WHEN the Civil War broke out the women of the South blanched with the
terrible ordeal before them, but never for one moment doubted but that
their beloved ones would come out of it all victorious. To them it was
not conceivable that a cause so plainly one of individual rights could
be lost. Sacrifice upon sacrifice was cheerfully made, even gloried in
by these wonderful women of the South in 1861 and to the bitter end.
Delicately nurtured women denied themselves comforts, sleep, food and
drink; they were reduced to personal hardships which were met and borne
with a sublime fortitude.
When it was all over those families which had possessed wealth
and culture were in the grip of poverty, and it was then that the
spirit of Southern womanhood showed its divine strength. Facing
family troubles with the courage of noble resignation, those women who
had been educated--some abroad--and accomplished, became school
teachers at five dollars a month for a pupil, and many a woman to-day
bears gratitude in her heart for the sweet influence of these school
teachers, which has gone with her into every clime, into every
condition, and proved an unfailing guide to the uplands and the
heights. Many became seamstresses, some governesses and others
traveling companions. But wherever these gentlewoman went they
carried refinement and ideals.
The heroism of the Southern women in the Civil War is an Epic
in American History!
Renestine was the mother now of three little daughters.
Jaffray had gone to Mexico to buy up horses, saddles and commissaries
for the army. Caroline and Josiah were her bodyguards and, faithful
servants, they saved her little anxieties and looked after the welfare
of the children.
Renestine made their little shoes by shaping cloth after their
worn ones and sewing them together with pieces of soft cardboard for
soles. She made coffee by drying beets, and flour by drying potatoes.
Her practical little head was resourceful for any emergency. She felt
sad at the separation from her husband, and her large black eyes were
mournful but not tearful. To be and doing was her spirit. In spare
moments she sat down to her tambourine to do crewel work on a
tapestry picture. It was a large subject--The bard Ossian playing his
harp to Malvino. Ossian seated on the front of some brown rocks,
Malvino seated before him, her hands folded across his knees, full of
tender regard for the gentle musician. This work was her pastime and
recreation. She selected the worsteds and worked her needle out and
in, shading and coloring and outlining with the skill of an artist in
paints. Three years she worked on this picture, almost to the end of
the war, almost as long as Penelope worked on her task awaiting
Ulysses' return.
In the meantime Jaftray paid short visits to his family and
made them as comfortable for periods of his absence as he had it in his
power to do. Texas was too far away to be the theatre of battles
during the conflict, so that no real harassing of the families by the
invading Northern soldiers took place, but her people suffered
privations and danger just as much as her sister states and perhaps
more after the war was over and the reconstruction period set in.
In 1870 the town of Jefferson was thrown into a panic by the
murder one night of a "carpet-bagger." Carpet-bagger was a name given to
those men who came into Southern towns after the war to stir up the
people, and particularly the darkies, against the authorities. It was
necessary for Washington to send troops to Jefferson to restore order.
A stockade was built up on the hill near the new home of
Jaffray, for he had found his first little house too small for his
growing family, and into this stockade some of Jefferson's prominent
citizens were thrown and kept until they could prove their innocence of
the charges brought against them, namely, that they had knowledge of
the murder of the carpet-bagger. Those were trying days. Jaffray had
returned from Mexico in impaired health, which had been caused by the
impure drinking water in the country and also the intense heat there.
The doctors told him he had to take a long rest.
Things were going badly in the town, military law was
established and all men found implicated in the disturbance were
drastically punished. The war bad reduced the prosperous store holder
to penury, there was little money left to circulate among the people
and Jefferson was demoralized in its business, civic and social life.
General Buell, commanding the military occupation, asked as a
favor to be put up at Jaffray's house, as it was one of the largest in
the town and near the camp. Jaffray consented. So General Buell and
his wife came to live with Renestine and Jaffray, and afterwards one or
two other officers and their wives joined General Buell. This was a
courageous thing for Jaffray to have done, for, with the spirit
existing in the town at that critical time, not many residents would
harbor the Yankees. It was so dangerous that one night, when the
General wished to retire to his rooms across the broad hall, he turned
to Jaffray and said:
"Jaffray, put out the lamps before I cross over."
Kerosene lamps were in use and Jaffray put out the light before
the officer walked from the sitting room across to his own rooms. In
politics Jaffray was a Republican and he had the courage to live up to
his convictions in a community that was enraged against Lincoln and his
party. But the Republicans stood for free men, whatever color or
creed, and Jaffray championed their doctrines. For him humanity,
justice and liberty was the breath of his nostrils. This passion for
men's rights he had inherited from a long line of ancestors reaching
back into the mists of "In the beginning." He was an Israelite.
Renestine was glad to accept this change in their lives, as she
realized that Jaffray's affairs were not prosperous and with the
assistance of her servants she could help him very well, particularly
as he was not in robust health. Whatever situation faced her she met
it with high courage and a spirit to do. Their devotion was deep and
with their little family they were happy and contented. Sorrow had
not spared them, however, for their baby daughter bad contracted
whooping cough and died a few months before. Jaffray grieved deeply
for the little child and Renestine was almost overcome. But she
straightened up herb beautiful head, like a flower after the storm has
passed, and comforted her husband.