Elizabeth Lyle Saxon

A Southern Woman's War Time Reminiscences Elizabeth Lyle Saxon

Publisher Marketing: This is a memoir about the Civil War era written by a Southern woman who lived during the conflict. Here's an excerpt from the beginning: " In 1860 events crowded fast upon each other. I had a most singular experience in connection with the Chicago Zouaves led by young Ellsworth. They came to New York and challenged any company in America to drill with them. Crowds went out to see them every day, and it was on one of these occasions that Nell, my Boston friend, and I were standing watching them as they wheeled and charged, fired with their guns kneeling, lying or running. I was looking at the young commander very intently when suddenly a haze swept before my eyes, and, as if in a mirror, I saw him fall, shot dead. I gave a scream of horror, and my companion shook my arm-the vision was gone. He was alive and unhurt. I told what I saw, and declared positively that nothing could convince me he would not die a violent death. It will be remembered that he was shot early in the war at Alexandria, for taking down the Confederate flag over a hotel, Jackson, its proprietor, firing the fatal shot. Men sneer at such statements as this. My own impression founded on my own experience, is that all spirituality is as far as possible killed in children by their parents, owing to education and preconceived sentiments. We admit man is possessed of five senses, and if anything savoring of a higher or more subtle"