraordinary. A strange gentleman picked up a piece of mother's
mirror, which was as thick as his finger, saying, “Madame, I should like to
keep this as a memento. I am about to travel through Mississippi, and having
seen what a splendid piece of furniture this was, and the state your house is left
in, should like to show this as a specimen of Yankee vandalism.”
William Waller flew to our home to try to save it; but was
too late. They say he burst into tears as he looked around. While on his kind
errand, another band of Yankees burst into his house and left not one article
of clothing to him, except the suit he had on. The whole talk is about our
dreadful treatment at the Yankees' hands. Dr. Day, and Dr. Enders, in spite of
the assertions of the former, lost nothing.
Well! I am beggared! Strange to say, I don't feel it.
Perhaps it is the satisfaction of knowing my fate that makes me so cheerful
that Mrs. Carter envied my stoicism, while Mrs. Badger felt like beating me
because I did not agree that there was no such thing as a gentleman in the Yankee
army. I know Major Drum for one, and that Captain Clark must be two, and Mr.
Biddle is three, and General Williams — God bless him, wherever he is! for he
certainly acted like a Christian. The Yankees boasted loudly that if it had not
been for him, the work would have been done long ago.
And now, I am determined to see my home, before Yankee
shells complete the work that Yankee axes spared. So by sunrise, I shall post
over to Mr. Elder's, and insist on Charlie taking me to town with him. I hardly
think it is many hours off. I feel so settled, so calm! Just as though I never
meant to sleep again. If I only had a desk, — a luxury I have not enjoyed since
I left home, — I could write for hours still, without being sleepy; but this
curved attitude is hard on my stiff back, so good-night, while I lie down to
gain strength for a sight they say will make me faint with distress. Nous
verrons! If I say I Won't, I know I'll not cry. The Brunots lost nothing at
all from their house, thank Heaven for the mercy! Only they lost all their
money in their flight. On the door, on their return, they found written, “Ladies,
I have done my best for you,” signed by a Yankee soldier, who they suppose to
be the one who has made it a habit of continually passing their house.
Forgot to say Miriam recovered my guitar from the Asylum,
our large trunk and father's papers (untouched) from Dr. Enders's, and with her
piano, the two portraits, a few mattresses (all that is left of housekeeping
affairs), and father's law books, carried them out of town. For which I say in
all humility, Blessed be God who has spared us so much.
SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's
Diary, p. 190-6
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