Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI AMONG THE FEDERALS WHO then occupied Front Royal was one Mr. Clark, a reporter to the New York Herald, and, although an Irishman, by no means a gentleman. He was domiciled at head-quarters, which were established, as I have before mentioned, at my aunt's residence; and thus it wasthat I saw him daily, for we could not possibly get into the street without crossing the court-yard and passing through the hall-way. This Mr. Clark endeavored upon several occasions to intrude his society upon me; and, although I told him plainly his advances were extremely distasteful, he persevered so far that I was forced more than once to bolt the door of the room in which my cousin and myself were seated, in his face. These rebuffs he never forgave, and from an intrusive friend he became an inveterate enemy. It is to him I am indebted for the first violent, undisguised abuse with which my name was coupled in any Federal journal; but I must do the editors of the Yankee newspapers the justice to admit they were not slow to follow the example set them by Mr. Clark. They seemed to think that to insult an innocent young girl was to prove their manhood and evince their patriotism. I think my English readers will neither admire their taste nor applaud their spirit. On the evening of the 23rd May I was sitting at the window of our 104 B E L L E BOYD IN C A M P AND P R I S O N room, reading to my grandmother and cousin, when one of the servants rushed in, and shouted, or rather shrieked— "Oh, Miss Belle, I t'inks de revels am a-comin', for de Yankees are amakin ' orful fuss in de street." I immediately sprang from my seat and went to the door, and I then found that the servant's report wastrue. The streets were thronged with Yankee soldiers, hurrying about in every direction in the greatest confusion. I asked a Federal officer, who just then happened to be passing by, what was the matter. He answered that the Confederates were approaching the town in force, under Generals Jackson and Ewell, that they had surprised and captured the outside pickets, and had actually advanced within a mile of the town without the attack being even suspected. "Now," he added, "we are endeavoring to get the ordnance and the quartermaster's stores out of their reach." "But what will you do,"I asked, "with the stores in the large depot?" "Burn them, of course!" "But suppose the rebels come upon you too quickly?" "Then we will fight as long as we can by any possibility show a front, and in the event of defeat make good our retreat upon Winchester, burning the bridges as soon as we cross them, and finally effect a junction with General Banks'sforce." I parted with the Federal officer, and returning to the house, I began to walk quietly up-stairs, when suddenly I heard the report of a rifle, and almost at the same moment I encountered Mr. Clark, who,in his rapid descent from his room, very nearly knocked me down. "Great heavens! what is the matter?" he ejaculated, as soon as he had regained his breath, which the concussion and fright had deprived him of. "Nothing to speak of," said I; "only the rebels are coming, and you had best prepare yourself for a visit to Libby Prison." He answered not a word, but rushed back to his room and commenced compressing into as small a compass as possible all the manuscripts upon which he so much plumed himself, and upon which he relied for fame and credit with the illustrious journal to which he was B E L L E BOYD IN C A M P AND P R I S O N 105 contributor. It was his intention to collect and secure these inestimable treasures, and then to skedaddle.* I immediately went for my opera-glasses, and, on my wayto the balcony in front of the house, from which position I intended to reconnoitre , I was obliged to pass Mr. Clark's door. It was open, but the keywas on the outside. The temptation of making a Yankee prisoner was too strong to be resisted, and,yielding to the impulse, I quietly locked in the "Special Correspondent...