"Lady cyclists are or used to be a great danger, for when a motor was heard approaching them from behind, they usually fell of their bicycles, apparently in terror; but this distressing spectacle is now comparatively seldom seen."
In his excellent short book “And Life Went On” Joe Jeffrey outlines the effect the Civil War had on the small town of Montevallo, Missouri.
Mildred Cooper told how her great-grandfather fared.
"He was captured as he was coming home on furlough after the Battle of Lexington. They took him over to Fort Scott prison where he served three months. In some of his letters written from prison he said they gave him the job of whitewashing hospital rooms. According to his letters he had time for prayer and to read his Bible--he was a Southern Baptist. He also had time to visit with the other prisoners. They weren't really mean to him. They didn't mistreat him while he was in the Fort Scott prison.
"While in prison Confederate men around him were plotting to escape. They talked to him about it and he wouldn't go along with it. He told them they would be caught and killed. So they turned against him. He was so concerned for their lives he went to one of the guards and told him to keep an eye on them. One of the prisoners, a former Vernon County sheriff, told my great-grandfather the minute he got out to look out for him.
"Then he was released in July of '62 on oath--he had to take an oath that he wouldn't fight on either side. And then in September of that year, he was shot out in his yard by three Union men who were neighbors. So he didn't get to stay home very long. He was home three months when they shot him just because he was a Confederate. They accused him of siding with the enemy. They knew he would be defenseless in the dark of the night. They came riding up the lane to their house. My great-grandparents had a light inside and were getting ready to go to bed on a warm September night. The men called him out by name. He went out and if he hadn't, they would have gone in and got him. Then they shot him in the back and rode off. His widow determined who they were and they were neighbors. Before the war started he had sold them some land which they never paid for. Nothing was done then, for the war was still on. One was a captain in the Union Army and his son and son-in-law. After my great-grandmother remarried, after the war ended and Montevallo rebuilt, she went to court and proved it on these three. They had to leave the state of Missouri. They couldn't put them in jail because of the war, but they had to give back the land they hadn't paid for. I think that's why she filed the suit, to get back her land."
In their book "Motors and Motor Driving" from 1902 , S. F. Edge and Charles Jarrott give some useful advice when 'Going around corners' -
Always keep to your right side, remembering that in all probability you will find some other vehicle coming towards you from the opposite direction.
A very good rule to follow is that under ordinary circumstances the brakes should not be used with such violence as to cause the wheels to skid, or to occasion a jar to those driving in the carriage. If this is carefully observed the vehicle will last much longer.
In his excellent short book “And Life Went On” Joe Jeffrey outlines the effect the Civil War had on the small town of Montevallo, Missouri.
This extract describes how Union troop stragglers came through the town. -
"Great-grandmother Ball had a story she told my grandmother. In later years Union troop stragglers from the regiments came through one time. They had already stolen all her cows but two. She had a young baby--that was my grandmother--and needed the cow's milk. She also had a few chickens left for fresh eggs. They came through and drove her cows off. They also had other cattle they had rounded up. They took the few remaining chickens she had. They came in the house, took her lard, and her flour and butter and sugar that she had gone in a wagon over to Fort Scott to buy. So she went out and pleaded with the officer who was on a horse. She pleaded with him and told him she had a baby in the house and she had an old lady, she had an aunt and some cousins. He said, 'Well, lady if you can call your two cows by name and they will follow you back, you can have them.' She called them and they turned around and came toward her. 'Lady, you may have your cows back.' So I thought he must have had a heart after all. She never did lose those two cows to men coming through."
"She told stories of them coming in and pounding on the table for certain kinds of food. She and her relatives living with her would prepare the food and set it before them. Then as a pastime the soldiers would line them up against the wall and throw knives at them and the knives would go into the wall. But none of them lost their lives and their house wasn't burned like some."
"People weren't safe anywhere. And the people living with her weren't safe there with her, but their lives were spared. Seems almost like a miracle that they were because people in other places were more mistreated."
This extract comes from an excellent article “WAR WITHIN THE STATE” about Missouri in the Civil War, -
After the Battle of Pea Ridge, the Confederacy never achieved rule over Missouri and northern Arkansas. Regardless, the war continued. And while the men fought and died on the battlefields in Missouri and elsewhere, the women and children remained home, existing as best they could. Every male between sixteen and sixty had to fight--by choice or conscription. This left the women, young children and older people alone to make a living. Staying alive on farms was difficult and made worse by military confiscation of horses, food and clothing. A poor fate was made worse by the constant fear of seizure.
No one could remain neutral, for both sides considered neutrals as enemies. However, aiding one side meant possible death if the occupying army changed. For men who decided against joining the army, few options were left open. To remain home meant hiding whenever an army was nearby. Capture resulted in forced joining or being shot as a spy. Some decided to make war on their own, or as a private army with other cohorts. Still others realized the war was a perfect opportunity to embark on crime, in the guise of one army or another, but preying upon everyone.
Bill Wilson was one example of a bushwhacker who embarked on his own. His father was killed by Union troops moving through the area near Waynesville, Missouri. After this, Wilson roamed the wilds, cheerfully gunning down small Union patrols in revenge. The Union command at Rolla placed a price on his head, but he was never captured and lived in freedom long after the war.
Field Hospital and Flying Column
Being the Journal of an English Nursing Sister
in Belgium & Russia
By
Violetta Thurstan
At first sight Brussels seemed to be en fête, flags were waving from every window, Boy Scouts were everywhere looking very important, and the whole population seemed to be in the streets. Nearly every one wore little coloured flags or ribbons—a favourite badge was the Belgian colours with the English and French intertwined. It did not seem possible that war could be so near, and yet if one looked closer one saw that many of [8]the flags giving such a gay appearance were Red Cross flags denoting that there an ambulance had been prepared for the wounded, and the Garde Civile in their picturesque uniform were constantly breaking up the huge crowds into smaller groups to avoid a demonstration.
The first thing to arrange was about the coming of my nurses, whether they were really needed and if so where they were to go. I heard from the authorities that it was highly probable that Brussels would be occupied by the Germans, and that it would be best to put off their coming, for a time at any rate. Private telegrams had long been stopped, but an official thought he might be able to get mine through, so I sent a long one asking that the nurses might not be sent till further notice. As a matter of fact it never arrived, and the next afternoon I heard that twenty-six nurses—instead of sixteen as was originally arranged—were already on their way. There were 15,000 beds in Brussels prepared for the reception of the wounded, and though there were not many wounded in the city just then, the nurses would certainly all be wanted soon if any of the [9]rumours were true that we heard on all sides, of heavy fighting in the neighbourhood, and severe losses inflicted on the gallant little Belgian Army.
It was impossible to arrange for the nurses to go straight to their work on arrival, so it was decided that they should go to a hotel for one night and be drafted to their various posts the next day. Anyhow, they could not arrive till the evening, so in the afternoon I went out to the barriers to see what resistance had been made against the possible German occupation of Brussels. It did not look very formidable—some barbed-wire entanglements, a great many stones lying about, and the Gardes Civiles in their quaint old-fashioned costume guarding various points. That was all.
