Page 51 - Arkansas Confederate Women

REMINISCENCES OF MRS. E. S. SCOTT.

By Mrs. A. A. Tufts, of Camden.

The name of my mother, Mrs. E. S. Scott of Camden, may

be very properly enrolled among the number of those who loved
and suffered for the South. Though she was mercifully spared
the crowning blow which fell upon so many other mothers, whose
brave sons gave up their lives in the struggle, yet she worked
faithfully and spent many an hour of keen suspense 'and shed
many bitter tears during those four long years. At first, she was
opposed to secession, on account of the terrors of war, but when
Virginia, her native state, and Arkansas, her home state, went

out of the Union, Mother went too, 'and when my brothers took

up arms against the North she was ready with heart and tongue,

pen and prayers, to further the cause. She was naturally of a
bright and cheery disposition, especially fond of the society of
young people, and once she laughingly said, "I might have
stayed young always and never had to wear glasses, if it had not

been for Abe Lincoln and his war making me shed so many

tears and read by tallow candles/'

With the other ladies of Camden she was daily to be found

sewing for the soldiers, knitting socks or rolling bandages. In

a letter, dated August 15, 1861, she writes as follows: "We have

Wea Soldiers' Aid society and are working constantly. are

determined to sustain our soldiers as far as we are able, to work

for them, pray for them, and if the worst comes, we will burn

up our houses and sweep the earth literally and die, before we

will give up our fair and beautiful land."

! that victory at Manassas ! The God of Israel was and is
our God. Glory be to His holy name !" Early in the war the

regiment to which my brothers belonged were engaged east of the
Mississippi river, and in order to be near them my mother went

to Gainesville, Ala., where she lived the greater part of the time

until the surrender. Then she began to work for the soldiers