A FLAG INCIDENT
BY M. M. THOMAS (ADAPTED)
When marching to Chattanooga the corps had
reached a little wooded valley between the
mountains. The colonel, with others, rode ahead, and,
striking into a bypath, suddenly came upon a
secluded little cabin surrounded by a patch of
cultivated ground.
At the door an old woman, eighty years of age,
was supporting herself on a crutch. As they rode
up she asked if they were ``Yankees,'' and upon
their replying that they were, she said: ``Have
you got the Stars and Stripes with you? My
father fought the Tories in the Revolution, and
my old eyes ache for a sight of the true flag before
I die.''
To gratify her the colonel sent to have the
colors brought that way. When they were unfurled
and planted before her door, she passed
her trembling hands over them and held them
close to her eyes that she might view the stars
once more. When the band gave her ``Yankee
Doodle,'' and the ```Star-Spangled Banner,'' she
sobbed like a child, as did her daughter, a woman
of fifty, while her three little grandchildren gazed
in wonder.
They were Eastern people, who had gone to
New Orleans to try to improve their condition.
Not being successful, they had moved from place
to place to better themselves, until finally they
had settled on this spot, the husband having taken
several acres of land here for a debt.
Then the war burst upon them. The man fled
to the mountains to avoid the conscription, and
they knew not whether he was alive or dead.
They had managed to support life, but were so
retired that they saw very few people.
Leaving them food and supplies, the colonel
and the corps passed on. |