Page 93 - Arkansas Confederate Women

82 Confederate Women of Arkansas

were frantically urged to go into the garrison. All the build-

ings in the garrison were at that time filled with sick and
wounded soldiers, which added to the distress and confusion,
as we did not know but what they would all be murdered. The

"Pins" however, did no further harm than to burn George Min-

mire's house about three miles north of town.

"As soon as the war began the ladies of the town organized

Wesewing societies to make clothing for the soldiers. met at

first in the Methodist Church. We would work all day long,

making coats, jackets, pants, tents, wagon sheets, haversacks

and such things, and at night we would knit socks. I was a

cutter, and cut hundreds and hundreds of suits for soldiers

and officers. We would also scrape lint and make bandages for

the wounded. Later on we had to give up the church for use

as a hospital, and then we met in different houses, or did the

sewing in our own homes. Many of the women worked in

their homes at making cartridges. Later in the war the work

became more trying and the scenes were awful. Sick men from

the surrounding armies and wounded men from the battlefields

were brought in. The old red mill near the head of Garrison

Avenue, lately torn down, was used as a hospital, so was Bright's

store, Sutton's store on the corner of Garrison Avenue and

Second Street, the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, and

in fact all the vacant houses in the town were used to shelter

the sick and wounded. All the quarters in the garrison also

contained sick and wounded soldiers. Besides this, many

families in town took sick and wounded men into their homes

and cared for them until they either got well or died. The

Episcopal and Catholic Churches were not used as hospitals.

Much of our time then was taken up in preparing food for the

hospitals and in taking care of the sick and wounded. We

would go to the hospitals and sometimes wash and dress the

patients and care for their wounds. This was awful work, and

sometimes it would keep us in the hospital all day. Every empty

house in the town was filled with the wounded after the battle

of Oak Hill. Jerre and I kept open house all this time, treat-

ing officers, privates and refugees all alike. One day shortly
after the battle of Oak Hill we fed forty people. I remember