Some of the soldiers who
were in the cars threw their canteens to her, and she succeeded in
reviving him; during this time the crowd heaped upon her every insulting
epithet they could think of, and her life even was in danger. But she
braved all, and succeeded in obtaining permission from Colonel Godwin,
then in command of the post, who was a kind-hearted man, to let her
remove him to her own house, promising to take care of him as if he were
her own son, and if he died to give him Christian burial. He was in the
last stages of consumption, and she felt sure he would die if taken to
the prison hospital. None of the citizens of the place would even assist
in carrying him, and after a time two gentlemen from Richmond stepped
forward and helped convey him to her house. There she watched over him
for hours, as he was in a terrible state from neglect, having had
blisters applied to his chest which had never been dressed and were full
of vermin.

The poor boy, whose name was Hugh Berry, from Ohio, only lived a few
days, and she had a grave dug for him in her garden in the night, for
burial had been refused in the public graveyard, and she had been
threatened that if she had him interred decently his body should be dug
up and buried in the street. They even attempted to take his body from
the house for that purpose, but she stood at her door, pistol in hand,
and said to them that the first man who dared to cross her threshold for
such a purpose should be shot like a dog. They did not attempt it, and
she performed her promise to the letter.

During the first two years she was enabled to do a great many acts of
kindness for the prisoners, but after that time she was watched very
closely as a Yankee sympathizer, and the rules of the prison were
stricter, and what she could do was done by strategy.

Her means were now much reduced, but she still continued in her good
work, cutting up her carpets and spare blankets to make into moccasins,
and when new squads of prisoners arrived, supplied them with bread and
water as they halted in front of her house, which they were compelled to
do for hours, waiting the routine of being mustered into the prison.
They were not allowed to leave their ranks, and she would turn an
old-fashioned windlass herself for hours, raising water from her well;
for the prisoners were often twenty-four to forty-eight hours on the
railroad without rations or water.

Generally the officer in command would gra