Page 30 - Arkansas Confederate Women

Personal Kecollections of 1863 25

me. I was simply scared silly, but had sense enough to run for

my life, and hurst into the sitting room white as a ghost, with

eyes so full of horror, that mother came flying to me, saying,
"Em, what's the matter?" Just as I gasped out, "Mother, the
yard is full of 'feds' !" in they poured, back door and front
door, crowding and jabbering some orders in Dutch, which, of
course, none of us understood, at which they were getting very
angry with us, until one officer, the first American we had
seen, pushed his way in and ordered mother to get supper for
fifty men. She calmly (while I wondered how she could talk
at all), replied, that there wasn't enough in the whole neigh-

borhood to feed that many. He made an angry reply and told
his men to help themselves, which they lost no time in doing.

DRIED APPLES BUSTING 'FEDS'

First, they tied their horses all over the yard to a lot of
young fruit trees, then broke open the store room, etc., soon
demolishing what was on hand. I remember noticing (after

I had gotten partly over my scare) a few big Dutch fellows,

ravenously "getting away" with a bag of dried apples, which
had quite recently been sent to mother from the country, and
for which she had exchanged salt, and the sight recalled a con-
versation I once heard between two little boys on the dried apple
question. One boy had a pocket full of this fruit and the

other wanted " a divide," which being refused, he said, "My
ma says dried apples raw will swell up and bust you !" which I

fervently hoped might be realized in the preent instance.

waring's command op raiders.

They took possession of anything they saw, and carried
things their own way, we meanwhile being all crowded together
in the sitting room, glad to know we were still alive. At
twelve o'clock, when Colonel Waring and staff arrived, he took

—our parlor for headquarters, and ordered those Dutch around, like

so many dogs, "begging a dog's pardon!" After his arrival

matters did not look so "skeery," for this officer, though a
"Fed," was a gentleman in manner, and was very profuse in his

—apologies to mother, said "she should be amply remunerated