Lucy Foster Madison

“ I did not think that your father could be so cruel.”
“He is doing his duty,” said Bob with pale lips. “Poor dad! Jeanne, you think him hard-hearted, but I know that this will kill him. Poor, poor dad!”
“Then if he cares why does he condemn his son to death?” asked Jeanne in surprise.
“Because he came here as a spy, and dad could not overlook that fact even if he is his son. Dad must regard Frank as a Federal, Jeanne. He is bound to as a Confederate officer.”
“But you are not bound. Surely you are not going to let your brother die without trying to save him?” ”

“ I know our people. They will defend it with their lives, and drive the treacherous miscreants, who would dare profane by their touch, back to where they belong.”
“We are not traitors,” flashed Bob. “We have a right to secede if we want to. The Capital belongs as much to us as it does to you, anyway.”
“It doesn’t,” cried Jeanne angrily. “It belongs to the North because the North is trying to uphold the Government left to us by our great and good Washington.” ”

“ There was an instantaneous explosion and the boat was blown to atoms, her gallant crew perishing with her.
“We are doomed,” groaned Captain Leathers. “Nothing can save us now. Are you ready to die, little girl?”
“Ready, Captain,” came from Jeanne’s pale lips, and she arose from her place behind the cotton. “But I want to die standing. I wish we could shoot, Captain.”
“So do I. But we are at their mercy. It would be a relief to do something, but to die without a chance for a shot. ”

“ I feel sure that I could carry your papers safely to New Orleans. It is not as if the country all belonged to the rebels. There would be only one place to pass that is theirs: Vicksburg. I know that our men can easily go by one place,” she added confidently.
“Your manner of taking hold of the matter almost persuades me to let you try it, Jeanne,” and Mr. Vance regarded his daughter with a new light in his eyes.
“Do,” said Jeanne as calmly as she could, realizing that if she would carry her point she must be very matter-of-fact. “You see, father, no one would suspect a girl of carrying papers.” ”

“ Jeanne was dumb with anguish. She, Jeanne Vance, an open enemy of the United States! Of the country for which she was ready to give her life! She gave one stricken 131 glance at the austere man before her, and burst into tears.
“Come, come, General,” said Farragut laying a kindly hand on the girl’s bowed head, “you are too severe, aren’t you?”
“Not at all. Every man, woman and child in this city must take this oath, or be known as an enemy of the Union. It works no hardship if one is loyal, and acts as a restraining power on those who are not. ”

“ With the first burst of the artillery Jeanne ran up on deck.
“Back to the cabin, girl,” shouted the Captain hoarsely. “This is no place for you.”
But as Jeanne turned to obey him a shot tore through the cabin and fell hissing into the water beyond. The girl paused. Captain Leathers caught her arm and drew her behind a bale of cotton.
“Stay there!” he panted. “You will be as safe as anywhere.”
At this moment a terrible shape loomed out of the darkness making straight for the gunboat. A shout went up from the crews of the gunboat and the transport as the rebel ram Arkansas was recognized. ”

“ And so when Washington was reached the girl took up her satchel with quite the air of an old traveler and, accosting an official, asked about her train with the utmost self-possession.
She had but a short time to wait before she was once more flying across the country en route for Cincinnati. The night passed without incident. The journey was tiresome but so uneventful that she became imbued with confidence in her ability to travel alone and made her change to the Memphis and Charleston Railroad for Memphis at Cincinnati without trouble. ”

“ The day was warm and bright, and the mulatto women with baskets of cakes, figs, pomegranates, bananas, crape myrtles and oleanders, filled the air with their musical negro cries as they vended their wares. 111 Nurses with children wearing Madras kerchiefs of bright colors, wrinkled negro mammies, Creoles with French or Spanish descent plainly delineated upon their features and soldiers, clad in the United States uniform, thronged the banquettes and streets.
Jeanne looked about her with curiosity, for the quaint old city presented a thoroughly different aspect to the cities of the North. ”

“ The smile died away from the girl’s lips at the reply, and she looked at Jeanne with coldness.
“I did not think that you were a Southerner when you spoke,” she said. “What are you doing here? We are Confederates.”
“Yes, I know,” answered Jeanne. “My aunt and uncle left me on a deserted plantation because I was a Yankee, and I started back to New Orleans hoping that General Butler would send me home. I must have taken the wrong road, and so gotten lost. You won’t turn me away, will you, just because I am a Yankee?” ”

“ If you were in the army it would be the same way. A soldier often has to obey orders for which he can see no reason, but his disobedience might cause the loss of a battle. We are all of us part of a great whole striving for the same end. If each one does his part all will be well. If every little girl in the country would do as much as you are doing, the amount of work accomplished would be startling.”
“If I were a boy I could do more,” sighed Jeanne. “It is very hard to be ‘only a girl,’ father.”
Mr. Vance laughed. ”

“ Jeanne looked with surprise at the grave faces before her. She had thought that men were always ready to lay down their lives in a good cause. She had not dreamed that any one would hesitate for a moment. ”

“ I will tell you just what the service is, and you will see the impossibility of any girl undertaking it. In the cities both North and South there are men whose duty it is to look after certain private matters for the government. In our communications with each other we must be very guarded. We do not dare to risk even the mails, because in almost every department of the service there are traitors. In some mysterious manner the enemy becomes aware of all our plans. Therefore we have tried and trusted men who are our go betweens. ”

“ Then the blackness of night settled once more upon the river and a cheer broke from the crew as the transport rounded the lower bend of the 102 great loop upon which Vicksburg stood, and passed out from under the batteries of the modern Gibraltar.
“Will that terrible vessel come after us?” asked Jeanne hardly realizing that the danger was over.
“No, child. We are safe. The ram knows that Farragut is somewhere near here, and she will not venture out to-night. We are safe; thank God!”
“Thank God!” echoed the girl faintly. “Safe! Oh, Captain, Captain!” and she burst into a passion of weeping. ”

“ I fear that you are not through with her, my little friend.”
“I will see General Pemberton,” declared Colonel Peyton, “and prepare him for Madame’s onslaught. Meantime, I have his permission for you and your brother to stay at sister Sally’s until your brother fully recovers. But he is not at liberty, Jeanne, because he is a prisoner, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” said Jeanne, “and I will not say a word against it. Better a prisoner of the Confederates than to be in the hands of such a woman. There will at least be some chance to exchange him. You don’t dislike me any more, do you, Colonel Peyton? ”

“ Huntsworth. “It cannot be long surely before Lee will surrender.”
“It would seem so,” cried Dick with exultation. “But who can withstand us? We have freed the negroes! We have taken New Orleans, Vicksburg, the mighty, has fallen, and Lee’s army defeated in his invasion of free soil. Hurrah!
“‘In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make them free,
While God is marching on!’”
he broke out boyishly. ”

“ The party of Secessionists of which Mr. and Madame Vance were members embarked on board the boat, Ceres, which steamed up the narrow winding river, Tangipaho, to Manchac bridge, the terminus of a railroad that led to Ponchatoula ten miles distant from which was the headquarters of General Thompson; the main body of Confederates being nine miles further on.
The shores of the river presented to view nothing but desolation. Many of the houses were deserted and every garden and field lay waste. Gaunt, yellow, silent figures stood looking at the disembarking refugees, images of despair. ”

“ Jeanne stole from the cave and met Dick coming for her.
“See!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Those are Federal soldiers, Jeanne. We are in the United States once more. Look at the Court House Hill! What do you see?”
“The Stars and Stripes,” cried Jeanne, tears of gladness rolling down her cheeks. “Oh, Dick, how good it is to see our own flag once more!”
“Isn’t it? I could shout and sing for joy if it were not for these poor fellows who have fought and starved so long. It is a hard thing to be on the losing side.”
“True, for you, my boy,” said Colonel Peyton 337 joining them with Bob on his arm. ”

“ Regular occupations were discontinued, and people did nothing but eat what they could get, sleep when they could and dodge the shells.
For some time Aunt Sally, Bob, Dick, Jeanne and Mr. Huntsworth, and the servants had been living in the commodious cave prepared for them. The girls no longer sewed or walked about. They were content if they could keep out of range of the shells. Once every day some one of them ran the gauntlet of shells to buy the meat and milk. Mule meat was the staple article of diet, but this Bob and Jeanne utterly refused to touch and confined themselves to rice and milk. ”

“ To her consternation Jeanne was told that her uncle and aunt were bound for Alabama, the very midst of Secession. The girl’s heart died within her when she found that this was their destination. With no friends near how could she, a mere girl, hope to reach her own people surrounded as she would be on all sides by rebels? ”

“ One has to keep an iron hand upon them to hold them in subjection. But of course you are not used to them.”
“No,” said Jeanne shrinking a little from her caresses. “We don’t have slavery at the North. I never felt so thankful of it before. Poor things! Poor things!”
Madame Vance’s brow darkened, but she smoothed the girl’s hair softly.
“And aren’t you going to forgive your poor ‘Cherie’? Are you going to turn against her because of a little whipping? You are unjust, Jeanne. We who have the blacks to deal with know more of this matter than you do. ”

“ If Jeanne can carry these papers to New Orleans she is not only worth her weight in gold but she will do the government a great service. She is energetic, resourceful and self-reliant. I believe that she can get through without injury to herself or I should not consider the thing a moment. As she says, why should harm come to a girl? She would not be suspected where older people would be subjected to the most searching scrutiny. ”

“ A tall gentleman, elegantly appareled, stood leaning in an easy attitude against one of the pillars of the broad piazza smoking a cigar. He advanced to meet the arrivals as the Orderly threw open the door of the cab and handed out the girl.
“General Butler presents his compliments to Mr. and Madame Vance,” he said, with a deep bow, “and begs to introduce to them their niece, Miss Vance of New York.”
“My niece!” exclaimed the gentleman giving Jeanne a look of astonishment. “I have none unless my brother has a daughter. Are you Dick’s child?” ”

“ Rumors were rife in the city of the advance of the Federal troops. One night heavy cannonading was heard for an hour or two, ceasing and then commencing again early in the morning. All day the noise continued. That night the sky in the South was crimsoned by the light of a large fire.
The lurid glare fell in red and amber light upon the houses, lighting up the white magnolias, paling the pink crape myrtles, and bringing out in bright distinctness the railing 318 of the terraces where drooped in fragrant wreaths the clustering passion vine. ”

“ Jeanne awoke from a deep sleep. Generally about four o’clock the shrapnel shells were thrown more furiously than at any other time of the day. She listened for a few moments and then turned to Bob excitedly.
“Bob, Bob,” she cried, “wake up. The shells have stopped falling.”
“What!” cried Bob, awake instantly. “Are you sure? Why it is true! How quiet it is! What can be the matter?”
The girls began to dress hurriedly and then went outside the cave to learn the cause of the cessation of the firing. People everywhere were running out of their caves to find the reason. ”

“ You seem to think that I am all right.”
“You are,” replied Jeanne so heartily that Farragut laughed outright. “But Uncle Ben didn’t take New Orleans.”
“Perhaps you can get his services for us yet, and he may do something better than to take New Orleans. That may be your work here.”
“I doubt it,” spoke General Butler emphatically. “There is no rebel so unregenerate as a renegade Yankee. There may be some excuse for those born in this section of the country, but for a Yankee who embraces the pernicious doctrine of secession there is none. The Orderly waits, my child.” ”

“ It is the backbone of the rebellion, and the key to the whole situation.”
“But we hold it, sir,” said Jeanne earnestly. “My father says that now that Vicksburg is taken it will not be long before Richmond will fall and then the rebellion will be over.”
“Pray God that your father may be right,” said Mr. Huntsworth. “But I fear that he is mistaken. These Southerners are not so easily whipped. Every inch of the Confederacy will have to be conquered before they will acknowledge themselves beaten. The North makes the same mistake as the South does. ”