*Interview with Mrs. Mary Ann Lipscomb*
*Gaffney, S.C.*
--_Caldwell Sims, Union, S.C._
_REMINISCENCES_
"My husband, Nathan Lipscomb, was over on Mt. Pleasant fighting, and I
had been over there to see him. He was a private in the rear ranks. When
we were coming back to Charleston on a rice steamer, an open boat, the
Yankees were shelling the town. I played with my fingers in the water of
the bay as the steamer went along. We landed at a different landing from
the one where we had started from. When I got off the steamer I was very
much frightened, for they had shot through the hotel where we were
staying.
"We immediately left the city by train. I hated to leave my husband so
far behind, but I could do nothing about it. In that day the train used
only wood for fuel. Only two trains a day came from Columbia to
Charleston. They made about 18 miles per hour, but that was good
traveling at that time.
"My brother, Thomas Wilkins, went through the war. My father, Russell,
and Richard were in training when the surrender came. I stayed with my
father at White Plains while my husband was off to war. When we heard
that the Yankees were coming, we had the Negroes to hide all the horses
but two, and to hide the cows and turn the hogs loose to ramble in the
woods.
"When the Yankees rode up to the yard and got off their horses, we could
easily tell they had been drinking. We told them that our horses were in
the stable and that the Negroes had fled in terror, which was true. They
ate up everything they could find and ransacked the closets and pantry.
They then caught the chickens, took the two horses in the stable and
went away.
"The darkies came back with the cows and horses, and we got settled for
the night. About nine o'clock, the Yankees came unexpectedly and took
all the horses and cows. They killed the cows, and made our darkies help
them to butcher them and barbecue them. The Yankees soon ate everything
up and left with our horses.
"My grandmother, Agnes Wood, gave my mother, Elizabeth Wilkins, a
beautiful young mare. The Yankee who took that mare, turned over a pot
of fresh soap when my mother asked him not to take the mare. Our cook,
Matilda, had the soap ready to cut in the pot, so we saved some of it.
"During the second year of the war I was making me a homespun dress, and
while my father helped me with the weaving he told me of a dress that
one of his friends made during the Nullificatlon days. I carded and spun
the filling for my new dress, wove it, made the dress and wore it to
Charleston when I went to see my husband. It had broad, black stripes
the width of my two fingers, and two green threads between the black
stripes. It also had a little yellow stripe. It was really a beautiful
dress and looked very much like silk."