COMMERICAL APPEAL MEMPHIS TENNESSEE June5,1937
WOMAN WHO HELPED PIONEER ARKANSAS TOWN
OF DeVIEW RECALLS ADVENTUROUS LIFE
Mrs. Florence Smith Capshaw, Native of Georgia, Remembers Sherman's
March to Sea Has Many Relics of War Reconstruction
Special to Commercial Appeal
McCrory, Ark.,June 5--Like a page torn from history its bloodshed, its building of a wilderness into
a thriving country, its glamour and glory reads the life of Mrs. Florence Capshaw, pioneer builder of
DeView, two miles south of McCrory, as she sits surrounded with relics and rare possessions and lives
again those never to be forgotten days.
Mrs. Capshaw was born in Catoosa County, Georgia, in 1852 and was quite "big girl" when her father and
brothers went to war leaving her with several young children and their mother. May 3, 1864, when Gen.
William Sherman on his " March to The Sea" crossed Georgia advance word was given and Mrs. Capshaw's
mother with the children made ready for the enemies--the kitchen floor was removed, bells taken from the
sheep and they were penned under the house and covered with the flooring, food was hidden under rock's,
silver in the well.
The company camped within one half mile of the home. About sundown the evening the army moved in. A
man with a slouch hat and ragged clothes came to the gate and asked to spend the night. The mother refused
and he replied "Lady, you don't know the tactics of war--you need a guard." She let him stay and in true
southern hospitality gave him the best food she had. In return he gave them a package Peaberry coffee, the
first they had seen since the war began, for theirs had been Rebel coffee (consisting of water from cooked
wheat). For two days and nights he guarded the house as a sentry and the disappeared. It was later learned
that he was a spy from General Blackstone Bragg's company and was getting information of the Confederate
Army.
One morning Mrs. Capshaw with a sister was searching for a lost sheep and as they parted the bushed at the
bottom of a hill they saw General Sherman watering his horse not 10 feet from them, and those same eyes
today, although dimmed with age, retain every detail of this federal general. As the army moved on,
neighbors searched the woods and found large chunks of meats, saw their first crackers and found enough
provisions for several days. Much loot that had been stolen was found.
Mrs. Capshaw was four miles from the battle of Ringgold and 10 miles from the Battle of Missionary Ridge.
The yard was covered with cannon balls and the chickens, geese and dogs were killed . The Battle of
Chickamauga, which was fought Sept. 19-20, 1864 was 14 miles from her home and was one of the most
disastrous battles of the war. The armies began getting ready for the battle the day before, tearing down rail
fences for breastworks. By 4 o'clock the afternoon of the nineteenth, it seemed as if the world was shaking.
Smoke was so dense it hid the sun and when the second day of fighting was over one could have walked 300
yards on dead soldiers. Some 34,000 were killed, wounded or taken prisoners. Thousands of muskets were
gathered from the fields and hundreds of heart-breaking letters.
Mrs. Capshaw has two which read in part:"My dear brother: At church last Sunday there was not a young
man. Our wheat crop is good, but father is not able to gather it and we cannot get laborers."
Another: "My dear son: My daily prayer is that the Lord shield you and that this terrible war may soon
end." Some were from wives and sweethearts.
It was not an easy life for a little girl. She had to help kill beef, tan the leather and make her own shoes. She
was plow-boy for three years. She spun the wool that made her clothing. One day her chance came to get even
with the enemies and this woman who is loved and respected by he acquaintance was called on to do the
most heroic deed of her life and she did it like a general. She carried messages through enemy lines and was
as brave as the man who faced the cannons.
After the Federals took possession of Georgia, the southern soldiers would slip back in the hills to see their
families. For two weeks little Florence carried breakfast and messages for the two Confederates hidden in the
hills. She was only a lass of 12 and passed the Federals unnoticed, but she was cautious and took a new route
each time.
One morning at 2 o'clock a voice was heard outside the window and a friend was looking for his wife-he
learned she was living with a northern family and asked they get her word he was staying in "Deep Hollow."
Little Florence was given the task to deliver the message in code, and just as the eastern sun rose on a bleak
war-ridden country, the little spy went to the northern home to borrow meal. They were at breakfast and
Florence, turning to the man's wife said, "mama said to please go to Deep Hollow and feed the old sow some
corn." The woman understood.
When the war ended it did not mean the end of hard work and trouble, for the reconstruction was a bitter
experience. In 1870 she married Robert Capshaw, and two years later they started west to seek their fortune
in a covered wagon drawn by oxen. They settled in Woodruff County and helped to change the wilderness
in to a thriving county. Mr Capshaw died in 1922.
Mrs. Capshaw has antiques that are priceless to her and would grace any museum. Her collection included a
watch 125 years old. Her husband's powder gourd, 90 years old, his pistol carried during the war;
daguerreotypes of her grandparents, 200 years old; three family Bibles from 100 to 200 years old; a
Methodist hymnal more than 100 years old; a speech book 90 years old. She possesses workbox made from an
axelgrease box 125 years old. The most interesting of Mrs. Capshaw's collection is an account book of C. F.
Capshaw dating back to 1830, with the in closed (sic) items: Wools, 20c; tobacco, 20c Lb.; eggs 12 1/2c dozen;
sugar, 10c Lb.; coffee, 8c Lb. The book belonged to an uncle of her husband's who owned a store in Tennessee.
Mrs. Florence Smith Capshaw, aged 98 years, three months and 27 days, oldest resident of the Arkansas
Confederate Home, died there Wednesday afternoon March 21, 1951.