VIRGINIA GIRLS OF SWEET SIXTEEN DID NOT LOVE
US.
Weather hot; two
more trains of Rebel wounded pass. Report that General Wadsworth and others of
our valuable generals are killed. At 2 p. m. our train moves for Lynchburg. It
is composed of horse and cattle cars all crowded. Charlotteville is beautifully
located in a fertile valley. About one mile west is the University of Virginia,
founded by Thomas Jefferson. In the vicinity of this edifice were about
twenty-five girls. Observing us, they waved their hands in greeting; we waved.
We were going slowly; they ran across the green toward Discovering their
mistake they bounded up and down and cried "You damned Yankees!"
Screaming contemptuously they went back as fast as they came. Procuring a Rebel
flag they flirted it at us.
Sweet Virginia maids,
You love the soil where born;
But you bear a flag that fades;
Yet I forgive your scorn.
You know not what you do,
Nor do I court debate;
I'll fling a kiss to you,
As you bestow your hate.
I wish I had a flower;
I'd toss it on the lea.
It might perfume this hour
You sour so on me!
Indeed, I love you, quite
You so much remind
Of Northern girls as bright,
Sweet girls I left behind.
Your scorn is hot and keen
As Yankee girls, I trow;
Though you are sweet sixteen,
Still sweeter girls I know!
But when this war is o'er
And purged your blood, that's bad
The Union we'll restore
And you'll not be so mad.
Yes, when this war is over
And the Union is restored,
You may want a Yankee lover,
And not try to feel so bored.
Coquette with old Secech!
Indeed,, it seems quite sad
That such could make a mash
On girls and be their fad!
Some brutal nigger-driver,
Who glories in his lash,
Some slavery conniver
Might favor such a mash.
But your dear Alma Mater
Is Jefferson's own school;
He was a slavery hater;
T. J. - he was no fool!
Haughty maids, good-day-
When shall we meet again?
You don't seem to like my way,
Mad maids of Old Virgin.
A woman passing,
said: "It is hard times; the people had not reckoned on the possibility of
failure; for myself I did not deem it possible that all their lofty
expectations would be realized."
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 41-2