JACKSON THREATENED--COLONEL GRIERSON--GENERAL PEMBERTON DEPARTS--MY MIND
IS MADE UP TO GO ALSO--RIDE ON THE CARS--VICKSBURG AGAIN.
Our quiet was destined to be of short duration. We were startled one
morning by hearing that Colonel Grierson, of the Federal army, was
advancing on Jackson. The citizens applied to General Pemberton to protect
them. He answered that there was no danger. Suddenly, the ladies' carriage
and saddle horses were pressed, and the clerks and young men of the town
were mounted on them, and started out to protect us(!). I was told that
the first time they met the Federal troops most of them were captured, and
we heard of them no more. We need not have feared, for Colonel Grierson
was spoken of everywhere (so some ladies from the district through which
he passed, afterward told me) as a gentleman who would not allow his men
to treat any one with the slightest disrespect, or take the least article
from a citizen's house; and they all treated ladies courteously. There was
not one instance of unkindness to any human being, so far as I could
learn. He should have the thanks of every brave man and Southern woman.
This man, though an avowed enemy, scorned to torture or wage war on God's
weaker creation.
Again the rumor came that from Canton a large Federal force was advancing
on Jackson. Jackson was to be defended!! which I doubted. Soon General
Pemberton left and went to Vicksburg--Mrs. Pemberton to Mobile. Batteries
were being erected in different parts of the town--one directly opposite
the house I was in. I stood considering one morning where it was best to
go, and what it was best to do, when a quick gallop sounded on the drive,
and a friend rode hastily up and said, "Are you going to leave?" "Yes," I
answered, "but I have not yet decided where to go." "Well, I assure you
there is no time for deliberation; I shall take my family to Vicksburg, as
the safest place, and, if you will place yourself under my charge, I will
see you safely to your husband." So the matter was agreed upon, and we
were to leave that evening. Still, I was in doubt; the Federal army was
spreading all over the country, and I feared to remain where I was. Yet I
thought, may I not be in danger in Vicksburg? Suppose the gunboats should
make an attack? Still, it was true, as my friend had said, we were in far
more danger here from the rabble that usually followed a large army, and
who might plunder, insult, and rob us. No; to Vicksburg we must go!
Very hurriedly we made our arrangements, packing with scarcely a moment to
lose, not stopping to discuss our sudden move and the alarming news. Our
friends, also, were in as great a panic and dismay as ourselves. Mrs. A.
had some chests of heavy silver. Many of the pieces were such that it
would have taken some time to bury them. Her husband was absent, and she
feared to trust the negro men with the secret. Another friend feared to
bury her diamonds, thinking in that case she might never see them more;
feared, also, to retain them, lest, through negroes' tales, the cupidity
of the soldiers might become excited, and she be a sufferer in
consequence. Every tumult in the town caused us to fly to the doors and
windows, fearing a surprise at any time; and not only ladies, with pale
faces and anxious eyes, met us at every turn, but gentlemen of
anti-military dispositions were running hither and thither, with carpet
bags and little valises, seeking conveyances, determined to find a safe
place, if one could be found, where the sound of a gun or the smell of
powder might never disturb them any more; and, as they ran, each had an
alarming report to circulate; so that with the rush and roar of dray,
wagon, and carriage, the distracting reports of the rapid advance of the
Federal army, and the stifling clouds of dust that arose--with all, we
were in a fair way to believe ourselves any being or object but ourselves.
The depot was crowded with crushing and elbowing human beings, swaying to
and fro--baggage being thrown hither and thither--horses wild with fright,
and negroes with confusion; and so we found ourselves in a car, amid the
living stream that flowed and surged along--seeking the Mobile
cars--seeking the Vicksburg cars--seeking anything to bear them away from
the threatened and fast depopulating town.