astonishing
feat, threw away their arms and ignominiously fled--and Congress
followed in the rear, indefinitely postponing action on an unwelcome
claim, that always _would_ turn up "incontestably proven."

CHAPTER IX.

A WOUNDED VETERAN RETIRES FROM THE FIELD -- INTERVIEW WITH GRANT --
THE WOMEN OF AMERICA MAKE THE CAUSE THEIR OWN -- A NATIONAL LESSON.

Miss Carroll, urged on by the friends of justice and historical
verity, had made great efforts rightly to present her case and to get
together a wonderful mass of indubitable testimony.

She had been informed of the thorough endorsement of her claim made by
the Military Committee and reported by General Bragg, and of the noble
and fitting bill which he had prepared. Then came that pitiful little
bill and the adjournment of Congress without taking further action
upon the claim.

She perhaps did not realize, in the presence of what seemed immediate
defeat, that she had performed a great and lasting historical work in
putting the whole matter on immovable record; but she certainly
realized that, though an angel should come from heaven to testify, it
would be useless to expect national recognition. A reaction of
discouragement followed, and she was suddenly stricken down by
paralysis, which threatened at once to terminate her noble life. For
three years she hovered between life and death, no hope being
entertained of her recovery. Then the natural vigor of her
constitution reasserted itself, and she slowly regained a very
considerable portion of health; but any subsequent efforts with regard
to her claim, though receiving her assent, had to be made without her
personal co-operation, as mental fatigue was imperatively forbidden.
She had ceased to hope for any benefit to herself personally from the
prosecution of her claim; but, rejoicing in the sense of the great
work that she had been providentially called upon to accomplish, she
rested in the serene conviction that with the incontestable evidence
that had been presented the facts could not be forever buried out of
sight, and that ultimately the truths of history would be secure.

When Miss Carroll, who had hitherto been as a tower of strength to her
family, was suddenly stricken down, fortune seemed to be at its lowest
ebb; but again the Carroll energy and ability came to the rescue. An
unmarried sister, with noble devotion, sustained the nation's
benefactress. She obtained work in teaching in Baltimore and b