The Sunday Globe

ROMANTIC STORY
Of the Civil War by an Ex-Confederate Officer.

MISS SIMPSON, OF ALABAMA.
Married to a Union Officer Whose Ill Treatment Caused Her to Leave Him She Seeks in the Confederacy an Avenger Her Brother Enlists with the Hope of Meeting the Federal Officer.

A few evenings ago a group of ex-Confederate and ex-Union officers were seated at one of the hotels in Washington, D. C., relating their experiences of army life during the war between the States.

Among this party of grizzly, battle-scarred veterans was Captain Young, an ex-Confederate, who was a silent listener to the interesting stories that were told.

During a lull in the conversation Captain Young said:

Gentlemen, I will relate a story which sounds like a romance. In which I played a part during the war, and where a woman comes in, as she does in all good stories.

In the spring of 1862 I was detached from my regiment in Virginia, and ordered to camp of instruction as recruiting officer. One day my servant informed me that a lady wished to see me. I went to her carriage and she introduced herself as Miss Simpson.

'Is this Captain Young, the officer in command?' she asked.

'This is Captain Young,' I replied. 'What can I do for you?'

She said, 'I have a brother who is very anxious to join the army, but he is too young to be accepted under the regulations. He wants to go with the regiment which is now forming.'

I told her to bring him to camp. After seeing him I could tell more about it. She drove away, saying she would return that afternoon. She came, with the young man dressed in uniform ready for the field. I swore him into the Confederate service, and assigned him to Company B, which was composed of young men fresh from school.

Within a few weeks orders came for the regiment to move to Virginia. This was just before the battles in front of Richmond, better known as the seven days' fights. I shall never forget the day the regiment left for the front. Every one was delighted and eager to get to the seat of war.

I was standing in the depot when the last company filed into the train, watching the boys say good-bye to mother, sister, wife, and sweetheart. It was a touching sight. As the train moved off I heard a voice from one of the car windows calling my name. It was my boy soldier. I hastened to him, and walked beside the car and talked as the train moved along.

He said, 'I have a secret to tell you when we meet in Virginia. Keep yourself informed as to my command, and if I am wounded come to see me, or write. I have your name, company and regiment written on the lining of my jacket so that I will not lose it in battle or on the march.'

I was curious to know what this strange talk meant. My mind ran into various conjectures as I strolled back to the almost deserted camp.

One week from that day I received orders to join my regiment in Virginia. I reached my command two days before the battle of Seven Pines, and commanded my company through that fight. I was anxious to learn what had become of the young soldier with the secret. If he was wounded, I must find him. I looked over the casualties of his regiment, but I did not see his name on the list, and came to the conclusion that he was safe.

At the battle of Malvern Hill, the last of the seven days' fights, I was severely wounded, and sent to a hospital in Richmond. As soon as I was strong enough to move around I went through the different hospitals looking for my sick and wounded men. As I was passing along the rows of cots, looking at the names of the wounded, I heard a voice say, 'Captain Young, come this way.'

I started in the direction of the call, and was directed to go into a small room adjoining the hospital building.

As I entered the door I saw the boy, Edward Simpson. He caught me by the hand and gave expressions of joy as the tears rolled from his deep blue eyes upon his hollow and fever-flushed cheek. He said, 'Captain, I will tell you the secret of our family. I was wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, which resulted in amputation of my leg. I shall not be able to carry out the purpose for which my sister enlisted me. She will be here within a few moments.'

While I was talking with the boy a young lady entered the room whom I recognized as the lady who had called on me at the camp of instruction.

'Gertrude,' he said, 'tell Captain Young the family secret. I promised him when we parted I would tell it to him if we ever met again.'

She told the story as follows:

'My brother and I were raised on a farm on the Alabama River. Our father was a large cotton planter, and like most Southern gentlemen of means, he took his family every summer to the fashionable watering places of the North. In the summer of 1859 he took us on the usual tour. At that time I was attending a female college in Virginia.

'It was while we were stopping at Saratoga that I was introduced to a young lieutenant of the United States Army. He was a handsome fellow of charming manners, cultivated in literature as well as in the art of war. This with his fine military bearing and his officer's uniform, made him attractive to the young ladies at the hotel.

'My acquaintance with him ripened into flirtation, as I thought, but ended in an engagement. The marriage was to take place the next spring. I returned to school in September. We had agreed to keep up a secret correspondence.

'In his letters he came to urge an early marriage, giving as his reason that on the first of the New Year he would be ordered to a far Western frontier post, and that he wished to take me with him as his wife. His appeals were so beautiful and full of wild romance that I consented to elope from school and marry him. I made arrangements to visit Washington, D. C., during the holidays, pretending to spend the gay season with friends.

'On December 16 I left the dear old college which had been my home for three years, and around which clustered so many tender associations. I bade teachers and schoolmates farewell, and wished them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

'The lieutenant called on me the day following my arrival. We were married the next morning, and started for our Western home. After a long and tedious journey we reached the post, where we were cordially received by the officers and their families. Although far from civilization, and amid rough surroundings, I was happy with my husband.

'His company and conversation interested and attracted me, and it was a pleasant relief from the monotony of the school room.

'In the summer after our arrival there appeared at the post a dashing young widow from Chicago—pretty and rich. She was a sister of the wife of one of the officers. My husband was very popular with the ladies and fond of their society. Of course he was delighted to see so charming an addition to our little social circle, and quite naturally did his best to entertain our mutual guest, and make her visit pleasant. All the other officers were much older than my husband, and upon him devolved the duty of acting as squire to the pretty widow. They were much together—took long rides over the plains and hills when the weather was fine, and when it rained they played chess, or he would read to her while she did fancy work. I do not know whether the officers and their wives noticed the growing intimacy between them. I know I did not until I began to find myself a badly neglected wife. My husband spent no more of his time than was necessary for his own convenience at home, and never returned at night until late, and was ill-humored and cross with me.

'Jealousy does not exist where there is no love, and I was not jealous, but I had the inborn sense of honor and self-respect. I determined, however, to be absolutely certain before I took any decided step.

'I had formed in the short time I had been at the post, a close friendship with the wife of one of the officers. She was much older than myself. I asked her if she would receive my confidence in a very delicate matter and give her counsel in my trouble. She replied that she would. I then told her my suspicions about my husband. She smiled and said, 'It was an open secret he and the pretty widow B— were dead in love with each other, and that everybody was feeling very sorry for me.'

'My friend and myself concocted a plan to entrap the lovers without their being any the wiser, so that I might see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears what relation existed between them. In the opinion of some this may have been mean and contemptible conduct on my part. I do not so regard it. I had a right to know the truth and to find it out in any way I could. Suffice it to say, our plan was successfully executed. I was a secret looker-on at a rendezvous between my husband and the widow: I listened to their amorous words and witnessed their warm kisses.

'Instead of heart-break, at the loss of his affections, my feelings were those of loathing and contempt. And at this it might have remained, had not his subsequent conduct created within me thirst for revenge.

'From the moment I had witnessed the love passages which I have mentioned I regarded myself as morally released and actually separated from him forever.

'It was not possible to start for my home immediately, but I began making preparations to do so at the earliest moment possible. I would not make a scene. I made up my mind to tell the lieutenant I was going to leave him and my reason for doing so.

'It was nearly daybreak the next morning when he came home. I immediately rose and told him I had a word to say to him. He asked me brusquely what it was. I told him that I would not stand between him and his widow, and that I was going home at the first opportunity, and that from thenceforth I was no longer his wife.

'He turned pale with anger, and said in a low hissing voice between his teeth, 'You are not going away: you will stay where you are and raise no scandal. You will hold your tongue about the relation between myself and the lady to whom you have referred.' Then approaching me and pointing his forefinger, which touched my face, he said in a whisper, 'If you make trouble, I will kill you.' Then he slapped my cheek, turned and left the room.

'The blow was light, which gave me no pain, nor was it so intended. He only meant to show the contempt in which he held me: just as one would kick a brute out of his way. The insult was intolerable. Nothing could wipe it out, and there I made a vow of vengeance.

'I resolved to act at once. I had about a hundred dollars in money, costly diamond rings and other valuable jewelry. I took these and some necessary articles in a hand bag, dressed and left the house.

'Kansas City was my nearest point and on the other side of a desert infested by prowling hostile Indians. I had no doubt that I should fall in with some of the numerous wagon trains which were passing from Salt Lake to my place of destination. Day was just breaking when I set out on my journey.

'I had traveled a few miles from the post when I was overtaken by a wagon train bound for Kansas City. As the first team passed an elderly man seeing me alone, came to me and invited me to get in his wagon and make one of his party, saying it was dangerous for a lone woman to travel over the plains. I thanked him for his kind offer and accepted. I soon felt at ease. I read his good nature and perceived that he was to be relied upon.

'That night we went into camp. The teams were formed into a hollow square and sentinels stationed to guard against an attack from the Indians. When everything was arranged for the night the old gentleman called up his men and introduced them to me by telling them that I was alone far away from my family and friends and that they must protect me with their lives. They all responded with a cheer that they would.

'After our frugal supper they gathered around the camp fires with their violins, banjos and accordions, and enjoyed themselves playing on their instruments and singing. I sang them some of the Southern negro plantation songs which delighted them. They were a noble class of men, although rough and untaught, except in the school of nature.