Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison

INTRODUCTION BY A FRIEND OF THE SOUTH

INTRODUCTION BY A F R I E N D OF THE SOUTH "WlLL YOU TAKE MY L I F E ? " This was the somewhat startling question put to me by Mrs. Hardinge —better known as Belle Boyd—on my recent introduction to her in Jermyn Street. "Madam," said I, "a sprite like you, who has so often run the gauntlet by sea and land, who has had so many hair-breadth escapes by flood and field, must bear a 'charmed life': I dare not attempt it." Then, placing in my hands a roll of manuscript, she said, "Take this; read it, revise it, rewrite it, publish it, or burn it—do what you will. It is the story of my adventures, misfortunes, imprisonments, and persecutions. I have written all from memory since I have been here in London; and, perhaps , by putting me in the third person, you can make a book that will be not only acceptable to the public and profitable to myself, but one that will do some good to the cause of my poor country, a cause which seems to be so little understood in England." I took the manuscript, promising to look it over, and return it with an estimate of its merits. I have done so; and hence the publication of Belle Boyd, in Camp and Prison.The work is entirely her own, with the exception of a few suggestions in the shape of footnotes—the simple, unambitious narrative of an enthusiastic and intrepid school-girl, who had not yet seen her seventeenth summer when the cloud of war darkened her land, changing all the music of her young life, her peaceful "home, sweet home," into the bugle blasts ofbattle, into scenes of death and most tumultuous sorrow. Believing, with all the people of the South, in the sovereignty of the 56 I N T R O D U C T I O N BY G E O R G E A U G U S T A S A L A States, and the absolute political and moral right of secession, our young heroine, like Joan of Arc, inspired and fired by the "tyranny impending ," resolved to devote her hands and heart, and life, if need be, to the sacred cause of freedom and independence. How much she has done and suffered in the great struggle which has crimsoned the "Sunny South" with the "blood of the martyrs," we shall leave the reader to gather from the narrative itself. But, by way of introduction, I have a few incidental facts to relate; and it is proper to add,that I do it entirely on my own responsibility, and without consulting "our heroine" in the matter. At the time of my presentation to Mrs.Hardinge, above alluded to, I found the lady in very great distress of mind and body. She was sick, without money, and driven almost to distraction by the cruel news that her husband was suffering the "tender mercies" of a Federal prison. Lieutenant Hardinge was in irons; and his friendswere prohibited from sending him food or clothing!Lettersaddressed to his young wife,containing remittances, were intercepted; and thus I found her,not quite friendless, in this great wilderness of London, but,what isworse, absolutely destitute of that indispensable and all-prevailing friend— MONEY. The sight of a pair of flowing eyes, that for thirteen long months had refused to weep in a Northern prison, were enough to call forth the following communication, addressed to the Morning Herald, that able and consistent defender of the Southern cause: A WORD TO C O N F E D E R A T E S Y M P A T H I Z E R S Sir:—Your readers cannot have forgotten the glowing description of the recent romantic wedding of "Belle Boyd" (La Belle Rebelle), so pleasantly celebrated a few months since at "a fashionable hotel in Jermyn Street." Alas, poor Belle! Her bridal bliss was "like the snow-fall on a river." Her husband of a day is now tasting the sweets of a Yankee prison, and she (who "was made his wedded wife yestreen") all the bitterness of poverty and exile. After enduring for many a long and weary month the insults , sufferings, and persecutions of the "Old Capitol Prison," I heard the afflicted lady say yesterday that she "had rather be there as she was than here as she is."And why? Cut off from all pecuniary resources at home...