hole of this period your grandfather had had more
than his hands full at his office, taking care of and sending off
government stores, and doing a thousand other things, so that all the
domestic offices rested with me. I told the bummers, with a great show
of courage, that I had no idea of giving them my keys, and as I walked
off, feeling quite triumphant, I had the mortification of seeing them
dismount and swagger to the doors of the mealroom, smokehouse, and
storeroom, slip their miserable, dastardly swords into the locks, and
open the doors, with the most perfect ease. Conscious now of my own
weakness, I would not condescend to parley with them, and watched
them at their insolent and thievish game, until their mules were
almost hidden beneath the load of hams, sausages, and other plunder.
Then they remounted, and dashed off at the same furious pace as they
had come. In a little time after others came and played the same game,
only adding to their abominable thievishness by driving off our mules
and all our cattle. Our horses, I am glad to say, had been sent away.

It was towards noon upon that fatal day that we espied a long blue
line crawling serpent-like around a distant hill. Silently we watched,
as it uncoiled itself, ever drawing nearer and still nearer, until the
one great reptile developed into many reptiles and took the form of
men. Men in blue tramping everywhere, horsemen careering about us with
no apparent object, wagons crashing through fences as though they had
been made of paper. The negroes stood like dumb things, in stupid
dismay. It was at a later period that their time of joy came (in many
instances it never came); then the only feeling was one of awe.

In an incredibly short time tents were pitched, the flag run up, and
the Yankees were here. The crowd grew more dense. A large column was
passing through the grove at almost a run, when, to my horror, I saw
Adelaide and Lizzie, each with one of my little girls in her arms,
rushing along in their midst in a state of such wild excitement that
they had almost lost their reason. Almost in despair, I rushed after
them, sometimes seeing them, only to lose them again in the moving
mass. As I passed a soldier I signed to him for help; I do not think I
could have spoken. He saw the danger that threatened my children, and,
overtaking the two nurses, took the children and brought them to me.
The women had meant no harm, and did not realize the risk.

As I bef