The Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Those old stories...
In Response To: Those old stories... ()

Your post was gratifying to read. These old stories are sometimes dismissed as being merely "anecdotal" but I find them to be valid more often than not. What a thrill it is when you run across documentation that verifies or explains these old stories.

With regard to "bushwhackers", a friend of my grandfather was a little boy during the War. His father was in the army, leaving only the women and children at home. One day they heard horses coming and hid in the brush. The riders ransacked their home, stealing the family silverware, among other things. They did not recognize the raiders. When this man got older he was helping a neighbor family thresh wheat when they spread dinner for the workers. Looking down, he was shocked to see his own family's silverware on the table and realized who the marauders had been. He bore a grudge against that family for years, but never told a soul until his son got engaged to one of their daughters. He told my grandfather about it, and my grandfather said the old man was so mortified that he cried. Hard times indeed!

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Those old stories...
Re: Those old stories...